Gigabit January 2019

AN INCLUSIVE PLATFORM FOR WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY
www.gigabitmagazine.com
JANUARY 2019
A DIGITAL DISRUPTOR IN
THE MEDIA SECTOR
DAVID KLINE DISCUSSES HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN
DRIVE AN EXCITING ENTERTAINMENT EXPERIENCE
TOP 10
highest valued
tech unicorns
A CUSTOMER-
FOCUSED PROCUREMENT
TRANSFORMATION

IF YOU LIKE US
, FOLLOW US!!
04
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Laura Mullan...................
MANAGING EDITOR
Andrew Woods..............
Olivia Minnock...............
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Daniel Crawford............
CREATIVE TEAM
Frazer Jones.....................
Mitchell Park...................
Lucie Miller......................
Hollie Crofts–Morris......
Erin Hancox.....................
Alicia Lolotte...................
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR
Georgia Allen.......................
PRODUCTION EXECUTIVE
Daniela Kianickova......
DIGITAL VIDEO DIRECTOR
Josh Trett...........................
DIGITAL VIDEO PRODUCER
Emily Amos......................
SOCIAL MEDIA EXECUTIVE
Callum Rivett..................
PROJECT DIRECTORS
Justin Brand.....................
Charlotte Clarke............
Craig Daniels...................
Mike Sadr..........................
Alex Page...........................
Kristofer Palmer............
Lewis Vaughan...............
OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
Alex Barron......................
UK MANAGING DIRECTOR
James Pepper..................
CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER
Andy Turner....................
PRESIDENT & CEO
Glen White.......................
Visit the gigabitmagazine.com website and sign
up to receive exclusive access to one of the
world’s fastest growing business news platforms.
CLICK NOW
TO SUBSCRIBE
FOR FREE
PRESS PLAY!
WHEN YOU SEE THE PLAY BUTTON ICON,
CLICK TO WATCH OUR VIDEO CONTENT
Get Connected!
Wherever you see these icons in the magazine
click to be directly connected via social media
PUBLISHED BY
Click the home icon (when visible at top
right of page) to return to contents

WELCOME
Hello and welcome to the latest
issue of Gigabit magazine!
With renowned brands like MTV,
Comedy Central and Nickelodeon
under its umbrella, Viacom graces the
screens of viewers the world over. For
this month’s cover feature, Olivia
Minnock spoke with Viacom’s David
Kline to learn how the global entertainment
content company plans to stay
abreast of digital disruption.
Estimates suggest that the amount
of data that will be subject to analysis
will grow 50-fold by 2025 – this is where
Tableau Software hopes to make its mark
on the sector. Following the firm’s
annual conference, we sat down with
CEO Adam Selipsky to learn how the
firm hopes to cement its position as
a data analytics powerhouse.
Elsewhere, as the need for software
grows at an exponential rate, Mendix’s
Chief Technology Officer gives the
low-down on how low-code development
could offer a unique solution.
For this month’s issue, we’ll also round
up the top industry events from around
the world and we investigate the top
ten highest valued tech unicorns from
across the globe.
On top of this, we’ll also take an in-depth
look at some of the companies shaking
up their sectors, with reports on companies
such as Nedbank, BlackBerry
and ABC.
We hope you enjoy this month’s
bumper issue and, as ever, you can find
us across social media @GigabitMag
Enjoy the issue!
Laura Mullan.
Laura.mullan@bizclikmedia.com
05
www.gigabitmagazine.com

CONTENTS
10
CTO David Kline on staying abreast of a
technology transformation and how it stays
abreast of a vast, rapidly evolving landscape
34
48
TACKLING THE
DATA MOUNTAIN
Mendix: Redefining
app development
with a low-code
approach

58
76
Fannie Mae
96
BlackBerry
122
Radius Networks
138
Truliant Federal
Credit Union
150
Bray International

Met Office
178
192
INEA
164
Johnson Brothers
Liquor Co
Edwardian Hotels London
206
Universidad Europea
222
UiPath
236

Nedbank
250
Ayanda Saki
272
ABC
286
Fakeeh Healthcare
300
Daimler
312
Siemens
330
09

TECHNOLOGY
TRANSFORMATION
10
DRIVES AN EXCITING
CONTENT EXPERIENCE
AT VIACOM
WRIT TEN BY
OLIVIA MINNOCK
PRODUCED BY
GLEN WHITE
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
11
www.gigabitmagazine.com

VIACOM
GLOBAL ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY
VIACOM’S CTO DAVID KLINE DISCUSSES
THE COMPANY’S TECHNOLOGY
TRANSFORMATION AND HOW IT
STAYS ABREAST OF A VAST,
RAPIDLY EVOLVING LANDSCAPE
12
With universally renowned brands from MTV and
Comedy Central to Nickelodeon and Paramount
Pictures under its umbrella, for almost 50 years
global entertainment company Viacom has been
delighting viewers the world over. With a commitment to
delivering quality content through a wide range of digital
media, the company operates across a range of markets
and places technology at the forefront of maintaining a
quality, tailored experience.
Behind the significant digital transformation Viacom
has undergone in order to achieve such lofty aims is
David Kline, Executive Vice President and Chief Information
and Technology Officer. With eight years at the
media behemoth under his belt, Kline has enjoyed a
35-year career focusing on technology and has been
fascinated by the development of digital. “I got to see
technology from yesteryear – punch cards and reel-toreel
tape,” he recalls. “And the world was changing
because there were connectivity opportunities across
longer distances… through to today, where you can
connect via the cloud.
“I’m really thrilled to have seen those journeys. They’re
happening faster, almost at lightning speed, today.” All
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
13
www.gigabitmagazine.com

DON’T TACKLE THE
UPS AND DOWNS OF
TODAY’S TOMORROW’S
TECHNOLOGY ON
YOUR OWN.
For twenty years, REDspace has partnered with the
biggest broadcasters and entertainment companies
in the world to design and build digital experiences
across every device.
Our density of world-class talent, range of technical
engineering skills, and passion for staying on top of
the industry’s evolution sets us apart from everyone
else—plus it doesn’t hurt that we’re friendly.
CAPABILITIES
- Streaming platforms
- Mobile development
- Live event experiences
- Ultra low latency video delivery
- Augmented reality & virtual reality
- Voice control and artificial intelligence solutions
- Full stack website development
- HTML5 & mobile game production
- UX and design
Learn more at redspace.com

Empowering Viacom’s technology business
with long-term partner REDspace.
Changes in the entertainment industry over the last
decade have transformed how content is created and
consumed. With a multitude of devices and formats,
media networks have had to completely rethink their
strategies in order to reach their global audiences.
Viacom is a media industry leader and one of
the world’s largest producers of digital content.
Engaging their audience demands constant business
and technology innovation. To stay ahead of the
curve, Viacom partners with third-party technology
experts to help navigate the chaos of reaching their
fragmented audience. Since 2006, Viacom has
trusted REDspace to help with strategy, architecture,
development, and support of their ongoing digital
transformation.
Viacom works closely with REDspace to connect
their global audience to their content across an
ever-shifting and expanding array of platforms and
devices. REDspace has helped shape the network’s
entire digital strategy—re-architecting and building
Viacom’s content delivery systems and platforms,
creating award-winning mobile applications, and
supporting live events that have engaged millions
of concurrent users around the world.
Trusted Industry Experts
REDspace applies industry standards and
best practices to build scalable, best in class
software for the rapidly evolving media tech
sector. Our feature-based development and
agile methodologies ensure we achieve the
flexibility and quality our partners need.
Collaborate with a dedicated partner.
Take advantage of a team completely
dedicated to your media technology needs.
While you focus on your content and
business strategies, REDspace’s priority
is to make your journey to the finish line
as efficient and effective as possible.
Customized to your needs
and your audience.
A user-driven approach ensures a
personalized and dependable experience
for your viewers while also being consistent
across all your channels and platforms.
REDspace helps global leaders innovate and capitalize on digital transformations happening in a variety of
industries including broadcast, corporate learning, and more. We can help you engage your audience, giving
you the confidence to take game-changing risks. Every project is unique, so we tailor our approach to
fit your business.
Let’s start with a conversation. Contact Mike Johnston, President & CEO: mike.johnston@redspace.com

®
Teen Mom
Canoe is proud to be a Strategic Transformation
Technology Partner to Viacom for their
TV networks including Nickelodeon, BET,
Comedy Central, CMT, MTV, Paramount Network,
TV Land, and VH1
Canoe is an advertising technology company dedicated to
providing software and services to over 100 national TV
networks. We perform service assurance for video on demand
(VOD) dynamic ad insertion (DAI) on video platforms including
set-top-box, IP, and mobile across 36 million households.
www.canoeventures.com

NORTH AMERICA
this experience lit up a fascination with
the “art of the possible” for Kline, which
he has brought to his team at Viacom.
“We aim to identify what’s possible for
the divisions we guide and influence –
whether it’s advertising, production,
research, distribution… it is important to
understand what they’re doing and deliver
the technology that works for them.”
At the time of its fruition in the 1970s,
Viacom was something of a “walled
garden”. “It was very segregated from
the rest of the world,” says Kline. “As
the world grew, digital connectivity
became more of an opportunity, like we
see today with apps and connected
devices – now, everywhere you go,
there is some kind of digital footprint.”
CUSTOMER CENTRICITY THROUGH TECH
As technology has developed, so too
have customer expectations across
the various demographics Viacom
caters for. “The millennial audience
really took a whole new swing at what
connectivity meant – they want what
they want when they want it. We have
to be able to deliver that,” he explains,
adding that nowadays on-demand
programming is an expectation rather
17
EXECUTIVE PROFILE
David Kline
Having been at Viacom for eight years, David Kline provides
strategic leadership for the company’s technology infrastructure
and oversees Viacom’s Online Central Platform
Technology and Interactive Services, Content Creation
and Distribution Technology, Application Development
and Information Security and Compliance. During his
time at the company, Kline has led several successful initiatives
as well as developing and promoting a strong,
diverse team of talented people. Prior to working at
Viacom, Kline served as Executive Vice President of Technology
and CTO at Discovery Communications, having
also held senior technology roles at Rainbow Media
www.gigabitmagazine.com

The customer
experience
is always right.
Only Adobe brings together customer data and content to deliver amazing experiences.
Just what you’d expect from a leader in customer experience management.
Make experience your business.
Learn more at adobe.com/go/customerexperience
© 2018 Adobe. All rights reserved.

NORTH AMERICA
“THE MILLENNIAL
AUDIENCE REALLY TOOK
A WHOLE NEW SWING AT
WHAT CONNECTIVITY
MEANT – THEY WANT
WHAT THEY WANT,
WHEN THEY WANT IT”
—
David Kline,
EVP and Chief Information and
Technology Officer, Viacom
19
than an added extra. “How do we make
that more dynamic?” Kline asks. “How
do we update that content so that you
have a larger library? How do we add
advertising that’s not stale and
changes with the times?”
In an increasingly connected world,
Viacom works to ensure a consistent,
quality and above all exciting service
for consumers regardless of location,
device, platform or demographic. “We
have 84 apps on 11 different platforms
– whether it’s Roku, Apple TV, iOS,
Android, PlayStation… We’re in 180
different countries, so when you see
MTV in the US, UK, Poland or Singapore…
each brand has opportunities to
be more effective in certain spaces.
For example, Latin America is more
Android-driven, and so while Roku is a
great platform in the US, we have
growing platforms in Europe like
Amazon and Netflix.”
In addition, short form content, like
the video footage shared across
Snapchat, Facebook or Twitter to
promote a new TV series, is an
increasingly lucrative focus, paying
www.gigabitmagazine.com

VIACOM
20
“YOU HAVE TO KNOW YOUR
AUDIENCE, HOW THE DEMO-
GRAPHIC IS SHIFTING,
AND WHAT’S RELEVANT.
IT’S VITAL TO STAY TUNED
IN AND DELIVER ON
WHAT THE CONSUMER
IS EXPECTING”
—
David Kline,
EVP and Chief Information and
Technology Officer, Viacom
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
growing dividends. “We need to make
sure we’re aligned with the generations
in terms of what they want to consume
– creating original short form, not just
taking pieces of a show. You have to
know your audience, how the demographic
is shifting, and what’s relevant.
It’s vital to stay tuned in and deliver on
what the consumer is expecting.”
DRIVING A TECHNOLOGY
TRANSFORMATION
With a mission to entertain and excite
firmly at its heart, Viacom has used
technology as a driver of growth – but
has done so thoughtfully, ensuring that
new technologies are implemented to
make positive change for various
stakeholders, rather than chasing what
Kline calls the “bright, shiny object”.
“Cloud computing is a great example,”
he says. “We started looking at cloud
when it first came out, and at the time
we weren’t ready to make a jump.”
While cloud technology offers storage
solutions, Viacom already had extensive
– and expensive – infrastructure in
place for this.
However, the business did implement
cloud technology for its live
events, posting interactive social media
21
www.gigabitmagazine.com

TV.
CONNECTED.
Harness the power of data and
measurement to reach consumers
across the new TV landscape and
deliver superior results.
Visit www.freewheel.tv to learn more

NORTH AMERICA
content and creating live video footage
at the likes of the VMAs and Kids’
Choice Awards. Since then, Kline’s
team has felt enabled and empowered
by the cloud, and after abating
cybersecurity concerns by rolling out
the new tech slowly and sensitively,
Viacom now has its full Office productivity
in the Cloud with Office365. “It’s
about overcoming fears, being smart
enough and strong enough to say, ‘we
need to focus because change is
coming’. That’s something you have to
grapple with in any leadership role –
especially technology.”
As such, Kline is no stranger to the
culture shift involved in a technology
transformation – and he says both
listening and educating are key to
change management. “It’s important to
listen to what’s going on in the world
and within the company, and understand
different needs. Rather than just
putting in technology for technology’s
sake, have a rationale and a really
responsible understanding of why
you’re doing it. As technology shifts,
with Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G for
example, it’s important to make sure
everyone has an understanding of
what it is and not to be fearful, but
“AS TECHNOLOGY SHIFTS,
IT’S IMPORTANT TO
MAKE SURE EVERYONE
HAS AN UNDERSTANDING
OF WHAT IT IS AND
NOT TO BE FEARFUL,
BUT INQUISITIVE”
—
David Kline,
EVP and Chief Information and
Technology Officer, Viacom
inquisitive. What does this mean to me?
To the people I serve? To our industry?
And how do we approach it?”
SMOOTH TRANSMISSION
As well as improving the way content is
enjoyed, technology has been vital in
improving process within Viacom’s
operations. “The product teams work
very centrally with my technical teams,
and we’re all focused on making sure
anything across our platforms, from
video to data, is functional, scalable
and is being delivered,” says Kline.
Over the past few years, a key
achievement has been centralizing
code to develop single code base –
with WebPlex used for websites and
23
www.gigabitmagazine.com

The amount of data media companies create, and need
regular access to, is growing exponentially. It’s time to
change the way this media is stored and consumed.
Cisco, with its certified partner ecosystem, provides a
full range of datacenter, networking and object storage
solutions for media companies
Learn more at cisco.com/go/media

NORTH AMERICA
PlayFlex used for apps. “We’re now
down to a single web base so I can
deliver the same backend for MTV in
Poland as I do for Nickelodeon in the
US. It’s the same with apps. This is a
pleasing and lucrative opportunity for
the business to be able to go out and
sign deals, knowing they can get
something up and running in a matter
of hours.”
Yet more technologies are set to
improve Viacom’s operations, with
automation affording staff time for
more value-adding tasks. “We’re
looking at innovative ideas around
machine learning and AI, as well as
RPA (robotic process automation). It’s
given our team back some time to
really focus on the next generation and
what’s to come, while still delivering on
what’s necessary today.”
“We’re big believers in consumer
likes and dislikes – how do I make sure
it’s not disruptive for them while it’s
disruptive for us? Obviously, changes
– like introducing AR and VR – are
disruptions. They could be good
disruptions or dramatic disruptions, but
the goal is to make it perfectly seamless,
regardless of whether it’s on
television or another device – perhaps
eventually a HoloLens.”
25
www.gigabitmagazine.com

VIACOM
26
Centralization enables staff to really
concentrate on this frictionless
development – for example, a single
service desk within Viacom is available
for any problem, from lost keys to a
serious tech malfunction. “With that,
we continue to automate a lot of the
tools we have – we’re using chat and
automated tickets,” Kline explains.
Further, the company has created
application stacks for staff to download
all the software they need onto a
device at once and has automated
solutions from HR and payroll to ERP
utilizing SAP’s best-in-class platform.
THE PERFECT PARTNER
No technology transformation can take
place in isolation, especially one which
takes place internally and externally
across 180 markets. As such, Viacom
works closely with its vendors and
partners – including Adobe, Redspace,
Canoe Ventures, Insight and Freewheel,
to name but a few – to ensure
technology can be a true enabler for
the business.
“Vendor management’s hugely
important,” says Kline. “I have a vendor
management office – a small group of
people who work closely with my
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
27
www.gigabitmagazine.com

Insight + Cisco
Manage today.
Transform the
future. Together.
Meaningful connections
designed to help you
run smarter
Your organization needs a reliable,
secure infrastructure that can scale
to support your business needs.
Insight and Cisco provide a variety of
architectures – from cloud solutions
to centralized data centers – with
unmatched defenses against
cyberattacks.
Here are a few ways we deliver
compelling capabilities with Cisco:
• Cisco Gold partner since 1999
• Cisco’s 4th largest national partner – over
$1 Billion nationally
• Global scale with national expertise
• 300+ pre-sales engineers with 1,000+
Cisco® technical certifications
• 4,000 sales and service delivery engineers
• Cisco-mentored practices
About Insight
At Insight, we define, architect,
implement and manage Insight
Intelligent Technology Solutions
that help your organization run
smarter. We’ll work with you
to maximize your technology
investments, empower your
workforce to work smarter,
optimize your business and
create meaningful experiences.
Explore our
solution areas
Learn about
our Cisco
partnership

NORTH AMERICA
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘COMPANY OVERVIEW 2018’
29
“AUTHENTICATION
WITH ADOBE PASS IS
A GREAT EXAMPLE
WHICH VIACOM
HELPED CRAFT. IT
SHOWS THE COMPANY
HAS THE INGENUITY
AND CREATIVITY TO
REALLY HELP PUSH
PRODUCTS FORWARD”
—
David Kline,
EVP and Chief Information and
Technology Officer, Viacom
internal group, third party parents and
vendors, and our sourcing team. It’s a
three-way connection. In many cases,
Viacom has a rich history of enabling
vendors to build products we inspired, or
else we have built them ourselves and
pushed the intellectual property off to a
vendor if that makes sense for the rest
of the globe. Authentication with Adobe
Pass is a great example which Viacom
helped craft. It shows the company has
the ingenuity and creativity to really help
push other products forward – not just
content but technology.”
While Kline is a keen negotiator – “I
www.gigabitmagazine.com

VIACOM
30
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
believe everything is free until you tell me
otherwise” – he also stresses that relationships
must be collaborative to thrive. “The worst thing
you can do is bleed a vendor to a point where
they’re ready to go out of business, or can’t
support something you’ve taught them to
support… the best thing you can do is work
together for the best cost and best possible
product that shines for both them and you.”
Together with its partners and vendors, the
organization that brings us entertainment in all
its forms from award ceremonies to movies will
continue to utilize technology to ensure its
diverse content is enjoyed. “At Viacom, we’re big
on long range plans,” says Kline. The organization
is already pushing its 2022 strategy, and
though there is no telling what technology will
look like in three years’ time, Kline is dedicated
to keep to an overall vision of satisfying customers.
“That really drives the type of technologies
we’re looking to focus on,” he explains. “It’s
important to really bond with what the company’s
strategies are and make sure we’re thinking
that through both the immediate lens as well as
the long-range plans.”
31
www.gigabitmagazine.com

Covering every angle
in the digital age
The Business Chief platforms offer
insight on the trends influencing
C and V-level executives, telling the
stories that matter
CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE
www.businesschief.com

DIGITAL STRATEGY
34
TACKLING THE
DATA MOUNTAIN
JANUARY 2019

35
AFTER THE WHIRLWIND OF ITS
ANNUAL CONFERENCE, WE SAT
DOWN WITH TABLEAU SOFTWARE
CEO, ADAM SELIPSKY, TO LE ARN
HOW THE FIRM HAS ESTABLISHED
ITSELF AS A POWERHOUSE IN DATA
ANALYTICS IN VISUALISATION
WRITTEN BY LAURA MULLAN
www.gigabitmagazine.com

DIGITAL STRATEGY
36
He may have just touched down in London
after a transatlantic flight, but Tableau Software’s
President and CEO, Adam Selipsky,
is feeling energised. He’s made the journey not long
after Tableau’s annual conference in New Orleans
— an electrifying get-together of self-confessed
data-geeks, who are invested in what the data analytics
and visualisation firm has got up its sleeve. “It’s
not really like any other tech conference,” Selipsky
says, “You almost have to be there to really understand
it; the level of excitement and passion is incredible.
It’s not just a gathering of technology people,
it’s really a community coming together.”
To say that Tableau has a strong fan base would
be an understatement – and it has the numbers to
back this claim. Over 17,000 customers and
partners came to its conference in New Orleans
and today, the firm claims to have over 50,000
customer accounts. It also won over the backing
of Selipsky, who joined the firm just two years ago.
Before that, he had his made his mark at Amazon
Web Services (AWS), helping to grow the enterprise
from a startup to a multi-billion-dollar business and
a leader in cloud computing. “I think AWS taught me
a lot about how to scale a company,” he reflects.
“The product needs to work differently at scale, the
way you communicate internally needs to work
differently to scale, the way that you interact with
your customers and who your customers are changes
as you grow, particularly if you’re growing rapidly.”
Spending over a decade at AWS, Selipsky made
JANUARY 2019

a name for himself in the tech sphere but
what was it that won him over at Tableau?
“Despite really enjoying my time at AWS,
when this opportunity to come to Tableau
came along, it was such an exciting area
around data and analytics, such a passionate
group of customers and such a great product
that it was just irresistible to me,” he says.
“The company also has this really unusual
“It’s not just a gathering
of technology people,
it’s really a community
coming together”
—
Adam Selipsky,
CEO, Tableau
37
and unique asset – and that’s the Tableau
community. It’s an incredibly energising
group to be a part of and frankly, it’s also an
incredibly important asset for the company.
It’s not easily matched by spending money on
it. It’s something I think has been very carefully
nurtured over a great number of years.”
From Jaguar to Barclays, Aer Lingus to
Google, Tableau’s customer list makes for
impressive reading. Not only does the firm
have faithful fans, but it also has a sense of
purpose, claims Selipsky. The Seattle-head-
www.gigabitmagazine.com

DIGITAL STRATEGY
38
quartered firm was founded with the goal of
solving one of the most challenging problems
in software – making databases and spreadsheets
understandable to ordinary people.
As the proliferation of data at our
fingertips grows exponentially,
this goal could prove to be even
more vital. “Recent estimates
from the IBC suggest that
between now and 2025, the
amount of data in the world
that’s subject to analysis is going
to grow 50-fold,” notes Selipsky.
“I think a lot of organisations are
just going to get crushed under
the weight of that data whilst
many others are going to see
brand new opportunities to
develop insights and make
better decisions based on all of that data. Regardless of whether
your organisation sees data as a problem or an opportunity, there’s
an urgent need for analytical capabilities to deal with it,
and again, to make better decisions faster.”
“We talk about having the
software ‘fall away’ so
that it’s just you having
a conversation with your
data and that’s still at the
very centre of what we
do as a company”
—
Adam Selipsky,
CEO, Tableau
This is where Tableau Software has managed to carve a unique
path in the sector. By helping people see and understand data, the
firm believes the opportunities for business are endless. “Ultimately,
we use data to make better decisions faster — that’s the goal. I think
that human beings happen to interact with data very well in a visual
setting. It’s just the way we’re wired. So, if you show a human being
a sea of numbers it’s just not as meaningful as if you organised that
data visually and there are many studies that illustrate that. I think
JANUARY 2019

Tableau has gotten ahead and emerged as a
leader by taking
a very intuitive, beautiful, and highly interactive
approach to visualising data. We talk
about having the software ‘fall away’ so that
it’s just you having a conversation with your
data and that’s still at the very centre of what
we do as a company.” Whether it’s being
used to analyse energy efficiency, industrial
performance political outcomes and more,
the use of data is becoming commonplace in
almost every sector. Not only has it become
more prevalent but the wealth of information
and data on offer has also swelled. As such,
Tableau has not only focused on visualisation
and analytics but has also had to consider
other pressing questions like how society
should manage this vast amount of information?
As companies deal with more customers
who bring with them more data, it’s no longer
just a case of visualising and analytics, data
management has also emerged as a top
priority. “If we have more and more data, we
also have more and more data sources,”
Selipsky explains. “If we have thousands of
people accessing data sources in our
organisation, how do they even know what
data sources to access? How will they know
what data is available to them? There’s
a whole series of data management challenges
and that’s become a really important
39
www.gigabitmagazine.com

DIGITAL STRATEGY
40
part of what we’re enabling as well.” As such the firm
recently unveiled a new capability called Tableau
Prep, that manages data and ensures that its clean,
consistent, organised and the right data needed for
analysis.
The technology sector is famed for its ability to
morph and change in the blink of an eye and therefore,
continuous improvement has emerged as
a well-versed mantra at Tableau. For Selipsky, this
means Tableau can’t be satisfied with its current
offering and should also push itself one step further
to make the platform more intuitive, more accessible
and more user-friendly. “We’re in the age of analytic
ubiquity,” claims Selipsky. “This means analytics is
going to be used very broadly, very pervasively, by
“I think a lot of o
just going to g
the weight of
many others a
brand new op
develop insig
better decisio
—
Adam Selipsky,
CEO, Tableau
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘TABLEAU SOFTWARE - SHARE YOUR INSIGHTS
IN SECONDS’
JANUARY 2019

ganisations are
et crushed under
that data whilst
re going to see
portunities to
hts and make
ns”
knowledge workers around the world. But
then you’ve got to ask yourself: ‘what needs
to happen, what are the capabilities that
companies like Tableau need to unlock to
enable tens of thousands of users inside
a large bank or retailer to use data and
analytics?’” Tableau believes it has found
the answer: natural language processing.
Manifested in the firm’s latest roll-out called
Data Ask, this capability uses this technology
to allow everyday people to make
simple requests from their data using
everyday language.
“We want to make data and analytics
evermore intuitive, evermore natural, evermore
familiar, to the way that the human brain
already works and that’s why we’re using
natural language because it feels natural,”
explains Selipsky. “Now, instead of learning
software and understanding what dimensions
and measures are, you can simply type
a question, such as: ‘What are the most
expensive housing neighbourhoods in
London?’ Then there’s complicated
algorithms and sophisticated query parts
that goes on in the background, to render
a visualisation that is extremely relevant to
that question that you asked.” This may seem
like simple innovation but the nuts and bolts
are highly intricate. To complete this question,
the platform needs to understand what
41
www.gigabitmagazine.com

DIGITAL STRATEGY
42
‘neighbourhood’ means, what ‘London’
means, what expensive means’ and
there also needs to be a time period
specified. “Interpreting and producing
relevant results is actually very hard
work,” adds Selipsky. “This is the first
release of that capability, but I think if
we do our jobs well and we continue
to innovate in this area, I think there’s
a good chance we look back at the
release of Data Ask and say that it
was a turning point.”
Data literacy is a critical skill for the
21st century. By 2020, Gartner
predicts that 80% of organisations
will start to roll out internal data literacy
initiatives to upskill their workforce.
Wanting to stay ahead of the curve,
Tableau has launched Academics,
a programme that has so far helped
680,000 students and faculty to use
Tableau. On top of this, Tableau has
also partnered with British training
provider, AVADO, to launch apprenticeships
and training programmes in the
UK. According to a recent study by
Nesta, investment in data skills could
help boost UK productivity by 3%,
equivalent to roughly one-fifth of the
UK’s productivity gap with other G7
countries, so this programme could go
JANUARY 2019

www.gigabitmagazine.com
43

DIGITAL STRATEGY
‘By 2020, Gartner
predicts that 80%
of organisations
will start to roll out
internal data literacy
initiatives to upskill
their workforce’
44
some way to bridging this data skills
gap. “Data literacy is a big issue and
I think the apprenticeship programme
is interesting because we’ve tapped
into this growing movement and put our
resources behind it,” notes Selipsky.
“It’s a fairly new and exciting capability
and it’s being driven, nowhere faster
than in the UK.”
Tableau is a firm believer that facts
and analytical reasoning can not only
transform a business but could also
solve some of the world’s most demanding
problems. Recognising this, the firm
established the Tableau Foundation,
a philanthropic body that works with
over 5,000 organisations to provide
software, training services, and
financial support to help tackle issues
like climate action, hunger, education,
gender equality, global health, poverty
and more. “The Tableau Foundation has
committed to provide US$100mn in
software services and direct financial
support by 2025 and, to help enable
that, Tableau is making a US$25mn
equity contribution to the Tableau
Foundation,” adds Selipsky. “We’re very
committed to that mission, we’re excited
about the great work the foundation and
our partners have done together but we
think there’s still more to do.”
JANUARY 2019

Over the past decade, there’s been
a sea change when it comes to the
industry’s perception of data. Enterprises,
employers, non-profits alike are
recognising its merits and as the data
wave pushes forward, Tableau stands
set to benefit from this tailwind. For
businesses’ looking to tap into data
Selipsky’s advice is simple: get the
culture right and the sky’s the limit.
“Anytime a company talks about
change, leadership plays a crucial role
in driving it,” he observes. “I think
fundamentally it’s about setting that
direction and saying, ‘we are going to
make decisions in a way that is
different to what we have done in the
past’. I think there are some tactical
things that help make that happen:
I think the creation of centres of
excellence around data and analytics
really help to create a lightning rod for
the organisation to turn to. Overall,
providing that leadership and showing
the organisation the roadmap that
they’re going to be heading is crucial.”
45
www.gigabitmagazine.com

DIGITAL DISRUPTION
48
Mendix: Redefining
app development with
a low-code approach
As the race for software development heats up,
we speak to Chief Technology Officer, Johan den
Haan, to learn how Mendix is turning the industry
on its head with low code development
WRITTEN BY LAURA MULLAN
JANUARY 2019

www.gigabitmagazine.com
49

DIGITAL DISRUPTION
50
It’s no secret that software development is
often what separates disrupters from the
disrupted. With a few taps and swipes of
our devices we can now get a takeaway
delivered straight to our door, track where
our taxi is located or book an apartment in
the blink of an eye. Industries across the
world have been upended by software
applications and the competition for coders
is heating up. In the US, for example, the
employment of software developers is
predicted to grow 24% from 2016 to 2026,
and as firms scramble to attract talent, skill
JANUARY 2019

shortages are becoming commonplace. This
is where low-code platform, Mendix, hopes
to offer a helping hand by allowing
companies to build software at
unprecedented speed and scale.
Chief Technology Officer, Johan den Haan,
has worked at Mendix since almost its
genesis, in fact he first cut his teeth in the
company 13 years’ ago. In the beginning, he
said the firm’s biggest challenge was trying
to convince the market of merits of a new
approach to developing applications.
"Mendix has always focused on improving
how people build software: making sure that
they could do it faster, collaboratively and
with control. Yet, when we started, we really
had to convince people that they should use
cloud-based software and that they should
use digital tools rather than coding. Then
there came a market shift whereby market
analysts realised that we could no longer
deliver all the software that we need with the
existing technology approach.” Like it or not,
any company – whether it’s in financial
services, telecommunications or transportation
– is a software company, at least they
should be to compete in today’s digital age.
However, many don’t have the necessary
capacity to do so due to a chronic shortage
of coders in the market. In the UK, for
instance, a report by Tech Nation highlights
51
www.gigabitmagazine.com

DIGITAL DISRUPTION
52
that over 50% of the UK’s digital tech
businesses say they are facing
a shortage of skilled workers.
This is where low-code platforms
like Mendix offer an interesting
alternative. The idea behind it is simple:
low-code platforms allow firms to
create apps without the need to code.
Instead of writing lines of intricate
coding language, the platform uses
a more visual approach involving
drag-and-drop components and
graphics. This relieves highly-skilled
software developers so that they can
focus on more value-adding tasks,
helps firms develop vast amounts of
code quicker, and it also helps to
encourage collaboration across
departments creating what den Haan
describes as ‘BizDevOps.’ “We really
are changing the paradigm of how we
look at software development,” he
explains. “Low-code enables people to
build software up to 10 times faster
which solves part of the skills gap. You
also have greater collaboration: instead
of a programmer building the application
with input from someone in
business operations, people in the
business units can actually be part of
the development team. This is beneficial
as they’re able to bring a greater
JANUARY 2019

“We really are
changing the
paradigm of
how we look
at software
development”
—
Johan den Haan,
Chief Technology Officer, Mendix
understanding of the problem they’re trying
to solve and they can directly influence
software delivery. You could say that you
have what we call BizDevOps teams.
“That is, of course, the goal, it’s not about
technology. It’s about enabling the business
to grow faster, to reinvent itself, to add
something to the market,” he adds, pointing
out that Mendix defines itself as a ‘digital
transformation enabler.’ This may seem an
unorthodox approach to application development
but its proven to be a hit, gaining
backing from some of the sector’s most
disruptive technology behemoths. In August,
for instance, Siemens AG put its weight
behind low-code development when it
53
www.gigabitmagazine.com

DIGITAL DISRUPTION
54
acquired Mendix for US$730mn in
cash. Den Haan believes that this
signifies how low-code development is
here to stay. “It’s important to note that
Siemens is investing more into Mendix
over the next three years than they
bought the company for. This is one of
the biggest investments in the lowcode
market to date. The physical and
digital world are quickly converging,
you can no longer imagine a product or
company that doesn’t have software at
its core and I think Siemens has
recognised this. If you don't grow as a
company and become a software
company you will quickly become
irrelevant. I think that is what digital
transformation is all about – it’s about
transforming your company to
becoming a digital native.”
Take Zurich Insurance, who used
Mendix’s low-code development
platform to build a so-called ‘face
quote app’ to encourage young people
to enter the insurance market. “They
had a wild idea whereby they wanted to
allow people to take a selfie and use
artificial intelligence (AI) to identify the
age of the person so that they could
give them an age-appropriate quote.”
Using Mendix’s platform they built the
app quickly and more recently they’ve
been nominated for an innovation
award based on this application. Most
importantly though, den Haan, points
out that although Mendix is a technology
vendor, housing a technology
platform is just a small part of what it
“It’s not about
technology. It’s
about enabling
the business to
grow faster, to
reinvent itself, to
add something
to the market”
—
Johan den Haan,
Chief Technology Officer, Mendix
JANUARY 2019

does. Enabling business value is the
end goal, and it has a four-step proven
plan to make it happen. “We call it the
four P’s: portfolio, people, process and
platform,” comments den Haan. “We
also start small: we ask the company to
identify a first project application that
needs to be built and of course, we
shouldn't start with the most complex
one but start easy. Something that can
be built and delivered within 30 days.
The biggest compliment I hear from our
customers is that they say that ideas
are flowing amongst the team again
because if the first application is built in
30 days people start to think ‘well
maybe we could do this bigger project
too.’ We focus on collaboration and
make sure that the business is able to
build software that they are proud of.”
Den Haan believes that low-code
development isn’t the end of the road
for Mendix, he believes that the applications
of the future lies in AI-assisted
low-code development. “I think the next
era of applications is the smart app.
These have three characteristics – it
understands the context of the app so
where the user is located and what the
user is doing, using personal, sensor or
location data. It’s also intelligent: it uses
55
www.gigabitmagazine.com

DIGITAL DISRUPTION
56
“I think we can use
AI-assisted low code
platforms to speed
application development
by 10 times
once again”
—
Johan den Haan,
Chief Technology Officer, Mendix
JANUARY 2019

AI, machine learning and predictive
analytics to look at that context data
and to make products or recommendations
for the user. Then thirdly it will be
proactive. So instead of you, as a user,
using the application to get information,
the application will come to you.” The
software development landscape is
also leveraging the power of AI too. “I
don’t think the future of the market lies
solely in low-code platforms,” notes den
Haan. “I think it lies in AI-assisted
development, built on low code.” As a
result, the firm launched Mendix Assist,
what it touts as the first AI-assisted
development that can be built into a low
code application development platform.
Analysing anonymised applications that
have been built using Mendix, this tool
can proactively offer next-step suggestions
for developing code.
“I think we can use AI-assisted low
code platforms to can speed application
development by 10 times once
again,” he adds.
57
www.gigabitmagazine.com

TOP 10
58
JANUARY 2019

Top 10
highest valued
tech unicorns
in the world
Just like in mythical legends, unicorns in the tech
business are a rarity. In fact, last year, CB Insight
calculated that the odds of a company reaching
that coveted billion-dollar-valuation was less than
1%. We investigated the most highly valued VCbacked
tech companies, according to Pitch-
Book, to see which tech firms have beat the odds
59
WRITTEN BY LAURA MULLAN
www.gigabitmagazine.com

TOP 10
60
10
Pinterest
Launched in 2010, Pinterest Inc. has quickly risen to fame, earning
a valuation of US$12.3bn according to PitchBook. From wedding tips,
beauty inspiration or new recipes, the web and mobile app allows
users to save images and stories to virtual pinboards. Pinterest was
founded by Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp and today,
it claims to have around 250mn monthly active users.
www.pinterest.co.uk
JANUARY 2019

61
09
Pinduoduo
Valued at US$15bn, Pinduoduo is a leading Chinese e-commerce
platform which allows users to participate in group buying deals,
primarily through Tencent’s WeChat app. In January, the firm claimed
to have 114mn active users, according to Forbes. Pinduoduo was
founded in 2015 by Colin Huan and since then it has gained investments
from Tencent, Gaochun, Xintianyu respectively.
www.pinduoduo.com
www.gigabitmagazine.com

TOP 10
62
08
Toutiao
Valued at around US$20bn, Toutiao (or Jinri Toutiao) is a Beijingbased
news and information content platform. Data analytics
firm iResearch claims that Toutiao is installed on over 240mn
monthly unique devices, makes it a leading news aggregator
in China. By analysing content as well as users’ interaction with
content, Toutiao generates a unique feed list of content for each
user. In November, the six-year-old company appointed Chen
Lin as the new Chief Executive Officer of the firm. As of September
2017, Toutiao had 120mn daily active users and Pitchbook
reports that the firm is valued at US$20bn.
www.toutiao.com
JANUARY 2019

63
07
Palantir
Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Palantir is a software company
that specialises in providing big data analytics for government agencies
and private firms. The company was founded in 2004 by Peter
Thiel, former co-founder of PayPal, as well as Nathan Gettings, Joe
Lonsdale, Stephen Cohen and Alex Kar. In 2016, Palantir announced
that it had acquired Dutch data visualisation firm Silk. Today, Pitchbook
reports that Palantir is valued at approximately US$20.5bn.
www.palantir.com
www.gigabitmagazine.com

TOP 10
64
06
WeWork
WeWork is a New York-headquartered company that provides collaborative
shared working spaces. In July, the firm revealed it had
raised US$500mn from Softbank and Hony Capital to fuel the
growth of the company’s operations in China. WeWork was founded
by Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey in 2010 and figures from
Pitchbook say the company is now valued at US$21.1bn.
www.pinterest.co.uk
JANUARY 2019

65
05
SpaceX
Founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, Space Exploration Technologies
Corp., which does business as SpaceX, is an aerospace company
which designs, manufactures and launches rockets and spacecrafts.
SpaceX says it has “the ultimate goal of making life multiplanetary.”
Last year the startup noted that it had achieved 18 successful
launches —twice as many as in the previous year. SpaceX has a valuation
of around US$24.7bn according to PitchBook and its investors
include Fidelity Investments and Google.
www.spacex.com
www.gigabitmagazine.com

TOP 10
66
04
Meituan-Dianping
Headquartered in Beijing, China, Meituan-Dianping is not only the
world’s largest food delivery firm but it also operates in other verticals
such as hotels, lifestyle, ticketing and bike-sharing via Mobike.
The company was founded in 2010 by Wang Xing and now it has a
valuation of around US$30bn, according to Pitchbook. The Financial
Times reported that Meituan-Dianping had 290mn monthly active
users as of April 2018.
www.meituan.com
JANUARY 2019

03
Airbnb
Peer-to-peer home rental firm Airbnb disrupted the hospitality industry
when it was founded a decade ago and now it is the third highest
valued VC-backed tech company in the world, with a valuation of
around US$31bn. Headquartered in San Francisco, Airbnb now has
satellite offices in Dublin, London, Barcelona, Paris, Milan, Copenhagen,
Berlin, Moscow, São Paolo, Sydney and Singapore. The
company’s marketplace provides consumers with access to over 5mn
places to stay in more than 81,000 cities and 191 countries. Speaking
at the Skift global travel conference in October, Airbnb’s President of
Homes, Greg Greeley, revealed that the Californian startup has welcomed
over 400mn guest arrivals since it was first founded.
www.airbnb.co.uk
67
www.gigabitmagazine.com

TOP 10
68
02
Didi Chuxing
With a valuation of around US$56bn, Didi Chuxing has quickly positioned
itself as one of the top valued private companies in the world.
The Chinese firm has made its mark as a mobile transportation platform,
offering services for taxis, buses, car rental, bike-sharing and
more. Didi Chuxing claims to have 450mn registered users — over
half of the country’s mobile-internet users — and 21mn drivers who
provide 25mn rides per day. Two years ago, Didi Chuxing made
headlines when it acquired Uber China for an undisclosed amount.
www.didiglobal.com
JANUARY 2019

www.gigabitmagazine.com
69

TOP 10
70
JANUARY 2019

71
01
Uber
Topping the leaderboard is ride-hailing company Uber which raised
US$1.3bn in a fundraising round led by Softbank in January 2019. The
10-year-old company has grown to become the highest valued private
startup company in the world, with a valuation of around
US$69.9bn. Uber was founded by friends Travis Kalanick and Garrett
Camp almost a decade ago and now, the firm completes around
15mn trips every day. Last year, Uber calculated that it had around
16,000 employees and the San Francisco-headquartered firm is now
present in 65 countries worldwide.
www.uber.com
www.gigabitmagazine.com

EVENTS &
ASSOCIATIONS
The biggest industry events and conferences
from around the world
EDITED BY LAURA MULLAN
08–12 JANUARY 2019
Consumer Electronics
Show (CES)
[ LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, UNITED STATES ]
72
The Consumer Electronics Show
(CES) is the world’s gathering place
for all those who thrive on the business
of consumer technologies. It has
served as the proving ground for innovators
and breakthrough technologies
for 50 years — the global
stage where next-generation innovations
are introduced to the marketplace.
Owned and produced by the Consumer
Technology Association (CTA), it attracts
the world’s business leaders and pioneering
thinkers.
January’s conference will open with IBM
Chairman, President and CEO Ginni
Rometty delivering an address to discuss
how technologies such as AI and quantum,
when built on a foundation of trust
and transparency, will drastically change
business and society for the better.
Click to visit website
12–15 FEBRUARY 2019
Think 2019
[ SAN FRANCISCO ]
Giving unbridled access to experts,
customer, partners and IBM executives
from around the globe, Think
2019 is a key event for any technology
professional’s calendar. The event will
be the second-annual Think conference
and it aims to cover the breadth
and depth of technology and business
topics including cloud, artificial intelligence,
data analytics, infrastructure
and much more.
Click to visit website
JANUARY 2019

25–28 FEBRUARY 2019
MWC Barcelona
[ BARCELONA, SPAIN ]
MWC Barcelona is the world’s largest
exhibition for the mobile industry, incorporating
a thought-leadership
conference that features prominent
executives representing mobile operators,
device manufacturers, technology
providers, vendors and content owners
from across the world.
Mobile World Congress 2019 will once
again take place at its traditional Fira
Gran Via venue in Barcelona and next
year will be built around eight core topics:
Connectivity, AI, Industry 4.0, Immersive
Content, Disruptive Innovation, Digital
Wellness, Digital Trust and The Future.
Click to visit website
04–08 MARCH 2019
RSA Conference 2019
[ SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED STATES ]
RSA Conference is one of the biggest
IT security conferences in the world,
with 2019’s main event taking place in
San Francisco.
Attendees can expect to learn about the
latest cybersecurity developments in
expert-led sessions, inspiring keynotes
and in-depth seminars. They can also
demo innovative products and solutions,
network with infosec insiders and peers,
and help move the industry forward as
part of an engaged and empowered
global community.
This year’s theme is ‘Better’. According to
the RSA Conference, this means ‘working
hard to find better solutions. Making
better connections with peers from
around the world. And keeping the digital
world safe so everyone can get on with
making the real world a better place’.
Click to visit website
73
www.gigabitmagazine.com

EVENTS &
ASSOCIATIONS
74
04–06 MARCH 2019
Gartner Data & Analytics
Summit 2019
[ LONDON, UK ]
In this world of ambiguity characterized
by uncertainty, risk, doubt and
fake news, now is the time to lead with
purpose and bring clarity through data
and analytics you can rely on and, most
importantly, trust. Data and analytics
leaders are driving digital transformation,
creating monetization opportunities,
improving the customer experience
and reshaping industries. We’ll share
new strategies, guidance and best
practices to help you realize your
future - a future based on data you can
trust, agile analytics you can rely on,
and the clarity needed to empower you
with the continuous intelligence and
pervasive insights necessary to excel
in the digital economy.
Click to visit website
25 APRIL 2019
AI and Big Data
Conference 2019
[ OLYMPIA, LONDON ]
The AI & Big Data Conference & Exhibition
taking place 25-26th April 2019 at
the Olympia Grand, London and is a
showcase of next-generation technologies
and strategies from the world of
Artificial Intelligence & Big Data, an
opportunity to explore and discover the
practical and successful implementation
of AI & Big Data in driving forward
your business in 2019 and beyond.
4 co-located events. 21 conference
tracks. 12,000 attendees. 500+ speakers.
350+ exhibitors.
Click to visit website
JANUARY 2019

09–10 MAY 2019
TECHSPO Technology
Expo
[ NEW YORK, USA ]
TECHSPO Technology
Expo showcases the next
generation of technology
& innovation; Contextual
Tech, AR, VR, IoT, Wearables,
Mobile, Internet, 3D
Print & Emerging Technology,
Exhibitors have the
JUNE 2019
MoneyLIVE
Digital Banking
[ LONDON, UK ]
MoneyLIVE: Digital
Banking is the leading
25–26 JUNE 2019
Women of Silicon
Roundabout
[ LONDON, UK ]
75
opportunity to show off
digital banking confer-
Through inspirational
their companies to con-
ence for innovators
keynotes, panel discus-
sumers, the highest
across the industry. With
sions, technical classes
calibre investors, hordes
11+ hours of content
and more, the Women of
of press, the most sought-
from 40+ speakers,
Silicon Roundabout aims
after talent, and the
2018’s event tackled the
to help companies pro-
greatest pool of tech
most pressing questions
mote gender diversity
enthusiasts looking to cel-
facing the banking
and inclusion in the tech-
ebrate emerging venture.
industry today.
nology sector.
Click to visit website
Click to visit website
Click to visit website
www.gigabitmagazine.com

76
Transforming
procurement the
Fannie Mae way
WRIT TEN BY
ANDREW WOODS
PRODUCED BY
DENITRA PRICE
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
77
www.gigabitmagazine.com

FANNIE MAE
We speak to Rajeev Karmacharya,
Managing Director, Strategic Sourcing
and Category Management at Fannie
Mae, on how he aligns procurement
with business at Fannie Mae…
78
A
number of companies struggle to establish the
bridge between their business aspirations and
priorities and the procurement space. However,
procurement is undergoing a sea of change at the
moment with many businesses no longer viewing this
service as merely a back-end function. Rajeev
Karmacharya, Managing Director, Strategic Sourcing
and Category Management at Fannie Mae, sees his role
in procurement as much more business facing.
“A lot of times procurement organizations tend to be
too focused on the cost,” he explains. “However, that’s
often not what the businesses are really looking for.
Obviously everyone wants to be competitive with price,
but there’s more to be had from procurement.”
Karmacharya has over two decades of experience in
procurement, supply chain and technology roles and has
seen the procurement function evolve over time. He
worked as a management consultant for over 12 years,
including as a Principal for AT Kearney, a global management
consulting firm. He consulted for a number of
leading Fortune 500 firms where he often worked just as
closely with the CIO as the CFO. “I really got to see how
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
79
www.gigabitmagazine.com

Passion. Execution. Results.

The world of work is irreversibly changing. Never in the history
of mankind has there been a more selective workforce, borne
from a society that is more interconnected and technologically
dependent than ever before.
With millennials expected to make up 50% of the workforce by
2020, the traditional idea of a ‘workplace’ has been fundamentally
challenged and is increasingly open to interpretation.
Xyster Consulting addresses these challenges by creating Smart
Workplaces to attract and retain talented employees in a shrinking
pool, where the modern workforce demands increased flexibility,
mobility, pervasive amenities that enhance the quality of life,
and a greater focus on sustainability and employee wellness;
all in a corporate environment where security vulnerabilities
are being aggressively exploited and data privacy breaches
are rampant.
What differentiates Xyster as a Technology Consultant is our
unique understanding of corporate facilities and the important
role technology plays as an enabler of the Smart Workplace of
the future.
Please contact us to learn more about our service offerings and
how Xyster can help your organization effect change through
automation and innovation…
Our Projects
Our Services
Contact us
Visit our site

FANNIE MAE
82
the priorities and perspectives could
sometimes be different between the
two groups,” he explains.
Fannie Mae is a U.S. governmentsponsored
enterprise (GSE) that
supplies financing to mortgage
lenders. Fannie Mae celebrated its
80th birthday in 2018. Karmacharya
joined the company in 2013 and has
been working on transforming the
procurement space through a more
business-facing function rather than a
traditionally administrative process.
“When I joined Fannie Mae, we didn’t
have a category management type of
function here and what I found talking
to senior executives across the
company was that they didn’t see
value in procurement that does just
transactional work. Obviously, there
are trade-offs with minimizing cost,
minimizing risk and speed of delivery.
This interesting dynamic gave me a
perspective on how you should really
design a procurement organization.
How can a group be really effective?”
FUTURE PROCUREMENT
Fannie Mae was keen to recruit
procurement experts that could supply
$109.9bn
Approximate
revenue
1938
Year founded
7,200
Approximate number
of employees
JANUARY 2019

SUPPLY CHAIN
market insights and industry knowledge
to the organization. “Our business
stakeholders are not expecting
procurement to tell them whether they
should buy this product or that product,
but they certainly wanted us to bring in
insights as to what was happening in
the marketplace. What are the trends?
Who are the key and emerging players?
What types of innovation are happening
in the industry?
“Obviously, the transactional part is
important, as is the supplier management
and all the traditional procurement
functions, but we have moved
to a model where we are the category
experts. Our category managers
have a full understanding of their
categories, including historical spend,
contractual terms, key sourcing levers
as well as industry knowledge – more
than anyone else in the company. This
creates a partnership, and even though
the organization may change on the
business side, it enables us to provide
continuity as well as an enterprise
perspective.”
Fannie Mae’s sourcing and procurement
transformation journey is about
customer service. “For us, our internal 83
www.gigabitmagazine.com

The Procurement
Empowerment
Platform
Realize the possibilities
Supplier
Management
Sourcing
Contract
Management
Procurement
Invoicing
Strategy
& Analytics
Smart Collaborative Agile
Capacity to plan
Actionable insights at
your fingertips
Improved data quality
Effective internal &
external stakeholder
engagement
Deep, workflowenabled
collaboration
Robust program
management
Quick process /
system deployment
Easy configurability for
unique or evolving
requirements
Great experience on
any device
Learn more about the possibilities on ivalua.com

Planning a Successful
Procurement Transformation Journey
Wayne Gretzky once said that “a good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where
the puck is going to be.” The same can be said for procurement leaders planning their organizations’ digital
transformation.
At Ivalua, we’ve had the opportunity to work with hundreds of the world’s leading companies on their journeys.
The most successful have consistently been those that keep their eye on where they want their organizations to
be many years down the road and plot their course accordingly.
While people ultimately are the ones that deliver value and bring successful transformations to fruition, technology
is a critical enabler. It frees capacity, provides necessary insights, enables collaboration at scale and much more.
Successful procurement transformation journeys involve several core phases, and technology must be able to
support each one when you are ready to progress.
Typical
Objectives
Get up and running quickly
Generate ROI
Adopt industry best
practices
Digitize the full Source-to-
Pay process
Manage 100% of spend
Improve data / strategic
insights
Bing your best ideas to life
Establish agility for evolving
requirements
Technology
Requirements
Rapid deployment, adoption
& onboarding
Industry configurations
Complete suite
Unified data model
Powerful configurability
Industry-leading capabilities
Getting Started Best-in-Class Competitive Advantage
Procurement Digital Transformation Journey
If getting started, ensure technology can deliver rapid ROI and deliver best practices. But remember that even if
you are only digitizing part of your process now, when you are ready to build a truly best-in-class procurement
organization you’ll want to digitize the full Source-to-Pay process, in which case an integrated suite to automate
all activity will be needed, and a unified data model will be critical to ensuring 360 degree supplier visibility
or generating process-wide insights from the latest artificial intelligence applications. Fannie Mae was able to
onboard nearly 100% of their suppliers and achieved visibility into 100% of spend. Their team made it happen,
empowered by technology.
You should insist on best practice capabilities and configurations, but realize that as you mature you will inevitably
find that some requirements are truly unique or have evolved. Be sure your technology has the flexibility to
accommodate them through configuration. And remember that best-in-class does not create a competitive
advantage. Top talent will want to innovate and do a few strategic activities differently, better than the competition.
Technology should empower them to do so and bring their best ideas to life. Fannie Mae maintains better insight
into cyber security threats than its suppliers, so implemented a unique process to automatically notify at-risk
suppliers of threats, thereby reducing risk better than others.
Every company’s journey is unique, but
by keeping their eye on where they are
headed, procurement leaders can achieve
their goals.
To learn how Ivalua can accelerate your procurement
digital transformation, visit ivalua.com

FANNIE MAE
86
“Like many internal operations, procurement
has undergone a digital recalibration of both
its architecture, functionality and efficiency
as Big Data, machine learning and AI start
to filter into the procurement space”
—
Rajeev Karmacharya,
Managing Director, Strategic Sourcing and Category Management
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
87
www.gigabitmagazine.com

Smarter
IT sourcing
starts here
Smarter IT sourcing starts with NPI.
Our transaction-specific price
benchmark, licensing and
negotiation insights help you get
the most value out of every IT
purchase and renewal, and reduce
buying risk.
This translates into measurable
savings, greater IT flexibility and
faster purchasing cycles.
Make NPI part of your IT
procurement transformation
strategy.
NPI Services Portfolio
• Price benchmark analysis
• EA renewal optimization
• Telecom contract optimization
• License position analysis and
audit defense
• IT asset rationalization for M&A
and divestitures
• IT sourcing transformation
consulting
Our website
Contact us
Learn more at npifinancial.com.

NORTH AMERICA
CLICK TO WATCH: FANNIE MAE – NATIONAL HOMEOWNERSHIP MONTH
89
business unit stakeholders are our
customers. Some procurement
organizations don’t like to call their
internal stakeholders ‘customers’. I
think we’ve been very deliberate about
viewing our business stakeholders as
customers and really putting them at
the center of everything we do. We
seek to understand their business so
we can see it from their perspective.
We help our customers achieve market
competitive costs and help identify
and mitigate supplier risks, but our
customers’ business objectives and
priorities are at the core of what we
focus on. Sometimes, that may mean
higher cost for faster speed-to-market,
or taking on a slightly higher level of
risk. We may challenge them from time
to time if we believe that’s in their best
interest, or the company’s. Ultimately,
we want our customers to have a
positive experience in their interactions
with procurement while knowing
that we have their back. That’s the kind
of model we’re building.”
Like many internal operations,
procurement has undergone a digital
recalibration of its architecture,
functionality and efficiency as Big
www.gigabitmagazine.com

FANNIE MAE
90
“I think the
key for me is
understanding
business needs
and viewing
things from
the customer’s
perspective”
—
Rajeev Karmacharya,
Managing Director, Strategic Sourcing
and Category Management
Data, machine learning and AI technologies
start to filter into the procurement space.
“We have totally digitized contracts and can
do a lot more with contract authoring and
contract analytics, among others. We have
started to test RPA (robotic process
automation) where it makes sense – and I’ll
be honest: RPA doesn’t always make sense
for smaller scale operations, where there is a
lot more thinking versus doing. From a
business case perspective, the promised
land of true digitization is full collaboration
and transparency that enables harnessing
the full potential of technologies, such as
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
machine learning and artificial intelligence.
For our customers, that means greater
efficiency and better analytics and insights.”
A PROCUREMENT TRANSFORMATION
With any digital transformation, robust
technology solutions are key to continued
success. “If you looked at the technology
solution we had a few years ago, the context
diagram of our procurement system and
integrations was outdated. This complexity
meant higher opportunity for errors and
impacted our cycle times. We also didn’t
have a good way to tackle approvals outside
of Procurement – much of this was done via
emails and lacked consistency. We had
multiple sources of records for supplier data,
but no direct integration between contracts
and purchase as they were on different
systems. So, we needed an end-to-end
solution that was flexible to meet our unique
needs, yet scalable to handle our volume.
After assessing a number of established
players, Fannie Mae chose an innovative,
emerging supplier in source-to-pay space.
We now have a more user-friendly procurement
system that allows for integrated
requisition and contract approval workflow
and now, along with the adoption of e-signatures
and mobile approval capability, we
91
www.gigabitmagazine.com

W O R K P L A C E
click here to find out more
R E S U L T S
click here to see our projects
A well-designed space is about
more than only aesthetics. It’s
about creating an environment
as functional as it is beautiful,
flexible as it is safe, and inviting
as it is productive.
For 25 years, Bialek Environments has helped our clients to create
spaces that are more productive and inviting with full-service office
furniture, interior prefabricated construction and design services.
With clients in the commercial, education, government, and healthcare
sectors, we bring best practices and new ideas from different programs
into each client’s project. Bialek’s experienced staff of account managers,
designers, project managers, and client representatives take the
time to ask the right questions, to listen as answers are given, and
to ultimately understand your needs.
LEARN HOW WE CAN
HELP YOUR TEAM BE MORE
PRODUCTIVE AND ENGAGED.

NORTH AMERICA
have cut down cycle-time for standard
purchases by 50%.”
Karmacharya’s team utilizes an
end-to-end procurement solution
where all of the contracts are in one
contract management system. The
key metadata is captured and stored.
Contract authoring has been piloted
and the company is looking to expand
its contract authoring and contract
analytics capabilities. “Much of our
contracting work happens electronically,”
he explains. “Key contract
meta-data is captured and we utilize
e-signature for execution. We continue
to be focused on ensuring data quality,
capturing additional metadata, and
some of the innovative things you can
do with digitalization to drive efficiency.
We have full spend visibility that really
enables us to do all the associated
analytics. Catalog management and
automatic deal approval with the full
workflow is also built into the tool,
which makes the process very efficient.
Moreover, with the workflow built into
the tool, it is easier for customers to
see where things are – with increased
transparency, procurement is becoming
less of a black box.”
Karmacharya believes trusted
relationships with suppliers are equally
important to bring value to internal
customers. The team has worked
hard to build strategic partnerships
with key suppliers. “We believe
suppliers can help bring innovation
and best practices with the right
93
EXECUTIVE PROFILE
Rajeev Karmacharya
Rajeev a is Managing Director of the Strategic Sourcing
and Category Management group in Fannie Mae. Rajeev
leads a team of category management, strategic sourcing,
contracting, and supplier operations professionals. In
addition, Karmacharya currently serves in the Advisory
Board of the Sourcing Interest Group, a global industry
forum for Sourcing professionals.
www.gigabitmagazine.com

FANNIE MAE
“From a business
case perspective,
the promised land of
true digitization is full
collaboration and
transparency that
enables harnessing
the full potential of
technologies, such
as machine learning
and artificial
intelligence”
94
—
Rajeev Karmacharya,
Managing Director, Strategic Sourcing
and Category Management
partnership and accountability. For
example, we work collaboratively
with them to drive efficiency and cost
competitiveness. Annually, we work
with them to plan out future demand
so they can plan their resources
accordingly and we get the benefit
of readily available, qualified resources
in areas of our greatest need. We
also work with a company that helps
us with benchmarks, and on key
hardware and software deals, which
helps bring a unique perspective into
supplier pricing models we might not
normally have.”
Besides unit cost optimization,
Karmacharya’s team is also focused
on managing demand and seeking
out substitution opportunities. For
example, the procurement team
worked collaboratively with the
enterprise data team to manage
data purchases and allocation. Prior
to establishing an asset management
program, budget planning, forecasting
and cost allocation was challenging
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
due to the fragmented nature of the
purchase across multiple business
units. A new data management solution
enabled the company to effectively
manage its data purchases and reduce
duplicative purchases.
It’s Karmacharya’s customer service
mindset that is driving tangible value. “I
tell my team every day to think about
the value we are bringing. You can
always take the easy path, or you can
take the path that drives the most
value even though it may be a little
more difficult. Sometimes you have to
challenge your customer and say, ‘Are
you sure you want to do this? Because
here’s what the data is telling me.”
“There are valuable insights you can
draw from analysis of not just spend
and buying patterns, but also from
trends in the marketplace. What
resonates with the customers might
not be cost savings. It might be other
things you, and the customer, might
not be thinking about.”
“I think the key is understanding
business needs and viewing things
from customer’s perspective,” he adds.
“On the flip side, by having this analytical
insight you really understand what
the opportunities are and, in turn, are
better able to challenge the customer.
Do you take the easy path, the path of
least resistance, with minimal value or
would you rather be someone who is
really helping drive the business? I
choose the latter every time.”
95
www.gigabitmagazine.com

96
How BlackBerry
is undergoing
a legendary digital
transformation and
creating an inclusive
platform for women
in technology
WRIT TEN BY
LAURA MULLAN
PRODUCED BY
CRAIG DANIELS
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
97
www.gigabitmagazine.com

BLACKBERRY
Following BlackBerry’s incredible
turnaround, we talk to Neelam Sandhu,
Senior Director of Business Operations
Office of the CEO, about BlackBerry’s
reinvented focus, the fast-emerging
Enterprise of Things, and challenges
faced by women in tech
98
‘Do what you enjoy the most and you’ll
never work a day in your life’ – this
may be a well-versed platitude, but
for Neelam Sandhu it has proven to be
sound advice when navigating through
her career. She knew that she reveled
in fast-paced and dynamic environments,
that she wanted to utilize her skills in
business strategy, and most importantly
that she wanted to work for a company
for which she could be a genuine
ambassador. This inevitably led her to
the world of technology and ultimately
the doors of BlackBerry. The rest, she
says, is history.
Now, Senior Director of Business
Operations Office of the CEO at
BlackBerry, Sandhu describes her
role as one which “touches every
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
Neelam Sandhu,
Senior Director of
Business Operations,
Office of the CEO,
BlackBerry
function of the company in some
capacity”. One day she may be meeting
with government officials and customers,
the next launching a new internal
expense management system, or
executing on initiatives like the
BlackBerry Shield.
Sandhu has seemingly found her
calling in the technology sector but
unfortunately, women in this field are
increasingly rare. A report by Accenture
and non-profit Girls Who Code
noted that women account for 34% of
computing jobs today, down from 37%
in 1995. Elsewhere, in the UK, figures
from the Women’s Engineering Society
(WES) show that just 15% of people
working in STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics)
roles are women – and only 5% of
leadership positions in the technology
industry are held by women. The
statistics make for disheartening
reading, but Sandhu is optimistic that
we could see change on the horizon.
“In my career, I’ve certainly
experienced some bias from men and
women alike,” she recalls. “However,
I’ve been very fortunate that, for me,
BlackBerry has been a great place
to grow and learn and to advance my
99
www.gigabitmagazine.com

SIMPLE SOLUTIONS
FOR ANY SIZE
BUSINESS
We understand the needs of your travelling
business, no matter how big or small.
Our range of tools, services, exclusive offers,
and tailored solutions, were all designed
with the success of your business in mind.
Whether you fly a little or a lot, there’s a program
waiting to help elevate your business travel.
Find yours today at
aircanada.com/businesstravel

Celebrating Diversity
and Inclusion
RBC commends BlackBerry for their
efforts to champion and promote
women in technology. We share
their drive and desire to encourage
diversity and inclusion in the
workforce across all industries.
rbc.com
This advertisement is for informational purposes only. ® Registered trademark of Royal Bank of Canada. Used under license. © Copyright 2018. All rights reserved.

NORTH AMERICA
career, with support from both
genders. I wouldn’t be where I am
today without that support. There are
still a number of challenges that need
to be worked on in every industry, not
just in technology, when it comes to
gender diversity and equality,” she
adds. “But I think the conversation is
changing – it’s becoming less taboo
and men are getting involved in the
discussion as well, which is critical.”
One of the biggest hurdles, Sandhu
believes, lies in the lack of female role
models in male-dominated fields.
“Women don’t have those same role
models or examples as men to look up
to or emulate,” she observes. “But I do
think that's changing. For example, we
can see that two leaders of General
Motors – the CEO and the CFO – are
both women. The automotive industry
is one which is notoriously male-dominated
so we are seeing change right
there. Betty Liu is another example.
She began her career in journalism,
went on to start her own business and
now she is the Executive Vice Chairman
of the New York Stock Exchange.”
Another hurdle, Sandhu believes, lies
in education. Surveying over 2,000
A-Level and university students in the
UK, PwC found that only 3% of women
say a career in technology would be
their first choice. “We need to increase
the pipeline of women in STEM and
that starts with education,” notes Sandhu.
103
www.gigabitmagazine.com

BLACKBERRY
104
“At BlackBerry, we’re very focused on making sure that
whatever we do is positively impacting society – that’s
something that is not traditionally seen in or associated
with technology”
—
Neelam Sandhu,
Senior Director of Business Operations,
Office of the CEO, BlackBerry
“We need to work on creating an envir–
onment where women feel comfortable
learning STEM topics. Not only is
the professional environment male
dominated, but the education environment
is too. So, creating that environment
or community where women feel
comfortable in STEM is important.”
Sandhu also suggests that creating
the right messaging that appeals to
women and encourages them to get
involved in STEM could prove helpful.
“For example, at BlackBerry, we're very
focused on making sure that whatever
we do is positively impacting society
for the better – that messaging is not
traditionally seen in, or associated with,
technology,” says Sandhu. “Technology
is often seen to be a more rational,
colder environment. If we can change
the messaging to highlight the value
that technology adds to society, it will
attract more women to the sector.”
‘Impacting society for the better’: it's
an admirable statement, and it’s one
which BlackBerry is putting into practice
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
EXECUTIVE PROFILE
Neelam Sandhu
Neelam Sandhu is responsible for the operations of the CEO office,
including supporting the CEO in managing key customer and government
relationships globally, management of and content
development for internal and external engagements, and driving
strategic cross-functional projects to deliver operational efficiencies.
Neelam also manages BlackBerry’s travel strategy and operations.
Since joining BlackBerry in 2009 Neelam has held various
positions, based out of the company’s United Kingdom,
New York and California offices. Her responsibilities
have included Brand Management, Brand Messaging,
Marketing Operations, Go-To-Market for the Curve
and Porsche Design products and Corporate Strategic
Initiatives. Neelam holds a bachelor’s degree,
with honors, in Business Management, from the
University of Leicester and an Executive Certification
in Financial Analysis from the University of
California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
105
www.gigabitmagazine.com

BLACKBERRY
106
“BlackBerry represents
the ambition in diversity
and inclusion that RBC
seeks out in our business
partners, with its leaders
fundamentally recognizing
the power of humanity –
and human values – in our
tech-driven age. As a
thought leader, Neelam is
showing how this approach
is esse–ntial to ensuring
that we create technology
for good, for all of our
employees, customers,
clients and communities ”
—
Bruce Ross,
Group Head of Technology & Operations,
Royal Bank of Canada
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
ever since it shifted its roadmap following
a mammoth transformation. To say
BlackBerry has reinvented itself in the
past decade would be an understatement.
At its peak, its smartphone was
in the hands of almost every corporate
and business professional, with sales
reaching a crescendo between 2009
and 2011. As the competition heated
up, BlackBerry’s device sales slumped
and it decided it needed a new roadmap.
This is where John Chen, BlackBerry’s
current Executive Chairman and CEO,
entered the fray. A well-known turnaround
expert, Sandhu says that Chen
helped to herald in a new era for
BlackBerry. “He stabilized the company
financially and put us into growth mode.
To do that, he had to develop a strategy
which would take us into the future,”
she says. “He decided to focus on what
we do best: security and connectivity.”
Recognizing that the market was
shifting towards a software model,
Chen helped to spearhead a new chapter
in BlackBerry’s history, pivoting it
from a smartphone hardware firm to
an enterprise software and services
company. “He led the company
through a complete shift culturally,
operationally and strategically,” notes
107
www.gigabitmagazine.com

BLACKBERRY
108
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘BLACKBERRY SPARK ADVERT’
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
“At the center of financial
markets, the NYSE plays
an important role in helping
great companies such as
BlackBerry raise capital
so that they can innovate,
create jobs and drive
purposeful programs
that advance the global
workforce and the communities
around them.
We commend BlackBerry
for its work to foster the
growth of its leaders,
and we congratulate
Neelam for being a strong
role model for women
in technology”
—
Betty Liu,
Executive Vice Chairman, NYSE
109
www.gigabitmagazine.com

BLACKBERRY
110
“At KPMG, inclusion and diversity
strengthens our business, enriches our
culture and enables us to develop
relationships with our communities.
We accelerate productivity by tapping
into diverse talent and new markets.
We are proud to team with BlackBerry
in their commitment to unlocking the
power of diversity and driving innovation.
I am thrilled to recognize Neelam for
representing BlackBerry, a company
committed to supporting women in
leadership and for being recognized as
a powerful example of female empowerment
in business and technology”
—
Tony Malfara,
Partner, Risk Consulting Services, KPMG in Canada
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
Sandhu. “The future of the tech industry
and the connected world lies in software,
not in hardware, so we’ve evolved to
become a software company, focused
on connectivity and security. Chen also
identified a new market called the Enterprise
of Things (EoT) which we have
positioned ourselves to lead.”
Just as BlackBerry mobilized the
workforce with smartphones – allowing
employees to send emails on the go,
for example – so too have other
technologies and tools transformed
the way we work. As more and more
devices and tools enter the enterprise
workflow, there is a greater need to
make this workflow secure and this is
where BlackBerry is making its mark.
“The Enterprise of Things isn’t just
about the assets that your employer
provides you; the enterprise workflow
is expanding to include other Things
that aren’t provided by the enterprise.
For instance, an employee might use
a file sharing solution that isn’t provided
by their employer or a device like
an Amazon Alexa speaker. There are
more Things being connected into
daily work processes that aren’t under
the enterprise’s control. This means
that enterprises will demand BlackBer-
111
www.gigabitmagazine.com

BLACKBERRY
“BlackBerry is a company driven by strong
corporate ethics. I believe there is strength
in diversity and am committed to leading an
inclusive organization. In an increasingly
integrated world it is unification that unlocks
the power of our platform and I am proud to
be a champion for women and minorities in
technology leadership positions”
—
John Chen,
Executive Chairman & CEO, BlackBerry
112
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘BLACKBERRY WATERLOO CAMPUS’
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
113
ry-grade security for more and more
connected Things. We also expect to
see the same request from consumers,
as they become increasingly aware
of their privacy landscape and demand
greater transparency from technology
companies.”
With more endpoints comes greater
risk and this is where BlackBerry’s
expertise in security and connectivity
come into play. “Today we’re very
focused on securing all EoT endpoints
and ‘all’ is the keyword here because
we are platform agnostic in what we
do,” Sandhu explains. “We are keen
to make sure that everybody who is
connected to a ‘Thing’ is benefiting
from BlackBerry's best-in-class
security, BlackBerry's data privacy
promise, and our legacy and reliability
when it comes to connectivity too.”
The BlackBerry Spark platform is
designed to tackle the growing EoT
market. It delivers ultra-secure hyperconnectivity
from the inside out.
“There’s a scientific theory called the
‘grand unification theory’ and it states
that everything in the universe can be
www.gigabitmagazine.com

BLACKBERRY
114
brought together by a single unifying
force, and that's how we describe
BlackBerry Spark – it’s a single platform
that unifies every connected ‘Thing’
securely, reliably, with user privacy at
the forefront.”
As more hacks and cybersecurity
threats make the headlines, security
has become a pressing concern for
any firm. It’s a top priority for BlackBerry
too. Sandhu describes the firm as
one which “lives and breathes security”,
proven by the fact it works closely
with famously secure organizations like
the G7 governments, NATO, and some
of the world’s largest banks and medical
institutions. On top of this, BlackBerry
also uses its own technologies and
products, ensuring its internal security
is of the highest caliber. “We can't have
a single conversation at BlackBerry
without the word ‘security’ coming up,”
she observes. “We live and breathe
security so that the end user and the
enterprise doesn't have to worry about
it. Our security expertise has been built
into our platform since day one. It’s been
built into every layer of our solutions, from
the kernel to the edge, and so I’d say
security is definitely one of our key
competitive tenets.”
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
“As Canada’s flag carrier,
Air Canada takes pride in
projecting Canadian values
such as equality and inclusiveness
around the world
and we celebrate these
qualities every day at our
airline, as shown by the
prominent role women play
in all parts of our company.
We are always pleased when
we see other major Canadian
companies, like Black-
Berry, also promote these
values and we congratulate
Neelam on her remarkable
accomplishments”
—
Catherine Dyer,
Senior Vice-President and Chief
Information Officer, Air Canada
115
www.gigabitmagazine.com

BLACKBERRY
116
“Bell is committed to fostering
an inclusive, equitable,
and accessible workplace
that provides all team
members with the opportunity
to reach their full
potential. We are proud to
partner with BlackBerry, a
fellow Canadian company
that proudly promotes
women to key technology
leadership positions, and
congratulate Neelam on
being recognized by
Business Chief”
—
Devorah Lithwick,
Senior Vice President, Brand, Bell
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
BlackBerry’s customers seem to agree
with this sentiment. Today, BlackBerry’s
software is embedded into more
‘Things’ than it was when it had its peak
of smartphones in the market – and at
that point of time, it had the largest
smartphone share in the global market.
One of the most notable examples of
its widespread use, Sandhu points out,
is its mass notification solution called
BlackBerry AtHoc which is used by
organizations like the G7 governments
and the Red Cross, in emergency situations
like natural disasters or manmade
threat situations. “They use BlackBerry
AtHoc to collaborate and send mass
notifications or alerts to other users.
In the last year, the solution has been
used to send around half a billion
messages around the world. It enables
users to be safe in their environment
and to be warned of potentially unsafe
situations.” This clearly harks back to
the company’s core ethos of wanting
to make a positive impact on society.
BlackBerry’s turnaround is well
evidenced and, for Sandhu, it has been
thanks in part to the company’s security,
its interoperability and, most importantly,
its stance on privacy. “From the
offset, we've promised data privacy,”
117
www.gigabitmagazine.com

BLACKBERRY
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘BLACKBERRY CO–OP TESTIMONIAL’
118
she says. “We don't monetize people's
data. We believe that the data belongs
to the person that's generating it,
meaning the end user. We've had that
promise since day one and we continue
to commit to it.” This has allowed
BlackBerry to foster sincere relationships
with its users built on trust which
may have given the firm a leg up in
the sector. “People have to trust the
solutions that they're using and that's
one of the key reasons why BlackBerry
is still successful and still a key brand
name. People trust us,” she adds.
On the road ahead, BlackBerry is
keen to keep its finger on the pulse of
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
“At Sullivan and Cromwell,
we believe fostering
a diverse and inclusive work
environment is vital. I am
delighted that Neelam has
been recognized by Business
Chief as a woman
in tech leadership and we
are proud to partner with
BlackBerry, a company that
supports women in key
leadership positions”
—
Alison Ressler,
Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell and a
member of the firm’s management
committee.
119
www.gigabitmagazine.com

BLACKBERRY
120
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
“At Torys, we strive to
uphold an inclusive and
diverse workplace. The
work we do for clients is
fueled by individuals who
are empowered to bring
their best selves to work
each day. It’s great to be
able to work alongside
like-minded companies
such as BlackBerry who
share the same ethos”
—
David Chaikof,
Partner at Torys
the latest innovations in the sector –
for instance, as quantum computing
comes more commonplace, security
will have to get smarter too and so
BlackBerry has launched a new quantum
security solution to get ahead of
the curve. Most importantly though,
Sandhu points out that as the landscape
changes the firm will continue
to remain focused on the three-word
mantra which got it where it is today:
security, privacy and connectivity. “In
the future, we'll maintain our data
privacy promise and we'll continue
to come up with solutions like
BlackBerry Shield that help keep
people safe,” she says. “We'll do
whatever we can to make these
solutions available to the whole
market by remaining platform
agnostic, and we’ll try to integrate all
connected ‘Things’ into our platform.
We will continue to stay true to our
core tenets.”
121
www.gigabitmagazine.com

122
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
123
DIGITAL
DISRUPTION
IN A DATA
DRIVEN
WORLD
WRIT TEN BY
DALE BENTON
PRODUCED BY
CRAIG DANIELS
www.gigabitmagazine.com

RADIUS NETWORKS
Marc Wallace, CEO
and Co-founder of
Radius Networks, talks
digital disruption in
a data driven world
124
I
n an increasingly data driven
world, businesses are
identifying ways to unlock
new opportunities and markets as they
turn to data to reach their digitally
enabled customer bases. US-based
Radius Networks works with major
brands to capture and utilize proximitybased
data in order to reach the right
people at the right time.
As businesses continue to seek new
and more innovative ways to use data,
Radius Networks Customer Location
Platform, which includes tableside and
curbside service, asset tracking, and
proximity cloud analytics, fits right at
home in the current business landscape.
However, as co-founder and
CEO Marc Wallace explains, bringing
disruptive technologies to market is no
small feat. “The real challenge that we
faced was from an R&D perspective.
We were building a very new technol-
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
Engineer and Support meeting (left to right: Jason Wieringa, Brian Cabrera,
Bhavin Vyas, Ami Desai, Alex Stone, Sam Kim, James Nebeker)
125
Chief Technology Officer,
David Helms
ogy concept, leveraging Bluetooth or
wireless on mobile devices and this
was a very novel thing,” he explains.
“Nobody really knows how to use it or
how to implement it and that caused
teething problems.”
Having co-founded the business
with partners from previous, successful
ventures in 2011, Wallace has spent
the best part of his career in the technology
and internet space. It was through
this experience that the team saw an
opportunity in using wireless signals as
a means of engaging people on their
www.gigabitmagazine.com

BRIGHT IDEAS
CONNECTED
Increase brand perception and enhance
customer experience with data capture for
business insights and maximum profitability.
Choose Smart, Choose AOPEN.
About AOPEN:
AOPEN specializes in smart product solutions for
on-premise and cloud computing, including –
• Smart Kiosks
• Machine Vision and Data Capture
• Digital Signage
FIND OUT MORE
PROUD PARTNERS OF

NORTH AMERICA
smartphones. “You would walk into a
venue and your phone picks up a Wi-Fi
signal and we saw that you could use
that as an opportunity to engage and
say ‘welcome’ or ‘go here’,” he explains.
“That’s why we built Radius Networks.
It was all formed around that initial
concept of engaging with people based
on their location and proximity to certain
points of interest. That was the beginning
of Radius Networks.”
Over the last seven years, Radius
Networks has worked with major
brands across the US and is active
in more than 60 countries worldwide,
with more than 27 patented technology
solutions within its portfolio. The
company’s success is clear to see,
but Wallace notes that the key to that
success lies in the people involved,
as well as a smart approach to capital
investment. “Once we knew what we
EXECUTIVE PROFILE
Marc Wallace
Marc is a serial entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO
of Radius Networks, Inc., located in Washington, DC. Radius
Networks is a location technology company focused on helping
businesses locate, engage and transact with their customers.
Prior to Radius Networks, Marc co-founded several other successful
startups, such as District Taco, a Mexican-food fast
casual chain in DC, where he serves as Chairman, and Swap-
Drive (backup.com), an online backup company acquired by
the Norton division of Symantec in 2008. Before creating
SwapDrive, he served at Orbital Sciences Corporation as an
aerospace engineer and engineering manager across multiple
successful rocket and spacecraft launch campaigns. Marc
holds a B.S. in Engineering from Cornell University and a M.S.
in Information Systems from George Washington University.
127
www.gigabitmagazine.com

RADIUS NETWORKS
128
were doing we developed strong expertise in
the area,” he says, “but it took a number of
years to really get to a productization that our
customers, huge brands, could see true
value in and a return of investment (ROI).”
“The first four years of the company were
really defined by R&D, but over the last few
years we’ve moved into the operationalization
phase. We are taking a product that is
maturing and pushing it worldwide, so we
have to be able to scale it and have third
parties and partners that can sell and install
the product.”
With a career defined by technology it
would be easy for Wallace and his team to
assume that partners, suppliers and potential
customers will have the same understanding
and knowledge of innovative technologies,
but as Wallace noted previously, proximity
solutions are a very novel concept. The key
to working with stakeholders and obtaining
their ‘buy-in’ is communication and Wallace
recognises this. Radius Networks has cemented
itself within the market for a number of
years and can begin to point to successes
and tangible value that its solutions have
brought for customers. “Real dollars,” says
Wallace. “We have real dollars that our
technology can enable through efficiencies,
savings and of course drawing customers to
“We install thousands,
almost tens of thousands
of locations a year, so in
order to do that across
the world, we need
strong partnerships”
—
Marc Wallace,
CEO and Co-Founder.
Radius Networks
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘RADIUS NETWORKS —
MCDONALDS TABLE SERVICE SOLUTION’
129
Craig Brooks and Maie Lee
their stores. We also have very solid data
that can back up and highlight the ROI that
we can bring.”
Sales figures, through Quick Service
Restaurants (QSRs) or instore delivery, are
the key metrics that can speak to the impact
of Radius Networks but there are also the
less tangible metrics such as customer
satisfaction that can really be the difference.
Wallace can point to customer satisfaction
increases of close to 25% over stores that
do not use Radius Networks’ solutions from
convenience alone and that he feels is in
itself “real ROI”.
Another key metric that Radius Networks
www.gigabitmagazine.com

RADIUS NETWORKS
has been able to store is wastage.
Through its ability to pinpoint customers
and drive them through a sales
process, the company is able to help
businesses manage the process
entirely. “Let’s look at food ordering,
whether its instore or delivery,” says
Wallace. “We’re able to help a business
manage the process, drastically
cutting waste and wrong orders in half.
People are getting the right order.
They’re getting their food, not somebody
else’s food, and they’re getting it
After the customer places an order from
kiosk, mobile, or counter, the staff can view
their exact location for order delivery
DEPLOY ON RIGADO
Secure & cost-effective
IoT connectivity with
edge computing power.
Rigado powers IoT solutions at scale. Our
Cascade Gateways enable businesses
to confidently deploy and manage IoT
solutions in thousands of commercial
locations by providing the essential edge
connectivity, computing, and security
required. By partnering with Rigado for
their edge infrastructure, IoT solution
providers and systems integrators save
time, reduce risk, and lower their total
cost of ownership. Leading companies
rely on Rigado for our Commercial
Bluetooth expertise, and leverage our
unique ‘edge-as-a-service’ subscription
model to lower deployment costs.
Smart Logistics
Connected Hospitality
Smart Office
OUR SITE
CONTACT
Connected Healthcare

NORTH AMERICA
in a timely fashion so that their food
doesn’t need to be thrown away. It’s
very important, and a big ROI factor for
a lot of those businesses.”
Radius Networks is defined by data
as much as it is defined by technology,
and so the company collates and stores
mountains of data. This inevitably raises
the question of what Radius Networks
is doing with sensitive data. Wallace
says that the company saw a fork in the
road a number of years ago in the
collection of location specific data.
131
EXECUTIVE PROFILE
Dan Estrada has 20 years of start-up, technology business
development experience. He is the Chief Strategy
Officer of Radius Networks, Inc. leading the global business
strategy and expansion initiative. Prior to joining Radius
Networks, Dan successfully executed the worldwide channel
distribution strategy for cloud service start-up, SwapDrive,
from the company’s inception through its acquisition by
Symantec for $123 million. Post SwapDrive acquisition,
Dan successfully led the worldwide business development
efforts for Symantec for the launch of Norton Online
Backup, and served as VP, Business Development for
SnappCloud, a leading White Label App & Content Delivery
Platform for PC & Tablet OEMs. Dan is currently an advisor
to several early stage companies.
www.gigabitmagazine.com

RADIUS NETWORKS
132
“It can be very personalized and so we decided
very early on not to aggregate personal data
and sell it to third parties that were not related
to our clients,” he says. “We work directly with
the brands, and we will provide data back to
those brands almost on a pass-through basis
– rather than storing data long term on our
systems that are related to their customers.
“We will honor their relationship directly
with their customers. When end customers
are using our solution through one of our
clients, they can be assured that whatever
agreement they have in place from a privacy
standpoint – we honor that. That is all part of
the GDPR system, so we follow that standard.
“We like being the center
of expertise that our customers
can turn to in order to give
them an idea as to where the
wind's blowing with regards
to technology”
—
Marc Wallace,
CEO and Co-Founder.
Radius Networks
Customers can place an order while
on-the-go and opt to dine-in, pickup
in-store, or pickup curbside.
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
That’s how we operate and we don’t plan
on changing that.”
Working with clients in more than 60
countries, Wallace recognizes the importance
of a trusting client relationship and
being able to provide tailored solutions that
fit different countries and different market
dynamics and demands. To this end, Radius
Networks has dedicated teams assigned
to its biggest brand partners that work
directly with them and are “embedded on
site”. “It’s all about dedicating resources to
that client and allowing them to focus directly
on what their customer needs,” he explains.
In this regard, the way in which Radius
Networks goes above and beyond to provide
additional services and give value to the
client proves crucial. Despite its product
offering, Radius Networks is not a ‘call us if
you need us’ hardware company; it differentiates
itself in the way it provides its solutions
as a service. The company will install a
solution, provide further solutions and then
provide a service of services on that solution
ranging from maintenance, monitoring
analytics and feedback. “It’s similar to if you’re
getting cable at your house,” says Wallace.
“You get a set-top box. It’s hardware, but you’re
paying a monthly subscription for the service
that will be maintained and updated. That
133
www.gigabitmagazine.com

RADIUS NETWORKS
134
translates to real-time data that we
obtain from the field that allows us to
understand how the system is being
used and then be able to optimize other
processes around that.”
As the market leader in an everevolving
technology landscape, Radius
Networks must ensure that its offering
continues to be at the very forefront of
the latest technology trends. Wallace
says that the company’s technology
and ability to implement solutions must
always be years ahead of its customers.
When working with some of the bigger
clients in the market, whose ability to
take solutions to market is measured in
years, Radius Networks has to continuously
bring innovation to the table in
order to succeed. “We’ll work with them
and say, ‘Okay, here’s what’s next, here’s
what’s three years down the road or
five years down the road’, and bringing
it to them so that they can get it into the
pipeline early and start to mature the
product, because it will take years to
get that out,” he says.
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
With Radius Networks location
technology, the customer can simply
drive to the store and have their
groceries delivered directly to them,
no action required.
135
EXECUTIVE PROFILE
Rebecca McFarland a creative and experienced
marketing and event specialist with a honed expertise
in branding and design. She is currently the Vice President
of Marketing at Radius Networks, located in Washington,
DC. She leads all marketing initiatives, including branding,
design, product promotion, strategy, and advertising.
Prior to joining Radius Networks, Rebecca was the Head
of Marketing and Associate Publisher at Washingtonian
Magazine, where she drove profitability through new
business initiatives, multi-platform campaigns, events,
and community partnerships.
www.gigabitmagazine.com

RADIUS NETWORKS
136
“We like being the center of expertise
that our customers can turn to in order
to give them an idea where the wind’s
blowing on the technology.”
Despite considerable success over
the last seven years, Radius Networks
hasn’t been able to achieve this growth
alone and Wallace can point to key
strategic partners that the company
has worked with that have been fundamental
in allowing the company to
achieve. Radius Networks has called
upon the support of NCR, Diebold
Nixdorf, Coates Group and Fujitsu to
assist with service support and delivery.
“We install thousands, almost tens of
thousands of locations a year, so in order
to do that across the world, we need
partnerships to do that,” says Wallace.
Technology partners have also been
instrumental in enabling the rapid
development and deployment of the
products, such as AOPEN and EM
Micro. “They have been key, not only to
provide the right solution but helping
us to evolve the solution.”
Left to right: Craig Brooks, Maie Lee, Joe Grajewski,
Ken McInerney, Amanda Wilson.
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘RADIUS NETWORKS —
CUSTOMER LOCATION SOLUTION’
137
The industries of today will not be the
same as the industries of tomorrow
and technology will continue to steer
that evolution. Radius Networks must
be ready for whatever tomorrow will
bring for its clients. Wallace believes
that the hospitality market will become
key in the near future for the company
and that Radius Network’s approach
to service, as well as its experienced
team, is what will be fundamental in
order to remain as the market leader.
“If we need to react to the increasingly
varying customer demands or
requirements, we have the ability to
quickly and nimbly do that,” he says.
“We control the entire stack of our
solution and we have incredible experience
in this space. That’s a huge
advantage that we have over anybody
else that is either in the market or
trying to get into the market.”
www.gigabitmagazine.com

138
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
Truliant Federal
Credit Union
A MEMBER-CENTRIC
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
WRIT TEN BY
ANDREW WOODS
PRODUCED BY
ANDY TURNER
139
www.gigabitmagazine.com

TRULIANT FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
WE SPEAK TO CIO SANDEEP
UTHRA ON A MEMBER-
CENTRIC GOAL OF DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION THAT
IS ACCELERATING OPERA-
TIONAL EXCELLENCE AND
BUSINESS GROWTH
140
ruliant Federal Credit Union, a 66-yearold
financial institution, has a singular and
T
important mission: to improve the lives
of its members. According to Sandeep Uthra,
Truliant’s chief information officer, the credit union
focuses on helping members make decisions that
improve and help manage their financial lives.
Unlike for-profit financial institutions, Truliant
stays away from pushing products on its members.
“We are a different kind of company,” he says.
Truliant has 230,000 members and assets in
excess of $2.3bn and provides individuals and
small businesses with products, services and
guidance to reach their ‘life’s goals’, including
checking accounts, online and app banking, auto
buying, certificates and business/financial advice,
and auto and home loans. According to Uthra,
Truliant’s USP is its member-centric approach.
“First and foremost, we are a not-for-profit organization,”
Uthra said. “That’s the biggest difference
between us and other banking institutions.
But, more so, our goal is to improve each of our
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
141
www.gigabitmagazine.com

TRULIANT FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
Hybrid IT Solutions
Colocation Cloud Connectivity Managed
Solutions
Professional
Services
41 data center campuses. One dependable network.
888.552.FLEX
Flexential.com
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
143
“OUR CEO AND PRESIDENT
TRULY UNDERSTAND HOW
TECHNOLOGY’S GOING
TO REALLY HELP TAKE
US FORWARD IN MEMBER
SERVICE”
—
Sandeep Uthra
CIO, Truliant Federal
Credit Union
members’ lives, by working as trusted partner
or provider of the right guidance to achieve
their financial aims,” Uthra explains.
“While traditional banking is more about rates
and fees, all of our products and policies are
consumer, not market, driven. We put people
before profit. We are member-centric. We’re
not just here to make money. This helps our
members create financial security within their
own aspirations. ”
IN THE BEGINNING
Uthra joined Truliant in late 2016 as CIO.
He was charged with helping shepherd the
www.gigabitmagazine.com

TRULIANT FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
144
EXECUTIVE PROFILE
Sandeep Uthra
Sandeep has over 20 years of experience developing and executing
information technology (IT) strategies, including serving in executive
roles in the financial services space.
A native of New Delhi, India, Mr. Uthra has served in global
IT leadership roles in product, consulting and financial
corporations in Asia, Africa and the United States. Most
notably, Mr. Uthra was Senior Vice President, Business
Solutions Technology Executive at Bank of America.
He leads Truliant’s Enterprise Service Delivery, Enterprise
Architecture, Application Development, Systems
Operations, Technology Support Services, Infrastructure
Services, Information Security, and
Telecommunications teams.
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
145
strategic direction for Truliant’s overall
technology landscape and to help
drive its technology transformation.
“As a trusted advisor in the company,
I needed to get us to a point where
we better understood business and
members’ needs as per our company’s
objectives.”
Uthra’s highly strategic role was to
help develop a roadmap that would
achieve Truliant’s business plans by
leveraging technology. “As part of the
Chief Planning Team, I’ve worked hard
to understand business needs as well
as those of our members with technological
solutions to achieve those goals.
We really tailor our offerings as per our
members’ needs to provide a top-notch
member service.” Truliant targets
locations where they are needed most
and still operates a traditional guidancebased
approach. “We’re very big on
face-to-face interactions. We don’t
want to remove the humanity in front of
us. We will always keep face-to-face
interactions.”
THE HUMAN TOUCH
While human-centric guidance is at the
heart of Truliant’s approach, it is adopting
www.gigabitmagazine.com

TRULIANT FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
146
“I HAVE OTHER
COMPANIES LIKE
MERIDIANLINK WHO
SUPPORT US FROM
A LENDING PLATFORM
STANDPOINT AND
THEN SECURITY
PARTNERS SUCH AS
FLEXENTIAL WHO
PROVIDES HOSTING
CAPABILITY”
—
Sandeep Uthra
CIO, Truliant Federal
Credit Union
more technologically advanced processes
to better prepare for the future of banking.
“Members are changing the way they interact
with financial institutions,” he explains. “I think
we all know that these days people compare
our sector with companies like Amazon, right?
They want us to be simple and nimble – like
shopping on Amazon. This demand is driving
us to create a simpler, more nimble and
innovative personalization for all members.
The consumer experience is king.”
“On the other hand, data is at the consumer’s
fingertips from many external sources to
compare product or services so they are well
informed. It is in our best interest to know
consumers’ personalized needs in a faster
and agile way, to provide them with the best
in-class experience. To make all this happen,
we have focused on technology architecture,
because speed is the new currency in
financial institutions.
These days, technology architecture must
be simple enough to support integrated
channels and with an alignment of data to
understand or predict members’ needs.
“Simplification and Personalization is the
game here,” Uthra explains. “Financial
institutions should work to simplify their
technology landscape and leverage microservices
or APIs (application programming
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
CLICK TO WATCH: USING THE TRU2GO APP
147
interfaces), to support faster and more
nimble integration with cutting-edge
products and services.”
DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS
When Uthra joined Truliant Federal
Credit Union, he hired an enterprise
architect to help build out business
technology ecosystems to understand
dynamics around business units,
functions, processes and underlying
technology. He then sat with internal
teams and critical partners to identify
friction between those ecosystem
constructs. This resulted in a maturity
index of processes and technology,
which gave Truliant a direction for
future investment to achieve its goal of
simplification and optimization of the
members’ journeys/interactions. “Our
vision is to enable consumers of our
technology with a simple, faster and
personalized experience. “Our CEO
and President truly understand how
technology’s going to really help take
us forward in the personalized member
service.
“We know that it’s important to adapt
and evolve quickly in line with the
fast-paced changes in today’s financial
www.gigabitmagazine.com

TRULIANT FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
148
services landscape. Our goal is to create
an impactful, best-in-class digital journey
that is both dynamic and personal, and
maintains an authentic human connection,”
says Truliant President Todd Hall.
The other important factor in Truliant’s
technology transformation is partnership
with fintechs and product companies
for technology transformation.
“Our strategic partners support us to
achieve our vision. Companies like Fiserv
who support our core banking
platform perspective. MeridianLink
provides lending capabilities and
Flexential provides hosting capability.
Veristor enables us with virtualized
environment, to aid better manageability
and performance and security of
infrastructure – because it’s not just
about spending or investing in infrastructure,
it’s more about how to optimize
that in terms of performance and security.
Palo Alto Network really helped us to
safeguard our technology and infrastructure
and Secureworks provides
information security capabilities.”
FUTURE TRENDS
For Uthra, the future of the industry lies
in ecosystem-driven personalization.
“I see these three things happening in
the near future: simpler, faster and
personalization. If I’m a member, and
I need a home, normally I would reach
out to a realtor or a mortgage or lending
company. We reach out to the builder
and to many other folks to achieve that
goal for our family. But an ecosystem
approach asks: ‘Why can’t we bring all
these kinds of players into same
ecosystem and make it happen? So, as
a customer or a member, I will just reach
out to a bank or financial institution like
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
34
Number of office
locations
$2.3bn
Approximate
value of assets
1952
Year founded
149
Truliant and say, ‘I need a home.’”
Uthra also sees increasing leverage
of APIs for greater integration in sector
technology with many third-party or
indirect product companies. I see
artificial intelligence and data playing
a big role. Data is going to provide
integration value because it will predict
and say what our customers or members
are asking and at what point in time.
“I take pride in leading this vision
because of our people and culture. I’m
really fortunate to feel that I’m part of
this high technology team that brings
those kinds of innovations together.”
www.gigabitmagazine.com

150
Changing
mindsets
through
technology
transformation
WRIT TEN BY
SEAN GALEA-PACE
PRODUCED BY
ANDY TURNER
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
151
www.gigabitmagazine.com

BRAY INTERNATIONAL, INC.
Brindesh Dhruva, Chief
Technology Officer of
Bray International, discusses
the company’s ongoing
technology journey
152
ray International, Inc. was founded in
B
1986 with a customer-centric objective
to become the preferred flow control
partner. Bray’s global footprint and distribution
networks, along with a comprehensive line of
innovative flow control solutions, has enabled us
to become an international industry leader.
Thanks to unrelenting commitment to quality and
customer service, clients around the world have
made Bray their trusted partner. After 30 plus
years, Bray’s focus hasn’t changed. Bray International,
Inc. remains your local flow control partner
with a global reach.
Our customers face the day-to-day prospect of
operating in increasingly extreme conditions in a
safe and environmentally responsible way. The
product technologies and solutions that we offer
must maintain pace with these demands,” states
Brindesh Dhruva, Chief Technology Officer. Since
joining Bray International in early 2013, he has
been tasked with steering the company’s technology
transformation, creating innovative solutions
and products that its customers can rely on.
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
Raymond Technical Center
153
CAD design facilities
Holding a Doctorate from Yale in Engineering
and having previously worked in the
Upstream O&G Industry for over 13 years
across a variety of roles such as Marketing
& Technology Manager prior to joining
Bray, Dhruva believes his early engineering
experiences in developing products with a
high demand on reliability and performance
helps him in his current role as CTO of Bray.
“Over the past several years we have been
able to develop world-class solutions and
products. In doing so, we have utilized, for
example, additive manufacturing techniques
for control valve applications and smart sen-
www.gigabitmagazine.com

F31K2―Valve
Position
Sensing with a
Global View
Dual inductive sensors in one direct-mount, modular assembly
Hazardous-area certification for UL Class I/Div. 1 and ATEX Ex i Zone 0/20
Alternative to traditional switch box systems
Available DC 2-wire, low leakage current option for direct PLC/DCS connection
www.pepperl-fuchs.com/F31K2
“It’s about putting
together a global
team that has the right
capabilities and infrastructure
that allows
us to develop, validate
and produce products
that exceed customer
expectations”
—
Brindesh Dhruva,
Chief Technology Officer of Bray International
sors to develop real-time monitoring.”
Just over 30 years ago, the Founders
of the company – Craig Brown
and Frank Raymond revolutionized
the global rotary flow control market.
Today, Bray provides global distribution
and manufacturing with locally available
service and expertise for a variety
of flow control products. Bray’s products
have extensive application in a
wide range of critical services. These
include butterfly valves in cryogenic
conditions for an LNG application
to Severe Service Ball Valves in very
high temperature & corrosive condi-
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
Bray USA Facility
155
EXECUTIVE PROFILE
Brindesh Dhruva
Brindesh is currently Chief Technology Officer
for Bray Internationals Inc., responsible for Global
R&D and Product Management. Brindesh holds a
Ph.D. in Engineering & Applied Sciences from Yale
University and has over 20 years of experience
in Technology & Marketing developing high-tier
products and delivering commercial success.
www.gigabitmagazine.com

BRAY INTERNATIONAL, INC.
“As long as we understand our customer’s
needs and as long as we understand the
moving technology pieces, we will continue
to grow as the technology partner of choice”
—
Brindesh Dhruva,
Chief Technology Officer of Bray International
156
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
tions in a refinery application. Bray’s
extensive product portfolio includes
resilient seated and high-performance
butterfly valves, critical service triple
offset valves, floating and trunnion
ball valves, metal seated ball valves,
actuators, and control accessories
to enable smart technology. The application
of this portfolio is even more
diverse and includes circulating water,
flue gas desulfurization, demineralized
water, fuel oil (fire safe), service water,
steam, fuel gas, potable water, water/
glycol, and various other compounds.
Such rapid progress has been the
result of Bray’s commitment to its research
& development (R&D) and operations
in the US, India and China where
its main Manufacturing, Engineering
and R&D Labs are located. Expanding
similar capabilities in Latin America,
Europe and Australia has also been an
integral part of Bray’s growth. It’s this
visionary commitment, which Dhruva
affirms, has been important in building
the foundations for long-term success.
“Over the last several years we have
reinforced the right technical teams
by strengthening the link between
manufacturing, engineering and
sales. We have also reinforced the
157
www.gigabitmagazine.com

BRAY INTERNATIONAL, INC.
158
“I’m a firm
believer that
good product
introduction
doesn’t happen
accidentally.
It comes as a
result of a very
deliberate
approach
of bringing
products to
market”
—
Brindesh Dhruva,
Chief Technology Officer
of Bray International
right product development process which
starts with the voice of our customers and
ends with their satisfaction. It’s about putting
together a global team that has the right
capabilities and infrastructure that allows
us to develop, validate and produce products
that exceed customer expectations in
terms of reliability and performance,” says
Dhruva. “That’s the way we operate! That’s
what defines the products, technologies and
services we aspire to continuously provide.”
Indeed, Bray continues to evolve and has
transformed itself into a technology company
that can deliver highly customized, highly
engineered products and services for a wide
range of severe applications. Dhruva points
out that these types of transformations start
at the top and percolate down. “Bray has a
rich history, full of achievements, which we are
all very proud of, but the Founders of the company
continue to see an even brighter future
in terms of growth and technology innovation.”
INTRODUCING NEW PRODUCTS TO MARKET
Recent technical and commercial successes
include Tri Lok – Triple Offset Butterfly Valve,
Series 98 Scotch Yoke Pneumatic Actuator,
M1 Severe Service Ball Valve, S19 Segmented
Control Valve and numerous other valves, actuators
and controls accessories. The product
capabilities along with global Applications
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
CLICK TO WATCH: WORKING FOR BRAY INTERNATIONAL
159
Engineers that understand the customer’s
challenges enable Bray to provide
not just good products, but good
solutions for our customer’s needs.
The technical success of our products
relies heavily on the design and
validation steps within the Bray Product
Development Process all of which
conform to ISO 9001 standards. Bray’s
Global Technology presence spans
multiple R&D locations around the
world including India, UK, Brazil and
in Houston’s Bray Raymond Technology
Center – proudly named after one
of its founders, Frank Raymond. The
design decisions at Bray are made in
line with customer requirements and
with product reliability, manufacturability
and product cost in mind. “Our
Engineers must understand the difference
between investment casting
and sand casting…and they must
understand how tight tolerances and
surface finish requirements impact
manufacturability (costs) just as much
as product performance” says Dhruva.
The qualification of products program
includes not only design validation
but also validation of the manufacturing
process to be able to produce
www.gigabitmagazine.com

BRAY INTERNATIONAL, INC.
160
“It’s important we keep
up with what our
customers face today,
but also respond to the
technology trends in
the industry that will
take them to the next
level tomorrow”
—
Brindesh Dhruva,
Chief Technology Officer of Bray International
product with consistent high quality.
Commercial success doesn’t come
serendipitously, even for great products.
It begins during the early phases
of a product development process in
identifying customer needs, getting
their input & influence into the design
process and ensuring good market
introduction. “I’m a firm believer that
good product introduction doesn’t
happen accidentally. It comes as a
result of a very deliberate approach of
bringing products to market,” explains
Dhruva. “That means we engage our
customers very early on during development
to ensure we get the requirements
right. It means we understand
the voice of the customer, the customer’s
needs and then incorporate those
findings into our product requirements
and our service & sales organization.”
With industry 4.0 driving the manufacturing
industry forward, companies
such as Bray rely on innovation and the
ability to understand the latest trends
to leverage & provide products & solutions.
“It’s important we keep up with
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
161
www.gigabitmagazine.com

BRAY INTERNATIONAL, INC.
1986
Year founded
2,500
Approximate number
of employees
162
what our customers face today, but
also respond to the technology trends
in the industry that will take them to
the next level tomorrow. There are
two examples that I would highlight
here. One is on additive manufacturing
where we’ve worked through a super
partnership to 3D-Print metal components
in a control valve application to
significantly improve flow performance
by incorporating design features that
aren’t possible with traditional casting
and forging processes.” says Dhruva.
“The second example involves devel-
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
163
oping predictive monitoring with near
real-time measurements on valves
that will provide performance diagnosis
in a proactive and predictive way.”
FUTURE PLANS
With Bray several years into their
technology transformation journey,
Dhruva believes the company’s ability
to quickly evolve to address the
growing market needs and leverage
technology trends is key to continued
and sustainable growth.
“As long as we understand our
customer’s needs and as long as we
understand the moving technology
pieces, we will continue to grow as the
technology partner of choice. Bray
has the people, processes and the
technology infrastructure to meet our
customer’s most difficult needs.”
www.gigabitmagazine.com

164
JOHNSON BROTHERS
Enabling organic
growth through digital
transformation
WRIT TEN BY
CATHERINE STURMAN
PRODUCED BY
ANDY TURNER
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
165
www.gigabitmagazine.com

JOHNSON BROTHERS
In the alcohol distribution
business for over 65 years,
Johnson Brothers has built
a digitally enabled workforce
that delivers outstanding
customer service each and
every time
166
lcohol is big business. Amounting to more
A
than 16% of total beverage volume across
the US, total alcoholic beverage sales
in 2017 exceeded US$234.4bn, a figure which
continues to rise. While beer remains a key staple
with 185.57mn barrels produced in the US in 2017,
demand for wine and spirits is also on an upward
trajectory. As US consumers continue to drive up
sales across the industry, opportunities have ascended
for strong, market-savvy players to take full advantage
and transform their service offerings.
Providing exceptional services to its customers and
supplier partners since 1953, wine, spirits and beer
distributor Johnson Brothers has a long-term vision
to leverage their longstanding values of excellence
and team work to drive innovation as it enters new
markets. Proud of its strong heritage in Minnesota,
the business has acquired a number of businesses,
launched a new distribution center and strengthened
its supplier relationships as part of its ongoing
strategy to enable organic customer growth.
Our warehouse and
delivery team members
use technology to sort
and manage product
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
167
www.gigabitmagazine.com

JOHNSON BROTHERS LIQUOR COMPANY
Empower world-class field team
execution with one app.
We partner with 200+ enterprise brands to drive digital transformation,
improve the customer experience, and increase profitability. Hundreds
of thousands of users have executed 30M field initiatives worldwide–
perfecting merchandising, driving sales, and delivering efficiencies–all
from their mobile device. We empower teams to take optimal action at all
levels of the business in real-time.
World-class leaders trust GoSpotCheck to help them:
Increase Sales Drive Accountability Grow Market Share
• 70 countries (Africa, Americas,
Australia, Asia, Europe)
• SSO-enabled
• Image recognition
• Industry-leading data security
• Fully available offline
• Full integration capabilities:
SalesForce, ERP, CRM
• Extreme ease in implementation
• Turnkey tech stack tool
• Live Customer Support 7-days a
week, based in Denver, CO
Deliver Real Results
sales@gospotcheck.com
(844) 359-2502
gospotcheck.com
IT TRANSFORMER
& CULINARY
TRAILBLAZER
YOU are a chief change agent.
You triumph over the trauma of IT
transformation as you integrate
legacy IT with the latest hybrid cloud
technologies to drive your digital
initiatives. But transformation can
be risky and complex.
WE are Sungard Availability Services.
We help transform IT and deliver
resilient, recoverable production
environments — enabling IT
transformers to reap the value of
digital innovation as they take on
the forces of change every day.
Lead with resilience at www.sungardas.com.
Transforming IT for Resilient Business TM
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
A Johnson Brothers truck
in front of our warehouse
169
Michael Johnson, Chief Executive
Officer, and Todd Johnson, Chief
Operating Officer are the Johnson
Brothers who run the company that
was founded by their father Lynn.
Todd describes how technology
strategy will enable growth, “My dad
started the company in 1953. He
bought a used truck, rented a small
warehouse and opened his doors for
business. There was no technology
back then – everything was done by
hand. Over the next 65 years, we’ve
grown across multiple states and
developed partnerships with some
of the best suppliers and customers
in our industry. Today, technology is
critical to our business, from providing
tools to our sales consultants, sharing
market trends with our customers, as
well as improving the efficiency of our
distribution operations.”
Bringing this strategy to fruition at
Johnson Brothers is Vice President of
IT, Tim Dokken. Working for established
Fortune 500 organizations, such as
American Express Global, Thrivent
Financial and Merrill Corporation, with
a career spanning accounting, finance,
consulting and all aspects of technol-
www.gigabitmagazine.com

JOHNSON BROTHERS
Warehouse employee
filling customer orders
170
EXECUTIVE PROFILE
Tim Dokken
Tim is a passionate, senior technology executive with
over 24 years of financial services experience, delivering
solutions to businesses and consumers globally. He is
currently serving as the Vice President — Information
Technology at Johnson Brothers in St. Paul, MN.
Previously, he was the Chief Technology Officer of
LiveGiveSave, Inc., whose mission is to help people
through their everyday spending to effortlessly give to
causes they care about and save for their future.
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
“The focus was to support
the infrastructure
side: our data centers,
servers, all of our
networking, end user
computing, IT service
delivery, etc. It’s really
the operational side
of IT”
—
Tim Dokken,
Vice President of Information Technology
171
ogy including leading large IT modernization
programs, as well as launching
a technology start up. Dokken’s passion
to develop companies from the ground
up led him to join Johnson Brothers.
“The focus was to support the infrastructure
side: our data centers, servers,
all of our networking, end user computing,
IT service delivery, etc. It’s really the
operational side of IT. Everything that
all the applications and data run on,
that’s what I own,” he says.
“A lot has changed in the last year.
We’re moving to a brand-new data
center which will go live in January
with an entirely new production
environment. That’s literally from the
ground up. Storage, compute, networking,
plus we’ve implemented a
new IBM Power Series for our ERP
system. We have experienced a
dramatic amount of growth in the last
year and part of what we’re doing is
to prepare the organization for future
growth and ensure that technology
is an enabler and not a barrier.”
www.gigabitmagazine.com

JOHNSON BROTHERS
“Our new production
environment is at
least 10-20x faster
to accommodate for
growth and the
ability to process
more business”
—
Tim Dokken,
Vice President of
Information Technology
172
Moving what had previously filled
an entire room in its former data center
onto two racks in its new environment,
Johnson Brothers has invested in a
hyper-converged infrastructure, and
has embedded cutting-edge technologies,
whether compute, all flash
storage, unified backup or network,
including a full SD-WAN. The company
has developed strong relationships
with Dell, Nutanix, Datatrend and
others in turning its three-tier architecture
into a state of the art hyperconverged
infrastructure, delivering
optimal compute and storage capacity,
and most importantly, speed.
“Our new production environment is
at least 10-20x faster to accommodate
for growth and the ability to process
more business. For example, our
backups for our ERP system used to run
all night long on Sunday night and take
everything offline. Now we’re down to
less than two hours and that’s not even
on our new IBM Power 9 Server yet,”
adds Dokken.
The complete modernization of its
technology stack remains an important
part of its strategy, leading Johnson
Brothers to leverage the capabilities
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
173
of its vendors. Putting workloads into
Azure for sales applications and
Amazon Web Services (AWS) for
offsite storage, the business has
sought to ensure both resiliency and
redundancy, as well as recoverability
through offsite data storage. Investing
in Microsoft’s entire suite of security
tools and capabilities, as well as
third party products such as Cylance
has also formed part of its ‘defense
in depth’ strategy. All of this has
worked to support Dokken and his
team adhering to its internal slogan:
‘Always on, Always fast, Always secure.’
Cloud technology has also been
adopted to support both local and
remote workers as the business continues
to expand, becoming one of the
fastest and most vital investments
across the business. Utilizing sales
tools and platforms from Inventive
and Dimensional Insights has enabled
our mobile Salesforce to effectively
serve our customers.
“Cloud has remained a key strategy
for growth, where our sales team are
now entirely cloud enabled, running
all data and applications through both
computers and iPads.” Promoting full
www.gigabitmagazine.com

JOHNSON BROTHERS
174
COMPANY FACTS
• Amounting to more than
16% of total beverage volume
across the US, total alcoholic
beverage sales in 2017
exceeded US$234.4bn
• Johnson Brothers has
invested in a hyper-converged
infrastructure,
utilized solid state storage
and has embedded cuttingedge
technologies
• The company has developed
strong relationships
with Dell, Lenovo, Nutanix
and others, turning its threetier
architecture into a
hyper-converged
infrastructure
• Putting workloads into
Azure and Amazon Web Services
(AWS) for offsite
storage, the business has
sought to ensure both resiliency
and redundancy, as
well as recoverability
through offsite data storage
Technology improves efficiency and
monitors processes in our warehouses
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
November 2018 charity food packing event where 70 employees
packed more than 21,000 meals for local children and families
175
accessibility for customers who wish
to speak to the sales team, anytime,
anywhere will allow the business to
deliver services in a rapid fashion,
removing the constraints of an onsite
data center.
“We’re expanding many of our
applications, so our core systems are
cloud delivered versus having to host
those in our data center. That frees
up our team to focus on the systems
which really drive business value. On
the corporate systems, it’s a way to
make sure that our resources can focus
on what creates the most business
value and leaves the other things to
the SaaS providers,” explains Dokken.
Nonetheless, the most important
investment throughout the digital
transformation of Johnson Brothers
has been its team. The decision to
move away from legacy technologies,
overhaul the entire production environment,
move to a new data center and
rebuild the network has been met with
excitement, and provided new opportunities
for the personal and professional
growth for team members.
www.gigabitmagazine.com

JOHNSON BROTHERS
176
St. Paul Warehouse and Headquarters
“My focus is to continue
creating opportunities
for the team. If I’m gone
tomorrow, my objective
as a leader is that they
will be self-sufficient and
will provide a seamless
service the business can
be proud of”
—
Tim Dokken,
Vice President of
Information Technology
“The team are the ones doing the
heavy lifting; the most significant role
I’ve played is to really clear the deck.
I saw an opportunity and helped craft
a vision, but the team is responsible for
its success, looking at how to achieve
this vision, the technology to use, as
well as evaluating things like ‘what
should our recovery strategy look like’
and ‘what data center should we run
out of?’ So, they’ve been instrumental
in these decisions, which has been
very engaging and motivating. My team
JANUARY 2019

NORTH AMERICA
is really proud of their work,” he states
with pride.
Making a conscious decision
to partner with a consulting firm or
provider has also proven advantageous
in enabling employees to work
on systems and technologies that
drive the most business value without
burdening the team and has allowed
the company to reach some of its key
goals in a shorter amount of time. “In
terms of core engineers, I have a small
team so we have to supplement that
with outside resources. At the same
time, making sure our employees get
to work on the high-quality work is
a core strategy.”
Dokken went on to say, “My focus
is to continue creating opportunities
for the team. If I’m gone tomorrow, my
objective as a leader is that they will
be self-sufficient and will provide a
seamless service the business can
be proud of. The team can pick up the
ball, move forward, are enabled and
ready, and are open to new opportunities
to take the business forward.”
Clearly demonstrating that technology
is an enabler and not a barrier
at Johnson Brothers, Dokken remains
keen to promote its internal slogan
‘Always on, Always fast, Always
Secure’, which will see the business
reach new heights in the upcoming
years and ensure its longevity and
competitiveness across the industry.
“As we continue to grow, we are
thrilled that our IT infrastructure is
ready to support our business and be
a key part of our company’s success,”
added Johnson.
177
www.gigabitmagazine.com

JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
179
Blending world-class
digital transformation
and science
WRIT TEN BY
LAURA MULLAN
PRODUCED BY
LEWIS VAUGHAN
www.gigabitmagazine.com

MET OFFICE
Blending scientific expertise
and technological prowess,
the Met Office’s latest digital
transformation is showing its
peers how it’s done
180
In the ‘60s, George Moore made a prediction that
would set the pace of today's digital revolution. In
a theory commonly dubbed as Moore’s Law, he
forecast that the overall processing power of
computers will double every two years or so. For
the Met Office – the United Kingdom’s national
weather service and climate agency – this prediction
has proven to be a pertinent one. Processing vast
amounts of climate and weather data from across
the globe, Charles Ewen, CIO at the Met Office says
that IT plays a critical role at the organisation, noting
that his team aim to “provide world-class technology
to support world-leading science”.
Without computers, weather forecasting as we
know it would simply be impossible. Technology
has played a pivotal role in understanding the weather
for decades. In the 50s, the Met Office acquired its
first electrical desk calculator and fast forward to
today and the organisation have implemented the
Cray XC40 supercomputer, or High-Performance
Computer (HPC). At around 15 times the size of its
predecessor, this mammoth machine is one of the
most powerful supercomputers in the world, capable
of completing 14,000trn calculations per second.
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
181
www.gigabitmagazine.com

IDEAS.
UNLIMITED.
At Cray, we help companies bring their
vision of tomorrow to life with powerful
supercomputing solutions. Our customers
are doing things like transforming ocean
waves into energy, fighting famine in
East Africa, and modernizing air travel
with more efficient engines.
We believe the future isn’t somewhere
you go, it’s something you build. Together.
Find out what tomorrow could bring for
your business at cray.com/creativity

EUROPE
“We provide worldclass
technology
to support worldleading
science”
—
Charles Ewen,
Chief Information Officer, Met Office
183
Ewen says that this supercomputer
is instrumental in weather forecasting
and climate prediction by making it
possible to increase fidelity and resolution
and provide more complete Earth
System models. “The supercomputer
contributes an awful lot because you
can run models at finer resolutions with
a lot more complexity,” he says. “They
take into account more of the physics
and chemistry that is involved and you
can operate them over longer timescales
and run simulations more frequently.
We can also run the same model
a number of times with some different
assumptions and from that we can
provide information about probabilities
and likelihoods.”
Weather forecasting, Ewen explains,
is an intricate balance of science and
technology on a vast scale. At the Met
Office, the organisation has been using
innovations like data analytics for
decades. “We’ve been working with
data analytics at a large scale for many
years although we typically don’t call
these roles ‘data analysts’,” affirms
Ewen. “We have chief meteorologists,
for example, and their job is to look at
what the computer simulations say and
www.gigabitmagazine.com

MET OFFICE
have some type of qualitative, contextual
or impact assessment of what that
data means. Our team have a unique
blend of skills in data science, statistics,
computer programming and more.”
The sheer size of the Met Office’s
data pool cannot be overstated and
as a result, the organisation shrewdly
decided to shift to the cloud, partnering
with technology giants such as
Amazon Web Services, Google and
Microsoft. “It’s still a journey,” reflects
Ewen. “We certainly recognise that the
move to the cloud gives us a combination
of scale, elasticity, affordability and the
capability that we need to support our
world-class science teams.” Right now,
the cloud does not fulfil the needs of its
184
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘WHY DO WE NAME STORMS?’
185
core simulations however as Ewen
comments, “there is a lot of technology
needed to convert those core simulations
into the thousands of contextual
forecasts and services that we produce
every day”.
One of the most fundamental items
in the Met Office’s toolkit is its simulations.
Complex and state-of-the-art,
this technology applies scientific
knowledge to predict future atmospheric
conditions across the globe
using observations of the current
weather captured from land, at sea,
in the air, and from space. Ewen likens
www.gigabitmagazine.com

MET OFFICE
186
this to predicting a coin toss. Based
on averages or statistics, you could
contend that it’s a 50/50 chance that
it will be either heads or tails, whereas
the Met Office is trying accurately to
simulate what side the coin will land on.
“A statistical approach to weather
forecasting doesn't give you the infor–
mation you need because you want to
know about anomalies, you want to
know about extreme weather and you
want to know about intensity. You don't
want to know about averages. Essentially
that is what the climate analysis
tells you but a weather forecast is about
the specifics of a given time and place.”
For many citizens, the weather fore–
cast informs many day-to-day decisions
like whether they should cut the grass
tomorrow, what they should wear or
how they should travel. It’s also vital for
industries, allowing them to mitigate
safety risks like preventing people from
working outdoors in hazardous cond–
itions. Emerging technologies like
Artificial Intelligence (AI) offer the
potential to take one step further. “I
can be somewhat unpopular at work
when I say that few people actually
want a weather forecast,” Ewen says
“more frequently, people or increas-
“The supercomputer
contributes an awful
lot because you can
run models at finer
resolutions with a lot
more complexity”
—
Charles Ewen,
Chief Information Officer, Met Office
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
187
www.gigabitmagazine.com

MET OFFICE
188
ingly machines are trying to make a
decision that is only partly about the
weather. We are actively researching
to understand how to better communicate
the weather and future climate to
these systems. Human beings are
constrained in terms of how more
statistics help better decision making,
AI does not have that particular constraint,”
he says.
Elsewhere, by applying Google Deep
Mind, the office is hoping to research
the realm of ‘nowcasting’ a form of
weather prediction which uses radar
returns and other observations to show
how the weather may apply to more
short-term localised regions. “If you
watch this morning’s weather forecast
and it says there’s likely to be heavy
showers at 10 o’clock you might look
out your window at that time to see no
rain. It might be a very near miss spatially;
it might rain in 20 minutes but not exactly
at 10 o’clock. Nowcasting, as opposed
to forecasting, applies statistics to see
how the weather may evolve in the
short term.”
Whilst technology plays a key role in
the Met Office’s digital transformation
roadmap, Ewen asserts that it’s the
people that are at the crux of its
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
Charles Ewen,
Chief Information Officer
Met Office
success. As such, a key part of the
organisation’s strategy revolves around
people. “Within our strategy we have
a plan to attract retain and develop our
people and so it’s clearly very important.
We talk about mastery, autonomy
and purpose. Mastery refers to developing
the unique blend of skills that we
need so we invest strongly in training
our people,” he says. Indeed, Met Office
has developed a variety of new
apprenticeships and works to broaden
its relationship with academic settings.
“We also try to create an exciting
environment that people want to work
in,” he adds.
The Met Office has worked hard to
forge a work culture which strives to do
more. The biggest barrier to continuous
improvement? Sparking a cultural shift
whereby people recognise the need to
change. “That can be tricky when you’re
a world leading organisation at the top
of its game,” admits Ewen. “However,
because we’re an organisation full of
bright and able people we can see
where some of the future challenges
and opportunities lie. Because of that,
it's important to start to change ideally
ahead of when you really need to, which
is what we've been trying to do.”
189
www.gigabitmagazine.com

MET OFFICE
190
One example of this lies at the Met Offices
fingertips – its supercomputer. As Moore’s
Law dictates, computer processing power
will only continue to expand over the coming
years and the Met Office needs to be ready
to tap into the potential of future supercomputers.
“Because the of scale our operations
are so large, it can be difficult to predict what
the technology environment will look like in
the future. Take supercomputers, for example,
we’re always looking five to ten years in the
future. It’s important to realise what you need
to change now, to be lucid and clear about
what the target destination looks like.”
By all accounts, cutting-edge science and
technology are the bread and butter of the
weather forecasting. Whether it's going to
be blustery or raining, the blend of the two
means that we can predict the weather more
accurately than ever. “Every ten years, the
weather forecast has improved with the
same accuracy being available a day earlier,”
concludes Ewen. “In other words, a four-day
weather forecast is as accurate as a threeday
forecast was ten years ago. That shows
the rate of progress and technology undoubtedly
plays an important part of that.”
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
“We certainly recognise that
the move to the cloud gives
us a combination of scale,
elasticity, affordability and
the capability that we need
to support our world-class
science teams”
—
Charles Ewen,
Chief Information Officer, Met Office
191
www.gigabitmagazine.com

192
INEA
Utilising
technology
in the
telecoms
sector
WRIT TEN BY
SEAN GALEA-PACE
PRODUCED BY
JAMES PEPPER
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
193
www.gigabitmagazine.com

INEA
Management Board Member
and Chief Operating Officer
of INEA, Michał Bartkowiak,
discusses how his company
is utilising technology amid
digital transformation in
the industry.
194
s the fastest broadband and Wi-Fi provider
A
in Poland in 2018, INEA has achieved
significant success during the last year.
Michał Bartkowiak, Management Board Member
and Chief Operating Officer of INEA, believes
innovation and the company’s willingness to
embrace technology has been key reasons to
INEA’s achievements.
“We are definitely an innovative company. As a
provider of retail services, we deliver the fastest
broadband in the world with our flagship offering
of the symmetric internet with Fibre-To-The-Home
(FTTH) technology at a speed of 10Gb/s,” affirms
Bartkowiak. “As an infrastructure operator, we are
one of the only operators in Europe that actively
opens the network we use as a services provider
to other telecommunications operators.”
Through providing broadband, internet, television,
mobile and fixed-line telephony services, as well
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
195
www.gigabitmagazine.com

EUROPE
CLICK TO WATCH: #INEAGOBIG 10 GB/S
197
as professional services for business
and public sector, Bartkowiak believes
that INEA has become successful due
the company’s ability to diversify.
“One of the great features of the
world that surrounds us is diversity.
Attitudes and business models of
companies from the TMT sector
differ from one another and a result,
a specific market space has been
created for each of us, where we can
operate and experiment,” he explains.
“If we look at the telecommunications
market in Europe, it becomes evident
that we differ from many companies
because of our way of thinking. We
are a technological leader in the region
with a state-of-the-art infrastructure
that we aren’t afraid to use.”
With more than 250,000 customers,
INEA value their investments in rural
areas having introduced the last mile
network which covers over 70,000
households in rural areas within the
Greater Poland region. The implementation
of the network has allowed
INEA to collect data in order to better
understand the needs of residents
www.gigabitmagazine.com

INEA
in the region. “The last mile network in rural areas
enabled us to collect valuable experience, both in
terms of the construction of a network in such area
and the service sales potential. Now, we have a better
understanding of the needs of the residents and
we’re ready to expand such networks in Poland.”
198
MAKING SUBSTANTIAL INVESTMENTS
As a leading firm in the field of fibre-optic infrastructure
in the Greater Poland region, INEA has invested
more than $266mn in the infrastructure during the
past six years. “These were investments implemented
in two areas, such as construction of fibre-optic
networks in the FTTH standard and reconstruction
of the existing infrastructure to this standard,”
says Bartkowiak. “The main projects involved the
construction of a broad-band backbone network
in Wielkopolska in 2013, the construction of last mile
networks and the reconstruction of the infrastructure
in towns and cities from Hybrid Fibre Coax
(HFC) to FTTH standard.”
During the past two years, INEA took part in
a competition under the Operating Programme
Digital Poland, conducted by the Ministry of Digitalisation
in Poland and won in more than 20 regions.
In order to remain a leader in the industry, INEA has
made strategic decisions in order to adapt to
changes in the industry. Bartkowiak affirms how
vital it is to embrace the latest technology or risk
being overtaken by its rivals.
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
“As an infrastructure operator,
we are one of the only operators in
Europe that actively opens the network
we use as a services provider to other
telecommunications operators”
—
Michał Bartkowiak,
Management Board Member and COO of INEA
199
www.gigabitmagazine.com

INEA
€100mn
Approximate
revenue
1994
Year founded
200
820
Approximate number
of employees
“It’s of key importance to observe the
changes happening by using technology
in different aspects of our lives.
We have to examine how our expectations
to the products or services that
we are using is changing. It’s important
to observe the entire spectrum of
innovations taking place in the world,”
he explains. “We can’t afford to wait
for another market challenger in the
industry who will force us into action.
We need to make decisions on our own
and try to be the leaders by assuming
the risk of wrong decisions. Technology
becomes devalued very quickly, so
we need to fully maximise its potential.
I believe that passive waiting is the
worst thing one can do.”
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
201
The part of the team (from left): Krzysztof Kwiatkowski – responsible for network construction
and maintenance, Marta Myszkowska – responsible for customer care quality, Tomasz Zmyślny
– Head of Marketing & PR, Alicja Kakała-Szadłowska - Procurement Manager, Maciej Piechociński
– Head of Sales, Krystyna Sawczuk – Head of HR and Krzysztof Marciniak – Head of IT
FORMING KEY PARTNERSHIPS
During the last two years, INEA and
Orange Poland signed agreements
on the wholesale access to its infrastructure
in the LLU and BSA model.
And this is just the beginning of INEA’s
open network strategy. Bartkowiak
believes the contract with Orange has
been one of the company’s biggest
achievements. “From the perspective
of the open network model development,
the contract with Orange Poland
was a significant achievement. We
provided the company with our
infrastructure for the sale of retail
services. From the perspective of the
Polish market, it was the first contract
of its type and has become an inspira-
www.gigabitmagazine.com

INEA
202
tion for others to follow. From our point
of view, this collaboration confirmed
the validity of the previously selected
direction for the development of our
company.”
In order to stand a greater chance
of success, the majority of companies
opt to form partnerships to drive profit,
however, Bartkowiak points out what
INEA requires from its business relationships.
“You meet good partners, just
like friends, in difficult situations. Similar
to everyone in our industry, we are
working with numerous partners in
the market. Starting from suppliers
of equipment and materials, through
developers of business solutions
or software, to our closest partners,
technical and commercial partners, who
work in the field. Without their knowledge,
experience, dynamic operations,
development or innovation, it would be
impossible,” he says. “These types of
relations are very precious and they
require mutual trust, understanding
and good communication. It’s difficult
to sustain such relations; however, we
don’t surrender and we endeavor to
work on the continuous improvement
of this co-operation.”
In February 2018, Macquarie European
Infrastructure Fund 5 acquired
a majority stake in INEA which will
support continued development and
growth. “Growth in telecommunication
requires significant capital expenditure.
You can have most wonderful ideas but
without relevant financial back-up, their
implementation will be impossible,”
affirms Bartkowiak. “We are glad that it
is Macquarie that we have the opportunity
to work with. Due to the fact that
we share the same vision of INEA
development, I am convinced that the
combination of these two elements
guarantees development and growth.”
FUTURE PLANS
With INEA demonstrating an ambition
to continue to grow despite a changing
market, Bartkowiak affirms how key it
is that the company expands on an
ongoing basis. “We are continuously
searching for new areas to
grow. Sometimes, we joke
that on the day when we
announce the launch of
a new product, we are
already working on
another one. That was
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
“It’s of key
importance to
observe the
changes
happening by
using technology
in different aspects
of our lives. We
have to examine
how our
expectations of the
products or
services that we
are using is
changing. It’s
important to
observe the entire
spectrum of
innovations taking
place in the world”
—
Michał Bartkowiak,
Management Board Member
and COO of INEA
203
www.gigabitmagazine.com

INEA
204
“We are continuously
searching for new areas to
grow. Sometimes, we joke that
on the day when we
announce the launch of
a new product, we are already
working on another one. That
was precisely the case with
the 10 Gb/s service we started
this year. It’s vital we act
quickly because of the way
the market is changing”
—
Michał Bartkowiak,
Management Board Member and COO of INEA
precisely the case with 10 Gb/s
service started this year. It’s vital we
act quickly because of the way the
market is changing.”
Looking to the future, Bartkowiak
believes that INEA remains determined
to build on its success through
the implementation of new projects to
enhance the firm’s existing telecommunication
infrastructure. “We remain
focused on the construction of an
open optic-fibre infrastructure. Having
won over 20 competitions under the
Operating Programme Digital Poland,
we are also implementing projects
consisting of the expansion of the
existing telecommunication infrastructure
and reconstruction of the existing
one to FTTH standard,” he says. “As a
result of those projects, we will reach
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
205
about 700,000 more households
located in rural areas with our network.
All the schools located on the territory
of planned investments will be
connected to the network and these
are areas that are digitally excluded,
where broadband services are
unavailable today. The residents of
those areas will have access to
modern digital services. The method
of teaching, handling affairs with
authorities or benefiting from entertainment
will change and this will
completely transform the image of
those towns.”
www.gigabitmagazine.com

Embracing
technology in
the hospitality
206
industry
WRIT
TEN BY
SEAN GALEA-PACE
PRODUCED BY
LEWIS VAUGHAN
JANUARY 2019

www.gigabitmagazine.com
207

EDWARDIAN HOTELS LONDON
Director of Information Technology
of Edwardian Hotels London,
Michael Mrini discusses how
technology has acted as an enabler
for his company’s success as part
of its digital transformation
208
W
ith innovation at the heart of most companies’
success, it has become vital that businesses
implement new technology that separates
them from rivals in order to enhance the way they
conduct operations. The introduction of technology
has meant that firms can consistently launch new
tools that will enable them to provide a better service
to its consumers. For Edwardian Hotels London,
artificial intelligence (AI) has enabled the company
to completely transform its customer experience.
Director of Information Technology of Edwardian
Hotels London, Michael Mrini, believes that technology
has allowed people to perform to higher standards.
“We believe technology acts as an enabler for
people to do their job better and with less drudgery,”
he says. “Thanks to the backing and encouragement
of our chairman and CEO, Jasminder Singh, a great
visionary and believer in the power of technology as
an enabler, we were able to develop to pursue this
route and invest in cutting-edge technology.”
Having begun his career in 1987 in hospitality, Mrini
worked his way up from washing up part-time as
a student, to a job as a bartender, before working
on the reservations and customer service side of
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
209
www.gigabitmagazine.com

EDWARDIAN HOTELS LONDON
210
operations at Hyatt Hotels until 1997.
Mrini subsequently joined Edwardian
and became the Director of Customer
Services, before transitioning to the
position of Director of Information Systems
until he moved into his current
role at the beginning of 2012. Such
experience of working in a number
of different departments in a hotel
setting has enabled Mrini to gain
a working understanding of how each
area operates and he can draw on
his experience to achieve success.
“Since 1997, I haven’t stopped developing
technology. When I joined as
a customer services manager, I automated
that particular department,”
explains Mrini. “While still being customer
services manager, and with the help
and encouragement of Iype Abraham
who was at the time the head of IT,
I joined other departments to look at
what they do and how they do it. From
the finance side, month-end reports
used to take someone three days to
compile. However, from working with
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
them, we turned that into a 30 second
operation where at the end of the
month he just presses a button and the
whole month-end pack is created and
distributed to senior management.”
DEVELOPING INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY
Innovation is an area which Edwardian
Hotels London prides itself heavily on.
Having developed over 32 apps in the
past five years, the company is utilising
“We believe
technology acts
as an enabler
for people to
do their job
better and with
less drudgery”
technology in order to create the best
—
Michael Mrini,
possible guest experience for its cust- Director of Information Technology
omers. However, the most exciting of Edwardian Hotels London
211
EXECUTIVE PROFILE
Michael Mrini
Michael joined Edwardian Hotels London (formerly known
as the Edwardian Group London) in 1997 as Customer
Services Manager. Software Development and data analysis
was one of Michael’s passions which he put to good use
when he introduced automation and data analysis in the
customer services department during his first year with
the Company. By the year 2000 Michael had formed
Edwardian’s first ever software development team and
through progression, dedication and hard work, is now
the Group’s Director of Information Technology.
www.gigabitmagazine.com

8 of the 10
Top Hotels
Get Better Results with Oracle Hospitality
oracle.com/hospitality
or call 1.800.ORACLE.1
Copyright © 2018, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

EUROPE
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘21ST CENTURY HOSPITALITY –
EDWARDIAN HOTELS LONDON’
213
innovation has been the launch of
virtual host “Edward” which handles
guest enquires such as information
about the hotel, booking breakfast
and any other requirements the guest
needs before, during and after their
stay. Operated through AI on a phone
app, Edward can manage more than
1,600 requests.
“I travel lots and stay in many hotels
worldwide so the idea of Edward was
born out of the frustrations I had. It’s
annoying when you need information but
it’s very difficult to find. For example,
quite often I arrived at an airport some-
where and then realised I didn’t have the
name or the address of the hotel where
I’m staying,” explains Mrini. “Other times
I’m in the hotel room, and I want to order
room service but I can’t find the menu in
the room. You try and make a phone call
to get someone to deliver the menu and
you end up calling room service but it’s
engaged so you wait and wait. But with
Edward, it comes to you as a guest.
Edward knows you’re coming because
three days before you arrive, Edward will
send you a message and tell you, “Look,
anything you need, just text me.” Now,
that facility is in your pocket.”
www.gigabitmagazine.com

EDWARDIAN HOTELS LONDON
214
“We have found
a really excellent
partner in
Oracle. They
have supported
and encouraged
us over the years
in what we
wanted to do”
—
Michael Mrini,
Director of Information Technology
of Edwardian Hotels London
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
215
www.gigabitmagazine.com

EDWARDIAN HOTELS LONDON
216
By having such innovative technology
at guests’ fingertips, Mrini believes it has
allowed the company to find out information
about their customers that
otherwise wouldn’t have been possible.
“We search for keywords to see what
our guests are asking for and what to
identify. Because of this, we’ve managed
to learn things we never knew about our
guests’ behavior, such as most of our
guests can’t remember whether breakfast
is included in their booking or not,”
says Mrini. “Breakfast seems to be the
last thing they think about before they
go to bed at night. We also found that
it’s very important to guests to
be able to easily find out whether
their room has been cleaned
or not. If they’re either out in
meetings or out and about
visiting the town, they want to
know whether their room has
been cleaned so they can come
back to the hotel or stay out
a bit longer and through this
technology, they can do that.”
FORMING KEY PARTNERSHIPS
Such success with the company’s
AI software couldn’t
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘MEETINGS AND EVENTS AT EDWARDIAN
HOTELS LONDON’
217
have been achieved without the work
of the firm’s key partnership with
Oracle. The partnership has enabled
Edwardian Hotels London to make it
easier to interact with its property
management system (PMS) and act
as the catalyst for the success of its
technological innovations. “We have
found a really excellent partner in
Oracle. They have supported and
encouraged us over the years in what
we wanted to do,” explains Mrini. “Oracle
sees what we’re doing as unique in the
hospitality sector. What they have
done is help us make it easier for us to
www.gigabitmagazine.com

218
interact with their PMS system because
that’s where the bookings are and
where the check-in/check-out happens.
Any application we develop needs to
have a live interface to that system
otherwise it’s useless.”
“Edward would be useless if it didn’t
have access to that live information in
the booking system because we wouldn’t
know who that guest is. It wouldn’t
know the latest changes to the guest
booking, the ETA, the list goes on.
I believe they have been fantastic in supporting,
as by enabling us to have that
access, it has helped us with the under-
standing of the core PMS system so
that we can develop our interface to it.”
Other key partners that Edwardian
Hotels London has been supported by
include BT which helped install the
Wi-Fi in all of the company’s hotels and
Alcatel which has provided the internal
telephone systems for the past 20
years. “BT has been fantastic in installing
the Wi-Fi that we have. They have done
an excellent job at the speed that we
wanted it done. We like to work with
partners that can provide quality and
efficiency and BT were able to do
a superb job for us in very short period
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
219
“We search for keywords
to see what our guests
are asking for and what to
identify. Because of this,
we’ve managed to learn
things we never knew
about our guests’ behaviour,
such as most of our guests
can’t remember whether
breakfast is included
in their booking or not”
—
Michael Mrini,
Director of Information Technology
of Edwardian Hotels London
of time when we upgraded the Wi-Fi in
all of our 12 hotels.”
“Alcatel is another one of our partners
that has done a brilliant job with us and
we have been working with them on
things like location services and beacons
within the hotel,” he adds. “They’ve
been tremendous, and that’s why they
remain a partner after 20 years.”
The company currently has 12 UK
hotels, 11 of which operate in key
locations in London, with the final hotel
located in the heart of Manchester. In
addition, Edwardian Hotels London are
set to unveil a 13th property in Leices-
www.gigabitmagazine.com

EDWARDIAN HOTELS LONDON
“Technology is
never going to
completely take
over what we do
and do it for us
but it’s going to
enable us to do
what we do better”
220
—
Michael Mrini,
Director of Information Technology
of Edwardian Hotels London
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
ter Square in 2020. With the future
in mind, Mrini demonstrates a commitment
to continue to innovate at Edwardian
Hotels London. “The ultimate goal
for us is to become the best in hospitality
and it’s important for us to continue
to innovate. With technology you never
know what’s next but one’s things for
sure, we’re going to continue to improve
and innovate with AI,” affirms Mrini.
“We’ve previously dipped our toes in
before with AI and had fantastic results
so we’re going to continue to utilise it
in all the different areas to enable us to
do a better job. Technology is never
going to completely take over what
we do and do it for us but it’s going to
enable us to do what we do better.”
221
www.gigabitmagazine.com

222
Universidad Europea
striving for success
WRIT TEN BY
CATHERINE STURMAN
PRODUCED BY
LEWIS VAUGHAN
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
223
:
www.gigabitmagazine.com

UNIVERSIDAD EUROPEA
Universidad Europea
has seen its degree
programmes enhanced
by new digital tools...
224
Offering a dynamic education with
the spirit of constant improvement,
Universidad Europea is committed
to providing an innovative educational
model, and is focused on adding value
to society. Actively contributing to its
progress through education that is designed
to help students become professionals
and leaders, the organisation is prepared
to respond to the needs of a global
environment. At Universidad Europea, its
exceptional facilities and educational prog–
rammes continue to deliver high employment
outcomes, where its courses seek to turn
its students into ethical leaders, inspiring
entrepreneurship, teamwork and creativity.
Viewing educational technology as
a global enabler for teaching and learning,
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
225
www.gigabitmagazine.com

UNIVERSIDAD EUROPEA

EUROPE
“Our business is
education, so we try
to facilitate the needs
from academia, from
the people who are
teaching the classes
to our students.
This is our priority”
—
Daniel Milner Resel,
Chief Technology Officer
Pedro Morcillo, Chief Information
Officer and Daniel Milner Resel Chief
Technology Officer are passionate
about how digitisation has revolutionised
the way students engage with its
services. No longer content with
traditional ways of working, students
are demanding tools that not only
provide greater flexibility, but encourage
continuous improvement, both
personally and professionally. It has
even been predicted that the e-learning
market worldwide will surpass
US$243bn by 2022, something which
Universidad Europea is keen to tap into.
Responsible for unlocking advantages
that digitisation can bring to
Universidad Europea in Spain and
Portugal, Morcillo and Milner Resel
have looked to fully reshape the student
experience. With universities in Madrid,
Valencia and the Canary Islands, as well
as offices in Lisbon and Porto, they have
sought to close the gap between
technology and academia.
“Our business is education, from the
people who are teaching the classes to
our students. This is our priority. There
are presently three major projects at
Universidad Europea in relation to
providing a better service. Firstly,
there is a new design and host for
227
www.gigabitmagazine.com

UNIVERSIDAD EUROPEA
228
“We have a simulated hospital. It is a ‘top
of the class’ installation, unique in Spain
in both technology and dimensions”
—
Daniel Milner Resel,
Chief Technology Officer
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
our main webpage, which is now
hosted on Google Cloud. Secondly,
we have a medical images service,
which is based on the integration of
information services and the different
devices which take medical images in
our eight university clinics. Lastly, we
have a simulated hospital. It is a ‘best
in class’ installation, unique in Spain in
both technology and dimensions,”
explains Milner Resel.
The possibilities Universidad Europea
have uncovered through investing in
technology are endless. Across its
framework, its services have been
fully disrupted, providing a number
of advantages.
“We have services licensed by our
229
EXECUTIVE PROFILE
Daniel Milner Resel
Chief Technical Officer in Spain & Portugal, Daniel Milner
Resel is redefining the utilisation of all IT services at Universidad
Europea. Establishing a new regional framework as
part of the unification of Spain and Portugal’s digital capabilities,
he has a deep understanding the technological
needs of the organisation, solving the gap between
business and IT
www.gigabitmagazine.com

UNIVERSIDAD EUROPEA
230
corporation and where they are also the
admin. We also have services licensed by
the corporation at a regional level but we are
the admins at a local level. Additionally, we
have services where both things are at a local
level – for example, SIS, Salesforce, Bullet,
8x8 Call Centre, DNS’s, file servers, printers,
WIFI, labs, audiovisuals and more.” By
utilising tools provided by Microsoft, Cisco,
Tenable and BitSight for
its security services, as well as investing in
its two data centres, Universidad Europea
has also adopted Blackboard Learn software,
a virtual Learning Management System
(LMS) to provide further student support.
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘LEARNING COMMUNICATION WORKING
AS A PROFESSIONAL’
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
Most recently however, Universidad Europea
has witnessed how the implementation of big
data has created significant opportunities.
The launch of its Business Intelligence (BI)
Competency Centre, alongside IBM Cognos
and Informatica ETL has seen the business
gain a greater understanding of the large
volumes of data under its portfolio. The use
of automation is now another tool the team is
keen to explore, where adopting technology
based on Salesforce and 8x8 Call Center has
enabled the organisation to look at further
ways of transforming the student lifecycle.
“With big data, it's a full transformation.
Before undertaking this project, there was
one key question that was put on the table –
‘how many people nowadays are enrolled
at our university? Marketing has one answer,
sales has another and IT another, all of which
are not the same. Big data has been a revolutionary
approach, successfully led by the IT
department,” notes Milner Resel.
However, limited resources within the
education sector remain a global issue. To
bolster its resiliency and drive quality results,
the organisation has utilised audio-visual
technologies to promote collaboration.
Implementing Lifesize to encourage the sharing
of ideas, it is now Universidad Europea’s main
tool for videoconferencing, as well as Skype
for Business and Zoom. Its project with Smart–
231
www.gigabitmagazine.com

UNIVERSIDAD EUROPEA
232
boards in the classroom is also
expected to revolutionise student
learning, where the implementation
of Clevertouch 86 will work to
deliver an immersive student
experience within a digital classroom
environment. Not only that,
to further promote accessibility,
Universidad Europea’s partnership
with Chilean contractor Moofwd has
led the development of a mobile app,
powered by cloud technology.
Educational services will continue
to evolve, in which Milner Resel coins
this ‘the third revolution.’ Students
will gain knowledge and expertise
through various platforms, where
Universidad Europea will soon be
taking this to the next stage and look
at the long-term benefits of remote
working across the organisation.
“We have a lot of initiatives, where
in the near future a great percentage
of our work force is going to be
working from home. It gives families
flexibility, lowers utility bills at establishments
and more. Here in Spain
and Portugal, we are trying to get
a more ambitious approach to this
kind of work,” he says.
Universidad Europea delivers edu–
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
233
‘Students are demanding tools
that not only provide greater
flexibility, but ones that encourage
continuous improvement, both
personally and professionally’
www.gigabitmagazine.com

UNIVERSIDAD EUROPEA
234
“We have a lot of
initiatives, where in
the near future a great
percentage of our
work force is going to
be working from home”
—
Daniel Milner Resel,
Chief Technology Officer
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
cation that is high quality, accessible
and affordable, supporting
students in all walks of life. Technology
will become a key driver
to unlock change, supporting the
development of connections across
its infrastructure to make a significant
impact upon the lives of its
students. Universidad Europea is
committed to undertaking an
ongoing digital journey, which will
be key to its enduring success.
235
www.gigabitmagazine.com

236
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
Fuelling rapid
growth with
an innovative
procurement
transformation
237
WRIT TEN BY
LAURA MULLAN
PRODUCED BY
RICHARD DURRANT
www.gigabitmagazine.com

UIPATH
We speak to UiPath’s Head of
Global Procurement, Catalin Lupu,
to discover how a cutting-edge
procurement transformation is
helping to enable the firm’s
exponential growth
238
It seems that when it comes to robotic
processing automation (RPA), the name
on everyone’s lips is UiPath. The American
firm has achieved a lot in its short history.
At its genesis, UiPath was just a team of 10
based in Bucharest but now it’s headquartered
in New York City, boasting 30 offices in 16
countries and more than 1,700 employees.
“‘Growth’ is the key word at the firm,” points
out Catalin Lupu, Head of Global Procurement,
and the technology community seems
to agree. The firm was listed 26th on Deloitte’s
Technology Fast 500 – a ranking of the crème
de la crème in the technology, media, telecommunications,
life sciences and energy tech
companies in North America. In 2018 alone,
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
UiPath closed its Series B and Series
C financing rounds totalling US$418mn,
lifting the company’s valuation to an
impressive $3bn.
UiPath has, by all accounts, been
a gleaming example of how to scale
a tech startup and, for Lupu, this is
thanks in part to the firm’s robust
procurement function. Before joining
UiPath, Lupu cut his teeth in procurement
with time at firms like Renault
and the Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Company respectively. Through
these roles, Lupu honed his skills
and says that it provided him with
a “global view” which enabled him
to “understand the challenges and
steps needed to scale up a business”.
This proved to be a critical skill when
he later moved to UiPath.
UiPath began as a small startup
239
“‘Growth’ is
the key word
at the firm”
—
Catalin Lupu,
Head of Global Procurement, UiPath
www.gigabitmagazine.com

SAME TRUSTED
SERVICE.
INTERNATIONAL
POSSIBILITIES.
CDW offers operations across the globe
with international hubs in key regions.
Partnering with us for your international
needs can help you reach your goals and
reduce the risk, complexity and cost that
come with procuring, deploying and
integrating technology. By combining local
knowledge with years of experience in
multinational logistics, CDW can deliver
consistent, service- driven solutions across
the globe while making international IT
management simple.
CDW offers nonstop, integrated solutions
to over 150 countries. With a global team
of experts and trusted expertise in product
fulfillment, delivery, licenses and solutions,
no matter where work takes you, you can
count on the People Who Get IT.
Partnering with CDW for your
international IT needs lets you
streamline your IT management
with one integrated team of experts and a
wide range of benefits.
• Risk Management
• Cost & Complexity
• Local Knowledge
• International Logistics Expertise
• Service-Driven Solution
Contact us to see how IT
Orchestration by CDW can help you
with your international business.
FIND OUT MORE
020 7791 6000 | uk.cdw.com

EUROPE
with a procurement spend of around
$2-3mn but CEO Daniel Dines had
big ambitions. He wanted UiPath to
be a market leader. To kick off this
growth, the firm first had to convince
the market of the merits of RPA and
build a strategic roadmap. “We basically
started from scratch,” explains Lupu.
“I like to describe it like building a house.
First of all, we laid the foundation. In
procurement, we decided our policies,
how we should buy, what architecture
we should use, how the procurement
function should look like in a year from
now. That’s where it started.” UiPath
didn’t think small; it crafted its roadmap
with a global mindset from the offset.
Rather than confining itself by regions,
it standardised its procurement function
at a global level.
Compliance was also a crucial factor.
“The policies are shaped around the
business’ needs and compliance
because when you’re working with
clients like Fortune 500 firms, we
wanted to make sure that everything is
auditable, that they’re doing everything
by the book. We also didn’t want
to make it too difficult to manage or
too granular for approvals so we
implemented procurement cards.” Af-
241
www.gigabitmagazine.com

UIPATH
242
ter laying the foundation, UiPath turned
its attention to building the walls and the
structure. For procurement, this meant
implementing the systems. “We wanted
everything to be digitalised so, for instance,
we implemented procure-to-pay (P2P) and
finance modules from Net Suite,” notes
Lupu. “We wanted to drive the company
forward, we wanted to automate and to
liberate our people from repetitive stuff
so that they could be more focused on
strategic tasks like emailing a new supplier.
It also enabled us to deliver analytics at
a global level. I think that is the holy grail
and it’s where a lot of companies struggle.”
By implementing a cloud-based solution,
this not only made the move from offline to
digital seamless, it also allowed UiPath to
get access to purchase orders (POs) on all
devices – ideal for any global, fast-moving
firm – which were easily integrated with
other applications.
A key task for any company, particularly
in the IT sector, is attracting, retaining and
training the right talent and it was another
key facet in UiPath’s transformation story.
“Bringing the right people is essential when
scaling,” reflects Lupu. “We built up a culture
and a team that’s ready to scale and that’s
prepared for any challenges the clients may
have. “They’re very focused on the client
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
243
EXECUTIVE PROFILE
Catalin Lupu
Catalin Lupu is Head of Global Procurement of UiPath. He spent
all his career in Procurement covering global roles within the
automotive industry. Catalin joined UiPath in 2017 with a clear
mission to build up a global procurement organization for the
first Romanian Unicorn. Passionate about Robotic Process
Automation, which he considers a disruptive enterprise
technology for Procurement, his new challenge is to scale
and automate all procurement processes for UiPath.
www.gigabitmagazine.com

UIPATH
244
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘UIPATH GO! – AUTOMATION MADE EASY’
needs, and internally it’s been quite
a successful journey for them, because
most of them come from different
industries. We looked at their potential
as well as their skills.”
UiPath has quickly become synonymous
with the RPA market, acquiring
an average of six new customers per
day. Yet, this rapid growth hasn’t come
without its challenges. As the first
footprint has expanded it had to establish
new real estate, pay rolls and recruitment
in different geographies.
“Growth is a good problem to have,”
laughs Lupu, “but it’s still a challenge.”
To tackle this, UiPath’s
procurement team have
worked hard to develop
strong industry links and
vendor partnerships that
are able to keep pace with
the firm’s global vision.
“We don’t see these firms as suppliers
or vendors, they’re partners because
when we try to go global, we need
partners that will stick by us, who will
insulate us, and be able to adapt to
the market,” Lupu explains. Take the
issue of real estate, highlights Lupu.
With a footprint spanning from London
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
“Bringing in the
right people
is essential
when scaling”
—
Catalin Lupu,
Head of Global Procurement, UiPath
to Tokyo, Bengaluru to Singapore,
offices are a top priority for UiPath
and therefore it has developed strong
relationships to make this a reality.
“We have a big spend on real-estate,
so we have a very interesting and
successful strategy,” he says. “When
we enter a new country, we start off in
co-working space so that we can
create a presence there and start
hiring. We have a global partnership
with We Work, which provides a
single point of contact for us globally,
which is a robust model when you
need a presence across the world.”
UiPath has sought out partners
which have an international presence
yet local knowledge. It found this with
24
www.gigabitmagazine.com

UIPATH
246
partner CDW who helped to enhance the
firm’s IT management. “One of the challenges
when growing globally is finding
global partners who can meet this footprint
and deliver what you need, whether it’s in
Europe, the US, Asia or in India,” notes
Lupu. “We found that CDW was one of the
few in the market who could achieve this
and helps us manage the IT span and delivery.
They helped us centralise all the hardware
that we were buying individually in countries
by creating synergies. They understood that
we needed a global single point of contact
which is hands on.”
As the role of procurement morphs
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
247
rapidly into a business enabler, rather than
a back-office function, it’s also getting more
digitally-savvy. Just as its users have adopted
UiPath’s RPA platform to take their business
to the next level, UiPath’s procurement team
are also using its own product. Lupu points
out that, by getting robots to automate
mundane and repetitive tasks, it allows his team
to focus on value-adding jobs. “It automates
repetitive work so people can focus on more
strategic or creative jobs,” he explains.
“RPA doesn’t only apply to procurement
or finance. It can be applied to supply chain,
it can be applied to delivery, call centres,
banking, any industry that’s had repetitive
www.gigabitmagazine.com

UIPATH
“We found that CDW
was one of the few
in the market who
could help us
manage the IT
span and delivery”
—
Catalin Lupu,
Head of Global Procurement, UiPath
248
JANUARY 2019

EUROPE
standardised processes which could be
automated. That’s why I think it’s very disruptive,
because it can apply to any industry.”
Lupu believes the procurement sector is
undergoing a seismic shift – teams are more
focused on return on investment (ROI) rather
than savings, the field is also becoming more
digitised, and teams are being created based
on ambition just as much as their skills.
Having built its procurement function from
the ground up, procurement has been a pivotal
enable of UiPath’s growth and Lupu believes
his strategy is a simple but meaningful one.
“The main rule is that procurement needs to
be smart, it needs to be simple and it needs
to be scalable,” asserts Lupu. “Now, we have
around 1,700 employees, next year we could
have 10,000. I think the keyword now is still
growth; we’re in skyrocket mode. Where there
is an enterprise market, we need to be there.
Our focus now is growing the business and
to remain a leader in the RPA sector.”
249
www.gigabitmagazine.com

Digital transformat
to educate customers
WRIT TEN BY
CATHERINE STURMAN
PRODUCED BY
JUSTIN BRAND
250
JANUARY 2019

AFRICA
ion
251
www.gigabitmagazine.com

NEDBANK
Nedbank has sought to educate customers
in the application of new digital solutions,
revolutionising the payment and transactional
industry across South Africa
252
P
resent in six countries in the
Southern African Development
Community (SADC)
and East Africa, Nedbank’s vast portfolio
has seen the business acquire
subsidiaries and banks in Namibia,
Swaziland, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho
and Zimbabwe, as well as representative
offices in Angola and Kenya.
Throughout its ongoing expansion,
technology has continued to challenge
traditional banking services, leading
Nedbank to break down barriers, overhaul
its processes and take a closer
look at the way customers engage with
its services.
A chartered accountant by background,
having audited a large number
of automotive groups –such as BMW
and Daimler – Dayalan Govender,
Managing Executive of Nedbank Card,
Payments and Transactional, entered
the fast-evolving world of financial services
with the aim to make a difference
in an organisation that houses a strong
passion for clients and embraces new
ways of thinking. Appointed as Managing
Executive in 2017, he has taken this
objective further by seeking to reform
the card and payments space and the
transactional industry in South Africa,
leveraging technologies and capabili-
JANUARY 2019

AFRICA
ties in a fundamentally different way.
“The first thing in our approach is,
‘Delivering delightful client experiences
and how do we transform not just our
Nedbank Card, Payments and Transactional
business but also the industry?
How do we reshape the industry
so that we are able to provide payment
and transactional solutions to clients
that fast, safe, reliable, convenient and
cost effective all focused on enabling
clients to achieve their goals and
outcomes?’ That’s the first departure
point that’s really important to us,”
he explains.
“We have two key challenges. One is
around transforming the culture from
an incremental mindset to an exponential
disruptive mindset. The second is
around digital adoption and education:
once we get clients to start adopting
these solutions, how do we ensure
sustainability in digital adoption? What
is accelerating digital adoption, not just
in South Africa but globally, is that all
253
www.gigabitmagazine.com

AFRICA
“Behavioural biometrics is
also something that we are
exploring and believe it’s
going to enhance customer
experience”
—
Dayalan Govender,
Managing Executive of Nedbank Card,
Payments and Transactional
of us live in an increasingly digitised
world and we are being influenced by
digital solutions in our everyday lives.
The proliferation of applications that
exist satisfy many of our needs that
we didn’t think possible. People are
being influenced by digital in many
aspects of their lives and we are at
a point where clients expect this from
financial services.”
Trust is going to be a key requirement
underpinning digital adoption. Within
its Card, Payments and Transactional
operations, Nedbank has therefore
sought to invest in the latest authentication
methods to bolster security
across various digital applications to
build trust and transparency. Investing
in new fraud prevention mechanisms,
Nedbank has gained increased awareness
into fraudulent activity – something
which has become a significant
threat across South Africa and globally.
“We are investing in tokenisation,
enabling secure in store and online
transactions. Behavioural biometrics
is also something that we are exploring
and believe it’s going to give clients
a superior customer experience,”
says Govender.
Accelerating digital adoption will go
hand in hand with building trust, which
will no doubt feed into Nedbank’s ability
to scale. However, despite such efforts,
customers will only utilise smart
255
www.gigabitmagazine.com

NEDBANK
256
payment solutions if they are somewhat
intuitive, in order to remove the
fear of the unknown and fully engage
with new digital services. “Far too often,
there’s a perception that digital is complex.
Not everyone understands these
digital solutions and they get paralysed
when they experience a digital solution
for the first time, so we have invested
significantly in how we design these
solutions with the client at the very
heart of this,” he says,
Since the bank launched the Nedbank
Money app in 2018, the new digital
platform has been met with acclaim
by clients. Gaining significant traction
with more than a million downloads, the
app provides customers with financial
access and services at the click of
a button, fully empowering users and
putting them in control of their finances.
Harnessing a sophisticated design
with ‘next level authentication’, the app
enables customers to do a myriad of
activities including viewing balances
and statements, buy prepaid data and
other value-added services, send money
to a recipient or make payments to
friends, family or providers.
“Nedbank also launched scan to pay
JANUARY 2019

AFRICA
257
www.gigabitmagazine.com

Tipping the scale
on mobile payments
By Mark Elliott, Division President, Mastercard Southern Africa
The app economy has changed the way we live. We depend
on our smartphone apps for everything from entertainment
to photography, to messaging, personal productivity and
ordering transport or accommodation. In South Africa, we’re
increasingly using our smartphones for in-app, in-store and
online payments.
“The promise of mobile payment
services lies in creating safer,
richer experiences for consumers
and merchants.”
We’re also seeing merchants use apps that turn their
smartphones into point of sale devices or use QR codes to
accept mobile payments from their customers. The mobile
device brings the convenience, safety and customer choice
associated with cashless transactions to spaza shops, flea
market stalls, trades people like plumbers and electricians,
and other sectors where traditional card terminals are not a
practical or affordable solution.
Mobile innovations need to
improve the consumer experience
As we think about the rapid adoption of mobile payments,
the promise of mobile payment services lies in creating safer,
richer experiences for consumers and merchants. The key
is not to simply recreate what you could do before, but to
make paying for things simpler, safer and faster. That’s why
connecting with consumers wherever they are and whenever
they want is critical.
Imagine, for example, a world where people don’t need to
queue for hours to send money to their families in the rural
areas or where no one needs to withdraw cash from an ATM
and then stand in a long queue at a retailer on a Saturday
to pay a rates bill. They don’t even need to log in to online
banking and input a lot of payment information. Instead,
they’ll be able to scan a QR code on the statement and pay
from an app. This is a world where merchants don’t need
to keep large amounts of cash on their premises. It’s one
where consumers demand convenience and control, and
expect payment experiences to make their lives better.
We are not talking about a distant future, either. In South Africa,
more than 900,000 ratepayers in the City of Ekurhuleni
can pay their municipal bills online with their smartphones,
using Masterpass, our global digital payment service. Masterpass
is also accepted online by a growing list of merchants
of all sizes as well as in-app for convenient air and
data mobile top-up.
Partnerships key to drive
mass digital payment adoption
The consumer experience is simple, but there is a lot of
complexity in the background. Without collaboration across
industries to ensure that digital payments systems are
secure and interoperable, it will be impossible to deliver the
experiences consumers demand or to scale mobile payments.
That’s why we are collaborating with key players to develop
and deliver new consumer propositions that span multiple
industries across multiple channels – in-store, in-app and
online.
One example is the partnership between Mastercard and
Entersekt to enable Nedbank’s customers to make QR payments
to Masterpass, Pay@, SnapScan, and Zapper merchants
and billers through the Nedbank Money app, whether
they are paying online or at a physical point of presence.
This market-first development means that Nedbank Money
users need just one smartphone app for all major domestic
scan-to-pay services, rather than needing to store card data
in multiple apps, and they will be able to use biometrics as
an authentication method.
FIND OUT MORE: VISIT WWW.MASTERCARD.CO.ZA

AFRICA
259
within the Nedbank Money App which
is the first banking app in the South Africa
that allows clients to scan a Masterpass,
Snapscan or Zapper QR code
for making retail and utility payments.
This is convenience at your fingertips
that no longer requires clients to carry
cards or cash.
“A number of other services in the
app are extremely popular, which debit
order reversals are a prime example.
In South Africa, we have an issue from
a customer perspective around debit
order abuse,” explains Govender.
“Being able to give clients control over
their debit orders, where they could
go through their accounts, recognise
a debit order to be fraudulent or inaccurate
and be able to reverse that
– this has been an extremely powerful
service. Also, simple things like freezing
and unfreezing cards are being
used by customers all over the world,
especially when travelling.”
However, with such a diverse
demographic, it has been imperative
for Nedbank to ensure financial
inclusion throughout the development
www.gigabitmagazine.com

NEDBANK
260
“Nedbank also launched
Scan To Pay within the
Nedbank Money App
which is the first banking
app in the South Africa
that allows clients to scan
a Masterpass, Snapscan
or Zapper QR code for
making retail and utility
payments. This is
convenience at your
fingertips that no longer
requires clients to carry
cards or cash”
—
Dayalan Govender,
Managing Executive of Nedbank Card,
Payments and Transactional
JANUARY 2019

AFRICA
of its banking applications. Based on
USSD (unstructured supplementary
service data) technology, Nedbank’s
transactional product MobiMoney has
also seen customers gain access to
financial services via smartphone and
feature phone, where they can deposit
money into the account for free as well
as send money to recipients for free.
Other value-added services include
purchasing prepaid electricity and
more. “There have been examples of
people wanting to buy prepaid electricity,
they had to take transportation to
get to a mall or vendor and it would
cost them R60-80 to buy R100 worth
of prepaid electricity. Now, it is at their
fingertips and will cost next to nothing,”
Govender adds.
“We are solving problems that really
matter to clients and address some
of these key pain points. Through
this particular platform we will build
a lot more services that resonate with
clients. It is also a free banking account
that does not attract a monthly service
fee.”
Remaining aggressive in developing
new digital tools and solutions for
those in all walks of life, Nedbank is
261
www.gigabitmagazine.com

Banking and Payment (r)evolution
Banking and Payment services in Africa are experiencing a digital transformation, putting the customer
experience at the core of innovations. New technologies such as ID verification and behavioral risk
management will enrich banks customer engagement strategy.
Behavioral Risk Management: Gemalto Assurance Hub employs AI to assess user behavior patterns
and determine the potential for fraud. Anything out of the ordinary can be identified and additional
authentication will be requested, to ensure maximum security.
ID verification: Gemalto’s ID verification solution enables financial institutions to deploy a fast and
compliant identity verification. Customers can self-enroll to online banking services by simply submitting
a scan of their ID along with a selfie to facilitate secure, real-time enrolment.
TO LEARN MORE VISIT GEMALTO.COM
© Gemalto 2018. All rights reserved. Gemalto, the Gemalto logo, are trademarks and service marks of Gemalto and are registered in certain countries. November 2018 - CC
IN AN INCREASINGLY CONNECTED SOCIETY GEMALTO IS THE LEADER IN MAKING
DIGITAL INTERACTIONS SECURE AND EASY. LEARN MORE AT GEMALTO.COM

AFRICA
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘OPPORTUNITIES BEYOND THE OBVIOUS’
263
also set to launch a solution that is
tailored to the student customer that
will be truly disruptive and be the first of
its kind in South Africa, as well as offer
entrepreneurs with the tools and skills
that they need to succeed.
Fully supporting customers beyond
traditional banking services, Nedbank’s
partnership with Hey Jude has even
seen the bank integrate a new lifestyle
solution into the Nedbank Money app
for ease and simplicity. The solution
works to enable customers to book
travel services, obtain support for finding
various services, and much more.
“From travel to household requirements,
the app will find you a service
provider that meets your needs and is
testament to the focus on client experience
and enabling client outcomes,”
notes Govender.
However, with the rise of hyperpersonalised
services, data will become
a key differentiator in delivering relevant
services to clients including merchants.
Nedbank’s end-to-end business management
solution, POSplus, provides
advanced data analytics and enhances
a business’ presence not only in ecommerce,
but to gain a significant growth
www.gigabitmagazine.com

NEDBANK
264
in the physical environment. “This
innovation and solution allows business
and business owners; especially
small business services and entrepreneurs
to focus more on growing and
running their business, as opposed to
managing multiple vendors and other
distractions within their environment.”
Successfully reaching R125bn
(US$8.8bn) market capitalisation
throughout its operations is no easy
feat, but building strong partnerships
has remained key to Nedbank’s
upward trajectory in supporting 8mn
clients across Africa and beyond. Recently,
the bank’s alliance with pan-African
banking conglomerate Ecobank
Transnational Inc has seen Nedbank
cater to the growing for cross border
remittance solutions in Africa.
Additionally, by effectively embracing
collaboration to bring solutions
to life, Nedbank’s partnership with
FEXCO has seen the business harness
its global, dynamic currency conversion
solution for customers visiting
South Africa, and pay for services in
their home currency. “We’ve leveraged
FEXCO’s expertise and capability,
which gives our merchants the ability
JANUARY 2019

AFRICA
265
www.gigabitmagazine.com

Building
Borderless
Business
Fexco are proud to partner with Nedbank to
provide Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC)
and Multi-Currency Pricing (MCP).
Read more online
For more information, contact:
Gavin O’ Sullivan | Fexco Country Manager - South Africa | Tel: +27 66 478 9450 | Email: gavosullivan@fexco.com

AFRICA
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘“SEE MONEY DIFFERENTLY”
WITH NEDBANK | 90” TVC’
267
to offer tourists coming to South Africa
a value-add by paying in their home
currency, where they don’t have to experience
the volatility in the currency or
the exchange rate,” explains Govender.
Long term, looking at the future of
Nedbank and its position in South Africa,
Govender believes a flood of new
opportunities are set to be unlocked
as the country undergoes significant
regulatory change. The Financial Sector
Conduct Authority and Prudential
Authority are set to be located in the
South African Reserve Bank (SARB),
which will provide jurisdiction over all
financial institutions. This, he explains,
will enable the ongoing transformation
of financial services and the delivery of
further advantages in terms of interacting,
servicing as well as delivering
innovative value propositions.
“Enabling regulations are going to be
key in achieving the reserve bank’s vision
for 2025 which is tackling some of
the social issues that we have in South
Africa,” he says.
“The move could also unlock trade,
growth and create employment. The in-
www.gigabitmagazine.com

5705 Wetpaint
There’s an operational resilience associated with strong partnerships. It’s the
resilience that comes from sharing a vision of the future and an
understanding of the past. That is why, while we innovate on the ever-shifting
technological forefront, iVeri Payment Technologies has always been
committed to the solidity of partnerships.
Specialising in providing cutting-edge multichannel transaction technologies
in the context of developing economies, iVeri has been a preferred payment
partner of banks for two decades. Built on consistency and reliability, it is a
partnership that has led to mutual success and long-term growth.
Active in 12 countries and internationally certified, choose iVeri Payment
Technologies as your payment gateway partner.
Mobile | eCommerce | PoS | API
+27 11 269 4000 | www.iveri.com | sales@iveri.com

AFRICA
269
formal sector in South Africa facilitates
huge amounts of economic activity but
it’s fundamentally based on cash. How
do we, through regulation, also go and
solve facilitating trade and entrepreneurship?
That’s where we’re going to
see a significant amount of transformation
take place over the coming years
in South Africa.”
Housing an exponential and disruptive
mindset, Nedbank has transformed
its capabilities to deliver solutions
that are convenient, secure and scalable.
With Govender certain that the
finance industry in South Africa will
become wholly digitally led, data will
support decision making and provide
key insights into the way customers
engage beyond banking services, as
well as provide essential insights which
www.gigabitmagazine.com

NEDBANK
270
JANUARY 2019

AFRICA
“We are solving
problems that really
matter to clients and
helping address
some of these key
pain points”
—
Dayalan Govender,
Managing Executive of Nedbank Card,
Payments and Transactional
will fundamentally change the way
in which financial institutions design
and bring solutions to market. Fully
revolutionising its corporate culture to
think more innovatively and client centered,
as well as adapt a commercially
savvy mindset, Nedbank will continue
to place significant investment in its
people and new exponential technologies
to take banking services in South
Africa into a whole new era.
271
www.gigabitmagazine.com

272
Resolving digital
transformation
challenges with
CIO Ayanda Saki
WRIT TEN BY
LAURA MULLAN
PRODUCED BY
MALVERN KANDEMWA
JANUARY 2019

AFRICA
273
www.gigabitmagazine.com

CIO — AYANDA SAKI
CIO Ayanda Saki weighs in on
some of the top challenges
and opportunities facing
technology executives today
274
A
s more CIOs take the first
tentative steps on their digital
transformation journeys,
many are turning to seasoned professionals
for guidance. With over 20
years of experience in the technology
sector, Ayanda Saki, now CIO at a leading
African automotive parts company,
is a fountain of wisdom. For Saki, her
technology career began after she obtained
her Computer Science degree,
which allowed her to gain a true understanding
of technological innovation.
Later, before cutting her teeth in the
sector, Saki completed a Master’s Degree
in Business Administration (MBA).
She credits this educational experience
with affording her the necessary
insight to distinguish between technology
for technology’s sake in comparison
to technology which enables true
business value.
JANUARY 2019

AFRICA
275
www.gigabitmagazine.com

TAILORED VOICE &
DATA SOLUTIONS
PABX | Data Connectivity | Voice | Hosted Solutions
Address: 745 Rubenstein Drive, Pretoria,
South Africa
Phone: +27 (0)12 111 1886
Email: info@vtnc.co.za
Www.vtnc.co.za

MEET YOUR SOLUTION
VTNC Communications is a tailored connectivity provider that specialises in PABX, data connectivity,
voice and hosted solutions. We were established in 2011 and, under the leadership of Louis Van Der
Wath, have grown from a small Telecommunications provider to a tier 2 service provider utilising tier 1
networks all over South Africa. VTNC boasts an impressive clientele that spans across all trades in the
commercial and corporate sector.
VTNC was acquired by HeroTel in 2018, whom boast over 55 000 wireless and fibre clients. Herotel
offers VTNC an quality On-Net last mile connectivity solutions for our business clients, and in return
VTNC Communications enables HeroTel to offer v
Contact us today to find out how we can help you grow your business.
A MOTUS PREFFERED SERVICE PROVIDER

CIO — AYANDA SAKI
“It doesn’t make sense
to have a technical
understanding of
technology without
having the necessary
business acumen”
—
Ayanda Saki,
Chief Information Officer
278
BUSINESS PROWESS
“I realised that it didn’t make sense
to have a technical understanding of
technology without having the necessary
business acumen to understand
how these can help businesses generate
revenue or enable strategies,”
she recalls. By understanding how
the business works as well as what it
hopes to achieve, Saki has been able
to align her digital strategies to meet
these needs, whilst remaining laser
focused on the people involved.
“Throughout my career, I made
sure I understood the businesses, how
it worked and what it was trying to
achieve, then aligned the technology
as much as possible to that,” she says.
“Technology shouldn’t be implemented
for the sake of it. Technology should
be used to improve the quality of life of
people and to enable business value.
I think this perspective has created
a good foundation for where I am today.”
This business insight has put her in
good stead in the technology sector.
Whilst Saki may have an impressive understanding
of technology – spanning
JANUARY 2019

AFRICA
everything from software engineering
to business intelligence – she says that,
more than anything, it’s vital executives
recognise that the customer is king.
“In recent years, the biggest change
has been that the power is now in the
hands of the customer. The customer
now decides how they want to buy,
who they want to buy from, and when
they want to buy products and services.”
As the on demand economy takes
off and more and more devices are at
consumers’ fingertips, this challenge is
only set to amplify. Mobile phone ownership
is racing ahead in South Africa
and across the continent. This not only
279
EXECUTIVE PROFILE
Ayanda Saki
Ayanda Saki is an entrepreneurial, seasoned business and
IT strategist, who is currently Chief Information Officer at
Motus Aftermarket Parts. Prior to this role, she worked at
firms such as Standard Bank, the National Research Foundation,
HSBC Investment Services and The Foschini Retail
Group. Throughout her career, she has led and prudently
managed projects and departments with budgets of up to
ZAR70mn (USD$4.86mn). Her specialties include ICT and
business strategy, leadership, governance, portfolio and
programme management, as well as value creation.
www.gigabitmagazine.com

CIO — AYANDA SAKI
serves as a communication device but
also as a cost-effective channel to get
online, which has provided companies
with the opportunity to interact with
customers like never before. “Africa is
very mobile focused and this creates
an opportunity for us to provide an
economic type of architecture for our
customers,” comments Saki. “It’s required
us to adjust our thinking and to
align ourselves with how the customer
interacts with us.”
“Technology shouldn’t
be implemented
for the sake of it.
Technology should
be used to improve
the quality of people’s
lives and to enable
businesses value”
—
Ayanda Saki,
Chief Information Officer
280
THE CUSTOMER IS KING
Not only should CIOs pay heed to their
customers’ wants and needs, but they
should also be aware of their location.
Digital transformation isn’t ‘one
size fits all’, and therefore companies
should be wary of copying and pasting
their business strategies into new
locations. The key, Saki highlights, is
to adapt to each location.
“In Africa, many of the companies
are multinational companies and when
they’ve entered this market, they’ve
taken the same template of their business
from international markets and
applied it here which doesn’t work. For
an African market, the way a business
JANUARY 2019

AFRICA
sells to its customers has to be different
as their buying power is different,
and the way they interact with the
market has to be different. Many are
entrepreneurial businesses and they
typically have less access to technology.
It requires a shift in thinking.”
Saki cites Unilever’s entry into the
rural Indian market as a relevant case
study to parallel. After conducting indepth
research, the firm calculated the
buying power of an average woman in
India and worked out how they could
effectively sell to this market. “For
instance, many consumers didn’t have
the buying power to purchase a 100ml
bottle of body lotion so following the
study Unilever launched smaller sized
sachets of body lotion which were more
affordable and which allowed the company
to penetrate the market further,”
she explains. “I think the same mindset
needs to be applied in Africa.”
281
CONVENIENCE IS CRUCIAL
The success of firms like Amazon,
Deliveroo, Uber and others only goes
to show that convenience sells.
This is a sentiment echoed by Saki
who contends that as more and more
www.gigabitmagazine.com

CIO — AYANDA SAKI
businesses go digital, convenience will be
the differentiating factor. “We’re seeing that
the companies which are succeeding in
digitisation are companies which create
convenience that goes over and above just
buying a product,” Saki reflects. “The better
the customer experience, the more chance
of customers coming back time and time
again.” Data analytics, cloud computing and
other emerging technologies could play
a key role in helping companies realise this
goal, Saki notes.
282
TACKLING THE SKILLS GAP
One of the most pressing challenges facing
the technology sector is undoubtedly the
widening skills gap in the market. In a world
where today’s graduates have grown up with
the internet, tablets and mobile devices, Saki
said that young people already have an inherent
understanding of IT, what recruiters need
to watch out for is those who can take this
understanding and do something new with it.
Additionally, she believes there needs to be
a cultural shift that encourages young people
to enter more corporate environments.
“I believe there’s so much value in combining
how older and younger people think, especially
as we move towards a more digital future,”
she observes. “We need to make a lot of
JANUARY 2019

AFRICA
283
www.gigabitmagazine.com

CIO – AYANDA SAKI
“From the very beginning it
was really hard to be taken
seriously as a woman…
Even if you said something
that had value, you had
to say it a number of times,
justify it a million times
more, and sometimes even
demonstrate it for you to
be taken seriously”
—
Ayanda Saki,
Chief Information Officer
284
JANUARY 2018

AFRICA
changes to absorb this new talent into the
technology landscape.”
Creating an inclusive environment could also
help. Having studied in apartheid times in South
Africa, as well as being a woman in the technology
field, Saki is all too aware of the hurdles
facing workers trying to make their mark on the
technology sector. “From the very beginning it
was really hard to be taken seriously as a woman,”
she reflects. “Even if you said something that
had value, you had to say it a number of times,
justify it a million times more, and sometimes
even demonstrate it for you to be taken seriously.
“I think what helped me was that if I feel an
issue is important, I’ll create a prototype of the
suggestion which allowed me to demonstrate
my ideas clearly.” On top of this, there’s also the
issue of work culture. In the corporate world,
where competing egos are commonplace, Saki
is keen to point out the importance of remaining
humble, particularly when you’re in a leadership
position. In doing so, she says CIOs can create
an approachable and inclusive IT environment
that works with, not in tangent, to the wider business
operation. “I try to keep myself humble and
approachable,” she says. “It’s important to be able
to explain technology in a way that makes sense
to businesses so that they can really comprehend
how IT can benefit the organisation.”
285
www.gigabitmagazine.com

ABC GROUP: DIGITAL
286
TRANSFORMATION
FOR THE LEBANESE
WRIT TEN BY
DALE BENTON
PRODUCED BY
CRAIG DANIELS
SHOPPING EXPERIENCE
JANUARY 2019

MIDDLE EAST
287
www.gigabitmagazine.com

ABC
AMID A TECHNOLOGY
TRANSFORMATION PLAN,
ELIE HARB, HEAD OF IT
AT ABC, TALKS DIGITAL
DISRUPTION IN LEBANON
288
T
echnology has completely redefined the
modern world and the modern customer.
As innovation drives change, businesses
across the globe have to adapt and evolve in order
to continue to meet and ultimately exceed changing
customer expectations. As one of the premier
shopping and lifestyle destinations in Lebanon,
understanding this evolving customer and the role
that technology has and continues to play in that
shifting landscape is more important than ever
before for ABC.
As the first retailer to open in the country since
1936, ABC Group combines world-class shopping
dining and entertainment across six branches and
three flagship stores throughout Lebanon. The
company prides itself on one critical component
– innovation – and it strives to deliver on this through
outstanding customer experience. “At ABC our
purpose is to make Lebanon a better place and we
do that by creating a great social hub offering the
best brand mix and outstanding customer experience,”
says Elie Harb, Head of IT & PMO. “ABC
raises the bar very high when it comes to customer
JANUARY 2019

MIDDLE EAST
289
www.gigabitmagazine.com

Your technology Partner
for a great customer
ex p er ience
www.bmbgroup.com
Egypt, KSA, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon
service, creating an unprecedented
environment where we and our cust–
omers are part of one family. Our CSR
activities and environmental initiatives
are unique in the country and set an
example for the competition and our
population alike.”
Over the last five years, Harb has
overseen a major digital transformation
of ABC as the company continues to
stay at the forefront of innovation and
technology. With a career in IT spanning
over 18 years, Harb has seen the role
of IT and that of the CIO shift dramatically,
moving away from the traditional
support function and becoming a
business enabler. “IT is now becoming
more and more of a business driver
pushing the boundaries of possibility
for ABC to the max,” he says. “The CIO
has assumed a prominent place in the
strategic thinking of the business, not
simply enabling and supporting
other members of the C-suite to
achieve their vision, but rather
actively setting the agenda
for the future of the digital
enterprise. His role isn’t
limited to just keeping the
system running and
updated (while that
is obviously still
JANUARY 2019

MIDDLE EAST
“ABC raises the bar
very high when it
comes to customer
service, creating an
unprecedented
environment where
we and our customers
are part of one family”
—
Elie Harb,
Head of IT and PMO, ABC
important), but he became an agent of
change and innovation.”
As Head of IT, Harb is a key driver of
the digital transformation and looks to
steer the company towards understanding
how best to capitalise on the
technologies on hand in order to optimise
and automate business processes,
enhance customer experience and
improve productivity, all the while keeping
a stable, updated and secure
platform. Harb admits that as technology
continues to evolve, the company
must be agile in its approach to trans–
formation and so it breaks down its
transformation roadmap into three year
plans that are renewed at the end of
291
www.gigabitmagazine.com

ABC
292
each period. This, Harb explains, allows
the company to continuously assess
its position on the edge of technology
to remain the leader in the market.
ABC has defined its priorities for its
digital transformation based on four
pillars: enabling state-of-the-art customer
experience, business enhancement and
innovation; productivity increase and
automation; infrastructure and stability.
Throughout this journey, Harb can
already point to key successes where
technology has enabled true innovation
and efficiency for the business.
“Looking at customer experience, we
built the best loyalty program in the
country and we became the first fashion
retailer to implement a call centre as
well as a 3D virtual reality way finding and
mobile point of sale systems,” he says.
“We were also the first to implement an
intuitive business intelligence system with
predictive analysis and machine learning.
We’ve also optimised the buyers’ work by
adding merchandise planning systems as
well as opening our recruitment possibilities
by adding an online recruitment system.”
With technology comes the risk of always
turning to technology for the sake of following
industry trends rather than enabling true
value for the business and return of
JANUARY 2019

MIDDLE EAST
293
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘ABC OF LEADERSHIP’
www.gigabitmagazine.com

ABC
294
investment (ROI). Harb is all too aware
of this and recognises that while ABC
is an early adopter, it does not follow
blindly. “We pick and choose based on
extensive vetting and we don’t let
ourselves be impressed by ‘big
words’,” he says. “Some trends have
had a major impact on the retail
industry, such as omnichannel retail
which is causing major disruption, while
others are still to show their worthiness.
It falls to us to use our better judgment
and expertise in the field in order to
adopt the best solution possible and
follow the route that will have a positive
impact on our business.”
To this end, ABC will vet technology
both internally and externally through
the use of technology vendors and filter
innovation and solutions through variable
committees like the company’s Customer
Experience Committee (CEC). “The CEC
or the steering committee will analyse
the business impact and the ROI both
locally and globally,” says Harb. “Once
approved, we then proceed with a final
round of validation in order to ensure
there are no hidden costs or impacts
and that it fits exactly to our needs.”
Ultimately, those needs revolve around
the customer and their experience. Harb
“We were the first
to implement an
intuitive business
intelligence system
with predictive
analysis and
machine learning”
—
Elie Harb,
Head of IT and PMO, ABC
JANUARY 2019

MIDDLE EAST
notes that technology has opened up
greater communications and visibility with
its customers, something that he feels is an
edge that no other retailers can offer. This
is best exemplified through its mobile
application. “Our mobile app ensures that
our customers are always connected and
informed about what we are doing for them,”
he says. “It gives the customer full control
over their loyalty points to redeem at any
time without the need of physical interaction.”
This loyalty scheme was extended to all
shops within ABC’s department stores and
malls, which vastly improved customer satis–
EXECUTIVE PROFILE
295
Elie Harb
An experienced IT professional, with more than 18 years working in the
technology space, Elie Harb is currently the IT and Project Management
Officer at ABC Sal. In this role, Harb is tasked with keeping ABC Sal at the
forefront of innovation and technology, having overseen
a major companywide digital transformation based on four pillars:
enabling state of the art customer experiences, business enhancements
and innovations; productivity increase and automation;
infrastructure and stability. Harb is a key driver of the digital
transformation and looks to steer the company towards understanding
how best to capitalise on the technologies on hand in
order to optimise and automate business processes, enhance
customer experience and improve productivity, all the while
keeping a stable, updated and secure platform.
www.gigabitmagazine.com

ABC
296
JANUARY 2019

MIDDLE EAST
faction. The company also became the first retailer
to implement mobile POS within its malls to
drastically reduce queues and allow for fast checkout
during high seasons. “We also have digital
signage, our VR way finding systems and free Wi-Fi.
Combine all of our digital initiatives and we have
created an incredibly unique customer experience
that cannot be matched by other malls.”
For more than 75 years, ABC has strategically
invested into technology in order to cement its position
as the leading retailer in the market. Investing in
technology is important, but Harb understands that
the true enabler for ABC’s success today and
tomorrow is its people. “At ABC, we believe that our
greatest asset is our employees,” he says. “ABC takes
employee development very seriously and makes it
a high priority. Part of this development is participating
in seminars, expos and developmental courses in
each field. We’ve established an internal training
academy and created programs specific for retail and
our way of business and enrolled key people
in them. We also built a talent academy to retain,
motivate and promote talents.”
ABC’s investment into its people matches that of
its investment into technology. It has and will continue
to prove key in enabling opportunities and
growth into the future. “We will continue to invest in
innovation, technology and people,” says Harb.
“We’ll do this to keep them updated and to not allow
them to become obsolete or lose the investment
placed in them and to continue to be the retailer of
297
www.gigabitmagazine.com

ABC
298
“We will continue to invest
in innovation, technology
and people”
—
Elie Harb,
Head of IT and PMO, ABC
JANUARY 2019

MIDDLE EAST
choice in the country.”
The future is bright for ABC. The company
has already begun to make inroads into
ecommerce and omnichannel that will be
launched in 2019 and is also in advanced
negotiations with some major brands to
represent them in the country.
As Harb looks to that future, he can reflect on
the digital journey of ABC and the lessons
learned along the way. “It has been a challenging
and interesting journey. The main take away
would be to always challenge the status quo,
build on solid ground by choosing the right
partners, technologies and peoples and always
be on the watch for disruptive technologies or
market shifts. Internal communication, openness
and team work are also key in any venture.
“From our past experience, we believe that
constant evolution by pushing our limits and
boundaries, market and trends awareness,
employee development and most importantly
customer satisfaction are the main
pillars to achieve business success.”
299
www.gigabitmagazine.com

300
JANUARY 2019

HEALTHCARE
Navigating digital
transformation in
Saudi Arabia with
Fakeeh Healthcare
WRIT TEN BY
SEAN GALEA-PACE
PRODUCED BY
CRAIG DANIELS
301
www.gigabitmagazine.com

FAKEEH HEALTHCARE
302
Executive Vice
President of Fakeeh
and Chairman of
Kameda Arabia,
Sanjay Shah,
discusses how his
group is embracing
new technology
systems amid rapid
change across
Saudi Arabia
I
n an era of technological
change, it has become vital
for all companies to innovate
in order to stay ahead of their rivals. In
a country driven by transformation,
Fakeeh Healthcare has been a pioneer
in the healthcare industry in Saudi
Arabia. Since it was founded by Dr.
Soliman Fakeeh in Jeddah in 1978,
Fakeeh has experienced two major
expansions in the form of the 1986
inauguration by King Fahd bin Abd
al-Aziz, which saw the facility’s inpatient
capacity increased, and the addition
of two new structures to the Fakeeh
JANUARY 2019

MIDDLE EAST
303
Hospital campus in 1999. Executive
Vice President of Fakeeh, Sanjay Shah,
believes that its Fakeeh’s willingness to
improve its services consistently that
has acted as a catalyst for this success.
“Fakeeh’s journey began with the current
president’s father, the late Dr.
Solomon Fakeeh, and he was really
the key reason for the company’s early
success,” says Shah. “That tradition
has carried over with under his son’s
leadership and completely changed
the face and the path of Fakeeh. We
have increased the visibility, penetra-
www.gigabitmagazine.com

FAKEEH HEALTHCARE
304
JANUARY 2019

MIDDLE EAST
tion, pioneering to become leading
edge. We’re very proud of our legacy
and heritage and we want to continue
that as much as we can.”
CONFORMING TO THE SAUDI VISION 2030
Shah draws on Fakeeh’s determination
to help improve lives as a key reason it
has achieved such significant success.
“We are all about transforming lives,” he
notes. “Fakeeh is known in the market
for its clinical excellence and compassionate
care. One of the most important
attributes is that it believes in health edu–
cation and that remains the real differentiating
factor from our competitors.”
As the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
looks to diversify its reliance on oil and
seeks to develop public services such
as education and health, it remains vital
that all companies align themselves to
the Saudi Vision 2030. Shah believes
that Fakeeh are taking its contribution
to it very seriously. “We’re incumbent
on developing the 2030 plan and
improving the wellbeing of the populations
of Saudi. We take the primary
care element very seriously and it’s
a very important part of the vision for
2030,” says Shah. “Developing private
medicine and transferring some of the
305
www.gigabitmagazine.com

FAKEEH HEALTHCARE
assets perpetually from public to private
ownership or operation is a very
important element and we want to
participate in that,” he adds. “We
really want to be the cornerstone of
this vision. We welcome and encourage
it and we look forward to playing
a significant part in this exciting
transformation for the Kingdom.”
EMBRACING NEW
TECHNOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
In order to keep up with the latest
technology trends, Fakeeh has
introduced a new hospital information
system called Yasasii, which was
formed out of a joint collaboration
between an Indian and Japanese
software house. The system, which
utilises all aspects of a healthcare
institution, ensures healthcare professionals
can monitor the functioning and
management of all departments while
also increasing Return On Investment
(ROI) for the company and saving lives.
“We are seeing the whole industry
embrace disruptive technology at an
increased rate,” explains Shah.
Transforming Care
Infant Protection and Staff Duress
Contact our MEA office today at
stanleyhealthcare-mea@sbdinc.com
©2018 STANLEY Healthcare. DOC-23-00120-AA

MIDDLE EAST
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘FAKEEH SMART HOSPITAL’
307
“We’re incumbent on
developing the 2030
plan and improving
the wellbeing of the
Saudi population.
We take the primary
care element very
seriously and it’s
a very important part
of the vision for 2030”
—
Sanjay Shah,
Executive Vice President, Fakeeh Care
“Fakeeh’s focus is to make technology
a true enabler. It’s about patient care
from the outset and returning patients
safely back into the community and
into their homes. We want our tools
to embed the best practices that are
beginning to come to market and we
want to utilise machine learning and
artificial intelligence in order to enable
faster access and reach the best
outcomes for patients and improving
patient safety.”
As the only standalone primary care
location in the Gulf Cooperation Council
to be awarded a HIMSS 6 certificate
www.gigabitmagazine.com

FAKEEH HEALTHCARE
308
(a significant milestone for professional
development of knowledge in the field),
Shah credits Fakeeh’s technology
platform as key to his significant
achievement. “It’s a very big accolade for
our technology platform which I believe
is one of the most superb platforms I
have come across,” affirms Shah. “It’s
helped decision making for all members
within the care community, whether
that be a physician, pharmacist or nurse,
from management information all the way
through to complete technician support.
We have a very powerful platform and we
want to grow that as much as possible.”
With technology becoming increasingly
vital to Fakeeh and its patients, Shah
believes that the implementation of the
company’s new digital tools has allowed
the firm to provide its hospitals with the
latest innovations. “We are using the
latest technology tools in our smart
hospitals to provide the latest technology
for a superior hospital experience,
similar to a luxury hotel. We have also
set up an offshore regional research
hub in southern India to enable smarter
and automated techniques,” explains
Shah. “We have already introduced
robotics in some of our operation
departments in order to remove low
JANUARY 2019

MIDDLE EAST
309
EXECUTIVE PROFILE
Sanjay Shah
A Board Member & Executive Vice President at Fakeeh
since 2015, Shah has overseen the development of the
state-of-the-art 260 bedded hospital, rehab and academic
medical centre in partnership with University College of
London Hospital in Dubai. The projects Shah is currently
working on include eight Family Medical Centres in Saudi
Arabia and UAE, diabetes and urgent care centres in
Jeddah and Dubai, and Surgical Tower.
www.gigabitmagazine.com

FAKEEH HEALTHCARE
“We are using the latest technology
tools in our smart hospitals to provide
a superior experience, similar to
a luxury hotel”
—
Sanjay Shah,
Executive Vice President, Fakeeh Care
310
end tasks and we will continue to invest
in this technology. We see technology
giving us a special advantage over
our competitors and see this as our
core competency.”
Looking to the future, Fakeeh plans
to diversify the business by developing
JANUARY 2019

MIDDLE EAST
a hospital and medical university in
Dubai Silicon Oasis in a bid to establish
the brand in the United Arab Emirates.
Shah believes that new facilities such
as this are key to the future growth
and development of Fakeeh. “It’s a
very important facility,” he says. “We
are going to have a helicopter pad in
order to cater for trauma patients.
We’re trying to provide to a market
which is going to be very distinctive
and must deal with trauma cases,
centers of excellence, such as neurosurgery,
cardiac, cardio-thoracic, spine
surgery, orthopedics, oncology and
ENT. It’s a very unique set up and its
one of a kind with nothing similar
currently available in Dubai.”
311
www.gigabitmagazine.com

MERCEDES-BENZ BRASIL
312
Reinventing
the automotive
industry
WRIT TEN BY
MARÍA COBANO-CONDE
PRODUCED BY
MANUEL NAVARRO
JANUARY 2019

LATIN AMERICA
313
www.gigabitmagazine.com

MERCEDES-BENZ BRASIL
Mauricio Mazza, CIO at
Mercedes-Benz Brazil,
offers the keys to Daimler’s
digital transformation
through innovation, sustainability
and employees
314
D
aimler AG belongs to that select
group of companies that has had
the privilege of forging history.
The history of the automobile began in 1886
with Daimler’s first motor carriage and Carl
Benz’s three-wheeled vehicle.
Since then, Daimler has been synonymous
with tradition, quality and innovation.
This stamp is printed in its five divisions:
Mercedes-Benz Cars, Daimler Trucks,
Mercedes-Benz Vans, Daimler Buses and
Daimler Financial Services.
Mauricio Mazza, CIO at Mercedes-Benz
Brazil, one of the companies of Daimler AG,
explains the great responsibility of the
company in Brazil as the leader in innovation
in the automotive industry.
JANUARY 2019

LATIN AMERICA
315
www.gigabitmagazine.com

MERCEDES-BENZ BRASIL
316
THE BASIS FOR THE FUTURE, IN THE
CULTURE SHIFT
Daimler founded its Brazilian production
plant in 1956, in the city of São Bernardo
do Campo (São Paulo). It was one of the
first automotive manufacturing companies
that decided to start operations in
the country, thanks to the opportunities
in the truck manufacturing market.
Mazza begins: “The community had
a strong participation in making this
possible, as we covered the heavy
need for transportation through trucks
and buses to move people and goods
“As a company,
Daimler has
confidence that
our history and
our culture are
strong assets that
we have to use”
—
Mauricio Mazza,
CIO at Mercedes-Benz Brasil
JANUARY 2019

LATIN AMERICA
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘MERCEDES-BENZ MUSEUM:
AWAKEN YOUR INNER CHILD’
317
around. I think the company has very
strong ties with Brazil and what makes
us unique, besides this strong link, is
that we have a very broad portfolio of
products that has, in many ways, adapted
to the Brazilian reality.”
“We also have dense penetration
in the different logistics areas in the
country: transportation for retail,
for agribusiness, for oil and gas, for
chemicals and for several different
types of industries is essential. That
has positioned us uniquely in terms
of knowledge of the market, relationships
with key players as well as the
culture, that allows us to continue
growing while being relevant for the
economy of Brazil,” Mazza analyses
about the beginnings in Brazil.
From this strong market position,
Daimler is going through a deep cultural
change in its strategy and internal
culture. That change, of course, is
based on innovation. “We always had
a very strong culture of innovation;
I think this is something that in the DNA
of Daimler, ever since the founding of
the company. We always had strong
engineering departments here in Brazil
particularly; it was something very
www.gigabitmagazine.com

LATIN AMERICA
important in the company, and we live
up to those standard.”
“It’s not innovation per se and alone,
but innovation applied to the business
that moves into efficiency. We
have the recognition mechanics, the
support from specific departments
and from the whole board on really
developing innovative solutions that
don’t necessarily need to be big and
expensive. It does not matter if it is
a small detail on the shop floor or the
big investments that we are deploying
to redesign our plant. We believe that
every innovation is important and
that it belongs to everybody. All the
employees in the company.”
INNOVATION IN MANUFACTURING
ENGINEERING
As Mazza states, innovation at all levels
is the key to Daimler’s transformation
in Brazil: “We have been making a huge
investment for the last two years in
EXECUTIVE PROFILE
Mauricio Mazza graduated in Mechatronics Engineering in 1999
from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, Brazil.
319
For over 16 years Mauricio has worked as a consultant, helping clients
through the challenges of business and technology innovation,
enabling them to become more relevant and valuable.
Whilst always valuing and respecting everyone’s insight —
client or colleague, analyst or VP — Mauricio’s down-to-earth
yet empowered approach allows him to contribute at both
operational and executive levels, building relationships
rooted in credibility and trust.
Mauricio developed his skills serving different
clients, industries and cultures, with over three
years of international experience working in
the US and Europe, besides multiple
locations within Brazil.
www.gigabitmagazine.com

MERCEDES-BENZ BRASIL
320
JANUARY 2019

LATIN AMERICA
COMPANY FACTS
• Daimler divisions are
Mercedes-Benz Cars,
Daimler Trucks, Mercedes-
Benz Vans, Daimler Buses
and Daimler Financial
Services
• In 2017, the Group
sold around 3.3 million
vehicles and employed
a workforce of more
than 289,300 people in
the world
• The history of the
automobile began in 1886
with Daimler’s first motor
carriage and Carl Benz’s
three-wheeled vehicle
321
• Daimler sells its vehicles
and services in nearly
all the countries of the
world and has production
facilities in Europe,
North and South America,
Asia, and Africa
• In 2017, Daimler
generated €164,330mn
in revenue
www.gigabitmagazine.com

MERCEDES-BENZ BRASIL
322
redesigning and rebuilding our own
factory. We are trying to rebuild our
production lines and our logistics
infrastructure around the new digitalisation
and automation capabilities
that are there in the market, or that
we are pioneering or inventing.”
“In general, we are driving around
15% to 20% efficiency with the new
layouts of the logistics and production.
Previously, we had two assembly
lines, but we amalgamated them into
one single line that is more efficient
than the other two combined with more
flexibility” – explains Mazza – “We are
applying the same concepts of flexibility
and digitalisation to the assembly
lines for chassis, engines, trucks, gearboxes
and cabins.”
Besides that, for even further enhancements
in its digitalization strategy,
Daimler Brazil is partnering with technology
giants such as Microsoft, IBM,
T-Systems and additional partners such
as start-ups and niche players such as
Semantix as well as hardware/automation
solution partners like Durr.
Subsequently, the positive effect
of this transformation is spreading
across all stakeholders. “The effect
is not only on the company and the
employees, but also for the client, as
we have a parallel improvement in
terms of quality, failure prevention,
vehicle testing and a series of activities
to create better, more technologically
advanced and safer products.
Our customers are the first ones to
benefit and we believe that by the
time Brazil recovers as an economy,
JANUARY 2019

LATIN AMERICA
323
our production figures will probably
increase significantly, because we are
in a better position to fulfil our customers’
requirements, more efficiently.”
PEOPLE, PLANET AND PROFIT
Sustainability, as a driving force for
change, is also a priority for Daimler in
Brazil and part of its culture shift. As
Mazza explains: “People, Planet and
www.gigabitmagazine.com

LATIN AMERICA
“We have a very
strong culture
of innovation,
ever since the
founding of
the company”
—
Mauricio Mazza,
CIO at Mercedes-Benz Brasil
Profit, the three Ps, is a framework
that has been more and more used
out in the market. You have to make
a combination of these three dimensions
to be successful in terms of
sustainability.”
“In São Bernardo we have our huge
manufacturing plant, and also a hospital
sponsored by the company and
a firefighter station that not only serve
the company but also the local community
around the plant. We are, in
both ways, from a people and a planet
perspective, very concerned and
active not only to withstand local envi-
ronmental regulations, but also going
further and trying to offer something
really relevant for society and the local
community around us.”
This approach is ingrained in the sales
strategy of the company, as Mazza
explains: “It needs to make economic
sense – we believe that we have to not
only focus on being green, on being environmentally
correct, and empowering
our people. We need to do that in the
direction of maintaining the company’s
profitability while ensuring that the
initiatives are profitable for sale on
this journey.”
PARTNERSHIP IN A CUSTOMER-
CENTRIC ERA
As Daimler Company in Brazil we are
laying a very clear vision for the future,
challenges lay ahead. This includes the
manufacturing of e-vehicles, and carrying
on with building trust in the brand.
“Electrical is definitely a very strong
component of the strategy. Daimler
launched the fully electric vehicle called
EQC in Stockholm on September, 4th
– our first 100% electrical vehicle.”
“The electrification of the powertrain
is not our only priority, but we also
325
www.gigabitmagazine.com

MERCEDES-BENZ BRASIL
“I think every company in
the automative industry
is facing one very big
challenge: reinventing
themselves”
—
Mauricio Mazza,
CIO at Mercedes-Benz Brasil
have to understand how we can make
the usage of our products more efficient
both economically for our customers
and the environment. We want to
make sure our vehicles are shared and
that they have a better occupation of
the capacity of the equipment and the
assets. This is definitely a significant
326
JANUARY 2019

LATIN AMERICA
part of our strategy that is not only
a long-term dream but a dream that is
turning into reality as we speak.”
For Mazza, liaising with Daimler’s
customers in Brazil is an integral part
of facing the future: “I think the key
message is to be open to listen, and be
humble enough to understand that no
one in the market will be able to offer
solutions by himself to all kinds of problems
that our customers could have.
It involves collaboration, partnership
and a combination of strengths and
openly talking about your weaknesses
and where you can improve. All this
technology and the wider trends need
327
www.gigabitmagazine.com

Welcome to the
Visioneering Group
Digital solutions are only as good as the minds behind them. Dürr combines creativity
with experience and focuses on developments in the usability of your system. More
efficiency, more flexibility, more sustainability – that’s the direction of tomorrow!
www.durr.com
to be used to become really customercentric
to solve your customer’s
problems or requirements and fulfil
their expectations, comprehensively.”
“I think every company in the automotive
industry is facing one very big
challenge: reinventing themselves.
That is, trying to understand how the
future will look; what the future is
holding for us in the next 20, 30 years.
What will the role of mobility be in
a new fully digital society, and how
can digital change impact our business?
I think one important challenge
1956
Year Mercedes-Benz
do Brasil founded
10,000+
Approximate number
of Mercedes-Benz
do Brasil employees
JANUARY 2019

LATIN AMERICA
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘MERCEDES-BENZ | PEÇA PARA UMA ESTRELA’
329
is to understand the digital mechanics
of the industry.”
“As a company, Daimler has confidence
that our history and our culture
are strong assets that we have to use.
We are also very aware that the past
success is no guarantee of a future
success, so we have to be very smart,
to be very alert and to be very sensitive
to the changes that are going on in the
market,” concludes Mazza.
www.gigabitmagazine.com

330

MANUFACTURING
WORKING
TO SOLVE
WHAT
331
MATTERS
WRIT TEN BY
MARÍA COBANO-CONDE
PRODUCED BY
MANUEL NAVARRO

SIEMENS
HOMERO JAVALERA,
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS,
EXPLAINS THE TRANSFOR-
MATION THE MONTERREY
PLANT UNDERWENT WITH
THE LATEST TECHNOLOGI-
CAL INNOVATIONS
332
S
iemens enjoys a privileged position
as one of today’s leaders in the
industries of technology, healthcare,
and solutions for the processes of
electrification and digitalisation.
Siemens may be defined as an actor that
understands what truly matters in today’s
society: the extreme urbanisation of the
planet, globalisation, digitalisation, climate
change, and the ageing of the population are
some of the hot topics for which Siemens
creates solutions that leverage change. All
this is focused on the creation of a catalogue
and implemented in three cornerstones:
automation, electrification, and digitalisation.
Its production plant in Monterrey (Mexico) is
going through a digitalisation renewal process
that is making its manufacturing processes
more agile and efficient – it’s truly a factory
from the future.
Homero Javalera, director of Operations in
Siemens Mexico, has been at the forefront of
Homero Javalera,
Director of Operations
for Siemens Mexico
JANUARY 2019

LATIN AMERICA
333
www.gigabitmagazine.com

SIEMENS
“SIEMENS HAS AN IIOT
(INDUSTRIAL INTERNET
OF THINGS) OPERATIVE
SYSTEM CALLED
MINDSPHERE, AND OUR
3.0 VERSION IS IN THE
SERVERS OF AMAZON
WEB SERVICES”
—
Homero Javalera,
Director of Operations
for Siemens Mexico
the plant’s operations for four years,
a labour that has earned him awards
as renowned as the Global Siemens
AG Award 2016 (Werner von Siemens
Award) for the best global performance,
the biggest recognition awarded by
Siemens in the entire corporation.
THE COMBINATION OF TWO
BUSINESS AREAS
The most relevant development that
Javalera may have had in his adminis-
334
JANUARY 2019

LATIN AMERICA
CLICK TO WATCH: ‘SIEMENS — MANIFIESTO INTERNACIONAL’
335
tration to date has been the fusing
together of two production plants into
today’s Monterrey plant, where work is
done in three different areas. “I took
care of the transfer of two business
areas and the coordination of the
whole team, a task that consisted of
building warehouses, hiring 1,000
people, implementing ERP (Enterprise
Resource Planning), redirecting the
entire supply chain and all the suppliers,
contacting internal clients and
investors, buying new equipment, etc.
We have 1,500 employees in the
factory, and we sell approximately
$220mn and over 20mn units per year.”
Javalera delves into the plant creation
process: “What we did was bring two
factories together into one – we had
a single type of product here, and then,
we brought over two more from two
different factories. Now, we have three
types of products in Monterrey:
residential circuit breakers, industrial
circuit breakers, and safety switches,”
Javalera analyzes. “This isn’t just
a manufacturing facility; it’s an Investigation
and Development center as we
design and launch new products here
as well. We have a group of researchers
www.gigabitmagazine.com

We make
ideas happen.
Becoming the best product
development partner
Mock-up Service.
Mock-ups that look,
feel and work like
the real thing.
PremCast.
A premium, high
quality vacuum casting
service from ARRK
Rapid Prototyping
Solutions,
3D Printing, CNC,
and more.
Tooling & Molding
Service.
Quality low volume
production.

One of the world’s largest
product development specialists
ARRK Product Development Group.
ARRK is one of the world’s largest
product development specialists. Our
origins date back to 1948 in Osaka, Japan
and its evolution into a global leader
of product development. Nowadays,
company operates 20 locations
worldwide, with over 3,300 employees.
www.arrk.com
contactus@arrk.com
Full-line product development services.
At ARRK, we believe in combining the
newest, latest, and greatest technologies
with master craftsmanship to bring your
products to market quickly and costeffective.
We offer a comprehensive range
of product development solutions that
include 3D printing, Rapid Prototyping,
Mock-ups, LVP, Molding and Tooling.
With over 66 years of experience
in additive technologies, ARRK has
amassed a wealth of knowledge to
assist designers and engineers from
a wide range of industries which
include medical, consumer electronics,
automotive, aerospace, and defense.

SIEMENS
338
conducting advanced materials
investigations using nanotechnology,
and another group doing Investigation
and Development with the supply
chain group from Global Procurement
in the areas of automation and digitalisation
here in this organisation as well.”
“This is truly a company doing complex
things, a company facing today’s most
complex challenges. It generates
technology to address issues such as
climate change, energy distribution,
clean energy generation... our portfolio
is vast in that sense. We also address
the issue of the planet’s extreme
urbanisation, and to do so, Siemens’s
catalogue serves, for example, mobility,
trains, smart buildings, and energy
consumption control in urban concentrations.
We have the opportunity to
contribute that to our clients. Digitalisation
is a global trend and a priority for
Siemens. Through our portfolio, we
provide solutions for our clients, and
we’re also developing our internal
systems. For example, we’ve grown
very much in comparison to previous
years with clients such as Amazon,
Facebook, and Microsoft given the
investments they’ve made in infrastruc-
JANUARY 2019

LATIN AMERICA
“SIEMENS
IS MIGRATING
TOWARDS
BECOMING
A COMPANY THAT
IS THOROUGHLY
ABOUT DIGITAL
TECHNOLOGY”
—
Homero Javalera,
Director of Operations
for Siemens Mexico
ture such as data centers.
The world is going electric,
and Siemens has this whole
catalogue.”
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
FROM THE INSIDE
Siemens Mexico doesn’t
create innovation for its
clients only, but it also applies
it to its production processes.
The radical changes in the
plant’s production lines were
a result of introducing the
most relevant trends in
digitalisation to maximise
resources. Javalera explains
how this change developed. “The
change has been exponential in the
last years, not so much before then.
Ten years ago, we made very slow
changes as needs would arise and
according to the available technology.
Now, we have a deeper understanding
of digitalisation and automation;
technology is more readily available,
and new generations are entering
the labour market with different skills
in digitalisation.”
“Change in the past three or four
339
www.gigabitmagazine.com

Proud Partner of
Siemens Monterrey MX
Digital Transformation
Smart Manufacturing
www.InnovarSystems.com

LATIN AMERICA
The Siemens Mexico
management team
341
years has been exponential indeed
since, 10-15 years ago, we hadn’t done
what we’ve been doing lately. For
example, mobile technology already
existed then, but today, new communication
protocols in mobile technology
allow for the exchange of data in
massive amounts and at unbelievable
speeds. This way, data from thousands
of connections in your production lines
may be connected in real time and be
used in a very valuable way.”
Siemens Mexico has its own team
of experts in charge of leading the
transition and application of digital
technologies: “Digital Factory is our
division leading us through the
digitalisation process – they have the
entire portfolio, and it’s quite vertical.
It includes the physical elements
necessary to connect the machines
and generate data as well as the
elements for interconnectivity and
industrial networking purposes. Our
Siemens PLM division has an entire
software portfolio for the different
stages in our digitalisation, and it also
has the design software Siemens NX
www.gigabitmagazine.com

SIEMENS
COMPANY FACTS
• Siemens Mexico
employs 1,500
collaborators in its
Monterrey plant
• On average, Siemens
Mexico generates $220M
in revenue, and it sells
30M units per year
342
1847
Year founded
Siemens building in
Monterrey, Mexico
372,000
Number of Siemens
employees globally
$95bn+
Revenue in
fiscal year 2017
JANUARY 2019

LATIN AMERICA
to create digital twins of industrial
processes and/or products such as
cars, airplanes, circuit breakers, etc.”
By executing a circular strategy,
Siemens uses these same digital
processes to leverage the efficiency
of the products it offers to market.
“For example, you can monitor the
efficiency of our electricity generation
turbines in real time. You can monitor
the efficiency of the electric distribution
and make decisions on the spot.
Also in real time and through customised
solutions tailored to your needs,
you can monitor and distribute energy
in a smart way in cities and buildings.
Even at the production line level,
through Siemens’s portfolio of software
and hardware, you can know
which engine is consuming more
energy, or you can know what the peak
times of energy consumption are in
a smart building to implement energysaving
projects,” he concludes.
343
INNOVATION APPLIED TO MANUFACTURE
PROCESSES
In Siemens’s Mexico particular case,
the application of digital innovations
is accomplishing a very high level of
www.gigabitmagazine.com

CLICK TO WATCH: ‘SIEMENS MÉXICO— DIGITALIZATION’
344
satisfaction with processes, production,
and manufacturing. Javalera
offers exclusive information on this
newly obtained acceleration: “We can
save on months of prototype development,
long hours of engineering, and
lots of money in materials and tools
by simply creating digital twins for the
products before launching them.”
“Before ordering new machinery
and investing hundreds of thousands
of dollars in equipment, simulations
are designed by computer right at the
production line to determine what is
really needed. This saves up thousands
of dollars by preventing potential
failures from errors in the design of
the productions lines. Moreover, once
it’s running, you can make sure its
efficiency is as close as possible to the
efficiency you expect from production,
emphasising automatic management
of the client’s demands, where we have
much less human intervention.”
In matters of production execution,
we monitor the performance of the
lines in real time, and we receive
an immediate response whenever
a problem arises. Regarding quality
and product safety, in very critical
JANUARY 2019

LATIN AMERICA
“OUR DIGITAL
FACTORY IS
LEADING OUR
DIGITALISATION”
—
Homero Javalera,
Director of Operations
for Siemens Mexico
345
processes, we accomplished having
deep and detailed traceability at an
individual level for each of the 30 million
units we make every year. We have
a “birth certificate” for every one of
them, a matrix code that is unique for
every product. All of that is available in
the cloud, and we can make inquiries,
analyse, improve, monitor, etc. through
applications.”
“For machine maintenance, we’re
installing additional sensors, connectivity
modules, HMIs, and PLCs. We are
getting them connected so they can let
us know in a predictive way when we
need to do a maintenance intervention
so the machine won’t fail. In the future,
we’re moving up to a prescriptive level
in such a way that the system itself will
give instructions, carry out maintenance
activities automatically, and even
create purchasing orders [for parts]
promptly. Whenever the replacement
part is ready in the warehouse, it will
create and send a maintenance work
order to be executed.”
SOLID ALLIANCES WITH COLLABORATORS
Siemens Mexico is proud to offer its
avant-garde innovation to clients as
www.gigabitmagazine.com

SIEMENS
346
“GENERATING
TECHNOLOGY
TO TAKE CARE
OF ISSUES SUCH
AS CLIMATE
CHANGE, ENERGY
DISTRIBUTION,
CLEAN ENERGY
GENERATION...
OUR PORTFOLIO
IS EXTENSIVE IN
THAT SENSE”
—
Homero Javalera,
Director of Operations
for Siemens Mexico
JANUARY 2019

LATIN AMERICA
347
www.gigabitmagazine.com

SIEMENS
348
renowned as Microsoft, Facebook,
BMW, General Motors, and Ford, and
this is thanks to its collaboration with
top companies as well as with partners
and suppliers. This has been evidenced
by the recent association of Siemens
with Amazon Web Services, the digital
giant: “Siemens has an IIoT (Industrial
Internet of Things) operative system
called MindSphere, and our 3.0 version
is in the servers of Amazon Web
Services. These servers have a
superior processing capability when
compared to what we have internally
and to what we’ve seen from other
potential partners.”
“Amazon’s processing capability is
brutal; it’s very fast, and it can process
a huge amount of data simultaneously.
Our operative system is installed there.
We already started by implementing
the first application, and we plan on
connecting over 550 pieces of
equipment. Every piece of equipment
will have at least 10 connection points;
that is, over 5,500 connection points
that will generate millions of data.”
The company also enjoys an excellent
collaborative relationship with its
suppliers, such as AARK, for example.
JANUARY 2019

LATIN AMERICA
A specialist in product development,
it has been a global supplier of
prototypes and production tools for
Siemens since 1997, working jointly
in many different divisions including
Siemens Medical. This year, it has
been in charge of the largest version
of a toolkit for a single provider.
In great measure, said collaborations
drive digitalisation in Latin American,
enriching and leveraging transformation.
Javalera analyses the digital
disruption situation in the region:
“Here, we see it at our operation’s level.
Job positions are truly changing. The
demand for process engineers is
decreasing, and so is the demand for
data entry clerks, inspectors, etc.
However, there is a higher demand for
programmers, applications developers,
and people who know about automation,
PLCs, industrial networks, and
big data analysis.”
“That is a challenge; there will be
a huge demand, and there won’t be
enough people to fulfill it. We’re going
to need to hurry up, both the industry
and universities, in order to develop the
necessary skills. Another important
challenge is implementing a big part of
349
www.gigabitmagazine.com

SIEMENS
350
the innovation in digitalisation. The
industry needs to be more willing to
invest and experiment without the
burden of traditional accounting. The
value is clear, and it does exist, but on
occasion, it will be difficult to calculate
an immediate return of investment.”
Siemens Mexico has defined its
strategy to continue transforming
itself in the future: “Siemens is migrating
towards becoming a company that
is thoroughly about digital technology.
Regarding software and digital
services, we grew 20% last year, with
a revenue of over $5.78 billion – Siemens
is already the eight largest software
company in the world in terms of size.
We’ve acquired over $11.55 billion in
software in the last 10 years. We’ve also
increased our investment in investigation
and development significantly in
the last few years. Almost $7 billion will
go to Investigation and Development
every year. This includes both the
digital and automation areas as well
as the areas of additive manufacturing,
autonomous robots, blockchain
applications, Artificial Intelligence,
advanced materials, and energy
storage among others.
Homero Javalera
and Miguel Guerrero
“In California, we have the Next
47 division, which works as a kind of
catalyst for startups. For the next five
years, Siemens sets aside $1.16 billion
for Next 47, and it’s mainly working
with 3D printing, IoT, robotics and
drones, artificial intelligence,
augmented reality,
and virtual reality.”
JANUARY 2019

LATIN AMERICA
Collecting the Global Siemens
AG Award 2016 (Werner von
Siemens Award) for best global
performance, the highest
recognition granted by Siemens
351
“We are not only helping with capital, but
Siemens connects these startups with either
our partners or with Siemens itself to see
how to implement their proposals in the
industry. We also get them closer to
both the industry and potential
clients,” concludes Javalera.
www.gigabitmagazine.com

Customer data.
Trade secrets.
Your career. Keep
them all secure
Secure your business, inside and out. See
how a Software-Defined Secure Network
can transform your network into a single,
holistic enforcement domain.
BUILD MORE THAN A NETWORK ṬM
juniper.net/security-starts-here