Business Chief Africa Magazine — June 2018

City Focus

June 2018 • AFRICA EDITION

T-SYSTEMS The future of cybersecurity

Nedbank Insurance Technology transformation at one of South Africa’s financial institutions

TOP

10 Investment

companies in Africa

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ELLO AND WELCOME to the June issue of Africa’s Business Chief magazine.

Our cover story this month is an exclusive interview with Nedbank Insurance, which is seeking to innovate technologically as the continent moves steadfast towards digital provision of financial services.

Indranil Bandyopadhyay, Head of IT at Nedbank Insurance, explains: “Historically IT has been seen as a support service in the bank, which we still provide, but our influence has expanded to impact the organisational innovation roadmap as innovation and technology are inextricably linked.”

Staying with technology, Head of Solutions, Projects and Portfolio for T-Systems South Africa, Rajan Padayachee, looks ahead on what cybersecurity needs to look like in 2018 and beyond.

Jumping from cybersecurity to value chains, we asked Lloyd Snowden of Oliver Wight to talk us through the importance of value

chains in sustainable business planning, and how making the most of them can add to any business.

Meanwhile, we caught up with Everbridge, a company which manages critical events from terror attacks and natural disasters to IT outages by using state-of-the-art software to keep businesses running and employees safe. Further, looking into people management, Sony Electronics’ Head of Corporate Communications Cheryl Goodman is discussing the rise of women in STEM and how females can be encouraged to make it to the top.

On top of this, our top 10 charts the largest investment companies on the continent, while further exclusive interviews can be found with FDH Bank, Orange Egypt and Exim Bank.

Enjoy the issue!

africa.businesschief.com www.bizclikmedia.com

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08 Nedbank

Insurance TECHNOLOGY

22 L E A D E R S H I P & S T R AT E G Y

Cybersecurity a key enabler for growth?

PEOPLE

32

TECHNOLOGY

CRITICAL EVENT MANAGEMENT ACROSS A CHANGING LANDSCAPE

44 SONY

ELECTRONICS and the rise of women in STEM

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

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HOW MORE CAN BE DONE TO MAKE THE MOST OF VALUE CHAINS

CITY FOCUS

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TOP 10

74 Top 10 investment companies in Africa

share happiness

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Exim Bank Technology

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Orange Egypt Technology

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FDH Bank Technology

Nedbank Insurance TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION IN SOUTH AFRICA’S FINANCIAL INDUSTRY As the financial industry continues to embrace technology, Nedbank Insurance is undergoing a transformation in its bid to be the insurance partner of choice

Written by DALE BENTON Produced by ARRON RAMPLING

N EDB AN K INSU R ANCE

I

n the ever-changing financial industry, embracing technology transformation is crucial for companies not to be left behind.

The technology landscape evolves faster and faster, and as technology changes, so too does the role of the chief information officer or head of information technology (IT).

“IT has become an enabler of business strategy and tactics, particularly within our organisation,” says 10

June 2018

Indranil Bandyopadhyay, Head of IT at Nedbank Insurance.

“Historically IT has been seen as a support service, which we still provide, but our influence has expanded to impact the organisational innovation roadmap as innovation and technology are inextricably linked.”

Nedbank Insurance, part of Nedbank Group, is undergoing its own technology transformation, embracing digital to meet and exceed the demands of it

TECHNOLOGY

“ Technology is influencing every corner of the world and every corner of a client’s life, and we have to be in that space. Our clients demand instant gratification — quicker service and results at the push of a button” — Indranil Bandyopadhyay, Head of IT clients by providing the best possible service solutions.

“We continuously look at how technology can support and complement the strategic direction of Nedbank Insurance,” says Bandyopadhyay.

“We produce system- and processrelated solutions for any business problem, making our business truly client-centred.”

Nedbank Group is one of the four leading bank groups in South Africa,

and Bandyopadhyay is tasked with helping Nedbank Insurance be the insurer of choice.

The company’s client-centred approach is the biggest driver of change across Nedbank Insurance and Bandyopadhyay firmly believes that it will continue to define the future of the company.

“Technology is influencing every corner of the world and every corner of a client’s life,” he says. “And we have to africa.businesschief.com

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TECHNOLOGY

be in that space. Our clients demand instant gratification – quicker service and results at the push of a button.

“Whether it’s making a claim or issuing a policy or even cancelling one, everything has to be done at lightning speed. We need to ensure that our service delivery meets client expectation.”

Other markets continue to redefine user experience, which influences clients’ expectations. Nedbank Insurance continually has to review what it considers art of possibility to continue meeting the demands of clients.

“Through technology people are much more knowledgeable, which

“ Through technology people are much more knowledgeable, which feeds their expectations of our service and products and the value they can get. They know what’s out there and we need to be able to respond to that” — Indranil Bandyopadhyay, Head of IT africa.businesschief.com

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N EDB AN K INSU R ANCE

feeds their expectations of our service and products and the value they can get,” he says. “They know what’s out there and we need to be able to respond to that.”

The current technology conversations are centred around topics such as artificial intelligence, big data, automation and blockchain.

But what can Nedbank Insurance do to avoid simply adopting and implementing technology solutions for the sake of joining that global conversation?

The company is already using technologies such as telematics, robotics and data-driven analytics to improve the way it services its clients.

But where Nedbank Insurance is really using technology to transform and improve the way it engages with clients effectively is in capturing rich data through its ‘one policy administration system’. This state-ofthe-art policy administration system hosts both its life and non-life businesses, enabling a 360-degree view of clients. The early benefits achieved include faster response times, improved client interaction 14

June 2018

and better service delivery. “And we are exploring further efficiencies.

We are constantly looking at our processes to take advantage of having a single platform for life and non-life policies,” says Bandyopadhyay.

Various other initiatives such as automating client experience, building superior digital properties, integration with insurtech partners, driving advanced analytics and solutions that fulfil the needs of clients across life and non-life businesses are underway.

“All of the above are based on optimal exploitation of available data,” says Bandyopadhyay.

TECHNOLOGY

africa.businesschief.com

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3 1

2

5 4

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TCS BaNCS for Insurance services 20M Life and Pension policies worldwide, offering an integrated experience to its customers through a scalable and robust platform. By driving digital channel adoption in the retirement business and achieving 99.9 % Straight-Through-Processing for 6.4 million member services, it has helped redefine end-customer experience. This solution transformed a large insurance group in UK with 6 business lines, 1,100 products, 13 platforms, 7 million policies and 6 million customers on a single instance. A leading insurer in India consolidated 2,000+ disparate branch systems and 17 lines of businesses onto the TCS BaNCS solution, with 5,500 concurrent users issuing 75,000 policies on an average per day. In short, it is an end-to-end digital integrated solution that helps insurance carriers enhance and enrich their customer relationships, and improve operational efficiency.

To find out how TCS BaNCS can uncomplicate your business, visit http://sites.tcs.com/tcsbancs/

TECHNOLOGY

“ You need to be very sure about what you’re trying to achieve.

Being mindful of your ultimate objective will help you overcome challenges and keep good people on board throughout this journey” — Indranil Bandyopadhyay, Head of IT “We ask ourselves if we are doing enough with the bank’s wealth of structured data. And I’d have to say no.

So, our plan is to develop a roadmap of how we can better use that data, better understand our clients and ultimately better serve them.”

Bandyopadhyay is sensitive to the challenge of technological transformation, whether associated with implementation, understanding new

technologies, or changing culture and new ways of work, and says that change management will be critical.

“You need to be very sure about what you’re trying to achieve. Being mindful of your ultimate objective will help you overcome challenges and keep good people on board throughout this journey.”

The first step in change management is working with people following africa.businesschief.com

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N EDB AN K INSU R ANCE

Indranil Bandyopadhyay has over 20 years’ experience in financial industry and currently is Head of Business IT Enablement at Nedbank Insurance. His experience spans across countries like UK, USA, Switzerland and South Africa. In his current role, aside from enabling business with system and process related solutions, he is also involved with big transformational programmes including but not limited to replacement of administration systems. He is also embedding various emerging technologies within the business. A keen Business IT practitioner, Bandyopadhyay has interests and researches in the field of Innovation Systems and Behavioural Economics. He holds a Master of Business Administration Degree (Cum Laude) from the Gordon Institute of Business Science, South Africa and an engineering degree (with distinction) in the field of Computer Science from National Institute of Technology, India.

Indranil Bandyopadhyay, Head of IT, Nedbank Insurance

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June 2018

TECHNOLOGY

Click to watch ‘See Money Differently with Nedbank’

a bottomup and topdown approach so that they understand their place in this journey. Bandyopadhyay works with his team, and the wider organisation, to ensure that they support the journey and feel valued in the organisation.

Technology implementation is a journey that no company can achieve by itself and Nedbank Insurance relies on key IT vendors and partners to support its vision and ambition.

Bandyopadhyay believes that aligning with strategic partners will help Nedbank Insurance exceed expectations.

“Gone are the days when you can take requirements, move to development, and go to market. You must have partners who will help you get there,” he concludes.

africa.businesschief.com

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POWERING DATA-DRIVEN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN MANUFACTURING Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) Hybrid IT technology is enabling original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as GE Digital enter a world powered by Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity and data analytics – where nothing ever breaks. These benefits are being passed on to customers, allowing them to adopt new business models, streamline operational processes and create more innovative products and services.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) Hybrid IT technology is enabling original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as GE Digital enter a world powered by Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity and data analytics – where nothing ever breaks. These benefits are being passed on to customers, allowing them to adopt new business models, streamline operational processes and create more innovative products and services.

CHALLENGE For OEMs, the current idea economy is all about turning ideas into value faster than the competition. With the vast amounts of data gathered from a growing number of IoT endpoints, manufacturers can drive operational efficiencies, deliver better user experiences, and develop new capabilities. However, while leveraging technology to improve performance is critical to remaining successful, it’s not as easy as it sounds. This is due to a variety of factors, including: • Bespoke systems: Many existing industrial systems are purpose-built, with distinct protocols and limited capabilities. However, right now, what companies need are cross-platform visibility and insights.

• Implementation difficulties: The lack of mature skills and resources for IoT implementation means that the integration of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) has become essential in driving productivity and business results.

• Alignment between IT and operations: The financial risk and uncertainty resulting from IoT adoption has driven companies to use a mix of SaaS, Hybrid and Cloud-first strategies, which must now be connected to each other.

SOLUTION To combat these challenges, HPE OEM has built hybrid IT solutions that include pioneering edge computing and analytic data techniques, to help manufacturers turn vast quantities data into real-time, actionable insights.

These solutions have been designed to adapt to a variety of business challenges. For example, GE Digital harnessed them to create Predix – the operating system for the Industrial Internet – to drive its own business transformation, as well as that of other manufacturers.

As the world’s first and only industrial cloud platform, GE Predix is turning data into actionable insights from the edge to the cloud, and employing the latest innovations to optimize assets and operations – all supported by a robust ecosystem that accelerates app development. With the HPE-powered Predix, manufacturers can leverage big data and analytics in conjunction with industrial expertise to achieve real gains in productivity,

BENEFITS The partnership between HPE OEM and GE Digital is helping national electric utility company Saudi Electricity achieve an ambitious modernization of Saudi Arabia’s electricity infrastructure.

Working with the HPE OEM and GE Digital Alliance, Saudi Electricity implemented an industry-leading Industrial IoT platform that supports machine learning and predictive maintenance technologies. This allows them to improve the company’s quality of service while minimizing energy costs.

By 2020, Saudi Electricity expects to this continuing partnership to yield a $19B reduction in operational and capital costs, 3x increase in power generation capacity and improved reliability, and 100% control of critical electrical assets.

Ultimately, companies seeking to thrive in the idea economy must implement data-driven digital transformation Ul practices. By identifying problems before they occur, manufacturers will derive improved quality, reduced production time and machine downtime, and lower production costs – and then pass these benefits on to the customer. The collaboration between HPE OEM and GE Digital is a powerful example of how hybrid IT platforms are giving manufacturers real-time visibility across heterogeneous systems, putting them in a safe and secure environment that enables decisions to be made quickly, accurately, and intelligently.

L E A D E R S H I P & ST R AT E G Y

Cybersecurity a key enabler for growth?

RAJAN PADAYACHEE, HEAD OF SOLUTIONS, PROJECTS AND PORTFOLIO FOR T-SYSTEMS SOUTH AFRICA, ON WHAT CYBER-SECURITY NEEDS TO LOOK LIKE IN 2018 AND BEYOND Written by MA R K SPENCE

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June 2018

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L E A D E R S H I P & ST R AT E G Y

2017 WAS A DIFFICULT YEAR FOR CYBERSECURITY WITH NUMEROUS PHISHING SCAMS, RANSOMWARE ATTACKS AND EVEN SOME HIGH PROFILE POLITICAL HACKS MAKING THE HEADLINES. IT IS CLEAR BUSINESSES NEED TO REMAIN VIGILANT AND BE PREPARED TO INVEST IN ROBUST SECURITY INFRASTRUCTURE. This sentiment is echoed by Rajan Padayachee, Head of Solutions, Projects and Portfolio at T-Systems South Africa. We sit down with Padayachee to discuss the future of cybersecurity and just how crucial it is to the digital strategy of any modern business.

CYBERSECURITY 2018 If last year was anything to go by businesses need to batten down the hatches as far as cybersecurity is concerned in 2018. Hackers are getting smarter and they’ll almost 24

June 2018

certainly be attempting even bigger breaches in the near future. So, where are businesses at in terms of their attitude towards keeping pace with cybersecurity developments and, more importantly, investing in it?

“The one challenge that we continue to face is that security is one of those services where it only seems to matter to a lot of people when there’s been a breach of some description,” says Padayachee. “It’s almost like a grudge purchase because customers don’t necessarily want to pay for it, but it

“ The intelligence is so good they can be in your system for two months before doing anything” — Rajan Padayachee, Head of Solutions, Projects and Portfolio at T-Systems South Africa

really becomes an issue when their business is then exposed.”

With close to 130 customers in South Africa as well as its global network, T-Systems is a highly respected company offering end-to-end security encompassing infrastructure, hosting, cloud, network security and application support. Its customers haven’t yet suffered any major security breaches and, as such, Padayachee is well placed to comment on the increased possibility of potential breaches – especially for those businesses going 25

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through digital transformation, not to mention the increase in connectivity thanks to the internet of things.

“In the past, the focus was on physical security such as data centres and access control – then we moved onto infrastructure, anti-virus, firewalls and so on, but now you have to be prepared to protect every single transaction. Nobody is coming into your environment to target one specific area. Everything is at risk. This is especially true for businesses embarking on a digital journey because now you have more devices that communicate with your business infrastructure, your employees, your customers etc.

The challenge now is to manage your security in a much more complex environment,” says Padayachee.

ATTITUDES AND THREATS The days of cybersecurity meaning little more than patch management and firewalling are long gone. “For example, if you’re a retail store and you have intelligent cameras, biometrics, heatmaps and a whole range of digital technology on your network, you need to make sure every piece of 26

June 2018

“ (Kenya) is estimated to have lost about Sh20bn as a result of cybercrime, but surprisingly 96% of companies in Kenya spent less than Sh515,000 ($5,000) in cybersecurity” — Rajan Padayachee, Head of Solutions, Projects and Portfolio at T-Systems South Africa

infrastructure is secure, bearing in mind a lot of these elements June be coming from all different kinds of providers. You need to take a holistic approach to security. You need to know the ID of every device on your network.”

Another key element of cybersecurity acting as a key enabler for digital growth is not to become complacent, according to Padayachee. “If you have

evolving as is the increasing severity of their threats. “Ransomware is one of the most common forms of attack at the moment. In the past you’d try to protect your environment, but hackers aren’t coming in to steal your data; there’s so much of it out there anyway.

What they do now is they come and make sure you can’t access it. They will then ask you to pay to access it.”

BEATING THE HACKERS

encryption you June think you are secure, but if you look at the processing power available, I don’t think encryption alone will be able to protect you in two or three years’ time. Your security needs to continuously evolve in a changing environment.”

Cost is still a prohibitive element for some businesses being reluctant to invest in security infrastructure, but as Rajan points out, hackers are also

These developments in how hackers are now operating has also had an impact on the type of service companies like T-Systems are now offering in an effort to help combat security breaches.

“We now offer a sort of simulation exercise where we go in from an executive level, so we’re not looking at it from a pure IT viewpoint,” Padayachee continues. “We try to get them to understand what it means when a business is attacked in this way. So, the conversation is all around us saying: ‘If you’re locked out of your SAP systems then what impact will that have on your business?’ For example, if a healthcare business is attacked it could affect billing, scheduling of 27

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patients operations and so on. By having these discussions we have found that a large number of businesses are not prepared to deal with a situation where they can’t access their own systems.�

Millions of cyberattacks take place every year in Africa, especially in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.

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According to 2017 Global Cyber Security Index of International Telecommunications Union, the level of commitment in Africa to cybersecurity is the lowest compared to other continents. Kenya is the 69th most vulnerable country in the Global Threat Index out of 127 nations. The country is estimated to have lost about

‘ With close to 130 customers in South Africa as well as its global network, T-Systems is a highly respected company offering end-to-end security encompassing infrastructure, hosting, cloud, network security and application support’

Sh20bn as a result of cybercrime, but surprisingly 96% of companies in Kenya spent less than Sh515,000 ($5,000) in cybersecurity.

One of Padayachee’s gravest concerns is around how devious hackers are becoming too. “The intelligence is so good they can be in your system for two months before

doing anything. Hackers are becoming smarter about the way they attack companies.” So, what can businesses do? “It’s all about being prepared.

Really, it’s not a question of if you’ll be attacked, but when. These conversations where we go in and speak to executives are really good because they make people think about how to protect their brand, reputation and business. These people need to know what to do in a situation where they’re asked to pay a ransom. They June even just need to know whether the threat is real or not,” he says.

As the conversation draws to a close, Padayachee admits that while nobody can provide a totally fail-safe environment there are steps that can be taken to ensure damage is prevented or kept to a minimum, but it all starts with investing in the correct robust infrastructure. “No provider can guarantee 100% against security breaches because attacks are evolving, but you still need the right processes in place so that you’re ready. Bear in mind the top organisations in the world have all been compromised at one point.”

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From start to the finish, it was a pleasure working with the BizClik team. The feedback we have received from different audience groups on the article was phenomenal.

It has attracted a lot of interest and attention to our company, our growth plans and has definitely created additional value to what we are trying to achieve.”

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CRITICAL EVENT MANAGEMENT across a changing landscape In a fast-changing world, businesses and governments alike must become more proactive in dealing with a variety of threats.

Javier Colado, SVP of International Sales at Everbridge, tells us more

TECHNOLOGY

Writ ten by OLIVIA MINNOCK

TECHNOLOGY IN AN AGE where theft isn’t just of physical goods but of data, and criminals don’t just break into buildings but into digital ecosystems, security threats are becoming much harder and more complex to manage. Throw natural disasters and terror attacks into the mix, and 21st century security is about managing the unpredictable at an ever-increasing pace. Critical event management company Everbridge helps governments and business not only react to, but also prepare for and anticipate such threats.

We caught up with Javier

Colado, SVP of International Sales at Everbridge, to find out how the business takes care of companies and incidents of every shape and size, and where it plans to go next. Colado has worked with several global businesses like McAfee and SAP and as such is well-placed to head up Everbridge’s journey in an increasingly connected world. “I chose to come to Everbridge for two reasons: firstly, it’s unique in the market as our solutions help keep people safe and can even save lives; secondly, there is huge potential for us to grow out of the USA,” he explains.

“ WE ENABLE CORPORATIONS AND COMMUNITIES TO QUICKLY AND CONTEXTUALLY REACH ANYONE ON ANY DEVICE, ANYWHERE AT ANY TIME” JAVIER COLADO SVP International Sales, Everbridge

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In a nutshell, critical event management involves helping organisations deal with events as they happen, from active shooter incidents to internet outages. “Businesses today typically manage critical events in silos that use disparate data sources and unintegrated tools, making it difficult to achieve a common operational view of threats and of the status of response,” Colado explains. “A Critical Event Management (CEM) platform like ours helps unify this process by offering a combination of real-time monitoring, situational awareness and integrated

response and collaboration solutions from a single, enterprise-wide view.”

This platform helps businesses to not only keep employees safe, but also monitor potential threats so they can grow proactively across less familiar locations such as emerging markets.

Everbridge was founded in the wake of 9/11. It became clear that a tech-based solution was needed to enable communication during critical incidents. “We saw government agencies struggle to communicate with citizens and businesses,” says Colado. “The technology wasn’t what it was today, but the event demonstrated that emergency responders needed a technology platform to help them protect the public during a major emergency.”

Everbridge wanted to move away from the existing method of emergency response which largely consisted of a one-way ‘blast’ message. Instead, the Everbridge platform allows tailored communication specific to a situation for the specific recipient, through any means, to any location. “We also incorporate business rules, workflows and logic to enable contextual and effective communications and allow users to verify and confirm delivery 35

TECHNOLOGY and receipt,” Colado adds.

Since 2002 when Everbridge was founded, it has been necessary to adapt this offering to not only help government organisations get crucial messages out there, but also “global businesses, large healthcare organisations, leading universities, transportation hubs, IT operations teams and much more”. This has led to the service expanding to both operational and emergency-oriented applications. In short, there are many less dramatic incidents that can also pose threats to a business’

operations and profits, and it became a priority to deal with these as well.

Colado adds: “Beyond our core mass notification services, we have developed an industry-leading set of applications to improve organisational responses for all these diverse types of events to help keep people safe and businesses running faster.”

Such issues range from IT outages, power outages, facility issues and scheduling challenges to supply-chain interruptions. In 2017, Everbridge’s platform dealt with over 2bn messages across 200 countries and territories.

“ WHERE TRADITIONAL EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION AND PHYSICAL SECURITY SOLUTIONS FOCUS ON AN INDIVIDUAL’S STATIC HOME OR WORK ADDRESS, SAFETY CONNECTION UTILISES MULTIPLE METHODS TO DYNAMICALLY LOCATE, NOTIFY AND INSTRUCT INDIVIDUALS” JAVIER COLADO SVP International Sales, Everbridge

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As well as helping organisations send secure messages to their staff at work or home, there is a lot more to the service. “We also enable multimodal delivery to dynamic – actual and predicted – locations,” says Colado. “This is particularly critical when reaching mobile, travelling and remote workers. Overall, we enable corporations and communities to quickly and contextually reach anyone on any device, anywhere at any time.

“Our CEM platform also helps organisations develop a common operating picture of their risk events,

with the ability to assess threats impacting assets or systems, locate responders, resolvers and stakeholders, automate incident response workflows and analyse all results to improve future response efforts.” Applications such as Safety Connection, IT Alerting and Visual Command Centre all serve to keep employees safe during incidents as well as improving efficiency and maintaining, where possible, ‘business as usual’.

For example, last year Everbridge worked with London-based financial

The Everbridge Critical Event Management (CEM) suite demo

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TECHNOLOGY services giant, Willis Towers Watson, which manages over 140,000 staff in 140 countries. “They used the Everbridge platform while monitoring the approach of Hurricane Irma toward America in 2017.” This software helped the company decide to close 12 offices in Florida and inform 700 workers of the emergency decision. Colado adds: “The company was then able to verify the safety of all colleagues as the storm hit, and advised when they could return to the office. Various messages were also sent to colleagues due to be travelling in the region.”

The security and safety market has of course developed due to technology transformation. “The historic market for corporate security and safety solutions has been focused on establishing perimeters (e.g. locks, alarms and guards) to keep threats to employees outside of the physical premises,” says Colado. “However, it’s been necessary to shift away from this given the nature of today’s increasingly mobile workforce.”

Everbridge recently conducted a survey of the key safety and security issues facing businesses today. It found that organisations were largely concerned by the risk of workplace 38

June 2018

violence. Only 79% felt they were even somewhat prepared for an active shooter event, and businesses stated that the biggest challenge faced was communicating with people in an impacted building. 37% of businesses said they maintained an accurate record of where employees are expected to be during working hours, and only 25% dynamically locate employees when a threat occurs in order to tailor their alerts.

Therefore, in emergencies like shooting situations, terror attacks and natural disasters, it’s clear that a CEM platform like Everbridge’s could provide a much-needed solution in an oft-overlooked area.

Indeed, with the labour force becoming increasingly made up of mobile – and indeed temporary or freelance – workers, corporations are finding it even harder to deal with threats, from keeping up-to-date with exact locations to checking in on people’s personal safety.

Everbridge’s software not only helps companies during these events but can also help them find out where it is safe for their staff to operate when contemplating expansion. Everbridge Safety Connection focusses on

79%

keeping mobile staff informed. “Where traditional emergency notification and physical security solutions focus on an individual’s static home or work address, Safety Connection utilises multiple methods to dynamically locate, notify and instruct individuals,” Colado explains. “When

THE NUMBER OF BUSINESSES THAT FELT THEY WERE EVEN SOMEWHAT PREPARED FOR A CRITICAL EVENT

deployed, security professionals can aggregate near real-time location data from multiple sources, including building access control systems and travel management systems to send notifications to individuals and employees who might be in dangerous situations.”

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TECHNOLOGY

“ OUR IPO WAS A SIGNIFICANT MOMENT WITHIN THE COMPANY’S HISTORY AS IT NOT ONLY DEMONSTRATED THE EMERGENCE OF EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS AS A MAJOR MARKET BUT ALSO OUR LEADERSHIP POSITION WITHIN IT” JAVIER COLADO SVP International Sales,

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So far, Everbridge’s offering has garnered interest from well-known clients such as airports, investment banks and the UK’s NHS (in fact, around one third of FTSE 100 companies use Everbridge) as well as faith from investors. In 2016, the company made its debut on the stock exchange and since then its stock price has increased by over 200%.

Everbridge’s $100mn revenue in 2017 marked 36% year-on-year growth.

“Our IPO was a significant moment within the company’s history,” says Colado, “as it not only demonstrated the emergence of emergency communications as a major market but also our leadership position within it.”

Everbridge is set to continue on this path of rapid growth with its recent acquisition of United Messaging Systems, a leading European provider of critical communications. Will this be a step toward dominating the European market? “Given the importance of mobile delivery internationally, UMS’ unique ability to message the mobile phones of anyone connected to a carrier’s cell towers significantly enhances Everbridge’s ability to protect people worldwide,” says Colado, adding that UMS has

over 1,000 customers in Northern Europe and reaches over 500mn people with public notifications, using its Population Alerting System (PAS) to provide two-way SMS broadcasting.

“Together we will provide the broadest delivery capability for critical communications worldwide… UMS accelerates our international growth and creates the most comprehensive CEM platform for business, state and local government, and now entire countries. UMS provides Everbridge with a passionate and customerfocused team of experts, differentiated technology, and a shared mission to keep people safe and businesses running during a critical event.”

Overall, this European expansion will only add to Everbridge’s capability to deal with any event the world throws at it, and to help its clients do the same. While expanding out of the US and into Europe and the wider world will come with its challenges, such as GDPR compliance and generally making sure customers’ data is looked after and only used when truly necessary, it is also an opportunity to utilise the latest technology to keep people safe and keep the business world running like clockwork.

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SONY ELECTRONICS and the rise of women in STEM

Business Chief speaks to the tech giant’s Head of Corporate Communications Cheryl Goodman on her career in technology and how other ambitious females can rise in the industry Wr i t t e n by TO M WA D LOW 45

PEOPLE

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he world of technology is still largely dominated by men.

Almost all statistics (and there are many) point towards low female participation in STEM industries, from educational uptake all the way through to representation at boardroom level.

Take UNESCO Institute for Statistic’s 2017 Women in Science factsheet – globally, it says just 28.8% of the scientific research and development workforce are female, although figures are higher in Central Asia (47.2%), Latin America (44.7%) and Central and Eastern Europe (39.6%).

Further, United Nations research reveals that women who start out

in business roles in tech-intensive industries leave for other industries at high rates – 53% of women compared to 31% of men. This in turn leads to an extremely low presence in the boardroom, with IT industries struggling to hit 15% in terms of female representation at the highest leadership levels.

A bleak picture perhaps, but many of the world’s top technology companies are actively seeking to address the divide and drive women in STEM numbers significantly north.

One such industry heavyweight is Sony. In 2016, the percentage of management positions held by

Sony played an active role in San Diego Women’s Week, held in March

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Sony headquarters becomes the hub for best practices and methods for women to live their fullest mission, wherever they are, whether that’s in Sony Electronics or down the street in a competitor’s company” CHERYL GOODMAN Head of Corporate Communications for Sony Electronics

women across the tech firm’s global operations stood at 24%, almost double the proportion seen in the 2011 financial year (12.7%). In the US, this figure rises to nearer 36%.

Cheryl Goodman, Head of Corporate Communications for Sony Electronics, is among this 36%. Stationed at the company’s base in San Diego, she is tasked with the formidable challenge of driving a greater understanding of key developments in an everchanging world of innovation.

“Is it a headache? Yes,” she tells Business Chief. “I think there are a lot 47

of nuances. When you walk into that television aisle I’m sure you look at the TVs and you see new HD, 4K, and all these acronyms and you probably think to yourself, ‘why do I care?’

“So, we have to drive that ‘why you care’, and we have to drive understanding. I figure if I can explain to my mom what all these acronyms mean, and why she should care, then we’re at a good spot. So, we try to drive understanding down to the very base level. It all equals quality.”

28.8%

of scientific research and development personnel are female 48

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Goodman is certainly wellqualified and prepared to negotiate the communications conundrum of such rapid advances in technology.

Having majored in political science and television media at San Diego State University, she has worked through the rise of web and increase in the number of ways we consume media.

Starting out at San Diego’s KGTV News, she moved to MP3.com and Lindows before a long stint in PR and marketing at Qualcomm. It was

36%

of the management positions held by women at Sony (USA)

PEOPLE here that Goodman ramped up her involvement in championing the wider ‘women in STEM’ agenda, chiefly through membership and local leadership of Athena, a professional development organisation helping women develop careers in STEM industries.

Goodman served as Executive Director for the San Diego branch between January 2016 and August 2017, during which time she doubled the number of technology and life science partnerships and helped break numerous fundraising records.

“Then I moved to Sony,” she says, “and nine months later, two grey hairs

later, I can tell you it is a phenomenal place. It had to be if I was to consider leaving my mission at Athena.”

A big part her decision was the approach to diversity of Sony Electronics President and COO Mike Fasulo. “My boss believes it is tried, true, and proven that diversity is a positive impact for the bottom line,” Goodman adds. “I had just not seen that before. For him it is a business imperative, and that’s why I’m here today to illustrate and support that.”

These beliefs are backed up by action. For three consecutive years Sony Electronics has been named among the best places to work in the

Sony is committed to the nationwide Women Unlimited Mentoring Programme

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PEOPLE Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, scoring a maximum 100 each time.

“It’s a big acknowledgement,” Goodman says. “This is a very wellrespected organisation, and in the past 11 years we have had at least a very high 90s ranking. So, while it is the trend for many technology companies to pull together some type of gender agenda to check the box, Sony Electronics has been walking the walk and talking the talk for over a decade.

“Our president even wears the pin on his lapel every single day, and he brings it up at every meeting. It’s part of his DNA and it trickles down to the leadership and business as a whole.”

This is no better demonstrated than by Sony’s commitment to the nationwide Women Unlimited Mentoring Program. Designed to build talent management strategies through mentorship, Sony is supporting the participation of more than 70 women from its San Diego base.

Goodman is joined by Julie Wenzel, Senior Manager of Community Relations, who is taking part in a lead programme aimed at middle management and above.

She describes her experience 50

June 2018

While it is the trend for many technology companies to pull together some type of gender agenda to check the box, Sony Electronics has been walking the walk and talking the talk for over a decade” CHERYL GOODMAN Head of Corporate Communications for Sony Electronics

to date: “It really provides a great opportunity to not only experience a couple of different mentors from outside organisations at an executive level, but an opportunity to look at your career path, identify areas where you’d like to grow and put together a strategy for getting there. “It’s been a very positive experience and is a great chance to meet women from various industries and understand challenges and opportunities

regardless of where you work.”

Further still, Sony has become something of a hub in San Diego and Southern California, be it through participation with Athena, sponsoring the YWCA TWIN Awards or holding events for the North County Chamber of Commerce Women’s Week. For the latter, Naomi Tutu, daughter of cleric and human rights activist Desmond Tutu, recently addressed an audience at Sony Electronics.

“Sony headquarters becomes the hub for best practices and

methods for women to live their fullest mission, wherever they are, whether that’s in Sony Electronics or down the street in a competitor’s company,” Goodman explains. “We like to hold the conversation, we like to curate the conversation.”

Goodman is also keen to stress how Sony’s own products can be moulded by and contribute to that conversation. She cites Koov, an allin-one coding, robotics and design kit that combines digital coding with physical building to teach the next 51

PEOPLE generation of problem solvers and innovators. Launched in February, it is targeted at children as young as eight years old. “We don’t target necessarily girls or boys,” Goodman adds. “We are targeting coding as a skill, something the nation needs.”

Indeed, 4.4mn computer and IT jobs will exist in the USA alone by 2024, according to the country’s Bureau of Labor and Statistics. An added complication, revealed by a World Economic Forum report, is that 65% of children entering primary school today will work in jobs that do not yet exist.

However, while uncertainty

remains as to the future makeup of the workforce, Goodman is full of advice for women seeking to develop careers in STEM today.

“Number one is that your contribution level is more important than the colour of your skin or your gender,” she insists. “Bottom line is the value that you add to the organisation.

When we hire we are looking for people to solve the problem with the skills that they have, regardless of what they look like or what gender they are. So, it is about quality, it is about skill, and it is about contribution.

“If you experience any pushback in

KOOV: The coding and robotics kit for the next generation of young innovators

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We’ve got a long way to go, but I’ll say, again, the key theme is that this is an industry issue.

This is a business issue.

Gender equality impacts the bottom line. It impacts our return on investment, and we will continue to support this moving forward as long as I can imagine” CHERYL GOODMAN Head of Corporate Communications for Sony Electronics

your career, I would challenge you to find mentors. Find successful women in your realm to partner with and help navigate your path. I would also recommend joining an organisation, whether it’s an organisation for your industry at large, or a women’s organisation in your local chapter.”

Goodman’s final piece of advice is to find a mentor in a top leadership position, which in many cases, she says, will be male. “Find someone in leadership that you trust to ask what the key issues for the organisation at large are, and make sure that your contributions are in line with these needs.”

And what of Sony Electronics?

How can it improve on three years of perfect scoring from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index?

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Goodman says, “but I’ll say, again, the key theme is that this is an industry issue. This is a business issue. Gender equality impacts the bottom line. It impacts our return on investment, and we will continue to support this moving forward as long as I can imagine.

“Is it complete? Is our work done?

No.” 53

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HOW MORE CAN BE DONE TO MAKE THE MOST OF VALUE CHAINS Business Chief looks at how some of the traditional theories about value chains align with modern business realities Written by STUART HODGE

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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y THE CONCEPT OF a value chain was first introduced to the public consciousness by American business strategist and economic theorist Michael Porter more than 30 years ago in his best-selling book Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance.

Porter was talking about these ideas as early as the late 1970s, so the concept has existed for a long time, but the way that companies create and exploit maximum value has changed immeasurably in the intervening

three or four decades. This is largely given the huge societal changes and the exponential acceleration and increased prevalence of technology in our daily lives.

Veteran Harvard academic Porter showed he hasn’t missed a beat either when he appeared at the World Business Forum in New York City last year. Porter spoke about how smarter, connected products are changing the market landscape by increasing ability to monitor, control and optimise systems.

This still ties in with his original

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“ You must understand your customers or consumers and what they see as value.

It’s then about making sure that each of the different supply points, or nodes of our supply chain, understand which part of that value they need to deliver” LOYD SNOWDEN L Business Transformation Specialist, Oliver Wight EAME

value chain concept, which is comprised of both primary and supporting business activities and how they can affect the margin.

Generally speaking, the ideas and ideals of the generic value chain model still hold true, but as well as the world around us, what has also changed is the way that companies do business and the way that different suppliers engage with one another.

There is less of an emphasis now on interpersonal relationships and it’s more about leveraging technology to extract maximum value at the various points in the supply chain.

Lloyd Snowden is a business transformation specialist for UK-based consultancy Oliver Wight EAME, and he feels that value chains are becoming even more important to businesses as they become more savvy and aware.

“You must understand your customers or consumers and what they see as value. It’s then about making sure that each of the different supply points, or nodes of our supply chain, understand which part of that value they need to deliver,” explains Snowden. “You then take, with this understanding of the value to be delivered, and push it right the way back through your supply chain, so that each node of the supply chain then delivers that same value back to the customer.

“The value chain is something that is starting to grow a lot more, because I think more and more companies today are also embracing strategic planning. Those kind of integrated, strategic plans didn’t exist in the same way 10 years ago. Because 59

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y people are starting to understand those strategic directions and when possible the strategies of their customers, the ability to understand the anticipated value, I believe, has grown. Therefore, there’s a greater interest in people and companies talking about the value chain today than there has been in the past.”

So, businesses are more aware of where value can be extracted and how supply chains can be turned into value chains, but how is it done? Obviously, the plethora of technological aids available to companies makes it easier to pinpoint where value can be created or extracted, but given that businesses in the same supply chain are sometimes competing for the same customer base, how can you engender the necessary level of trust for a value chain to function as it should?

According to Snowden, it comes back to the ideals of being transparent and exhibiting best business practice wherever possible and, once again, knowing your customers. “Excellent delivery in a mature business is enabled through transparency,” Snowden says. “Ensuring visibility of performance and improvement 60

June 2018

activity, along with a good, accurate, clear and relevant communication.

One set of numbers, accurate data, sharing information and slinging strategy between supply points, or nodes, that would possibly, traditionally, be at arms-length from each other. What you need to try and to do is get this to be a much more open relationship, to enable that value to be understood and delivered.

“I guess it all depends where you sit in the supply chain, to some extent. But say we’re a company in the middle of the supply chain, with the customers and the consumers at one end and our suppliers at the other – we’re the manufacturing warehouse, or logistics element. I would need a clear understanding of who my key customers are, their key requirements, and what they value from those requirements.

“You need to have some real, open, collaborative dialogue with them. Not just vendor, managed inventory level of collaboration, but where we might be sharing strategies, where we have real trust between our organisations.

Could I align my strategies of business to that customer direction? That would be delivering better value.

“ W hen companies are much better at performing, they change their focus from the management of the short term and firefighting to ‘eyes up and look out’, so they’re able to better understand the marketplace” LOYD SNOWDEN L Business Transformation Specialist, Oliver Wight EAME

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“If I then look back through the supply chain to the key suppliers that I have, can I get the relationship between me and my key suppliers to the point where they want their strategy to align with mine? If we’ve got all of that kind of strategic alignment and those different thought processes going on, then the ability for people to deliver value is going to be much higher than if it was independent businesses with their own strategies trying to supply things for you.”

Teamwork makes the dream work – or as legendary luxury hotelier and entrepreneur Horst H. Schulze once stated: “In life and business, relationships are important – but they are empty unless they are established and based upon trust.” When it comes to the creation of value chains, that has never been truer. It requires all parties to be honest and transparent and operate fairly and ethically, with the benefits of the customer at the forefront of their thinking.

Obviously creating value impacts positively on margins and that can only be a good thing, but it requires the buy-in of all stakeholders. Snowden reckons it’s right for companies to be wary of trust potentially backfiring but he also says it’s an area where businesses often lack maturity. “If companies don’t actually understand the market place and they’re firefighting, then there’s no time for them to lift their head up and say, ‘what are we doing wrong? And what can we do to put it right?

And how do we align that to what we’ve got in the marketplace?’ That is very often part of the problem.

When companies are much better at performing, 62

June 2018

“ In life and business, relationships are important – but they are empty unless they are established and based upon trust” ORST H. SCHULZE H Luxury hotelier and entrepreneur

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y they change their focus from the management of the short term and firefighting to ‘eyes up and look out’, so they’re able to better understand the marketplace. Why? Because they’re in control, have stopped firefighting and therefore can spend more time understanding their markets, customers, consumers and competition.”

Snowden goes on to explain that this is phase one of business maturity on the Oliver Wight Maturity Model. Essentially what that means is having a managed environment.

Phase two is a led

environment, where a company is moving more towards percentile perfection. Snowden estimates that around nine out of 10 businesses find themselves mired somewhere

between phase one and phase two, and estimates that more than half of those are still in phase one.

If that’s the case, there is more to be done with regards to maximising the opportunities to create value and build a value chain. Whether increasing numbers can successfully achieve this remains to be seen.

For a final thought, we’ll

go back to the original critical thinker, Porter. Speaking at an event at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, in the Netherlands a couple of years ago, he said: “Creating shared value means addressing societal needs and challenges through business itself, with a business model – and making a profit. In fact, some of the greatest opportunities for business are meeting the unmet needs of society.” Therein lies the challenge in the months and years to come.

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TUN T UN CITY FOCUS

An historical crossroads and dynamic example of the new Arab world, Tunis is many different things all at once. The city’s economy might still be developing, like the country as a whole, but Tunis is a vibrant commercial centre with numerous outlets of opportunity that are open to many Edited by ANDREW WOODS

NIS NI S 65

CITY FOCUS

TUNIS’ ROLE AS an important crossroads of global travel stretches back thousands of years. Although it was not as well developed or important as Carthage (the remains of which now lie just outside the city limits) at the time, Tunis still played a role in the economic landscape of North Africa while it was a part of the Roman Empire. When it came to many products, the North African cities were more important to the financial strength of the empire at its height than the city of Rome itself.

However, the city truly began to blossom with the establishment of the early Islamic period in the North African region. It grew into an important economic and administrative centre for the area as control of Tunisia was passed between Spain, the Ottoman Empire, and eventually France.

Tunis declared its independence in 1956, and its economy has come a long way in a short time in regards to openness and diversity.

A PICTURE OF THE ECONOMY OF TUNIS Looking at an overview of the economic facts of Tunisia tells several different stories. After years of GDP growth hovering around the 4-5% range, expansion began to stagnate around 2011, largely hindered by unrest in the country due to the Arab Spring, as well as a pair of terrorist attacks that affected the city’s tourism sector in 2015. However, more recent data shows that economic growth in the country is trending upward once again, even if it has not yet returned to pre-Arab Spring levels.

The estimated GDP for all of Tunisia in 2017 stands at $39.88bn, a 2.3% increase over 2016. Tunisia’s GNI per capita 66

June 2018

‘ The European Union is far and away the city’s most important export partner, with exports to France, Italy, and Germany leading all areas’

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(PPP) for 2017 is estimated at $12,000.

As for the city itself, Tunis has firmly established its place at the centre of the country’s economy. Approximately one-third of all Tunisian companies are headquartered in Tunis, and it is the only nationally-ranking metropolis in the country. Around one-third of Tunisia’s total GDP is produced in the city of Tunis.

Most analysts would characterise the strength of Tunis’ economy as promising – especially coming off of a recent period of stagnation – but there are some impediments to future expansion that must be acknowledged.

Specifically, the unemployment rates for young residents and university graduates in the city remain troublingly high. It is estimated that 35% of young people aged 18-24 living in Tunis are unemployed. High levels of illiteracy among older populations also contribute to the unemployment problem in Tunis, especially for women.

SERVICE SECTOR DOMINANCE Service businesses loom large over the economic landscape of Tunis and the country as a whole. Tourism is vital 68

June 2018

‘ The Tunisian government has indicated its willingness to open the country to further foreign direct investment (FDI)’

to the city’s fiscal health, as its proximity to the Mediterranean Sea has long made it a gateway to Africa for many travellers from the European continent and beyond.

Financial services also play a key role in the economy of Tunis too. The city serves as the home for 65% of all financial companies operating in Tunisia, and government-initiated market reforms in the 21st century have opened the door to a robust financial sector at the centre of the city’s economy.

Planning is currently underway for construction of a new Tunis Financial Harbour, which is expected to have a total value of $3bn and 16,000 new skilled service sector jobs. The project is the brainchild of Bahraini firm Gulf Finance House, and it will serve as the first offshore financial centre in all of North Africa.

A CENTRE OF GLOBAL TRADE The service sector is the heart and soul of the Tunis economy, but primary and secondary industries still have a place in the city as well. Several specialised industrial zones have been 69

CITY FOCUS

‘ Planning is currently underway for construction of a new Tunis Financial Harbour, which is expected to have a total value of $3bn and 16,000 new skilled service sector jobs’

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established in the suburbs surrounding Tunis, and textiles, mechanical goods and chemical products remain important exports for the city.

As for agriculture, the suburbs of Tunis are rich with certain crops, especially grapes for wine production, olives and olive oil, and durum wheat, which is important for the production of dried pasta. Some of these agricultural products have been harvested around Tunis and traded with known world since the days of the Roman Empire. Today, Tunis may be an important regional capital in North Africa, but it maintains a foothold in Europe thanks to its location on the Mediterranean Sea. The European Union is far and away the city’s most important export partner, with exports to France, Italy, and Germany leading all areas.

WELCOMING A NEW ERA OF FOREIGN INVESTMENT The Tunisian government has indicated its willingness to open the country to further foreign direct investment (FDI).

The country is looking to attract entrants in a diverse variety of sectors, including telecommunication technologies, aerospace, and financial services. In recent years, the government has made economic reforms and more transparent regulations a priority to facilitate FDI. However, potential foreign partners should note that barriers to entry still remain in Tunis, despite the ample opportunities that exist there. Prominent state-owned businesses are still found throughout the economy, and certain sectors are more or less closed off to foreign entrants.

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‘IoT net blockch that on configu creden perform actions

Could Blockchain Transform Manufacturing?

How will blockchain impact the manufacturing sector? Kate O’Flaherty compares the reality with the hype.

It is the distributed ledger system that enables cryptocurrencies, but blockchain technology offers new use cases across multiple vertical industries.

Within the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain’s applications go beyond security and authentication to asset tracking and the exchange of smart contracts, which give devices a way of handshaking and exchanging information according to mutually agreed rules.

Indeed, the claimed potential of the technology to boost efficiency in supply chains, for example, has resulted in a number of projects and pilot programmes that focus on the IoT. The Trusted IoT Alliance – a consortium of companies that includes Bosch, Cisco, Gemalto, and Skuchain – was formed in September 2017 to focus on how blockchain and the IoT can intersect for business advantage.

Recentl AI and blockchain technologies Recently, have been combined by Fetch.AI to create autonomous ledgers that can act as smart agents on behalf of a person, organisation, or technology. iom-uk.internetofbusiness.com

Yet more than most new technologies, blockchain is surrounded by hype on the one hand and criticism on the other. For every claim that blockchain forms the basis of a new data commons, there is another saying that it is slow and inappropriate for 90 percent of the tasks that it is being proposed fo And for every claim that it forms a new, for. more secure bedrock for tracking goods and services, there are voices suggesting that it is a flawed technology.

Is the hype real?

Innovative ventures certainly abound – using blockchain to track and authenticate contracts, for example, and both physical and digital assets – while even some blockchain experts express reservations about the technology and suggest that it urgently needs to evolve.

So, taking all of this into account, what will the real impacts be on the manufacturing sector?

The There are multiple uses for blockchain in manufacturing. According to Shaan Mulchandani, global security strategy and blockchain leader at Aricent, blockchain-based processes and smart contracts can facilitate automated security and compliance checks as part of the p manufacturing/building process.

tworks can leverage hain solutions to ensure nly devices with valid urations – or trusted ntials – are accepted and m a limited set of s.’

He says: “IoT networks can leverage blockchain solutions to ensure that only devices with valid configurations – or trusted credentials – are accepted and perform a limited set of actions.”

In the future, futu manufacturing will increasingly see the IoT and blockchain intersect, powering robots that are able to teach themselves, says Van Ostaeyen. He cites the example of Sewbot, a robot that makes clothes without human intervention, which could take advantage of blockchain in the futu to become fully integrated into the future supply chain.

In addition, Van Ostaeyen claims that manufacturing will “become 100 percent transparent through blockchain”. In the future, he predicts: “There will be no tampering, and no fakes or counterfeit goods.”

Th claim seems unlikely. However, it is clear That that manufacturing is itself slowly transforming from a slow, monolithic process into a smarter, more automated, more localised one, in which smaller facilities that cater to local needs replace offshore outsourcing, which is based on the lowest labour cost. Read full article.

Radisson Park Inn London, UK 5-6 June 2018 Taking place in London from 5-6 June; the Internet of Manufacturing UK conference and expo is your opportunity to network with and learn from those driving IoT adoption for Manufacturers as well as your peers already benefiting from this innovation.

The summit will examine in detail how Manufacturers can enhance their IoT strategy focusing on ROI, blockchain, additive manufacturing, connectivity, AI/analytics and security. All attendees will leave with tailored roadmaps to the adoption of these next generation technologies to reduce costs, imp improve efficiency and increase ROI.

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T O P 10

Top 10 investment companies BUSINESS CHIEF TAKES A LOOK AT AFRICA RANKING’S ‘BIGGEST COMPANIES IN AFRICA’ AND COMPILED A LIST OF THE TOP 10 INVESTMENT COMPANIES IN AFRICA, BASED ON THEIR REVENUE Written by SHANNON LEWIS

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Zenith Bank $1.9bn

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FBN Holdings $600mn www.fbnholdings.com Founded 1894, FBN Holdings is a Nigerian bank that provides services in the realm of commercial, corporate, and investment banking, as well as insurance. It has a revenue of $600mn, according to Africa Ranking, and has been named best bank brand five years in a row. Its services extend across Nigeria and internationally, with 10mn customers and, as of April 2017, 874 locations in 12 countries, according to Bloomberg. Of those locations, 750 are in Africa. The bank’s headquarters is in Lagos and approximately 7,000 employees work for FBN.

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www.zenithbank.com The second largest bank in Nigeria, Zenith bank was founded in 1990 and has a revenue of $1.9bn, according to Africa Ranking. It was first listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2004 and, following a lucrative IPO, it then floated on the London Stock Exchange.

With headquarters in Lagos and over 500 branches, it is the second largest bank in Nigeria. Zenith oversees 7,400 employees and has subsidiaries in Ghana, Gambia, Sierra Leone, UAE, and the UK. It places 24th on Africa Ranking’s overall ‘Biggest Companies in Africa’ list.

Zenith Bank Chairman, Jim Ovia, on Nigeria’s economic rebound at the 2018 World Economic Forum

07

BMCE Bank $3.8bn

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Guaranty Trust Bank $2.2bn www.gtbank.com/nrn Headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Bank places 22nd on Africa Ranking’s list. It brings in a revenue of $2.2bn, according to Africa Ranking, and is present across eight other African countries. It first became a public company in 1996, six years after its foundation in 1990, and was the first sub-Saharan bank listed on both the London and the German Stock Exchanges. It is partnered with Eko Atlantic City, a coastal city being built on Victoria Island, Lagos, that promises to be cutting edge. Guaranty oversees around 10,000 employees in Nigeria, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda, the UK and the Ivory Coast.

www.bmcebank.ma With headquarters in Casablanca, Morocco, BMCE Bank, or the Banque Marocaine du Commerce Extérieur, was first founded in 1959 and now places 19th on Africa Ranking’s ‘Biggest Companies in Africa’, with a revenue of $3.8bn. According to Bloomberg, it has approximately 550 branches both nationally and internationally, with offices as far as France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Belgium, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, and China. Currently, the bank employees around 5,000 people across the globe.

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05

Commercial International Bank $5.5bn

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Banque Centrale Populaire $4.1bn www.gbp.ma Founded in 1926 and based in Casablanca, Morocco, the Banque Centrale Populaire is the second largest bank in Morocco, according to Africa Ranking. It brings in $4.1bn in revenue, ranking it 18th on Africa Ranking’s ‘Biggest Companies in Africa’. With its services ranging from checking accounts to investment accounts, the bank extends its business across Africa, Europe and the rest of the world. With 12,000 employees, Banque Centrale Populaire retains a customer deposit market share of 28%, according to Africa Ranking.

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www.cibeg.com The only Egyptian bank to make our list, Commercial International Bank is a Giza-based operation providing retail, corporate and investment services throughout Egypt. It places 16th on Africa Ranking’s ‘Africa’s Biggest Companies’ list, bringing in $5.5bn in revenue. It was founded in 1975 under the name Chase National Bank of Egypt, but changed its name 12 years after its foundation, in 1987. According to Bloomberg, it currently has 6,551 employees across its 174 branches.

03

Attijariwafa Bank $7.2bn

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RMB Holdings $5.8bn www.rmh-online.co.za Founded by businessmen Gerrit Thomas (GT) Ferreira, Laurie Dippenaar and Paul Harris, RMB Holdings (Rand Merchant Bank) is the fourth largest investing company in Africa. RMB Holdings was founded 40 years ago in Sandton, South Africa. It brings in $5.8bn in revenue, placing it 15th on Africa Ranking’s ‘Biggest Companies in Africa’. Listed as a public company in 1993, it currently has a system in place linking shareholders of RMB Holdings with the possibility to also invest in FirstRand, another South African bank.

It is a sizeable business, overseeing approximately 22,000 employees.

www.attijariwafabank.com An international company, Attijariwafa Bank is based in Casablanca, Morocco.

It places 13th on Africa Ranking’s ‘Biggest Companies in Africa’, with a revenue of $7.2bn. Attijariwafa Bank has a wide network, with 19,754 employees working across its 6,239 branches, as well as 6,821 ATMs at its disposal, according to Bloomberg.

According to Africa Ranking, it is the biggest public bank in Morocco, as well as the biggest company in Morocco.

‘ R MB currently has a system in place linking shareholders with the possibility to also invest in FirstRand’ 79

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02

Standard Bank Group $14.4bn www.standardbank.com By assets alone, Standard Bank Group is the largest African banking group, with a market cap of $28bn, according to its company website. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, it was founded in 1862 and now operates in 20 countries across Africa and the world. With a revenue of $14.4bn, it makes it into the top ten of Africa Ranking’s ‘Biggest Companies in Africa’, placing seventh. With over 69,000 employees across the world, it’s no surprise Standard Bank Group places so highly on our list.

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FirstRand $18.5bn www.firstrand.co.za The top investment company in Africa is FirstRand, a South African banking company. Founded in 1970, FirstRand currently locates its headquarters in Sandton, South Africa. It places fifth on Africa Ranking’s ‘Biggest Companies in Africa’, with a revenue of $18.5bn, and is the largest bank in South Africa. A subsidiary of FirstRand Limited, FirstRand Bank employs over 42,000 people and has ties with RMB Holdings.

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CUTTING-EDGE INNOVATION WITH THE CUSTOMER IN MIND Written by Laura Mullan Produced by Justin Brand

EXIM BANK

Championing innovative thinking and world-class customer service, Exim Bank is set to become a leading player in the East African banking sector

I

nnovation is life: this is the purposeful motto that unites the team at Tanzania’s Exim Bank.

In the banking Technology today, digitisation is more important than ever but Exim Bank is taking this one step further to deliver a worldclass customer experience.

In doing so, it hopes to become the leading regional player in East Africa.

Founded 21 years ago, Exim Bank has quickly grown to become one of the largest indigenous

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banks in the region, boasting 30 branches in Tanzania, six branches in Comoro and five branches in Uganda and Djibouti respectively.

Lijocha Nalitolela, Head of Information Technology, credits the firm’s roaring success to the crucial role technology plays in its day-to-day operations.

“The company’s IT function has grown rapidly. It has moved away from being a supportive function to become a huge business driver,” he says.

TECHNOLOGY

“Exim Bank is trying to become a regional player within East Africa, however, it hasn’t forgotten its calling – a dedication to innovation” Lijocha Nalitolela, Head of Information Technology

“For example, when discussing how quickly the bank can expand its customer base, we now look at internet banking, our point of services, our cash deposit machines, all the alternative channels which are cheaper to roll out and quicker. In banks today, we are seeing that technology is taking a lead role in driving the business rather than taking a back seat as it used to five or 10 years ago.”

Championing a disruptive and innovative IT strategy, Exim

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EXIM BANK

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June 2018

TECHNOLOGY

“The company’s IT function has grown rapidly. It has moved away from being a supportive function to become a huge business driver” Lijocha Nalitolela, Head of Information Technology Bank has carved its own path in the financial Technology.

It was the first bank to introduce Mastercard credit cards and mobile ATMs in Tanzania and it was also the first bank to open subsidiaries outside of the country, according to Nalitolela.

It’s this commitment to technological ingenuity which he believes has helped the bank overtake its competitors.

“Exim Bank is trying to become a regional player within East Africa, however, it hasn’t forgotten its calling – a dedication to innovation,” he says.

“There are strong competitors in the region but what Exim Bank brings

to the market is that new level of innovation that we need. Regardless of what we are doing, we try to be ahead of the market. We may not be the biggest, but we’re chasing down the competition by putting innovation front and centre of our strategy.”

This inherent commitment is not only revolutionising the bank’s products and services, it’s also transforming its relationship with its customers.

“This commitment to being innovative also means that customers receive an unparalleled level of service which they wouldn’t get in a bank that is three or four times bigger than us,” notes Nalitolela.

“Customers that bank with Exim prefer the firm because of the level of service they receive, whether they’re using our online platforms or visiting one of our branches.

“Rather than trying to digitise everything, we’re looking specifically at the payments segment in the financial Technology,” he continues.

“We’re trying to introduce financial services that customers can access at their fingertips using technology. For

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BUSINESS IMPACTING SOLUTIONS “Inspirational technology is what describes our efforts best, in this truly dynamic industry” MESAM RIZVI Managing Director, Technology Associates Tanzania

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Technology Associates core offerings: Data Centre , Servers, Storage & Communications infrastructure * Unified Communications, Contact Centre, IP Telephony * Security & Cryptographic Solutions * Application & Infrastructure software’s * End-to-end provision of payments solutions * Managed & Outsourced Services * Multi-vendor ATM support * Virtualization, BCP, DR & High-availability solutions * Consulting Technology Associates Limited www.techno-associates.com Tel: (255) 22 2121594/5 |mrizvi@techno-associates.co.tz

AROUND 19MN PEOPLE IN THE COUNTRY ACCESSED THE INTERNET THROUGH THEIR MOBILE PHONES, UP FROM 18MN IN 2016, ACCORDING TO THE TANZANIA COMMUNICATIONS REGULATORY AUTHORITY (TCRA)

TECHNOLOGY

instance, we’re trying initiatives like corporate cheque clearing whereby corporate customers can scan their own checks from their own location.

We also have a cash deposit machines which are being rolled out so that corporate customers don’t have to come to the bank to present the cash.

“We’ve also rolled out one of the best internet banking transformations.

Most of our customers, particularly our corporate customers, even have direct access to executive management and their own personal relationship manager. This gives customers the comfort of knowing that Exim Bank is providing quality services for all, not just services for corporate customers.”

To gain a deeper understanding of its clientele, Exim Bank is leveraging big data and analytics to create what Nalitolela describes as a “customer consistent viewpoint.

Utilising a customer relationship management (CRM) solution, the Tanzanian firm is using data to get a 360-degree view of the customer. In addition to this, Exim Bank has also implemented a

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business intelligence tool where information is captured, analysed and interpreted into accessible reports.

One outcome of this data analysis is that Exim Bank has used this information to create a preferred customer loyalty programme.

“Using the data, we can analyse and see who our best customers are and give them preferential treatment,” explains Nalitolela. “Like a loyalty programme, whoever falls in the preferred customer bracket, will get preferential treatment at branches and will also get a reduced rate if

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they visit certain partners of ours and use our credit or debit cards.

“We are using this to try and attract customers who don’t bank with us that much so that they can enjoy these benefits, and it is also helping us retain our preferred customers by giving them an incentive to stay.”

Keen to gain a bigger slice of the market, Exim Bank has also fully embraced the industry-wide shift towards internet and mobile banking.

Mobile phone usage has surged in Tanzania and other East African countries, thanks to the launch of

TECHNOLOGY

“This commitment to being innovative also means that customers receive an unparalleled level of service which they wouldn’t get in a bank that is three or four times bigger than us” Lijocha Nalitolela, Head of Information Technology

cheaper devices and data packages.

Around 19mn people in the country accessed the internet through their mobile phones, up from 18mn in 2016, according to the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), and the nation’s internet penetration rose to 45% in 2017, from 40% a year before.

Exim Bank has transformed its portfolio by making substantial investments in mobile and internet banking and, in doing so, it is attracting those who tend not to use banking services and

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THE NATION’S INTERNET PENETRATION SURGED TO 45% IN 2017, FROM 40% A YEAR BEFORE, ACCORDING TO THE TANZANIA COMMUNICATIONS REGULATORY AUTHORITY (TCRA)

promote financial inclusion.

“To try to tap into this population who don’t use banking services, we have not only tried to use loyalty programmes, but we have also integrated directly with the mobile network operators (MNOs) to ensure that we have mobile wallet products,” says Nalitolela.

“It’s the preferred way of banking in the country and it’s an easier way of sending funds from one location for another. By partnering directly with MNOs we have given customers the ability to transfer between their mobile wallet and the bank,” he

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adds. “We have noticed that people who weren’t banking with us or didn’t have an account anywhere have started to shift towards our services because they can access their banking services any time even if they are in a remote location.”

In today’s digital age, online banking is no longer a trend, it’s a norm. By offering two types of mobile banking services – for those with and without smartphones – Exim Bank has ensured that customers are able to do all their financial services using these platforms.

“Compared to most mobile

TECHNOLOGY

applications in the market you’ll find that ours goes that extra mile to try to ensure that the customer does not need to visit the bank if they don’t want to,” explains Nalitolela.

“There are still some customers who prefer that human aspect of banking and would rather come to our branches. However, most people don’t have the time and prefer to have the ability to do their financial transactions from their own devices.”

Over the past 21 years, Exim Bank has achieved meteoric growth

and set an impressive precedent in the banking landscape.

In recent times, the Tanzanian firm has expanded into Uganda and has developed this subsidiary to be technologically on par with its Tanzanian operations and, on top of this, it has also established strong partnerships with the Djibouti port and the Djibouti electricity board.

The bank has also developed close ties within the country, forming partnerships with the Tanzanian National Park, where it provides

Video: Exim Online Banking Business: Payments and Transactions

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EXIM BANK

“Between the next four to 18 months we expect to overtake the fourth largest bank in the country and we hope to become the third largest bank within the next couple of years�

Lijocha Nalitolela, Head of Information Technology

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June 2018

TECHNOLOGY

collection for all the national parks across the country, and the Tanzania Revenue Authority, whereby a customer can go to a branch and complete their tax payments.

Reaching this level of success hasn’t come easy, says Nalitolela.

To achieve this, Exim Bank has had to adapt and side-step a series of challenges in its path.

Like any banking institution, security is a top priority for the team at the Tanzanian bank and, as such, the firm ensures that all its cards are EMV enabled and that its online transactions are highly secure and encrypted.

To guarantee the highest security standards, Nalitolela says that the firm is also working with leading security vendors so that customers can feel confident that their finances are safe.

“It’s an evolving challenge so we always need to keep on our toes,” Nalitolela says. “It’s not only the bank that has to understand security and fraud issues. We also have to educate our customers and protect cash from fraud and security issues.”

Keeping up with the everevolving tech scene has also been a challenge but it is one which Exim Bank has taken in its stride and this is partially thanks to the firm’s diverse and talented team.

“Whenever I employ a new person I take care to see that I not only hire somebody who has 15 or 20 years’ experience, but also exhibits the drive and potential we need to consistently innovate and deliver excellent customer service,” Nalitolela says.

Although it was only founded two decades ago, Exim Bank has created ripples in the banking Technology for its innovative thinking and technological ingenuity. But for Nalitolela the journey is far from over.

He’s optimistic that the Tanzanian firm will continue to grow and cement its position as a leading financial services provider in East Africa.

“Between the next four to 18 months we expect to overtake the fourth largest bank in the country and we hope to become the third largest bank within the next couple of years,” observes Nalitolela.

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FDH Bank

Mobilising financial

connectivity Written by Catherine Sturman Produced by Justin Brand

Responsible for Malawi’s first mobile app and wallet, FDH Bank’s Deputy Managing Director, William Mpinganjira, discusses how the technology has revolutionised the industry

T

he banking sector in South Africa is undergoing significant disruption. Whilst under 20% of the population in Malawi has access to traditional financial services, the government has sought to promote accessibility and financial inclusion by delivering key incentives for banks to utilise new technologies.

With a vast number of physical outlets and strong reputation, FDH Bank has become one of the largest banks in Malawi, amassing a market share of approximately 15%. However, its acquisition of Malawi Savings Bank in 2015 became the ultimate driver for the bank to gain a greater understanding of how digital tools, particularly mobile, will seek further customer engagement, anytime, anywhere.

“With technology you can provide a one-stop shop. It is the only way

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to be efficient, so the best way was to digitise, both internally and externally. We’ve therefore invested a lot in digital products over the last two years,” explains Deputy Managing Director, William Mpinganjira.

“Digitising our internal processes has enabled customers to transact at a more efficient pace and makes it easier for customers to engage online or on their mobile phone.”

Whilst internet connection in Malawi continues to lag over its mobile competitor, FDH has grabbed this opportunity with both hands and launched in-demand mobile services to extend its reach.

“Mobile networks are growing. There are two major mobile phone operators in Malawi, Airtel and TNM, who have roughly 50% market share between them. Combined, these companies have almost three times the number

TECHNOLOGY

William Mpinganjira Deputy Managing Director William Mpinganjira is a seasoned Banker with more than 8 years’ experience in the Banking and Financial Industry. Prior to joining the Banking sector, he worked for Deloitte & Touche Malawi and the London Borough of Croydon Corporate Finance Division. For the past eight years, Mpinganjira has been working in top management positions with FDH Bank and the FDH Group. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance and Accounting obtained from the London South Bank University, United Kingdom, a Master of Arts degree in International Business from Grenoble Graduate School of Business, France and is a Chartered Accountant with the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA), with current membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Malawi (ICAM). Having become a Banker, he has attained an MBA in Banking and Finance from Bangor Business School, Wales and is a Chartered Banker with the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Scotland. Mpinganjira is also an alumnus of Stellenbosch Business School as well as London Business School. africa.businesschief.com

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The World’s leading software for the World’s leading banks Over 3000 banks in 150 countries run Temenos

TECHNOLOGY

“With technology you can provide a one-stop shop. It is the only way to be efficient, so we’ve therefore invested a lot in digital products” – Deputy Managing Director, William Mpinganjira of customers compared to traditional banks at present,” notes Mpinganjira.

“They are also growing at a much faster rate in terms of acquiring new, individual customers. A mobile phone is a lot less cumbersome than opening a bank account, especially now there are new rules which are not very conducive for small economies or developing countries.”

Promoting accessibility Undertaking essential market research each year to better understand customer needs, FDH Bank has established a number of digital products. Launching the first mobile application and digital wallet service in Malawi in 2016, the bank’s mobile wallets have enabled local citizens to gain access to soughtafter banking services which they had previously thought out of reach.

“If one doesn’t even have a bank account or card, they can obtain a wallet and gain access to a suite of products that we have.

If customers want to pay their electricity or water bill, they can do so through their mobile wallet, without needing to travel. If someone wants to send money or to pay a bill on behalf of another beneficiary, they can also do this through this technology,” Mpinganjira says.

Additionally, for citizens that travel outside Malawi, FDH’s explorer wallet has provisioned the ability to continue transacting locally.

“This is something we are scaling up. We’ve introduced it in South Africa but will be moving to the UK and the US within the next two to three months,” Mpinganjira explains.

“People who are immigrants in other countries, may have relatives who live

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locally. They may help their families with certain payments whether it’s rental payments, school fees, etc.

They have to be sure that money will be used for that specific request.

“By creating a wallet outlet, customers can control that flow of funds locally here. Instead of having to use a money transfer, similar to a western union, they’d go and cash $200-$400 at a certain location, and trust that person will use that money for the right matter.”

By March 2017, FDH had gained up to 50,000 subscribers, which has now soared above 82,000. Nonetheless, whilst Malawi remains a cash-based economy, continuous education surrounding the benefits of utilising digital banking will remain vital.

With this in mind, FDH’s use of agent banking delivers essential information to encourage customers to adopt mobile banking, and has extended FDH’s reach to rural localities, removing the time it would take for communities to travel and visit a financial branch.

“There is a huge part of the country where it might not be profitable

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to put up a physical outlet due to poor infrastructure, but businesses continue to operate there. With agents in banking, you can establish businesses through training, vetting, and qualifying these people as agents who can provide banking services. It allows us to reach out,” comments Mpinganjira.

“Sometimes customers will not be comfortable with a bank, but they trust local businesses who have been there for many years and have established trust. This was a key reason for us to move into agency banking.”

Additionally, FDH’s Goal Save accounts continue to encourage local citizens to save, with highinterest rates attached to every penny saved. Mpinganjira stresses that such active accounts can support any potential loan application, as access to credit remains a challenge for local businesses and SME’s in the country. “Part of that savings account is collateral,” he says.

Enhanced security Additionally, in alignment with its customer-focused digital

TECHNOLOGY

transformation, FDH has placed significant investment in products which will integrate with its bespoke systems and guarantee scalability.

“We’ve had a lot of suppliers worldwide trying to sell us exciting products, but most do not work with what we have, or it cannot talk to what we have,” Mpinganjira adds earnestly.

“We partnered with our core banking supplier, Temenos Middle East, from the very start. Their products are integrated in terms of providing services to the customer, but also have an integrated accounting system within its core banking system.”

Most importantly, FDH has placed significant investment in its security through digitising its suite of services. Networks are routinely monitored, where tests are regularly undertaken to ensure all systems remain robust and secure.

“This year we also acquired a new anti-fraud monitoring system, which we are implementing to ramp up the security of these products, and also to educate our customers on how they should handle any attempts when it comes to fraud.

FACTS & FIGURES FDH Bank was the first provider in Malawi to launch mobile application and wallet financial solutions Under 20% of the population in Malawi has access to traditional financial services FDH Bank is one of the largest banks in Malawi, amassing a combined market share of approximately 15% FDH Bank acquired Malawi Savings Bank in 2015 Mobile networks in Malawi have almost 3x the number of customers compared with traditional banks Agent Banking delivers essential information to encourage customers to adopt mobile banking

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TECHNOLOGY

We have now set up an IT security section within the bank, which we never used to have in the past.”

Future developments Available all over Malawi, FDH bank is now accessible in areas where other banks have yet to enter. Providing essential services for people who continuously move across the country, FDH will remain local, and continue to tailor its services to the needs of Malawian citizens.

By developing and integrating its services with mobile phone operators, its digital offering will further grant customers flexibility and choice.

However, long-term, Mpinganjira remains acutely aware of how new financial technologies will work to transform the banking industry, where it will work to keep abreast of any potential trends in the market.

“Technology that is coming into banking is blockchain and cryptocurrencies,” he says excitedly.

“These are technologies that, as a bank, we need to be fully engaged in and see how best we can improve the service moving forward. Over time, traditional brick and mortar branches are going to disappear as customers become more technology savvy, and as the country develops more and customers make better use of their time. Brick and mortar will still be relevant, but not as relevant as it is today.”

He concludes: “The investment in digital products, especially partnerships with fintechs, who are very important and agile when it comes to the development of new products, are very perceptive on what’s going on compared with banks. Banks are limited as a result of regulation by central banks, who are not the best innovators.

Collaboration with fintechs and mobile phone operators will be critical for further successes in the banking sector in the future.”

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Orange Egypt A brand you can trust to disrupt the telecom market Written by LAURA MULLAN Produced by G REG CHU RCHILL

ORANGE

H

OME TO ONE of the largest telecom markets in Africa, Egypt is a country that is brimming with potential.

As of last year, the North African nation had almost 29mn smartphone users according to Newzoo’s Global Mobile Market Report, with smartphone penetration reaching around 30.4%.

Now, with even more devices at the country’s fingertips, telecom operator Orange Egypt is shaking-up the sector.

The subsidiary of French telecoms group Orange launched its 4G service last year under the slogan “4G for everyone”, investing around EGP£8.6bn (US$487mn) in the 4G license.

Hisham Siblini, the company’s Chief Technology and Information Officer, says that the company’s competitive pricing and digital experience means that the technology lives up to this slogan and is suitable for all of the nation’s needs.

“Today, we serve around 35mn customers,” says Siblini.

“We cover more than 98% of the population when it comes to 2G and 3G technology and we cover over 60% of the population with 4G technology.

“I believe there are multiple factors that make Orange Egypt successful like the network’s perception, the products and services we offer, as well as our customer service,” he adds. “But I believe the most important factor is how we make our customers loyal to Orange. There’s no magic formula but the service we provide and the consistency of this service is really a key differentiator.”

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June 2018

TECHNOLOGY

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TECHNOLOGY

connection are the core products to be sold, which makes Siblini’s role an integral one.

“The network’s quality, and the products and services we offer are what’s important to our customers,” Siblini says.

An ambitious digitisation strategy is helping Orange Egypt deliver the best customer experience in the country.

Yet it’s important to note that technology is not just playing a technical role at Orange Egypt, it’s also actively revolutionising the way the firm communicates with its customers, elevating the consumer experience to new heights.

“The customer journey across all our touchpoints is key,” Siblini says.

“At Orange Egypt, we have developed a very powerful customer experience management (CEM) tool which is vital as it allows us to monitor the user experience from all the touchpoints.

It’s definitely a key differentiator from our competitors.”

This month marks the company’s 20th anniversary and whilst it has set a strong precedent in the telecom market, Siblini is more excited about

the innovations and technologies that lie ahead.

As customers’ practices and needs evolve and grow, Orange Egypt’s strategy has remained a simple one: to be “always in touch to connect what’s essential in your life”.

With this in mind, the telecom giant is working diligently to make its network digital from end-to-end. In doing so, it has created a streamlined connected service, that’s well-equipped for today’s digital era.

“When you look at younger generations they don’t want to go to a shop, they want to have a peer-topeer chat online to address their requests,” Siblini notes. “Today, africa.businesschief.com

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ORANGE FACTS

$487mn

(EGP£8.6bn) Approximate amount Orange Egypt invested in its 4G platform

35mn

Approximate number of Orange Egypt customers

1998

Year Orange Egypt was founded

I believe this is an important trend that we need to explore.”

Today, the Egyptian company is virtualizing its network functions by introducing a Telco cloud infrastructure that will support Network functions virtualization across all Networks and service platforms.

It’s a transformation which Siblini says will have a huge impact on the way the company’s operates.

“Whatever we do we always think about the future,” he says. “The virtualisation of the network is actually 114

June 2018

important for many reasons. It’s going to have a direct impact on our costs both from a capex and opex perspective and it will also help us see a massive improvement in terms of our time to market for introducing new products and services in addition to improving the network quality and perception. On the other hand, the introduction of softwaredefined networking (SDN) and network function virtualisation (NFV) technologies is also a good step towards preparing the network for 5G technology.”

5G is set to be a game-changer for

TECHNOLOGY

“ When you look at younger generations they don’t want to go to a shop, they want to have a peer-to-peer chat online” — Hisham Siblini, Chief Technology and Information Officer — industries across the globe. It will be faster, more stable, more versatile and in some cases, could even replace home wi-fi networks. What’s more, it will also play a critical role in how the internet of things (IoT) is applied to industries such as the automotive sector.

Like most telecom operators today, Orange Egypt has its eyes set on this new innovation. With every digital tool needing to be future-proof, Siblini says that collaboration is important when preparing for this shift.

“We are working with leading

technology companies and the government to help them enable big projects such as smart cities and IoT because this offers invaluable experience,” he says.

With around 35mn customers under its wing, Orange Egypt has tirelessly earned its stripes as the fastest network in Egypt and as the country’s secondlargest operator.

Along this journey, Orange Egypt has had to overcome a series of hurdles, especially when rolling out its highlyanticipated 4G network. africa.businesschief.com

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TECHNOLOGY

“One of the biggest challenges we faced was rolling out the network in a fast and efficient way,” Siblini says.

“We focused our attention on key areas and rolled out the technology where there is high-traffic and more customers. Using our customer experience management platform has been extremely important for instigating this.

“Another challenge has been trying to convince our customers to move to 4G technology because currently there’s decent 3G connection,” he adds. “We’ve been encouraging customers to move to 4G so that we can prove to them that it’s a very different experience compared to the previous platform.”

In today’s economy, cost efficiency is a key priority for any firm. At Orange Egypt, Siblini has used the country’s difficult economic climate as a catalyst to launch a pioneering cost transformation programme.

“There’s been a big shakeup at the company,” he observes. “One of the biggest challenges facing the firm has been the devaluation of the Egyptian pound, the rate of inflation and rising utility and fuel costs.

“ We cover more than 98% of the population when it comes to 2G and 3G technology and we cover over 60% of the population with 4G technology” — Hisham Siblini, Chief Technology and Information Officer — “In this context, controlling our costs has become a key concern and that’s why we’ve launched a transformation programme that aims to change the way we operate by using energy management, for instance. It is a very active programme which is driving efficiency across the company.”

On top of its data and voice connection offerings, Orange Egypt also offers a money transfer service called Orange Money.

Launched in 2008, the service is now present in 17 countries in the Middle East and Africa under the Orange Money name.

According to the Central Bank, only africa.businesschief.com

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ORANGE

BIO

Hisham Siblini is a Senior Telecom Executive with strong management and operational experience.

He built and developed successful wireless and wireline operations around the world. This includes building teams and leading networks and operations from green field to more mature stages in highly competitive environments. He held CTIO, CEO and senior Networks and IT roles in multiple countries across Europe, Middle East and North Africa.

Siblini holds a Master Degree in Radio Communications from the “ENST”, Ecole National Supérieure des Télécommunications in Paris, France. He has over 20 years of experience in the telecommunications and Information Technology sectors.

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June 2018

32% of Egyptians have bank accounts, and so Orange Money offers a simplified, secure way to transfer money in the region.

“Egypt is a very large country so this service allows someone who works in Cairo to transfer money to their family, for instance, in a very convenient way,” says Siblini. “It’s a flexible platform and so technology definitely plays a key role in the service.

“The difficulty of developing Orange Egypt comes from a regulatory perspective. We are trying to explore the idea of utility payments, for example, but we need the regulations to evolve and allow us to do more.”

Headquartered in Cairo, Orange Egypt has emerged as a leading telecom provider in a country which is ripe for development.

Over the past two years, the Egyptian subsidiary has rolled-out its longawaited 4G network which Siblini says wouldn’t be possible without two fundamental assets.

“I think at Orange we have two major assets: the quality of our people and the Orange brand,” he says. “The quality of education in Egypt is incredible and

TECHNOLOGY

“ Our most important assets are the quality of our people and the Orange brand equity index” — Hisham Siblini, Chief Technology and Information Officer —

Revenue

there are a huge number of qualified Egyptians who live abroad, who have strong experience in the Telco domain who we are able to attract to come back and work in a professional environment.

“On the other side, we’re also a part of the Orange family. The group operates in Europe, Africa and the Middle East and because of this, consumers trust the brand, we attract the best talent and expertise and we have a rich experience in the sector.”

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