Business Chief Asia February 2020

ASIA EDITION FEBRUARY 2020 asia.businesschief.com

The digital transformation of finance

Cybersecurity for the super app

HELPING ACCELERATE CHINA’S TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY Reinventing supply chain strategies through technology, talent and partnerships City Focus

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ASIA

FOREWORD

W

elcome to the February issue

This month’s city focus takes us to

of Business Chief Asia!

Beijing. China’s capital reveals its

This month, Business Chief Asia’s cover feature is professional services firm EY. Rodrigo Cambiaghi, the company’s Asia-Pacific and Greater China Supply Chain and Operations

technological nous, thanks to a Silicon Valley equivalent, and the transportation infrastructure necessary for a city with upwards of 20 million people.

Leader, tells us of the work EY is doing

In our top 10, meanwhile, we look

to accelerate supply chains in China.

at the CEOs of the region’s largest

China offers a vibrant and diverse consumer market that requires

companies, mostly clustered in East Asia.

strong customer-centricity and

Do you have a story to tell?

innovative business models that

If you would like to be featured

now can be enabled by advanced

in an upcoming issue of Business

technologies,” he says. “Supply

Chief Asia, get in touch at

chains have always been important

william.smith@bizclikmedia.com

in China but the complexity of the environment has changed. China

Enjoy the issue!

has become a vast market with high

William Smith

growth and a lot of emerging technology at its disposal. It’s clear that speed is the greatest differentiator in China”.

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03

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ASIA EDITION

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12

CONTENTS

Helping accelerate China’s transformation journey

30

40

48

Embracing behaviours in a new technological age

Digital innovation in logistics warehouses

70 s e s s e n i s u b w Ho ve e i h c a t s e b n ca long-term y s u s t a i n a b i l it

60 80

96

CONTENTS

Gojek

132 Cargo Services Far East

116 StarHub

150 142 Daraz

TOTAL Solar

190 Rizal Banking

168 Hindustan Zinc

204

CONTENTS

Transdev Australasia

218 Rohit Darodkar

232 Activ Foundation

244 142

258

Racing and Wagering WA TOTAL Solar

Social Futures

270

280

MST Global

New Century Resources

Helping accelerate China’s transformation journey

12

WRITTEN BY

SEAN GALEA-PACE

FEBRUARY 2020

PRODUCED BY

CAROLINE WHITELEY

13

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

EY

Rodrigo Cambiaghi, EY Asia-Pacific and Greater China Supply Chain and Operations Leader, discusses the EY acceleration in China and how the firm helps reshape supply chain strategies

C

onsidered one of the “Big Four” consultancy companies worldwide, EY is certainly well renowned in the

supply chain and manufacturing space.

Offering guidance on best-practice supply chain strategies, EY has grown significantly over the past decade. Rodrigo Cambiaghi, 14

Asia-Pacific & Greater China Supply Chain and Operations Leader of EY, has been with the company since 2012 in several different roles and has experienced the firm’s growth first-hand. “11 years ago, we weren’t operating a consulting arm so we decided to rebuild it,” he explains. “Since then, it’s been an incredible journey — we grew $11bn in 11 years.”

Born in Brazil before moving to Germany after college, Cambiaghi’s career path has taken him worldwide. “Germany was where my supply chain career started and I worked for large automotive OEMs to define their global manufacturing strategy. After a few years, I moved into consulting,” he says. From there, Cambiaghi’s career took him further into Europe and then onto Canada. “Together FEBRUARY 2020

15

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EY

16

“

Since then, it’s been an incredible journey — we grew $11bn in 11 years — Rodrigo Cambiaghi, EY Asia-Pacific & Greater China Supply Chain and Operations Leader, EY

with some friends, I started a boutique consulting firm that had a client portfolio of fast-growing global corporations.

The reach and complexity of our clients forced us to scale quickly and to branch into different markets, one of those being the United States,” explains Cambiaghi.

“My role was to establish and grow the business in the North American market and we became successful quite quickly. In 2012, we got an offer to sell the business to EY so I initially joined the organisation through acquisition and I’ve been here ever since.”

FEBRUARY 2020

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘EY SMART FACTORY’

17

With such a diverse background,

have always been important in China

Cambiaghi now operates in China as

but the complexity of the environment

well as across all regions in Asia-Pacific

has changed. China has become a

and possesses a deep understand-

vast market with high growth and a lot

ing of what it means to be successful

of emerging technology at its disposal.

in different markets. He points to the

It’s clear that speed is the greatest dif-

several differences across main global

ferentiator in China; starting with the

markets and the uniqueness of running

speed to serve consumers and clients all

supply chains in China. “China offers a

the way to how it transforms its partners

vibrant and diverse consumer market

landscape and internal operations with

that requires strong customer-centricity

technology.” Due to the acceleration

and innovative business models that

of new technologies and the existing

now can be enabled by advanced

global economic and political landscape,

technologies,” he says. “Supply chains

an increasing number of companies a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

EY

Adv

18

FEBRUARY 2020

vert

19

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

EY

20

are turning to consultancies like EY for

by technology and will continue to do so

advice on how to set up a successful

for the foreseeable future. The end-to-

transformation agenda for the years to

end supply chain is where most of the

come. Cambiaghi affirms technology

companies generate their competitive

has become paramount to success

advantage through new technologies

industry-wide and beyond. “Technology

available today that we didn’t have a few

is reshaping every business in all indus-

years ago.”

tries,” he says. “From how you establish

With customer requirements subject

your sourcing and manufacturing

to frequent change, consultancies

platforms, to driving efficiency from

such as EY must remain prepared to

manufacturing sites through automa-

respond. “What consultancies like us

tion or harnessing data, all the way to

bring is the ability to work with com-

distribution connectivity and real-time

panies to reshape their strategy and

visibility. Everything has been impacted

then successfully transform their

FEBRUARY 2020

21

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Rodrigo Cambiaghi Rodrigo Cambiaghi is EY’s Asia-Pacific & Greater China Supply Chain and Operations Leader. In his role, Cambiaghi advises senior executives on supply chain and manufacturing strategies and acts as EY’s leader in complex transformational projects. Currently based in Shanghai, he has lived and worked in several countries across North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. At work, he is widely known by his strong client centricity and his passion for talent development. He is married to his wife Anja and has three kids: Annie, Junior and Julie.

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

Leading supply chain solutions powered by AI & ML JDA Software provides the leading AI-driven supply chain management (SCM) platform. Our end-to-end solutions span supply chain and retail planning, execution, delivery and workforce management. Our mission is to empower companies to better predict, make and deliver exactly what their customers want – when, where and how they want it. JDA delivers Autonomous Supply ChainTM for 4,000 of the world’s leading companies.

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“

The main difference is speed because China is undergoing a significant transformation at the moment

— Rodrigo Cambiaghi, EY Asia-Pacific & Greater China Supply Chain and Operations Leader, EY

With the importance of retaining the right staff just as crucial as recruiting, EY has around 270,000 employees globally and Cambiaghi believes that talent management is at the heart of EY. “We have a large talent pool and people are at the core of our business. You’re only as successful as the people who work for you and we’re extremely proud that we’re recognised as a top employer in all the markets,” he says. “Our values are aligned to the market and our brand not

operations for today’s business needs,”

only showcases a trusted organisation

says Cambiaghi. “We have been invest-

but also innovation. We’re able to attract

ing heavily on the development of digital

the best talent because of the opportuni-

assets that speed up the transformation

ties we have for our people to grow.” The

process for our clients. Those assets

size of EY’s supply chain talent work-

can leverage advanced technology to

force doubles every eight to nine months

quickly analyse the client’s data and

in countries like China, a statistic that

therefore provide more granular and

Cambiaghi is delighted with. “Today’s

specific feedback in early stage of the

market conditions are perfect because

transformation journey. Companies turn

there’s a lot of room for growth in our

to us to provide that market perspective

business,” affirms Cambiaghi. “Talent is

and see what’s going on in the industry

what we’re looking for and it’s everyone’s

and beyond, but they also want things

job. In China, I’m pleased how quickly

that can be fixed today without waiting

we’ve built such a strong reputation and

for a broader transformation to happen.

brand in the market because it allows us

For this challenge, we have highly expe-

to attract and retain top talent. It’s part of

rienced people with industry knowledge

our DNA.”

working for us. Having the right balance is the secret.”

Having formed key strategic business relationships with Microsoft, Stratasys, a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

23

EY

24

FEBRUARY 2020

1989

Year founded

$36.4bn+ Revenue in USD dollars

270,000

25

Number of employees

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

A global leader in applied additive technology solutions Mass customization that redefines customer expectations and experiences. Low-volume production that creates extraordinary efficiencies. Redesigned production parts that transform supply chain dynamics. Prototypes that actualize your vision more rapidly and accurately than ever before. The 3D printing revolution sparked these possibilities. Now they have become a reality.

Stratasys is advancing our customers and their industries through complete 3D printing expertise and solutions.

S T R ATA SYS .C O M

27 JDA and SAP, partnerships are a key

perspective because they’re well aligned

focus area for Cambiaghi. “A company

to meet our culture, values and how we

such as EY, which has the ambition to

drive relationships in the market to deliver

not only serve leading companies but

better value to our clients.”

also transform them too, we understand

“Stratasys is a leading company in 3D

that we can only do this by having an eco-

printing and their solutions and ability to

system of good partners. Our strategy

transform companies through additive

is to find partners that can complement

manufacturing is outstanding. We don’t

our services and way of doing business,”

just advise companies on what exists in

he explains. “We’re a trusted advisor for

the market today, but we also consider

large organisations’ transformations and

what comes next. Stratasys has been an

are taking them on a journey to transform

important part of driving differentiation

and upscale their strategy and business

in areas like product development and

model with technology at the forefront.

manufacturing,” affirms Cambiaghi. “JDA

Our relationship with Microsoft provides

and SAP are also both key components

that level of trust from a technology

of our ecosystem because they allow a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

EY

our clients to leverage leading solu-

connected worldwide and that allowed

tions in the most effective way possible.

us to come up with such an impactful

Partnerships are crucial to us but it

value proposition. It not only brings

needs to be right. There needs to be

leading practices by sectors, but also

that alignment of value and how we see

real solutions that can be a differentiator

the market in order to establish a recipe

on how transformations are strategised

for mutual long-term success.”

and executed. As we bring these solu-

Looking to the future, EY has con-

tions to our global cloud platform it

solidated its global knowledge and

enables every local market to use it

experience into a supply chain rein-

consistently unleashing a vast oppor-

vention framework which Cambiaghi

tunity for benchmarks and insights for

affirms is becoming a global standard

our clients” he explains. “Our Supply

for companies looking to transform

Chain Reinvention framework is also

their supply chain. “We’re extremely

very comprehensive. It covers aspects

FEBRUARY 2020

“

Our strategy is to find partners that can complement our services and way of doing business

— Rodrigo Cambiaghi, EY Asia-Pacific & Greater China Supply Chain and Operations Leader, EY

With a drive to maintaining its position at the fore of the consulting space, Cambiaghi understands the necessity of continuing to thrive in the supply chain space long-term through collaboof value chain intelligence and how

ration with clients. “It’s clear there’s lots

to obtain and leverage data from the

happening in all industries and having

extended value chain; through the

a trusted and experienced partner to

strategic architecture of the entire

rely on when needed is paramount

supply chain in areas like supply chain

for all senior executives today,” adds

segmentation and strategy, integrated

Cambiaghi. “That’s why our strategy is

operating model and supply chain

to continue to be the most trusted and

network and trade flow optimisation.

distinctive professional service organi-

It also goes all the way to the core of

sation in order to support our clients

supply chain operations excellence

to achieve their strategic objectives for

and aspects related to the supply chain

their supply chains in Asia and across

resilience like circular economy, sup-

the globe.”

ply chain risks and sustainability. It’s extremely comprehensive.” a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

29

LEADERSHIP

How healthy is East Asia’s technology startup culture?

30

FEBRUARY 2020

East Asia is universally recognised as a technology hub — Business Chief investigates whether the region’s startups can maintain that reputation in the future WRITTEN BY

WILLIAM SMITH

31

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LEADERSHIP

32

E

ast Asia has historically been

JAPAN’S UNICORN COUNT: 3

one of the world’s technology

Japan has a reputation as one of the

powerhouses, whether that’s

world’s most technologically advanced

Japan’s consumer technology giants

countries, but it’s a perception that

such as Nintendo and Sony or China’s

may falter in coming years thanks to

titanic conglomerates such as Alibaba

the lack of startups. While the US and

and Tencent. We take the temperature

China have produced hundreds of

of three beacons of the region in the

technology unicorns between them,

form of China, Japan and Southeast

Japan still relies on older stalwarts

Asia (SEA) to better understand how

such as Sony, Nintendo, Panasonic,

that reputation will fare in the age of the

Fujitsu and Hitachi.

unicorn (a technology startup valued at over $1bn).

FEBRUARY 2020

When the words Japan and startups come together, SoftBank is inevitably

33

at the front of mind. SoftBank is the largest technology investor in Japan, and also arguably the world, thanks to its $100bn Vision Fund. Investing in the likes of Uber and WeWork, the latter of which it later bailed out after its failed IPO, Vision Fund is said to have a specific focus on companies advancing the cause of artificial intelligence. What it doesn’t focus on is

“ China is the only challenger to the US for the tech unicorn crown”

investment in Japanese startups.

The poor showing for Japan in the Unicorn count has not gone unnoticed a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

LEADERSHIP

“ One of the most valuable startups in the world is ByteDance, which clocked in with a valuation of over $75bn”

the $1bn unicorn barrier in April, thanks to investment from IDG Capital and Bitmain. The cryptocurrency exchange allows for the global trading of currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as fiat currencies.

CHINA’S UNICORN COUNT: 103 China, meanwhile, is the only challenger to the US for the tech unicorn crown. The most active investor in the region is Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent. Its investments have come across a broad

34

by Japanese society, with the Japanese government pledging in 2018 to produce 20 tech unicorns by 2023. The finger of blame is pointed in different directions, but according to Asia Times, CEO of SoftBank Masoyashi Son’s take is that venture capitalists in the country are stingy, that the public has a preference for public companies and that there is a cultural aversion to risk-taking.

Nevertheless, there have been some successes, as with the latest tech unicorn to come out of the country: Liquid. The fintech firm breached FEBRUARY 2020

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘BLOOMBERG | TIKTOK’S OWNER IS TAKING OVER THE WORLD’ 35 range of regions and industries, with its most identifiable strategy being diversification. The company has backed established Western winners including Tesla and Spotify, but also up-and-comers such as Indian food delivery app Swiggy. It’s an approach that has reaped rewards for the bottom line. In Q2 of 2019 quarterly profits increased by a third year-onyear, topping some $4bn.

While Tencent is a frequent investor on the world stage, it’s also not shy of putting money into compatriots. One of the company’s most successful a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

LEADERSHIP

“ The Japanese government pledged to produce 20 tech unicorns by 2023” 36 bets was on transportation company DiDi, which was founded by an alumnus of rival ecommerce giant Alibaba.

Tencent injected some $15mn in 2012 and the organisation has since gone on to buy out Uber’s Chinese business, leading to a valuation of some $57bn in May of 2019.

The cream of the unicorn crop, and one of the most valuable startups in the world, is ByteDance, which clocked in with a valuation of over $75bn last year. While ByteDance might not be a household name, it’s social media app TikTok certainly is in the West, while in China, Douyin FEBRUARY 2020

(TikTok’s progenitor) and the company’s news platform Toutiao are wildly popular.

The flood of Chinese unicorns shows no signs of abating, with a number of smaller startups attracting significant attention. One such example is passenger drone manufacturer EHang, which is planning to raise $46mn via a US IPO. The company has conducted successful pre-commercial trials of the technology in its home city of Guangzhou.

37

SOUTHEAST ASIA’S UNICORN COUNT: 8 (5 IN INDONESIA, 1 IN THE PHILIPPINES, 2 IN SINGAPORE) Southeast Asia’s startup scene is undoubtedly an attractive proposition, proved, for instance, by the news an American fund backed by rapper Jay-Z is investing in the region. It’s not the only American firm putting money into SEA. One of the largest tech investors in the region is San Francisco-based venture fund 500 Startups. It invests through its 500 Durians funds, named after the divisive fruit from the region, which is either a delicacy or evocative of rotten flesh, depending on whom you ask. a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

LEADERSHIP

S TAT S

• 55% of Southeast Asia’s population are internet users • 90% are connected through mobile means

38

FEBRUARY 2020

The appeal is not hard to understand.

The region as a whole has a population of over 650mn and, as a report co-authored by Google earlier this year suggests, 360mn of them (roughly 55%) are internet users. 90% are connected through mobile means, making it no surprise that the biggest startups in the region tend to be mobile platforms with “super app” aspirations.

Such an approach sees a suite of services being offered inside the same application, such as digital payments or food and parcel delivery.

That’s the case with ride-hailing giants Grab of Singapore and Gojek of Indonesia, who have found success at the expense of foreign competitors such as Uber thanks to their knowledge of local markets. It’s an expertise they are also leveraging for the success of compatriot startups in their own incubator programs, with Grab’s Seed Accelerator Program and Gojek’s GO-Academy operating in Singapore and Indonesia respectively.

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

39

TECHNOLOGY

40

g n i c a r b Em s r u o i v a h be in a new l a c i g o l o n tech age WR ITT EN BY

AM BE R DO NO VA N- ST EV EN

S

orus, h lC ia c o S , O T C , n se n e Tim Chri st ge m e n t a g n e e e y lo p m e e th w explains ho u ances of n e th s d n ta rs e d n u rm platfo unic ation m m o c e e y lo p m e to r e employ

FEBRUARY 2020

41

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

TECHNOLOGY

S

ocialChorus has earned its name as one of the top employee engagement plat-

forms by working with CEOS to maximise the delivery of information to employees

in what is an increasingly misaligned environment.

SocialChorus was founded by Greg Shove and Nicole Alvino in 2008, and as the company started to gain momentum, Shove was on the search for a CTO who wanted to transform the company, taking its consulting-based foundations and making it a truly staff-led business. Tim Christensen's belief in creating genuine value in people’s day-to-day lives 42

aligned with Shove on a philosophical level, and so he joined the team to create a software that would achieve this.

He explains: "Initially we didn't have a firm idea of what we desired the product to be, but we knew what we wanted it to do: improve a person's day.

"Christensen, who hails from a working class family, reflects that over the last 30 years very little has been divested to the blue-collar worker, despite the continued evolution of technology. “For this reason, we wanted to build a product that didn't discriminate against position or function; one that promoted equality and added value into every worker's day."

Reflecting on the five years since, Christensen shares one particular milestone he is particularly proud of: increasing the product’s daily users from a few hundred to over half a million. "It's very FEBRUARY 2020

“ Our support team will not be satisfied with anything less than SLA 100%” Tim Chris tensen, CTO, SocialChorus

43

rewarding to see that it is working and making an impact,” he says “This has always been about reaching as many people as possible, and my personal satisfaction is seeing this impact on an individual level."

Considering SocialChorus’ success, Christensen explains that, while there are several platforms designed for internal communications, knowledge management and collaboration, there is no concrete space in enterprise that connects knowledge and news. "From a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

TECHNOLOGY

nt a w 't n o d e w , y n a p m o “ As a smaller c , s e r u t a e f f o r e b m u n r to win on scale o � y t li a u q n o in w o t we want Tim Chris tensen, CTO, SocialChorus

44

a workflow perspective, we aim to

CEOs and workers when delivering

make the communicator more effec-

information. "For example," Christensen

tive, assist them in telling the right story

explains, "a CEO may communicate via

and we will assist in its delivery and

email, or workers may receive informa-

amplifying the goals of the communi-

tion when congregating in the break

cator." This, he explains, benefits the

room. Our role is to amplify these mes-

worker. "If we can make their lives eas-

sages in a way that enhances prefer-

ier in two minutes each day, then we've

ences, and not just discard them." This

been successful, because we're look-

often becomes an oversight that has

ing at it holistically, both from the

caused many companies to lose out on

worker and from the communicator."

delivering an optimised service. "Some

Within this, SocialChorus must

competitors want to push organisa-

embrace the existing preferences of

tions to use one centralised platform,

FEBRUARY 2020

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘SOCIALCHORUS – BRAND VIDEO’

but if marketers enjoy using Marketo,

"Real success is getting customers to

or engineers enjoy using Slack, or if a

engage with the content, not getting

grocery teller uses a break room, then

them to engage with the content on

that needs to be respected. For exam-

our platform."

ple, if you get your information in the

To carry this attitude with confidence

breakout room, then a digital display

and success, the platform must be

may be the best way to communicate

accompanied by exceptional service,

information, or by sending it to their

which Christensen believes the team at

personal email. By pushing users to

SocialChorus has in spades. "We have

move to a different platform altogether,

a great deal of pride in all that we do.

another hurdle is placed between the

For example, our support team will not

communicator and worker, and that is

be satisfied with anything less than

not solving the issue," says Christensen.

SLA 100%, and they will be disappointed a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

45

TECHNOLOGY

with even 5% less. This sort of attitude is present across all of our departments, and prospective clients can see this from us when deciding between us and a competitor — they can see how much we care. As a smaller company, we don't want to win on scale or number of features, we want to win on quality."

While competitors have larger teams, Christensen explains that having a smaller team rewards a much higher quality due to the close-knit dynamics and collective conscientiousness, 46

and this is reflected in positive customer feedback that deems SocialChorus the best in the market. "It is rewarding to know that we have an excellent product,” he says, “it doesn't just give out features, it solves real problems."

Christensen forecasts that this year will bring a number of new challenges:

a message while traveling to an airport

"I will likely begin working on new trans-

and have the service transcribe and

lations and transcripts, as well as low

translate it to go into an article to be

band-width usage." One of his key

distributed to workers, say perhaps, in

challenges is to connect the CEO

Zimbabwe, where there is a weaker

with employees in demographics with

internet connection. This would give

low technology, or in other instances,

these workers the same access to

where the CEO may not speak the

information. As data is only growing

same language as employees. "I would

in value, Christensen shares that the

like to be able to have a CEO record

next step in the company's growth is

FEBRUARY 2020

“ It is rewarding to know that we have an excellent product�

Tim Chris tensen, CTO, SocialChorus 47

to build upon SocialChorus' analytics capabilities in order to deliver insights and intelligence, not only to discover trends, but to be able to identify why they change and how to respond to it.

Paired closely with this, machine learning will be used for auto transcriptions and translations, and AI will enable recommendations and relevancy, for speed and tuning.

Tim Christensen, CTO, SocialChorus a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

S U P P LY C H A I N

DIGITAL INNOVATION IN LOGISTICS WAREHOUSES

48

FEBRUARY 2020

Business Chief takes a look at how three leading logistics companies are digitalising their warehouses WRITTEN BY

49

GEORGIA WIL SON

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

S U P P LY C H A I N

W

ith technology evolving at an exponential rate, and the logistics industry needing flexible

solutions for its complex operation, we

take a closer look at some of the successful deployments of digitalisation within the warehouses of leading logistic companies around the world.

UPS Founded in 1907, UPS has been “breaking barriers throughout its 100+ years as 50

a leader in global commerce”. Within the company’s international supply chain and freight operations, its key services include: logistics, distribution, transportation, freight (air, sea, ground and rail) and freight forwarding.

SUPER HUB To combat the challenges that come with providing efficient and on time delivery during peak seasons, UPS uses new technologies within its warehouse facilities to create operational precision and network efficiencies.

“Our transformation initiatives are enabling UPS to perform at high levels, even as we handle nearly double the average daily FEBRUARY 2020

51

package volume as the rest of the year. We are confident we will sustain these high levels of service and we’re ready to take on even more customer shipments in the coming weeks,” commented David Abney, CEO and Chairman of UPS. The new technologies UPS is harnessing include: • Advanced analytics; UPS has developed a peak volume alignment tool (PVAT) utilising advanced analytics to efficiently manage loads by synchronising its volume demands and a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

S U P P LY C H A I N

capacity. In addition to PVAT, UPS is

developed a bluetooth audio device

utilising advanced analytics to bet-

that gives its employees processing

ter forecast its package volume that

instructions as they scan packages.

needs to be processed.

• Network planning tool (NPT)­;

technology, UPS has been utilising

by utilising advanced analytics,

innovations for its drivers too. These

artificial intelligence (AI) and opera-

include mobile tools to improve

tions research, UPS has developed

onboarding and effectiveness, via

its NPT to help coordinate trac-

a delivery helper app. UPS has also

tor-trailer movements between its

developed UPSNav to provide drivers

sortation hubs to reduce bottlenecks.

with higher levels of accuracy and pre-

• Dynamic Sort Instruction (DSI); 52

In addition to its new in-house

cision when making deliveries.

to increase employee productivity

As a result of UPS’ global deploy-

and reduce training time, UPS has

ments of automation, AI and advanced

FEBRUARY 2020

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘DB SCHENKER INTRODUCING DIGITAL PICKING’ 53

“ Delivering automation possibilities for logistics and warehouse operations is a foundation for building the next generation supply chain” — Xavier Garijo Member of the Board for Contract Logistics, Schenker AG

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S U P P LY C H A I N

analytics, UPS has seen between 25%-35% higher efficiency.

DB SCHENKER With over 140 years of experience supporting the global exchange of goods, DB Schenker strives to provide its customers with “innovative supply chain solutions to challenge the status quo”. DB Schenker provides its solutions for land transport, air freight, ocean freight, contract logistics and supply chain management.

54

ROBOTICS POWERED BY AI To provide flexible solutions within its warehouses to drive productivity, DB Schenker has been utilising the combination of AI and robotics with the help of Gideon Brothers — a global manufacturer of autonomous robots.

With the digital age becoming increasingly complex, DB Schenker strives to offer its clients a strategic advantage. “DB Schenker continuously explores opportunities to integrate innovations from visionary start-up companies,” commented Xavier Garijo, Member of the Board for Contract Logistics at Schenker AG. FEBRUARY 2020

“ This is a technological leap, self-driving machines, powered by vision and AI, will succeed where earlier technology failed” — Matija Kopic CEO and Co-Founder, Gideon Brothers

55

“Delivering automation possibilities for

and stereoscopic cameras, to pro-

logistics and warehouse operations is

vide next generation robotics vision.

a foundation for building the next gen-

In addition to its next generation

eration supply chain.”

robotic vision, the robots can move

“This is a technological leap,” commented Matija Kopić, CEO and

800kg and have a hot-swappable battery system to minimise downtime.

Co-Founder of Gideon Brothers. The

“Self-driving machines, powered

robotics developed by DB Schenker

by vision and AI, will succeed where

and Gideon Brothers utilises a visual

earlier technology failed,” added

perception based robotic autonomy

Kopić. “It will become ubiquitous in

system that combines deep learning

industrial environments.” a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

S U P P LY C H A I N

“ The future is exciting. The future is about innovation and making sure we continuously improve” — Oscar de Bok CEO, DHL Supply Chain 56

DHL Speaking with Oscar de Bok, CEO of DHL Supply Chain in January’s edition of Business Chief, de Bok highlighted the need for flexible solutions as supply chains become increasingly complex and the importance of a large global company such as DHL having a strategy that utilises digitalisation and collaborative robotics.

Between now and 2025 the company aims to invest US$2.2bn into digitalisation of its logistics and robotics.

FEBRUARY 2020

ROBOTICS From cleaning robots to robotic arms within DHL’s warehouses, its operations are seeing the benefits of digital automation to enhance its workforce.

Cleaning robots (Neo); developed

by Avidbots, DHL has deployed its cleaning robots in multiple standard warehouses, to reduce the need for people to complete repetitive and tedious tasks. ‘Follow me’ robots; designed by Effidence, it is a simple trolly that follows an associate will they pick items to help transport the load. Once it is full you can simply press a button to send it on its way, while another replaces it.

Robot arms (Sawyer); Sawyer is a robotic arm developed to sense its surrounded removing the need for it to be static and caged. This robotic arm can be moved to where it is needed to complete repetitive and mundane tasks.

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

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S E S S E N I S U B W O H E V E I H C A T S E B N CA M R E T G N LO Y T I L I B A N SUSTAI ain

pply Ch u S , r o t c e ir D anaging M l, e e S plains d r x a e , h e r a Ric w la e d , able K & US) in (U a s t s ic u t s is a g d o il L u & es c a n b iv t u c e x e a ul l h e v g n lo e h t how C-le r o igned f s e d l e d o m s s busine W RI TT EN BY

R IC H A R D S E E L

FEBRUARY 2020

61

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

I

n today’s highly-competitive business environment, even the largest, most profitable organisations struggle to maintain

business longevity. To increase their chances

of long-term success, companies must transform themselves into sustainable enterprises, capable of adapting to changing priorities, markets and customer demand.

European organisations often lead the way.

KPMG’s latest Change Readiness Index ranks business action on rapid change based on an 62

‘Enterprise Sustainability’ metric, which takes into account factors such as carbon emissions per unit of GDP and the energy mix used by the business community. The ranking places Switzerland first overall, and in terms of Enterprise Sustainability, for the second consecutive year. European countries fill five other places in the Enterprise Sustainability top 10.

There are three areas around which discussions and debates about the sustainable enterprise tend to be focused: the environmental impact or footprint of the business, the need to create a sustainable business model and why a sustainable workforce is critical. The focus on reducing environmental impact by reducing energy FEBRUARY 2020

63

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

a b le n i a t s u s a g n i “ Build ly n o l l i w e c r o f k wor , r e v e w o h , k r truly wo he t n i e n o y r e v e if itted m m o c s i s s e bu s i n nge ” a h c o t n e p o a nd — Richard Seel, r, Supply Chain to c e ir D g in g a n a M US), delaware & Logistics (UK &

usage, emissions and introducing ‘smarter’ practices in the workforce is important. However, businesses also need to make certain that their specific business model is sustainable. They need an approach that sustains resources within the business over time.

CREATING A SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODEL From the outset, planning for the long-term is key, which is becoming increasingly difficult when factors

64

such as market demand and competition are constantly shifting. To achieve longevity, organisations need to apply sustainability principles in everything they do.

Resources — both people and other assets — are crucial. Sustainable businesses focus on making those resources sustainable over time — and that means being willing and able to adapt the business model to match changed priorities.

In line with this, true sustainability is often about understanding the market landscape and ensuring the business proposition FEBRUARY 2020

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘AR METALLIZING ENSURES SUSTAINABLE GROWTH WITH MICROSOFT DYNAMICS’ 65 is aligned to shifting customer

involve the combination of historical

demand. To be sustainable, smart

data, data analytics and key algo-

organisations must reflect on

rithms to quickly detect anomalies

addressing customer and societal

and notify the relevant people quickly,

needs, often without even knowing

enabling businesses to reduce costs

in advance what the optimal solution

by addressing and resolving any

might be. In today’s age of automation,

inefficiencies in the process, as well

building a sustainable business

as stay compliant by quickly identify-

model will almost certainly involve

ing where it may be in breach of the

digital transformation.

rules and rapidly rectifying this.

That could mean the introduction

These examples highlight the

of machine learning and AI-powered

sustainability benefits that digitally-

systems that diagnose problems in

driven innovations can bring to

advance, enabling quick intervention

businesses. However, when organisa-

and problem resolution. It could

tions move to digital technologies, a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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

they need to have a ‘Plan B’ in place to be able to keep the business up and running in the event that systems and networks are brought down or experience a security breach. A recent cyber — attack on Norsk Hydro, a global aluminium producer, forced the company into desperate measures.

The entire workforce — 35,000 people — had to switch to pen and paper as a result. Production lines shaping molten metal were switched over to manual functions, and in some cases, long66

retired workers came back in to help colleagues run things “the old-fashioned way”. a key role here in indicating just how

A SUSTAINABLE WORKFORCE

positive and sustainable workplace

Every business can look to reduce

culture is. Businesses need insights

their environmental impact and make

into their workforce that span levels,

changes to their business model to

departments and entities — and it’s

drive long-term sustainability. However,

important to link talent data with

if they do not put practices in place

enterprise information. The answer

to cultivate sustainable employees,

is a global system of records able to

they risk undoing that good work.

harmonise data generated by different

To drive a more sustainable work-

sources, providing key insight into

force, leaders must cultivate an

problems or issues. It is this type of

environment that helps people

reporting which drives sustainability.

to be empowered, productive and resilient. Technology can play FEBRUARY 2020

Companies must apply the digital mindset to HR and workplace processes

e e y o l p m e n e “ Wh p u t ’ n s i g n i e b well ss e n i s u b e h t , r to pa the s s o r c a s r e f f su in ” a h c e u l a v e r i ent — Richard Seel, r, Supply Chain Managing Directo US), delaware & Logistics (UK &

67

to support productivity and growth — or risk becoming obsolete. SAP SuccessFactors, a leading cloud-

attrition rates make organisations more sustainable.

This approach to building a sustain-

based HR solution, is an integrated

able workforce will only truly work,

environment encompassing all HR

however, if everyone in the business is

processes that is driven by data and

committed and open to change. There

analytics — and the ideal path to

must be business-wide sponsorship to

sustainable smart HR.

creating and maintaining a sustainable

By helping to ensure employees are happy and have greater wellbeing at work, organisations can

work culture — and this may involve cultural and operational change.

As we look to the future, it is likely

increase long-term business viability.

that predictive analytics will become

Employees that are happy are less

ever more important in maintaining a

likely to leave, and the resultant lower

happy, sustainable workforce. As an a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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

ns o i t a s i n a g r o , ity v e g n o l e v e i les h p i c n i r “ To ac p y t i l i b ina a t s u s y l p p a o need t o” d y e h t g n i h t y in ever — Richard Seel, r, Supply Chain to c e ir D g in g a n a M US), delaware & Logistics (UK &

68

FEBRUARY 2020

example, an employee applies for maternity leave through the organisation’s HR system. This employee ‘life event’ triggers the HR department to start offering communications specific to that employee, so for example, asking: have you thought about childcare vouchers? Have you thought about the return-to-work programme or our part-time working options?

In rolling out concepts such as this one, employee wellbeing is prioritised.

Ultimately, the strength of a company lies in the health of its people, especially in the professional services industry where human capital is the company’s added value. When employee wellbeing isn’t up to par, the business suffers across the entire value chain, making burnout a business critical challenge, and driving down overall levels of sustainability into the bargain. But businesses that focus on a sustainable workforce and ally that with a sustainable business model and environmentally-friendly business practices are likely to be here for the long-haul.

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CITY FOCUS | BEIJING

BEIJ City Focus

70

Business Chief takes a look at Beijing, the capital of China in both a political and economic sense WRITTEN BY

FEBRUARY 2020

WILLIAM SMITH

JING a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

71

CITY FOCUS | BEIJING

D

espite 3,000 years of history, China’s capital only came by its current name

in 1403, when Beijing, meaning “Northern

Capital”, was first applied to the city. Today, Beijing boasts a population of around 21.7mn people. No slouch in economic power, the city is home to some of China’s (and consequently the world’s) largest companies, powering a GDP of 3.032trn RMB (US$442bn) in 2018.

72

ZHONGGUANCUN Despite its advanced age, Beijing is certainly not in its twilight years, instead experiencing rapid growth and expansion. One source of this growth is China’s equivalent to Silicon Valley, the economic zone of Zhongguancun. Located in the northwestern part of Beijing, the area is reportedly home to 9,000 tech companies.

Cultivated intentionally by the Government as part of the wider free market reforms put in place by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, the project was akin to the Special Economic Zones that led to cities like Shenzhen achieving meteoric economic success.

FEBRUARY 2020

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CITY FOCUS | BEIJING

“ One source of Beijing’s growth is China’s equivalent to Silicon Valley, the economic zone of Zhongguancun”

74

Further reinforcing Zhongguancun’s high tech reputation is the presence of a large number of technology firms, both Chinese and international. From the former group, tech giants Baidu and Sina Corp both call Zhongguancun home. From the latter, Microsoft, IBM and Google all have a presence in the zone.

BYTEDANCE Born out of the Douyin product for the Chinese market, ByteDance’s TikTok app has brought it global attention. A FEBRUARY 2020

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘BLOOMBERG – TIKTOK’S OWNER IS TAKING OVER THE WORLD’ 75

spiritual successor to the now defunct

Hangzhou-based ecommerce giant

Twitter-owned Vine, it allows users to

Alibaba, Cheng Wei. Originally backed

create short looping videos, with the

by Tencent, in 2015 it merged with

format being ripe for producing viral

its biggest, Alibaba-backed, rival,

hits. The app was combined with video

Kuaidi. Such was its dominance of the

lip-syncing app Musical.ly after an

Chinese market that, in 2016, it bought

acquisition in 2017, uniting two phenom-

out Uber’s Chinese business. Like

enally popular, youth-targeted services

Uber, it has since expanded beyond

and leading the company to become

its original ride-hailing remit, with the

the world’s most valuable unicorn.

company branching out into areas such as robotaxis where it is planning

DIDI

to test its fleet of autonomous vehicles

Transportation company DiDi

on the streets of Shanghai imminently.

was founded by an alumnus of a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

CITY FOCUS | BEIJING

“ A forward-looking city, Beijing does not rest on its ancient laurels”

76

FEBRUARY 2020

JD.COM

the “618 Anniversary Sale”. Its success

JD.com operates one of the biggest

prompted Alibaba, as well as rival

business-to-consumer ecommerce

Pinduoduo, to also adopt the holiday.

sites, rivaling the Alibaba-owned Tmall.

A city on Beijing’s scale needs an

Alibaba’s competitor Tencent is a big

airport to match. Beijing Airport was

backer of the site, as is American

the world’s second busiest passenger

retail corporation Walmart. Although

airport in 2018, with over 100mn pas-

founded in 1998, it took until 2004 for

sengers passing through. Despite its

the company to first open its website.

size, continuing growth meant that

While Singles’ Day drives huge profits

it was fast approaching capacity. To

for Alibaba, JD pioneered its own cel-

lighten the load, the city opened

ebration which takes place on 18 June,

another in September 2019: Beijing 77

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CITY FOCUS | BEIJING

Daxing International Airport. Located to the south of the city and, thanks to its distinctive multi-armed design, nicknamed “starfish”, it boasts the world’s largest single terminal building, coming in at over 1mn sqm. In most cities, a project on such a scale would be tied up in years of bureaucracy.

Daxing International Airport, however, was built in just five years at a cost of 120bn RMB ($25bn).

Initially serving fewer passengers than its older relative, the plan is 78

for Daxing to gradually ramp up its capacity. 45mn passengers are expected to pass through by 2021, 72mn by 2025, and 100mn by 2040.

At the time of its opening, Vice Premier Han Zheng was quoted in the South China Morning Post as saying: “[Chinese Premier] Xi Jinping attaches particular importance to and has personally encouraged the development of Daxing International Airport, a major engineering project that is symbolic of the capital. It will significantly improve the global competitiveness of national airlines, promote our country’s continued opening up to the wider world, and FEBRUARY 2020

Photo © N509FZ

“ Daxing International Airport was built in just five years” ease pressure on Beijing’s facilities.”

Upcoming events in the city include, on 18 February, the 13th Open Auto Drive Forum on the standardisation of autonomous driving technologies, including participants from BMW and Chinese mapping firm Kuandeng. For a Valentine’s Day treat, consider heading to the fintech-themed Digital Accelerator Programme run by the Investment Management Association of Singapore.

A forward-looking city, Beijing does not rest on its ancient laurels, preferring to embrace and accelerate towards a technological future.

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T O P 10

80

FEBRUARY 2020

CEOs inAPAC

81

Business Chief takes a look at the CEOs of the region’s 10 companies with the highest revenue WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR

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Photo © Matti Blume

T O P 10

HQ TOKYO JAPAN

$142.6bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS

215,638 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

82

10

Takahiro Hachigo HONDA MOTOR CO.

Takahiro Hachigo started his career at Japanese vehicle manufacturer Honda Motor in 1982 as a chassis engineer, where he led the team that developed the 1999 Honda Odyssey minivan - the company’s first foray into that market. He became the company’s CEO in 2015. Reportedly, Hachigo’s hobbies include building model trains and collecting miniature cars. He previously drove a Honda Odyssey, although when asked if he would consider changing cars after being promoted to CEO, he said he was considering a Type-R Honda Civic.

FEBRUARY 2020

HQ BEIJING CHINA

$150.3bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS

352,621 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

Photo © Jwh

09

Guiping Liu CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK

The newest hire on the list, Liu Guiping took over from the previous head of China Construction Bank (CCB) in July of last year.

Previously, the 53 year-old rural banking veteran served as the vicemayor of Chonquing. Liu has a PhD in Economics from the Finance Department of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, from which he graduated in 2002. As the President of the second-largest bank in China, Liu has grown CCB’s profits by more than $1bn, while also bringing revenues to an all-time high.

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From Inspiration

to Innovation

T O P 10

HQ

SHENZHEN CHINA

$151.8bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS

376,900 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

85

08

Ma Mingzhe PING AN INSURANCE GROUP

The president of China’s largest insurer, Ma Mingzhe, has been a vital driving force behind its success. He has worked in the insurance sector for his whole career, first serving as a deputy general manager of the Social Insurance segment of China Merchants Group before joining China’s Ping An Insurance Corporation in 1988. Ma was behind the decision to open up Ping An to investment by foreign conglomerates such as Morgan Stanley and HSBC, a move which reportedly brought the company out from under the thumb of China’s financial establishment.

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T O P 10

HQ

TAIPEI CITY TAIWAN

$175.6bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS

1mn

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES 86

07

Young Liu FOXCONN

Foxconn’s (also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry) latest chairman, Young Liu replaced billionaire founder Terry Gou in July of 2019, when he left to run for president of Taiwan. Prior to his promotion, Liu headed up the company’s chips and semiconductor division. Liu has a degree in electrical physics from Taiwan’s National Chiao Tung University and a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California. In his first year as chairman, Young Liu has seen Foxconn’s revenues increase by approximately $24bn.

FEBRUARY 2020

HQ BEIJING CHINA

$175.9bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS

449,296 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

87

06

Gu Shu ICBC

At the tender age of 52, the President of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Gu Shu, is one of the youngest on the list. This fact is even more impressive when you consider the fact that, as head of the second largest investment bank in the world, Gu oversees more than $4trn in assets and almost half a million employees. Gu obtained a Doctorate degree in Economics from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and is a celebrated accountant.

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T O P 10

HQ BEIJING CHINA

$178.8bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS

Photo © CSCEC

302,827 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

89

05

Yu Tao CSCEC

The President and CEO of China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), Yu Tao has more than two decades’ experience in the management of corporate affairs and construction projects.

Under his leadership, CSCEC has become one of the largest international construction companies in the Middle East, with a diversified business model that provides clients with comprehensive construction solutions. “As a good friend and partner of China, Saudi Arabia makes a series of positive policies to attract Chinese companies,” said Yu.

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T O P 10

HQ

SUWON SOUTH KOREA

Photo © Samsung Global Newsroom

$221.5bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS

308,745 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

90

04

Hyun Suk Kim SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS

Korean electronics giant Samsung has a relatively unorthodox managerial structure, with a total of three Chief Executive Officers.

Hyun Suk Kim, head of the company’s consumer electronics business, rose to the joint position in 2018, alongside Dong Jin Koh and Ki Nam Kim. At the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Kim noted that consumers increasingly value experiences over products: “We’re not looking to spend our money on things. We are looking to buy convenience, peace of mind and enjoyment.”

FEBRUARY 2020

Photo © HGEsch / Toyota

HQ TOYOTA JAPAN

$272.1bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS

369,124 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

91

03

Akio Toyoda TOYOTA MOTOR

The great-grandson of the father of Japan’s industrial revolution, Akio Toyoda has served as the President and CEO of the Toyota Motor Corporation since 2009. Born in 1956, Toyoda received his master’s in business administration from Babson College in the US, before coming to work at Toyota in 1984. In keeping with the Japanese tradition of keeping CEO salaries relatively low, Toyoda’s salary in 2018 only amounted to $3.5mn - which made him the second-highest-paid employee of the company, after its Chief Competitive Officer, Frenchman Didier Leroy.

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T O P 10

02

Wang Yilin PETROCHINA With over 35 years’ experience in the Chinese oil and gas industry, Wang Yilin has served as the Chairman of the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (PetroChina) since 2011. He is also an

92

active member of the Chinese Communist Party. PetroChina, which is the world’s third-largest oil conglomerate, is experiencing a return to profitability after falling from more than $21.1bn in net earnings in 2014 to $1.2bn in 2017. Under Wang’s direction, profits rose steadily again last year, back to $8bn.

FEBRUARY 2020

0000 YEAR FOUNDED

$0.0bn REVENUE IN XXXXXXXXX DOLLARS

0,000 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

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HQ BEIJING CHINA

$322.8bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS

476,223 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

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T O P 10

HQ BEIJING CHINA

$399.7bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS

423,543 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

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CLICK TO WATCH: ‘SMART ENERGY, BETTER LIFE – SINOPEC HIGHLIGHTS’

FEBRUARY 2020

0000 YEAR FOUNDED

$0.0bn REVENUE IN XXXXXXXXX DOLLARS

0,000 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

01

Zhang Yuzhou SINOPEC The world’s biggest oil and refining company, Sinopec, is undergoing a seismic change, alongside the entire Chinese energy sector. The former chairman of coal mining giant China Shenhua Energy Co Zhang Yuzhuo will reportedly be taking on the top role at Sinopec in the coming year. Zhang graduated from Shandong University of Science and Technology in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree, received his master’s degree from China Coal Research Institute in 1985 and earned a PhD from University of Science and Technology of Beijing in 1989.

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96

How cybersecurity promotes trust in the super app WRITTEN BY

WILLIAM SMITH PRODUCED BY

CRAIG KILLINGBACK

FEBRUARY 2020

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GOJEK

George Do, Chief Information Security at Indonesian tech unicorn Gojek, on the methods, trends and technologies driving the cybersecurity agenda

I

“ 98

t’s refreshing to work for a company that has such a positive impact on so many lives across the APAC region and across the world,” says

George Do, Chief Information Security Officer at Gojek, a company he joined in September 2019.

Gojek provides a technology platform offering a variety of services from ride-hailing to food delivery, an approach that affords the moniker of a “super app”. “My charter is to ensure the security of the company and all of our products, services, platforms, as well as all of the systems for our users,” says Do. “I would describe the role as driving the mission of the company to help improve millions of lives by reducing its daily frictions. This opportunity to make a positive social impact was such an important factor for me to make the decision to join Gojek.”

Do credits his career in cybersecurity to an early inciting incident. “I was lucky enough to be selected as an intern at NASA, which really

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The physical key to your digital security

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Gojek steps up GSuite security with YubiKey hardware-based authentication Gojek is Southeast Asia’s leading on-demand, super app provider, connecting individuals with a wide range of services including transport, payments, food delivery, logistics, and much more. Founded in 2010 with the goal to provide solutions to Jakarta’s ever-present traffic problems, Gojek started as a call center with a fleet of only 20 motorcycle-taxi drivers.

With the principle of using technology to improve the lives of people, the Gojek app was launched in January 2015 to provide users in Indonesia with motorbike ride-sharing (GoRide), delivery (GoSend), and shopping (GoMart) services.

Today, Gojek has transformed into a “Super App”. It is a one-stop platform with more than 20 services, connecting users with more than 2 million registered driver-partners, 400,000 GoFood merchants, and 60,000 GoLife service providers – with more than 130 million total downloads across the region. By providing their users with seamless access to products and services across multiple sectors, Gojek continues to improve efficiency and productivity for Indonesian citizens, as well as boost economic and financial inclusion.

With more than 5,000 internal employees, Gojek understood the necessity to secure company data, while also delivering a simple and friendly user experience. Traditional username and password-based logins aren’t secure enough in today’s world, and they’re also cumbersome for employees. Malware and phishing attacks compromise credentials daily, resulting in new reports of account takeovers every day.

As a GSuite-based infrastructure, Gojek chose to work with Yubico, the leading provider of hardware authentication security keys, to deploy YubiKeys for strong, one-touch authentication. One single YubiKey can secure a multitude of online services with no user information or private keys shared between the service providers. There is no reliance on or

requirement for mobile connectivity, cellular devices, mobile apps or manual code entry.

Gojek is looking to replicate the massive success and results that Google has seen using security keys internally for their entire workforce. Based on Google’s two year study* to measure the business impact of hardware-based authentication, several benefits can be highlighted: Heightened security: Internal accounts protected solely with a YubiKey and FIDO U2F have experienced a significant increase in the level of security with zero account takeovers.

Accelerated employee productivity: Employees saw a significant reduction—by nearly 50 percent—of the time to authenticate using a YubiKey compared with using a one-time password (OTP) via SMS. Logins were nearly four times faster when comparing the YubiKey to Google Authenticator. Time saved is primarily due to the unique, one-touch YubiKey authentication that executes in milliseconds.

Reduced support: Compared to using a phone for authentication, YubiKeys are easy to use, robust in design, waterproof and do not easily break. These attributes allowed Google to issue multiple YubiKey backups to each employee and still see cost savings. Support calls dropped, with a 92% reduction in support incidents, saving thousands of hours per year in support costs.

Source https://research.google/pubs/pub45409/

1

U2F for USB

Enter name and password

2

Insert YubiKey and tap

“With the YubiKey seamlessly integrated with GSuite, Gojek employees will be able to fortify their logins by turning on Google 2-Step Verification and self-registering their YubiKey with their accounts.

Once registered, access to accounts can only be granted with physical access to their YubiKey and touch to the device, providing the highest level of security and protection when logging into GSuite.”

—George Do, Chief Information Security Officer, Gojek

GOJEK

challenges, but also plenty of

“ The bad guys only have to get it right once. We have to get it right every time”

opportunities. “Gojek made it into the ground floor of the digital transformation,” says Do. “Where we’re at today is where a lot of companies around the world are trying to get to. Executing a security strategy for such a cutting edge platform is a very exciting endeavour.” The depth and breadth of services a super app like Gojek offers requires a specific

102

George Do Chief Information Security Officer, Gojek

launched my career. I wasn’t into security before then, but I was bitten by the security bug once I started the internship.” From there, Do says he was “fortunate to have faced security challenges from both within and outside the walls of organisations, having been part of internal security teams as well as serving as a consultant and as a security architect. That helped me a great deal in learning how to balance and bridge the gap between security and the business.”

Cybersecurity at a digital-native company like Gojek offers its own FEBRUARY 2020

approach. “One of the key areas of focus that we target as a super app is DevSecOps,” says Do. “That’s

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘INTRODUCING GOJEK’S NEW LOGO – SOLV’ 103 development, security, and operations, all in one within continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) environments. We really work hard to bake security into our engineering processes. Because our application is the main interface for our consumers, driver partners, and merchants, we take application security very seriously, so we employ both static and dynamic security tools.”

As Do emphasises, it is the maturity of Gojek’s cloud capabilities that offers the company enormous benefits. “Gojek was born in the a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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cloud, meaning that much of what we

“ Gojek made it into the ground floor of the digital transformation”

do pivots around that,” Do explains.

“While the security concepts remain the same, a lot of the tools and processes are different when compared to traditional organisations that have a large part of their infrastructure still on premise. While traditional companies typically straddle on premise infrastructure applications and a hybrid cloud model, we focus more on the

George Do Chief Information Security Officer, Gojek

cloud model.” While the security workloads might be similar to a traditional company, Gojek approaches them in

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

George Do George has been working in the information security field for over 20 years concentrating on a wide range of areas including development and transformation of global cybersecurity programs. George has extensive experience in maturing global information security teams. This includes governance, risk, compliance (GRC), cybersecurity security frameworks, cloud security workloads, system and network security, incident response, system forensics and investigation, intrusion detection and prevention, managed penetration testing, and VPN technologies. George also serves on several customer advisory boards.

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107

GOJEK

2010

Year founded

HQ

Jakarta Indonesia

4000+ 108

Number of employees

a different manner. “A good example is encryption and logging, something that’s pretty fundamental within the security space. To try to do those things in a traditional environment is quite complex, especially for globally distributed technology stacks. When we do that in the cloud, a lot of times it’s really a checkbox or a configuration change to get things moving along faster and more efficiently.”

The goal of these technologies is to earn the trust of users. “As a super app, we provide or offer a variety of services to our consumers, partners FEBRUARY 2020

109

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GOJEK

and merchants,” Do says. “ Our num-

in order for them to do that securely,

ber one security priority comes down

their identity and how they go about

to consumer trust. We strive to provide

accessing systems to do their work is

this trust by employing a very robust

paramount. So we employ, and have a

security program that ensures security

robust roadmap to implement, a very

on both our products, services, on our

strong identity and access manage-

platform, as well as the applications

ment program here at Gojek, including

that our internal users rely on every

multi factor authentication.”

day.” That security priority must be

110

Do identifies a number of strate-

balanced with speed of access, some-

gies that he has developed over his

thing for which identity and access

career to stay on top of security in a

management is crucial. “We want to

fast-moving organisation. “Number

enable our developers and our engi-

one, leverage the cloud native tools

neers to move as fast as possible, but

that are available to you,” says Do.

FEBRUARY 2020

“Don’t try to boil the ocean and cre-

“ This opportunity to make a positive social impact was such an important factor for me to make the decision to join Gojek”

ate your own tools because some of those will already be at your fingertips. The second thing is finding a good balance between what we build internally, in-house or open-source, versus what we buy commercially.

It’s important to pragmatically select a build versus buy option based on the security use case and return on investment. Thirdly, in the course of

George Do Chief Information Security Officer, Gojek

developing applications and releases, there will be vulnerabilities that may be inside the code. We have to be

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111

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CLICK TO WATCH : ‘NEW JACKET, NEW SPIRIT!’ 113

very rigorous around the employ-

an incident does hit, we’re in a state

ment of a continuous vulnerability

where we’re able to respond in an

management program so that the

effective and meaningful way.”

vulnerabilities are detected in real

Gojek’s security ecosystem is also

time and remediated as soon as pos-

reliant on the support of partners

sible thereafter.”

such as Horangi. “Horangi is one of

Supplementing these preventative

many security firms that we use to

methods are reactive measures such

augment our security program,” says

as a bug bounty program. “For all of

Do. “With Horangi, we collaborate

the work that we do from a prevention

on areas like penetration testing and

perspective, we also need a strong

improving the maturity of our security

and robust incident response capa-

incident response capabilities. We

bility. That means building out a team

also receive support from them with

and process, a capability by which, if

response playbooks and executing a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

GOJEK

114

war game exercises.” When selecting partners and vendors, Do believes in security platforms as opposed to point solutions. “For me, unless it’s truly a critical area of need, I really steer towards a security platform versus spot solution because it reduces the number of technologies that my team has to manage.”

As for the future, Do has a clear path in mind for cybersecurity at Gojek. “First and foremost is winning consumer trust. Slowly but surely, we also need to bake security into FEBRUARY 2020

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘GOJEK PRESENT: CERDIKIAWAN’ 115

the culture. With any organisation,

theft, nation-state sponsored hacking,

security and the culture really is a

these are just some of the threats we

critical factor. As we grow and expand,

face. Security is an exciting field and

doing that will pay huge dividends

I would encourage young people to

for us as we scale and expand into

look at cybersecurity as a career. The

new markets and with new product

more security practitioners we have,

sets.” As for the broader industry, Do

the better the industry overall.”

emphasises that there is strength in numbers. “The threat landscape is constantly evolving. As CISOs, we have to evolve with it. The bad guys only have to get it right once. We have to get it right every time. Really, the game is stacked. Phishing, credential a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

ADOPTING I TECHN 116

WRITTEN BY

GEORGIA WILSON PRODUCED BY

SCOTT GEORGE

FEBRUARY 2020

NNOVATIVE NOLOGY 117

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S TA R H U B

Sebastian Tan, Head of the 5G Centre Of Excellence (COE) Unit, StarHub, discusses digital transformation and innovative technology

W 118

ith the imminent arrival of 5G technology, Sebastian Tan, Head of the 5G Centre Of Excellence

(COE) Unit at StarHub, sees industry trends accelerating towards the convergence of mobility first with cloud technology and artificial intelligence (AI). “With mobile edge computing and campus networks coming into fruition with 5G, these will enable mobile operators to offer an expanded set of integrated end-to-end capabilities beyond the telecommunication and connectivity services. I believe the industry will see the telecommunication sector transforming to play a more critical role in integrating the ICT space in the future,� says Tan, who ultimately believes 5G will provide a near seamless and digitally-enabled mobility experience.

FEBRUARY 2020

119

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S TA R H U B

120

“ WE ARE CONSTANTLY LOOKING INTO NEW AREAS TO GROW AND PREEMPT NEW ENTRANTS” — Sebastian Tan, Head of the 5G Centre Of Excellence (COE) Unit, StarHub FEBRUARY 2020

In order to stay ahead of global business trends, StarHub – a leading telecommunications company based in Singapore and founded in 2000 – embraces the challenger mentality. “We are constantly looking into new areas to grow and preempt new entrants. This is achieved through regular strategy and business reviews to develop and transform our business models as necessary to maintain the challenger position,” comments Tan. “Digital transformation does not simply equate to automation of processes”

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘#HELLOCHANGEPROMISE – STARHUB’

he continues. “We looked at digital

service subscriptions.

first strategy from a 360-degree per-

To date, StarHub has implemented

spective, from people, process and

robotic process automation (RPA) to

tools.” Fundamentally, the first step

help the company to streamline and

to digitally evolve StarHub includes

serve its customers more effectively.

the establishment of a transformation

“The RPA platform has built in AI

office to spearhead strategy execution,

capabilities to analyse the services

together with the appointment of

we provide with recommendations

a digital officer to charter the course

in areas to improve on. We are also

forward. StarHub aims to enhance and

utilising RPA to support our customers,

onboard most of its’ existing services

helping to simplify first call resolution

into its digital platform, allowing

in a timely manner,” Tan adds.

customers to easily access inquiries as well as procure or upgrade their

In addition, StarHub has been transforming its billing system with a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

121

S TA R H U B

“ WHILE WE CONTINUE TO OPERATE AND INVEST IN KEY ASSETS, WE WILL ALSO CONTINUE TO ESTABLISH NEW PARTNERSHIP ECOSYSTEMS TO SUPPORT US ON OUR GROWTH JOURNEY TOWARDS 5G” 122

— Sebastian Tan, Head of the 5G Centre Of Excellence (COE) Unit, StarHub

FEBRUARY 2020

123

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S TA R H U B

124

2000

Year founded

agile framework applications to support new business requirements.

“We have successfully transformed and consolidated many of our net-

$2.4bn+ Revenue in Singapore dollars

3,000 Number of employees

FEBRUARY 2020

works into a new software-defined virtual network function platform, allowing us to provision and manage our services cost-effectively.”

However, with these new innovations comes the challenge of security compliance. “All of our digital initiatives will require security reinforcement, which we are continuing to build upon our telco-grade cyber

125

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Sebastian Tan With over 20 years of management experience in both the end-user and technology provider space, Sebastian has successfully managed different stages of the IT life-cycle, from providing thought leadership in visioning to driving transformational IT initiatives. Sebastian believes in building “esprit de corp� within the team and leads by example. An all round achiever, Sebastian has received multiple awards in and outside his professional career and represented Singapore in competitive cycling in the 1990s. One of his many wins was first in the Overseas Bank Corporation Cycle Singapore 2010 edition.

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127

analytics framework, in partnership

we have also established a partner-

with our independent cyber security

ship to build a new multi-million dollar

unit called Ensign.” This security

hyperscale green data centre campus

transformation is not the first of its kind

and are starting industry trials for

which StarHub has invested in.

pioneering 5G,” explains Tan. Within

“In Singapore, we have undertaken

its digital strategy, StarHub has been

many initiatives to support our policy

incorporating these initiatives. “We

makers in developing our country to

are participating and supporting the

be a smart nation. In our recent initiatives,

policy makers in the industry on six a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

FEBRUARY 2020

129 strategic focus areas, mainly around urban mobility, smart estates, maritime operations, smart airports and consumer and government application development. Our continuous rationalisation of our infrastructure has given us the ability to support such initiatives in a more efficient manner, keeping pace with the market demands. “Being in the service industry, where customer experience comes first, a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

S TA R H U B

“ IN SINGAPORE, WE HAVE UNDERTAKEN MANY INITIATIVES TO SUPPORT OUR POLICY MAKERS IN DEVELOPING OUR COUNTRY TO BE A SMART NATION” — Sebastian Tan, Head of the 5G Centre Of Excellence (COE) Unit, StarHub

Security-Driven Networking for a Hyperconnected World Fortinet provides top-rated network and content security, as well as secure access products that share intelligence and work together to form a cooperative fabric. Our unique Security Fabric combines Security Processors, an intuitive operating system, and applied threat intelligence to give you proven security, exceptional performance, better visibility and control.

LEARN MORE

FORTIGATE

131 StarHub has always adopted a partner-

being the challenger, StarHub will con-

centric approach so as to enable us to

tinue to transform to stay lean and agile

deliver our commitments jointly,” says

so as to be quick to respond. “While

Tan. ”While we continue to operate

we may be locally established, we are

and invest in key assets, we will also

constantly staying engaged globally.

continue to establish new partner-

This approach has allowed us to ser-

ship ecosystems to support us on our

vice our customers in the best possible

growth journey towards 5G.”

way, which we will continue to embrace

Reflecting on StarHub’s journey,

to ensure a win-win business outcome

Tan believes that “over the years

for both our customers and our share-

StarHub has transformed from a local

holders,” concludes Tan.

pay TV company into a quo-play service provider which has established both consumer and enterprise businesses.” With its strategy fixed at a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

132

Cargo Services Group: digitally transforming logistics operations FEBRUARY 2020

133

WRITTEN BY

GEORGIA WILSON PRODUCED BY

KRISTOFER PALMER

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CARGO SERVICES GROUP

Glen Seto, Chief Process & IT Officer at Cargo Services Group, discusses the company’s digital transformation alongside its plans for the future

134

G

len Seto, Chief Process & IT Officer has only been with Cargo Services Group (CSG) for seven months (CSG includes

major companies such as: Cargo Services Far East, CN Logistics Ltd, and more). He states: “e-commerce has grown so much in the past few years, which has caused considerable disruption to our customers in the manufacturing and retail industries. Currently we are in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) business era, in which many corporations have created complex and competitive markets. Through digital transformation and optimisation, logistics operations can be developed to be more efficient and innovative. It was this mindset that piqued my interest to be involved back in the industry.”

Prior to being Chief Process & IT Officer at Cargo Services Group, Seto held various positions within FedEx, UHN, Katalogic, SML, Adidas FEBRUARY 2020

17

Offices in China

600,000 Containers handled per year

40+

Countries of operations

9,000 Number of employees

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135

CARGO SERVICES GROUP

“Big Data is definitely the foundation for the future of software automation” — Glen Seto, Chief Process & IT Officer, Cargo Services Group 136

and Kiabi. As part of his current role he has four core priorities that the company focuses on both internally and externally in order to maintain its competitive edge within the industry: transformation, commercialisation, visualisation and innovation.

“For us, transformation is looking at opportunities within the company to improve and transform our systems and processes,” he explains.

“Recently, we have been looking to optimise our ways of managing freight information.” Alongside the company’s internal transformation, Seto highlights that it also looks to commercialise new software and technology to improve the services it provides to its logistics customers. “Commercialisation is part of our drive to share with our customers the benefits of what we have learnt; visualisation and innovation is our continuous process,” he notes.

“Technology changes very quickly so we are constantly looking at new entrants and technologies that can be applied to the business.”

Seto believes that connectivity is a core trend for the logistics industry.

FEBRUARY 2020

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘DEMONSTRATING THE DRIVERLESS TOYOTA FORKLIFT’ 137 “In logistics, we are behind in terms of

traditional methods. “For our opera-

connectivity technology. However, it

tions and processes we came up with

is much easier now with fast-devel-

a circular feedback loop, where we

oping innovations with API software

are constantly defining, measuring,

architectures,” he says. In addition

proof of concepting, operating and

to connectivity, he highlights that

then redefining,” says Seto. “We are

ever increasing detail in end-to-end

very pragmatic about our innovation.

visibility is an emerging trend, along

It’s about finding value and assessing

with automation, saying that “there is

which implementations make good

more and more happening in terms of

business sense, as opposed to just

robotics, such as driverless forklifts

innovating for the sake of it.” In order

and robotic arms.”

to achieve its transformation strat-

When it comes to CSG’s digital

egy, the company works closely with

transformation, the company is driv-

its ecosystem of partners including

ing innovation into the heart of its

Chinese Telco, Microsoft and CS-PAC. a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

Becoming Digital The purpose of digital transformation is very simply a process to help your organization find new ways of generating value.

Successful organizations make the most of their transformation journey by focusing on empowering people to achieve more with the right technology.

Learn more

Enabling unified customer experiences, agile operations, and accelerating innovation and growth For the last two years Microsoft has been a proud partner and advisor to Cargo Services Far East, one of its key corporate customers in Hong Kong. During this partnership, Microsoft has been empowering the company on cost optimisation, operational efficiency and productivity.

"Our partnership with Microsoft started with implementing productivity suite Office 365 and business applications Dynamics 365 for our call center," comments Glen Seto, Chief Technology Officer of Cargo Services Far East. "When we began the transformation journey, we looked at how we could enable the mobility of end users to increase productivity with a unified platform, while maintaining the security."

To optimise call center processes and reduce overheads within the business, Microsoft has implemented Dynamics 365 solution for Cargo Services Far East. "The solution gives Cargo Services Far East the ability to provide its customers with a unified experience and timely responses, as well as reducing the need for manual work to be completed," adds Lee. In addition, Microsoft has been working with Cargo Services Far East to drive cost optimisation through providing intelligent cloud and data centre modernization services on Azure. "Currently we have started to move the company's call centers and data centers to cloud, says Lee, "afterwards, we will modernise the company's reporting architecture within its data warehouses which will allow the company to receive real time data analytics."

Ensuring a good partnership comes down to one crucial thing: "knowing the customer's environment and understanding the company's challenges," says Lee. As a trusted advisor of Cargo Services Far East, Microsoft provides modern workplace and cloud databases solutions to solve the company's business challenges. "At Microsoft we have multiple cloud solutions, three of which Cargo Services Far East is currently leveraging - modern workplace, business applications and intelligent cloud - to achieve their digital transformation journey."

"This is not the end of our partnership with Cargo Services Far East," says Lee. "We are continuously working with the company on this particular journey. These are just some of the company's developments that we are working on. We believe this partnership will keep on growing and benefiting both parties in the future."

Learn more

CARGO SERVICES GROUP

140

More than five million pieces per month processed in eCWMS

INCREASINGLY SMART WAREHOUSES

platform offering that will be sold as

When it comes to its warehousing

just software. The commercialisation

operations, CSG is moving its infra-

of this software allows us to focus on

structure over to the cloud. Seto

going beyond our current logistics

elaborates: “this is something I am

customers’ needs to create a product

carefully focusing on. eCWMS is

for anyone that has a warehouse.”

predominantly a system we use to

The new version of eCWMS will be

manage our warehouse operations

a cloud-based platform designed to

for our customers. It helps us to add

be simple and easy to use, stand-

efficiency to our operations whilst

ardised but rich with features for

sharing information with our custom-

fast-deployment; it will also be

ers for collaboration and visibility.

modular. Seto also shares that the

However, I’m sharing our expertise

company is working on some new

and knowledge, fused into a software

modules such as an algorithmic pick

FEBRUARY 2020

routing tool, warehouse layout design

the different parties that operate in

simulation tools and automated data

today’s complex supply chains. As

entry functions. In addition, it is look-

a result, his strategy for eCWMS is

ing at IOT components and people

to ensure the platform is modular,

movement flow tracking - this is cur-

easy to configure and simple to inte-

rently in the R&D phase.

grate. Because of this, he’s already

Above all, Seto understands that the richness of the features are useless if the platform isn’t easily integratable and connected to all of

launched this new version this year, which has seen rapid adoption.

In addition to the new offerings on the warehouse side, eCoreOS® is

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Glen Seto Glen Seto is the current Chief Process & IT Officer (CPO) at Cargo Services Group. In his current portfolio he manages, Process Improvement Division, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Division, Internal Audit & CSR Department, Global IT operations, security, and software development. Seto has a broad range of industry experience when it comes to process and IT leadership, holding several positions within FedEx, UHN (healthcare), Katalogic (management & IT consulting), SML (apparel manufacturing), Adidas and Kiabi, to develop new business operations, e-commerce platforms, web and cloud systems, software robots, AI automation and business innovations.

Seto’s qualifications include a degree from the University of Toronto (Canada) and an executive MBA from the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Canada.

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141

Accelerate logistics enterprise’s digital transformation journey with full-fledged managed ICT solutions Amidst today’s digital globalization, embracing new technologies is inevitable to stay competitive.

Emerging technologies such as cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and e-commerce are rapidly changing global trading and logistics models, opening up a new era of global supply chains.

Logistics can be said to be one of the first industries to consider digital transformation, because logistics involves supply chains, the amount of data is very large, and most of them need to operate across regions, and apply a large number of IoT and monitoring technologies, so there is an absolute need for digital transformation. However, logistics enterprises may encounter many potential challenges along their digital transformation journey that a right ICT service partner is crucial to the success.

CITIC Telecom CPC, as a global local ICT service enabler, has accumulated ample industry and service management experience that helps many logistics enterprises to transform by offering a holistic managed solution based on their business models and needs.

Going global: the rise of digital globalization The strength of CITIC Telecom CPC‘s offerings is underpinned by three key areas of excellence: The company’s comprehensive portfolio of innovative ICT solutions, its extensive self-owned and selfoperated global infrastructure of network linkages and world-class ICT facilities, and the company’s staff who possess deep expertise in crucial areas of both technology and business, particularly native business culture and localized language presence across the world, plus strong vertical industry sector expertise.

To propel the development of smart logistics nowadays, logistics and transportation companies must be closely connected with partners and stakeholders in different regions. Hence a reliable and flexible network infrastructure is the foundation of successful digital transformation. Leveraging the latest SD-WAN technology and its global network coverage with over 140 PoPs in 130 countries, CITIC Telecom CPC has recently helped a global logistics and transportation customer with 70 offices worldwide to design a managed TrueCONNECT™ Hybrid SD-WAN solution to

connect their global branch offices, users and applications with high efficiency and optimized performance. Despite of the network complexity, the customer is now able to gain better visibility of their over network with simplified network management and better level of security so as to align with their corporate’s global expansion and digitalization strategy.

Stay local: ample customer and service management experience In addition to incorporating the best technologies into its solutions, CITIC Telecom CPC is able to leverage its world-connected industry experience and knowledge, as well as managed services to maximize customer benefits.

With the open up of the enterprise network to cloud and IoT devices, rising severity of cybersecurity threats as well as vast amount of data being processed and analyzed over the network across regions, logistics enterprises may not have sufficient IT staff with all-round technology knowhow to ensure the data and network security at all times. CITIC Telecom CPC’s team of certified professionals across 26 offices worldwide, with mindful of native cultures and local business conditions, is able to provide 24x7 monitoring service and ensure enterprise’s data is always be complied with local data regulations, including EU GDPR and China MLPS 2.0 etc for maximum data protection.

As CITIC Telecom CPC has been very accurate at envisioning the continued digital transformation of logistics enterprises, and serving their “Go Global” need, the company can continue to truly embrace its motto that “Innovation Never Stops”, competently anticipating and addressing emerging market demands with creative solutions that deliver products and services enterprises need.

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CARGO SERVICES GROUP

another foundational software that

and has the ability to integrate with

CSG uses to capture e-commerce

couriers of your choice and being

order management operations for

able to create invoices for any of the

its customers. eCoreOS® currently

parties in the supply chain. “VUCA

has interfaces built with e-commerce

is pushing us in many different ways,

shopping platforms such as ebay,

but I’m doing the same to CSG, to be

shopify, Taobao, TMALL and so on,

faster, smarter, and more efficient in

and is able to take these shopping

areas that we’ve never considered

carts and create orders to eCWMS

before,” Seto enthuses.

(or any other warehouse system)

144

for the pick, pack, and delivery

VISIBILITY AND SIMPLICITY

operations. It is currently being

Seto believes that “cargo and product

used by more than 50 retail custom-

tracking is the most valuable piece

ers in Hong Kong, China, Australia,

of information we can provide to

Singapore, Bangladesh and the UK,

customers, and even ourselves. It can

Over 100,000+ e-commerce orders processed in 1 day in eCoreOS® FEBRUARY 2020

“ In order to have true digital twins we need to drive further connectivity between the physical and digital worlds” — Glen Seto, Chief Process & IT Officer, Cargo Services Group

all data upstream and downstream, including all the freight movement after the product has been produced.

The new release of CargoTrack is built on the newest technologies, and it has API capabilities for all other systems to connect and flow data into it seamlessly. The centralising of data in this way creates simplicity for the company’s customers.

AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS When speaking with Seto, he highlights how CSG is joining with others in the industry to develop autonomous robots for its warehouses. provide better and informed decision

“We have been testing out these

making, and the improved visibility of

types of robotics in the warehouse

real time tracking allows us to make

and are seeing, in certain scenar-

decisions at exactly the right time.”

ios, increased efficiency. However,

CSG’s technologies have allowed

we are still currently in the proof

it to integrate and gather upstream

of concept stage,” he states. As in

visibility during product development

other areas, CSG always looks to

stages through the PO visibility sys-

increase the breadth of capabilities

tems that its customers employ (such

and services that it can provide to

as LIMA, InforNexus, etc.) - this has

e-commerce B2C customers, par-

always provided adequate informa-

ticularly in scenarios where this type

tion. However, to advance further, the

of automation and quick turn-around

company has its CargoTrack platform,

time is what the “want it now” con-

which allows for the centralising of

sumers demand. a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

145

CARGO SERVICES GROUP

146

FEBRUARY 2020

ARTIFICIAL SOFTWARE INTELLIGENCE In addition to the aforementioned technology advancements for CSG, AI and software robot automation (RPA) are also part of its innovation portfolio.

When it comes to AI, Seto sees great potential, particularly for applications such as forecasting costs and market stability within logistics. “At the moment, I would say the AI we are using is on an operational level. For example, we have RPA systems that use AI and machine learning to process, data enter, and validate invoices and the key is that it continues to learn each time they carry out a task, increasing accuracy every time.”

Seto acknowledges that with innovation comes challenges, and in particular, he views education as a significant factor. “Explaining the opportunities and abilities of innovative technology, creating a cultural shift from ‘that technology has nothing to do with me’ to ‘how could I use that technology to help with what I am doing?’ has been a big challenge.”

Since joining the company, he has worked to kickstart an innovation lab concept. “I think one of the biggest a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

147

CARGO SERVICES GROUP

problems that organisations are facing is not only new technology, but the skill set and mindset of their people. The innovation labs are designed for brainstorming innovations that can enhance our operations.”

Looking to the future of logistics, Seto wants to see digital twins and Big Data being implemented within the company. “We haven’t got there yet, but we are certainly laying down the foundations,” he says. “We have been upgrading our warehouse man148

agement systems and implementing different types of IoT systems, such as sensors for monitoring warehouse operations. Ultimately we want to be smarter, but in order to have true

“We are very pragmatic about our innovation. It’s about finding value and assessing which implementations make good business sense as opposed to innovating for the sake of it” — Glen Seto, Chief Process & IT Officer, Cargo Services Group FEBRUARY 2020

149

digital twins we need to drive further

Reflecting on digital transformation

connectivity between the physical and

as a whole, Seto’s favourite aspect of

digital worlds.” Seto also adds that

the process is “trialing new technol-

“Big Data is definitely the foundation

ogy to drive business value, as well as

for the future of software automation.“

increasing energy and engagement

Currently, we are laying the founda-

from the company’s workforce.”

tions for a lot of this kind of work, and most are in the proof of concept phase.

I am driven that within a year a lot of these technologies will be up and running, providing value to the business.” a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

150

FEBRUARY 2020

151

Building South Asia’s leading ecommerce platform WRITTEN BY

MARCUS LAWRENCE PRODUCED BY

SCOTT GEORGE a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

DARAZ

As South Asian ecommerce leader Daraz continues to consolidate its position, Founder and CEO Bjarke Mikkelsen discusses the strategies and ethos driving its success

W

hen it comes to opportunities in the ecommerce space, South Asia represents some of the world’s most fertile ground.

With the barrier to entry for technology’s capabilities dropping lower all the time, emerging markets such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal 152

and Myanmar - the territories where fast-growing retailer Daraz lays its cap - offer huge potential for enterprising tech leaders seeking to break new frontiers. Nevertheless, many are unaware of the untapped potential of the 500mn+ population in those markets and their desire to become part of a global economy through technology.

In 2015, Bjarke Mikkelsen, CEO at Daraz, made the bold leap from investment banking to the ecommerce space, targeting the as yet underserved South Asian region with great success. “I decided to do something different,” Mikkelsen explains.

“I wanted to be in the right industry, at the right time, in the right markets for the first time, to take the advantage and do something cutting edge.” He is frequently asked how he managed to make a success of the shift between such different industries, FEBRUARY 2020

153

“ Today, we have been given the title of DEX Hero.

I have a very big job of making sure people receive their packages,” says Sajid Ali of Daraz’s logistics arm, DEX. “ The most important thing for Daraz is the customer and we are the ones dealing with the customers.” a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

DARAZ

“ We want to capture as big a market as possible, but we want to make sure that we scale in a healthy way. This means a strong focus on organic growth and making sure that the users that come on the platform remain engaged.

If users stop coming back then we need to improve 154 our service, find ways of being more relevant, or simply being more fun to enrich people in their daily lives” — Bjarke Mikkelsen, Founder and CEO, Daraz

but Mikkelsen asserts that the skills he has brought from his previous career have served him well in ecommerce.

“It’s actually not that different because, in banking, my job was to make big things happen for people who were very ambitious and had the funds to follow through.

In this case it’s more operational, but the principle is not that different.”

For Mikkelsen, a more significant difference is the territory itself.

Shifting from his career in London’s corporate sphere to the developing markets of South Asia presented the need for a shift in perspective.

Keen to foster an understanding of how best to operate an ecommerce firm in such environments, he spent time in the rural areas of Pakistan and Bangladesh. “Apart from the business opportunity and incredible talent in our markets, most people fail to appreciate the natural beauty of these countries. It’s like nothing I have ever seen before,” he says, adding that the experience made it clear that Daraz would require a highly tailored approach to best penetrate these markets; a local business for local people.

FEBRUARY 2020

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘DARAZ SELLER STORIES – ZAID’ 155 Having constructed a team with

re-platformed its systems to align

the market and sector knowledge to

with Alibaba’s global framework and

augment his acumen, the risk has cer-

resultantly unlocked reams of poten-

tainly been rewarded. Considerable

tial in the process. “It took about a

growth across its South Asian opera-

year to finish, and it was not without

tions resulted in an acquisition from

pain or impacts to the business,

Asia’s pre-eminent ecommerce leader,

but in the end the product we have

Alibaba Group, in 2018, and the firm’s

today is ten times stronger and more

capabilities have since expanded expo-

advanced than anything we could

nentially. With the acquisition, Daraz has

have built ourselves in the next five

become an important piece of Alibaba’s

years,” Mikkelsen enthuses. “The new

global strategy to target 2bn consum-

technology infrastructure has been

ers in its ecosystem by 2036.

a huge win for the business. Alibaba

During the transition of its IT systems from Portugal to Pakistan, Daraz

has always taken our requests seriously and given us the flexibility to a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

DARAZ

156

“ I wanted to be in the right industry, Focusing on the wants and needs of local customers has formed the backat the right time, in bone of Daraz’s operations and growth. the right markets The expectations of consumers in these emerging markets go deeper for the first time, to than simple functionality, Mikkelsen take the advantage says, referring to the results of a recent study that Daraz conducted with market and do something research leader Nielsen. “There were a cutting edge” localise how we implement the prod-

uct in our markets.”

couple of things that surprised me,” he

says. “The most important thing from a user interface (UI) perspective is that FEBRUARY 2020

— Bjarke Mikkelsen, Founder and CEO, Daraz

it’s a fun experience.” The assump-

platform has also been a major element of

tion that convenience is king is more

the ecommerce platform’s development.

applicable to more developed markets

“We apply a lot of focus to user-generated

where entertainment is ubiquitous to

content, reviews and ratings, then using

the point of being all-consuming - in

data and algorithms to ensure the sellers

South Asia, those facilities for diver-

of good products get more exposure

sion are not so common.

than sellers with lower quality offerings.”

Quality was also earmarked by the

These factors have been embedded in the

study as being of particular importance,

design of Daraz’s platform and accompa-

especially in terms of offering comparison

nying mobile app, while the infrastructure

tools between non-branded products.

surrounding its service continues to be

Differentiating user journeys through seg-

developed in line with the third leading

mentation of entry points and UX on the

consumer expectation: rapid delivery.

157

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Bjarke Mikkelsen Bjarke Mikkelsen is the Founder and CEO of Daraz and has built the company from a small startup in Pakistan to an important part of Alibaba’s global ecosystem. He started his career in A.P. Moller - Maersk and then worked his way to Vice President at Goldman Sachs in London before making the jump to become an ecommerce entrepreneur. His career is characterised by adaptability and transformation management. Applying structure in a chaotic environment and building a company culture where the best talent and ideas can f lourish has been the key to Daraz’ success. His motivation is to create equal opportunity for the 500 million people living in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Nepal.

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

Serving the fast, reliable and secure international service since 1997 Learn more

PENTA Supply Chain Solutions PVT Limited

www.pentascs.com info@pentascs.com

The journey of penta is one of expansion and innovation In just over twenty years the company has become a trusted name in the courier and cross border e-commerce market. The first Company to start Cross Border E-Commerce in Pakistan. Our growth has been gradual yet organic; from 5 employees and 4 courier flights at the start in 1997, to 50+ employees and 24 flights a week in 2020. Our hard work and determination has allowed us to foster lasting partnerships and customer relationships within Pakistan and abroad. The PENTA network is constantly growing, and cross border e-commerce is our newest venture. Our latest facility is our fulfilment centre in Karachi, Islamabad & Shenzhen that has already handled enormous volumes for various marketplaces and brands. It is a source of great pride that a local company has become global in its outreach and our e-commerce network spanning Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh is just the beginning.

DARAZ

“ We apply a lot of focus to user-generated content, reviews and ratings, then using data and algorithms to ensure the sellers of good products get more exposure than sellers with lower quality offerings” — Bjarke Mikkelsen, Founder and CEO, Daraz

Compared with the proximity of Mikkelsen’s native Denmark to its European neighbours, there is considerably more complexity and cost associated with international logistics in South Asia. “Because a large proportion of the population in our markets have a very low income, customers will not spend a lot of money on products in one go,” says Mikkelsen, noting that it therefore does not make sense to import low-cost items when the price of shipping will vastly outweigh the value of the product. As part of its Daraz

160

University programme, which offers best practice advice and education for the platform’s sellers, the firm is looking to establish “hyper-localised ecosystems” through offering products to customers based not only on price and quality, but also on proximity.

This strategy is consolidated by Daraz’s hands-on approach to logistics, borne of the desire to expand its seller base as optimally as possible, regardless of the scope of individual merchants’ operations. Having established its own logistics company, Daraz Express (DEX), which, as a digitised and fully integrated firm, represents FEBRUARY 2020

161

a first for the region, Daraz “wants

process parts, along with the value

hundreds of thousands of sellers on the

proposition to sellers,” he says.

platform; small and large distributors,

If an order is made for a product that

individual retailers and manufacturers.

isn’t distributed by Daraz’s own fulfil-

Some of them have the capacity to

ment centres, the merchant receives a

operate their logistics independently,

sale notification via the seller app. From

with their own ecommerce setup and

there, they can prepare the package,

their own people to prepare the pack-

print an airway bill, and send the pack-

ages along with shipping and delivery.

age via one of two options. In some

Some of them don’t have that capacity

areas, Daraz provides a local pickup

and would rather that Daraz man-

service while, failing that, the seller can

age the logistical processes. That’s

alternatively drop the package at one of

something we have spent a lot of time

the firm’s distribution hubs to be fulfilled

building in terms of the system and

by Daraz’s logistics network. “As long as a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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we control the package on our systems,

online marketing, are one of the ways

it’s not a problem. The challenge is that,

to build trust in our brand.” The gravitas

once we hand over the package to a

that comes through such partnerships

third party, such as a delivery partner,

clarifies that the company “is not just

what happens? Is that third party inte-

kids in a garage posting online adverts

grated with our systems? What is their

and sending out products”, he says.

service level? Are they living up to our

“If you have a good, loyal customer

standards of good customer service?

base, then you have a strong foundation

That’s the main challenge.”

to grow from. If we cannot retain the

Daraz is demonstrably unafraid

customers we acquired, it doesn’t matter

to take responsibility for the quality

if we have 200mn potential customers

of the service its customers receive,

in Pakistan or 160mn in Bangladesh

with Mikkelsen pledging that, should

because we can’t just acquire custom-

any complications arise, the firm will

ers without retaining them. In the end,

do its utmost to take care of the customer. This, however, is not the only manner in which Daraz is working to develop its brand as a trustworthy platform for consumers who are cautious of technology and the intentions of companies that provide it. “Trust is a gigantic challenge,” acknowledges Mikkelsen, noting that partnering with trusted brands has been a major factor in its strategy. “We did an integration with a Friday night game show in Pakistan which can attract around 10mn live viewers. That’s almost twice the population of Denmark. Paid partnerships like these, as opposed to a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

163

DARAZ

164

Playing football with the local kids in Hunza Valley, Northern Pakistan

“ Apart from the business opportunity and incredible talent in our markets, most people fail to appreciate the natural beauty of these countries. Its like nothing I have ever seen before” — Bjarke Mikkelsen, Founder and CEO, Daraz FEBRUARY 2020

we have to deliver a service level and an experience that makes our customers happy. We want to capture as big a market as possible, but we want to make sure that we scale in a healthy way. This means a strong focus on organic growth and making sure that the users that come on the platform remain engaged. If users stop coming back then we need to improve our service, find ways of being more relevant, or simply being more fun to enrich people in their daily lives.”

Considering Daraz’s considerable growth and continuingly ascendant market penetration across South Asia, the strategy is certainly yielding success. Looking forward, Mikkelsen is enthusiastic about the potential for yet further expansions of Daraz’s capabilities and offering. “In the past, we’ve focused on building the categories we offer and developing a good standard of service across our operations, and that’s taken a lot of time and effort,” he says. “Now that we have a very strong base, we want to make sure that there’s something for everyone on Daraz.”

This expansion includes, but will not be limited to, a fashion channel, dubbed D-Fashion, with tailorable experiences a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

165

DARAZ

“ The new technology infrastructure has been a huge win for the business. Alibaba has always taken our requests seriously and given us the flexibility to localise how we implement the product in our markets.”

166

— Bjarke Mikkelsen, Founder and CEO, Daraz

for individual customers, along with D-Mart, a dedicated grocery function.

“D-Mart will offer different, unique value propositions, such as overnight deliveries of fresh products sourced directly from farmers. For people who want fresh groceries with guaranteed high quality, we can do that. If you want a monthly subscription service for your groceries, we can do that too,” says Mikkelsen.

D-Motor, another addition on the horizon, will cater to motorists and enthusiasts in a manner akin to D-Fashion.

For those of us in more developed parts of the world, ecommerce and its ever-increasing convenience has

Online-offline partnerships are important to build trust with customers in rural areas. If a product is not in physical stock, then the shop owner helps the customer place an order that can be picked up at the store the next day FEBRUARY 2020

2012

Year founded

3,000 Employees

become commonplace, even unremarkable. It is therefore important to remember the gravity of what Daraz is developing in South Asia, and what a marked paradigm shift it is offering consumers in the midst of maturing economies. With the scope and depth of Daraz’s operations only set to grow, it’s certainly an exciting time both for the firm and for the hard-won customers it holds dear.

One of 5,000+ co-branded Daraz Stores in rural Bangladesh a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

167

168

Aiming for zero waste and maximum metal recovery WRITTEN BY

DAN BRIGHTMORE PRODUCED BY

RICHARD DEANE

FEBRUARY 2020

169

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

H I N D U S TA N Z I N C

How Hindustan Zinc, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, is aiming to make its flagship Sindesar Khurd and Rampura Agucha operations the most advanced digital mines in the world

H

industan Zinc is India’s only zinc producer and among the world’s top three zinc producers today. A subsidiary of Vedanta

Resources, the company’s flagship operation, Rampura Agucha (Agucha) in Rajasthan, is the 170

world’s largest mine for industrial metal. Allied to this, and strategic to the company’s growth, is the Sindesar Khurd (SK) mine offering a rich source of silver along with zinc and lead. Hindustan Zinc also runs three large smelting operations at Chanderiya, Dariba and Debari in north west India and 10 milling facilities across the country.

“How do we drive efficiency to support future growth across our operations?” asks Barun Gorain, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer at Hindustan Zinc, Vedanta Resources. “The whole point of our digital transformation is to build a foundation to prepare ourselves for the next phase of growth to support key outcomes of enhanced safety, improved productivity and reduced costs with true technology innovation.”

FEBRUARY 2020

171

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

H I N D U S TA N Z I N C

“The whole point of our digital transformation is to build a foundation to prepare ourselves for the next phase of growth to support key outcomes of enhanced safety, improved productivity and reduced costs with true technology innovation” — Barun Gorain, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, Vedanta Resources

174

FEBRUARY 2020

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘CORPORATE FILM HINDUSTAN ZINC DIRECTED BY MANEESH JOSHI’ 175 Gorain points out that few mining

business operation models for each

companies work in this way: “We

and every part of a unit operation so

take a very holistic view of this digital

that we can go beyond data analysis

innovation with a portfolio focused on

with a system based approach and

three areas to build that foundation.

official automation.

Critically, the first step is to integrate

“This leads us into the third area.

all of our operating data into one

Digital alone is not going to help us so

platform so it can enable the digital

we must support our subject matter

enterprise with all of the financial,

expertise. Many companies across the

commercial and HR systems.

globe go digital but without strength-

“Secondly, with all the data on a sin-

ening their core know-how, which for

gle platform, we have begun a deeper

us is mining, milling and smelting. The

analytics drive where we’re looking

idea is to leverage digital, which is just

not just at predictive and prescrip-

the enabler to help us in optimising all

tive controls, but also at developing

of our individual operations. Now this a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

Cisco enables digitization of India’s largest underground mine, Hindustan Zinc Limited As the digital transformation technology partner of Hindustan Zinc, Cisco deployed a scalable and secure underground mine network to improve the efficiency of the mine’s operations, extend the life of its assets, and control costs while supporting its present and future demands.

In association with Cisco, Hindustan Zinc aims to develop a fully connected, efficient, safe and collaborative mining system.

CLICK TO WATCH: HZL’s mining 4.0 journey powered by Cisco

Welcome to the future of connected mining!

“Digitization is the future and our partnership with Cisco is going to help us move in that direction.”

- Barun Gorain Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, Hindustan Zinc

177

approach is actually quite deep, com-

asset tracking, people tracking, asset

pared to most companies, and this is

management, short interval controls,

where we see the benefits.”

automated scheduling & task manage-

In embracing Mining 4.0 Gorain’s

ment management,” he says. “We are

team is using the OSI-PI system to

doing this at a scale not seen before in

bring all operating data – mining, mill-

any underground mining scenario, it’s

ing, smelting and power plant – into

a game changer.”

one platform which will eventually be

To change the game, Vedanta has

integrated with SAP. “We are looking

recently inaugurated their Hindustan

to digitally integrate 1,500 people, over

Zinc Collaboration Centre based at

200 pieces of equipment and several

the company’s head office in part-

different outsourced business part-

nership with OSIsoft and ABB to

ners at our flagship SK and Agucha

improve efficiency, safety and sustain-

mines. It allows us to do real-time

ability while enhancing value across a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

The cutting edge of underground productivity and safety True digitalization of underground mines with double digit productivity increase, unparalleled efficiency and increased safety in modern mines.

The undisputed leading product portfolio Mobilaris Mining Intelligence™ features: - Real-time Situational Awareness with 3D visualization opens the lid and enables transparency. Everyone, everywhere will know what is going on down below.

- Emergency support. Unique functions that dramatically increase mining safety.

- Ventilation on demand. Let the presence of machines control the ventilation.

- Complete suite for Short Interval Control including shift-planning and work task dispatch.

- Traffic Awareness and Vehicle Navigation solutions minimizing traffic congestions.

- In-shift Production Monitoring features that shows the true real-time status about the shift.

- Totally technology and vendor agnostic.

Our unique agnostic approach allows realtime location, tracking and monitoring of vehicles, personnel and any equipment using a mixture of technologies (e.g. LTE, WiFi, UWB, RFID) from various vendors.

LEARN MORE

True digitalization of underground mining With new innovative technology Mobilaris Mining & Civil Engineering takes digitalization of mining operations to the next level. So far, the result has been double digit productivity increases, higher efficiency and increased safety for the mining industry.

Many mining companies around the world are facing daily challenges that make the mining operations unpredictable, resulting in a waste of valuable time and inefficient use of machines, assets and equipment. During a normal shift, there are many obstacles that can cause differences between planning and reality, for example machine breakdowns and people taking the wrong decisions due to lack of information.

both empower people by increased transparency, increase productivity by less traffic congestions and a safer work environment”, says Hans Wahlquist, VP Business Development and Strategic Product Management at Mobilaris.”

When every second counts

In the case of a stressful situation like a fire or a collapse that requires evacuation of the mine, time is of essence.

Rescue personnel and evacuation leaders need to have the best tools available to ensure that the evacuation is done as quickly as possible and according to defined procedures. With Mobilaris Emergency Support, rescue personnel have access to real-time information on “We help mining companies to become aware where in the mine people are located – knowing who is safe and who is not. Studies show that with these of what is going on in the mine, right tools in hand, the time to evacuate people in danger here and now. Every day, all the time. is dramatically reduced.

This information makes it possible to take control over the operations and the resources. With our digital In partnership with Hindustan Zinc Ltd solutions people can act upon what Hindustan Zinc Ltd has partnered up with Mobilaris is happening in real-time and make Mining & Civil Engineering to digitalize the Rampura the right decision faster. We offer Agucha mine, their flagship of mining operations. tools for new, more efficient, ways of working”, says Mikael “We feel honored that Hindustan Zinc has chosen us Nyström, CEO Mobilaris Mining as a partner for modernizing their mine operation & Civil Engineering. even further. We will provide solutions for smooth and seamless operations that defines new, more efficient, ways of working“, Says Mikael Nyström, Mobilaris Onboard ™ CEO Mobilaris Mining & Civil Engineering.

A disruptive innovation

The latest product from the Swedish company is Mobilaris Onboard, a unique product that runs on a standard tablet mounted in a vehicle.

Just like with a GPS car navigator, Mobilaris Onboard™ makes it easy for anyone underground to navigate to a location or to a moving asset without any specific knowledge about the mine. Without any dedicated infrastructure for positioning needed.

“We are confident that Mobilaris Onboard™ will cause a paradigm shift in the underground mining industry. It makes every miner aware of the whole real-time situation in the mine and enables a set of unique tools that will

The partnership includes solutions for situational awareness designed to visualize and support the mining operations in all its complexity, in real-time.

By implementing superior real-time 3D visualization with information from various systems and sensors, Hindustan Zinc will have the tools for superior control and planning of their mining operations.

Hindustan Zinc Ltd will also be among the first customers worldwide to implement the new disruptive product Mobilaris Onboard™, for navigation underground and a smoother traffic flow.

EXPLORE OUR WORLD

H I N D U S TA N Z I N C

180

Hindustan Zinc’s operations. “The

operations. ABB, as one of the world’s

unique thing here is that we’re con-

top experts in control innovation, is sup-

necting all our operating people with

porting us on this quest.”

OEMs, subject matter expertise and

Looking long-term, the company

our data scientists,” explains Gorain.

vision is moving towards converting all

“OSIsoft and ABB are helping us to con-

of its underground mining operations

nect our operating data across all of our

from batch to continuous with the

mines, mills, smelters and power plants.

support of next generation technolo-

It’s a crucial initiative because, along

gies, including underground hydraulic

with insights, we’ll be able to predict

ored pumping solutions to enable

things in real-time and collaborate in

mining with minimal or no tailings or

a way that allows us to maximise the

waste. “From an extraction or recov-

benefit that digital solutions from SMEs

ery point of view, we’re looking at

can have in helping us to optimise our

completely digitised equipment to aid

FEBRUARY 2020

the recovery of minor, major and pre-

improvement from 81% up to 92%,” he

cious metals,” adds Gorain. “In parallel,

adds. “Silver recovery is forecasted

greater efficiency will come from fine

to rise from 57% to 70% leading to an

tuning via digital means.”

additional 70,000 tons of lead-zinc

Gorain’s team is targeting benefits

metals.” Gorain stresses that enhanc-

on the mining side to improve effi-

ing safety is a key aspect and one

ciency by 15% which translates to

of the major reasons why SK mine is

74,000 tons of extra metal by 2021

considered one of the most digitally

– a huge gain. “Meanwhile, on the

advanced mines in the world. “With

milling side we’re looking at recovery

safety as a top priority, continuous

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Barun Gorain Barun Gorain has more than 25 years of experience in metallurgical plant operations, plant optimisation, capital (growth) projects, technology development, metallurgical consulting and also in technical advisory and board roles. Focused on operational excellence, technology innovation, as well as technology transfer with demonstrated benefits and breakthroughs for projects and operations, before returning to Hindustan Zinc he worked for Barrick Gold and Teck Resources. “I’m a metallurgist by background and combined with my experience with digital innovation I’m in a unique position to be able to understand both worlds so we can take Hindustan Zinc to the next level,” pledges Gorain. “When we look at our business needs for future growth it’s vital to bring these two strands together to make our mining, milling and smelting more efficient to meet our long-term goals and vision.”

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

181

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“We are looking to digitally integrate 1,500 people, over 200 pieces of equipment and several different outsourced business partners at each of our flagship mines. It allows us to do real-time asset tracking, people tracking, peak management, internal controls, automated schedule link up management, you name it” — Barun Gorain, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, Vedanta Resources mining, automation, digitisation, less

have to lay out the cables and the

man-machine interaction, remote

network on a daily basis. As we go

monitoring and real-time visualisation

deeper underground, the challenges

of people will be a tremendous leap

keep evolving, so these partners make

forward which will also lower the cost

sure we have the best of the best with

of production.”

mobile networking and LTE to access

Underground wireless communications are vital to be able to integrate

all of our data in real time.”

Sandvik has been instrumental

new solutions. “It is the foundation,

at the SK mine, where it provides

along with the sensor technology, on

Hindustan Zinc with around 90% of

which everything else is built,” con-

its equipment. “The first phase of this

firms Gorain. “To achieve this, we’ve

digitisation through our collaboration

partnered with Cisco at the SK mine

with Sandvik has now been com-

and with Israeli company Eurotech

pleted focusing on driving efficiency,”

at the Agucha mine. The whole idea

confirms Gorain. Meanwhile, at the

is that networking is something that

Agucha mine, the company is also

doesn’t really finish anytime soon, we

partnering with Mobilaris who are a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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H I N D U S TA N Z I N C

A New Mining Paradigm

184

“The existing mining paradigm is not sustainable in the long-term,” argues Barun Gorain, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer at Vedanta. “Much of the material generated from mining is waste. For example, with base metals typically 90% is waste.

This increases our footprint, heightens risk and can trigger environmental hazards within our communities. We need to ask ourselves why we generate waste in the first place. It’s why we’re pushing towards a new mining paradigm through automation, electrification and digital solutions to help us deliver the extraction of metals with minimum waste. Governments, NGOs and communities are asking the same question: ‘Why can’t we develop a better way of mining?’ We’re committed to delivering the innovation to achieve that goal.”

Barun Gorain, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, Hindustan Zinc, Vedanta Resources

FEBRUARY 2020

Inside Hindustan Zinc “We are leveraging digital solutions to improve our availability, utilization and productivity at the Sindesar Khurd (SK) Mine,” says Sunil Duggal, CEO at Hindustan Zinc Limited. “With OptiMine® we will be able to plan, schedule and monitor overall operations in real time. This will add major value and increase our productivity, eliminating bottlenecks, and allowing us to measure and monitor our key performance indicators in real time, proactively addressing problems before they occur.”

Sunil Duggal, CEO at Hindustan Zinc Limited

“SK Mine has embarked on a major digital transformation journey in partnership with Sandvik and Cisco. We are now considered the most digitally advanced mine in India, but we aspire to be the world’s most advanced digital mine by 2022,” pledges Rajeev Bora, SBU Head SK Mines.

“We have our unique set of complexities but the ongoing digital program will allow us a step change in safety and productivity.”

185

Rajeev Bora, SBU Head SK Mines “Digitalisation is becoming the new way of working at Rampura Agucha,” agrees Sujal Shah, Director Agucha SBU. “Let us all become the agents for change in t ransforming our mines to become Sujal Shah, digitally advanced Director Agucha operations.”

SBU

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H I N D U S TA N Z I N C

Advert

186

FEBRUARY 2020

10.5%

Average zinc-lead grade

Zinc

Reserve base of 105.7mn MT

78%

Share in India’s primary zinc industry

187

providing connections for visualisa-

he concedes. “We want to make peo-

tion and equipment tracking. “They’re

ple think more about how we plan for

helping us to leverage digital to com-

the future across such a large work-

municate in a way that keeps all of our

force. Change management is always

teams aligned,” he adds. “We’re reduc-

an issue, so we are educating employ-

ing the time of the track operations,

ees about how digital is not going to

improving the asset optimisation, and

take jobs away but create new ones

it’s helping us better predict our main-

in safer areas of the business with

tenance needs.”

less physical labour requirements in

Continuous alignment is a challenge that Gorain believes must be met to ensure all teams are looking at one

different roles where technology can support them.”

The benefits of new technologies

truth with minimal manual intervention.

are evident with Gorain’s team’s

“There’s always resistance to change,”

recent initiatives on advanced a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

H I N D U S TA N Z I N C

188

“With safety as a top priority, continuous mining, automation, digitisation, less manmachine interaction, remote monitoring and real-time visualisation of people will be a tremendous leap forward which will also lower the cost of production” — Barun Gorain, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, Vedanta Resources

FEBRUARY 2020

for one shared truth. Second, we deploy the right analytics solutions to enhance the working environment of everybody across the company. Third, we have to integrate the subject matter teams into the digital way of doing things. These three areas combine to help us identify the right technologies for the right purpose so that our guiding principles - in terms of enhancing safety, productivity, and reduced costs - are in alignment with our vision.”

Vedanta and Hindustan Zinc’s vision is to make the SK and Agucha operations one of the most advanced digital mines in the world. “Our goal is to achieve the highest benchmark process controls. “We’ve had great

of recovery and metal extraction in

success at Zawar,” he says. “We

the zinc industry,” says Gorain. “Not

have experienced a 10% increase in

just lead-zinc major metals, but also

crusher throughput, and around a

the minor and precious metals such

3 - 5% increase in recovery, which is

as germanium, cobalt, and silver.” The

really quite remarkable.”

vision for mining in India and a move

Gorain notes that with so many technologies to choose from the problem

towards zero waste looks set to welcome a new mining paradigm.

can be selecting the right one. “To meet this challenge, our three-stage approach has been very useful,” he explains. “First, we must make sure to integrate all the data into one platform a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

189

190

UPLIFTING LIVES THROUGH INCLUSIVE DIGITAL FINANCE WRITTEN BY

MATT HIGH PRODUCED BY

NATHAN HOLMES

FEBRUARY 2020

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

Lito Villanueva discusses the customer-centric and datadriven digital transformation at the heart of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation

S

teering the wave of change has been a continuous theme in Lito Villanueva’s career. ‘Mr Fintech’, as he is called in the

Philippines, has been appointed as the Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer at Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation 192

(RCBC). This comes on top of being the Chief Digital Transformation Advisor for the Yuchengco Group of Companies (YGC). Villanueva embraced this new challenge after almost 10 combined years in the PLDT Group.

Despite the change in company, Villanueva’s vision remains the same: continuous digital disruption. He elaborates: “If we accelerate our execution of humancentric financial services with a delightful customer experience, the possibilities are truly endless.”

Widely recognised as one of the leading fintech executives in Asia, Villanueva joined RCBC in May 2019, bringing 25 years’ experience in telecommunications, payments, financial technology, global banking, digital transformation, regulatory engagement and international development advisory. “This experience contributes towards how I innovate and FEBRUARY 2020

193

1960

Year founded

$1.4bn Revenue in US dollars

6,450 Number of employees

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

implement,” he explains. “Similarly, my

“Any product has to evoke emotions, it has to make a connection, and an impact to their lives” — Lito Villanueva, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation

stints with global leaders such as Visa, the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group, Economist Intelligence Unit and more, spanning over 35 countries, have given me a strong understanding of different markets, disciplines, and cultures that prepared me well for the challenges that I had to face.”

On the local front, Villanueva succeeded in making waves in the industry as Voyager Innovations’ FINTQnologies Managing Director

194

under the PLDT Group, where he created trailblazing engagements.

Particularly noteworthy was the implementation of Lendr, the Philippines’ largest digital lending platform with loans disbursed in excess of US$1bnn in less than five years. He also secured licenses for PayMaya as an electronic money issuer. This includes issuing and acquiring license from Visa.

While Villanueva has many successes in his career to date, there remains one overarching driver behind how he has approached each of his roles: people.

“I’ve been honoured with various notable monikers in and by the industry” he FEBRUARY 2020

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘LITO V’S FINTECH SUMMIT KICKOFF’ 195 shares, “such as the Philippines’ lead-

who well understands the potential

ing inclusive digital finance accelerator,

threats that organisations such as

digital transformation champion, prime

RCBC face from digital disruption and

thought leader, and entrepreneurial

the importance of embracing such a

game changer, to name a few. But my

change. When approaching RCBC’s

singular purpose and passion in cham-

own digital transformation, Villanueva

pioning all these initiatives, is to help

first focused on “how to address

uplift the lives of Filipinos. Technology

the three key barriers in carrying out

is just a means to an end with the

digitalisation: cultural, procedural, and

customer at the core.”

structural. With the support of the entire

According to Villanueva, this trans-

Group,” he adds, “we are enhancing our

formation isn’t purely restricted to

competitiveness through convergence

RCBC, but rather, is driven by YGC.

for data-driven product offering across

Key to this journey, he says, is Group

the Group and collaborate through open

Chairperson, Helen Yuchengco Dee

banking to drive exponential growth.” a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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

196

Lito Villanueva with (L-R) Finance Undersecretary Gil Bletran, Monetary Board Member Felipe Medalla, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor and Monetary Board Chairman Benjamin Diokno, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez and Monetary Board Member Antonio Abacan, Jr. at the book launching of Unchartered Beyond: The Taxonomy of FinTech in the Philippines.

Form a pure technology perspective,

customer experience. Understanding

Villanueva believes that the introduction

the process is critical to stay ahead

of those new digital solutions mentioned

of the development curve, and all of our

previously will greatly improve the expe-

platforms and enabling infrastructure

rience that RCBC is able to provide its

must be agile.” The three ‘Vs’ relate

customers. His first priority, he explains,

to velocity, value, and volume. “Agility

is the harmonising and optimising of the

and speed in execution will give you

company’s existing banking products.

the velocity; value is vital in delivering

“I have my digital transformation equa-

customer adoption and loyalty; while

tion: 4Ps+3Vs = PDC,” he explains.

volume provides growth and scale,”

“The four ‘Ps’ relate to people, process,

says Villanueva. “The result of being

platform, and product - it’s all about

successful in these areas is PDC:

thriving in a human-centric digital

profit maximisation, data generation,

culture and delivering an awesome

and cost reduction.”

FEBRUARY 2020

B RI EF P RO FI LE

Lito Villanueva Lito Villanueva is the Philippines’ leading and award-winning thought leader on digital transformation and inclusive digital finance. He has over 20 years of experience in banking, telecommunications, payments, development finance, and financial technology. He merited over 50 global and regional awards including being cited as one of the Top 100 FinTech Leaders in Asia, the first and only Filipino, thus far, for scaling digital innovations and financial inclusion. He was also named “Mr. FinTech of the Philippines” by BizNewsAsia magazine.

He is presently the Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer for RCBC and concurrently as Chief Digital Transformation Advisor for the Yuchengco Group of Companies.

He had stint with Economist Intelligence Unit, Visa, Smart Communications, IFC of the World Bank Group, Voyager Innovations covering PayMaya (formerly Smart Money) and FINTQnologies as its managing director. He created and scaled Lendr, the Philippines’ largest digital loans marketplace disbursing in excess of US$1 billion in less than five years.

He is also the founding chairman of FinTech Alliance.ph and president of the BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. Institute for Growth towards National Inclusion, Transformation, and Empowerment (IGNITE). He released various publications including the award-winning three-volume Inclusive Digital Finance Report and the Uncharted Beyond: The Taxonomy of FinTech in the Philippines.

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

197

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connection and an impact to their lives.”

“ Banking, not banks, today is all about always-on engagement” — Lito Villanueva, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation

One example he cites is the shift in RCBCs mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) business and its rebrand to ATM Go!, which saw Villanueva pull out more than 1,000 mPOS devices that were idle and redeploy them to merchants that had high velocity transactions.

This move led to year-on-year growth of 564% and 521% in transaction volume and transaction value respectively, and has seen additional 100 rural banks, microfinance, cooperatives and other merchants engage with the initiative.

This type of work has even greater importance within the context of the

Villanueva’s passion for excelling

significant unbanked society in the

in the field of customer engagement

Philippines. “Creating an executive

and experience, and working to help

position like mine is a manifestation of

Filipinos achieve better financial

YGC and RCBC’s wider commitment

lives, is evident. He firmly believes

and drive to contribute in the govern-

that RCBC’s digitalisation will bring

ment’s push to scale inclusive growth

more success in this area. “Acquiring

through technology,” says Villanueva,

customers is relatively straightforward,

adding that new technology will be

keeping them to use your product is

key to serving these customers. “You

another story,” he reflects. “Before

cannot scale anything using legacy or

deploying any new technology, it’s

traditional banking, or through the cur-

critical to understand exactly what the

rent branch network system. Banking,

customer needs - any product has

not banks, today is all about always-on

to evoke emotions, it has to make a

engagement. In achieving this, building a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

199

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

out an ecosystem with our strategic partners will make the work even more rewarding and exciting. It’s simply O2O, or offline to online and vice versa. In a developing country like the Philippines, you must strike a balance between bricks and clicks.”

As we usher in the new decade, 2020 is poised to be a milestone year in creating a robust and sustainable digital economy. It is certain that the Philippines is geared up to make the leap from a lower-middle income 200

nation to an upper-middle income country in the near term. Rooted in an increasing urbanisation and a growing young population, the Philippines’ economy is in a strong standing in the ASEAN region.

The fact remains, however, that there is still a digital and financial divide in the region that needs to be bridged.

“Filipinos are known to weather socioeconomic trials creatively,” says Villanueva. “‘Diskarte’ is a Filipino slang for resilience, creativity, resourcefulness, and - in some instances - innovation, which of course redounds to surviving against all odds. Simply put, it is GRIT, the Filipino way.”

FEBRUARY 2020

“ My singular purpose and passion in championing all these initiatives, is to help uplift the lives of Filipinos” — Lito Villanueva, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation

In scaling digitalisation with growing consumer adoption, RCBC is launching the Philippines’ first inclusion super app, known as DiskarTech – a fusion of grit and enabling technologies. “With DiskarTech, we will be empowering Filipinos by fuelling their financial aspirations,” Villanueva explains.

“It aims to provide equal opportunities in the countryside, catering to the financial access deficient segment to a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

201

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

202

be gainfully engaged in the country’s economic activities. Financial

“ With all things said, technology is not merely about convenient access.

It has to be relevant to make it adaptable, scalable, and sustainable” — Lito Villanueva, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation FEBRUARY 2020

inclusion is, in fact, a journey in itself,” he stresses.

DiskarTech is a three-in-one inclusion super app that will unlock the huge potential of every Filipino. In the process, ‘I-preneurs’ will emerge as a growth hack and self-help enabler, allowing enterprising Filipinos to earn from offering DiskarTech sachet banking services. They will now be able to facilitate DiskarTech transactions for

203

Lito Villanueva with Prof. Muhammad Yunus

those who have no mobile phones, or

digital-savvy RCBC President and CEO

those who do not have any data ser-

Eugene Acevedo mean that “2020 will

vice. This is an inclusive intervention

be an exciting year for Filipino consum-

that cuts across segments.

ers as we drive towards accelerating

Villanueva points out that: “With all

inclusive digital finance.”

things said, technology is not merely about convenient access. It has to be relevant to make it adaptable, scalable, and sustainable.”

The business, he states, is always evolving. However, he is confident that the strong leadership and clear strategic direction under the dynamic and a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

Keeping communities moving

204

WRITTEN BY

DAN BRIGHTMORE PRODUCED BY

CAITLYN COLE

FEBRUARY 2020

205

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TRANSDEV AUSTRALASIA

Transdev’s mobility team is tackling change management to navigate huge improvements across its Australasian public transport operations

“

W

e’re managing over 2,000 passenger train services each week on 154km of train track running on a 1,500 volts DC system,

operating 83 Matangi class electric multiple units and loco hauled coaches across five lines.”

The scope of Jonathan Tulitt’s role at Transdev 206

Wellington is vast. Recently taking up the Wellington-based post of General Manager of Operations, Tulitt oversees the day-to-day operations of the Greater Wellington regional passenger network, ensuring that it runs to timetable with minimal disruption. Looking at the whole scope of business elements from leadership of the Onboard teams (Locomotive Engineers, Train Managers and Passenger Operators), maintaining a high level of network performance, management of the Service Control Centre and Network Facilities, as well as service planning functions, Tulitt draws on a wealth of experience across a decade in the rail sector.

“I first joined Transdev as a Fleet Controller working inside the control room at Britomart Train Station in Auckland as a frontline staff member monitoring rolling stock movement,” recalls Tulitt.

FEBRUARY 2020

207

14mn

Passenger journeys per year

2,000+

Passenger services per week

5,700 Number of employees

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TRANSDEV AUSTRALASIA

“ Whether it be new technology, or improvements to back end operations, we’re introducing new systems to better track performance and ensure it’s at 208 the forefront of what we do” — Jonathan Tulitt, General Manager, Operations, Transdev

“I moved into a project management role delivering electronic train protection across old rolling stock, and from there I took on depot operations management — overseeing service operations of a new depot when we transitioned into electric train operations.” Since then Tulitt has progressed through several roles, including Acting COO in Auckland, which sees him well placed to drive new initiatives and innovations as the company embraces transformation.

Tasked with turning under-performing business functions around, such as disruption management, and keen to re-engage staff to ensure Transdev delivers a consistent high performing service, Tulitt’s achievements in his first six months in Wellington are already evident. “I’ve introduced a comprehensive performance improvement plan in Wellington, focused on lifting levels of service performance back up from the previous high 80s into the high 90s,” he says. “Whether it be new technology, or improvements to back end operations, we’re introducing new systems to better track performance and ensure it’s at the forefront of what we do.”

FEBRUARY 2020

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘APPLY NOW TO BECOME A TRANSDEV DRIVER IN WELLINGTON’ 209 Tulitt is working with all of Transdev’s

and transparent work ethic through my

internal and external stakeholders to

management and leadership team,” he

develop a concise plan while support-

says. “To me, it means doing what I say

ing additional upgrade work across

I’m going to do, following through on

the network so that, when new infra-

my commitments and ensuring that I

structure comes online, his team can

involve my staff, and our internal stake-

utilise it to its maximum capability via

holders, in all of the decisions we make.

timetabling, optimised staff utilisation

It’s been a tough culture shift, and a

and rolling stock management.

trust building exercise not just for my

As Tulitt’s team execute his improve-

frontline staff and management team,

ment plan, the importance of having

but for me too. I’ve had carte blanche

the right culture to achieve Transdev

to run things as I see fit, and that brick

Wellington’s goals cannot be over-

wall of trust that I’ve chosen to rebuild

stated. “At Transdev Wellington I’ve

in the short time that I’ve been here is

tried to instill an inclusive, open, honest

really paying off.” a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

TRANSDEV AUSTRALASIA

210

Tulitt admits it’s been a challeng-

mould that vision with the staff so they

ing process for frontline staff, but

understand where we’re trying to go

they’ve risen to the challenge. “It’s a

and bring them on the journey. It’s been

well-established, heavily unionised

a key piece of the puzzle that’s been

business where perhaps it’s not always

missing previously.”

been easy for staff to trust manage-

Technology has played a role in that

ment, but our commitment to being as

culture shift. “Introducing new technol-

honest and transparent as possible

ogy is always a challenge,” maintains

is helping us move away from an ‘us

Tulitt. “We have an older workforce

and them’ mentality so we can deliver

that are actively embracing the new

initiatives together.” He stresses the

technology; the driver tablets we’re

importance of using the right forums

introducing essentially replace the

to get feedback and incorporate that

paper function of the business. When

with company strategy. “We’ve got to

a locomotive engineer books on they

FEBRUARY 2020

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Jonathan Tulitt Jonathan Tulitt joined the Air Force fresh out of school where he spent 10 years working as an Armament Technician. It’s an experience he credits with nurturing his belief in the importance of building trust in teams.

“It really set me up for where I am today,” he confirms.

“It’s essential in my role to build a solid trust network around you, not just in your frontline staff, but with your leadership colleagues too. We need to be able to lean on each other as required, bounce ideas off each other and take a collaborative approach.”

211

Tulitt brings expertise in management gained from different sectors. “Just because we’ve always done something a certain way it doesn’t mean we have to keep doing it that way. Is there a better, safer or more efficient way to progress? I’ve hired people from aviation to retail and beyond to bring a wide cross section of experience to our network, enabling us to innovate more smoothly than we used to. It’s been really valuable to remove those blinkers and make sure we can see the wider picture across multiple industries to make what might seem like simple decisions with far reaching and positive outcomes.”

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TRANSDEV AUSTRALASIA

must have all of their paperwork (bulletins, rules, procedures) – it can weigh up anything from three to six kilos! We’re now giving them access through a digital portal so they can synchronise each morning when they turn up, and at the start and end of each of their journeys. They will have the latest information at their fingertips wherever they are, in real time. The feedback from trials has been really positive.” Tulitt is also managing the transition of manually produced rosters to an electronic

Promoting business excellence throughout rail operations Proud to be working with Transdev Australasia

•

•

•

•

Captures the right information at the right time from the right people Sets, tracks and reports on actions ensuring delivery of all business critical activities Instills best practice through consistent behaviours Drives business improvement by giving a comprehensive understanding of performance

Mobile Application Industry Systems

Additional Modules Asset Management Audit Management

Event Reporting Action Tracking

Fleet Management Delays & Attribution

Reporting

www.tracsisops.com info@tracsis.com

213 scheduling system called Hastus.

personal rosters, news, staff sharing,

“That’s going to enable us to automate

chat and digital forms for incident

processes to make simple changes to

reporting, standard admin processes

timetables for special events or even

and other cumbersome processes

whole new timetables, in a fraction of

now digitised in one app.”

the time currently required.”

Tulitt’s team in Transdev Wellington

When Tulitt’s frontline staff out on the network find an issue with a piece

benefits from synergies with the

of infrastructure they can take a photo

group’s global business. “Our big-

and post it directly to the app, allowing

gest group innovation has been the

management and critical service pro-

MyTransdev app,” he says. “It gives us

viders across the business to comment

a business portal from all across the

directly. “It’s particularly useful as a

world directly into the hands of our

group tool for disruption management,”

frontline staff which allows them to

says Tulitt. “We can push real-time

have a voice. The app’s facilities cover

information out to our frontline staff a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

TRANSDEV AUSTRALASIA

app users and tell them exactly what’s happening and how any issues are being mitigated. Each business within the Australasian group has its own bespoke version of the app, but the framework is generic.”

While technology is supporting Transdev’s staff, it’s also helping to monitor and guide overall performance.

“One of our most important partners is Tracsis,” reveals Tulitt. “They’re supporting us to introduce a performance attribution system which will essentially 214

replace the system currently in use

by Transdev Wellington and our client, the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC). We’ve committed to delivering the Compass system, which will become the primary attribution tool for our service performance in Wellington. It’s a big task to handle all of our contract abatement requirements in one piece of software, so we’ve been working with Tracsis to deliver that to GWRC’s specific standards.”

Transdev faces a challenge to deliver high performing and consistent service while upgrades to facilities and infrastructure in the region are ongoing, such as Wellington’s 1960s signalling FEBRUARY 2020

“ We’re making sure we push out more information to our staff while bringing in our third-party stakeholders to brief them, build that trust, and ensure the change management we’re going through is collaborative and everyone understands the ‘why’ behind the change” — Jonathan Tulitt, General Manager, Operations, Transdev system, antiquated overhead line structures, and single to double tracking projects. “We’re going through a big upgrade project on our network, led by our key partners KiwiRail and GWRC,” explains Tulitt. “As the network is upgraded, we’re making sure we push out more information to our staff while bringing in our third-party stakeholders to brief them, build that trust, and to make sure the change management we’re going through is softened and staff are well informed.”

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TRANSDEV AUSTRALASIA

previous role in Auckland where the EMU fleet was rolled out across the network, replacing old diesel with electric rolling stock. “It was like putting a PlayStation in front of someone that’s never really used a computer to do their job before,” he jokes. “It’s all about how we communicate that new technology with our staff and how we bring them on the journey.” Tulitt notes that staff in Auckland, particularly drivers, took on supervisory roles as people leaders across the network to better offer sup216

port to the wider team. It’s a transparent approach that’s paying off in Wellington,

“ The app’s functions cover personal rosters, news, staff sharing, chat and digital forms for incident reporting, admin processes and other cumbersome processes now digitised all in one app” — Jonathan Tulitt, General Manager, Operations, Transdev FEBRUARY 2020

where the recently completed bargaining on a multiple collective agreement was concluded in principle in a matter of weeks. “There was no need for strike action and the agreement was settled with the highest ever ratification (over 98%) of any collective in this particular union,” he explains.

The continued push for transformation sees Transdev monitoring the latest trends and keen to meet the future needs of its passengers. “We’re seeing more automation of manual systems, particularly onboard systems,”

217

says Tulitt. “When we introduced the

84% renewable energy,” he says of the

electric rolling stock in Auckland we

company’s efforts to reduce its carbon

went from having no onboard signalling

footprint. “Patronage growth is driven

system to utilising the European Train

by environmental factors and it’s been

Control System (ETCS) that actually

interesting to meet the challenge of

tells the driver what’s ahead of them.

capacity outstripping our rolling stock

In Auckland, we’ve been using it suc-

capability. We’ve been on a tough road,

cessfully for over three years now.”

but we’re managing to do it.” For Tulitt

Tulitt points out that Transdev is com-

and his team, the signals Transdev’s

mitted to operating sustainable modes

transformation is sending show the

of transport with Wellington being

track ahead is clear.

one of the greenest networks in the country. “Wellington offers a very clean mode of transport, running on around a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

218

THE POWER OF THE PERSONAL IN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

FEBRUARY 2020

WRITTEN BY

MARCUS LAWRENCE PRODUCED BY

CAITLYN COLE

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

219

ROHIT DARODKAR

Supply chain thought leader Rohit Darodkar discusses the strategic approaches that generate success in the sector

T

he nature of supply chain operations is as diverse as business itself. For every country of operations, international rela-

tionship and industry or sector, the complexities of procurement, logistics and supply chain morph and shift. Executives in the space often settle within 220

their niche, but one who has not only led operations in multiple industries but in wildly different territories is Rohit Darodkar, currently Global Procurement and Logistics Manager at Tritium, an Australian firm dedicated to EV charging infrastructure. Having begun his career in India in a graduate supply chain role at Tata Motors, Darodkar moved to Australia to complete his master’s in Mechanical Engineering at Queensland University of Technology, then his master’s in Business Management at Griffith University, majoring in Aviation. After that, Darodkar joined the newly instated Australian operations of Indian car manufacturing giant Mahindra & Mahindra where he remained for over six years. “I worked in positions from warehouse manager to spare parts manager and operations manager and, in those roles, I developed strategies and FEBRUARY 2020

221

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ROHIT DARODKAR

“ You’ve got the challenge of generating demand for a particular product, having a proper strategy in place to support that demand, and ensuring the cost of the product still makes sense for it to be developed, manufactured and sold in Australia” — Rohit Darodkar, Global Procurement and Logistics Manager 222 a dedicated focus on continuous

“The Australian market is very different

improvement of end to end supply

to other corners of the world,” he says.

chain management,” says Darodkar,

“The majority gets manufactured in

reflecting on his early career.

China, Korea or Thailand; very little

“In Australia, Mahindra was estab-

is local. The supply chain therefore

lished in 2007 and I joined in 2010,

becomes a strategic challenge because

so it was a really new organisation for

you cannot simply store these parts on

the Australian market whilst already

your shelf. You have to order a certain

having a huge domestic footprint in

amount to make it logical to pay freight

India.” During his time with Mahindra,

charges on particular parts.” The ques-

Darodkar was deeply involved in

tion, Darodkar elaborates, is how to

post-system development and the

justify bulk orders from overseas when

establishment of effective supply chain

the demand for the related parts isn’t

strategies for the company’s work in

there. In addition to that, the lead time

Australia, a drastically different busi-

for such orders, along with the cost,

ness environment to its native India.

must also be carefully balanced to avoid

FEBRUARY 2020

223

shortfalls in vital stocks for manufac-

making this balancing act far less chal-

turing. “You’ve got the challenge of

lenging to maintain, but the importance of

generating demand for a particular

robust strategies cannot be overstated.

product, having a proper strategy in

For Darodkar, effective relationships

place to support that demand, and ensur-

with vendors and employees are

ing the cost of the product still makes

among the most potent tools a supply

sense for it to be developed, manufac-

chain executive can access. He says

tured and sold in Australia. An excellent

it is important to remember that “every-

storage strategy needs to be in place

one’s in this business to make money”,

and maintained through Order Pattern

and that holding this reality at the front

Method, Reorder Point Process Method

of his mind when managing vendor

and Control Rhythm Method.”

relationships is vital to striking the bal-

Technology is increasingly providing

ance between cost and quality. “The

the answers, with data-driven insights

more you squeeze on cost, the more a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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it is reflected by the supplier in the

will buy the end product, and everyone

product quality they deliver.” Of course,

will go out of business.” There is a com-

pricing strategies must reflect market

petitive edge to this as well, as

viability — as everyone is in the busi-

manufacturers are rarely short of

ness to generate value, costs must be

options when it comes to vendor selec-

in line with the feasibility of selling the

tion. “You must always check where

end product. “You need to be open

you stand in the market,” Darodkar

from a business perspective, negotiate

says. “You cannot just rely on one sup-

those costs and manage the supplier

plier for a product. Supply chain is a

by explaining that, if they cannot

demanding and continuously evolving

reduce the cost of a product, nobody

sector — you need to keep your eyes

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

225

Rohit Darodkar With more than 15 years’ management experience in supply chain, logistics, transport and FMCG industries, Rohit Darodkar possesses a unique range of skills and experience delivering best practice management and leadership to a wide variety of international organisations. An experienced and commercially driven supply chain professional with demonstratable and proven experience in people management, process planning and information technology transformation, he is an expert at synchronising supply with demand and developing supply chain strategies that significantly impact profitability and increase the total value of a business. He demonstrates excellence in working through the 3 Cs of supply chain leadership — Communication, Collaboration and Change — and turning the business model into a profitable one.

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“ You need to accept that you won’t ever have 100% support, and you need to accept that you cannot make decisions alone simply because you are the boss” — Rohit Darodkar, Global Procurement and Logistics Manager

industries. All of these factors are being affected by rapid shifts in customer and consumer buying-behaviour. Many markets which used to be purely local or

open to new developments and offer-

regional have now become global, as

ings.” Reflecting on this not only enables

have the supply chains that serve them.

the best value in product acquisition, but

As a supply chain leader, you need to

also ensures suppliers do not rest on

focus on what lies ahead and, to some

their laurels when it comes to appealing

extent, be able to predict it. This can

to their own clients. He continues: “The

only be possible with a thorough under-

supply chain world is changing rapidly,

standing of market dynamics.

sometimes unpredictably, in line with the market dynamics across many

“Another thing,” Darodkar adds, “is to be mindful of the professional relationship with vendors. You need to maintain the bond with them that their product is not only required but is at the heart of your operations. They need to know they are important to your organisation, that their quality is good and that you expect that quality to be maintained. You must set KPIs for that quality, for deliveries and so on, but it’s a two-way relationship.

If you give freedom for them to set KPIs for you as well, such as sales targets, a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

227

ROHIT DARODKAR

timely payments and the like, it becomes a more open relationship and they take more interest in the business’s success and how they can influence it.”

Internally, Darodkar says a keen focus on managing change is also imperative to effective supply chain operations, particularly in the age of digital transformation. “People come to do things their own way, and there’s always a resistance to learn new things,” he says. “As the world evolves, 228

you need to evolve, and change is the only thing that’s constant. As soon as you accept that change and believe that it’s important to your organisation, resistance goes down.” In manufacturing, it is not only changing technologies

“ If you give freedom for vendors to set KPIs for you as well, such as sales targets, it becomes a more open relationship and they take more interest in the business’s success and how they can influence it” — Rohit Darodkar, Global Procurement and Logistics Manager

FEBRUARY 2020

229

that necessitate a pro-change mindset,

“You need to accept that you won’t

as the iterative nature of products

ever have 100% support, and you need

means processes are similarly prone

to accept that you cannot make deci-

to alteration and optimisation. Instilling

sions alone simply because you are

this vital cultural component is one of

the boss,” he explains. “You need to

the leading challenges faced by execu-

have confidence in your people to

tives in every department of every

ensure that the decisions you make

industry undergoing transformation,

are effectively communicated and that

but Darodkar believes the answer to

everyone is on the same page. At the

the riddle lies in the personal.

end of the day, no organisation is run a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

ROHIT DARODKAR

230

FEBRUARY 2020

“ Flexibility will ensure that change will not faze you or cause you undue stress. In turn, your team will be encouraged to embrace, rather than resist change” — Rohit Darodkar, Global Procurement and Logistics Manager

by one person, it’s always a team effort.

You need to understand your people and your resources, what works for them and what doesn’t, and from there you can better understand how to convince someone to come on board.

Sometimes a simple coffee table discussion works, sometimes you need to take someone out for a beer, sometimes you need to be a strong authority, but often you don’t need to be pushy.

Flexibility will ensure that change will not faze you or cause you undue stress.

In turn, your team will be encouraged to embrace, rather than resist change.

If what you are doing is right, people just need time and they will come on board.” a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

231

232

Enabling mobility, independence and support WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR

FEBRUARY 2020

PRODUCED BY

STUART IRVING

233

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A C T I V F O U N D AT I O N

Mike Dunn, Head of Technology at Activ Foundation, shares the digital transformation story of one of Australia’s leading disability support organisations

T

he technology behind the rise of Industry 4.0 is driving efficiency, interconnectedness and ever-more intelligent decision

making across every industry and market in the world. But advances in AI, data analytics and Internet of Things (IoT) technology have the power 234

to do so much more than drive profits and operational efficiency. Technology has the potential to lift up and support all members of our society. “The vision for Activ is for people of all abilities to have the same opportunities,” says Mike Dunn, Head of Technology at Activ Foundation.

Since 1951, Activ has been supporting people living with disability in WA to live an independent life of their choice. Today, the organisation supports over 2,000 Western Australian individuals and their families. Dunn, a father of two and Perth native, joined Activ in March of 2017. “I actually started out as an accountant back in the day. I did a finance degree and pretty quickly worked out that it wasn’t for me, but that job really helped because it gave me the opportunity to move across to an ERP consulting firm. I started out at the service FEBRUARY 2020

235

desk and worked my way up to a senior consulting role.” Dunn reflects that his time in ERP consulting “has held me in the best possible stead for the rest of my career, because now I’m all about building relationships, working with new people and getting them to buy into what you’re doing.” Following a stint in the mining industry, Dunn leapt at the chance to apply his skills as a people-focused technologist to a role that “contributed to improving people’s lives. My wife worked at Activ 15 years ago and loved her time here, so when a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

A C T I V F O U N D AT I O N

“ Everyone’s going through some sort of ‘change’, but our team’s had a double dose of it and they’ve all been fantastic” 236

— Mike Dunn Head of Technology Activ Foundation

FEBRUARY 2020

the role came up it ticked all the boxes,” he recalls. “I’ve been here for the last three years and it’s probably been the most rewarding and challenging job I’ve ever had.”

Dunn’s entrance into the role came at a time of significant change for Activ and the entire Australian disability sector. In 2012, the agreement was made to launch the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which aims to provide around 460,000 people living with a disability under the age of 65 with funding for necessary support

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ANDREW – AN ACTIV CUSTOMER’ 237 and services. This is a landmark

have far more choice and control as to

reform, and has completely changed

where they want to spend and where

the environment in which disability

they want their services to come

service providers operate. “It’s a

from. The NDIS aims to guarantee

once-in-a-generation shift that’s

fairness, dignity and equity for people

completely changed the funding

living with a disability, which aligns

model and how the sector actually

with our strategy here at Activ.” This

functions,” says Dunn. “The philoso-

historic restructuring of the sector

phy behind it is all about giving more

has prompted non-profits like Activ to

choice and control to people living

reevaluate their approach to be more

with a disability. The thing I really love

commercially minded when it comes

about it is that it’s transferred the

to attracting and retaining custom-

power of disability support funding

ers, as people with disability and their

away from providers and put it in the

families are given more choice across

customers’ hands. Now, customers

an increasingly competitive space. a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

A C T I V F O U N D AT I O N

238

“The biggest challenge since I joined

Activ’s digital transformation has

Activ has definitely been the fact that,

been focused on three key areas:

as there have been massive changes

adopting new technologies to drive

rolling out across the whole sector,

efficiency; implementing cybersecu-

Activ has been rolling out its own mas-

rity that doesn’t impede operations

sive technology transformation as well,”

and, most importantly, finding new

says Dunn. “Everyone, everywhere,

ways to allow its staff to spend more

has to deal with change in some way,

time with their customers.

but our team has had a double dose of

As a driver of efficiency and cus-

it, having to contend with sector-wide

tomer centricity enablement, making

change in tandem with tech transfor-

Activ’s technology more mobile was

mation. It’s a tough gig, and they’ve all

a natural step for Dunn and his teams.

been truly fantastic.”

“Our old systems were making our

FEBRUARY 2020

staff desk-bound,” says Dunn. “We needed to enable our staff to break away from their PCs and be present with our customers whilst still recording evidence of the service they are providing. We delivered on this via a series of sweeping software and hardware measures.” Activ has increased its network coverage, and introduced mobile devices that give employees access to insight-generating data on the go, as well as handle staff rosters, clocking in and out, reporting incidents and a host of other capabilities. “We

“ We needed to enable our staff to break away from their PCs and be present with our customers” — Mike Dunn Head of Technology Activ Foundation

239

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Mike Dunn Mike is an IT leader who thrives on the people side of the role. His background in consulting during his career has enhanced the belief that relationships are critical to bringing the business along for the journey. After previous roles in differing commercial sectors, Mike’s current role as Activ Foundation’s Head of Technology has presented new challenges whilst also being his most rewarding role to date. “The challenge of driving significant technological progress and efficiencies in the NFP sector has tangible real world benefits for our customers which is extremely rewarding for an IT leadership role”.

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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“ We have been extremely lucky to have found the partners that we did” — Mike Dunn Head of Technology Activ Foundation

industry knowledge to the table, which has been a massive value addition for us, and have also delivered on our key objectives of mobility, cloud integration and delivery of efficiencies across the business.”

In this time of accelerated evolution for Activ, Dunn sometimes has to stop and marvel at how far the organisation has come. “This job was a real eye opener for me, since all my previous roles had been in white collar environ-

needed to find a mobile tool that was

ments. I remember getting a taste of

easy for our staff to operate, whilst

the challenge to come when, in my

being robust enough to handle our

interview with Danielle Newport, the

evidencing and enabling better access

CEO, she asked me how I was plan-

to valuable data,” continues Dunn. “We

ning on delivering the required change

have been extremely lucky to have

initiatives of an ICT transformation

found the partners that we did. In the

when none of our 1,000 support work-

applications space, after a lengthy

ers at the time had an email address,”

selection process, we partnered with

he recalls. For Dunn the real goal of a

Lumary and EasyEmployer to deliver

technology leader is taking an environ-

a simple customer management and

ment where technology isn’t a priority

rostering app. It allows our staff to

and selling its benefits to a team of

view and accept their rosters, deliver

people. “Activ has a lot of people com-

services with all the required customer

ing to work here whose primary driver

details available, evidence what they

isn’t technology. It’s helping people

have delivered and ensure we are

with living with disabilities to achieve

funded for that service. Lumary and

greater independence. My job as

EasyEmployer have brought their

an enabler is all about getting those a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

241

A C T I V F O U N D AT I O N

C O M PA N Y FACT S

• Activ is one of Western Australia’s largest disability providers • Activ supports more 2000 customers • Activ has over 100 sites across Western Australia • Activ has been supporting people living with disability for more than 65 years

242

• Activ is the major beneficiary of the Chevron City to Surf for Activ, WA’s oldest and most loved community fun run

FEBRUARY 2020

people to come on board with what I’m proposing,” he says. “We have come on in leaps and bounds in the last three years.” From video conferencing to collaboration software, Activ’s staff are increasingly adopting, exploring and finding new use cases for the technology provided to them.

Looking forward, Dunn wants to expand the range of applications available to Activ’s team, as well as find new ways to harness the data that they’ve begun gathering and integrating into the Activ system. “This year is about applications. We’ve laid some really strong foundations, and we have a ton of data going through these systems” he says. “Now, we need to extract it, give it to our leadership team and start delivering the kind of insights that are going to drive further success. Activ will continue to play a role in ensuring that our customers have every opportunity in life, whether that be finding a meaningful job, independent living options, home ownership, greater social inclusion – the list goes on and on.”

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243

244

RACING & WAGERING WA: IMPLEMENTING TECH WITH A PEOPLE-FIRST APPROACH WRITTEN BY

SHANNON LEWIS PRODUCED BY

ANDREW STUBBINGS

FEBRUARY 2020

245

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R AC I N G & WAG E R I N G WA

Sam McCready, Chief Information Officer at Racing & Wagering WA, explains how the company has changed its culture, breaking down the barriers between the technology and business teams to promote customer-centric practices

I

n 1961, the Wagering and the Totalisator Agency Board of Western Australia founded its first agency in Perth, Australia, begin-

ning a trajectory of state-supported racing that culminated in Racing and Wagering West Australia 246

(RWWA). Founded in 2003, RWWA turned over AUD$1bn in its first year of operations. The company’s business is divided two ways. As a sporting body, it oversees greyhound, harness, and thoroughbred racing across Western Australia. As a retail license operator, it operates the wagering around these races and was the first digital betting site in Australia.

Sam McCready has worked at RWWA for around three years. The Chief Information Officer, he was recruited to help the company improve its digital presence, bringing 18 years’ experience in finance, with the last decade focused around increasing customer service through digital channels. The technical transformation at RWWA has been divided into three primary areas: operating model, technology product architecture, and capability FEBRUARY 2020

247

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R AC I N G & WAG E R I N G WA

“ Regardless of what industry you’re looking at, to engage customers you need highlymotivated individuals that are offered a slick way of working with quality processes and quality technology pipelines” — Sam McCready, CIO / CDO, Racing & Wagering WA

and performance. “The organisation knew we needed to do things differently to take a large step up into the digital marketplace,” he says.

The key to this has been establishing a working partnership between the business and technology teams. Digital

248

transformation at RWWA remains people-centric. Initially, the two teams operated separately, leading to frustration and miscommunication.

“Once they had those frustrations,” McCready says, “they weren’t seeing eye to eye on how to actually unpack

FEBRUARY 2020

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘2020 OWN THE DREAM LAUNCH’ 249 them.” McCready’s team partnered

made collaborative work a necessity,

with GM Wagering Michael Saunders

which ultimately has led to high perfor-

and CFO Ian Edwards to research and

mance across the teams. RWWA has

design a new operational approach,

also implemented greater operational

using study tours to challenge inter-

structure, integrating security and

nalised predispositions and bring

development practices, and structured

about the necessary cultural changes.

improvement design reviews into pro-

These ultimately ranged from the

cesses. By implementing cloud tech

ideological, such as establishing new

with the help of partner AWS, RWWA

methodologies, to the mundane, such

ensures employees and customers

as removing the physical partitions

have access to the same information

between teams to improve effective

across the board.

communication. The primary mindset

From a technology perspective,

shift was a move from focus on pro-

smooth transformation means estab-

jects to focus on products. This has

lishing clear targets. The focus has a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

R AC I N G & WAG E R I N G WA

250

shifted from specific system activities

move towards test automation, which

to the broader end-to-end customer

allowed it to update a quarterly sys-

experience. “Like any business,”

tem to one of weekly releases. It uses

McCready explains, “there were legacy

tech to better understand customers,

aspects to our system that we needed

leveraging the knowhow of external

to modularise and resolve before our

partners to analyse customer patterns,

teams could move at the pace we

preferences, and behaviours. “The

wanted them to.”

detail richness and product offerings

In order to reach the desired speed

of our partners enables us to react to

to market, RWWA leverages new

customers with targeted offers and

technologies, implementing an

features,” McCready continues.

evolutionary technical product archi-

RWWA has been able to continually

tecture internally. One of the biggest

readjust its metrics to account for pro-

technical changes at RWWA was a

gress, relying on partner Dynatrace

FEBRUARY 2020

to determine its systems’ performance

organisations like Scalabl, AWS and

and metrics. RWWA is highly stringent

Dynatrace support us has enabled

in its controls around cyber security

a faster than normal transformation.

control and anti-laundering regula-

“It is critical,” McCready says, “that

tions. “Our business always has to be

we focus on the performance and

on the right side of regulators. It keeps

immediacy our customers expect.”

us accountable both in a financial and

RWWA increased its digital channels

an ethical sense.” McCready states.

in part to remain competitive, but pri-

Trust is at the core of RWWA’s relation-

marily to enhance customer

ship with third-party partners. “What

experience. The measures and key

we’re really looking for, other than

performance indicators (KPIs) for

the ability to achieve the common

teams to focus on customer impact.

goal,” McCready explains, “is value

It engages with holistic testing method-

alignment between businesses. Having

ologies. A specific pool of loyal

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Sam McCready Sam has led the Technology division at RWWA for nearly 3 years. Having joined in 2017, Sam is part of the executive team and has been responsible for a change of strategy and execution to realise a transformation in the culture, ‘Ways of Working’ and technical direction. These changes have supported the growth and continuous improvement of the customer offerings of the Wagering arm of the business through the TAB and TAB touch brands.

Sam leads a technical team of 160 people that are responsible for supporting the delivery of the Strategic outcomes needed by the Racing, Wagering and corporate areas of the company. Experienced in leading commercial and strategic outcomes, prior to his time at RWWA, Sam has been responsible for operational excellence, digital growth, innovation, customer experience and banking integrations for organisations in Australia and internationally.

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

251

R AC I N G & WAG E R I N G WA

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253

“ The detail richness and product offerings of our partners enable us to react to customers with targeted offers and features” — Sam McCready, CIO / CDO, Racing & Wagering WA

looking at customer outcome.”

Monitoring reception is a major part execution and staff are equipped for

and long-standing customers tests

customer interactions. “From a people

everything produced by RWWA, pro-

point of view, there was a huge amount

viding feedback that it uses to make

of work that went into changing com-

changes before complete roll-out.

munication styles, from analytical and

“There’s been a significant shift,”

problem solving approaches to more

McCready explains, “from looking at

curiosity-based, customer-centric

what you’re technically delivering to

methods,” he continues. As a higha si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

R AC I N G & WAG E R I N G WA

254

FEBRUARY 2020

2003

Year founded

$1.3bn+ Revenue in USD dollars

500

Number of employees 255 transaction business, RWWA sees customers making significant amounts of transactions in short periods of time. “The experience needs to be seamless,” McCready states, “Regardless of what industry you’re looking at, to engage customers you need highly-motivated individuals that are offered a slick way of working with quality processes and quality technology pipelines.” a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

R AC I N G & WAG E R I N G WA

“ We are a business that has be always be on the right side of regulators.

It keeps us accountable both in a financial and an ethical sense” — Sam McCready, CIO / CDO, Racing & Wagering WA

Between 18 months ago when the bulk of the change began and now, RWWA looks like a different company.

256 The approach for change has been top down, but execution has been at every level of the business. RWWA has created a new product owner role, part of a team of leaders that execute all delivery functions. Teams now combine developers, marketing specialists, analysts, and product experts.

“I suppose one of the challenges with any transformation is it’s never really done,” McCready says, “there is a continual drive for improvement across all teams; it’s a part of our required outcomes.”

Change remains on the horizon for RWWA. Over the next six to 12 months, it is going to be moving FEBRUARY 2020

257

and re-platforming its back-

modernising the business.” McCready

end databases and product

concludes, “We’re effectively making

engines over to AWS to

sure that we’ve got the workforce, the

promote further cloud imple-

technical stack, and the product offer-

mentation. It is also currently

ing to promote a brand that is already

undergoing a privatisation

well-established and now competes

process, moving away from

very well with competitors.”

its government ownership.

“I think it’s been really interesting going through and a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

258

Social Futures: road-mapping digital transformation FEBRUARY 2020

259

WRITTEN BY

SHANNON LEWIS PRODUCED BY

STUART IRVING

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

SOCIAL FUTURES

We speak to Ashleigh Martin, Manager of Digital Innovation and Transformation, about the importance of not just being reactionary to new technologies, but laying the groundwork for a clear forward strategy around digital transformation

260

W

ith over 40 years’ experience as an advocate and service provider to regional communities, Social Futures is

an expanding social justice organisation based in Northern New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Its partnerships with the community and with state and federal governments have allowed Social Futures to grow its reach across NSW, delivering homelessness and housing support, youth and family services, and disability schemes. With core values such as inclusion, integrity and learning, this not-for-profit is accredited by the Australian Service Excellence Standards (ASES).

Ashleigh Martin is the Manager of Digital Innovation and Transformation at Social Futures, overseeing the not-for-profit’s strategic and operational use of information systems and digital technologies. “I’m responsible for helping set the agenda for how we use technology, both in the FEBRUARY 2020

261

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SOCIAL FUTURES

“ The strategy for the board is one of thoughtful growth and expansion.

It means we’re setting our agenda to best scale the impact” — Ashleigh Martin, Manager of Digital Innovation and Transformation, Social Futures

short to medium term, as well as into the future,” he explains. Martin brings with him over two decades of experience in the corporate sector, from the design and delivery of technical services, the development of business technology strategy, architecture and transformation programs, through to senior IT management and operational roles with large multinational corporations across Australia and Asia.

His blend of commercial and technical experience lends him a unique perspective. “At Social Futures, I am

262

privileged to be able to work along the full breadth of the transformation journey; from setting the strategic agenda and designing systems, through to rolling my sleeves up and taking an active role in their implementation,” Martin elaborates. When he joined in December 2018, Social Futures was in the midst of a significant growth in scale thanks to a new contract from the federal government as part of a national program to transform the disabilities services sector. Social Futures was chosen as the local area coordination provider for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

FEBRUARY 2020

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘SOCIAL FUTURES’ RECONCILIATION ACTION PLAN’ 263 The organisation close to doubled in

where they are. “The strategy for the

size over an ambitious timeframe, now

board is one of thoughtful growth and

employing almost 300 staff across 21

expansion,” Martin says. “It means

locations. “With that expanded foot-

we’re setting our agenda to best scale

print and staff, we needed to establish

our impact and maintain our unique

new ways of collaborating with each

organisational culture even as we

other, new ways of making decisions,

grow.” This involves setting a clear plan

tracking outcomes and supporting

while simultaneously remaining open

staff services,” Martin says.

and flexible. “We consider ourselves a

The organisation’s focus is on

learning organisation. We can change

establishing new frameworks and

when we need to.” This is especially

systems, understanding best prac-

relevant as the human services sector

tices and sharing these across its

moves to outcomes-based funding

many locations to ensure clients have

models. “Not only must we be able to

a consistent experience no matter

demonstrate the impact we’re having a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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but we also need to identify services

funders, donors and clients. The

gaps in our communities to better

sector as a whole is becoming more

design programs and advocate for

oriented towards customer service.

funding,” Martin says. His team has

New technology allows Social Futures

designed a comprehensive IT strategy,

to clearly track its progress and offer

reviewed yearly, aligning current busi-

data-driven insights. On the funding

ness needs with a vision of greater

side, this means being able to integrate

organisational effectiveness and tech

with whatever platform funders use to

sophistication. “In my experience,”

track outcomes. On the delivery side,

Martin says, “without that set of prin-

it is about efficiency. Social Futures

ciples to focus on, without a roadmap,

information systems have moved from

you become reactionary. This has

transactional local-based services

made us a lot more strategic.”

to scalable dynamic utility-based

Social Futures is looking into how tech can best serve people: staff, FEBRUARY 2020

offerings that better meet the needs of all stakeholders. Whether this is

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Ashleigh Martin With a successful career spanning senior commercial IT and strategic technology consulting roles across ANZ and Asia Pacific, Ashleigh brings a uniquely valuable perspective in aligning digital technologies with business strategy and then transforming technology strategy into plans of action.

His expertise in implementation planning and transformation execution helps organisations maximise their chance of success through carefully designed roadmaps and prioritised portfolios of tactical projects. A blend of strategic advisory and facilitation experience compliments his skill and experience in project management and technology transformation execution.

Ashleigh leverages a natural systems-thinking mindset and takes a practical and human-centred approach to creative problem solving and operational excellence.

He believes in co-creating elegant technology solutions that address real business challenges and opportunities, providing organisations with the means to generate greater levels of value, have greater impact in the markets or social sectors in which they operate, or simply to be more efficient in how they do what they do.

Ashleigh’s current passion and focus is in the social services sector where he is working with Social Futures to harness the benefits of digital technologies to; improve operational efficiencies, leverage the power of data to draw insights from the communities in which they serve, demonstrate social impact and inform systemic advocacy, and use technology to innovate the ways in which they engage an increasingly digital-savvy population.

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SOCIAL FUTURES

266

C O M PA N Y FACT S

The organisation went from having 30 to 40 staff, to employing almost 300 people across 20 locations under an aggressive timeframe

FEBRUARY 2020

automating base level transactions or outsourcing transactional IT systems, the goal is to move the organisation’s ICT focus from solving problems as they come to using automated systems to avoid them altogether and allow staff to spend less time on admin and more time with clients. “We traditionally operated like a help desk ‘break, fix’ service,” Martin says. “Now, we focus our IT function on higher added value, co-designing solutions with staff to truly meet their needs.” The organisation leverages its status as a not-for-profit to gain access to technology that has traditionally been the domain of large, well-funded commercial enterprises. “In terms of scalability, tech has been an enabler.” Martin says.

Partnerships have been key in helping Social Futures achieve this mission and their partnership with Australian-based cloud service provider Lumary has been crucial to its success. In 2018, Social Futures was looking for help in managing its NDIS Local Area Coordination programme; Lumary has experience developing a suite of products for the disability and aged care sectors in Australia. “Social a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

267

SOCIAL FUTURES

Futures takes a person-first approach to design, so we spent a considerable amount of time with the people who are going to be the beneficiaries of our tech solutions,” Martin says. “Lumary has always maintained a person-centred approach to its product.” Together they developed an application, migrating 7,000 records held across dozens of spreadsheets into a Salesforce client management system. Moving onto digital platforms such as cloud-based applications and data has allowed 268

Social Futures to better coordinate its staff and unlock productivity. In moving its workforce management solutions onto Fusion5’s Empower HR platform, Social Futures saw an 80% reduction in payroll errors. By using cloud-based training, it ensures its almost 300 employees all have access to the same information and elements of its recruitment process are also automated.

“We talk about change management and it’s not always done well,” Martin explains. “What worked well in one area through ambassadors and training small focus groups might not work in another.” Checking in on progress is a major element of Social Futures’ FEBRUARY 2020

“ In my experience, without that set of principles to focus on, without a roadmap, you become reactionary.

This has made us a lot more strategic” — Ashleigh Martin, Manager of Digital Innovation and Transformation, Social Futures

1978

Year founded

$39mn Revenue in US dollars

250

Number of employees

strategy. Staff are engaged as early

of big changes in two years,” Martin

as possible in the design process for

says. “We envision a future where we

the implementation of new systems.

can do more of what we do best and

“It’s been trial and error,” Martin con-

have capacity to scale.” With its digital

tinues. Moving towards becoming a

transformation journey well underway,

data-driven organisation has been

Social Futures has a bright future

beneficial to staff. An online central

ahead. “With our strategy, we are

depository of client information helps

always looking forward and our guiding

employees better manage clients.

star is to create positive social change

A second Lumary project around cli-

wherever we can,” Martin concludes.

ent management systems has seen success in the locations where it has been implemented. “We’ve made a lot a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

269

270

TRANSFORMING SAFETY AND EFFICIENCY IN MINING WRITTEN WRITTENBY BY

WILLIAM WILLIAM SMITH SMITH PRODUCED PRODUCEDBY BY

RICHARD RICHARD DEANE DEANE

FEBRUARY 2020

271

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MST GLOBAL

Haydn Roberts, CEO of mining technology company MST Global, reveals the integrated, platform approach futureproofing mines worldwide

M

ining technology firm MST Global can trace its origins back some 30 years to an urgent need for improved commu-

nications in a mining setting. Inspired by a tragic mining disaster at Moura colliery, the company was involved in pioneering a form of through-the-earth 272

communication known as PED. “It provided the ability to communicate through the rock and send a one way message to trapped miners,” says CEO Haydn Roberts. “From there the company started out of Sydney and grew into offering other types of technologies and solutions, all focused around underground coal and hard rock mining linked to voice or data communications and the tracking of people. We’ve really built a whole digital ecosystem around that initial offering.”

When he joined four years ago, Roberts brought years of experience in the mining industry, as well as a passion for technology. “When I was very young, around 1980, I got my first computer – a Sinclair ZX80. I had a passion for computing and technology from a very early age, and right when the worldwide web was taking off I moved FEBRUARY 2020

Below: Corey Nesbit Systems Engineer and Nick Miller Senior Solutions Architect, Underground in a mine

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MST GLOBAL

“ Technology is going to change over time, and whatever we put into the underground space has to be upgradeable” 274

— Haydn Roberts, CEO, MST Global

to the US and worked for a surface mining company in California. I got quite involved in the technology side of mining at this particular open-pit surface mine with things like fleet dispatch, GPS and mine planning.”

Roberts’ career has seen him involved in a number of technological advances in the mining industry, including the introduction of autonomous trucks back in the mid-90s.

Digital transformation has perhaps an even more critical aspect in an industry such as mining, with lives potentially on the line in the harsh environment of an underground mine.

“Communication’s very difficult, you can’t see each other that easily, you’re working in different parts of the mine and so forth,” emphasises Roberts.

“So by definition you’re a very distributed workforce in a very risky environment.”

Gone are the days, however, when miners had to rely on canaries for safety. “Digitalisation lets you build a digital ecosystem where everything is connected. You have the ability

1989 Denis Kent with MST founder Gary Zamel and Voest Alpine founder Chris McGuinn Newstan Coal Mine FEBRUARY 2020

to track people and equipment, you have the ability to put in sensors that can detect methane and different

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘MST GLOBAL: AXON PRODUCT LAUNCH VIDEO’ 275 poisonous gases, you have the ability

time, and whatever we put into the

to detect movement of the rock. All of

underground space has to be upgrade-

this can be converted into data in real

able. That’s a key differentiator versus

time and acted upon.”

other vendors out there.” The company

This sense of integration character-

is able to combine solutions thanks

ises MST’s approach to its offerings.

in part to its vertically integrated

“We’re technology agnostic in terms

model. “We do our own manufacturing,

of wireless technologies and tracking,”

design, development of software and

Roberts emphasises. “We don’t just

hardware, and then direct selling and

bat for LTE or wifi. We realise that, in

support. That’s a very important part

an underground situation, you’re going

of it all, the service that goes around

to be using Bluetooth, you’re going

deploying it and supporting it. We’re

to use LoRa, you’re going to use wifi

very much focused on that.”

for certain things and LTE for others.

Technology is going to change over

Another differentiator is the company’s AXON platform. “We’ve just launched a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

MST GLOBAL

our latest smart infrastructure or smart network platform,” says Roberts.

“We realised that our older platform, Impact, wasn’t as easy to upgrade when new technologies came along.

With AXON, we knew we had to take a different view on that. We designed it so that it could be in a mine for 10, 15, or 20 years, but have the ability to be upgradeable as different technologies come along.” With an eye on upgrades comes an openness to integrating emerging technologies into the 276

platform. “We work with Microsoft quite closely and we designed AXON to use elements of Microsoft Azure.

Within Azure there’s things like voice

also need the ability to be tracked,

and video recognition. For instance,

just like people. Using wearables you

we plan to pick up certain phrases that

can track where people are in a mine,

the Azure module will allow us then

and then, for instance, if they go into a

to act on and turn on a fan or send a

certain area, secondary fans will turn

request for a piece of equipment to

on to make sure that those areas are

go down to a certain end.”

ventilated. The automation of fixed

Automation has a part to play across

assets underground is something that

the full spectrum of technologies

excites us – it’s a more sustainable

deployed in mines. “Automated vehicles

and safer way of mining.”

need real-time communications, so

Considering his experience in the

they need a platform like AXON that

mining industry, Roberts views the

can connect high bandwidth wirelessly

community as a family, a stance

to those vehicles,” says Roberts. “They

MST extends to the work it does with

FEBRUARY 2020

partners. “With all of our customers, we take a long-term partnership view,” he says. “There’s probably 30 mining companies in the world that mine 80% of the minerals. The truth is that it’s a very small industry when you compare it to something like automotive. We do business with about 300 mines. Every one of those needs to be a special relationship and a partnership.” MST Global’s work with gold-mining firm OceanaGold is one such example.

“From the very get-go we sat down and worked out how we could share

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Haydn Roberts Haydn is the CEO of MST Global. Haydn commenced his career in underground gold mines in South Africa before joining Rio Tinto, with roles in manufacturing, smelting and mining in the UK and USA. He has held senior leadership roles with Groundprobe and Komatsu Modular Mining Systems based in the US and Australia. Prior to MST Global, Haydn was the CEO of Leica Mining and COO of Hexagon Mining. He has extensive experience in executive management, mining technology and best practice. Haydn has a Mining Engineering degree from Cardiff University, Wales and a Master’s Degree in Systems Management from the University of Southern California.

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MST GLOBAL

278

“ It’s incumbent upon all of us to accept the reality of global warming and to do something about it” — Haydn Roberts, CEO, MST Global FEBRUARY 2020

A tunnel project to access a gold ore body at a new gold mine in Australia

our roadmap with theirs and identify the common alignment. We had workshops where they listened to what we felt about the strategic vision for the technology in this space, and then we started to deploy solutions at their various mines. They’ve been a great partner.”

As for the future, Roberts is clear that one challenge facing MST and the wider industry above all others is sustainability. “It’s incumbent upon all of us to accept the reality of global warming and to do something about it. What I seek for MST is to ask: ‘how do we address sustainability?’ How do we bring youth into the discussion and get their feedback on how we can improve the business? To me, that’s probably the most important external factor that we have to address in a meaningful way.”

While there’s a long way to go, MST is on the path and encourages fellow industry members to do the same. “It’s a journey of a thousand steps, but you’ve got to make that first one.”

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A VISION FOR SUSTAINABLE MINING THROUGH A DIFFERENT LENS WRITTEN BY

DAN BRIGHTMORE PRODUCED BY

RICHARD DEANE

280

FEBRUARY 2020

281

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NEW CENTURY RESOURCES

How New Century has delivered economic mine site rehabilitation to the Century deposit and maintained the social license to operate while building for future growth

T

he first mining lease in the region of Australia’s North West Queensland was issued way back in 1890. However, it was

not until 100 years later when Rio Tinto’s exploration arm completed the discovery of “big zinc” that 282

large scale mining become possible, hence they named it the Century deposit. This was sold on to Pasminco, which took the open cut zinc, lead and silver mine into production in 1997. While the pipeline and port facility could handle a million tonnes per annum of concentrates, a slow floating ore body meant that Pasminco was faced with metallurgical challenges to optimise production and maximise returns from the operation. The choices available were to increase available residence time through building additional floatation capacity or increase throughput at the sacrifice of recoveries. The latter was chosen due to the lower capital requirements and the large resource available.

This ultimately led to the substantial mineral resource in the tailings dam, and the opportunity for New Century.

FEBRUARY 2020

283

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NEW CENTURY RESOURCES

“We were able to convert the tailings dam at Century into what was at the time, and still is, the 14th largest known mined zinc reserve in the world — 77mn tonnes of tailings, containing 3% recoverable zinc with homogenous grade distribution” — Barry Harris, Chief Operating Officer, New Century Resources During initial operations, Century was one of the world’s largest base

284

metal mines, churning out an average 475,000tpa of zinc and 50,000tpa of lead in concentrate products over its history. Pasminco went into voluntary administration in 2001 due to numerous corporate issues and the Century asset transferred into a new entity Zinifex.

Zinifex did extremely well when the zinc price skyrocketed in 2006 before being part of a merger that created OZ Minerals which, in turn, was acquired

by MMG. The latter went on to run the Century mine site through until the exhaustion of the main ore body in 2016.

Explaining Century’s chequered past, New Century Resources’ Chief FEBRUARY 2020

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘NEW CENTURY ZINC | NEW CENTURY RESOURCES (ASX:NCZ)’ 285 Operating Officer Barry Harris says the

together we could maintain our collec-

company was drawn to the asset when

tive social license to operate.”

it came into care and maintenance.

By March 2017 New Century had

“Prior to this, our Managing Director

taken on the previous care and mainte-

Pat Walta had engaged with MMG over

nance allowances, and proceeded to

a number of years discussing a novel

get the project developed and opera-

approach, that being an economic

tions started through the remining

mine site rehabilitation strategy,” he

and subsequent reprocessing of the

says. “Partnering with New Century

tailings ore body, these activities are all

Resources (formerly Century Bull) was

part of the overall rehabilitation works

the best option for MMG to fulfil all of

and provide revenues to complete

their obligations with the rehabilita-

works required on the mine lease, while

tion of the mine, returning it to a state

generating returns for shareholders.

where it could be handed back to

With AUS$70mn already spent by on

the community, and making sure that

waste dump rehabilitation, MMG had a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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NEW CENTURY RESOURCES

288

developed a best in class waste dump

what had gone into the tailings since

cover system for semi-arid environ-

first ore. However, “The first step for

ments that New Century can apply

New Century when we took over was

to the remaining dumps.

to convert the tailings dam into an

MMG also carried out substantial

ore body,” recalls Harris. “We

proof of concept test work prior to the

needed to do that in order to

transaction, determining that a sale-

achieve a JORC — compliant

able zinc product could be produced

ore reserve.”

from the tailings, proving the viability of the project.

New Century was fortunate to have

“We drilled out the tailings, using a quarter of the core for assaying to get a clear

tailings sample results for the whole

picture of what the whole

life of mine, and so were able to deter-

ore body looked like, and

mine to a certain level of confidence

what the grade profile was

FEBRUARY 2020

throughout the entire layered deposi-

and still is, the 14th largest known

tion in the dam,” reveals Harris. “The

zinc deposit in the world — 77mn

other three quarters of that core were

tonnes of tailings, containing 3%

sent off and used to complete a large

recoverable zinc with a homogenous

pilot program; a test work plant was

grade distribution.”

ran to see how we could further opti-

Harris explains that, though hydro

mise the actual operations of the plant

mining is well established globally,

to extract as much zinc as possible.

it’s a method rarely used in Australia.

Between those two approaches, we

“We’re innovating with rehabilitation

were able to convert the tailings dam

of the mined land through the use of

at Century into what was at the time,

economic rehabilitation,” he explains.

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

289

Barry Harris Barry Harris is a resource industry professional qualified in mining engineering, mineral economics and corporate compliance with experience in operational mine management, compliance, and the technical and financial aspects of the resources industry. Graduating from the University of Queensland with an honors degree in Mining Engineering, Barry has gone on to complete post graduate studies including a Master of Science (Mineral Economics), and the AICD’s and MIoD Company Directors courses. Barry’s experience within the mining industry includes varied roles in both coal and metalliferous mining, during which he gained First Class Mine Managers certification for all four of the Australian jurisdictions he worked in. With a focus on safely increasing mine physicals, improving standards, cost reduction, technical improvements and system optimisation, he is applying all this experience to his current role as the COO of New Century Resources assets, focused on leading the company in all facets of the restarting of operations; again establishing Century as a significant world zinc producer. a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

NEW CENTURY RESOURCES

“By making rehabilitation a profitable enterprise through what we’re doing, we’re carving out a niche in the industry, we see this as the future for improved environmental outcomes in the mining industry.

We’re utilising the best methodology to leveraging the sunk capital and time spent on world class infrastructure, approvals and permitting as well as the very ore body itself to monetise the value left behind in the tailings dam. After remining we’re 290

reprocessing it, and then using subaqueous (below water) deposition to put it beneath the lake in the original pit shell. “Historically, aging mine sites have presented a long-term challenge in Australia and overseas jurisdictions. Our approach shows that mine sites no longer meeting the investment brief of top tier mining companies can still provide opportunity for more focused agile mining companies to come in and extend the economic life, while extracting a lot more value through the process of rehabilitation.”

The recommencement of economic activity at Century has involved FEBRUARY 2020

2017

Year founded

$300mn Revenue in australian dollars

350

Number of employees significant engagement with and cooperation from the local community surrounding Century’s operations.

“The traditional owners will continue to receive benefits associated with the Native Title agreement that would have otherwise ceased with the closure of Century by its previous owner,” explains Harris. “More widely the local governments will continue to receive premium benefit through rates, and other industries will gain through Century engaging with local businesses buying services and products from them.” a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

291

NEW CENTURY RESOURCES

local communities in Doomadgee, Normanton and Mornington Island, which is assisting with sustainable community development goals identified by the community representatives themselves. “We took a different approach to how this was done previously,” explains Harris.

“Previous owners used to spend a lot of that money training up people to be truck drivers, grader operators and other mining specific skill sets on the actual mine lease.What we have done differently is engaged with the

292

local communities, and asked them what they actually want, which will mean more sustained benefit to the local communities, rather than just Meanwhile, through its port operations

creating employees for the mining

to support the mine’s infrastructure

operation itself”. This scheme is being

New Century is dredging up the chan-

spearheaded by Shane Goodwin,

nel at its Karumba facility, opening up

our Head Of Stakeholder Relations

economic opportunities to the sports

and Community Engagement, which

and fishing industries, which otherwise

has been recognized through the

would have been compromised by the

Aboriginal Enterprises in Mining,

silting up of the river.

Energy, and Exploration (AEMEE)

Currently employing 350 people, New Century is also rolling out a AUS$1.8M per annum training and development program for the FEBRUARY 2020

Awards, and more recently the Prospect Mining Awards.”

The main focus for 2020 remains ramping up operations to 12mn tonnes

per annum of tailings throughput

ore feed. Our current mine life extends

through the existing infrastructure. To

up to 2026 and gives us a platform to

support this goal, New Century have

then further define and bring into the

embarked on a programme of infra-

life of mine the known in-situ resources.

structure refurbishment to upgrade the

Everything that we do, be it open pit

hydro mine and processing plant. What

mining or underground, the final clo-

are the plans for realising the future

sure and/or rehabilitation of the land

potential of zinc and lead resources at

post any mining activities will be at the

Silver King, South Block, and the East

forefront of all the mine design and

Fault Block? “Future mineral resources

planning decisions made up front.”

across the mine leases will be the sub-

Forging strong alliances has been

ject of an executable feasibility study

key to the progress made so far at

during 2020,” reveals Harris. “The

Century. “We partnered with National

potential to restart traditional mining

Pump & Energy and Paragon Tailings,

operations at Century will be investi-

who assisted in the development of

gated further for economic viability, it’s

our hydro mining operation, getting

then a matter of optimising when these

those off the ground and training

resources fit best into the life of mine

up the workforce in how to actually

“Zinc prices will rise and Century will be well-placed to meet the demand for mine supply thanks to the investment we’ve made in expanding our facilities” — Barry Harris, Chief Operating Officer, New Century Resources a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

293

NEW CENTURY RESOURCES

294

Meeting the demands of the zinc market Zinc is a commodity very much driven by industrial demand which has remained strong, however with the current global trade disputes, sentiment around that demand has been muted. New Century Resources’ Chief Operating Officer Barry Harris expects to see this sentiment turn once these are resolved. “The zinc market globally is about 14n tonnes of refined metal per annum, with mine supply and the mining capacity fairly well matched in recent history,” he

FEBRUARY 2020

notes. “What happened is that China went from focusing on quantity of tonnes, to quality of tonnes. Over the last few years they’ve been tightening up on their environmental compliance, and with that about 1.3mn tonnes per annum of refining capacity was actually turned off, because those smelters had to put in additional environmental compliance works to get up to a standard that the Chinese government are happy with. That’s why the refined metal stocks dropped

off to a point where right now there’s only about 50-60,000 tons of refined metal on the LME stockpiles.”

Alongside this demand thematic, more mine supply than smelting capacity has led to the current record high treatment charges. “It’s an interesting conf luence of events,” observes Harris. “With the smelting capacity in China now turning back on, those charges will start to drop.

Those record high treatment charges have meant, combined with a relatively low zinc price, that mining companies take home has been squeezed dramatically from historic average.

What you then see happen is quite a lot of marginal supply from mining concentrate suppliers has been turning off. We believe we’re about to see a major turnaround in this balance, as smelters work their way through the build up in concentrate supply, and all the additional smelting capacity comes back on. You can see it in the numbers, the month on month Chinese refined metal outputs are growing substantially, as those smelters are coming back online.

This restarting of capacity will result in a drawdown on the current concentrate build up, which will then require a supply response, however we are seeing that there’s not actually the additional mine supply available to feed into this drawdown. The other key factor you need to see to drive a step change in the zinc price, is for global sentiment around the trade disputes to settle. If one or both of these occur, we anticipate a substantial increase in the zinc macro environment” Harris believes that when the US and China come to an agreement, demand will take off again for industrial metal. “We’ll see a huge demand for copper and associated base metals do to expected increased economic activity,” he says. “Zinc prices will rise and Century will be well-placed to meet the demand for supply, thanks to the investment we’ve made in expanding our facilities which will increase our output while lowering our operational costs to make our business more resilient through any price cycle and ready to take advantage of higher pricing.” a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

295

NEW CENTURY RESOURCES

296

carry out hydro mining operations,”

the project up and running in record

says Harris. “We also partnered with

time. Allied to this, we’re working with

Sedgman, which gave us a strong

Murray Engineering, which supplies

partner for the refurbishment, and

and maintains our mobile fleet, while

with the operations and maintenance

P&O operates our 5,000 tonne trans-

of our processing facilities both at

shipment vessel, the Wunma, out of

Lawn Hill and Karumba. Sedgman is

Karumba.”

a well-known processing plant infra-

Operating for just over 14 months,

structure company here in Australia,

Century is now among the top 15

bringing a wealth of experience to the

zinc producing mines in the world

full refurbishment and helping us to get

and pushing for the top 10. “We’ve

FEBRUARY 2020

“The traditional owners will continue to receive benefits associated with the native title agreement that would have otherwise ceased with the closure of Century by its previous owner” — Barry Harris, Chief Operating Officer, New Century Resources

297

managed to attract a great team of

repeated elsewhere. It’s a huge oppor-

people and have been working hard to

tunity to see mining through a different

foster a culture where our people enjoy

lens, not only here in Australia, but

coming to work and share the values

throughout the world.”

driving our success,” affirms Harris. “As we stabilise operations at Century, and look at ways to extend the mine life, we want to be an example to other mining companies of the great things that can be achieved through economic rehabilitation and hope to see the process a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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