Dentsu Aegis June 2020

DENTSU AEGIS NETWORK

DIGITAL REPORT 2020

Digital as a way of life

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

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Digital as a way of life

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D E N T S U A E G I S N E T W O R K A S I A PA C I F I C

Leo Liu, CTO, examines how Dentsu Aegis is helping its clients navigate their own digital transformation and prepare for a next-gen way of operating

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usiness in the digital era can be a dizzying experience: it’s fast-paced and exciting, yet sometimes the changes happen too

fast for some companies to build an adequate strategy to cope with them. Stepping in to help solve 04

these problems is multinational media company Dentsu Aegis Network, a global expert in multimedia marketing solutions and a go-to resource for those who require assistance navigating through a digital transformation. With principle services consisting of content creation, media planning, sports marketing, brand tracking and market analytics, the company is well-equipped to establish a brand firmly in the digital consciousness and keep it there.

Joining the company in 2018, Leo brought with him a wealth of tech experience gained from previous positions at industry luminaries like Tesla and Cisco. “I’ve loved technology ever since I was young. I was fortunate to be part of some very innovative technology companies and witness the internet’s evolution over the past 20 years,” he says. “I’m intrigued by digital transformation and

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D E N T S U A E G I S N E T W O R K A S I A PA C I F I C

“ One thing I learned from great leaders like Elon Musk (Tesla) and John T. Chambers (Cisco) is that they have a vision, a higher purpose, to positively impact the world” 06

— Leo Liu, CTO, Dentsu Aegis

passionate to help companies with their digital transformation journey.”

Dentsu Aegis Network was the first media network Leo has joined and he saw a great opportunity to be able to drive digital transformations for both the company and its clients (representing a diverse spread of industries, countries and markets).

When it came time for Leo to formulate his approach to the CTO role, he relates that the leadership styles he’d worked under previously influenced him greatly. “One thing I learned from great leaders like Elon Musk (Tesla) and John T. Chambers (Cisco) is that they have a vision, a higher purpose to impact the world positively. It is important to have a vision which people can relate to and get excited about; a North Star to aim for,” he explains. Taking this philosophy into account, Leo implemented the Vision, Strategy, Execution framework to ensure his team is focused on achieving a long-term plan whilst making progress on execution daily. “Execution without strategy is aimless. Strategy without execution is useless.”

Although being able to conjure the vision is half the battle, Leo

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0:56

07 emphasises that the real benefit of

of the people.” It is primarily a people-

choosing Dentsu Aegis Network to

centric philosophy, one which praises

drive digital transformation lies in the

the efforts of teams whilst also recog-

company’s diverse range of clients:

nising the value of individuals. However,

finding ways to optimise business

technology has an equally important

whilst maintaining its capacity for han-

part to play, particularly in light of the

dling a myriad of complex industries

recent disruptions to global work-

has made the company exceptionally

forces originating from the COVID-19

knowledgeable and unique. Guiding

(coronavirus) pandemic. “It is a very

each case is a star model that Leo calls

challenging time for everyone,” Leo

‘Vision, Structure, Process, Reward and

states. “I’m keeping my team focused

People’. Regarding this, he says, “My

and motivated to ensure our business

job is to establish the vision, optimise

continues while the world is locked

the structure, streamline the process,

down. We are also taking this as an

encourage with reward and take care

opportunity to accelerate digitalisation w w w.de ntsua e gi sne t wo rk .c om /s g /e

“CBC is our strategic partner in China in providing Dentsu Aegis Network with high quality internet network, cloud and managed ICT services.”

— Leo Liu Chief Technology Officer Dentsu Aegis Network APAC

CONNECTING BEYOND CHINA CBC (China Broadband Communications) is China’s leading Managed Network Service Provider, fully licensed in China, providing a complete portfolio of nextgeneration communications services, to help businesses connect within and beyond China. Headquartered in Beijing, CBC has since 2008, offered a full suite of communications services including dark fibre, wavelength, Ethernet leased lines, IP VPN, IDC and the more recent SD-WAN and Cloud Services.

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“ Execution without strategy is aimless.

Strategy without execution is useless” — Leo Liu, CTO, Dentsu Aegis

or Microsoft, Dentsu Aegis relies on its partners to provide critical expertise that enables the company to operate without disruption.

Leo is enthusiastic about the integral role that CBC plays in Dentsu Aegis’ daily operations. “CBC is our strategic partner in China, providing Dentsu Aegis with high quality internet network, cloud and managed ICT services,” he

to make our business faster, better

states. “CBC is an agile partner which

and smarter.” With almost 15,000

is able to provide flexible, scalable

Dentsu Aegis Network staff working

network solutions which meet our ever-

remotely, a new paradigm is emerging,

changing needs and help us achieve

not just for the company but also for

business growth. CBC is able to quickly

its clients, who are looking to Dentsu

identify and understand our business

Aegis Network for digital leadership in

needs and has always provided us with

uncertain times.

innovative and cost-efficient solutions.

Far from being a task that Dentsu

On top of its all, the CBC team is profes-

Aegis Network can achieve on its

sional and customer focused. Dentsu

own, the company relies on a network

Aegis is looking forward to strengthen-

of close partners and suppliers to

ing its long-term partnership with CBC

ensure that it can deliver high-quality

as we continue to grow.”

work to its customers. In terms of what

Similarly, Leo singles out software

makes a great long-term collabora-

company Pulse Secure for special

tor for the company, Leo relies on the

praise: “They’ve provided the tech-

golden formula: domain knowledge,

nological means to allow our 15,000

communication and a trusting relation-

employees to access corporate

ship. Whether it is China Broadband

resources from any location, any device,

Communications (CBC), Pulse Secure

at any time. Pulse Secure’s ability to w w w.de ntsua e gi sne t wo rk .c om /s g /e

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HYBRID IT STARTS WITH ZERO TRUST secure access is essential

www.pulsesecure.net

grant this working model to our employ-

place to migrate and adopt. However,

ees is critical at this juncture; not only

Dentsu Aegis Network is staunchly

does it serve as a precautionary meas-

dedicated to the cloud strategy and

ure against infection, but also ensures

has made significant progress to over-

our business is operating as usual, with-

come the challenges. “Our multi-cloud

out any disruption to our customers.”

strategy assuredly improved our busi-

When asked his opinion on the

ness resilience in this uncertain time.”

significance of digital transformation

Similarly, for data and analytics, Leo

trends (cloud, data analytics, AI and

highlights how valuable the insights

IoT), Leo has a mixed response to their

granted by these innovations are to

contemporary application. In terms of

businesses in terms of understand-

cloud, he states that it is the requisite

ing their clients: “The ability to quickly,

foundation, although often a challenge

accurately and comprehensively

for companies with ‘legacy systems’ in

capture data for analysis, which in turn

allows us to make informed decisions, has absolutely improved our organisational efficiencies and effectiveness,”

E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :

Leo Liu

he explains. “We leverage omnidata

Title: CTO

intelligence to help analyse the custom-

Company: Dentsu Aegis

ers’ journey and consumer behaviour

Industry: Advertising

psychology to generate insights and

Location: Singapore

enhance the effectiveness of marketing campaigns for our clients.” Conversely, Leo considers AI (artificial intelligence) to be widely misunderstood and relatively undeveloped in most organisations. “Many people are scared of the word ‘automation’; to a lot of frontline staff, AI equates to losing their job.”

Therefore, Leo views it as crucial that the development of AI goes hand-inhand with education and a mindset shift,

Leo built his first website back in 1996, while studying at U.C. Berkeley.

During his career he has worked at WebEx; at Cisco first as Greater China VP, and later, China R&D Center GM; and Tesla as Head of Technology. He joined Dentsu Aegis Network to lead digital transformation and innovation as CTO in APAC in 2018.

which he anticipates will be increasingly important in the next five years.

Despite 2020 shaping up to be an unprecedented year for everyone, Leo affirms that his team’s focus remains the same: accelerating digital transformation. Dentsu Aegis is currently leveraging the latest cloud-based technology and microservices into a service-oriented NextGen MarTech Platform. “This enables our clients to drive digital transformation with w w w.de ntsua e gi sne t wo rk .c om /s g /e

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D E N T S U A E G I S N E T W O R K A S I A PA C I F I C

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CO MPAN Y FACT S

• Dentsu Aegis in APAC serves 17 regional markets, 400 clients, 15,000 staff

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D E N T S U A E G I S N E T W O R K A S I A PA C I F I C

2013

Year founded

15,000 Number of employees

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the modern digital data and technol-

working couldn’t be better: with the

ogy,” Leo says. “All our clients are also

COVID-19 pandemic derailing many

undergoing digital transformation

preconceptions about the way people

within their own organisation and

work, learn and play. “We kick-started

industry, so having a platform that ena-

the PowerUp initiative to accelerate

bles them to quickly adapt to the latest

our digital transformation within the

consumer trends whilst maintaining

organization early this year. The aspi-

customer loyalty is very important in

rational goal is to digitalise at least 100

this new digital era. Companies need

workflows this year. In Q1, we identi-

to expeditiously adopt to the digital,

fied hundreds of excel/email/paper

interactive, virtual, networked and

workflows and the team has already

simulated new media world.” The time

digitalised more than 65 in a relatively

for transforming a business’ way of

short period of time.”

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“ Coronavirus will change how people work, play, learn, shop, social forever” — Leo Liu, CTO, Dentsu Aegis

Leo is confident that Dentsu Aegis Network can be a force for positive change in the new world. “I think how people live will change forever, both for our generation and for the generation to come,” he concludes. “Digitalisation is the new way of life. This year is the turning point of our digital transformation journey.”

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