BC Europe - Jan 2018

TOP 10 FASTESTGROWING COMPANIES in Europe CIT Y January 2018

EUROPE EDITION

FO

CUS

EMPOWERING THE TECH STARTUPS

OF TOMORROW A joint venture between Vodafone and Technoport, Tomorrow Street is looking to take businessready startups on a journey to reach the world

KICKSTART EUROPE 2018 THE ANNUAL EUROPEAN STRATEGY AND NETWORKING SUMMIT Summit to provide connectivity, data center and cloud industry stakeholders with a platform to learn, connect and grow business in Europe

GUEST SPEAKERS

DATE: JANUARY 24, 2018 TIME: 09.30AM-7.00PM AMSTERDAM RAI CONVENTION CENTER

GARY NIEDERPRUEM

SPECIAL OFFER

Chief Strategy and Development Officer, Vertiv

Register online and save 50% on the standard ticket price: www.kickstartconf.eu

Your discount code:

DGTEU

MITUL PATEL KickStart Europe 2018 brings together an array of industry professionals, including developers, investors, designers and suppliers, to explore the emerging trends and technology shaping the digital industry.

EMEA Data Center Research, CBRE

Offering expert panel sessions and presentations from leading analysts and C-level executives, the event will provide attendees with expert insights and predictions regarding the future of the European cloud, connectivity and data center markets.

ALEX GOLDBLUM Chief Executive Officer, Eurofiber

Join us on the pre-event on Tuesday, January 23 with dinner & informal drinks in the heart of Amsterdam.

GREGOR PETRI Research Vice President, Gartner

REGISTER ONLINE

Development Agency Noord-Holland Noord

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FOREWORD HOW DOES a startup make that huge leap into multinational, multifaceted success? It’s a question that challenges business leaders and thinkers everywhere.

Tomorrow Street is trying to provide the answer. Set up as a joint venture by Vodafone and Techoport, its goal is to help tech businesses expand globally through innovation.

An interview with its CEO Warrick Cramer is the cover lead in January’s Europe edition of Business Chief, and Laura Mullan’s feature reveals exactly how Tomorrow Street takes startups to the next level.

Elsewhere this month, Olivia Minnock chats exclusively to Philip Rooke, CEO of Spreadshirt, the German t-shirt customiser that’s looking for rapid expansion around the world.

Could 2018 be the breakthrough year for the Internet of Things? Stuart Hodge investigates, while our first City Focus of 2018 profiles London and its enormous financial sector.

In a bumper issue to kick off the new year, we look at Indeed’s dynamic policy of allowing employees unlimited leave and gather experts’ opinions on the United Nations’ plans for a sustainable financial system, while our latest Top 10 looks at the fastest-growing companies on the continent.

Finally, our exclusive digital reports feature interviews with, on top of Tomorrow Street, CDLAN Srl, ENGIE, FLSmidth, Green Mountain AS, Thames Water and UBS – all involving in-depth discussions with top executives and industry experts.

Enjoy the magazine, and join the conversation on Twitter: @business_chief.

Enjoy the issue!

http://europe.businesschief.com www.bizclikmedia.com

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F E AT U R E S

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

CUSTOMER-DEFINED DISRUPTION

The Spreadshirt story

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PEOPLE

THE BREAKTHROUGH YEAR FOR IOT?

18 28

TECHNOLOGY

Indeed shows shows how how to make an ‘unlimited ‘unlimited leave’ policy work work

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

Can the UN and World Bank’s ‘Roadmap for a Sustainable Financial System’ lead to a brighter tomorrow?

CITY FOCUS

LONDON A EUROPEAN HUB FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES

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TOP 10

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TOP 10 FASTESTGROWING COMPANIES IN EUROPE 5

C O M PA N Y P R O F I L ES

66

Tomorrow Street TECHNOLOGY

UBS

TECHNOLOGY

90 6

January 2018

108

ENGIE Electrabel TECHNOLOGY

126 CDLAN Srl

TECHNOLOGY

118

Green Mountain AS TECHNOLOGY

154

FLSmidth

SUPPLY CHAIN

140 Thames Water SUPPLY CHAIN

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

CUSTOMER-DEFINED DISRUPTION

The Spreadshirt story In a social media-led world, German T-shirt customiser Spreadshirt harnesses the disruptive desire of on-person self-expression. CEO Philip Rooke offers advice for European companies hoping to go global… Written by: OLIVIA MINNOCK

L E A D E R S H I P & S T R AT E G Y MORE THAN JUST a T-shirt printing company, Spreadshirt offers customers an opportunity of creation and self-expression, and it is fully committed to offering this to as many markets as possible as the Germanbased company delves deeper into the competitive US market. CEO Philip Rooke is at the helm of this continued expansion and feels Spreadshirt’s customer-focussed attitude is helping win the heart of America.

Rooke certainly offers a wealth of experience. “I have always worked in fast-growth market sectors and environments, where being a strong performing, customer-orientated team is important.” From advertising roles in the 1990s, he moved into online media as it was first developing, with roles at The Telegraph newspaper and Carlton Television. In 2001, he joined Tesco. com in a foray into e-commerce where he’s remained ever since. Rooke made the move to Spreadshirt in 2009 and became CEO just two years later.

Spreadshirt was founded in Leipzig, Germany in 2002, enabling users to design their own T-shirts – and, later, other paraphernalia – to be printed on demand. “In 2017 we celebrated 15 years in e-commerce and seven years 10

January 2018

of profitability,” Rooke says proudly.

Today, Spreadshirt is available in 12 languages, operates five production sites and ships to over 150 countries.

In 2017, the company’s global revenue was over $117mn and over 48mn items had been printed. Spreadshirt also had over 70,000 selling partners.

As Rooke summarises: “Spreadshirt has become a grown-up business.

We’re international and profitable with an established team and market.

We are no longer a startup.”

Self-expression In a world where tech and e-commerce are everything, Rooke maintains that Spreadshirt’s online-to-offline offering is a huge factor of success.

“Spreadshirt is the global selfexpression e-commerce company.

Our platform empowers people worldwide to express themselves through creating, discovering and selling clothing and accessories.”

So, is what we express “IRL” (in real life) more important than ever as social media personalities risk fading into the background? Rooke thinks so. “In a virtual world overflowing with digital self-expression, we set ourselves apart by enabling people to express

“Spreadshirt was founded in Leipzig in 2002, enabling users to design their own T-shirts – and, later, other paraphernalia – to be printed on demand” PHILIP ROOKE CEO of Spreadshirt

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L E A D E R S H I P & S T R AT E G Y themselves offline with on-person products. On person self-expression is the next step beyond social media.

It is no longer enough to just like, follow or share something. You need to wear it, to demonstrate dedication.

“Divisive politics is certainly pushing the envelope on this in Europe and the USA as opinions are polarised.

We saw a huge rise in political T-shirts during the Brexit vote and, hate Donald Trump or love him, he sells a lot of T-shirts.” With roughly 500mn tweets being sent every day, there is a risk of getting lost in the ether – perhaps the best way to get your point across is to put it on a T-shirt.

This will all help Spreadshirt to compete in the industry, and Rooke is acutely aware of the difficulties facing print-on-demand. He concedes what Spreadshirt is doing is “not new”.

“We have been doing this for 15 years, and now investors want profits.

Five years ago, you could raise money on fast revenue growth but as the market has stabilised and established it is all about EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation). Those companies who cannot prove they have good margins, efficient cost and profit are not going to get funded and will die. Spreadshirt has concentrated on making sure

International T-Shirt Day at Spreadshirt

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January 2018

“Spreadshirt was founded in Leipzig in 2002, enabling users to design their own T-shirts – and, later, other paraphernalia – to be printed on demand” PHILIP ROOKE CEO of Spreadshirt

HQ Leipzig flyingshirts our business is sustainable.”

A keen awareness of the competition is key for Spreadshirt moving forward.

“There is added pressure in the market from Amazon. If you have not established a solid brand, user experience and relationship with your customers you will lose to Amazon.”

An easy way to create and express It’s this user experience and relationship that Spreadshirt puts a lot of work into, reasoning that in a competitive market, users will gravitate toward tools they enjoy using the most.

“What’s different about Spreadshirt?

We empower our customers and sellers differently, because we offer three approaches to market – create your own, marketplace and shops. So, we can provide limitless opportunities for on-person self-expression,” says Rooke.

The platform prides itself on simplicity: “The simpler we can make it for people to create, buy and sell ideas on our products the better the experience will be, and the more competitive we are. In the last two years we have replaced every point in consumer or buyer experiences. This 13

L E A D E R S H I P & S T R AT E G Y has made Spreadshirt easier to use – users can receive their designs and a more rewarding experience. We while they are still excited about them, will continue to invest millions a year not a few weeks later. The ability to into this programme of upgrading.” use “shops” to purchase items with The ease of use brings up other users’ designs means that Spreadshirt’s other two policies: even the less creative among us empowerment and excitement. can still share in this excitement.

“Even as we work on simplicity, which Continuous improvement is empowers people to try what we do, important for Spreadshirt’s success. we also empower customers and “In the next year we’re investing heavily sellers with more choices in in three things. Customer products by introducing service such as delivery non-apparel products timing and providing and also extending self-service tools…

Spreadshirt’s own we’re also upgrading brand into more fashionable our user experience designs and colours.” and usability simplicity In addition, “every product against our competitors. we send to a customer Finally, we are improving The Spreadshirt must excite them. We our print quality and T-shirt, a good have just invested production options.” all rounder $2.3mn in new printing equipment to provide a Expansion overseas: more exciting result and ensure Some executive advice faster delivery. And for the sellers the “Spreadshirt has been present in the improved shop, publishing process USA since 2004,” says Rooke. “It is and commissions is definitely adding the single biggest merchandising excitement. A shop owner made market in the world and really the home over $353,000 in October 2017.” of social media influencers, music A well-oiled supply chain keeps merch, gaming fan expression… up this “excitement” and helps the practically anything Americans are company maintain its momentum into they express on clothing.”

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January 2018

Spreadshirt - 15 Years of T-shirt Designs A perfect fit then? Or an already saturated market? “The US is 30% of our revenue and we have two factories in Pennsylvania and Nevada to cope with the demand. From the US we also export to Asia, Australia, Canada and South America – almost two in seven items printed in the US are for export. But it is also the most competitive market in the world. We track over 200 competitors the US and we sit in the top five. Many of these are over-funded, loss-making businesses that won’t survive long term.”

The company maintains it has a global focus, but Rooke qualifies: “We have a US first policy. Everything we build to improve our business is done to improve our performance in the US. This is because it is the most competitive market in the world; it is the best testing ground for improvement. If it works here, it will work everywhere”.

From his experience, Rooke offers sage advice for any business wishing to go global. “The biggest pitfall when expanding into the US is to not be aware of the difference, to forget to 15

L E A D E R S H I P & S T R AT E G Y listen and understand the local culture.

It’s too easy for English-speaking companies to think the US is an extension of the UK or Europe. It’s not and that needs to be recognised.

“I’m a big advocate of getting on a plane and going to see how things work for yourself. It gives the team at HQ a chance to understand the local challenges and, by bringing the outlying offices to the HQ they can better understand the way the company works globally.

“As a British man, mostly working in Berlin and Leipzig, I have had to learn how to communicate more directly. Some terrible ideas were implemented because I said things like ‘you might want to change that’.

To a British speaker, that means ‘please change it’. In Germany I’ve learnt to be more direct. Just because someone is speaking

English, doesn’t mean they have a British interpretation of feedback.”

In addition, good leadership and talent retention are paramount for any company with global ambitions.

Rooke’s attitude is consistent across the board: “We operate the same values of simplicity, empowerment and excitement with our culture as much we do with our product and brand”.

“In particular, we have a Feel Good Manager whose job it is to make Spreadshirt a great environment to work in,” Rooke explains. “As what we do is unique, most people are trained on the job. They are also given room to own that part of the business and experiment. We like to give people the opportunity to own their roles and experiment. It is possible to progress in the company and move across roles.

“For this reason, talent retention isn’t a big problem for us. We have a great

“I’m a big advocate of getting on a plane and going to see how things work for yourself. It gives the team at HQ a chance to understand the local challenges and, by bringing the outlying offices to the HQ they can better understand the way the company works globally” PHILIP ROOKE CEO of Spreadshirt

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January 2018

Spreadshirt production facility Czech Republic product and a great company, but we don’t take that for granted. Like any company we have our bad days. But our Feel Good Manager has brought in programmes on management communication to improve the way we work with talent. If you respect and empower talent, it wants to stay.”

Spreadshirt – and Rooke - seem to know what the consumer wants both online and offline, and it’s this customer focus, keen awareness of the market and efficient supply chain management that keeps things moving quickly while exciting customers all over the world.

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T E C H N O L O G Y T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

THE BREAKTHROUGH YEAR FOR IOT? STUART HODGE LOOKS AT WHAT 2018 HOLDS FOR THE INTERNET OF THINGS, HOW IT’S SET TO GROW AND WHAT THE REMAINING CHALLENGES ARE Writ ten by STUART HODGE

T E C H N O L O G Y T R A N S F O R M AT I O N THE INTERNET OF Things is ready to take its rightful place at the forefront of business in 2018.

Or so it would seem: a recent report from Navigant Research claims that combined cumulative global revenue for Industrial IoT (IIoT) devices, software, and services is expected to total more than $1trn between 2017 and 2027.

IoT is essentially the glue which binds people, machines and data – so it’s no surprise to see it becoming a major point of focus for businesses around the globe.

The Navigant report also states that revenue from annual global shipments of IIoT devices is expected to grow from $47.9bn in 2017 to $129.3bn in 2027.

Ralf Gladis, CEO at global payment solutions provider Computop, can see the change happening.

“The Internet of Things is fast becoming a reality around the world,” he says. “Both small and large devices will process payments for us. Our cars will automatically pay for fuel and parking fees, our smartwatches will pay for taxis and our smartphones will prove to be a universal tool to buy and pay everywhere.

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January 2018

“With that scenario in mind, payment will become a silent, smooth and automatic process.

Only payment methods that support this will have a future.”

But for the technology to become a truly global phenomenon, Gladis believes ensuring consumer trust is key.

“How do you want your car to pay for fuel? Credit card, PayPal or your company’s fleet card? Handing that process over to our devices will be a big change in consumer behaviour.

“New payment brands with no history or trust would keep consumers from embracing new technology and would slow the process down.

Established brands will probably make the decision easier.”

Gladis is speaking in terms of the end user, and IoT disrupting numerous industries: especially manufacturing, energy, agriculture, healthcare, and automobiles.

As a result, more and more organisations who are embracing IIoT are beginning to recognise the potential of leveraging the technology.

“We are starting to see more and more companies across the spectrum adopt IIoT strategies,” says Neil

How the Internet of Things Will Change the World

“How do you want your car to pay for fuel? Credit card, PayPal or your company’s fleet card?

Handing that process over to our devices will be a big change in consumer behaviour” RALF GLADIS CEO of Computop

Strother, principal research analyst with Navigant Research. “They are deploying hardware and software platforms to help lower operational spend and to serve as a competitive differentiator that can help them sell products and services at lower costs.

“IIoT technologies also support a broad digital transformation initiative within a business, enabling it to offer customers enhanced services and improved experiences.”

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T E C H N O L O G Y T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

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At this moment, there is an argument that IIoT solutions appear somewhat overwhelming to deploy for managers unsure how to harness the array of technology choices.

Industrial managers face additional costs, complex technologies, big data, and uncertain outcomes with the result being a confused potential customer base and a market which has both the desire and potential to grow more quickly.

Further research, from $7.4bn turnover IT services company HCL Technologies, drilled a little more deeply into these struggles. Their work, based on a Vanson Bourne survey of 263 organisations across Europe and the United States, found that as many as 49% of organisations surveyed are struggling to get off the ground with IoT, due to an uncoordinated and siloed approach, with 43% saying their customers will suffer as a result.

The findings of this report indicate that despite widespread acknowledgement of the potential benefits of IoT, many organisations are limiting its use to just one process or function, as opposed to a businesswide approach. According to HCL, 23

T E C H N O L O G Y T R A N S F O R M AT I O N this represents a major threat which could derail IoT projects by postponing the time-to-value, and thereby reducing the competitive advantage that businesses stand to gain.

Matthew Dunkley, a Director for IoT at Flexera who works with businesses to monetize their IoT investments, recently penned some notes around best practice for intelligent device manufacturers.

“The Internet of Things is transforming today’s landscape – promising higher margins, new revenue streams and steep profits.

Manufacturers used to be able to deliver updates yearly, which seems almost inconceivable today,” he says.

“Constant updates are now the

“The Internet of Things is transforming today’s landscape – promising higher margins, new revenue streams and steep profits” MATTHEW DUNKLEY Director for IoT, Flex

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January 2018

norm – be it weekly, daily or even hourly. Producers must absolutely do that to keep their software safe and secure and mitigate vulnerability risk.

“Companies making this transition are already reaping the rewards and commanding premiums. Why? Because they understand the power of their device is in the software, which includes all of the features buyers desire. And managing the software in devices requires a different way of looking at their entire business model.”

He expands: “Take software upgrade management, for example – the process of making sure customers have the latest and greatest technology powering their devices. IoT companies that think like software companies know they must manage the core processes (renewals, delivery of software and updates, maintenance and services).

If they do not do this right, they will suffer from low renewal rates.

“For instance, IoT companies often do not have processes in place to manage the software lifecycle over time and drive renewals – meaning that end users are often unaware of available upgrades, or have trouble finding them. When

Lenovo Tech World - Internet Of Things

that occurs, satisfaction falls.�

Customer satisfaction will be the key to making the technology more widely popular, particularly with end users.

The HCL report also pinpointed security concerns as being the principal reason as to why the technology has not been taken up more widely to this point. Indeed, 38% of respondents cited this as the primary barrier.

Global security company Forcepoint has just released its 2018 predictions, and the report asserts that because of the wide-scale adoption of IoT

devices in consumer and business environments combined with the fact devices are often both easy-to-access and unmonitored, these devices are now a highly attractive target for cybercriminals wishing to hold them to ransom or obtain a long-term, persistent presence on the network.

Whilst ransomware of these connected things is possible, it remains unlikely in 2018. The main new threat that will emerge this year is what the report is calling ‘the disruption of things’. The belief is that, because the 25

T E C H N O L O G Y T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

IoT offers access to both disruptive possibilities and massive amounts of critical data, we will see attacks in this area, and may also see the integration of a ‘man in the middle’ (MITM) attack.

In short, IoT will not be held to ransom but instead become a target for mass disruption.

“At the heart of our predictions is a requirement to understand the intersection of people with critical 26

January 2018

data and intellectual property,” said Dr. Richard Ford, Chief Scientist at Forcepoint. “By placing cyberbehaviour and intent at the centre of security, the industry has a fighting chance of keeping up with the massive rate of change in the threat environment.

“We know that data leakage and ransomware will continue to be the focus for remediation and prevention,

“By placing cyberbehaviour and intent at the centre of security, the industry has a fighting chance of keeping up with the massive rate of change in the threat environment” DR. RICHARD FORD, Chief Scientist, Forcepoint IOT revenue is expected to surpass $1trn in the years up to 2027

but behavior-centric risks are now behind a multitude of security incidents. People’s behaviour should not be set in opposition to security: the two are not mutually exclusive.

“Users have the potential to unintentionally compromise their own systems in one minute and be the source of innovation in the next, but we can only empower users if we truly understand the ways they

interact with critical business data.”

Caution must therefore be exercised by anyone in business who is choosing to embrace IoT. Without doubt, the future of IoT is a positive, if uncertain, one. No doubt there are multiple barriers which will need overcoming if the technology is to reach its full, disruptive potential.

Could 2018 be that year?

Let’s wait and see.

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Indeed shows how to make an ‘unlimited leave’ policy work Indeed’s Senior Vice President and Global Head of HR, Paul Wolfe, explains how and why the company implemented a policy of unlimited leave for staff Writ ten by STUART HODGE

PEOPLE

PEOPLE AS A COMPANY specialising in recruitment, it should come as no surprise that Indeed, the world’s number one job website, knows what it takes to be a good employer.

Indeed, which now has over 200mn monthly visitors to its global website, offers all manner of benefits to its 5,000 or so global employees including parental leave for both primary and secondary caregivers, adoption assistance, back-up child care, student loan repayment management, a wellness programme and even pet insurance.

The company also ensures that all offices are stocked with healthy snacks and beverages, with remote workers receiving a monthly box of snacks, similar those available onsite.

Indeed implements a casual dress code in open offices with convertible desks that offer a sitting or standing option for employees, and there is plenty of comfy seating and spots where employees can go for some quiet time or one-on-one meetings.

Communication access is also a premium consideration, with Indeed ensuring that video conferencing

Indeed believes it helps to have spaces for staff to break out, work and collaborate. Opposite: Indeed’s ninth floor terrace at its New York office 30

January 2018

“ Compensation consistently ranks as the least significant factor when it comes to considering what makes people happy at work” – Paul Wolfe, Senior Vice President and Global Head of HR.

is available for all employees to connect with the rest of the company’s global workforce.

But despite that myriad of resources and benefits available to help keep employees comfortable and happy, there is still one policy we are yet to mention which seems the most innovative and potentially groundbreaking of them all: Indeed allows all of its employees unlimited leave.

Under what the company calls its ‘Unlimited PTO’ policy, employees can take as much time as they wish

– for sickness, personal days or vacation days. There are no limits.

A company statement says: “Open PTO empowers current employees, makes for happier workers in the long-term, and also demonstrates to potential talent that the company cares about the health and wellbeing of its employees.

“Beyond salary and benefits, most workers will gravitate towards opportunities that are employeecentric. Compensation consistently ranks as the least significant factor when it comes to considering what 31

PEOPLE makes people happy at work.”

This last statement is backed up by findings in the company’s own Workplace Happiness Index, 2016.

Indeed considers the unlimited PTO policy to be an unmitigated success, so we caught up with the company’s Senior Vice President and Global Head of HR Paul Wolfe to find out more.

“An engaged workforce is critical - if you don’t have an engaged workforce, you are going to be facing constant turnover, low productivity and a lacklustre employer brand,” he says.

An engaged workforce is really

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the foundation for a successful company and a company’s greatest asset - a happy employee is your best brand ambassador.

“These days it’s rare that you would interact with a candidate who hasn’t researched your company either formally using tools like Indeed Company Pages, or informally by asking their family, friends and extended network what they think about your company brand.

Happy employees will have strong messages to share about why your company is a great place to work.

Chill out areas help to keep staff happy and motivated

“ We believe that trusted, empowered and rested employees have a better chance of being happier and also performing better” – Paul Wolfe, Senior Vice President and Global Head of HR “Companies who are actively engaged in offering a rewards culture need to make sure they are promoting it in their job descriptions to help bring candidates in, and companies who are struggling with retention should think about ways they can make their environment more attractive to effectively compete for talent.

“Ultimately, the investment it takes to create a supportive work environment is rewarded with happy, highperforming and retained employees.”

And unsurprisingly, the policy proved mightily popular with staff.

“It was extremely well received and is very popular with our employees,” Wolfe says. “Part of the reason this

33

PEOPLE is successful is that we are showing we trust our employees to take the amount of time off that makes sense for them and their roles.

“We also encourage people to take time off: managers have conversations with employees who aren’t taking time away, and also take time away themselves to set a good example that rest and recuperation is important. We consider our paid PTO programme a success because employees have taken a healthy amount of time off and simultaneously been very productive.

“ These days it’s rare that you would interact with a candidate who hasn’t researched your company” – Paul Wolfe, Senior Vice President and Global Head of HR

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January 2018

In fact, we saw a 28% increase in the number of days taken off by employees after the first full year.”

The unlimited leave policy is not a global first. It remains pretty rare but there are other companies within the technology sector who have done the same or similar – however, the size of Indeed as a company makes its rollout of this kind of policy particularly noteworthy.

Where did the idea come from for Indeed to do this and how does it make sure that employees

Open-plan eating and meeting spaces (above) along with chill out areas (below) help staff unwind yet remain productive

don’t abuse the privilege?

“We believe that trusted, empowered and rested employees have a better chance of being happier and also performing better,” says Wolfe.

“Our leadership team thought through the pros and cons of implementing an Open PTO programme and the benefits were overwhelmingly outweighing any cons. Ultimately, we want to create a great work environment for our employees so they can, in turn, help others find great jobs as well.

“The open paid time off policy was rolled out on a global scale at Indeed, and managers were provided with FAQs and support on monitoring their team’s time off. The unlimited vacation policy also reflects Indeed’s core mission of helping employers attract the talent they need, and job seekers find work that they enjoy.

“Our managers are responsible for approving time off - so we don’t really have any issues of abusing the policy. Managers and employees work together on discussing PTO and covering off on responsibilities during time away.”

It seems then like a good idea,

well-executed, by a successful company. As well as the higher performance of a highly-motivated and cared-for for workforce, what other positive benefits has Wolfe seen as a byproduct of the policy?

“Indeed is a rapidly growing global company,” he explains, “so like any growing company, we have to make sure we are keeping engagement high as we grow and that we don’t lose our culture and the things that make Indeed a great place to work.

“Numerous factors go into this: the office environment, the kind of work staff are doing, their manager and team, to name just a few.

You have to work on all of these aspects which in concert contribute to an engaged workforce.

“And tenure is certainly a byproduct of motivated employees. We want to keep people that we hire with Indeed as long as we can, and motivation is critical to that.

“We realise it is unlikely we will keep all of our employees for the length of their careers, but while they are at Indeed, we want them to be happy, and if they decide to leave, we want them to look back at their experience with us positively.”

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

Can the UN and World Bank’s ‘Roadmap for a sustainable financial system’ lead to a brighter tomorrow?

A range of commentators have mixed reviews on the potential impact of research from the UN’s top environmental body and the World Bank Group Writ ten by STUART HODGE

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

AXA and the United Nations Environment Program Inquiry held a conference to discuss ‘New Rules for New Horizons: Reshaping Finance for Sustainability’

SWEDISH FINANCE AND sustainability expert Sasja Beslik knows that things need to change: the status quo with the current construction of the global economy and the rate and means by which we are using the planet’s resources is not sustainable.

Beslik, one of his country’s foremost experts on finance and sustainability, feels an awakening and a global 38

January 2018

recognition of the need to reshape how financial challenges are looked at is necessary to effect meaningful change and bring long-term solutions.

At the end of last year, the UN’s top environmental body and the World Bank Group released a roadmap “to help governments and the private sector design a global financial system that is fit-for-purpose”.

The research found that climate

“ The challenge is not about what to do any more, the challenge is how to do it and how quickly you do it�

SASJA BESLIK, Head of Group Sustainable Finance at Nordea Bank

action has opened up an initial investment opportunity of $22.6trn from 2016 to 2030 and stressed how the next two years will be crucial to build on existing initiatives and finance sustainable development globally.

Beslik is pleased to see a progressive move towards recognising the issues we are facing, but is adamant that this can only afford to be the mere 39

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The roadmap is built on traditional logics that are linked to alternative and innovative finance

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y beginnings of any real progress.

“The roadmap is a very good first step, but the devil is in the implementation side,” he says.

“The challenge is not about what to do any more, the challenge is how to do it and how quickly.

“When I started working 10 or 15 years ago, sustainability was not on the agenda in the financial sector, but now it is. We all agree that we have responsibility but now we need to figure out how to meet it.”

The UN and World Bank research backs Beslik’s assertion, showing

“ The UN and World Bank roadmap for a sustainable financial system includes three major insights: a definition of sustainable finance, clear mapping and certain actions” ARINE GIRARD, Finance Professor C at Audencia Business School

that policy and regulatory measures targeting sustainability have grown 20% year on year since 2010.

“I think it’s a very ambitious road map,” Beslik continues, “but a good first step. The magnitude of this transition that we need to happen in the financial sector is huge, but it’s so needed. And it needs to happen much more quickly, because while you and I can do things on a personal level to, say, reduce our private impact, we are digging a hole beneath ourselves if we don’t get financial systems to act much more swiftly on this.”

But is Beslik, who works as Head of Group Sustainable Finance at Nordea Bank, surprised at how often these challenges are ignored by vast swathes of the market?

“Saying we have a long way to go is an understatement, but all of us have seen more focus on sustainability within the financial sector over the last three years, purely because more players are understanding the market opportunity in this from the product side. Also I think some are feeling more pressure, both from regulators and from customers, and they think they need to take a stance on this.”

Carine Girard, Finance Professor 41

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y at Audencia Business School in Nantes, France, believes the report has provided clarity.

“The UN and World Bank roadmap for a sustainable financial system includes three major insights: a definition of sustainable finance, clear mapping and certain actions,” she says.

“These proposals were developed from a multi-level analysis that was international, national and marketbased. This analysis integrates not only the stakes in terms of governance, but also environmental, social and governance risks as well as We have seen more focus on sustainability within the financial sector over the last three years

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January 2018

impact investing. Such an approach is designed to ensure effectiveness, efficiency and resilience.

“This type of financial system makes sense because it is built on traditional and local logics using high-impact drivers that are linked to alternative and innovative finance.”

Technology investor Jeff Stollman has an MA in economics and many years spent as an environmental economist, and he takes a different stance.

“The concept addresses currently popular trends, but is, itself, unsustainable for a number

Proposals were developed from international, multi-level analysis

of reasons,” claims Stollman, who currently manages Rocky Mountain Technical Marketing, Inc. “A key element of the programme is redirecting negative externalities, especially environmental externalities, so that they are accounted for in the cost of production.

“Problems with that could include businesses resisting adding cost to their products because it will make them less marketable, or because the redirection of externalities will be uneven across industry sectors and across pollutants and other deleterious impacts, there will be

‘ The entire financial sector since 2008 has been facing a cultural revolution needed within the industry’ ongoing crises moving from industry to industry as products that have grown costly are displaced with alternatives.

“This will upset the employment market and create a significant downward shift in the value of capital assets used to produce goods 43

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y and services that are impacted. In turn, this will cause bankruptcies of industries which are no longer sustainable. And while this will be beneficial to the environment, it will have an uneven impact on those displaced by the shrinking or closing of their employers’ businesses.”

It is perhaps a change in consumer attitudes that will be necessary to effect real change, but even then Stollman points out this could be problematic. “Another issue is that one of the biggest impacts on the global environment arises from wanton consumerism: people buying “stuff” because advertising makes them want things that they don’t need. Environmentally, much could

‘ Beslik is adamant that the release of the report was a ‘crucial’ step in the hope of any meaningful move towards a sustainable global financial model’ 44

January 2018

be gained by merely reducing this surplus consumption, but doing so would cause a massive contraction of global markets. How will we keep people employed if we stop producing this surplus?” he asks.

“I could go on endlessly about the deficiencies of the program, but I don’t mean to suggest that it is not worth pursuing. I just expect that the results will be mixed and the benefits will remain hard to justify.”

Beslik understands Stollman’s concerns but is adamant that the release of the report was a ‘crucial’ step in the hope of any meaningful move towards a sustainable global financial model. He wants to see more guidance given to politicians to help lobby for legislative change and feels there is certainly an appetite for this.

“The entire financial sector since 2008 has been facing a cultural revolution needed within the industry,” he says. “I think it now demands awareness from the top. The leaders of the big financial institutions really need to step up and show what to go for with regards to sustainability within the role of the financial sector.

“Still, the majority of the financial institutions in the world do not educate

A change in attitudes will be necessary to effect real change

financial analysts and professionals with a full understanding of sustainability aspects related to their future jobs, and how the investment or lending of banking decisions will impact the societies they live in.

“We need to reform the educational system, because then you get people that are educated about this in the financial system. They will embrace the change and make that change happen.

“I think we are at the beginning of a very big shift, with big players getting engaged, and we see a lot of interest from customers and clients.”

For Beslik, it comes down to a triumvirate of issues. “I call it a

triangle,” he explains. “You have an income inequality or income distribution on one hand. Then you have climate change as one of the sort of risks that are not related to any particular society, it’s more of a global issue. I think income inequality is also.

“The third one I think is related to transparency and participation – how transparent are you about your business and the way you run it, and also how do you participate in solutions that we need as a society going forward?

“I think these three things interact with each other in a very interesting way going forward, and they all demand a quite big mental shift.”

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LOND CITY FOCUS

A EUROPEAN HUB FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES Written by OLIVIA MINNOCK

DON

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January 2018

IN THE NEWS

CITY FOCUS

IN THE NEWS

LONDON was crowned the top economic city in 2017 by Colliers’ International European Cities of Influence Report.

The report, which rated 50 major European cities, cited the UK as the most attractive country for employability, despite concerns around stability as it prepares to leave the European Union, and said London was considered the best economy in Europe. Another UK city, Manchester, came third.

Simon Ford, director of Colliers, said: “In the face of negative reports surrounding the UK’s political, social, economic and country risk issues, our research demonstrated that the country as a whole remains in a particularly strong position.

“While London may not score as highly as other European cities on some quality of life factors, it is apparent that companies in the capital have started to place more emphasis on creating workplaces that help accelerate their business and attract talent.”

Damian Harrington, head of European, Middle East and Asia research at Colliers, added: “It is

“ COMPANIES IN THE CAPITAL HAVE STARTED TO PLACE MORE EMPHASIS ON CREATING WORKPLACES THAT HELP ACCELERATE THEIR BUSINESS AND ATTRACT TALENT” – Simon Ford, Director, Colliers clear from our analysis that the operational risk profile of the UK has weakened as a result of Brexit, more so than any other European country since 2014 – yet it remains one of the lowest risk European countries to set up and operate a business, and the added benefit of far more flexible labour laws means UK cities take a very strong standing.”

Indeed, one in three global conglomerates currently have London as their European hub. Three of the largest global businesses headquartered in the city are Barclays, HSBC and Virgin.

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CITY FOCUS

BIG BUSINESS Barclays has a 300-year history dating back to the 1700s. The bank as we know it was formed by an 1896 merger of 20 different banks comprising 182 branches and 806 employees. The bank has been involved in many firsts, having launched the first credit card in the UK in 1966, introduced the world’s first cash machine 50

January 2018

in 1967, and launched the first contactless card in the UK in 2001.

On a global level, Barclays was the first UK bank to be listed on the New York and Tokyo stock exchanges in 1986. Nowadays, it has operations in 40 countries across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Asia Pacific and the Americas. Under chairman John McFarlane and Group CEO Jes

Above: Barclay, Bevan, Tritton & Co. join 19 other banking businesses to form Barclay & Company Limited in 1896.

Right: A plaque commerorates the world’s first ATM.

Stanley, operating from its Canary Wharf office, the group employs 119,000 people globally within its two main segments: Barclays International and Barclays UK. The bank is now 122 on Forbes’ Global 2000 list and has a market cap of $45.4bn with sales listed as $29.19bn. It has recently launched a global fintech programme

called the Barclays Accelerator, which not long ago celebrated the ‘graduation’ of its 100th company.

The programme has been compared to “getting your MBA in 13 weeks,” and has had 5,000 applicants since 2014. Of those businesses to have completed the programme, 40 are based in London, 20 in Cape Town, 20 in Tel Aviv and 20 in New York.

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CITY FOCUS HSBC is one of the largest financial institutions in the world. It started as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in the UK in 1836, and opened its first office in London by purchasing the Central Bank of London Ltd in 1891. It has been based in the city ever since, and moved into its purpose-built headquarters in Canary Wharf in 2002. However, in 2018 the bank is set to move to a new building in its original home of Birmingham, which will accommodate 2,000 HSBC UK staff. The organisation became incorporated in 1959 and was the first British bank to issue cheque guarantee cards in 1966.

Nowadays, HSBC operates in 67 countries across the world covering five territories: Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa, North America and Latin America. It serves around 38mn customers through its four segments: retail banking and wealth management; commercial banking; global banking and markets and global private banking. There are 3,900 HSBC offices worldwide and the institution is listed on the London, Hong Kong, New York, Paris and Bermuda stock exchanges. Under Group CEO Entionio Simoes and UK CEO Ian Stuart, the bank has over 203,000 shareholders in 132 countries and territories and boasts a total of 232,000 staff.

HSBC Holdings is listed at number 48 on Forbes’ Global 2000 list, with a recorded market cap of $162.6bn and sales of $62.09bn at present.

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Financial and business services make up about $20.6bn (£15.5bn) of London’s total $49.1bn (£37bn) annual export worth The London stock exchange accounts for around 32% of global transactions HSBC has over 203,000 shareholders in 132 countries and territories and boasts a total of 232,000 staff Barclays is 122 on Forbes’ Global 2000 list and has a market cap of $45.4bn

“ THOUGH LONDON’S ECONOMY ROSE THROUGH ITS MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES OVER THE PAST CENTURY, THE KEY SECTOR IS NOW BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES” – Simon Ford, Director, Colliers 53

CITY FOCUS VIRGIN Virgin Group is headquartered in the Battleship Building in Paddington.

The group has quite a unique structure compared to, say, Barclays or HSBC, in that its wide-ranging brand is sometimes licensed out while some elements remain part of a conglomerate. As a whole, the Virgin brand boasts 99% brand

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January 2018

recognition in the UK and 96% in the US. Incorporated in 1989 and now classed as a holding company, Virgin has been around since the 1970s when Richard Branson and Nik Powell began a record business called Virgin. Sir Richard Branson is currently the seventh richest person in the UK and is number 324 on Forbes’ Billionaires list.

Richard Branson, founder and Chairman of the Virgin Group, has nurtured the awareness of his Virgin brand to achieve 99% brand recognition in the UK.

“ THE GROUP HAS OVER 60 BUSINESSES SERVING A TOTAL OF OVER 53MN CUSTOMERS ACROSS THE WORLD” – Simon Ford, Director, Colliers

The group has over 60 businesses serving a total of over 53mn customers across the world, with its website stating the group’s global revenue as $22.17bn. 69,000 staff are employed by the Virgin Group across 35 countries, operating across developing and developed

markets. Some Virgin’s most widely-known brands include Virgin Media, Virgin Mobile, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Trains. Virgin’s banking service, Virgin Money Holdings, ranks among Forbes’ Global 2000 and is stated to have a market cap of $1.7mn with 3,139 employees.

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CITY FOCUS

STATS LONDON is one of the largest city economies in the world with a GDP of over $754bn. Altogether, this makes up about 17% of the UK’s total GDP. The port of London handles around 48mn tonnes of cargo every year, according to UNCSBRP.org. Though London’s economy rose through its manufacturing industries over the past century, the key sector is now banking and financial services, with the famous Canary Wharf development housing some of the biggest players in the banking world – in fact, London plays host to more foreign

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banks than any other city. Financial and business services make up about $20.6bn (£15.5bn) of London’s total $49.1bn (£37bn) annual export worth.

The London stock exchange is the largest in the world and accounts for around 32% of global transactions. According to UNCSBRP, London trades in more US dollars than New York, and more Euros than all other European cities combined. As a whole, the city’s tertiary sector employs 3.2mn people in London, of which 1.25mn work in the financial sector.

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T O P 10

TOP 10 FASTESTGROWING COMPANIES IN EUROPE A breakdown of the quickest-growing firms based on year-over-year revenue growth from 2012 to 2015, offering a view of how these companies have grown over time. Figures correct as of 2017 Written by ANDREW WOODS

T O P 10

09

FEO MEDIA AB — SWEDEN www.feomedia.com

10

FURNITUREBOX — SWEDEN

www.furniturebox.se Headquartered in Sweden, Furniturebox is a furniture company that was recently bought out by an investment enterprise called Bygghemma. This buy-out comes after Furniturebox’s rapid growth of 3,157% YOY after turning the company into an ecommerce powerhouse. While most of the affordable furniture sold is via online, Furniturebox does have two brick-and-mortar stores located in Stockholm and Gothenburg. The company’s operating profits were $30.77mn in 2015, which was a 60% jump from the year before.

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Specialising in interactive and educational mobile games, FEO Media managed to grow its revenue by 3,186%. Scoring a yearly revenue of more than $15.74mn, FEO Media has managed to attract a lot of customers with its trivia games and has managed to achieve 40mn downloads worldwide. The company was started by two pairs of brothers who were friends since childhood. It was their dream to use their diverse background (e.g., teacher, television producer, and programmer) to make software that connected with people.

07

UKCLOUD — UK www.ukcloud.com

08

STAR STABLE ENTERTAINMENT — SWEDEN www.starstable.com Star Stable Entertainment has been putting girls at the centre of the gaming universe since 2011, creating fantasy worlds where gamers can ride horses to the adventure of a lifetime.

Its 10mn registered users are what’s behind the 3,230% revenue growth.

With a yearly revenue of $11.3mn, the company is partially owned and operated by the founders, as well as Kima Ventures, Medge Consulting, and a number of private investors.

The cloud has been nothing but a win-win situation for both providers and users alike, and the opportunities for revenue growth in IT services is undeniable. Hitting a YOY revenue increase of 3,440%, this IT services provider located outside of London made $47.24mn in 2015. The company has four original founders and was known as Skyscape Cloud Services until just last year. Its focus is on government organisations using the cloud for both convenience and safety. Cloud companies make it possible to manage complex data while mitigating the risk of a breach.

Simon Hansford, CEO, UKCLoud 61

05

BALYASNY ASSET MANAGEMENT — UK www.bamfund.com

06

CABONLINE — SWEDEN www.cabonline.com Transportation has been one of the most controversial topics of the year as industry leaders debate the most efficient way to make it from one place to another. Cabonline has managed to create a technology that makes it easier for taxies in Europe to make more money. The company is no slouch itself when it comes to making money either, boosting their YOY revenue at a rate of 3,457%. The company has partnered with H.I.G. Capital investment, and manages around 20mn trips a year. It made $10.5mn in 2015 alone.

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Balyasny Asset Management (BAM) is a financial services provider based out of London with a 3,469% revenue climb. The firm was co-founded by Taylor O’Malley and Scott Schroeder, and its movements are closely followed by outside investors for insight into a number of different markets. The company has boasted a revenue of $45.9mn for 2015, with major stakes in everything from Comcast to General Motors to Ralph Lauren. Not only has this company been expanding around the globe, it’s also built a reputation as one of the best companies to work for.

T O P 10

03

MARTIN METALS — HUNGARY www.martinmetals.eu

04

ODEAL — FINLAND www.odeal.fi This HR company made quite a name for itself when it hit sales of $19.45mn and a revenue growth of more than 3,864%. The company helps everyone from entrepreneurs to students to freelancers take care of their business legally without any unnecessary hassle. This company’s success gives also us insight into how the economy is changing, as more and more people in Europe move away from a traditional 9 to 5.

A family-run business, this company has offices in Finland and abroad.

Martin Metals trades and sells aluminium, copper, chrome-nickel and zinc products across Europe, and their growth comes in at more than 3,954% and $19.2mn in revenue.

The firm partially owns another aluminium plant in Hungary called INOTAL which produces electrical wiring and other aluminium products.

Martin Metals also has another joint venture called SK Alutrade Kft, another trader of metal products.

Finally, Martin Metals also has shares in Alumelt Engineering Kft, which is a company in Austria that specialises in melting equipment.

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T O P 10

02

LE PETIT VAPOTEUR — FRANCE www.lepetitvapoteur.com Smoking is more popular in Europe than the US, but the health warnings are starting to be heard loud and clear upon across the sea too. Selling vaping products for those who may be trying to quit the nasty habit, Le Petit

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January 2018

Vapoteur has scored sales of $16.88 dollars and a revenue growth of just under 3,957% since its start in 2012.

The company was founded by Olivier Dréan and Tanguy Gréard, and their success has been undeniable. With thousands of fans on social media and close to a 100% approval rating, this successful company has managed to connect with consumers who are looking for a healthier alternative.

01

DANIEL WELLINGTON AB — SWEDEN www.danielwellington.com Making some of the world’s most coveted watches, Daniel Wellington AB tops the list at number one for 2017.

The young entrepreneur who began the company managed to spike in revenue at a rate of 4,695% in the past three years. Selling around a million watches a year and operating out of 75 countries with 6,000 shops, Daniel Wellington has become a name synonymous with lust and luxury. Filip Tysander is still in his early 30s, and currently owns the entire company. Its yearly revenue for 2016 was $230mn.

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TOMORROW STREET

BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN STARTUPS & CORPORATIONS Written by Laura Mullan Produced by Richard Durrant

A JOINT VENTURE BETWEEN VODAFONE AND TECHNOPORT, TOMORROW STREET IS LOOKING TO TAKE BUSINESS-READY STARTUPS ON A JOURNEY TO REACH THE WORLD

T

he CEO of Tomorrow Street, Warrick Cramer, is all too aware of the challenges facing startups today. In 1999, he took a leap and set up his very own mobile payment security company and, like many startups today, he faced many hurdles before he found entrepreneurial success.

“If I reflect back on my personal life to when I was developing my own tech startup, it was really hard,” Cramer says. “I got so many rejections before I actually found someone that believed in the product and after that, the product went on to be implemented worldwide.

“Everyone said that it was impossible, that it would never work, and a lot of startup companies that I meet today are going through something very similar,” he notes. “A lot of founders have put everything on the line and have had to make a lot of sacrifices to get to where they are. Therefore, I really wanted to create an environment where startups could come and bring their aspirations to life.”

From networking with foreign companies to understanding international laws, Cramer has

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WARRICK CRAMER CEO of Tomorrow Street

Tomorrow Street: Bridging the gap between start-ups and big business

INNOVATION IS AT THE HEART OF OUR PARTNERSHIP Driven by a shared passion for innovation, Vodafone and Huawei’s long-standing cooperation has successfully delivered transformational, industry-leading, technology.

We will continue to relentlessly explore ways to build intelligent networks and reshape the world with mobile to deliver limitless growth potential and light the way forward.

We envisage new business models and new partnerships emerging with the rise of innovative ICT technology. We see a future of Cloud-based networks, with 4.5G and 5G technology, AI enabled, with excellent Customer Experience Management all helping create the new Digital Vodafone!

Working together towards an exciting future, our partnership is ready and committed to world-class innovation to bring benefits to both corporations and consumers in the Digital Gigabit Society, where all things are connected. Together, we are building a Better Connected World for everyone and everything.

A beacon under the night sky in Australia

Exploration lights the way forward The relentless pursuit of innovation enlightens the intelligent world. www.huawei.com

TOMORROW STREET

first-hand experience of the obstacles tech startups face. He is keen to help startups expand their global footprint and this is one of the many reasons why Tomorrow Street, a Luxembourgbased innovation centre, was born.

Helping businessready tech startups Harnessing the power of both the Vodafone Procurement Company (VPC) and Technoport,

Tomorrow Street is an ambitious innovation centre that strives to help business-ready tech startups to grow and expand globally.

Incubators and accelerators typically support early stage startups with everything from product concept to product launch. However, after that, startups often struggle to take the next leap to grow their business worldwide.

Striving to make a meaningful difference in the tech space,

Warrick Cramer, CEO, Tomorrow Street

Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister of Luxembourg

Deputy Prime Minister Eienne Schneider with Prime Minister Xavier Bettel of Luxembourg and VPC CEO Ninian Wilson

The Luxembourg Prime Minister on Tomorrow Street

Deputy Prime Minister Eienne Schneider with Prime Minister Xavier Bettel of Luxembourg, Ronald Schellekens – Vodafone Group Director and Ninion Wilson, CEO VPC inaugurating the Tomorrow Street innovation centre

Tomorrow Street fills a gap in the global innovation scene.

Specifically targeting late-stage startups, the innovation centre helps tech businesses expand globally in a low-risk way.

“We look at small tech startups and we say, ‘Can they scale?’, ‘Are they able to grow outside their home market?’, and if the answer is yes, then we want to bring them to Tomorrow Street,” explains Cramer. “We surround them with all the right people

to help them to achieve that and to make their idea really come to life.

“In this way, Tomorrow Street completes an entire innovation ecosystem, which does not exist anywhere else in the world,” Cramer adds. “If you’re looking at Silicon Valley, Asia or even Europe, there are plenty of accelerators and incubators.

However, there’s no-one that really does what we actually do - and that’s really about helping companies scale up and promoting disruptive

http://europe.businesschief.com

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We see something. Amid the streams of ones and zeros, we see a world where oceans of data yield sparks of insight and unending questions are being answered. A world where every space is intelligent and each connection is seamless.

Where cutting-edge computing has the power to carry mankind to new planets, and faster data analysis accelerates the race for a cure. Where solutions come before problems arise and physicists have the power to map the universe’s origins.

We see a world where Everything Computes, and what’s next is extraordinary. ©Copyright 2017 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP.

See it all at hpe.com

TOMORROW STREET

Tomorrow Street’s signing on LB Networks

technologies across the world.”

Providing a platform for 16 different late-stage startups, Tomorrow Street is particularly interested in businesses that focus on the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and security.

“If you look at these three areas, they’re actually all interlinked,” observes Cramer. “If you are looking into IoT you’re going to need security, and if you’re pulling data out of those billions of devices, then you will need something that can actually crunch the data and make it useful and so this where AI comes into play.

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January 2018

“The world is moving very quickly,” Cramer adds, “and having those three pillars of focus is important because that’s where we think the world is going.”

Harnessing the power of Vodafone As a joint venture between the Vodafone Procurement Company and Technoport (Luxembourg’s national startup incubator), Tomorrow Street leverages the resources and talent of both organisations to create something far beyond anything else in the innovation sphere.

TECHNOLOGY

“Tomorrow Street completes an entire innovation ecosystem, which does not exist anywhere else in the world” Warrick Cramer CEO, Tomorrow Street

Targeting late-stage business-ready tech companies, selected startups enjoy free access to Tomorrow Street’s facilities, Vodafone’s supply chain, and will have up to three years to grow.

Situated on the top floor of the Vodafone Procurement Company (VPC) building in Luxembourg, the Tomorrow Street Innovation Centre leverages the international network and skillset of the VPC to drive and manage massive growth.

“The Vodafone Procurement Company is a very powerful engine,” Cramer says. “The reason why I say that is because we have suppliers coming in here every single day. The startups get access to all the different type of roadmaps in the world and get to really see in advance what’s going to happen in this space over the upcoming years.”

The VPC is, by all means, an immense operation. It centrally manages close to 80% of Vodafone’s global spend, looks after 14,000 supplier relationships, and works closely with internal business partners to deliver the company’s procurement strategy across more than 450 product categories.

By utilising this engine for growth, Tomorrow Street allows startups the opportunity to build bridges between some of the most exciting companies in the world as well as Vodafone’s customer base of more than 500mn people.

“Within the Vodafone Procurement Company, you have a really deep level of knowledge that is

http://europe.businesschief.com

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TOMORROW STREET

all together in one location, which doesn’t happen in other parts of the business,” comments Cramer.

“What that means for a startup is that they can meet people and other suppliers that can actually make a difference to their business.

From a connection or networking point of view, it’s very powerful.”

A public-private partnership Luxembourg’s national startup incubator, Technoport, works alongside the VPC to give selected tech startups the chance to grow their global footprint. This publicprivate partnership will support up to 16 tech startups so that they can grow and foster talent in the country.

Technoport has been supporting entrepreneurs since 1998 as a public, national startup incubator for Luxembourg. Over the past five years, it has approved 42 new companies in the incubator with 24 leaving successfully. With this proven experience in the startup world, Technoport offers a hands-on mix of support and services.

Alongside VPC, the pair are hoping

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to make a lasting impact on the tech sector and the country at large.

“I think this joint venture is a really fantastic opportunity for Vodafone, Technoport and the Luxembourg government. It really shows how public and private partnerships can work together and co-exist so it’s a win-win model for both of us,” observes Cramer.

“From a Vodafone perspective, the Innovation Centre brings new companies and new technologies to our customers. We get to see what trends and disruptive technologies are entering the market and I think that really gives us great insight because a company doesn’t have to be big anymore to make a difference. From a Technoport point of view, as Luxembourg’s national startup incubator, it’s really about creating jobs in the economy, creating new industries, and fostering talent in Luxembourg.”

Digital Luxembourg Located in the business hub of Kirchberg, Luxembourg, Tomorrow Street is strategically positioned

IN A CULTURE OF POSSIBILITY

INNOVATION IS A RENEWABLE RESOURCE.

Learn how telcos deliver new services faster with VMware NFV. vmware.com/ukcloud

REALISE WHAT’S POSSIBLE.™

TOMORROW STREET

in what is widely regarded as a ‘startup nation.’

Geographically located in central Europe, the country is pushing digitisation and is making its mark as an epicentre for digital disruption.

“There’s so many big, corporate organisations based here in Luxembourg and the beauty of it is that you can actually go and talk to them because they’re your neighbours or you’re closely associated.

The ability to have those conversations without the red tape or hierarchy that normally exists in a bigger country doesn’t happen here and I think that’s what makes Luxembourg so powerful.”

Ranked 9th in the world for both IT readiness and global innovation, Luxembourg is widely recognised as a driver for innovation. Cramer believes this is largely due to the government’s ability to adapt and openmindedness to new technological advancements.

“The Luxembourg government is great because they are very forward-thinking,” he says. “Historically, if you think about where they’ve come from, they went from the steel industry to banking, and now to ICT. I think Luxembourg is a very dynamic country with a dynamic government. Now they’re doing a lot of work in the innovation sector and they’re really helping to foster growth in the sector.”

Initiating human connections With a professional and culturally diverse team, the talent and expertise of Tomorrow Street’s workforce

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2017

The year that Tomorrow Street was founded

25

Number of employees at Tomorrow Street

16

The number of startups that Tomorrow Street will support

TECHNOLOGY

Are you ready for 5G? 5G will drive a fundamental change in our communications infrastructure by delivering extreme broadband and highly reliable low latency connectivity at massive scale. It will revolutionize every aspect of our lives, economy and society.

Consumers will get faster connectivity in the home and on the move, delivering richer, more immersive video and gaming experiences, faster than ever before.

Industry will be able to further address the challenges of digitization and allow them to realize the 4th Industrial revolution, as 5G supports the controlling machines in real-time, with data from billions of IoT devices, using advanced analytics to improve their business operations.

At Nokia, we understand the immense challenge that lays ahead with 5G. We’re at the forefront of research and development, and we’re helping businesses realize the value of their investments. Our aim is to bring innovative companies together to collaborate and realize a new generation of business as we make 5G a commercial reality.

Explore the many ways 5G will transform society

The future is now. Join us.

nokia.ly/5G-use-cases

TECHNOLOGY

are integral to its success. Boasting over 20 languages and experience across corporate, entrepreneurial and technical fields, the staff at Tomorrow Street work closely with startups towards a mutual goal of driving growth in the tech industry.

“From my perspective, the team is the most important thing at Tomorrow Street,” observes Cramer. “They are more important than me or anyone else. They all bring different specialised skills to the table and they add value to a lot of the startups that are coming to the centre. I might have a vision, but I need a fantastic team behind me to make it really come to life.”

Indeed, whilst digital technology is the core focus of Tomorrow Street, Cramer believes that the way in which the centre initiates human connections is what gives it a competitive edge.

“Tomorrow Street is really about human connections,” he says. “It’s about being supported, being able to bounce ideas off people, and it’s about when you are having a bad day, you can know that there are people around

you that can connect and understand exactly what you’re going through.

“Technology is fantastic in the way it can connect people across the globe, but it’s still not the same as physically being there with someone and being present,” Cramer adds. “I think that’s where the human aspect is very important and we should never lose sight of that as we develop these digital ways of communicating. I think, equally, if not more important, that the technology is the human aspect.”

Collaboration and Partnership Collaboration is, by all accounts, an integral part of Tomorrow Street’s DNA. Since its launch in September this year, the company has garnered support from major players in the digital technology sector. These partnerships are extremely advantageous to the startups involved as they provide networking opportunities, resources, and leading industry knowledge.

“Tomorrow Street is all about collaboration and partnership,” says Cramer. “I think the founding principles

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TECHNOLOGY

Break out space inside Tomorrow Street offices

of the centre and its core values revolve around how we can actually work with our partners and people in the future. We’re very lucky to have the support of our partners and to have an environment where we can all work together under one roof on new and exciting technologies that could potentially change the world.�

Tomorrow Street Life changing for small businesses

Making a difference Overlooking the bustling business hub of Luxembourg city, it seems that Tomorrow Street is truly at the epicentre of something extraordinary. It offers both a professional and creative environment, with themed pods and sleek boardrooms on-hand for the selected startups. Combined with the expertise and resources provided, it is easy to

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TOMORROW STREET

visualise the ground-breaking startups that will soon occupy this space and transform the tech sector.

“I think we’re at the start of something really great here,” reflects Cramer. “I’ve travelled around the globe and talked to many governments and large corporate organisations and a lot of the feedback that I get is that we’ve got something that can really make a difference. I think the next five years will be very exciting for the innovation centre. I think we are going to grow exponentially, to be really honest with you.”

The tech industry is often preoccupied with finding a silver bullet or a so-called ‘unicorn’

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“Working in a big organisation, we can sometimes forget that some of the small gestures that we can make can have a big impact on small startups and companies.

We can really make a difference and that can be lifechanging” Warrick Cramer CEO, Tomorrow Street

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company, however, Tomorrow Street is about more than that – it’s about taking business-ready startups to a global stage, helping disruptive technologies enter the market and, most importantly, truly revolutionising the tech sector.

“For me personally, one of my core missions is trying to make a difference,” says Cramer. “It’s not always about looking for that unicorn or that silver bullet because, although

we’d love to find it, it shouldn’t be our main focus point. Working in a big organisation, we can sometimes forget that some of the small gestures that we can make can have a big impact on small startups and companies.

We can really make a difference and that can be life-changing.”

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Culture Shift: PeoplePowered Digital Transformation at UBS Written by Romily Broad Produced by Kiron Chavda

Mike Dargan has just finished one year as Global Head of Technology at UBS. We delve into the technology strategy that aims to deliver the world’s biggest wealth manager into bold digital future

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wiss banking giant UBS has recently opened its new office building in the heart of London. A vast groundscraper tucked under the capital’s scrupulous height restrictions, it’s an all-new 12-storey, 700,000 sq ft City landmark that appears as if hewn directly from a single giant slab of polished steel.

Its design aims to reflect the enduring solidity of the 155-year-old institution, but simultaneously broadcasts a message of technological momentum.

A prominent node integrated with the City’s elaborate network of streets and alleys, the building carries the look of London’s own personal server rack.

We make our way through a vast lobby constructed much like a small mall - its outlets there to serve the needs of the building’s 5,000+ workers - and up to sumptuously appointed client meeting spaces. We’re there to talk to the man most directly responsible for delivering UBS into a singularly technological future.

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Mike Dargan, Group CIO, UBS

UBS

The Global Head of Technology Mike Dargan has not long celebrated his first anniversary as Global Head of Technology at UBS. He joined from Standard Chartered in October 2016 after a whirlwind recruitment process involving around 20 interviews. From headhunter call to contract it took just four weeks.

“When we want to move quickly, we can move quickly!” Dargan recalls.

But he’s used to moving quickly.

Dargan earned his stripes at consultancy Oliver Wyman after graduating from Oxford, working with many of the world’s top financial institutions. He then took a position at Merrill Lynch and made managing director by the time he turned 30.

The global financial crisis of 2008 could have stalled him mid-flight, but he helped weather the storm there, playing a significant role in the integration of Merrill with Bank of America, before a judicious move to Standard Chartered in 2009. Standard Chartered had ridden the storm rather better than most, and Dargan’s trajectory remained unbowed.

But while he had risen to occupy

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positions of huge strategic importance, at no point thus far had Dargan entered the technology arena specifically.

He did just that after four years at Standard Chartered, when offered the role of CIO for Financial Markets.

“I was asked to step in to improve the relationship between the business and technology and operations, and take things in a different way,” he says.

“My background, through most of my career, was not technology.

It wasn’t something I was thinking about doing. But I fundamentally believe the underlying nature of

Mike Dargan with Business Chief Europe’s Romily Broad at UBS’s striking London HQ.

banking is technology and that the world would move to tech and to the automation of operations, and so it intrigued me. I decided to do it.”

And he hasn’t looked back since.

After initially inheriting a team of 2,500 and a $250mn budget, by the time he left to join UBS three years later he was CIO of corporate and institutional banking with a $1bn budget and accountability for staff of 11,000.

Now, at UBS as Global Head of Technology, he manages a budget of 10% of the bank’s revenues and looks after a tech workforce totalling more

than 20,000. It’s a team loaded with talent and spread around the globe, tasked with enabling UBS and its core business areas – wealth management, retail banking, investment banking and asset management - to seize the opportunities of a rapidly digitising world.

Cultural Revolution “It was an intense first year, shall we say,” says Dargan. He says that while he found a committed, talented and stable organisation,

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TECHNOLOGY

it was one burdened by many of the usual issues of legacy infrastructure, layers of process and a patchwork of applications.

He set about changing all that, and as he describes to us the approach he took, a consistent theme quickly emerges: Dargan’s deep commitment to a people-first tech philosophy.

There’s a difference between ‘management’ and ‘motivation’, he says, so among of the first of his actions was for he and his team to hit the road.

A lot.

“I think there’s a change in what people are looking for in terms of leadership. I think people are craving a more personal style than we have in larger or more regulated institutions. So my management team and I do what we call coffee corners. Coffee corners have 20, 30, 40, 50 people in them,” he says.

The small, intimate coffee corners reflect his belief that being as open, accessible and transparent as possible is one of his greatest responsibilities. It’s a personal and very direct means of communicating

the honest views of management and to involve every member of a huge, diverse team in what’s happening.

Dargan left his Zurich base to conduct 62 coffee corners and team events in his first year – more than one per week.

“I’ve done Singapore three times, Hong Kong three times, New York four, London four or five, India two or three, Poland two or three, different parts of Switzerland… because it’s the only way.”

He also regularly blogs for internal consumption, covering topics as varied as techniques for ruthless prioritisation and achieving a sustainable work-life balance. It’s a dedication to communication aimed squarely at motivating his organisation around its purpose at the heart of the bank. He says it’s about building a collaborative culture rooted in empowerment, business alignment, customer centricity and strong technical excellence.

“For me, there’s a big piece around what that intersection is between the business and technology. How do you bring those two sides together as much as possible? Only when you’re

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Facts & Figures

Number of Employees 61,000

Bank Revenue $28 billion

working that intersection of business and technology do you bring things together. There’s a connectivity that we’re trying to build up.”

Underpinning Dargan’s culture shift as well is a desire to create a work environment fit for the needs of a modern workforce. UBS isn’t just competing with other banks for tech talent, but a galaxy of start-ups, Facebook, Google, and the like.

On that basis he says enabling a highly-regulated environment like a bank to shrug off some of its more

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Employees in Tech 20,000+

Tech budget 10% of bank revenue

prescriptive work habits is key to creating a desirable place to work, and to help foster collaboration and liberate effective decision making.

Hugely reducing the burden of inflexible KPIs was one step – it’s down from more than 100 to just 20 for the technology team. Or, at its most basic level, down to just two: 1) Identify and deliver desired outcomes; 2) do it on budget.

“If you are definitely hitting your budget, you are doing it within the parameters of risk, you are defining

“Only when you’re working that intersection of business and technology do you bring things together. There’s a connectivity that we’re trying to build up” – Mike Dargan, Group CIO your outcomes in partnership with the business… If those were your only two metrics and you understand, internalise, interpret them in the right way, that enables you to run your business.”

A diverse workforce is an empowered one, too, stresses Dargan.

His logic is straight forward - if the human population is 50-50 malefemale, then a technology organisation with too few females probably doesn’t have the right level of talent. As if timed to make the point, a few days

after we speak Dargan is joining colleagues at base in Switzerland for a week-long series of events aimed at furthering the cause of gender diversity in tech. UBS also marked International Day of the Girl recently, and has an ongoing Women in Technology initiative.

“I look at the world through many lenses. One is that I’m a father to two young daughters. Another is my job and what that means.

There’s been a big piece for us in terms of what diversity means.”

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UBS

Mike Dargan

Global Head of Technology, UBS

A five-point plan Dargan doesn’t need to digitise banking. As he points out, banking has been digital for decades.

“If you distil banking down to its essence, banking is nothing other than the digital transportation of data. But we’re in the process now, I think, of waking up to how we need to re-digitalize banking. I think there’s an increasing realisation that everything will be underpinned by technology.

“UBS actually has a very strong infrastructure; its stability is very strong. The piece that we wanted to focus on was how we reconnect the organisation with the business in a much stronger way. How do we focus on what people do, the type of people we have, how we interact with our vendors, and the underlying outcomefocused culture we wanted to develop.”

To tackle that challenge, Dargan has circled the technology team around five operational pillars of digital transformation at UBS, coffee corner by coffee corner.

First has been defining the core vision – the ultimate objective of UBS’ technology journey: “Not just for the

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technology organisation itself, but what does technology mean at UBS? How do we keep UBS competitive as the world increasingly digitises?”

Second is harmonising the ‘how’.

Dargan has placed a premium on the development of clear, business-aligned technical roadmaps. The aim is to end a pattern so ubiquitous in large organisations of siloed operations where applications and services tend to be developed in a vacuum, their outputs inconsistent and poorly integrated.

“What do we do, how do people develop technology, architecture?

So we have an efficiency strategy of standardised road maps for each area.”

The third pillar has seen the remapping of the technology organisation structure itself, from top to bottom, which in turn relates to a fourth pillar dedicated to defining and simplifying as far as possible the operational processes, KPIs and financials against which the organisation’s performance is judged.

“There’s no doubt at all that automation is a trend. Is it clear the path we’ll take? Is it clear that it’s robotics or AI? Not really...”

Read more from Mike Dargan at Gigabitmagazine.com

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Mike Dargan’s

Journey Educated Oxford (MA 1st class, Philosophy, Politics & Economics)

1999 Head of CIB, Asia-Pacific, Oliver Wyman. Leadership in Asia of management consultancy’s corporate and institutional banking arm.

2005 Managing Director, corporate strategy and M&A, Asia/EMEA/PacRim, Merrill Lynch. Aged just 30, oversaw acquisition activity including a ‘host’ of banks across Asia and the purchase of India’s largest investment bank. Helped lead Merrill Lynch-Bank of America merger during global financial crisis.

2009 Managing Director, Strategy Global Markets, Standard Chartered Bank. Strategy leadership.

2013 CIO, Financial Markets, Standard Chartered Bank. New role bridging the “very difficult relationship” between the business and its operations and technology back office. Later added wealth, security services and private banking business, before becoming CIO for corporate and institutional banking.

2016 Group CIO, UBS. Leads a 24,000-strong tech team to deliver services underpinning all the Swiss banking giant’s businesses.

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Finally, the fifth pillar articulates workforce and vendor strategy. Or, as Dargan puts it, “how we actually get stuff done”. Simplification and efficiency is the key: “I inherited a workforce that was much more vendor than permanent staff. So we made some changes and continue to make changes on that, as well as vendors. We were operating with too many vendors. We’ve exited tens so far and we have more to do by the end of the year.” Crucially, they need their vendors and partners to meet not only technical requirements but also that they share similar values and support their cultural evolution.

think of what are the five things we do.”

A is for Automation: “So automation, how do you automate processes or manual work to get the best possible outcome. So that may be AI, it may be robotics, it may be simple software, it may be unstructured [data], and so on. But: automation.”

B is for (un)Bundling: “Unbundling is really two aspects.

How do you move to an open API type environment and/or blockchain?

Embracing those sorts of technologies to drive things in a different way.”

C is for Cloud: Innovation Outcomes While Dargan’s five vision-orientated operational pillars will power the engine of continuous improvement for UBS’ technology group, another five focus points help him communicate what the outcomes of all that effort will actually look like. They are his A,B,C,D, and E of innovation.

He explains: “I think the simpler you make things, the better it is. So the ABCDE is, for me, the simplest way to

“What do I see as the biggest change we all see? I think it is banks embracing cloud as one of the core areas of what we do. Two years from now I’d expect 75 percent of our apps to be cloud-enabled.”

D is for Data: “Banking is data. As a client you identify a number, generate a transaction.

That transaction is data - it goes to an execution platform, a pricing, a trading,

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UBS

a risk, a settlement, a confirmation.

And that routes back to you as an identified number and you have done a trade. Banking is essentially just the transportation of data.”

E is for Experience: “User experience or client experience. I think more and more we need to think back from the client journey and how we design in that way, and I don’t think historically we have done. Do I think that people are going to entrust an AI bot to give them advice about their wealth and their mortgage and their children and their schooling for example?

Not really. But I do think the greater data, the greater analytics, the more technology-enabled the clientrelationship management, all can serve to better help people with what they want to do with banking.”

The future Twelve months in, Dargan has helped UBS’ vast technology team find a sharp focus to its purpose as the essential enabler of the company’s future. It’s a period that’s already

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1862 The year UBS was founded

seen the roll-out begin of a $1bn unified tech platform for UBS’ flagship wealth management business, called the One Wealth Management Platform.

It’s succeeded in rationalising a historically fragmented infrastructure globally into one centralised system.

And work continues apace on what Dargan calls the “Client Experience 20/20” (or CX2020), UBS’s strategy for constant improvement in client experience up to 2020 and beyond. It focuses on the digitalisation of endto-end processes in personal and corporate banking in Switzerland.

He’s simplified the core mission, the process by which it will be accomplished and measured, and set about facilitating 24,000 talented people to be first-rate partners to the business around the globe.

The pace won’t slacken over the next 12 months and beyond, however.

He’s quick to admit that, as with many

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large institutions racing to embrace a digital destiny, an existing, highly competent workforce will need to be supplemented by new skills.

“Do we have enough skills of the right type or the right sort? No. So this is a great plug that we are out there hiring engineers and other deeply technical people and we want them to come to UBS because it’s a great place to work.

Do we want to supplement what we have with skills as we move toward our ABCDE? Yes, we have already started down that path,” he says.

A continuous stretch towards true agility is also a goal. Agile is a methodology that demands appropriate development toolchains, automated testing, and so on, but systems mean little without the right partnership mindset, insists Dargan. True agility, and the ability to quickly provide transformative technology to the whole business, will ultimately depend on developing a collaborative organisational culture empowered to deliver it.

With every cup of coffee and with every blog post, it’s clear that maintaining the human side of technology is a mission he’s taking quite personally.

ENGIE ELECTRABEL: DIGISTISATION LEADING TO CUSTOMER SATISFACTION Written by Laura Mullan Produced by Andrew Lloyd

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ENGIE ELECTRABEL

As an environmentally-conscious, customer-focused energy provider, ENGIE Electrabel is going back to basics to ensure its IT systems are a solid foundation for innovation

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o one is on course for the energy revolution quite like ENGIE Electrabel. By championing the so-called ‘three Ds’ – decarbonisation, decentralisation, and digitalisation – the Belgiumbased subsidiary of ENGIE is leading the way towards a low-carbon future.

Yet, the company’s digitisation strategy is not only helping it take up the fight against climate change, it is also aiding ENGIE Electrabel’s efforts towards operational excellence and customer satisfaction.

At the heart of the company’s digitisation is Chief Information Officer Marc-Grégoire Lallemand.

IT is, by all accounts, a driver of business at ENGIE Electrabel Marketing & Sales activities, and Lallemand is confident that

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digitisation will be crucial in making its low-carbon, customerfocused vision a reality.

“At ENGIE, we’re really transforming the business,” Lallemand observes.

“We have positioned ourselves as a company that goes beyond the standard sale of energy. We’re looking to produce more creative tools to make progress in the world, whether that’s for the environment or for our customers, and certainly, in my world of marketing and sales, it is extremely IT-driven.”

Silence in IT Not only is Lallemand a CIO, he also describes himself as a Chief Silence Officer and is keen to promote a dual strategy based on silence in IT to enable a move

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Marc-GrĂŠgoire Lallemand Chief Information Officer, ENGIE Electrabel

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ENGIE ELECTRABEL

“It’s very encouraging to see that we are moving the needle, we are really changing the company from an industrial company that only produces and sells energy to a more creative one, that is working for progress in this world” Marc-Grégoire Lallemand Chief Information Officer, ENGIE Electrabel

Helping clients accelerate the pace of change, driven by the demands of digital customers and the need to transform the production and consumption of energy. www.cgi.com/utilities

IT and Business consulting

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Systems integration

Outsourcing

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to Business 4.0. With a strong presence spanning six continents and 70 countries, thousands of activities happen at ENGIE Group every day. For Lallemand, if the basic IT systems can run efficiently, silently, and at a reasonable cost, then his team can focus on projects that add value for its customers.

To meet the demands of Business 4.0, Lallemand and his team improved the company’s operational excellence whilst reducing its operating expense.

Between 2011 and 2016, the firm reduced its IT operational costs by 40% and it intends to reduce it further thanks to its lean 2018 programme.

By streamlining the basics and getting silence in IT, ENGIE Electrabel has gained the freedom and resources to focus on disruptive digital tools.

“You cannot move to Business 4.0 if you can’t sufficiently free up your resources and if don’t have silence in IT,” Lallemand explains.

“Until your current IT systems are up to scratch, your team don’t have the time to work on the next phase, the next developments.

It is extremely ineffective and costly if your resources are busy tackling past issues instead of focusing on future innovations and that’s why we have been focusing on silence in IT to start with.”

Customer-centric Since 1905, ENGIE Electrabel has evolved to become more than just an energy provider. As part of the ENGIE Group, it has honed its vision and become a customerfocused company that offers a spectrum of innovative ideas and digital tools. By overhauling its system architecture and offering personalised services, ENGIE is empowering its customers and raising the bar in the energy sector.

“There is a lot of IT-intensive activity at ENGIE and its very customer-focused,” says Lallemand.

“We’ve been busy developing new products and services to empower our customers because whilst having energy is important, what we really want to offer is comfort, as well as energy.”

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ENGIE ELECTRABEL

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Digitally disrupting the energy sector Thanks to digital trends such as artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, ENGIE is gaining a 360-degree view of its customers, building intelligent applications, and creating a dialogue with its customers. In this way, ENGIE Electrabel is not only providing energy, but also providing peace of mind.

“Big data is extremely important in today’s world and so it is clear to see Number of employees why ENGIE wants to become a dataat ENGIE Electrabel driven company,” comments Lallemand.

“Certainly, in order to provide added value to the customer, we need to be able to get and crunch the data for our customers and offer personalised solutions that make sense for them.

Customers were accustomed to just getting energy from us in the past but now what we really provide is services. That is where big data comes into play.”

Robotic process automation is another area of focus for the Belgian firm. “The main purpose of our RPA project is to reduce the repetitive, low value-adding tasks that our staff often have to do,” notes Lallemand. “This gives our workforce more time to serve the customer and they are happier because they can focus their efforts on more meaningful, customer-focused jobs.

“As well as this, we have also just launched a messaging platform so that we can speak

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ENGIE ELECTRABEL

directly with our customers using the everyday tools they use to talk with their family and friends.”

Continually evolving As a customer-focused energy provider, a responsible producer of electricity, and a committed societal player, ENGIE Electrabel is striving to be top energy supplier for Belgium.

Boasting around 2.8mn customers,

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the firm is leading the transition towards a low-carbon future.

However, ENGIE Electrabel doesn’t underestimate the challenges that lie ahead and is keen to evolve and grow.

“We are in the midst of a big transformation programme that has been very successful for ENGIE,” says Lallemand. “It’s very encouraging to see that we are moving the needle, we are

“It all comes back to the ‘three Ds’ – decarbonisation, decentralisation, and digitisation” Marc-Grégoire Lallemand Chief Information Officer, ENGIE Electrabel

really changing the company from an industrial company that only produces and sells energy to a more creative one, that is working for progress in this world.

“This is a big shift in our mindset and it all comes back to the ‘three Ds’ – decarbonisation, decentralisation, and digitisation,” he adds “This shift is about much more than the IT, of course, but the company’s

digitalisation strategy is crucial to making these changes a reality.”

Whether its creating new, innovative digital tools or working closely with partners it seems that agility and customer centricity has been key to ENGIE Electrabel’s success – and, of course, this has all be achieved silently with IT.

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CDLAN’s Caldera21 puts Milan on the colocation map Written by Tom Wadlow Produced by Lewis Vaughan

CDLAN SRL

Having opened in June 2016, company Founder and CEO Corrado Del Po gives the inside track on the state-of-the-art Tier IV data centre

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A

passion for IT and growing fascination of the internet while studying in Milan led Corrado Del Po to found CDLAN in 2000, a company which today boasts a $20mn turnover and has elevated the city’s reputation for high quality data services.

Last year, the business opened its most impressive asset to date, Caldera21, a Tier IV equivalent colocation data centre in the heart of Milan’s data district, Caldera Park.

CONSTRUCTION

“The Italian colocation industry has been historically dominated by telco data centres while the internet core was growing in Caldera Park, a private campus and the most network dense area in the city,” Del Po explains.

“It is only in recent years that massive data centres have been launched around Milan, sites managed by large international companies.”

CDLAN certainly competes with the global players that have moved into town, no better demonstrated

than by the recent awarding of ISO 27001: 2013 and ISO 9001: 2015 quality management certifications.

Its clients can be rest assured that their data is safe when housed in one of its facilities.

Caldera21 This rings true at the company’s newest colocation data centre, Caldera21. A purpose-built data centre, as opposed to the other facilities on the Caldera Park

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CDLAN SRL

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“High resiliency, high power density, high security level and redundant connectivity – having all of these qualities meant that our data centre was natively born without a competitor” CORRADO DEL PO, FOUNDER AND CEO, CDLAN

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campus, it is also the site’s only exclusively colocation facility.

“With a multi-year experience operating in the business campus and a good understanding of what new and existing customers wanted from their co-lo provider, we have simply built up a data centre whose features were unique compared to the existing campus data centres,” Del Po says.

“High resiliency, high power density, high security level and redundant connectivity – having all of these qualities meant that our data centre was natively born without a competitor. Essentially, we built a five-star hotel on the last piece of land available in a city with only three-star hotels.”

Being a 3,100 sqm building with an initial 400 rack capacity and 1,400 sqm of whitespace, Caldera21 is physically sizable as well as technologically future-proof.

Del Po also points to the sustainable credentials of the data centre, which include energy efficient lighting and an effective, bespoke cooling system.

The latter in particular is emphasised

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by Del Po as key to cutting energy use. The 800mm raised floor allows breathing space for wiring and helps to distribute heat, while the internal mechanics of the building permit hot and cold aisle containment which helps to eliminate hotspots.

Despite the constraints of operating in a business campus, which limits the size of the cooling system that can be installed outside of the building, Caldera21 still achieves a 1.35 annualised power usage effectiveness (PUE).

with speed and a personal touch, key components that Del Po is eager to maintain.

“Human relationships define our customer service and support,” he says. “CDLAN is a 30-people company and even if we implemented a full suite of self-provisioned services through our customer portal, we still prefer to maintain a personal contact between our customers and staff.”

Another crucial factor in ensuring customer happiness for Del Po is offering value, and CDLAN has greatly

Customer-centric CDLAN’s team handle all technical and customer engagement operations, allowing it to operate

CORRADO DEL PO Founder and CEO, CDLAN

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CDLAN SRL

diversified its portfolio of services in order to become more relevant to its clients. As well as providing fibre optic, ADSL and XDSL, wireless and transit IP internet solutions to businesses in Milan, CDLAN also provides a number of Voice over IP services. This is on top of the cloudbased staples like disaster recovery, virtual servers, remote backup, data storage and ecommerce functions.

As well as the ISO certifications, the company has other accreditations that demonstrate its ability to deliver its ever-widening suite of services. It has achieved Level 3 Master Italian Reseller status, a testament to the quality and cost-effectiveness of its broadband provision, and has also been awarded professional service provider status by VMware.

With the global colocation data centre market set to grow from $31.52bn this year to $62.30bn by 2022, growing at over 14.5% a year, CDLAN is well placed to take advantage of businesses in the Milan region looking to reap the advantages on offer.

Del Po concludes: “Our goal will

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“CDLAN is a 30-people company and even if we implemented a full suite of selfprovisioned services through our customer portal, we stillw prefer to maintain a personal contact between our customers and staff” CORRADO DEL PO FOUNDER AND CEO, CDLAN

be to leverage from co-lo and cloud services and to grow our value-added services. The premium position of our state-of-the-art data centre in the heart of the Italian internet, the technical capabilities to tailor customised solutions and the smart way we move compared to larger enterprises, will help us achieve this.”

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Pride of Norway: How Green Mountain is impacting the global data centre industry Written by Nell Walker Produced by Lewis Vaughan

G R E E N M O U N TA I N A S

Tor Kristian Gyland, CEO of Green Mountain, describes the wealth of competitive advantages offered by his business in its quest to be the greenest data centre business in the world

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F

ounded by the Smedvig family, a group well-renowned in Norway since 1915, Green Mountain – an exceptionally sustainable co-location data centre business – is perfectly placed in the most prolific hydroelectric hub around. The Smedvig family had spent decades in the oil and gas industry, even implementing the first Norwegian-owned oil rig in the North Sea, before exiting that market in 2006, and buying a great deal of property with which to make smart investments. One such investment was Green Mountain.

Tor Kristian Gyland has around 25 years of experience in the industry and joined the Green Mountain team in 2010, a year after its inception.

Within his former Chief Operating Officer role, Gyland was focused on operational and technical responsibilities, as well as establishing the two data centre sites Green Mountain currently operates. Now, he has taken the helm as Chief Executive Officer, and leads the business in its drive to be the greenest data centre business in the world.

Thanks to investor faith in the Smedvig family to make the right decisions, Green Mountain found its feet quickly, and is now a major player in the local and international data centre market.

“Norway is in a unique position thanks to the amount of hydro power being produced,” says Gyland. “A lot of countries in Europe are quite envious of that, and it was one of the reasons behind the decision for the Smedvig family to invest in a data centre in Norway. They were following that industry, and saw that Norway had a unique potential to take a huge part of the co-location market.”

Sustainability was a vital ingredient for this project. “The first data centre location we were able to get hold of close to Stavanger, was a former NATO ammunition storage facility inside a mountain and has a fjord next to it that enables natural cooling. The goal was then to build the greenest data centre in the world, and we are certainly a market leader for that. We are setting the green standard.”

While using hydroelectric energy and cold water for cooling is nothing new in Norway, Green Mountain has

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ALTIBOX IS BUILDING TOMORROW’S FIBER NETWORK Opportunities and challenges go hand in hand when we talk about the future. Norway is the world leader in using technology - and Altibox customers are at the forefront of this development.

Since 2002, we have been aware that tomorrow’s technology would require fiber. And we are proud to offer our customers world-class fiber technology today.

Altibox has a heart in the mountains – that’s for sure!

Norway’s largest data center is located 175 meters deep inside the mountain of Rennesøy in Rogaland. It is a fully monitored, secured and organized area where unbelievably large amounts of data are stored. Here, in what was formerly NATO’s ammunition store, Altibox has placed its server park. Safety at the facility is strict, and even the smallest movement is continuously monitored around the clock.

It is also important for Altibox to care about the environment.

Therefore, we have placed our servers in green data centers powered by renewable energy. From the cool Mastra Fjord water is collected from 100 meters deep. This is pumped into the plant and maintains a constant temperature of 8 degrees.

Altibox fiber for ALL! Altibox is the first in the Nordic countries, the second in Europe and one of the 10 first companies in the world to use new core routers from Cisco (NCS). The powerful equipment helps Altibox meet the customers’ capacity needs and reduces the increase in expenses associated with future traffic growth.

Regardless of whether the company is local, federal or has branches in several places in Norway, we have the broadband solution that guarantees security, stability and superior capacity - both today and in the future.

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Products. Technology. Services. Delivered Globally.

CONSTRUCTION

upscaled those natural resources heavily to the extent that no competitors have an identical solution.

With the Stavanger data centre successfully opened in 2013, customers were soon requesting another in a different region with zero redundancy. Thus, Green Mountain opened a second data centre at a brownfield location in Telemark a year later. This data centre has no real limitation on land, ensuring the business can continue to grow, and is proving to be of particular interest to international customers.

The mistake some people make, says Gyland, is thinking that Norway is in the middle of nowhere, but those in the know are aware of Norway’s exceptional latency.

“We’re quite close to London,” he explains. “The latency from the Stavanger location to London is 6.5 milliseconds, and the cost of operating a data centre within London compared to Norway is incomparable. We are able to deliver capacity at a much more competitive price, especially when you add in that the power cost in Norway is a third of what it is in

the UK. As a result, we have a lot of interest from the UK market moving outside of London and seeing the benefit of our data centres.”

The advantages of Green Mountain’s location are unending, and while the business always keeps its eye on the market elsewhere, Gyland and his management team have yet to find another nation that even remotely compares.

“Our belief that building where the power is and using fibre cables to transport the data communication, rather than transporting power, has proved a successful model for us – but we are always looking into opportunities, both inside and outside of Norway,” he states.

Some of the highest levels of sustainability in the world are not all Green Mountain has to offer customers. The business offers two solution models depending on the volume of data the customer needs to store; for a smaller volume, Green Mountain can create and fill a hundred-rack room in around three months using trusted contractors who are used to establishing new

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“We are able to deliver capacity at a much more competitive price, especially when you add in that the power cost in Norway is a third of what it is in the UK” – Tor Kristian Gyland, CEO

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infrastructure. Thanks to the cooling system, the business is able to go to a high capacity per rack, meaning that space and temperature are not issues.

Larger companies needing over two megawatts of data space can expect to have the space they need created within six months, and while Green Mountain is unable to be quite as flexible with this option, it is still one of the most efficient choices.

This level of flexibility is made simple thanks to Green Mountain’s grasp of advanced IT. After identifying early on that the business required a DCIM (data centre infrastructure management)

Sustainability is key to Green Mountain’s operations

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WE CARE

Nokas is a leading security group with operations in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. We supply security and cash handling solutions to clients across Scandinavia.

www.nokas.com | post@nokas.com

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Inside a Green Mountain data centre

solution for its customers, Green Mountain originally used a standard vendor service, but quickly realised that it wasn’t good enough.

“There were a lot of limitations,” Gyland explains. “The cost of consultants was exploding, there were licensing issues, and problems with integration. So, three years ago, we decided to develop our own system.

“The one thing about us operating as a co-location facility is that we’re not that involved in what’s happening in the rack – that’s the

customer’s responsibility – and a lot of the DCIM products cover the entire range of rack information, so we were able just to take what we needed for our requirements and built it into our own system.”

One major advantage of the service Green Mountain has ended up with is cutting down on administrative work, due to the system itself generating reports for the customer. The customer can see the overview of what is happening with their servers in real-time, but on top of that, Green Mountain creates PDF reports and automatically bills clients for power.

“We wanted a solution where we could automatically match the agreed SLA [service-level agreement] with the achieved SLA. We had that as a goal and spent half a year developing our own solution. Having gone live in October last year, this solution has revolutionised the market. A lot of our competitors see what we’ve done and are envious of it. We have even received several awards for it.”

So where can Green Mountain go from here? Gyland is currently focussed on further improving sustainability within

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“We are always looking into opportunities, both inside and outside of Norway” – Tor Kristian Gyland, CEO 138

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the business, despite having most elements of that ticked off thanks to the location. But on top of that, waste management is a priority, and also the waste management of the company’s customers. It stands to reason that a business fiercely proud of its lack of environmental impact would hold standards for its clients too.

“We have KPIs on the amount of waste being recycled, and if our customers are not recycling within our KPIs, we let them know,” Gyland states.

Green Mountain’s other focus is continuing to be competitive and connected. It has worked extensively on Norway’s connectivity as it has historically been an issue,

due to the size of the land mass compared with a small population.

As such, the business has invested heavily in fibre to the point that its connectivity is now competitive within the European market.

“Having all those elements in place, my main focus will be bringing that message out in the international market and attracting more clients,” Gyland says. “We have an employee in Toronto working on the American market, where the focus is moving to the Nordics, and two sales people employed in the UK, with more to come internationally.

“It is now being noted that Norway is special and I want to keep that awareness growing.”

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Thames Water A supply chain transformation Written by Dale Benton Produced by Richard Durrant

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Thames Water, the UK’s biggest water and sewerage company, has undergone a radical supplier transformation of late, as the organisation looks to match the quality of its network with a level of service that delivers

A

s one of the largest utility companies in the UK, serving more than 15million customers on a daily basis, Thames Water has a clear responsibility to provide essential services that are of the highest quality, and it can successfully do so through a strong and reliable supplier network.

However, managing a network of suppliers and contractors that encompasses around 12,000 people working directly for the organisation or as part of a thirdparty contract can prove difficult.

It was not so long ago that Thames Water was consistently ranked the lowest in the annual supplier satisfaction survey from British Water. Fast forward to 2017

however, and Thames Water now ranks within the top two and has won a number of major awards, (including Construction Client of the Year and the Supply Chain Excellence Customer Service award).

The reason for the historically low rankings, as Jon Loveday, Group Commercial Director explains, was a lack of any real commercial strategy, the supplier contracts and company goals were misaligned and there was a deep rooted belief that suppliers represented lowest cost and could not provide a value proposition.

“I wasn’t brought in to develop a strategy initially, I was tasked with managing Thames Water’s existing suppliers,” he says. “Thames Water was seen as an aggressive client

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and difficult to deal with. It was a contractual approach and disputes were commonplace that really didn’t leave room for developing any form of rapport or solid relationship between the organisation and the suppliers.

“It was really hurting Thames Water and all parties overheads were growing to deal with the mistrust”.

It was through Loveday’s role in managing that supplier network that he and the organisation identified an opportunity to create a transformation strategy, one that would significantly change the way in which Thames Water operated from top to bottom.

To put it simply, Loveday set out to create a standalone commercial function for Thames Water and in order to do so, the first order of businesses was to quickly settle a number of disputes between the organisation and its supplier network. This, Loveday points out, allowed the organisation to remove pain points in order to focus entirely on proper commercial management of key contracts.

One of the first transformations took place in the waste network, a

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contract which oversaw the crucial maintenance of all the sewers across London and the Thames Valley area.

“At the time he joined the programme had around 7,000 customer facing jobs in backlog, a significant level of distrust had built up between the contractors and the Thames Water employees meaning that not enough time was be focused on the problem at hand. Planning and execution was disjointed and too much time was spent on checking whether jobs were valued and paid for correctly rather getting the job done expediently for customers”.

For Loveday, the task was to realign the organisation’s approach to the supply network in order to establish a more mature, integrated contract.

This initially involved much closer and open working with the suppliers, creating a culture where challenges were approached together.

Performance management and subsequent actions were carried out jointly through tough weekly sessions. This established a sense of order and soon the operation got back to a managed level. Since then

S U P P LY C H A I N

“It was critical in getting not only the Thames Water people aligned but more importantly, getting the suppliers aligned around one vision” – Jon Loveday, Group Commercial Director, Thames Water

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S U P P LY C H A I N

the Thames Water and supplier teams have become co-located in a purpose built centre. KPIs and the commercial model have been refined and aligned.

“We’ve got to a point now where we have a very mature contract and very, very mature commercial model which is the envy of the industry,” says Loveday.

It would be easy to suggest that the sole driving force behind the transformation of Thames Water’s whole approach to its supplier network is just improving the relationships and focusing on the bottom line.

Loveday, though, is keen to stress that the transformation was born out of a base level need to improve the company’s operational performance.

Thames Water, as noted previously, has more than 12,000 people working every day on its assets, including 5,000 direct staff, but with no commercial strategy in place it was clear that there was also something else missing: alignment.

“Previously there was a focus on the direct staff, despite the large numbers of contractors we

had working on projects for us,” says Loveday. “We just seemed to ignore them and yet many are in customer facing roles.”

Loveday set out to and rebranded all of the customer facing roles so that everyone wore the same uniforms and drove the same vehicles. It made commercial sense, but also from an operational and customer perspective is started to align behaviour towards customer service instead of the individual needs of companies.

Next up was alliancing, for Loveday, was very symbolic as it represented a new way of working, shared outcomes rather than traditional rate-based contracts.

“What we did from a behavioural standpoint is align people to a new vision for the organisation, a new set of values,” he says. “It was critical in getting not only the Thames Water people aligned but more importantly, getting the suppliers aligned around one vison.”

By establishing a more alliance based approach, this allows Thames Water to create more customer focused contracts that enables more

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effective and efficient suppliers, all team have created a suite of leading whilst critically reducing the amount analytics capability and tools. These of overhead that was historically include spend analytics with circa building up on both sides. £7bn of historic spend and £3bn of As a leading utility within the UK, future spend profiled and commodity Thames Water’s funding is regulated, price tracking. More and more of and so reducing overhead spending the frameworks are now procured and realising cost savings wherever and managed by the Thames team possible is crucial in the continued which its partners then use. success and transformation “We’re using this data of the organisation. along with some clever To that end, analytics. It’s helping Loveday’s us to understand our commercial spend now and how team has taken it is likely to influence procurement to our future spend, the next level. be that on future Number of employees at Thames Water Behavioural projects or even future procurement internal programmes,” techniques are now says Loveday. standard in much of Thames Water has also utilised what Thames Water do, this is a cutting-edge performance tool because having the right people called Pulse. Pulse provides realis in many ways more critical than time tracking of the organisation’s the right price. Thames Water performance and provides rightly focus on working safely Loveday with a clear picture as and creating an environment of to what the organisation is doing innovation as well as price. in terms of spend, project time, Data and analytics play an and more importantly, where important part. The commercial savings are being made.

5,000

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“Through the use of these tools, we are tracking every day just how well we are performing and how well we could perform,” he says. “They help us achieve what we want to achieve, cost savings, signing of contracts, but also we know if we don’t sign a contract exactly how much its going to cost us. They are really powerful tools.”

All of this granular data has enabled a level of understanding of the true cost of operations that only a short period ago was hidden. This has led to another of the major successes Loveday has overseen at Thames Water, the creation of the Logistics Management Centre, (LMC). The LMC now manages the majority of the supply chain operations for Thames Water and a number of its partners. With five warehouses, eight forward stock locations, stock is dynamically managed and distributed. Where is it beneficial to do so Thames Water buy, maintain and distribute their own plant. The function provides a 24/7 response to emergency bursts and floods across the patch. By cleverly utilising specialist vehicle assets to their full potential the LMC have delivered significant savings to the business (circa 15-30% across all activities). “the true cost of logistics was hidden with separate contracts, what we have discovered is that we can plan better, react quicker and run logistics vastly more efficiently by

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Creating and maintaining external environments that are safe and enjoyable for all.

Ground Control is an award winning external maintenance and commercial landscaping contractor, servicing over 45,000 sites across the UK, 365 days a year.

Working across a range of sectors, Ground Control utilises the latest technology and practices to provide cost effective, high quality services and seamless delivery.

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S U P P LY C H A I N

pooling resources across all the business units and supply chain.

We have plans to triple the size of this function next year”.

The transformation of Thames Water is an ongoing process. The organisation has already seen success, the very same survey in which it was failing has now ranked it within the top two utility companies in the country.

Loveday is all too aware that for any transformation of this scale, the real measure of any success, particularly one with a supplier network like that of Thames Water, is the response from those suppliers and contractors where the relationship was previously non-existent.

“We’ve had a real positive response,” he says. “We’re trying

to get people that are going to be compatible with our values and our goals and ways of working, and to make these alliances a success. So, it’s not just the clever commercial models, it’s actually taking it to a people level to try and give these things a head-start because any contract is only as good as the relationships you’ve got and those relationships take time to develop.”

And time it will take, but Loveday can already see a change in fortunes for Thames Water.

“There are a number of large suppliers that previously wouldn’t work for Thames Water, and now they do. This is because of our historic aggressive approach that we have worked so hard to transform,” he concludes.

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How FLSmidth’s supply chain setup enhances customer productivity

Written by Fran Roberts Produced by Richard Durrant

FLSMIDTH

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FLSmidth is the market-leading supplier of productivity to the global mining and cement industries. With offices in more than 50 countries, it delivers engineering, equipment and service solutions to customers worldwide

“

Within the cement industry, we are as known as Coca-Cola is in the soda industry.” This is how Søren Grubbe, VP of Supply Chain, introduces Denmark’s FLSmidth.

Currently celebrating its 135th anniversary, it’s easy to see how the company has built such a reputation over more than a century. FLSmidth is a world-leading technology company which, through countless innovations in engineering, has pioneered the cement and mineral industries.

FLSmidth has a strategy, where it delivers projects, products, and services. “This is a very unique combination,” Grubbe comments.

“Where many of our competitors are very much focused only on projects, or only products, or only services, we have the full end-to-end flowsheet of products. Also, we focus on the full lifecycle of a facility, both in the construction and operations phase. That’s one of our key success factors.”

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“Within the cement industry, we are as known as Coca-Cola is in the soda industry” – Søren Grubbe, VP of Supply Chain

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We are celebrating FLSmidth joining our client base in US, Japan, Europe, Israel, India and Brazil, enjoying innovation that brings quantifiable results fast.

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www.progressive-labs.com

S U P P LY C H A I N

Sustainable productivity enhancement Of course, to have enjoyed such longevity – surviving both world wars, which saw Denmark cut off and occupied – there are many factors behind FLSmidth’s success.

“We actually have the expertise of all the different technologies that goes from when you get the limestone in a cement plant, to actually have the final cement in a bag,” Grubbe advises. “The same goes on the mining side.”

Such expertise helps FLSmidth drive efficiencies for its clients.

The company wants to be the productivity provider number one, not only for its customers, but also internally. “We drive success through sustainable productivity enhancement,” states Grubbe. “We drive success for our customers by helping them improve their productivity, but we also drive success internally by improving our own internal productivity in our processes, ways of working, new tools and better visibility.”

Improving the flow In response to this, the company has launched several programmes to help drive productivity. “The latest initiative I’ve started is what I call FLSmidth Production System. This is a programme focusing on our own internal factories that are producing parts, either for cement plants or mine sites. That programme is a tailormade program for FLSmidth, where I have taken the best from the Lean world, the Six Sigma world, and then I added that into a theory of constraints philosophy,” Grubbe advises.

“What is important in our industry is that we can deliver fast and with high reliability. The flow is important, because the faster we can deliver, the faster our customers can make money, and the faster we can deliver them spare parts. Of course, the downtime is also reduced. Speed is very critical in our business.”

FLSmidth is focusing on reducing lead time and enabling us to always deliver on time. “When we know the bottleneck, we can improve the bottleneck,” Grubbe continues. “We can improve the flow and an added

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value is that we also improve our productivity.”

Technavio market research analysts estimate the global cement industry to grow at a steady compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 9% by 2020. With this in mind, productivity is clearly a strong focus for the future. FLSmidth has just launched this programme at its largest site in China, where 400 employees are based.

“We are very proud of that. We have got quite good results from this pilot programme. A lot of other plants are waiting in the queue to get on board into this programme,” observes Grubbe. FLSmidth used an external partner, Progressive Labs, to help develop this programme. “First of all, they have really brought a unique skillset of competencies that we didn’t have ourselves, but they have also added some technology that has helped us synchronise engineering with procurement and production to one transparent and controllable flow,” enthuses Grubbe.

Focused on customers With offices in more than 50 countries, FLSmidth is keen to ensure that it brings sustainable productivity enhancement to any new location it enters. “We have always been very focused on our customers, and having the intimacy to our customers, being at site, being very local. When we win a cement contract, we go in and hire locals. We bring experts to train them, and using local staff creates jobs in the local environment. That is really a boost to the country

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or region because it creates a lot of spinoff effects,” Grubbe explains.

“The governments support this business model, because it creates jobs and it improves the local economies. From a sustainability point of view, this business model ensures that we take responsibility for developing countries. Another aspect that we are continuously striving to improve is, of course, to minimise our environmental impact by developing products and solutions that use less energy. We limit the exhaust coming out of the cement plant by using our best-in-class filters. We have a unique water filter technology. We are industry leading in minimising water consumption and we are sending cleaner water out into the environment than our competitors.”

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Unique products Although FLSmidth is currently celebrating a milestone year, the company certainly shows no signs of slowing down. “We are seeing a huge growth in our service business, but also, FLSmidth has a lot of unique product companies, where we are selling products, not only to cement and mining sites, but also to other industries. We actually see a huge growth potential in these product companies, because these products are very unique and actually market leaders within their product niche. We are very much focusing on gearing up our entire organisation to be more focused on product deliveries, fast service, and really unique products,” Grubbe details. “That’s where we are building our growth.”

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Søren Grubbe VP of Supply Chain

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78 NOVEMBER 2017

FRANCE  PARIS PORTE DE VERSAILLES  PAV. 4

Heading for a collaborative & digital supply chain

• EXHIBITION • BUSINESS MEETINGS • CONFERENCES www.supplychain-event.com

20-23 MARCH 2018

FRANCE  PARIS NORD VILLEPINTE  HALL 6

International Week of Transport and Logistics

• 40,500 PROFESSIONALS • 800 EXHIBITORS • 100 CONFERENCES • 8 HIGHLIGHTS • THE INNOVATION AWARDS • SMART HUB by SITL www.sitl.eu

20-23 MARCH 2018

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