Business Chief Europe — January 2019

EUROPE EDITION JANUARY 2019 europe.businesschief.com

A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ACROSS FOOD AND BEVERAGE

EMBRACING IN NOVATION

Digitally transforming the guest experience City Focus

LUXEMBOURG A European business hub

TOP 10

MOST VALUED BRANDS IN EUROPE

Europe Edition EDITOR IN CHIEF

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WELCOME

W

elcome to the January edition of Business Chief Europe!

In this month’s cover story, we caught up with premier hospitality company Four Seasons to find out how the guest experience has been transformed at the company’s Gresham Palace location in Budapest. Director of F&B, Gerd von Sierakowski, spoke to Catherine Sturman about how the hotel is modernising to attract locals and tourists alike.

Part of the transformation has been developing a fresh new dining experience. “Anyone can come in dressed in a tuxedo or jeans and a t-shirt and still feel that they belong… It’s no longer fine dining but the quality is exceptional.

I think that’s what young diners are looking for,” says von Sierakowski.

As technology disrupts industries across the globe, the food and beverage sector hasn’t been forgotten.

We talk to Darcy Simonis, Industry

Network leader for food and beverage at ABB, to learn how the technology giant is transforming the sector.

Omnistream founder Wendy Chen also discusses how she is using new methods, as well as old tricks to survive and thrive across the finance sector.

This month’s city focus targets Luxembourg. Famed for its robust economy, its highly-skilled workforce and an exceptional technology footprint, we look at what the city has to offer. Additionally, our top 10 looks at the region’s most valuable brands.

Don’t forget to check out our company profiles with the Met Office, INEA, and much more.

Enjoy the issue!

Laura Mullan. laura.mullan@bizclikmedia.com

e u r o p e . b u s i n e s s c h i e f. c o m

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CONTENTS

10

Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Innovation across the F&B space

32

44

How ABB is spearheading a digital revolution in the food and beverage space

OMNI STREAM

A CUSTOMER JOURNEY DRIVEN BY DATA

56 City Focus

LUXEMBOURG 68 Top 10

most valuable brands in Europe

CONTENTS

82 Embracing technology in the hospitality industry

98 MET OFFICE

Blending world-class digital transformation and science

112 INEA

Utilising technology in the telecoms sector

126 Universidad Europea striving for success

140

154 TAN SALES LONDON

UIPATH

Fuelling rapid growth with an innovative procurement transformation

THE EVOLVING

LANDSCAPE OF DIGITAL DISRUPTION

Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Innovation across the F&B space WRIT TEN BY

CATHERINE S TURM AN PRODUCED BY

M ANUEL LÓPEZ NAVARRO 10

JANUARY 2019

11

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F O U R S E A S O N S H O T E L G R E S H A M PA L A C E B U D A P E S T

Director of F&B Gerd von Sierakowski has enticed both locals and tourists in transforming the guest experience at Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace in Budapest

S

ince its inception in the 1960s, premier hospitality company Four Seasons has become an iconic player in the delivery

of high-end, bespoke luxury experiences. Capturing the hearts, minds and appetites of its guests is something which the business strives to achieve each and every day as it seeks to operate in key 12

locations to provide outstanding concepts on an international scale.

“I think it’s really important, that the concepts in our outlets become alive,” says Gerd von Sierakowski, Director of F&B at Four Seasons Gresham Palace Hotel in Budapest. “If there is a big trend on eating ice cream in southern countries and we’re in the middle of the winter here in Budapest I’m not going to follow that trend,” he adds with a chuckle.

“I would look more at the kind of trends in hot beverages, to stay relevant.”

Part of the renowned brand for more than a decade, von Sierakowski has successfully managed Gresham Palace’s food and beverage operations for three years, overseeing its restaurant, bar and lounge as well as its banqueting and room service. Everything guests touch, feel, taste and smell fall under his JANUARY 2019

13

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F O U R S E A S O N S H O T E L G R E S H A M PA L A C E B U D A P E S T

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“In North American markets, everything has to be immediate. People in Europe, however, prefer for things to be precise.

Nonetheless, expectations are much the same, particularly in our luxury environment” — Gerd von Sierakowski, Director of F&B at Four Seasons Gresham Palace Hotel in Budapest

JANUARY 2019

domain. Having worked in the USA,

Catering to high-demand guests,

Mexico, Costa Rica and Europe, von

feedback is predominantly received

Sierakowski’s experience is vast and his

on the floor as employees interact with

knowledge from catering to the needs

guests, who are empowered to act on

of clients is wide-reaching.

all received feedback. “It’s hard to cater

“Europe and the US are very different

for so many people with a cookie-cut-

from a clientele perspective. In North

ter approach, but if you gain feedback

American markets, everything has to

and work with that knowledge, clients

be immediate; it feels like people have

are much happier. That’s how you

less time so they want services and/or

create that luxury feel and that person-

tasks to be completed instantly. People

alisation,” states von Sierakowski.

in Europe, however, prefer for things

The food and beverage industry has

to be precise. They like to have enga-

completely changed over the past

ging conversations regarding where

decades, he explains. Four Seasons

you’re from and where you’re going.

Budapest has localised its services

Nonetheless, expectations are much

to cater for its target audience and to

the same, particularly in our luxury

define clear concepts within its oper-

environment.”

ation. Collaborating with local design-

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

Gerd von Sierakowski Von Sierakowski has 18 years of experience in the hospitality industry with 14 years working for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. Originally from Germany, he held several positions in Food and Beverage throughout his career and has worked in seven different Four Seasons hotels and resorts. Von Sierakowski also extended his expertise during openings and challenging operations at several other Four Seasons properties.

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F O U R S E A S O N S H O T E L G R E S H A M PA L A C E B U D A P E S T

16

JANUARY 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘THE FINEST IN HISTORICAL ELEGANCE’ 17 ers, winemakers and food farmers is

With such growing competition, from

equally important to von Sierakowski,

traditional rivals to innovative start-ups

as well as working together with local

such as Airbnb, guests are routinely

art galleries and entertainers. “We

looking for increased value for money

work with a local gallerist partner to

as they search for the perfect travel

exhibit seasonal collections in our

destination or a place to eat. Whilst

restaurant, which then becomes part

hotel restaurants are traditionally perc-

of the guest experience. These stra-

eived to cater solely for hotel clientele,

tegic partners help us in building trust

making up 80% of its volume, von

within the community. By using valuable

Sierakowski has faced additional chall-

locally manufactured china or glass-

enges at Gresham Palace.

ware, local clientele come to our outlets

“One of the challenges with Four

to experience a world-famous product

Seasons here in Budapest is its misguid-

that was produced for royalty. This also

ed reputation of being created for the

becomes an attraction,” he says.

older generation. This may come from e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

F O U R S E A S O N S H O T E L G R E S H A M PA L A C E B U D A P E S T

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JANUARY 2019

C OMPA N Y FA C T S

• Four Seasons has become an iconic player in delivering high-end, bespoke luxury experiences.

• From introducing entertainment services to working with local producers, Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest has localised its services to cater for its target audience • A new pricing strategy at KOLLÁZS has been established, enabling Four Seasons Budapest to remain competitive and allow millennials to take advantage of what it has to offer • The Four Seasons app further complements its commitment to delivering a service with a personalised touch • Implementing exceptional training and incentive programmes, Four Seasons is keen to create future career opportunities for employees, and is known to promote from within

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World-class

food and beverage performance management 13 out of the 15 largest international hotel groups rely on Avero to: • • • • •

“Deploying F&B initiatives across the globe can be a huge undertaking for enterprise hotel organizations but Avero has made that process turn-key and scalable for Four Seasons.”

Gianluca Sparacino, VP of Food & Beverage, EMEA, Four Seasons

Execute menu engineering Benchmark internally Reduce fraud & loss Run sales contests Mentor servers

request a free demo

(888) 770-0426 • revolutionize@averoinc.com

the iconic palace and location the hotel

Guests have changed and so have

is situated at. Our challenge is to change

their expectations.”

this perception and our aim is to bring

Previously housing a more traditional

in the younger generations,” he adds.

dining room with a fine dining concept,

“Guests no longer have the time

Four Seasons Budapest has jumped

to spend two or three hours if they’re

on the wave of change. Introducing

just coming for lunch. They seek

French-Hungarian restaurant,

a great lunch experience but expect

KOLLÁZS – Brasserie & Bar three

to leave within 30–45 minutes. That’s

years ago, the company has worked

the regular guest, unless they’re

with Avero Inc. a restaurant data

celebrating something special. Tech-

management software which has

nology has also impacted our industry

helped to make precise and intelligent

and I think for the better. We cannot

business decisions as well as invested

be blindsided and continue servicing

in music styling to complement its

our guests the way we used to.

diverse audience and overhauled

JANUARY 2019

“By using valuable locally manufactured china or glassware, local clientele come to our outlets to experience a world-famous product that was produced for royalty” — Gerd von Sierakowski, Director of F&B at Four Seasons Gresham Palace Hotel in Budapest

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F O U R S E A S O N S H O T E L G R E S H A M PA L A C E B U D A P E S T

22

its food and beverage offering to cater to

a collage of different emotions. It’s very

guests from all walks of life. Appointing

alive, young and trendy. Anyone can

consultants to undertake essential mar-

come in dressed in a tuxedo or jeans

ket research, a new pricing strategy has

and a t-shirt and still feel that they belong.

also been established, enabling the bus-

KOLLÁZS has vibrant music and is

iness to remain competitive and enabling

engaging. The design was very impor-

new guests, particularly millennials, to

tant as well as our food offering. It’s no

take advantage of what it has to offer.

longer fine dining but the quality is

“We named the restaurant KOLLÁZS

exceptional,” he explains. “I think this

(Hungarian for collage) because it’s like

is what young diners are looking for.”

JANUARY 2019

23

The restaurant’s successful concept

where the hotel has gained a greater

has attracted local clientele, tourists

understanding of guest requirements

and even those passing by, placing the

and needs.

restaurant firmly on the map. Up to 80%

“In this ever-changing industry we have

of diners now originate from outside of

to be a step ahead and say, ‘What are we

the hotel, something von Sierakowski is

going to do at Valentine’s Day? How can

immensely proud of. Further attracting

we promote it? Who do we want to

customers, Four Seasons’ investment

target?’ You have to constantly rethink

into marketing, digital and social media

your game plan, which is why marketing

platforms has also played a key role

is so important,” notes von Sierakowski. e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

F O U R S E A S O N S H O T E L G R E S H A M PA L A C E B U D A P E S T

24

“We work with a local gallerist partner to exhibit seasonal collections in our restaurant, which then becomes part of the guest experience. These strategic partners help us in building trust within the community” — Gerd von Sierakowski, Director of F&B at Four Seasons Gresham Palace Hotel in Budapest

JANUARY 2019

25

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F O U R S E A S O N S H O T E L G R E S H A M PA L A C E B U D A P E S T

Retaining brand transparency will consequently remain paramount, leading Four Seasons to invest significantly in its digital presence. Whilst businesses have embraced social media to provide a bespoke customer service, guests at Gresham Palace can also download and utilise the Four Seasons app, further complementing its commitment to delivering a service with a personalised touch.

“On the app, guests can check in, check out and have a guest experience managed through technology. We also have a chat function where guests can chat directly with our concierge, and therefore make restaurant 26

bookings,” he adds. “Guests like to do online bookings and have smart access, so we work with a reservation system, where on our restaurant website they can directly book for a table, for example. When you have the right POS system that communicates with the kitchen, employees can also communicate quicker. I embrace technology because they make our day-to-day life easier.

“Having the right balance is very important.

Not everything needs to be digitalised in my opinion, but I embrace it if it’s for the good and in the interest of guest service.”

Despite the advantages technology can bring, the business is acutely aware that investing in its employees will continue to place it above the competition. “We like to have JANUARY 2019

FDF

“Technology has been driven by millennials, where guests like to do online bookings. They like to have smart access so we work with a reservation system on our website where they can directly book a table” — Gerd von Sierakowski, Director of F&B at Four Seasons Gresham Palace Hotel in Budapest

C OMPA N Y FA C T S

• Winner of the 2018 Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star Hotel Award • 2017 Travel + Leisure World’s Best Award: #1 Best City Hotel in Europe

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27

F O U R S E A S O N S H O T E L G R E S H A M PA L A C E B U D A P E S T

employees that are driven and like to work with a great attitude. Autonomy of employees is important. We have a thorough selection process, as we believe you can teach people how to carry a plate, take an order or gain food knowledge, but it’s really the attitude and aptitude that the employee brings along that is important for us,” he explains.

Retaining talent is a continual battle across the food and beverage industry.

This, on top of Gresham Palace’s close proximity to Germany and Austria, has 28

further convinced Four Seasons Hotel Budapest to stave off the competition by committing to its employees personal and professional development by implementing exceptional training and incentive programmes. The company is keen to create future career opportunities for employees and is renowned to promote from within.

“Take me for example,” reflects von Sierakowski. “I’ve been with Four Seasons close to 15 years and went through the ranks. Worldwide, employees have opportunities where they can grow their career. My executive sous-chef started here as a student and we also had a pastry chef with JANUARY 2019

a similar background. We have just transferred him as an executive pastry chef to the Four Seasons in Prague.”

However, where does von Sierakowski see Four Seasons Budapest’s food and beverage operation headed in the long-term? “Sustainability remains at the forefront. Removing straws and plastic bottles across our food and beverage outlets is just the beginning and finding recyclable resources for other examples would be the next step.

This has been driven by our generation as we are all becoming more environmentally-cautious,” he says.

Additionally, we are now looking to transform our lobby lounge into a more exciting and attractive outlet. This is the next step for us as we continue on our journey to deliver an outstanding luxury guest experience.”

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LEADERSHIP

32

How ABB is spearheading a digital revolution in the food and beverage space As technology disrupts industries across the globe, the food and beverage sector hasn’t been forgotten. We talk to Darcy Simonis, Industry Network leader for food and beverage at ABB, to learn how the technology giant is transforming the sector WRITTEN BY

L AUR A MULL AN

JANUARY 2019

33

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LEADERSHIP

T

he food and beverage industry is not only the European Union’s largest manufacturing sector, but it is also intertwined in the

economic, political, and social fabric of the continent. Revered across the globe, EU food and drink exports have almost doubled in the last decade, reaching over €90bn (US$102.6bn), according to the European Commission.

Yet, whilst business may be booming, Europe isn’t immune to the challenges facing the global market.

The United Nations predicts that we will have over 2mn more mouths to feed by 2050, and as the environmental toll of food production enters the spotlight, consumers are increasingly demanding more 34

sustainable produce. Many firms have hedged their bets on technology to tackle these challenges and now, success — and even survival — in the food and beverage industry could be dependent on emerging innovations like artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, and more. One such company making waves in the sector is technology behemoth ABB. This year the firm was once again named among the Top 10 in Forbes magazine’s ‘Change the World’ list, a ranking that highlights firms that “help the planet and tackle social problems”. Whilst the company may be better known for its technological innovations, ABB has recently redefined its vision, aiming not to sell products, but to sell custom-tailored solutions.

With around 16 years of food and beverage experience under her belt, Darcy Simonis, Industry Network JANUARY 2019

35

leader for food and beverage at ABB, is all too aware of the hurdles facing the industry.

“Some of the key pressures facing the sector today include the expanding global population. We need to figure out how to feed the world,” she reflects. “The expectations of our customers are also changing every day and now the customer is king. There was a time when the manufacturer essentially determined what was going to be produced and that’s changed. We’re seeing an increased demand for more variety and convenience in the market driven by food trends, lifestyle choices, and dietary restrictions. Because e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

LEADERSHIP

36

JANUARY 2019

of this customer-centric approach,

and then figure out what their next step

food and beverage companies now

could be.” For ABB, to achieve this

have to meet the same key performance

involves a holistic plant assessment or

indicators (KPIs) they’ve always main-

a digital plant assessment. “We have

tained (cost, quality, sustainability,

teams who visit the food and beverage

safety) while also contending with

facility and work together with the

these new considerations. Technology

customer. They spend anywhere from

is key to solving these challenges,

one to five days analysing the entire

but the food and beverage sector has

factory, from power to palletizing. We

historically been conservative when

then outline opportunities where com-

implementing new technologies. That’s

panies can increase productivity and

why determining the digital maturity

efficiency.” Simonis explains.

of a company is vital before you imple-

It’s important to note that technol-

ment any additional solutions,” says

ogy can not only help with food and

Simonis. “Manufacturers move at diff-

beverage production but could also

erent speeds, so we first analyse

help to bring supply chains to the next

where they are in their digital journey

level. “With ABB, we provide solutions

“ The expectations of our customers are changing every day and now the customer is king” — Darcy Simonis, Industry Network leader for food and beverage at ABB

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37

LEADERSHIP

38

starting from the power grid to your

important data collection is,” she says.

plug,” Simonis continues. “For food

“It’s helping our customers move from

and beverage, we can provide solu-

being reactive to more proactive.

tions from the natural resources ent-

Companies can predict what mainte-

ering the factory all the way through

nance is needed during scheduled

your production.” One technological

downtimes, for example. It makes them

innovation that Simonis highlights is

a lot more efficient, and it’s a very easy,

ABB’s Smart Sensors which can

inexpensive fix.” The solution has

quickly change the thinking on motor

gotten the backing of big names like

maintenance. These are wireless,

Olam International, a leading agribusi-

pocket-sized sensors that can be att-

ness that supplies products like nuts,

ached to almost any low-voltage motor,

grains and coffee to over 22,000

adding the benefits of IoT to uncon-

customers around the world. The firm’s

nected, analogue equipment. “It’s an

production capacity is enormous — it

easy way for people to see how

has around 30,000 motors across 70

JANUARY 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘POWERING, AUTOMATING, AND DIGITALIZING THE FOOD AND BEVERAGE INDUSTRY’ 39 factories globally. These motors are often constantly running (they help products move along conveyor belts, for example) and so their reliability and performance is critical.

The global food robotics market is expected to reach $3.35bn by 2025, and this is another niche where ABB has made its mark. “We’re not only looking at robots from a packaging perspective, but we’re also investing more into what we call co-bots, or collaborative robots, whereby people and robots are working side-by-side to deliver more flexibility.” Take the e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

LEADERSHIP

FACTS

EU food and drink exports have almost doubled in the last decade, reaching over €90bn (US$102.6bn), according to the European Commission.

40

firm’s robot YuMi, for instance, which

Shanghai’, a nod to the mushrooming

works shoulder-to-shoulder with

use of robotics in the food and

employees to enhance productivity

beverage sector.

at Finnish confectionery company

The advantages of technologies like

Panda. Recognising its potential, ABB

these are endless. Simonis points out

has heightened its investment in the

how ABB’s innovations can help food

robotics field. In October, the compa-

and beverage firms use raw materials

ny revealed it would invest US$150mn

such as water more effectively, how

to build what it touts as ‘the world’s

they can help to reduce energy use,

most advanced robotics factory in

and how they can help to cut costs. Not

JANUARY 2019

41

one to rest on its laurels, she says

year to remain cutting edge. One of the

that perhaps ABB’s key competitive

biggest challenges is making sure you

advantage in the market is how it is

have the best people on board and

constantly innovating. “Not only does

I think ABB gets that right by promoting

ABB have the necessary know-how,

from within, paying attention to the huge

but they’re also looking 10 steps ahead

talent pool and also recruiting people

and figuring out what the next big thing

from industries such as food and

is going to be,” she says. “I would say

beverage, where needed.” ABB is also

we’re definitely pioneers in technology.

keeping a finger on the pulse of the

We invest USD$1.5bn into R&D every

latest food and beverage trends such e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

LEADERSHIP

“ Some of the key pressures facing the sector today include the expanding global population. We need to figure out how to feed the world” — Darcy Simonis, Industry Network leader for food and beverage at ABB

42

JANUARY 2019

as vertical farming, forging key partnerships and investments in these areas.

“As people are moving into the cities and there’s more urbanisation, we’re starting to see more farms appearing in cities. This requires greenhouses and vertical farming, and, for example, we’ve partnered with a company called Heliospectra, that provides LED lighting for greenhouses to help tackle this,” adds Simonis. “In the future, I feel we will continue to collaborate with and invest in start-up companies that can enhance or work well with our technologies.”

Food and beverage has proven to be a key industry for ABB. Looking forward, it seems the technology giant will continue to explore the latest trends shaking up the sector so that it can remain a major contender in years to come.

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43

TECHNOLOGY

A CUSTOMER JOURNEY DRIVEN BY DATA 44

Business Chief sits down with Omnistream founder Wendy Chen to find out how she’s using new methods and old tricks to survive and thrive in Singapore and beyond.

WRITTEN BY

JANUARY 2019

HARRY MENEAR

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TECHNOLOGY

W

endy Chen began her career in finance.

She worked as a trader for both Barclays and Jane Street Capital, largely special-

ising in ‘quant’ trading: large transactions involving

the sale and purchase of thousands of shares at once. “I was doing quant trading for a while”, Chen recalls, “and I saw this opportunity to bring that same type of thinking to enterprises in Asia”.

With her trading experience, Chen saw an opportunity to levy her skills and experience from the finance sector and apply them to a new market and a new company. Reflecting on the genesis of Omnistream, Chen confides that “what’s really interesting about 46

the quant trading business is that so much of the secret sauce is in how you operationalize the algorithms - how you think about business continuity and operational data.”

She founded Omnistream in 2013 with the goal of using a ‘quant’ trading’s algorithmic, machine learning-powered methods to provide a statistics-driven retail analysis service, capable of keeping up with “how fast things are changing” in South East Asia and other emerging markets.

“Speed and automation are quite important”, Chen explains. “Given infinite time and infinite humans, you could probably replicate a lot of analytics.

However, you’re talking about customers who want solutions in five days, not five months”.

“It’s very hard for Western enterprises to service South East Asia. A lot of it is just costs structure.

JANUARY 2019

“ GIVEN INFINITE TIME AND INFINITE HUMANS, YOU COULD PROBABLY REPLICATE A LOT OF ANALYTICS. HOWEVER, YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT CUSTOMERS WHO WANT SOLUTIONS IN FIVE DAYS, NOT FIVE MONTHS” — Wendy Chen, Omnistream founder

47

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TECHNOLOGY

They’re earning nice, juicy margins in the US and in the UK. It’s really hard for them to take that really high-touch, highcost structure they have for servicing customers and bring it to South East Asia.” Chen saw a gap in the market for a new style of analysis and consulting service.

Talking about the difference between Omnistream and its competitors, she explains: “it’s a very different service.

We probably don’t customise nearly as much, because we don’t spend nearly 48

as much time consulting. We also don’t do as many in-person surveys; we’re more data-driven.”

Omnistream’s more one-size-fits-all approach means it can offer its services at a rate that is significantly lower than those of traditional consulting and analytics firms. Chen laughs, “if you look at some of the income statements from these publicly traded companies, you’ll see that they cost a good soul.”

“Because we answer the same questions the same questions over and over again, we don’t need to give our customers all the bells and whistles.” She explains the service Omnistream provides as “just answering three quesJANUARY 2019

Wendy Chen, Omnistream founder

49 tions: where do you put a store? What do you put in a store? And at what price do you sell it?”

Omnistream answers these questions using three types of data which it feeds into its complex computational algorithms to create its insights. First, transactional data — “whatever it is the business generates by operating”—that can include everything from local foot traffic to loyalty program participation.

Second, “there’s open, external data”, says Chen. “What we mean by that is how far away are your closest competitors? Are they down the e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

TECHNOLOGY

50

road? Are there lots of them? Are they different?”

The third element of Omnistream’s service relies upon the application

Open data also deals with the number

of proprietary and open data to the

of people within a business’ “catchment

company’s artificial intelligence (AI)

area”. “It sounds obvious”, Chen admits,

algorithms. Part of the service Omni-

“but we’re talking about very dynamically

stream provides is the ‘fine-tuning’

changing countries, so the data from

of its AI software from previously gath-

a year ago is very different to today.”

ered data. Chen explains: “for machine

“We think of a retailer’s addressable

learning to work, your algorithms

world as more than people who just

basically need to have something

walk by,” Chen says. “If there are 120,000

called fine-tuning… you need to train

people who live in your catchment

your AI with lots and lots of data…

area, how come you’re only addressing

So, you need to work with founders

10,000 of them?”

who have worked in similar markets”.

JANUARY 2019

“ BECAUSE WE ANSWER THE SAME QUESTIONS OVER AND OVER AGAIN, WE DON’T NEED TO GIVE OUR CUSTOMERS ALL THE BELLS AND WHISTLES” — Wendy Chen, Omnistream founder

51

While the majority of analysis com-

we had a retailer tell us: ‘stop showing

panies gather this data, which clients

us dashboards. Just tell me what the

then use in-house data analysts to

answer is and why… I don’t want to

decipher, and the majority of consultan-

see your data’, they just want to get

cies rely on the “high-touch, high-cost”

to the solution.”

approach that too often proves too slow

The model is proving effective. In

and too expensive for the emerging

2018, Omnistream began operations

market, Chen has designed Omnistream

in Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar,

to offer data-plus-consultancy as

and Chen says the company plans to

a service. Chen reflects that customers

expand into Thailand, Japan, South

just want to know: “Hey! How do I grow

Korea and Malaysia soon.

faster and make more profits?”

“Everything in the middle is just chaos and noise.” She recalls that “yesterday

“We use the beachhead strategy”.

This method, Chen explains, involves specially selecting a client - ‘a sizeable e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

TECHNOLOGY

52

retailer’ - who is looking to expand into a new market and open to operationalising Omnistream’s insights.

Omnistream’s lower cost model makes no attempt to “bill large amounts of money up front. We actually want to do a revenue split with them”: Clients simply pay a portion of any increase in profits related to Omnistream’s services. Chen describes it as: “making an investment”.

While currently Omnistream’s operations are restricted to the Asia Pacific markets, its model of data-driven retail consulting is something that JANUARY 2019

Wendy Chen knows “definitely applies to more than South East Asia.” She believes that anywhere where growth and market instability is outpacing the traditional models for consultation and analysis could benefit from the Omnistream model. “The people who win in this region are the ones who can adapt and capitalise on change as it’s happening.”

“We’re definitely looking at the whole emerging world.”

The faith Wendy Chen has in her venture is undeniable. She is throwing her startup into an ecosystem where, more than anything, being nimble is key.

Omnistream’s outcomes-as-a-service structure is a testament to her confidence in its agility and ability to bring drastic cost reductions to its chosen clients. Chen laughs again: “How many big enterprise players actually say ‘Hey, only pay us if you win?’”

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CITY FOCUS

City Focus

56

LUXEMB Could the trailblazing capital of Luxembourg be the ideal location for European business?

Famed for its robust economy, a highly-skilled workforce and a technology footprint that is, quite literally, out of this world, Luxembourg has placed itself firmly on the map as a pioneering capital — but could it be your next European business hub?

JANUARY 2019

BOURG e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

57

CITY FOCUS | LUXEMBOURG

L

uxembourg may be one the

with a consumer base of over 500mn

smallest nations in Europe,

consumers. Hailed for its attractive

but it’s trailblazing capital

tax climate, its political and social sta-

more than makes up for its stature.

bility, as well as a highly-skilled and

Located at the heart of the continent,

multilingual workforce, this small yet

the burgeoning capital of Luxembourg,

mighty capital is proving to be a force

officially referred to as the Grand

to be reckoned with on a globalstage

Duchy of Luxembourg, is the ideal

as Business Chief found out‌

gateway to the European market,

58

JANUARY 2019

Bordered by Germany, Belgium,

France, Luxembourg ranks as the world’s second-richest country per capita, according to Fortune magazine. The country is set to uphold this positive economic outlook, standing as one of few countries to have received a triple-A credit rating from three main agencies S&P, Fitch and Moody’s and the DBRS – the top

59

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CITY FOCUS | LUXEMBOURG

FACTS

A multicultural nation, Luxembourg had an estimated population of around 592,000 in 2018, whilst its capital has an estimated 116,000 inhabitants by the end of 2017.

60

rating a country can receive. A multicultural nation, Luxembourg had an estimated population of around 592,000 in 2018, whilst its capital has an estimated 116,000 inhabitants by the end of 2017. More than 170 different nationalities call the capital home and, as such, it has adopted a linguistic system based on the use of three languages – Luxembourgish, the national language, as well as French and German.

According to the Luxembourg Trade and Invest, the nation speaks the most languages in the EU on average by JANUARY 2019

More than 170 different nationalities call the capital home and, as such, it has adopted a linguistic system based on the use of three languages — Luxembourgish, the national language, as well as French and German.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), also reported that Luxembourg has once again topped the leaderboard as the most productive nation in the world.

population and it’s also the number one

pean hubs as well as 23 data centres.

country in the world or high skilled

The European nation has established

employment. Additionally, the Organi-

itself as a hub for tech startups and

sation for Economic Cooperation and

entrepreneurs but it is also taking this

Development (OECD), has also

innovation to the next level – outer

reported that Luxembourg has once

space. In the 1980s, this tiny nation

again topped the leaderboard as the

also came out of nowhere to become

most productive nation in the world.

a leader in the satellite communications industry, with the creation of SES Astra.

A RISING STAR IN AEROSPACE

This provided the stimulus for the capi-

Like many European nations,

tal’s thriving aerospace industry which

Luxembourg has galvanised its digital

is currently comprised of 30 companies

infrastructure and today it boasts 28

with an average turnover of around

international fibre routes to main Euro-

EU€2bn (USD$2.3bn), according to data

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61

CITY FOCUS | LUXEMBOURG

“ This partnership with Luxembourg, of cutting-edge aerospace companies including Euro-Composites, Gradel, has really allowed Hitec Luxembourg, LuxSpace to name us to actually but a few and around 700 employees start implementing work in the aerospace sector in Luxembourg in research and development, the technology manufacturing and operation. that we have been Undoubtedly, it seems the capital has put its weight behind this space adven- working on for ture – and its wallet too. The Grand Duchy some time now” from Trade and Invest Luxembourg.

The country has a high concentration

channels 0.03% of its GDP to the ESA

and, in doing so, it ranks fourth amongst 62

European countries in terms of space

JANUARY 2019

— Meagan Crawford, Deep Space Industries

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘VISIT LUXEMBOURG – BE INSPIRED’ 63 investment. The Luxembourgish capital Is keen to play its part to contribute to the peaceful exploration and sustainable utilisation of pace resources and as such, it is providing R&D investment and financial backing for cutting-edge space technologies. For instance, in September 2018, Luxembourg created an EU€100mn (USD$) fund to invest in space-technology startups and it also officially launched of the grand duchy’s space agency which will zero in on “developing business activities in space”.

A month earlier, Luxembourg also e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

CITY FOCUS | LUXEMBOURG

“ There’s a possibility that we could actually replace mining on earth with space mining one day” — Meagan Crawford, Deep Space Industries

64

made ripples in the aerospace sector

Space, Luxembourg underscored its

when it became the first European

intentions to become a global pioneer

country to officially allow space

for extra-terrestrial mining. Speaking

resources to be “appropriated” by

to BizClik Media’s mining publication,

commercial groups based in the coun-

Mining Global, Meagan Crawford of

try. By providing the legal framework

Deep Space Industries highlighted how

for companies to exploit resources in

the technology and space exploration

JANUARY 2019

65

firm is preparing to make its mark in

with Luxembourg, it has really allowed

space thanks to a partnership with

us to actually start implementing the

the Luxembourg Government’s spac-

technology that we have been working

ereousrces.lu initiative and Société

on for some time now,” she said.

Nationale de Credit et d’Investissement

“There’s a possibility that we could

(SCNI, the national banking institution

actually replace mining on earth with

in Luxembourg. “With this partnership

space mining one day.” e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

CITY FOCUS | LUXEMBOURG

BIG BUSINESS: Luxembourg has quickly established itself as a prime business location and, as such, industry behemoths such as ArcelorMittal and RTL Group have chosen the capital as their European business hub.

ARCELORMITTAL Formed in 2006 following the takeover and merger of Arcelor by Indianowned Mittal Steel, ArcelorMittal is one of the world’s leading steel and 66

mining companies. The Luxembourgheadquartered firm has a presence in more than 60 countries and an industrial footprint in 18 countries.

The company has an annual achievable production capacity of approximately 113mn tonnes of crude steel in 2016. ArcelorMittal says it is as the “forefront of steel production research and development (R&D) and, as such, it has 12 research centres worldwide and spend USD$239mn on R&D in 2016. Lakshmi Mittal is currently the firm’s CEO. In 2017, ArcelorMittal reported sales revenues of USD$68.67bn.

JANUARY 2019

RTL GROUP RTL Group is a leading media company with business spanning across broadcast, content and digital.

Headquartered in Luxembourg, the company is involved in 61 television channels and 30 radio stations, as well as content and digital video production. It also owns stakes in TV channels and radio stations across Europe in countries such as Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, Hungary and Croatia.

On top of this, it also owns the video ad serving platform, SpotX. Bert Habets has been RTL Group’s CEO since 2017.

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T O P 10

68

JANUARY 2019

Top 10

most valuable brands in Europe Business Chief ranks the 10 most valuable brands in Europe according to the Forbes Global 2000 list WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR

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69

T O P 10

70

10

Accenture Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Accenture is a global professional services and consulting corporation and was ranked 6th on the Forbes Magazine list of Just companies in 2017. This year, Accenture spent US$80mn on advertising and reported revenues of $39.1bn, representing a $3.6bn increase year-over-year. Company CEO Pierre Nanterme has worked at the Accenture since 1983, serving as CEO since 2011, and chairman since 2013.

www.accenture.com

JANUARY 2019

71

09 Audi

German automobile brand Audi is headquartered in Ingolstadt, Germany and has been a subsidiary of Volkswagen for over 40 years, according to Forbes. The Audi brand generated $51.9bn in revenue in 2018, delivering 1.9mn vehicles which represented a 1.2% decrease year-on-year. In 2019, Audi is scheduled to begin sales of its first fully electric SUV, the Audi e-tron, which will have a total range of 300 miles, according to Forbes.

www.audi.com

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T O P 10

72

08

Gucci Founded as a small leather goods company in Florence, Italy, in 1921, the Gucci brand is currently valued at $14.9bn and is a subsidiary of fashion conglomerate Kering. According to Forbes, the brand reported sales of $14.9bn in 2018. The previous year, revitalised by new lead designer Alessandro Michele, sales increased 42% in contrast with the 2016 financial year.

www.gucci.com

JANUARY 2019

73

07

Hermès International Headquartered in Paris, Hermès International engages in the design, manufacture and sale of textile goods and apparel, including “leather goods, ready-to-wear and accessories, silk and textiles as well as perfumes and watches,” according to Forbes. The brand spent $298mn on advertising in 2018, and reported net sales of $6bn. 2018 also represented a ten-year high point for profits and total asset valuation, which totalled $1.4bn and $8.1bn respectively.

www.hermes.com

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06

Nescafé Founded in 1938 in Vevey, Switzerland, Nescafé is the largest brand under the umbrella of Nestlé, which is ranked by Forbes as the world’s biggest food company. The Nescafé brand covers over 5,000 coffeerelated products and 5,500 cups are consumed every second in over 180 countries, according to Forbes, meaning the brand accounts for one-fifth of global coffee consumption. In 2018, Nescafé reported total sales of $9.1bn and the brand was valued at $17.1bn, representing a 2% increase year-over-year.

www.nescafe.co.uk

JANUARY 2019

75

05

L’Oréal With headquarters in Clichy, France, L’Oréal SA designs, manufactures and sells hair and beauty products worldwide for commercial and home use. In 2018, the brand spent $8bn on advertising and reported $10.1bn in revenue, the largest portion of revenue spent on advertising of any company in the top 10.

www.loreal-paris.co.uk

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04 SAP

German software company SAP operates out of Walldorf, providing “enterprise application software and software-related services worldwide,” according to Forbes. This year the company ranked 4th on Forbes’ list of Canada’s best employers, and in the top 15 best employers for graduates. SAP reported net sales of $25.4bn in 2018, and its total brand value grew by 10% year-on-year, totalling $26.4bn.

www.sap.com/uk

JANUARY 2019

77

03

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) designs, manufactures and sells cars under the brand subdivisions BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce.

The company reported a net revenue of $86.8bn in 2018, representing a 9% growth year-over-year. BMW’s asset portfolio and profits also rose this year to $197.9bn and $10.2bn respectively.

www.bmw.co.uk

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JANUARY 2019

79

02

Louis Vuitton Founded in 1854, Louis Vuitton is the world’s most valuable luxury brand, according to Forbes. It designs, produces and distributes leather goods, handbags, trunks, shoes, watches, jewellery and accessories, including a line of perfumes in 2016 which retailed for $240 per 100ml bottle. The brand invested $5.4bn in advertising sales last year and reported net sales of $12.9bn. The total value of the brand reached $33.6bn in 2018, a 17% increase in contrast to the previous financial year.

www. louisvuitton.com

e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

T O P 10

01

Mercedes-Benz A subsidiary brand of German auto manufacturer, Daimler, Mercedes-Benz is headquartered in Stuttgart and is responsible for the design and manufacture of luxury passenger vehicles and commercial trucks.

According to Forbes, “the Mercedes-Benz brand sold a record 2.4mn cars in 2017, up 8% over the prior year. China is the biggest 80

market with 26% of unit sales, followed by the US (14%) and Germany (13%). Sales in China rose 28%”. The brand reported a net revenue of $116.9bn in 2018, and the total brand valuation rose by 18% to $34.4bn, the joint-highest growth in the top 10.

www.mercedes-benz.co.uk

JANUARY 2019

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82

Embracing technology in the hospitality industry WRIT TEN BY

SE AN GA LE A-PACE PRODUCED BY

LE WIS VAUGHAN

JANUARY 2019

83

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E DWA R D I A N H OT E LS LO N D O N

Director of Information Technology of Edwardian Hotels London, Michael Mrini discusses how technology has acted as an enabler for his company’s success as part of its digital transformation

W

ith innovation at the heart of most companies’ success, it has become vital that businesses implement new technology that separates

them from rivals in order to enhance the way they conduct operations. The introduction of technology has meant that firms can consistently launch new tools that will enable them to provide a better service 84

to its consumers. For Edwardian Hotels London, artificial intelligence (AI) has enabled the company to completely transform its customer experience.

Director of Information Technology of Edwardian Hotels London, Michael Mrini, believes that technology has allowed people to perform to higher standards. “We believe technology acts as an enabler for people to do their job better and with less drudgery,” he says. “Thanks to the backing and encouragement of our chairman and CEO, Jasminder Singh, a great visionary and believer in the power of technology as an enabler, we were able to develop to pursue this route and invest in cutting-edge technology.”

Having begun his career in 1987 in hospitality, Mrini worked his way up from washing up part-time as a student, to a job as a bartender, before working on the reservations and customer service side of JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

85

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E DWA R D I A N H OT E LS LO N D O N

86

operations at Hyatt Hotels until 1997.

“Since 1997, I haven’t stopped deve-

Mrini subsequently joined Edwardian

loping technology. When I joined as

and became the Director of Customer

a customer services manager, I auto-

Services, before transitioning to the

mated that particular department,”

position of Director of Information Sys-

explains Mrini. “While still being customer

tems until he moved into his current

services manager, and with the help

role at the beginning of 2012. Such

and encouragement of Iype Abraham

experience of working in a number

who was at the time the head of IT,

of different departments in a hotel

I joined other departments to look at

setting has enabled Mrini to gain

what they do and how they do it. From

a working understanding of how each

the finance side, month-end reports

area operates and he can draw on

used to take someone three days to

his experience to achieve success.

compile. However, from working with

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

them, we turned that into a 30 second operation where at the end of the month he just presses a button and the whole month-end pack is created and distributed to senior management.”

DEVELOPING INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY Innovation is an area which Edwardian Hotels London prides itself heavily on.

Having developed over 32 apps in the past five years, the company is utilising technology in order to create the best possible guest experience for its customers. However, the most exciting

“ We believe technology acts as an enabler for people to do their job better and with less drudgery” — Michael Mrini, Director of Information Technology of Edwardian Hotels London

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

Michael Mrini Michael joined Edwardian Hotels London (formerly known as the Edwardian Group London) in 1997 as Customer Services Manager. Software Development and data analysis was one of Michael’s passions which he put to good use when he introduced automation and data analysis in the customer services department during his first year with the Company. By the year 2000 Michael had formed Edwardian’s first ever software development team and through progression, dedication and hard work, is now the Group’s Director of Information Technology.

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87

8 of the 10 Top Hotels

Get Better Results with Oracle Hospitality

oracle.com/hospitality or call 1.800.ORACLE.1

Copyright Š 2018, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

TECHNOLOGY

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘21ST CENTURY HOSPITALITY – EDWARDIAN HOTELS LONDON’ 89 innovation has been the launch of

where and then realised I didn’t have the

virtual host “Edward” which handles

name or the address of the hotel where

guest enquires such as information

I’m staying,” explains Mrini. “Other times

about the hotel, booking breakfast

I’m in the hotel room, and I want to order

and any other requirements the guest

room service but I can’t find the menu in

needs before, during and after their

the room. You try and make a phone call

stay. Operated through AI on a phone

to get someone to deliver the menu and

app, Edward can manage more than

you end up calling room service but it’s

1,600 requests.

engaged so you wait and wait. But with

“I travel lots and stay in many hotels

Edward, it comes to you as a guest.

worldwide so the idea of Edward was

Edward knows you’re coming because

born out of the frustrations I had. It’s

three days before you arrive, Edward will

annoying when you need information but

send you a message and tell you, “Look,

it’s very difficult to find. For example,

anything you need, just text me.” Now,

quite often I arrived at an airport some-

that facility is in your pocket.” e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

E DWA R D I A N H OT E LS LO N D O N

90

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

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

91

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E DWA R D I A N H OT E LS LO N D O N

By having such innovative technology at guests’ fingertips, Mrini believes it has allowed the company to find out information about their customers that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible.

“We search for keywords to see what our guests are asking for and what to identify. Because of this, we’ve managed to learn things we never knew about our guests’ behavior, such as most of our guests can’t remember whether breakfast is included in their booking or not,” says Mrini. “Breakfast seems to be the 92

last thing they think about before they go to bed at night. We also found that it’s very important to guests to be able to easily find out whether their room has been cleaned or not. If they’re either out in meetings or out and about visiting the town, they want to know whether their room has been cleaned so they can come back to the hotel or stay out a bit longer and through this technology, they can do that.”

FORMING KEY PARTNERSHIPS Such success with the company’s AI software couldn’t JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘MEETINGS AND EVENTS AT EDWARDIAN HOTELS LONDON’ 93 have been achieved without the work of the firm’s key partnership with Oracle. The partnership has enabled Edwardian Hotels London to make it easier to interact with its property management system (PMS) and act as the catalyst for the success of its technological innovations. “We have found a really excellent partner in Oracle. They have supported and encouraged us over the years in what we wanted to do,” explains Mrini. “Oracle sees what we’re doing as unique in the hospitality sector. What they have done is help us make it easier for us to e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

94 interact with their PMS system because

standing of the core PMS system so

that’s where the bookings are and

that we can develop our interface to it.”

where the check-in/check-out happens.

Other key partners that Edwardian

Any application we develop needs to

Hotels London has been supported by

have a live interface to that system

include BT which helped install the

otherwise it’s useless.”

Wi-Fi in all of the company’s hotels and

“Edward would be useless if it didn’t

Alcatel which has provided the internal

have access to that live information in

telephone systems for the past 20

the booking system because we wouldn’t

years. “BT has been fantastic in installing

know who that guest is. It wouldn’t

the Wi-Fi that we have. They have done

know the latest changes to the guest

an excellent job at the speed that we

booking, the ETA, the list goes on.

wanted it done. We like to work with

I believe they have been fantastic in sup-

partners that can provide quality and

porting, as by enabling us to have that

efficiency and BT were able to do

access, it has helped us with the under-

a superb job for us in very short period

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

95

“ We search for keywords to see what our guests are asking for and what to identify. Because of this, we’ve managed to learn things we never knew about our guests’ behaviour, such as most of our guests can’t remember whether breakfast is included in their booking or not” — Michael Mrini, Director of Information Technology of Edwardian Hotels London

of time when we upgraded the Wi-Fi in all of our 12 hotels.”

“Alcatel is another one of our partners that has done a brilliant job with us and we have been working with them on things like location services and beacons within the hotel,” he adds. “They’ve been tremendous, and that’s why they remain a partner after 20 years.”

The company currently has 12 UK hotels, 11 of which operate in key locations in London, with the final hotel located in the heart of Manchester. In addition, Edwardian Hotels London are set to unveil a 13th property in Leicese uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

E DWA R D I A N H OT E LS LO N D O N

“ Technology is never going to completely take over what we do and do it for us but it’s going to enable us to do what we do better” 96

— Michael Mrini, Director of Information Technology of Edwardian Hotels London

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

ter Square in 2020. With the future in mind, Mrini demonstrates a commitment to continue to innovate at Edwardian Hotels London. “The ultimate goal for us is to become the best in hospitality and it’s important for us to continue to innovate. With technology you never know what’s next but one’s things for sure, we’re going to continue to improve and innovate with AI,” affirms Mrini.

“We’ve previously dipped our toes in before with AI and had fantastic results so we’re going to continue to utilise it in all the different areas to enable us to do a better job. Technology is never going to completely take over what we do and do it for us but it’s going to enable us to do what we do better.”

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JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

99

Blending world-class digital transformation and science WRIT TEN BY

L AUR A MULL AN PRODUCED BY

LE WIS VAUGHAN

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MET OFFICE

Blending scientific expertise and technological prowess, the Met Office’s latest digital transformation is showing its peers how it’s done

I

n the ‘60s, George Moore made a prediction that would set the pace of today's digital revolution. In a theory commonly dubbed as Moore’s Law, he

forecast that the overall processing power of computers will double every two years or so. For the Met Office – the United Kingdom’s national weather service and climate agency – this prediction

100

has proven to be a pertinent one. Processing vast amounts of climate and weather data from across the globe, Charles Ewen, CIO at the Met Office says that IT plays a critical role at the organisation, noting that his team aim to “provide world-class technology to support world-leading science”.

Without computers, weather forecasting as we know it would simply be impossible. Technology has played a pivotal role in understanding the weather for decades. In the 50s, the Met Office acquired its first electrical desk calculator and fast forward to today and the organisation have implemented the Cray XC40 supercomputer, or High-Performance Computer (HPC). At around 15 times the size of its predecessor, this mammoth machine is one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, capable of completing 14,000trn calculations per second.

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

101

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TECHNOLOGY

“ We provide worldclass technology to support worldleading science”

— Charles Ewen, Chief Information Officer, Met Office 103

Ewen says that this supercomputer

assumptions and from that we can

is instrumental in weather forecasting

provide information about probabilities

and climate prediction by making it

and likelihoods.”

possible to increase fidelity and resolu-

Weather forecasting, Ewen explains,

tion and provide more complete Earth

is an intricate balance of science and

System models. “The supercomputer

technology on a vast scale. At the Met

contributes an awful lot because you

Office, the organisation has been using

can run models at finer resolutions with

innovations like data analytics for

a lot more complexity,” he says. “They

decades. “We’ve been working with

take into account more of the physics

data analytics at a large scale for many

and chemistry that is involved and you

years although we typically don’t call

can operate them over longer timescales

these roles ‘data analysts’,” affirms

and run simulations more frequently.

Ewen. “We have chief meteorologists,

We can also run the same model

for example, and their job is to look at

a number of times with some different

what the computer simulations say and e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

MET OFFICE

have some type of qualitative, contex-

ing with technology giants such as

tual or impact assessment of what that

Amazon Web Services, Google and

data means. Our team have a unique

Microsoft. “It’s still a journey,” reflects

blend of skills in data science, statistics,

Ewen. “We certainly recognise that the

computer programming and more.”

move to the cloud gives us a combination

The sheer size of the Met Office’s

of scale, elasticity, affordability and the

data pool cannot be overstated and

capability that we need to support our

as a result, the organisation shrewdly

world-class science teams.” Right now,

decided to shift to the cloud, partner-

the cloud does not fulfil the needs of its

104

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TECHNOLOGY

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘WHY DO WE NAME STORMS?’ 105 core simulations however as Ewen comments, “there is a lot of technology needed to convert those core simulations into the thousands of contextual forecasts and services that we produce every day”.

One of the most fundamental items in the Met Office’s toolkit is its simulations. Complex and state-of-the-art, this technology applies scientific knowledge to predict future atmospheric conditions across the globe using observations of the current weather captured from land, at sea, in the air, and from space. Ewen likens e uro pe .busi ne ssc h ief. com

MET OFFICE

this to predicting a coin toss. Based on averages or statistics, you could contend that it’s a 50/50 chance that it will be either heads or tails, whereas the Met Office is trying accurately to simulate what side the coin will land on.

“A statistical approach to weather forecasting doesn't give you the infor– mation you need because you want to know about anomalies, you want to know about extreme weather and you want to know about intensity. You don't want to know about averages. Essentially that is what the climate analysis 106

tells you but a weather forecast is about the specifics of a given time and place.”

For many citizens, the weather fore– cast informs many day-to-day decisions like whether they should cut the grass tomorrow, what they should wear or how they should travel. It’s also vital for industries, allowing them to mitigate safety risks like preventing people from working outdoors in hazardous cond– itions. Emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) offer the potential to take one step further. “I can be somewhat unpopular at work when I say that few people actually want a weather forecast,” Ewen says “more frequently, people or increasJANUARY 2019

“ The supercomputer contributes an awful lot because you can run models at finer resolutions with a lot more complexity” — Charles Ewen, Chief Information Officer, Met Office

TECHNOLOGY

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MET OFFICE

ingly machines are trying to make a decision that is only partly about the weather. We are actively researching to understand how to better communicate the weather and future climate to these systems. Human beings are constrained in terms of how more statistics help better decision making, AI does not have that particular constraint,” he says.

Elsewhere, by applying Google Deep Mind, the office is hoping to research the realm of ‘nowcasting’ a form of weather prediction which uses radar 108

returns and other observations to show how the weather may apply to more short-term localised regions. “If you watch this morning’s weather forecast and it says there’s likely to be heavy showers at 10 o’clock you might look out your window at that time to see no rain. It might be a very near miss spatially; it might rain in 20 minutes but not exactly at 10 o’clock. Nowcasting, as opposed to forecasting, applies statistics to see how the weather may evolve in the short term.”

Whilst technology plays a key role in the Met Office’s digital transformation roadmap, Ewen asserts that it’s the people that are at the crux of its JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

success. As such, a key part of the organisation’s strategy revolves around people. “Within our strategy we have a plan to attract retain and develop our people and so it’s clearly very important. We talk about mastery, autonomy and purpose. Mastery refers to developing the unique blend of skills that we need so we invest strongly in training our people,” he says. Indeed, Met Office has developed a variety of new apprenticeships and works to broaden its relationship with academic settings.

“We also try to create an exciting environment that people want to work in,” he adds.

The Met Office has worked hard to forge a work culture which strives to do more. The biggest barrier to continuous improvement? Sparking a cultural shift whereby people recognise the need to change. “That can be tricky when you’re a world leading organisation at the top of its game,” admits Ewen. “However, because we’re an organisation full of bright and able people we can see where some of the future challenges and opportunities lie. Because of that,

Charles Ewen, Chief Information Officer Met Office

it's important to start to change ideally ahead of when you really need to, which is what we've been trying to do.” e uro pe .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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MET OFFICE

One example of this lies at the Met Offices fingertips – its supercomputer. As Moore’s Law dictates, computer processing power will only continue to expand over the coming years and the Met Office needs to be ready to tap into the potential of future supercomputers. “Because the of scale our operations are so large, it can be difficult to predict what the technology environment will look like in the future. Take supercomputers, for example, we’re always looking five to ten years in the future. It’s important to realise what you need to change now, to be lucid and clear about what the target destination looks like.”

110

By all accounts, cutting-edge science and technology are the bread and butter of the weather forecasting. Whether it's going to be blustery or raining, the blend of the two means that we can predict the weather more accurately than ever. “Every ten years, the weather forecast has improved with the same accuracy being available a day earlier,” concludes Ewen. “In other words, a four-day weather forecast is as accurate as a threeday forecast was ten years ago. That shows the rate of progress and technology undoubtedly plays an important part of that.”

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TECHNOLOGY

“ We certainly recognise that the move to the cloud gives us a combination of scale, elasticity, affordability and the capability that we need to support our world-class science teams”

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— Charles Ewen, Chief Information Officer, Met Office

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INEA Utilising technology in the telecoms sector WRIT TEN BY

SE AN GA LE A-PACE PRODUCED BY

JA MES PEPPER

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INEA

Management Board Member and Chief Operating Officer of INEA, Michał Bartkowiak, discusses how his company is utilising technology amid digital transformation in the industry.

114

A

s the fastest broadband and Wi-Fi provider in Poland in 2018, INEA has achieved significant success during the

last year. Michał Bartkowiak, Management Board Member and Chief Operating Officer of INEA, believes innovation and the company’s willingness to embrace technology has been key reasons to INEA’s achievements.

“We are definitely an innovative company. As a provider of retail services, we deliver the fastest broadband in the world with our flagship offering of the symmetric internet with Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) technology at a speed of 10Gb/s,” affirms Bartkowiak. “As an infrastructure operator, we are one of the only operators in Europe that actively opens the network we use as a services provider to other telecommunications operators.”

Through providing broadband, internet, television, mobile and fixed-line telephony services, as well as JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

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TECHNOLOGY

CLICK TO WATCH : #INEAGOBIG 10 GB/S 117 professional services for business and

because of our way of thinking. We are

public sector, Bartkowiak believes that

a technological leader in the region

INEA has become successful due the

with a state-of-the-art infrastructure

company’s ability to diversify.

that we aren’t afraid to use.”

“One of the great features of the

With more than 250,000 customers,

world that surrounds us is diversity.

INEA value their investments in rural

Attitudes and business models of

areas having introduced the last mile

companies from the TMT sector differ

network which covers over 70,000

from one another and a result, a

households in rural areas within the

specific market space has been

Greater Poland region. The implemen-

created for each of us, where we can

tation of the network has allowed INEA

operate and experiment,” he explains.

to collect data in order to better

“If we look at the telecommunications

understand the needs of residents in

market in Europe, it becomes evident

the region. “The last mile network in

that we differ from many companies

rural areas enabled us to collect e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

INEA

valuable experience, both in terms of the construction of a network in such area and the service sales potential. Now, we have a better understanding of the needs of the residents and we’re ready to expand such networks in Poland.”

MAKING SUBSTANTIAL INVESTMENTS As a leading firm in the field of fibre-optic infrastructure in the Greater Poland region, INEA has invested more than $266mn in the infrastructure during the past six years. “These were investments implemented in two areas, such as construction of fibre-optic networks in the FTTH standard and 118

reconstruction of the existing infrastructure to this standard,” says Bartkowiak. “The main projects involved the construction of a broad-band backbone network in Wielkopolska in 2013, the construction of last mile networks and the reconstruction of the infrastructure in towns and cities from Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) to FTTH standard.”

During the past two years, INEA took part in a competition under the Operating Programme Digital Poland, conducted by the Ministry of Digitalisation in Poland and won in more than 20 regions. In order to remain a leader in the industry, INEA has made strategic decisions in order to adapt to changes in the industry. Bartkowiak affirms how vital it is to embrace the latest technology or risk being overtaken by its rivals.

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TECHNOLOGY

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

119

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INEA

€100mn Approximate revenue

1994

Year founded

120

820

Approximate number of employees

“It’s of key importance to observe the

another market challenger in the

changes happening by using technol-

industry who will force us into action.

ogy in different aspects of our lives. We

We need to make decisions on our own

have to examine how our expectations

and try to be the leaders by assuming

to the products or services that we are

the risk of wrong decisions. Technol-

using is changing. It’s important to

ogy becomes devalued very quickly, so

observe the entire spectrum of

we need to fully maximise its potential. I

innovations taking place in the world,”

believe that passive waiting is the worst

he explains. “We can’t afford to wait for

thing one can do.”

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

121

The part of the team (from left): Krzysztof Kwiatkowski – responsible for network construction and maintenance, Marta Myszkowska – responsible for customer care quality, Tomasz Zmyślny – Head of Marketing & PR, Alicja Kakała-Szadkowska – Procurement Manager, Maciej Piechociński – Head of Sales, Krystyna Sawczuk – Head of HR and Krzysztof Marciniak – Head of IT

FORMING KEY PARTNERSHIPS

ments. “From the perspective of the

During the last two years, INEA and

open network model development, the

Orange Poland signed agreements on

contract with Orange Poland was a

the wholesale access to its infrastruc-

significant achievement. We provided

ture in the LLU and BSA model. And

the company with our infrastructure for

this is just the beginning of INEA’s open

the sale of retail services. From the

network strategy. Bartkowiak believes

perspective of the Polish market, it was

the contract with Orange has been one

the first contract of its type and has

of the company’s biggest achieve-

become an inspiration for others to e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

INEA

follow. From our point of view, this

122

In February 2018, Macquarie

collaboration confirmed the validity of

European Infrastructure Fund 5

the previously selected direction for

acquired a majority stake in INEA

the development of our company.”

which will support continued develop-

In order to stand a greater chance of

ment and growth. “Growth in telecom-

success, the majority of companies opt

munication requires significant capital

to form partnerships to drive profit,

expenditure. You can have most

however, Bartkowiak points out what

wonderful ideas but without relevant

INEA requires from its business

financial back-up, their implementation

relationships. “You meet good partners,

will be impossible,” affirms Bartkowiak.

just like friends, in difficult situations.

“We are glad that it is Macquarie that

Similar to everyone in our industry, we

we have the opportunity to work with.

are working with numerous partners in

Due to the fact that we share the same

the market. Starting from suppliers of

vision of INEA development, I am

equipment and materials, through

convinced that the combination of

developers of business solutions or

these two elements guarantees

software, to our closest partners,

development and growth.”

technical and commercial partners, who work in the field. Without their

FUTURE PLANS

knowledge, experience, dynamic

With INEA demonstrating an ambition

operations, development or innovation,

to continue to grow despite a changing

it would be impossible,” he says.

market, Bartkowiak affirms how key

“These types of relations are very

it is that the company expands on

precious and they require mutual trust,

an ongoing basis. “We are

understanding and good communica-

continuously searching for

tion. It’s difficult to sustain such

new areas to grow.

relations; however, we don’t surrender

Sometimes, we joke that

and we endeavor to work on the

on the day when we

continuous improvement of this

announce the launch of

co-operation.”

a new product, we are

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

“It’s of key importance to observe the changes happening by using technology in different aspects of our lives. We have to examine how our expectations of the products or services that we are using is changing.

It’s important to observe the entire spectrum of innovations taking place in the world” — Michał Bartkowiak, Management Board Member and COO of INEA

e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

123

INEA

“We are continuously searching for new areas to grow. Sometimes, we joke that on the day when we announce the launch of a new product, we are already working on another one. That was precisely the case with the 10 Gb/s service we started this year. It’s vital we act quickly because of the way the market is changing” — Michał Bartkowiak, Management Board Member and COO of INEA

124

already working on another one. That

munication infrastructure. “We remain

was precisely the case with 10 Gb/s

focused on the construction of an open

service started this year. It’s vital we

optic-fibre infrastructure. Having won

act quickly because of the way the

over 20 competitions under the

market is changing.”

Operating Programme Digital Poland,

Looking to the future, Bartkowiak

we are also implementing projects con-

believes that INEA remains determined

sisting of the expansion of the existing

to build on its success through the

telecommunication infrastructure and

implementation of new projects to

reconstruction of the existing one to

enhance the firm’s existing telecom-

FTTH standard,” he says. “As a result

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

125

of those projects, we will reach about

The method of teaching, handling

700,000 more households located in

affairs with authorities or benefiting

rural areas with our network. All the

from entertainment will change and

schools located on the territory of

this will completely transform the

planned investments will be connected

image of those towns.�

to the network and these are areas that are digitally excluded, where broadband services are unavailable today.

The residents of those areas will have access to modern digital services. e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

126

Universidad Europea: striving for success WRIT TEN BY

CATHERINE S TURM AN PRODUCED BY

LE WIS VAUGHAN

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

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UNIVERSIDAD EUROPEA

Universidad Europea has seen its degree programmes enhanced by new digital tools...

128

O

ffering a dynamic education with the spirit of constant improvement, Universidad Europea is committed

to providing an innovative educational model, and is focused on adding value to society. Actively contributing to its progress through education that is designed to help students become professionals and leaders, the organisation is prepared to respond to the needs of a global environment. At Universidad Europea, its exceptional facilities and educational programmes continue to deliver high employment outcomes, where its courses seek to turn its students into ethical leaders, inspiring entrepreneurship, teamwork and creativity.

Viewing educational technology as

a global enabler for teaching and learning, JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

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TECHNOLOGY

“ Our business is education, so we try to facilitate the needs from academia, from the people who are teaching the classes to our students. This is our priority” Daniel Milner Resel, Chief Technology Officer 131 Pedro Morcillo, Chief Information

tages that digitisation can bring to

Officer and Daniel Milner Resel Chief

Universidad Europea in Spain and

Technology Officer are passionate

Portugal, Morcillo and Milner Resel have

about how digitisation has revolution-

looked to fully reshape the student

ised the way students engage with its

experience. With universities in Madrid,

services. No longer content with

Valencia and the Canary Islands, as

traditional ways of working, students

well as offices in Lisbon and Porto, they

are demanding tools that not only

have sought to close the gap between

provide greater flexibility, but encour-

technology and academia.

age continuous improvement, both

“Our business is education, from the

personally and professionally. It has

people who are teaching the classes to

even been predicted that the e-learn-

our students. This is our priority. There

ing market worldwide will surpass

are presently three major projects

US$243bn by 2022, something which

at Universidad Europea in relation to

Universidad Europea is keen to tap into.

providing a better service. Firstly, there

Responsible for unlocking advan-

is a new design and host for our main e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

UNIVERSIDAD EUROPEA

132

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

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

webpage, which is now hosted on Google Cloud. Secondly, we have a medical images service, which is based on the integration of information services and the different devices which take medical images in our eight university clinics. Lastly, we have a simulated hospital. It is a ‘best in class’ installation, unique in Spain in both technology and dimensions,” explains Milner Resel.

The possibilities Universidad Europea have uncovered through investing in technology are endless.

Across its framework, its services have been fully disrupted, providing a number of advantages.

“We have services licensed by our corporation and where they are also E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E

Daniel Milner Resel Chief Technical Officer in Spain & Portugal, Daniel Milner Resel is redefining the utilisation of all IT services at Universidad Europea. Establishing a new regional framework as part of the unification of Spain and Portugal’s digital capabilities, he has a deep understanding the technological needs of the organisation, solving the gap between business and IT.

e uro pe .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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UNIVERSIDAD EUROPEA

the admin. We also have services licensed by the corporation at a regional level but we are the admins at a local level. Additionally, we have services where both things are at a local level – for example, SIS, Salesforce, Bullet, 8x8 Call Centre, DNS’s, file servers, printers, WIFI, labs, audiovisuals and more.” By utilising tools provided by Microsoft, Cisco, Tenable and BitSight for its security services, as well as investing in its two data centres, Universidad Europea has also adopted Blackboard Learn software, a virtual Learning Management System (LMS) to provide further 134

student support.

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘LEARNING COMMUNICATION WORKING AS A PROFESSIONAL’ JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

Most recently however, Universidad Europea has witnessed how the implementation of big data has created significant opportunities.

The launch of its Business Intelligence (BI) Competency Centre, alongside IBM Cognos and Informatica ETL has seen the business gain a greater understanding of the large volumes of data under its portfolio. The use of automation is now another tool the team is keen to explore, where adopting technology based on Salesforce and 8x8 Call Center has enabled the organisation to look at further ways of transforming the student lifecycle.

“With big data, it's a full transformation.

Before undertaking this project, there was one key question that was put on the table – ‘how many people nowadays are enrolled at our university? Marketing has one answer, sales has another and IT another, all of which are not the same. Big data has been a revolutionary approach, successfully led by the IT department,” notes Milner Resel.

However, limited resources within the education sector remain a global issue. To bolster its resiliency and drive quality results, the organisation has utilised audio-visual technologies to promote collaboration.

Implementing Lifesize to encourage the sharing of ideas, it is now Universidad Europea’s main tool for videoconferencing, e uro pe .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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UNIVERSIDAD EUROPEA

as well as Skype for Business and Zoom. Its project with Smart–boards in the classroom is also expected to revolutionise student learning, where the implementation of Clevertouch 86 will work to deliver an immersive student experience within a digital classroom environment. Not only that, to further promote accessibility, Universidad Europea’s partnership with Chilean contractor Moofwd has led the development of a mobile app, powered by cloud technology.

136

Educational services will continue to evolve, in which Milner Resel coins this ‘the third revolution.’ Students will gain knowledge and expertise through various platforms, where Universidad Europea will soon be taking this to the next stage and look at the long-term benefits of remote working across the organisation.

“We have a lot of initiatives, where in the near future a great percentage of our work force is going to be working from home. It gives families flexibility, lowers utility bills at establishments and more. Here in Spain and Portugal, we are trying to get a more ambitious approach to this kind of work,” he says.

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

‘ Students are demanding tools that not only provide greater flexibility, but ones that encourage continuous improvement, both personally and professionally’

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UNIVERSIDAD EUROPEA

“ We have a lot of initiatives, where in the near future a great percentage of our work force is going to be working from home”

138

Daniel Milner Resel, Chief Technology Officer

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TECHNOLOGY

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

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140

Fuelling rapid growth with an innovative procurement transformation WRIT TEN BY

L AUR A MULL AN PRODUCED BY

RICHARD DURR ANT

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

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U I PAT H

We speak to UiPath’s Head of Global Procurement, Catalin Lupu, to discover how a cutting-edge procurement transformation is helping to enable the firm’s exponential growth It seems that when it comes to robotic processing automation (RPA), the name on everyone’s lips is UiPath. The American firm has achieved a lot in its short history. At its 142

genesis, UiPath was just a team of 10 based in Bucharest but now it’s headquartered in New York City, boasting 30 offices in 16 countries and more than 1,700 employees. “‘Growth’ is the key word at the firm,” points out Catalin Lupu, Head of Global Procurement, and the technology community seems to agree. The firm was listed 26th on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 – a ranking of the crème de la crème in the technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies in North America. In 2018 alone, UiPath closed its Series B and Series C financing rounds totalling US$418mn, lifting the company’s valuation to an impressive $3bn.

UiPath has, by all accounts, been a gleaming example of how to scale a tech startup and, JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

143

“‘ Growth’ is the key word at the firm” — Catalin Lupu, Head of Global Procurement, UiPath

for Lupu, this is thanks in part to the firm’s robust procurement function.

Before joining UiPath, Lupu cut his teeth in procurement with time at firms like Renault and the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company respectively.

Through these roles, Lupu honed his skills and says that it provided him with a “global view” which enabled him to “understand the challenges and steps needed to scale up a business”. This e uro pe .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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TECHNOLOGY

proved to be a critical skill when he later moved to UiPath.

UiPath began as a small startup with a procurement spend of around $2-3mn but CEO Daniel Dines had big ambitions.

He wanted UiPath to be a market leader.

To kick off this growth, the firm first had to convince the market of the merits of RPA and build a strategic roadmap.

“We basically started from scratch,” explains Lupu. “I like to describe it like building a house. First of all, we laid the foundation. In procurement, we decided our policies, how we should buy, what architecture we should use, how the procurement function should look like in a year from now. That’s where it started.” UiPath didn’t think small; it crafted its roadmap with a global mindset from the offset. Rather than confining itself by regions, it standardised its procurement function at a global level.

Compliance was also a crucial factor.

“The policies are shaped around the business’ needs and compliance because when you’re working with clients like Fortune 500 firms, we wanted to make sure that everything is audit able, that they’re doing everything by the book. We also didn’t want to make it too difficult to manage or too granular e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

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U I PAT H

for approvals so we implemented procurement cards.” After laying the foundation, UiPath turned its attention to building the walls and the structure. For procurement, this meant implementing the systems. “We wanted everything to be digitalised so, for instance, we implemented procure-to-pay (P2P) and finance modules from Net Suite,” notes Lupu. “We wanted to drive the company forward, we wanted to automate and to liberate our people from repetitive stuff so that they could be more focused on strategic tasks like emailing a new supplier.

146

It also enabled us to deliver analytics at a global level. I think that is the holy grail and it’s where a lot of companies struggle.” By implementing a cloud-based solution, this not only made the move from offline to digital seamless, it also allowed UiPath to get access to purchase orders (POs) on all devices – ideal for any global, fast-moving firm – which were easily integrated with other applications.

A key task for any company, particularly in the IT sector, is attracting, retaining and training the right talent and it was another key facet in UiPath’s transformation story.

“Bringing the right people is essential when scaling,” reflects Lupu. “We built up a culture and a team that’s ready to scale and that’s JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

147

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

Catalin Lupu Catalin Lupu is Head of Global Procurement of UiPath.

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

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U I PAT H

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘UIPATH GO! – AUTOMATION MADE EASY’ 148

prepared for any challenges the clients

ment in different geographies. “Growth

may have. “They’re very focused on the

is a good problem to have,” laughs Lupu,

client needs, and internally it’s been quite

“but it’s still a challenge.” To tackle this,

a successful journey for them, because

UiPath’s procurement team have worked

most of them come from different

hard to develop strong industry links

industries. We looked at their potential

and vendor partnerships that are able

as well as their skills.”

to keep pace with the firm’s global vision.

UiPath has quickly become synony-

“We don’t see these firms as suppliers

mous with the RPA market, acquiring

or vendors, they’re partners because

an average of six new customers per

when we try to go global, we need

day. Yet, this rapid growth hasn’t come

partners that will stick by us, who will

without its challenges. As the first

insulate us, and be able to adapt to the

footprint has expanded it had to establish

market,” Lupu explains. Take the issue

new real estate, pay rolls and recruit-

of real estate, highlights Lupu. With

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TECHNOLOGY

“ Bringing in the right people is essential when scaling”

149

a footprint spanning from London to Tokyo, Bengaluru to Singapore, offices

a presence across the world.”

UiPath has sought out partners which

are a top priority for UiPath and therefore

have an international presence yet

it has developed strong relationships

local knowledge. It found this with partner

to make this a reality. “We have a big

CDW who helped to enhance the firm’s

spend on real-estate, so we have a very

IT management. “One of the challenges

interesting and successful strategy,”

when growing globally is finding global

he says. “When we enter a new country,

partners who can meet this footprint

we start off in co-working space so that

and deliver what you need, whether

we can create a presence there and

it’s in Europe, the US, Asia or in India,”

start hiring. We have a global partner-

notes Lupu. “We found that CDW was

ship with We Work, which provides

one of the few in the market who could

a single point of contact for us globally,

achieve this and helps us manage the

which is a robust model when you need

IT span and delivery. They helped us e uro pe .busi ne ssc h ief. com

U I PAT H

centralise all the hardware that we were buying individually in countries by creating synergies. They understood that we needed a global single point of contact which is hands on.”

As the role of procurement morphs rapidly into a business enabler, rather than a back-office function, it’s also getting more digitally-savvy. Just as its users have adopted UiPath’s RPA platform to take their business to the next level, UiPath’s procurement team are also using its own product. Lupu points out that, by getting robots to 150

automate mundane and repetitive

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TECHNOLOGY

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tasks, it allows his team to focus on value-adding jobs. “It automates repetitive work so people can focus on more strategic or creative jobs,” he explains. “RPA doesn’t only apply to procurement or finance. It can be applied to supply chain, it can be applied to delivery, call centres, banking, any industry that’s had repetitive standardised processes which could be automated. That’s why I think it’s very disruptive, because it can apply to any industry.”

Lupu believes the procurement sector is undergoing a seismic shift e uro pe .busi ne ssc h ief. com

U I PAT H

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

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TECHNOLOGY

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

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THE EVOLVING

LANDSCAPE OF DIGITAL DISRUPTION 154

Business Chief Africa speaks exclusively with Parit Shah, CEO of Tan Sales London (TSL Group), a global leader in exporting and distributing electrical and lighting equipment.

WRIT TEN BY

DA LE BENTON PRODUCED BY

S TUART IRVING

JANUARY 2019

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A

s technology has continued to define, and redefine, industry sectors all over the world, how has this affected TSL Group

and its operations?

The speed at which developing countries are embracing technology into their infrastructure is rapid.

We spend a lot of time with manufacturers and industry leaders in discussing trends, innovation and how to deliver this into the market place. We guide customers and engineers in our markets to use best practice solutions to ensure that the technology that they are seeking is fit for purpose. In 2018 we delivered a solution 156

with 200 dual tariff cloud based meters for a client to retrofit and install sub meters into their building. This offered our client cloud billing services, with an invoice to each of their tenants, showing a breakdown in usage and charge on utility and the generator supply.

How is TSL responding to the evolving landscape?

We have systems in place that allow us to trace the movement of each and every product, transaction, and customer and supplier account. We can very quickly produce reports and offer traceability on payment flows, product flows and order positions. All payments and receipts are done electronically. We are open to technology and if block chain technology can speed up the process of shipping goods internationally and securing payments, then this could be something of the future.

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“ Our people travel all over the world, to meet suppliers and customers, to attend trade exhibitions, conferences, seminars and assist in the commissioning of projects. This is incredibly important to us, as it allows us to embrace different cultures and develop 158 an open mind set� — Parit Shah, CEO, Tan Sales London

We use cloud services for our internal and external written communications.

How has the digital transformation of industry created a culture shift at TSL? How important is change management?

It is how we manage this communication and set a standard for service, that will ensure our future success. We encourage all our staff to seek innovative solutions to overcome challenges, and improve existing methods. A daily 1% improvement in any segment of the business can have a massive impact over a year.

With digital transformation, the conversation is centred on technology, but

What are some of the key ways in

how important is it to develop people

which technology has transformed

and bring them along the journey?

the business?

The ability to communicate via mobile,

We are continuously undertaking professional training as an organisa-

email, skype and WhatsApp make

tion. We participate in product training

everybody in the chain connected. The

workshops, software training, manage-

speed at which communication takes

ment and leadership training. The

place is incredible.

training is open to all, and we are always

You could be on a construction site,

seeking ways in which to offer more

on any continent, or you could be up at

product and skills training. Some of the

40,000ft on an aircraft, and we can all

training is on the job, at manufacturers

be connected, making things happen.

training facilities or third-party providers.

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Our people travel all over the world, to meet suppliers and customers, to attend trade exhibitions, conferences,

How important is sustainability in TSL’s operations?

As technology continuously evolves,

seminars and assist in the commis-

buildings and infrastructure should

sioning of projects. This is incredibly

become greener, have a reduced

important to us, as it allows us to

carbon footprint, and use sustainable

embrace different cultures and develop

and environmentally friendly products.

an open mind set.

We also conduct training seminars

As part of our engagement with the market that we serve, we are always

for customers and consulting engi-

advocating this and if and where possible,

neers in Europe and in Africa, to

guiding our clients to use sustainable

educate on standards, best practice

solutions. Profit and price is not every-

and designs that focus on efficiency

thing, but a respect for our environment,

and value.

and leaving a sustainable legacy is. e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

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“ You could be on a construction site on any continent, or an engineer in a factory providing support, and we can all be connected making things happen.”

— Parit Shah, CEO, Tan Sales London

JANUARY 2019

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What commitments does TSL have to go above and beyond?

Our overriding commitment is to help improve peoples’ lives. Delivering economical and efficient solutions, will help develop businesses, services and infrastructure allowing people to live, work and transit through a better environment.

In all the sectors that we deliver into, healthcare, education, office, retail, infrastructure, hospitality and residential, our solutions are committed to improving the lives of all. A commit162

ment to products that meet standards, are safe, reliable and manufactured sustainably is paramount to our longterm commitment.

How important is it to develop the communities you work in?

We must seek to improve people’s lives in many ways, through social impact, assistance, education and guidance. In 2018, we have helped build boreholes in Kenya for communities where there is no accessible water for miles. We also participated in a week-long training project in Arusha, delivering presentations and

JANUARY 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

workshops to helping businesses who have received micro finance loans to establish business practices and strategies for growth and financial stability. Helping small businesses to grow will create jobs and have a positive social impact on the community. We must always assist where we can.

What makes TSL different as an organisation?

Relationships with our suppliers and customers is key, and collaborating with them, with their teams and ours is fundamental to our success. Immersing into our customers perspective, allows us to understand the challenges that they face and we can then use our experience to solve these, and develop long term relationships.

Our market experience, product knowledge and ability to see things differently, make us stand out.

We focus on value added engineering, cost effective supply chain partnerships, performance in delivery and financial expertise, making us a partner of choice.

Nothing is impossible, we will always go that extra step to make things happen.

In a business where we are offering

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“ A recent highlight has been completing the supply of materials for Julius Nyerere International Airport’s Terminal 3, passenger terminal. We started work on this project several years ago, looking at the design and to see how we could add value. We introduced innovative products that had never been used before in Tanzania.”

— Parit Shah, CEO, Tan Sales London

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and shipping products and services

we could add value. We introduced

across the globe, there can be many

innovative products that had never

challenges, from specification,

been used before in Tanzania. We

financial, process and communication.

worked with the sub-contractor and

We work hard to bridge and overcome

main contractor in planning a supply

these, and perform where others cannot.

chain process and ensuring a delivery

We must do whatever we can, with

programme to meet the project’s

honesty, integrity and experience to

requirements. The project is due to

perform and deliver.

complete in 2019. In 2018, we also supplied onto the Aga Khan Hospital

What is one particular highlight of

in Dar es Salaam, and the Cobre Panama

2018 for TSL?

Mine in Panama. The Cobre Panama

A recent highlight has been completing the supply of materials for Julius 166

Mine, is currently the largest infrastructure project in Panama.

Nyerere International Airport’s Terminal 3, passenger terminal. We started work on this project several years ago, looking at the design and to see how

“We must do whatever we can, with honesty, integrity and experience to perform and deliver.”

— Parit Shah, CEO, Tan Sales London JANUARY 2019

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What will 2019 have in store for TSL? In 2019, we will be aiming to deliver a centralized DALI lighting control

engineers to solve their design requirements and achieve value and innovation.

We want to continue our supply

system with over 200 DALI circuits for

chain partnering with companies all

a 5-star hotel in Nairobi. This will be

over the world, and working with clients

able to control up to 8,000 light points.

who want us to assist in delivering

A project of this size, will be a first for

economic and technical value, within

East Africa. This is part of our strategy

their delivery programmes.

to offer the latest and most innovative solutions for our clients. We have worked with the client, the design team and the e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com

Just in time to say goodbye.

Keeping you in the air. The best time to develop services for tomorrow’s technology is today. That’s why we’re doing that now — along with integrating new models, materials and technologies in our portfolio as quickly as possible. Our goal is to keep your aircraft off the ground, tomorrow as well as today. So let the future arrive: our services will be waiting. Talk to us.

Lufthansa Technik AG, marketing.sales@lht.dlh.de Call us: +49-40-5070-5553

lufthansa-technik.com