Business Chief USA – December 2019

Building a digital strategy around advocacy banking

HHH USA

EDITION

DECEMBER 2019 www.businesschief.com

BUILDING TECHNOLOGY, TEAMS AND TRUST

Championing diversity through eWOW Rashim Mogha, Global Head of Education Products, on her passion for encouraging women into tech

City Focus

PHOENIX A future filled with self-driving cars

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FOREWORD

W

elcome to the December

Digital Banking, Visions FCU,

edition of Business Chief USA!

discusses the benefits of digital

This month’s cover features

transformation within the

Rashim Mogha, Global Head of

organisation to become true

Education Products, Automation

advocates for its members.

Anywhere, discussing how the

In our leadership feature, we speak

company is leading the way within

with Ganeshan Venkateshwaran,

the tech industry by employing more

President of Trianz, to discuss

women to achieve greater diversity

upcoming digital transformation

in the sector.

trends within the IT service

Other leaders that feature in the magazine include Chris White,

management industry.

This month’s City Focus takes a

Deputy CISO at Interpublic Group

closer look at the history and culture

who discusses talent shortages

of Phoenix, Arizona and its adoption

within the technology industry,

of autonomous vehicles. In addition,

automation solutions and how to

our Top 10 ranks the wealthiest

ensure cybersecurity still allows

individuals in the United States.

for creative freedom. In addition,

Do you have a story to share? Please

Gerardo Suárez Napolitano,

do not hesitate to get in touch and you

CEO of Tuenti Ecuador, reflects on

could be featured in our next issue.

the evolving telecommunications industry as well as the company’s

Enjoy the read!

rapid growth and 100% digital

Georgia Wilson

offering. Thomas Novak, AVP of

georgia.wilson@bizclikmedia.com

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

03

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USA EDITION

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GEORGIA WILSON EDITORAL DIRECTOR

MATT HIGH

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CONTENTS

14 Rashim Mogha is championing diversity through eWOW

40 28 Trianz: digitally transforming technology solutions

DATA ANALYTICS FOR GOOD – THE NEXT FRONTIER

48 Talent retention: why traditional methods are no longer enough

56

64 City Focus

PHOENIX Evolving the journey: putting your carbon footprint at the top of the agenda

72

CONTENTS

88 Interpublic Group

102 Tuenti Ecuador

116 Visions Federal Credit Union

130 RANDALL Construction

144 PepsiCo

158 WSIB

178 Meridian Credit Union

194 KUBRA

224 eStruxture

208 DRA Global

14

DECEMBER 2019

Automation Anywhere: Rashim Mogha is championing diversity through eWOW WRITTEN BY

AMBER DONOVAN-STEVENS PRODUCED BY

CRAIG KILLINGBACK

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15

A U T O M AT I O N A N Y W H E R E

Rashim Mogha, Founder of eWOW and Global Head of Education Products, Automation Anywhere, is leading the way in bringing more women into the tech industry and shares how we can too

R 16

ashim Mogha is clearly the woman to watch. eWOW (empowered Women of the World) founder and the The Global

Head of Education Products, Automation Anywhere University, best-selling author, keynote speaker and equality influencer has just been awarded Woman of the Year 2019. This is the third award Mogha has won in 2019 alone, having also been recognised as a Woman of Influence for Silicon Valley, and winning the Women Empowerment: Game Changer Award for her eWOW initiative, which empowers women to be successful, and for her career achievements. “I’ve had the privilege of working at the forefront of cuttingedge technology throughout my career,” says Mogha, a veteran of companies like VMware, AWS and Oracle.

“I led the education program for AWS, including bootcamps at re:Invent, annual AWS conference where we trained over 8,000 people during a three-day event.” AWS provided Mogha with an opportunity to create education solutions that can function in DECEMBER 2019

17

“Say yes to every opportunity and, as you climb the ladder, don’t forget to give back” — Rashim Mogha, Founder of eWOW and Global Head of Education Products, Automation Anywhere w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

A U T O M AT I O N A N Y W H E R E

“ When you really look at it, robotic process automation (RPA) is going to drive how business is done and what the future of work is in the era of the fourth industrial revolution” 18

— Rashim Mogha, Founder of eWOW and Global Head of Education Products, Automation Anywhere

real-time as well as to scale them out.

At Oracle, Mogha built the enablement strategy for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure from the ground up. “Coming to Automation Anywhere was a natural progression as I had the necessary knowledge of how to build products for startup environment, and then to scale them out. That’s what my role involves right now at Automation Anywhere.”

Her main responsibility is developing education products to help accomplish Automation Anywhere’s March to Million mission of educating a million individuals on developing and using robotic process automation and prepare for the jobs of the future. “This goal was very appealing to me because when you really look at it, robotic process automation (RPA) is going to drive how business is done and what the future of work is in the era of the

DECEMBER 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘RASHIM MOGHA, AUTOMATION ANYWHERE | WOMEN TRANSFORMING TECHNOLOGY 2019’ 19 fourth industrial revolution.” She asserts

empower more women to join and stay

the need for upskilling and reskilling to

in the tech industry.”

maintain momentum in this ever-evolving industry, confident that knowledge of

AUTOMATION ANYWHERE UNIVERSITY

RPA will soon be a prerequisite for jobs

“Businesses are missing out on creating

of future just like word processors and

compelling global solutions by not hav-

office productivity tools. Mogha is also

ing diversity at decision-making levels,

passionate about leadership and has

as considerations for women are time

been recognised as a Top 100 keynote

and time again missed,” says Mogha.

speaker by databird and a Top 20

“For example, the health app released

thought leaders by Thinkers 360. She

by Apple in 2015 did not incorporate or

says “Launching eWOW in 2018 was a

take into account women’s reproductive

natural progression. Having held leader-

cycles, and facial recognition algorithms

ship roles at VMware, AWS, and Oracle,

have a success rate of only 33% on

it was now my turn to give back and

darker-skinned women, as opposed w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

A U T O M AT I O N A N Y W H E R E

20

to 99% for white men. The creators of

academic institutions. Mogha shares

the solutions were only thinking of one

that Automation Anywhere’s Enterprise

gender; 49% of the population (men)

A2019 platform offers capabilities to

cannot create solutions for 100% of the

enterprises of all sizes, including: an intui-

world’s population.” It is for this reason

tive web-based interface that simplifies

that Mogha says it is essential to bring

bot development; a cloud-native platform

diversity of thought in the tech industry in

that offers customers RPA-as-a-Service

order to create equal solutions and drive

from the cloud with reduced cost and

the industry forward.

“near-infinite” scalability; AI capabilities

The March to Millions initiative is

to integrate third-party solutions and

helping in opening up opportunities

natural language processing; and new

for everyone and so far has delivered

Attended Automation 2.0, allowing

500,000 RPA trainings to business

greater collaboration between humans

analysts, developers, program managers,

and bots across teams and workflows.

partners, and students. The program is

Automation Anywhere University’s

gaining momentum with its 65 author-

education products play a key role in

ised training partners across 300+

upskilling the citizen developers on

DECEMBER 2019

Automation Anywhere’s Enterprise

Anywhere University, we are making

A2019 platform. Origin Learning and

opportunities available to everybody,”

Newgen are strategic training develop-

affirms Mogha. She shares a phrase

ment partners ,working with Automation

often said by Mihir Shukla, CEO of

Anywhere University to create its educa-

Automation Anywhere: “Talent is equally

tion products. “These training partners

distributed. Opportunities are not.”

have been instrumental in helping us develop educational products for our

EWOW: LEADING BY EXAMPLE

global audience. Our trainings are free,

“The eWOW initiative is my way of giving

engaging and localized, making it easy

back to the community. It is an initiative to

for anyone to learn how to develop and

empower women to be successful, what-

use bots to eliminate the mundane and

ever the definition of success is for them,”

focus on being creative. With Automation

says Mogha.

21

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Rashim Mogha Mogha is a thought leader and women in tech evangelist. A keynote speaker and #1 Amazon best-selling author of “Fast-Track Your Leadership Career” Rashim speaks at conferences around the world, inspiring women and girls to further their career in technology. Her extensive career portfolio includes leadership roles in companies such as Oracle, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and VMware where she built high-performing teams to support over US$2bn businesses. H ​ er thought leadership innovation and women in technology have appeared in publications such as Forbes and ATD and platforms like Linkedin Learning. With a goal to empower leaders in 2018, she founded eWOW: Empowered Women of the World. eWOW is an intellectual platform designed to help women with their technical and leadership skills to be successful and thrive. Rashim is a recipient of ’Women Empowerment: Game Changer, Woman of the Year and Silicon Valley Woman of Influence’ awards.

w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

ENTERPRISE

2003

Year founded

we believe that every woman is a leader in her own way – all she needs is an intellectual platform that can help her navigate the path.” The eWOW platform

1,500,000+ bots and counting

1,750+ Number of employees

In September 2018, Mogha released her book on leadership, Fast-Track Your Leadership Career: A definitive template for advancing your career, which became an Amazon Bestseller within 11 hours of release. “I had goosebumps! It took me a little while to realise the level of impact this was having on people, but many women and men leaders began to reach out, requesting to continue the conversation around empowerment.”

In November 2018, she launched the eWOW initiative: Empowered Women of the World, designed to provide women with the framework to be successful at the workplace. “At eWOW,

offers Alexa skills, podcasts, various online and in-person events, and leadership workshops.

The eWOW podcast has an audience in over 31 countries. “It’s about empowering women, wherever they are, in their journey to leadership. The eWOW initiative is well on its way CO MPAN Y FACT S

• Facial recognition algorithms have a success rate of only 33% for darker-skinned women, as opposed to 99% for white men • The March to Millions initiative is helping providing opportunities to everyone and Automation Anywhere University has delivered 500,000 RPA trainings to business analysts, developers, program managers, partners, and students.

w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

23

A U T O M AT I O N A N Y W H E R E

EMPOWER DIGITAL WORKFORCE Accelerate Digital Transformation with our Learning Strategies & Learning Experience Platform

Email info@originlearning.com to schedule a demo

25

“ 49% of the 100,000 women globally.”

“10 years ago, women were expected population (men) to act like men to a certain extent to cannot create be successful in a leadership role, as solutions for 100% most of their peers were men,” reflects of the world’s Mogha. “Today, women can own their narrative, bring their whole self to work population” to reaching out and empowering

and become empathetic leaders without having to pretend to be one of the

men in the room.” Mogha believes that while women have more confidence to speak up within these leadership

— Rashim Mogha, Founder of eWOW and Global Head of Education Products, Automation Anywhere

environments than ever before, we are nowhere close to equality. w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

A U T O M AT I O N A N Y W H E R E

26

DECEMBER 2019

BRIGHTER FUTURES Looking to the future, Mogha has one main piece of advice to others looking to move forward in their careers. “Say yes to every opportunity and, as you climb the ladder, don’t forget to give back.” To companies, she suggests: “If you want this world to be an equal place and help solve world problems, make sure that you are truly bringing diversity and inclusion into your workforce and into your thought processes, as opposed to just thinking of it as a token or a box that you need to check.”

Mogha concludes: “The future is bright for women in tech; there has been an inspiring growth in the number of women attending tech events and many companies are also starting to realise build programs to bring and retain women in the workforce.” As the tech industry continues to embark on diversity and inclusion initiatives, there is no doubt that Rashim Mogha will be at the forefront of this drive, continuing to inspire women to challenge bias and push themselves to be empathetic and forward-thinking leaders who create solutions for real world problems.

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27

LEADERSHIP

28

Trianz: digitally transforming technology solutions Ganeshan Venkateshwaran, President at Trianz, discusses upcoming digital transformation trends WRITTEN BY

DECEMBER 2019

GEORGIA WILSON

29

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LEADERSHIP

W

ith almost 20 years’ experience within IT consulting and services, Ganeshan

Venkateshwaran, President at Trianz,

understands the rapid pace at which his industry can evolve, driven by new and innovative

technologies. He believes that, when it comes to the technology industry, “a key disruptor is the pace at which core businesses are getting disrupted. This, he says, means that the need 30

for technologies to deliver faster, better and connected outcomes has never been greater in order to stay ahead.

“As early as 2013, Trianz Founder and Chairman Sri Manchala sensed new paradigms taking shape and spent serious time with clients understanding how it impacted theam,” says Venkateshwaran.

Before digital transformation became fashionable, he explains, Sri and the senior leadership team applied themselves to create the right portfolio required for multidisciplinary collaboration.

“When we saw digital disruption coming, we consciously transitioned out from any legacy footprints we had, investing not only in creating digital assets but also training and transforming our core assets, our people.”

DECEMBER 2019

31

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LEADERSHIP

“ A key disruptor is the pace at which core businesses are getting disrupted, which demands the need for technologies to deliver faster, better and connected outcomes” 32

— Ganeshan Venkateshwaran, President, Trianz

DECEMBER 2019

In terms of that transformation, Venkateshwaran has seen multiple technologies drive digital disruption in the sector. These, he adds, include Concierto.cloud, an integrated cloud and infrastructure operations management platform, to provide a unified and holistic view of IT operations, spanning infrastructure and applications; Arxway, a bastion host server that connects an organisation’s VPNs to AWS Cloud’s EC2 instances, enabling enhanced security and authorised user access from anywhere; Trianz Marketing Data

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘IMPROVE CUSTOMER & EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCES WITH FASTER, EFFICIENT APPLICATION PERFORMANCE MONITORING’ 33

Lake Solution, a unified repository for

in public cloud, taking a balanced

all customer data, combining internal

approach that enables them to opt

and external sources to produce data

for a ‘multi-cloud’ strategy. The

marts in an analytical consumable

development of hybrid cloud solutions

format; and Trianz IoT Platform, the

and innovations in containerisation

management layer Underlying IoT,

“marks the next phase of cloud

which has the capability to visualise

adoption”, he adds.

device topology and rule chain analysis for predefined actionable patterns.

Cloud in particular is becoming

With the continuous increase in cloud and analytical technology driving mainstream businesses,

increasingly important to companies

Venkateshwaran discusses in more

worldwide, he states. For example,

detail how Trianz works to leverage

he explains how businesses of all

innovations such as chatbots (natural

sizes are increasing their investment

language processing), connected clouds w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

LEADERSHIP

(public, private, hybrid), blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning, AIOps platforms, digital twins, serverless computing, DevOps assembly lines and microservices.

“Our digital transformation includes building a machine learning algorithm to classify legal documents for a leading law firm, leveraging Azure Cognitive services,” he explains.

“We are also developing a chatbot that can retrieve data in conversional ways for insurers; building a network 34

management system (NMS) solution based on an open source IoT platform, to monitor and manage patented BPL devices; an AIOps product, that ingests system services and application logs that uses predictive algorithms in an event management framework; and developing deep competency in areas of Modern data stacks and driving certification around Azure, GCP, Talend, Snowflake looker and AppDynamics.

“At Trianz, our ‘Innovation Labs’ are hotspots where new platform features and capabilities are evaluated and tested for specific use cases,” comments Venkateshwaran.

DECEMBER 2019

“ We have carefully crafted an ecosystem engineered around our focus on digital evolution” — Ganeshan Venkateshwaran, President, Trianz

“The company is constantly evaluating next generation technologies and developing POCs/Prototypes that enable technology based disruption.”

In addition to its current projects in progress, Trianz has launched Trasers, “a syndicated, benchmarking and custom research service based on the world’s largest study in digital transformations, spanning over 5,000 companies across 17 industries.”

The service aims to allow business leaders to develop visions, strategies and roadmaps with data driven insights for digital solutions.

Venkateshwaran also highlights the importance of crafting the right service model strategy, alongside the right technology partnerships and the right culture, when it comes to multidisciplinary collaboration. If companies do this, he states, it can help to keep both themselves and their clients ahead of the digital transformation curve. “By investing in digital workplace technology” he adds, “we can provide operational efficiencies to our global workforce, to optimise synergies through seamless communication and collaboration. w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

35

LEADERSHIP

36

“ When we saw digital disruption coming, we consciously transitioned out from any legacy footprints we had, investing not only in creating digital assets but we trained and transformed our core assets, our people” — Ganeshan Venkateshwaran, President, Trianz

DECEMBER 2019

LEADING THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION RACE Founded in 2001, Trianz has been solving critical challenges faced by business leaders through perspectives backed by experience and research for nearly two decades. Says Venkateshwaran: “we have positioned ourselves as next-generation leaders in digital transformation engagements.”

Trianz delivers to its clients business and technology roadmaps, business readiness and organisational adoption for strategic initiatives, as well as technology services ranging from platform selection and technology

37 architecture, all the way through to

strengths are, its “exclusive focus on

solution implementations. “These

digital transformation, unbiased insights,

services aim to facilitate, orchestrate and

global scale, values and culture.”

simplify the uphill task of evolving digitally

Over these years, Trianz has

and contextualise interactions with

expanded its footprint to multiple global

clients to personalise their experiences.

locations, with over 2,500 successful

To reflect this commitment, our business

client partnerships and engagements

theme is ‘Digital Evolution Simplified’.

with Fortune 1000 and emerging

“We have carefully crafted an

organisations in multiple industries.

ecosystem engineered around our focus on digital evolution,” continues Venkateshwaran “we are committed to enabling business and technology leaders to drive transformations through simple, yet effective, techniques.”

Venkateshwaran believes Trianz’s w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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TECHNOLOGY

40

DECEMBER 2019

DATA ANALYTICS FOR GOOD – THE NEXT FRONTIER David González, Head of Big Data and Advanced Analytics for Vodafone Business, on the opportunity to use big data for social good WRITTEN BY

DAVID GONZÁLEZ

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41

TECHNOLOGY

I

n 2018, data visualisation company

DOMO predicted that by 2020,

1.7MB of data will be created every

second for every person on earth.

The new year is now only one month away, and this explosion of data is showing no sign of slowing down.

As digitalisation becomes the norm across more industries and IoT adoption continues, even more data will be generated. Industries like healthcare and manufacturing have been turning data into insights that drive improvements 42

to customer service, processes and products. Outside of these use cases, could this data driven approach also be applied to tackle social challenges? across myriad areas of modern life,

MOVING BEYOND THE ENTERPRISE

granting us the ability to then use

It would be short-sighted to assume

those insights to address existing and

that data analytics can only be

future problems. Aggregated and

relevant within the enterprise. Im-

anonymised large-scale data has

proved connectivity and advances in

the potential to generate immense

IoT are creating vast volumes of data.

positive social impact.

As more people interact with these

For example, managing the after-

connected devices, the data gener-

math of natural disasters can consume

ated will increase exponentially to

resources when time is precious.

represent every aspect of society.

Planning aid in advance is key, and data

This will enable us to gain a better

analytics can be used to inform a plan

understanding of how processes work

to assist those in need. Governments

DECEMBER 2019

43

and NGOs need to know where the impacted people are, in which direction they are moving and how the environment is changing. Only then can they respond effectively and efficiently to the effects of the disaster.

In a similar way, data analytics can be applied to protect public health by predicting the spread of a pandemic.

Accurate predictions allow authorities to put measures in place which mitigate the effects and control the incidence of new cases.

“ Improved connectivity and advances in IoT is creating vast volumes of data” — David González, Head of Big Data and Advanced Analytics for Vodafone Business w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

TECHNOLOGY

“ Unlocking the full potential of data will require a concerted effort between different organisations” 44

— David González, Head of Big Data and Advanced Analytics for Vodafone Business

CLOSER TO HOME Data can make a difference on a global scale, but what about in urban centres?

Today, 55% of the world’s population lives in such an environment. This proportion is expected to increase to 68% by 2050. That’s another 2.5bn people dwelling in urban areas. This increase will place significant demands on infrastructure, retailers, banks, healthcare systems and educational institutions. In addition, preventing crime will also be a top priority. There is the potential for huge social impact, improving the management of cities and the quality of life for citizens.

For example, data collected by law enforcement can improve safety by better predicting crime spots and implementing measures such as improved lighting or CCTV. Preparing for this scenario begins now, and it starts with understanding the movement of people. Governments and businesses alike can use this information to make significant decisions. In transport, for example, it can inform where to build bridges and footpaths or place electric car charging points.

DECEMBER 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘WHAT COULD 5G DO FOR YOUR BUSINESS?’ 45 The success of these initiatives relies

sensitive information, such as individual

on accurate insight into the needs

location or health status. Where will

and habits of urban populations. This

this data be stored and how will it be

must start with democratising access

collected? Who will ultimately be

to population data intelligence, in

responsible for keeping it safe from

a secure and anonymised way that

malicious actors? How can citizens

protects the privacy of future citizens.

be assured that their data will be anonymised and only be used for the

KEEPING DATA PRIVATE

stated purpose? The answers to these

The main concern about widespread

questions will affect the extent of the

data collection is data privacy; many

public’s support. Transparency in

high-profile companies have come

communicating with the public will

under scrutiny for their use of customer

be critical to the success of any data

data. However, it becomes more

analytics initiatives, even if the purpose

concerning when it is related to

is for good. w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

TECHNOLOGY

WORKING TOGETHER TO KEEP DATA SAFE Unlocking the full potential of data will require a concerted effort between different organisations. Those who collect the data must work together to ensure the insights are used by the most appropriate organisations who are able to effect change.

Vodafone is part of a wider alliance – the GSMA’s Big Data for Social Good initiative – where mobile operators share insights with NGOs to build an ecosystem that supports timely 46

planning and response. Location intelligence – where location-based

“ The increasing digitisation of industries provides the best opportunity for data to be mined for social good” — David González, Head of Big Data and Advanced Analytics for Vodafone Business DECEMBER 2019

insights are used to solve problems and identify new opportunities – plays a role here, building a safer, more sustainable world.

The increasing digitisation of industries provides the best opportunity for data to be mined for social good, as a positive ‘side effect’ of collection. In addition to making services more efficient, streamlined and personalised, the same data can be used to predict how populations move and react. As urban areas grow, these insights will be critical to informing how the safety and health of citizens will be managed. It is important that the right decisions are made now, regarding data collection and analytics. Only then will we be prepared to tackle the social challenges of the future.

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47

PEOPLE

48

Talent retention: why traditional methods are no longer enough Business Chief meets with Jen Scherler Gormley, HR Lead (UK), Cisco to discuss strategies to retain, source and develop talent WRITTEN BY

GEORGIA WILSON

DECEMBER 2019

49

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PEOPLE

C

urrently in the UK, 43% of employers feel it has become more difficult to fill job vacancies over the last 12 months,

with 31% seeing salary increases of more than 2% being used as an incentive for recruitment and retention of talent.

When it comes to recruitment and talent retention, Jen Scherler Gormley, HR Lead

(UK), Cisco, believes that the flatline approach of annual appraisals and ratings for objectives and development simply isn’t enough.

Performance ratings disenfranchise a large 50

proportion of employees, creating year—long labels regardless of a person’s change in performance over the next 12 months at a company. “For us, recruitment and talent management is about empowering people to be their best selves, as well as bringing everyone together to create an environment where individuals and teams can thrive. Five years ago, we revived our performance management processes by ditching annual appraisals and ratings.” Gormley further comments that the organisation’s move to eliminate annual appraisals from its talent strategy in 2015 has yielded positive results for its talent retention, seeing higher engagement from existing employees, as well as providing a strong differentiator for attracting new talent.

DECEMBER 2019

51

Being ‘conscious’ is an important part of workplace culture, states Gormley. With 59% of UK workers looking to move jobs as a result of being undervalued, having no career progression and having unsupportive managers. With this in mind, it is important to focus on three key entwined areas: environment, the unique characteristics of the organisation and the specific experience of individuals, in order to manage and lead a positive culture. To incorporate this into its organisation, Cisco has w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

PEOPLE

implemented a digital platform that

coaching. Performance is ultimately

enables weekly connections in relation

personal to each individual and it is

to what support is required and what

important that continuous conversa-

individuals loved and loathed about the

tions take place between employees

week, to aid its elimination of annual

and their leaders.”

appraisals. “We call this ‘check-in’,” says

52

According to Gormley, a workplace’s

Gormley. “It has been adopted at all levels

culture should be built on a foundation

of the organisation – including our CEO

of accountability, empowerment and the

and executive leadership team – providing

freedom to speak out to achieve goals

important information to drive a different

within an organisation. Transparency

kind of conversation with team members

and empowerment is a driving force to

providing greater regularity, as well as

build trust, within an organisation and

allowing in—the—moment redirection

is a key element of ensuring that talent is

of work, support and continuous

retained and thriving.

“Fundamentally, inclusion is a bridge to connect diverse perspectives, providing a platform for new ideas and inspiring innovation” — Jen Scherler Gormley, HR Lead (UK), Cisco

DECEMBER 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘WORKPLACE TRANSFORMATION AT CISCO WITH WEBEX TEAMS’ 53 When looking to source talent,

fundamental to building and maintain-

Gormley highlights the importance

ing a culture of continuous learning as

of combining human connection

well as attracting talent that aligns

with innovation to not only develop

with our values.”

employees, but also the business.

Inclusion and diversity is essential

Industries are continuously changing

to innovation. When sourcing, main-

and adapting, and organisations

taining and retaining talent, it is key to

shouldn’t shy away from utilising

ensure an organisation is inclusive.

multiple forms of employment such as

“We have found that certain language

apprenticeship programmes, alongside

used in job profiles could dissuade

traditional employment methods,

female talent from applying. Therefore,

as well as utilising transferable skills.

we have implemented a tool that

“There is no one answer to this, but

analyses the language in our job

we’ve found that the human connec-

descriptions to ensure that we are

tion intertwined with innovation, is

attractive to a diverse pool of potential w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

PEOPLE

applicants. In addition, every year, we take part in Girls in ICT Day to encourage a higher percentage of girls to become a part of the industry by utilising technology to communicate with and support girls across the globe,” says Gormley.

“Fundamentally, inclusion is a bridge to connect diverse perspectives, providing a platform for new ideas and inspiring innovation.”

Internal changes within a company can put a strain on organisations.

With this in mind, Gormley believes it is 54

important to maintain frequent communication between leaders and team members to ensure that workplace

“ We have found that certain language used in job profiles could dissuade female talent from applying” — Jen Scherler Gormley, HR Lead (UK), Cisco

culture doesn’t get left behind in the process. Companies should instead utilise internal changes to enhance communication and manage talent.

“We care a lot about our culture. We are driving for an environment where healthy conversations happen between individuals and teams, where no one is isolated and each person feels able to proactively support their colleagues,” says Gormely, who feels its implementation at Cisco provides a level of transparency she has not seen

DECEMBER 2019

55

in other companies, resulting in greater

an organisation. As a result of

engagement from employees to actively

incorporating these foundations,

participate in conversations regarding

organisations should see an increase

experience and individual growth.

in innovation and inclusion, as well

Ultimately, when it comes to talent

as experiencing greater engagement

retention, traditional methods are no

when it comes to individual growth

longer enough to encourage employees

and performance.

to stay with a company for the long term. Companies need to be more conscious of their employees by maintaining human connection and communication, in order to drive accountability, empowerment and freedom within w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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

56

Evolving the journey: putting your carbon footprint at the top of the agenda David Griffiths, Senior Product Marketing & Strategy Manager at retail supply chain Adjuno, looks at reduction of carbon footprints in the retail industry WRITTEN BY

DECEMBER 2019

DAVID GRIFFITHS

57

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

58

C

onsumers are thrilled by the

tainability efforts of their favourite retail-

speed and flexibility of e-com-

ers. In fact, a third of consumers are

merce. But the proliferation of

now choosing to buy from brands they

new retail channels and choices

believe are doing social or environmen-

is changing their purchasing behaviour,

tal good. That’s a large proportion of the

and ultimately, that’s taking its toll on the

customer base that a retailer risks los-

environment. With next-day, same-day

ing if they don’t meet this expectation.

and one-hour delivery options starting

The good news is that retailers across

to be commonplace with many retail-

the world are recognising this and

ers, consumers are fast becoming used

starting to step up with commitments to

to getting their chosen product not just

address the sustainable agenda. But are

quickly, but almost instantly.

they doing enough?

At the same time, consumers are

With the battle moving to the supply

placing greater emphasis on the sus-

chain and concerns growing around air

DECEMBER 2019

59

pollution and greenhouse gases, brands now have a responsibility to reduce their carbon emission levels and drive the creation of the green supply chain.

INDEPENDENTS VS RETAIL GIANTS Independent retailers are currently rising above the competition when it comes to low carbon emissions.

Transport is the second highest emitter of greenhouse gases, therefore the independents who have shorter

“ A third of consumers are now choosing to buy from brands they believe are doing social or environmental good” — David Griffiths Senior Product Marketing & Strategy Manager, Adjuno

product journeys will naturally have a smaller carbon footprint. It isn’t as easy w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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

“ Brands now have a responsibility to reduce their carbon emission levels ” — David Griffiths Senior Product Marketing & Strategy Manager, Adjuno

for the retail giants. With longer journeys, more players in the supply chain and bigger product ranges to contend with, retail giants have a harder time of reducing their carbon footprint. But it certainly is possible.

Packaging should be at the top of every retailer’s list when it comes to making strides towards sustainability.

A strategic approach to transit packaging that optimises carton, pallet and container fill will not only reduce packaging costs, with higher standards enforced, but it will also decrease shipping costs as a result of better container

60

DECEMBER 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘SUPPLY CHAIN SOFTWARE – ADJUNO SCM SOLUTIONS’ 61 utilisation, with less empty space being

ing types used, and consequently the

shipped. Not only does this reduce

reduction in the amount of containers

the number of journeys that need to

and DC space required. The retailers

be made, but it will also enable more

that are serious about reducing their

efficient use of DC space. Ultimately

carbon footprint have the tools at their

though, a strategic approach to pack-

disposal to make it happen, with simple

aging reduces waste and therefore

changes making a world of difference

improves the carbon footprint, putting

to carbon-conscious consumers.

retail giants one step closer to meeting their sustainability goals.

Many large retailers have already

SHOUTING ABOUT SUCCESS At the start of this year, Aldi claimed

seen success in this area too, with

it was the first grocer in the UK to be

effective changes to their packaging

carbon-neutral, detailing that it had

compliance resulting in huge reduc-

cut greenhouse gas emissions per

tions in the number of different packag-

square metre of sales floor space by w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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

53% since 2012. That’s a big statement to make, but it shows Aldi’s commitment to making changes that have resulted in extremely positive outcomes. The fact is that changes are being made, but few retailers are shouting about their behind-thescenes success, leaving the issue of reducing carbon footprint still far lower than it should be on the retail agenda. The lack of visibility for consumers is weakening the message and hindering their ability to trust the brand, so whilst retailers must ensure 62

that first and foremost they are making sustainable changes for the right reasons, they also need to make sure they are letting consumers know what is really happening.

Simple changes to packaging will show consumers that the retailer is making an effort, for example, if a retailer can confidently say in its marketing materials that all items from one brand are being shipped into the store using 50% less packaging, every carbon-conscious consumer would know that steps are being taken and be more likely to buy from the retailer as a result.

DECEMBER 2019

“ Simple changes to packaging will show consumers that the retailer is making an effort” — David Griffiths Senior Product Marketing & Strategy Manager, Adjuno

63

MAKING A CHANGE The potential is huge, but retailers must realise that the smallest changes can have the biggest impact. What’s important is for retailers to make these changes and then shout about it from the rooftops, moving carbon footprint to the top of the agenda and creating an ecosystem of retailers working towards a common goal to turn sustainability from talk to action.

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CITY FOCUS | PHOENIX

PHOE

City Focus

64

Welcome to Phoenix, Arizona, a hub of industry, culture and innovation, and the best place in the world to see what a future filled with self-driving cars might look like WRITTEN BY

DECEMBER 2019

HARRY MENEAR

ENIX w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

65

CITY FOCUS | PHOENIX

K

nown to its 1.6mn residents as the ‘Valley of

the Sun,’ Phoenix, Arizona is the fifth most populous city in the US and the only state

capital that is home to more than a million people.

First settled in 1867, it was incorporated as a city in 1881 and became the capital of the Arizona Territory in 1889. Phoenix was originally an agricultural community, with an economy that remained centered around cotton, cattle, citrus, copper and its desert climate for decades before the arrival of tech 66

companies in the wake of the Second World War. Today, the Phoenix Metropolitan Area has a GDP in excess of US$243bn, and a per capita GDP of approximately $44,500, although its 4.2% unemployment rate is higher than the national average of 3.9%. Despite this, however, its economy was the third-fastest growing in the nation last year, powered by healthy performance in financial and business services, healthcare and manufacturing sectors.

The largest company to call Phoenix home is national pet goods and supplies retailer PetSmart, which chalked up more than $5.3bn in revenue last year. Its largest private sector employer is Walmart, which has more than 30,000 workers across the state, many of whom work at the company’s supercenters, discount stores, neighborhood markets, Sam’s Clubs and distribution centers in Phoenix itself.

DECEMBER 2019

1.626mn Population of Phoenix, Arizona

1881

Year founded Nearest Airport

5km

Phoenix Sky Harbor International

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CITY FOCUS | PHOENIX

“ It’s pretty trippy when you see the fact that the car is driving itself ” 68

— Nicole Collins, Waymo One rider

While coastal cities like New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco have more prominent reputations for startup economies and being proving grounds for industry-disrupting innovations like food delivery rovers, Postmates and Uber, Phoenix has for the last year been home to the first steps of an even more important journey. Exactly one year ago, in December 2018, Google spinoff company Waymo launched a limited trial service of its self-driving taxi service in the city.

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘INSIDE THE CITY WHERE WAYMO TESTS SELF-DRIVING VEHICLES’

DECEMBER 2019

69

HOW WE GOT HERE

Two years later, Thrun was hired

In 2004, the US Department of

by Google to head up its fledgling

Defense (DoD) hosted a competition.

driverless car programme, Google X,

It took the form of a 142-mile-long

which has since spun off into Alphabet

obstacle course, designed to test the

subsidiary Waymo. Thrun left Google

abilities of autonomous vehicles. Only

in 2014 to pursue executive roles at

one of the vehicles that entered made

his own education and electronic

it more than seven miles. Undeterred,

aviation companies, but Waymo is

the DoD repeated the competition the

now among the leading companies

following year. Five teams completed

bringing autonomous vehicles to the

the grueling course in 2005, with the

point of commercial viability. The

entry from the Stanford Engineering

company says that it has tested its

Department doing it in the shortest

vehicles in over 25 cities across six

amount of time and winning a $2mn

states, but the largest concentration

prize. That team was led by computer

of miles driven have been in the

scientist Sebastian Thrun.Â

suburbs of Phoenix. w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

CITY FOCUS | PHOENIX

WAYMO ONE Operational for a year now, the Waymo One service operates in four neighbourhoods across the city: Chandler, Tempe, Mesa and Gilbert. A vetted group of around 1,000 local residents can use the company’s app to hail a ride from its growing fleet of autonomous vehicles, as well as give direct feedback on the service.

“It’s pretty trippy when you see the fact that the car is driving itself,” said Waymo One rider Nicole Collins in 70

an interview with CNBC. “It’s great to be a part of history, for my kids to experience - my daughter actually liked it a lot.”

Riders with access to the Waymo One app can summon one of its 600 vehicles 24/7 and use them to travel anywhere in the limited area that the company’s fleet has mapped. The operational area is restricted because Waymo’s fleet is only autonomous in these pre-mapped areas, and the safety of its vehicles is largely dependent on the extensive pre-existing knowledge they have of an area’s roads and obstacles. In October, Waymo announced that its vehicles had begun the process DECEMBER 2019

of mapping out some streets in Los Angeles, as part of the process of determining whether the service is ready to take on one of the most congested urban transport environments in the country.

Waymo has also partnered with ride-hailing company Lyft, making 10 of its Phoenix vehicles publicly available through its platform. Also, in October, Waymo sent an email to its Waymo One customers, informing them of plans to remove the safety drivers that have so far been a necessary presence in all unmanned vehicles, ready to take the wheel in case of a malfunction or error.

As today’s cities become the smart urban environments of the future, places like Phoenix are offering remarkable insight into the solutions that may define the technological utopias of tomorrow.

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T O P 10

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DECEMBER 2019

Wealthiest individuals in the US Business Chief USA takes a closer look at the wealthiest individuals in the United States.

WRITTEN BY

GEORGIA WILSON

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T O P 10

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10

Rob Walton $53bn

Rob Walton, aged 74, is the eldest son of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart – he joined Walmart in 1969. During his time at the company he held a number of roles including: Senior Vice President, Corporate Secretary, General Counsel and Vice Chairman, before taking over as Walmart’s Chairman in 1992 following his father’s death. In 2015, Walton retired and was replaced by his son in law Greg Penner.

Today, Walton and his siblings own half of Walmart’s stock.

DECEMBER 2019

75

09

Alice Walton $53.1bn

Alice Walton, 70, is the only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton.

She briefly worked as a buyer at Walmart but did not take part in the day-to-day operations of the business, instead becoming an art curator. In 2011, Walton opened the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art featuring Andy Warhol, Norman Rockell and Mark Rothko. Walton and her siblings own half of Walmart’s stock.

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T O P 10

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08

Jim Walton $53.4bn

At 71, Jim Walton is the youngest son of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart. Walton sat on the board of directors for Walmart until 2016, when his son Steuart took over. He and his siblings own half of Walmart’s stock. Today, Walton is the head of regional bank, Arvest Bank Group (which he has a 44% stake in) and works with his sister Alice on a programme to issue US$300mn in bonds to help charter schools invest in facilities.

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07

Sergey Brin $53.9bn

Self-made billionaire, Sergey Brin, aged 46, is the president of Alphabet, the parent company of multiple subsidiaries such as Google, Verily and Waymo. Brin created a search engine alongside Larry Page, listing results based on the popularity of the page. Brin and Page called it ‘Google’ after the mathematical term ‘googol’, referring to the number one followed by 100 zeros, and reflecting their mission to organise the vast amount of information available on the internet.

DECEMBER 2019

79

06

Larry Page $55.9bn

Self-made billionaire, Larry Page is the co-founder of Google and current CEO of Alphabet, the parent company of Google following a restructure in 2015. In addition to his work with Alphabet and Google, Page is the founder of Planetary Resources, a space exploration company, and is funding “flying car� startups Kitty Hawk and Opener.

w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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T O P 10

Zuckerberg and US Secretary of State John Kerry, 2016

05

Mark Zuckerberg $68.3bn

One of the world’s youngest billionaires, Zuckerberg, aged 35, co-founded social networking site Facebook in 2004. The site was made for Harvard University students to match student names with photos. In 2005, Accel invested $12.7 million into Facebook, opening the site up to other colleges, high schools and international schools.

In 2012 Facebook became public, with its first initial public offering (IPO) raising US$16bn – the biggest in IPO history.

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04

Larry Ellison $68.7bn

Self-made billionaire Larry Ellison, aged 75, cofounded software firm Oracle in 1977, building database-management systems for the CIA. Oracle has grown through steady acquisition of software companies such as PeopleSoft, Siebel Systems, Sun Microsystems and Netsuite. In 2014, Ellison stepped down as CEO. However, he is still on the Board of Directors and is Chief Technology Officer at Oracle.

DECEMBER 2019

Buffett meets with President Barack Obama at the White House in July 2011

03

Warren Buffett $81.7bn

Warren Buffett, aged 89, is the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, an American multinational conglomerate holding company that owns 60 companies including: Geico, Duracell and Dairy Queen. In 1956 Buffett formed Buffett Partnership Ltd, becoming a millionaire through identifying undervalued companies, including Berkshire Hathaway. Following a significant investment in Coca-Cola Buffett became the director of the company.

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02

Bill Gates $105.5bn

Self-made billionaire Bill Gates, aged 63, is the co-founder of American multinational technology company, Microsoft, alongside Paul Allen in 1975. Gates met Allen in 1968 when he was just 13 years old, the two bonding over their love for computers. In 1970, Gates and Allen developed a traffic 84

0000 YEAR FOUNDED

$0.0bn REVENUE IN XXXXXXXXX DOLLARS

0,000 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

monitoring software for Seattle, making US$20,000. Gates wanted to pursue a business career but was encouraged to go to Harvard University, studying law. In 1975, Gates dropped out of university to establish Microsoft with Allen; their first product was BASIC software that ran on Altair computers. Paul Allen left the company in 1983 after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease. In 2014, Gates stepped down as Chairman of the company, focusing on his joint foundation with his wife Melinda French – The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – which he has donated US$35.8bn worth of Microsoft stock to.

DECEMBER 2019

Altair 8800 Computer

Steve Jobs and Gates at D: All Things Digital in 2007

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘INSIDE BILL’S BRAIN – PART 1’

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Bezos giving NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver (fourth from left) a tour of Blue Origin’s crew capsule in 2011.

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘AMAZON CEO JEFF BEZOS AND BROTHER MARK GIVE A RARE INTERVIEW ABOUT GROWING UP AND SECRETS TO SUCCESS’ DECEMBER 2019

0000 YEAR FOUNDED

$0.0bn REVENUE IN XXXXXXXXX DOLLARS

0,000 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

01

Jeff Bezos $108.2bn

Self-made billionaire Jeff Bezos, aged 55, is the founder and current CEO of Amazon. The American multinational technology company was founded by Bezos in 1994, working out of his garage in Seattle, Washington selling books. In 2005, Amazon added auctions to the site and began selling multiple hardware, electrical and apparel products, as well as CDs and books. By 2014, it had launched Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon Kindles, Amazon Studios and Amazon Alexa. Jeff Bezos has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science from Princeton University. As well as being the founder and CEO of Amazon, Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000 to manufacture aerospace technology and provide sub-orbital spaceflight services. In 2013 he became the owner of the Washington Post.

Jeff Bezos with Secretary of Defense Ash Carter w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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88

IPG: building technology, teams and trust WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR

DECEMBER 2019

PRODUCED BY

MIKE SADR

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INTERPUBLIC GROUP

Chris White, Deputy CISO at Interpublic Group, talks about the talent shortage, automation, and how to ensure that cybersecurity is an enabler of creative freedom and business operations

W

e live in an era of unsurpassed connectivity.

The ongoing digital transformation of the global business landscape is bringing

everything from robotic process automation (RPA) to artificial intelligence (AI) out of the pages of science fiction and into the homes and workplaces of billions 90

of people. Nearly every person walks around with a rectangle of glass, plastic and silicon in their pocket that can access nearly the sum of human knowledge, and possesses about 100,000 times the computing power of the thinking machines that put man on the Moon. In seconds, we can convey information, opinions and our innermost thoughts to an audience of millions. We can share memes using a refrigerator now. Never before has information, interaction and human connection been so readily available, but this new world is not without its challenges.

“What I don’t think a lot of people understand is that every single person that owns a smartphone, tablet, smart watch, even a smart fridge, is under attack, every minute of every day,” explains Chris White, Deputy Chief Information Security Officer at Interpublic Group (IPG).

DECEMBER 2019

Below: IPG Chairman and CEO Michael Roth and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Heide Gardner

91

1961

Year founded

$9.7bn

Revenue in dollars (2018)

54,000 Number of employees

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INTERPUBLIC GROUP

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“ Every single person that owns a smartphone, tablet, smart watch, even a smart fridge, is under attack, every minute of every day” — Chris White, Deputy Chief Information Security Officer, Interpublic Group (IPG)

“There is a global war going on in cyberspace. There are criminal elements, state-sponsored elements – that classic idea of the kid in the hoodie in his mom’s basement doesn’t even scrape the surface.” Far from attempting to instill mass panic, White’s tone is one of reassurance. “Inevitably people hear that and say ‘well now I’m afraid to go outside’, so to speak. What do we do now? The answer is just to behave normally. There’s no sense in becoming a doomsday prepper, living in a bunker with the phone lines cut, because all the companies that make and support everything you do at home and for work, they understand that cybersecurity is critical to doing business. That’s why they have guys like me who are doing our absolute best to protect you.”

White’s career in cybersecurity started in the US Air Force, working as a signals intelligence operative around the dawn of the internet. Over the course of a 30 year career on the front lines of cybersecurity, he has developed a wide breadth of experience in security automation and telecommunications. He took on his current

DECEMBER 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘IPG HOSTS INAUGURAL – FASTFW: AN IPG INNOVATION SUMMIT’ 93 role at Interpublic Group in April 2019,

cybersecurity, to our portfolio of com-

working to support and execute the

panies, which all operate in a culture

security vision of IPG’s CISO, Patricia

of consensus. I’m responsible for

Hinerman, who moved over from her

more than 100,000 endpoints, tens of

role of Corporate CIO in March.

thousands of users across hundreds

Interpublic Group is one of the

of companies supporting thousands

foremost advertising and marketing

of downstream clients. My security

holding companies in the world. With

team is 30 people,” White explains.

offices across the globe, the company

Along with Hinerman, White and his

employs more than 54,000 people

team are facing up to the challenges

specialising in advertising, digital

before them and executing an intel-

marketing, communications planning,

ligent, modern cybersecurity strategy

media and public relations. “Because

that balances the challenges of a con-

IPG is a holding company, my job

stantly evolving threat landscape with

is to provide IT services, including

the unique demands of IPG. w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

INTERPUBLIC GROUP

94

Across global companies, opera-

clients with a marketing campaign

tional functions and departments are

that’s intelligent, appealing – all those

transforming their operations to ensure

things. The upshot is that I can’t just

they not only perform those functions

mandate that people use particular

but also enable, support and add value

tools or software. I need to enhance

to the enterprise as a whole. As IPG, a

my agency’s function, and that means

business fueled by creatives working in

creating an environment that is secure,

the world’s best advertising agencies,

but also not restrictive to the creative

this is vitally important. “We’re ensuring

process.” Constantly finding the solutions

that we’re never, ever ‘the office of no,’”

that provide security, without restricting

says White. “IPG has a creative culture.

freedom or disrupting operations is

The people here are working on how

a core element of White’s role.

to make the next great Superbowl commercial, how to really support their DECEMBER 2019

Even as businesses’ operations become increasingly digital, the

industry-wide emphasis on the human

In addition to a shrinking pool of cyber-

element is only growing more pro-

security professionals, the amount of

nounced, something made even more

data that a modern team handles is

apparent by demand for security per-

growing exponentially, something that

sonnel that outstrips the current supply.

is transforming the way teams like the

“There’s a dire need for cybersecurity

one at IPG function. “The talent short-

professionals. If you can hire them, it’s

age combined with this data increase

hard to hang onto them,” says White.

means there’s no way that you can

“I have to find the talent that’s right for

follow traditional security practices

me in my environment, in my culture,

of identifying a problem, sounding an

and work with them to give them the

alert, prioritizing it through as critical,

things that they need to get their job

high, medium or low, and then tackling

done the way they want to do it. I have

it,” he says. “If you do that, you’re going

to think of creative methodologies.”

to get buried in data.” The answer, in

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Chris White Chris White is a 30 year cyber professional.

He spent 25 years working inside and with the DoD on the design, deployment and operation of cyber offensive and defensive platforms.

He then spent four years working for EY supporting clients across the media & technology, retailing, and manufacturing verticals to establish and operate their security functions. He currently serves as the Deputy CISO/Director of Security Operations for Interpublic Group. When not defending the enterprise he likes to ride motorcycles, play guitar, and enjoy life.

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95

Interpublic Group Adds Business Value to its Companies Through Security Proofpoint protects users and delivers unmatched insight for continuously maturing security effectiveness.

THE COMPANY Interpublic Group (IPG) is a premier global advertising and marketing services enterprise. Its companies specialize in advertising, digital marketing, communications, media, and public relations—creating customized marketing programs for clients of all sizes. IPG support its agencies with a range of services, including IT and cybersecurity services. But reducing risk and protecting users across a large and complex global federated enterprise is a tall order. Proofpoint plays an integral role in the security team’s success.

THE CHALLENGE IPG and its companies deliver award-winning campaigns for many of today’s world-leading brands. Marketing and advertising strategies, creative work, and brand equity can represent billions of dollars of corporate value to each client. Security is important to win agency clients; therefore, it’s essential for IPG to protect its companies and employees in order to attract new agencies.

“Our mission is reducing business risk,” said Chris White, director of security operations and deputy chief information security officer for IPG. “That’s not easy with massive scope and complexity. We can’t possibly hire enough cybersecurity experts—they simply don’t exist—so we must find other methods to achieve our goals.”

The IPG security team manages more than 100 agency tenants in Microsoft Azure-based Office 365 email. Among tenants, there are huge differences in office size, ownership and work style. The goal is to move the hundreds of IPG companies to Office 365, but meanwhile, the team needs a way to defend multiple email platforms against crimeware, email fraud, imposters, and nonstop phishing campaigns.

“I knew Proofpoint could arm us with the tools and information that enable us to defend our companies and give us the data, automated capabilities, and vendor expertise we needed,” said White. “We chose Proofpoint as our primary tool to support security for one of our most critical business systems.”

THE SOLUTION Building on strength The IPG team built its defenses on Proofpoint Email Protection. With multi-layer threat protection and analysis, it defends IPG employees against spam, bulk email, malware and viruses. It also evolves impostor email and phishing attacks. And by using Proofpoint Targeted Attack Protection (TAP), the IPG team can detect, analyze and block advanced threats delivered through malicious attachments and URLs before they reach employees.

TAP also detects polymorphic malware, weaponized documents, and credential theft attacks across cloud and premises-based email systems.

For example, IPG exchanges email with its companies, and each company also exchanges email with external clients. Once, a client’s email was co-opted by a threat actor who inserted a malicious URL—unbeknownst to the client. Proofpoint detected and blocked the email, which enabled IPG to provide the agency’s client with the important data needed for remediation.

“Proofpoint enables us to add value to our companies,” said White. “In turn, they can demonstrate security assurance to their clients. Proofpoint supports our trusted relationships, which are critical to delivering great work.”

Besides detecting advanced threats, the IPG team can automatically remove them from mailboxes with Proofpoint Threat Response Auto-Pull (TRAP). This automation has been a game-changer for IPG. White’s team plans to extend Proofpoint Threat Response automation to other use cases, such as automatically isolating endpoints or correlating data with other security controls.

“There will always be more threat and attack data than security analysts,” said White. “With Proofpoint Threat Response, we can automatically enable protections further down the kill chain. This is extraordinarily beneficial.”

Maturing front-line defenses Knowledgeable employees are powerful front-line defenses. Proofpoint Security Awareness Training with PhishAlarm makes it easy for IPG users to report phishing emails. PhishAlarm Analyzer ranks reported emails in real time by their threat potential, which saves time for the security team. The Proofpoint Attack Index within the TAP Dashboard provides data on IPG’s most attacked people. And it gives them instant visibility into these targeted users and the threats that attack them.

With this insight, White’s team can track changes in the attack landscape over time, as well as improvements in user awareness.

“We can measure how well users recognize phishing attacks and if they take action when they see something suspicious,” said White. “Having users report suspicious emails is a huge step forward in security maturity.”

THE RESULTS Proofpoint enables the team to focus its time on “true positive” alerts and issues with potentially high impact. Now they’re spending their time on the security measures that matter most to their enterprise and its companies.

LEARN MORE For more information visit proofpoint.com

“By improving our companies’ security, we provide a distinct benefit to their businesses and their clients. Proofpoint enables us to bring more value to these relationships and plays a key role in making us attractive to new agencies.”

Chris White Director Of Security Operations and Deputy Chief Information Security Officer Interpublic Group

INTERPUBLIC GROUP

addition to careful cultivation of an existing security team, is to harness cutting edge automation technology.

“You have to apply automation to help direct people’s brains to where they need to be focused. This is one of the reasons why I am very excited about our new companies, Acxiom and Kinesso. When IPG acquired one of the world’s leading data solution companies in 2018, it afforded my team the chance to partner with the incredible expertise they have around the under98

standing and use of data to support automation,” says White, “because the most important tool in your toolbox is people. Period.”

In a world of talent shortages and increased digitalisation, expert help is an essential commodity for White.

“I couldn’t do my job without having supportive partners,” he says, “and I use the word partner intentionally.

A partner is someone you trust implicitly and who is going to do what is right for you. A good partner in business brings new insight and new ways of thinking about what you do.” Early thinking about cybersecurity methodology centred around the maintenance and DECEMBER 2019

“ I couldn’t do my job without having supportive partners” — Chris White, Deputy Chief Information Security Officer, Interpublic Group (IPG)

development of an effective firewall.

Then, in the 2000s, applications added an additional dimension. “Not only do I have to have the network protected, but every application needs its own individual defense in-depth stack,” says White. “Proofpoint exposed me to a new dimension of thinking – a whole new axis. We need to be thinking about identity as a third dimension that needs its own levels of protection.”

Today, as digital identity becomes more dispersed, both inside and outside the enterprise – across a host of different applications – IPG is working to protect its employees’ identities beyond the standard provided by normal identity access management solutions. “That’s something that Proofpoint brings to the table, because digital identity is w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

99

INTERPUBLIC GROUP

100

IPG Chairman and CEO Michael Roth opens the annual IPG Breakfast in Cannes at Cannes Lions Festival 2019

“ Proofpoint exposed me to a new dimension of thinking – a whole new axis” — Chris White, Deputy Chief Information Security Officer, Interpublic Group (IPG)

primarily controlled through email, and they showed us how to harness our data to start protecting the identities of our users more effectively,” says White.

Reflecting on the first few months at IPG, White and Hinerman are still putting their stamp on the department and the team. “With both of us being new to the role, I think our short-tomedium term goal is to ensure that our agencies are confident in us to do the job that they’ve asked us to do, and that comes through in good production results that are based

DECEMBER 2019

101

upon good data analysis, and that’s

for a Fortune 300 company. Never. Not

impactful,” he explains. Looking for-

five years earlier I was working with

ward to the new year, the IPG team

the Department of Defense, and then

has internally branded 2020 The Year

15 years before that I got out of the Air

of Data Quality. In both the short and

Force as a lower-level enlisted member.

long term, though, the most important

This is kind of like being a kid, hitting a

thing that White is working to build

home run and all of a sudden I’m playing

is trust. “I need to increase services

in the Major Leagues.”

efficiently, build trust, and continue to make IPG’s operations more secure without incurring a cost to its ability to do business. I’m really very grateful to IPG for this chance. I never, ever, in my life thought I would be deputy CISO w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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DECEMBER 2019

: R O D A U C E I T TUEN , L A T I G I D , E L SIMP AGILE WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR PRODUCED BY

GLEN WHITE

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TUENTI ECUADOR

Gerardo Suårez Napolitano, CEO of Tuenti Ecuador, reflects upon the Telefonica offshoot’s rapid growth, 100% digital offerings and agile methodology

T

he global business landscape is being continually shaped and reshaped by evolving customer demand. In the tel-

ecommunications space, the rise of social media 104

and digital communication is provoking radical shifts in the way that operators approach new and existing markets.

Tuenti came into being in 2006 as a social networking service targeting young people in Spain.

Between 2009 and 2012, it attracted more than 15mn registered users, becoming known as the Spanish Facebook. Seeking new markets and customers, the company has transformed its offering over the past decade, now operating as a private brand which operates as an independent business unit of multinational telecom giant TelefĂłnica. The firm offers mobile telephone services accessible anywhere on any device with the strong digital operation.

DECEMBER 2019

105

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TUENTI ECUADOR

The Tuenti brand entered the Ecuadorian market in 2015, sponsored

Ecuador’s dramatic growth, and the

by José Manuel Casas, Telefónica

company’s vision for the future.

Ecuador’s Executive President, with the

“When we were starting out with

goal of capturing the millennial and and

Tuenti Ecuador, we wondered if it was

centennial market through a roster of

possible to create a new telco brand

simple, affordable plans as an alterna-

that was different from what millennials

tive to traditional mobile carriers. “We

and centennials were accustomed to in

started out with a plan to reach 500,000

Ecuador,” recalls Suárez Napolitano. “To

customers in five years. Four and a

accomplish this, we thoroughly inves-

half years into that plan, we have more

tigated what was positive and negative

than 900,000,” says Gerardo Suárez Napolitano, CEO of Tuenti Ecuador.

106

to discuss the strategies behind Tuenti

We sat down with Suárez Napolitano

2015

Year founded

$36mn

Revenue in US dollars

27

Number of employees

9%

Share of market in telco prepaid segment DECEMBER 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘RECARGA BANCO GUAYAQUIL — STAR WARS’ 107 about these users’ experiences. We

have access to the same great offerings

became obsessed with their wants and

we present to our newest customers.

needs. From those inputs we created

Lastly, we don’t do small print or hidden

the Tuenti experience, which is the sum

conditions; our offering is so simple that

of an attractive commercial offering and

our customers will always understand,

a very simple product to use.” Tuenti´s

remember, and hopefully love it,” says

team operates in accordance with three

Suárez Napolitano. “When we designed

central rules for creating a superior

the product we dedicated a lot of time

telecommunications product: be data

to constantly achieving innovations that

centric, be pro client and keep it simple.

make the experience easier and easier.”

“Our target demographic wants data,

At the heart of Tuenti Ecuador’s suc-

so that’s at the heart of everything we

cess is a dedication to agility, simplicity

offer. We also value our loyal customers

and a constant focus on improving the

as much as we value our new ones, so

product. “Our User Experience (UX) is

long—term Tuenti customers will always

at the heart of everything we do.” The w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

TUENTI ECUADOR

simplicity of Tuenti Ecuador’s digital

The company eschews a physical

products also affords the company

presence, instead embracing a 100%

the opportunity for laser focus on the

digital offering delivered through chan-

intricacies of its offering. “Although the

nels such as Facebook, Twitter, Web

products we offer may be simple, when

Chat and the Tuenti Chat App. “We

we change and improve those projects

know that the best customer service

— offering new integrations, promotions,

is the customer service that doesn’t

etc — we work through those changes

happen because the client doesn’t

in great detail, investing time in test

need it, so we make it as easy as pos-

environments and, in many cases, we

sible for them to find the answers to their

integrate the developments in phases to

problems without having to pick up

ensure the best possible results,” Suárez

the phone. We don’t have any physical

Napolitano explains.

care centres,” says Suárez Napolitano.

Learn More

Find out how businesses like yours are growing on Facebook.

Cisneros Interactive is a Facebook Authorized Sales Partner for Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico and Uruguay helping brands in those countries to take advantage of Facebook’s marketing platform for real business results.

LEARN MORE

N A L P A H T I W UT O D E T R A T S S R E M “ WE O T S U C 0 0 0 , 0 0 5 H F L A H TO REAC A D N A R U O F .

S R A E E V A H IN FIVE Y E W , AN L P T A H T O T YEARS IN ” 0 0 0 , 0 0 9 — N MORE THA Gerardo Suárez Napolitano, CEO, Tuenti Ecuador

109 E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Gerardo Suárez Napolitano Suárez Napolitano is an executive with over 25 years’ experience in several commercial assignments in Latin America. He worked in massive consumer products companies such as Procter & Gamble in Venezuela and Argentina, and Empresas Polar in Venezuela.

His last 15 years has been spent working in telecommunication business in the hand of Telefónica as a Commercial Director in Venezuela, Sales Director of Telesp in Brazil and Commercial VP in Ecuador. In October 2014, he was appointed as Tuenti Ecuador’s CEO and launched the brand in June 2015 as separate business unit of Telefónica. Suárez Napolitano is an Industrial Engineer from UCAB — Venezuela, Finance Magister from Unimet — Venezuela and Telecom Business Master from Catalunya University in Spain.

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TUENTI ECUADOR

110

HE T G N I D E E C EX D N A G N I T E AN L “ ME P S S E N I S U RB U O F O S L A GO ING Z A M A E H T O T E U D N E E B HAS ” M A E T R U — O F WORK O Gerardo Suárez Napolitano, CEO, Tuenti Ecuador

DECEMBER 2019

111

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TUENTI ECUADOR

, T N I O P R E “ LESS POW ” N O I T C A E MOR — Gerardo Suárez Napolitano, CEO, Tuenti Ecuador

112

DECEMBER 2019

“Instead, we have an omnichannel customer service offering supported by our own proprietary chat bot that allows us to optimise our service and increase customer satisfaction.” As a result, Tuenti Ecuador has been recognised as having the best digital customer service record in the market, reaching 72% of NPS (Net Promoted Score), Internally, the company has achieved a 60% level of automation regarding customer service.

Agility and innovation are impossible, however, without deep, meaningful understanding of the target market.

Súarez Napolitano prides his team on being young, diverse and creative.

“Meeting and exceeding the goals of our business plan has been due to the amazing work of our team,” he says. “To create this team, we sought to integrate a diverse mixture of talents, incorporate a large percentage of millennials into the company, hire people with experience inside and outside the telco sector, as well as people from different geographies of the country, and ensure an even mix of genders.” This small and diverse team has been essential to Tuenti Ecuador adopting a successful digital strategy, with the agility to evolve and w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

113

TUENTI ECUADOR

114

suit the needs of a market based on clear

Tuenti Ecuador has become the

understanding of consumer demand.

preferred brand for millennials and

This agile methodology is not restricted

centennials in the telco industry. The

to the company’s internal operations.

company’s brand communication and

Suárez Napolitano explains that, through

media strategy are based on awareness,

Tuenti Ecuador’s relationships — all of

consideration, performance and loyalty.

which are based on a commitment to

Continuously, the firm creates cam-

maximising agility — with a growing

paigns with direct collaboration

network of close partners, the company

from Facebook Creative Shop and

has dramatically improved the quality

Google Excellence, who guide them

of its offering and reduced delivery

in the best practices of creative

times across its supply chain.

execution and media.

DECEMBER 2019

115

Looking to the future, Suárez

avenues that aligns with and expands our

Napolitano sees Ecuador as a place

current offering,” he enthuses, adding

of limitless potential. “In 2020, there

that Tuenti Ecuador is a business that cel-

are three key areas we will be pursuing:

ebrates success, takes risks, learns from

ensuring that the Tuenti team continues

its failures, and constantly innovates. He

to operate with the same passion, humil-

laughs, adding one final thought: “Less

ity and individualistic spirit that has seen

PowerPoint, more action.”

us change and grow to become the preferred brand for the country’s young people; expand the capabilities — and therefore the user base — of our digital platforms; and develop new business w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

Visions Federal Credit Union: 116

becoming financial advocates WRITTEN BY

GEORGIA WILSON PRODUCED BY

SHIRIN SADR

DECEMBER 2019

117

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VISIONS FEDERAL CREDIT UNION

Thomas Novak, AVP of Digital Banking, Visions FCU, discusses how digital transformation can help the business become true advocates for its members

T

homas P. Novak has been in the banking industry for close to 14 years. He began his career at PNC Bank in New Jersey in

2006, before moving to M&T Bank in New York in 2010. Today, he is Assistant Vice President (AVP) of Digital Banking at Visions Federal Credit Union 118

(FCU), a member-owned credit union dedicated to community advocacy.

According to Novak, who joined the business in 2011, Visions FCU involved in multiple volunteering, fundraising, donation/sponsorship initiatives and scholarship programs for the local communities it serves. It is an approach, he says, that sees the business “woven into the fabric of the local communities that we serve”.

“Our digital strategy is focused around the term advocacy banking. Like a healthcare advocate for physical well-being, we want to support, guide and advise our members at every step of their journey regarding their financial well-being,” Novak continues. “We want to help our members across every aspect of their financial lives to become financially independent.” It is a vision that is driven across the DECEMBER 2019

119

1966

Year founded

$24mn Revenue in US dollars

650

Number of employees w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

VISIONS FEDERAL CREDIT UNION

organization from the top down, says Novak. For example, over the last seven

technology innovation at Visions FCU

years – following the appointment of

has also been viewed with a fresh

Ty Muse as President/CEO – a fresh

approach, with Novak stating that the

perspective has spread throughout

business has “moved away from simply

the business, driven by several cultural

caring about operational efficiency,

changes. “Our CEO and executive

to innovation and efficiency through

leadership team travel to our three

advanced technologies.”

operating states – New York, New

120

Alongside these cultural changes,

Novak’s core role at Visions FCU is

Jersey and Pennsylvania – to hold Town

centered around digital transforma-

Hall Meetings for members, local com-

tion, which he calls a “central tenet for

munity groups and Visions employees,

our success”. He adds that “delivering

giving them the space to voice opinions

a top tier member experience has

and generate new ideas,” he says.

become an increasing trend across

DECEMBER 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘NEW HQ GRAND OPENING’ 121

“ We’re always looking for more ways to achieve better results for our members, communities and employees” — Thomas Novak AVP of Digital Banking, Visions Federal Credit Union

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VISIONS FEDERAL CREDIT UNION

122

“ Instead of casting a wide net and carrying out a manual process, we want to utilize AI to have more precision and accuracy for catching potential fraud” — Thomas Novak AVP of Digital Banking, Visions Federal Credit Union DECEMBER 2019

the entire banking industry and, for Visions FCU, it’s our communities, members and employees that are really the driving force behind our digital transformation journey.” Since embarking on that journey, Visions FCU has developed a ‘member experience department’ to drive innovative changes to better serve the company’s members. Working with this department, Novak’s digital team has focused on four key pillars of digital memberfacing technology: online banking, mobile banking, account opening and

consumer lending. “We knew we had to

lending that unifies the process for

get the basics right, then we can build

employees and members. This, accord-

a more sophisticated technology eco-

ing to Novak, resulted in an additional

system on top,” he explains. As of 2018,

US$60mn in loan volume within the first

Visions FCU successfully implemented

year. Putting members first, he believes,

the four pillars, providing members with

has made the process easier and more

“a connected and unified experience

convenient. Vision FCU’s online and

with no drop-off points”.

mobile banking is directly powered by

To apply for a loan from Visions FCU,

Q2ebanking. “As we strove to create

customers can use five core chan-

a single platform for online and mobile

nels; online, mobile, in-branch, contact

banking, Q2ebanking was the key com-

center and indirect lending. Two years

ponent, becoming a critical partner of

ago, Novak and his team created a

Visions FCU,” says Novak, who is now

multi-channel solution for consumer

partnering again with Q2ebanking to

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Thomas Novak As the head of Digital at Visions FCU, Thomas P. Novak is the leader of the digital strategy and digital transformation. He is responsible for many SaaS based member facing technology platforms and led the charge on their digital banking conversion (online and mobile) at Visions FCU. He believes in partnering with members to become their financial advocate while providing relevant and convenient digital solutions to empower their journey to becoming financially independent. Working for the past 14 years with banks and Visions FCU in various roles, he has a unique perspective on how to approach business challenges with a global mindset.

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123

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VISIT SWBC PAYMENTS

create innovative solutions for bill pay

overall digital systems to support

and money movement. In addition to

ongoing business needs. For instance,

Q2ebanking, Visions has also entered

through the implementation of more

into a new partnership with SWBC to

sophisticated technology, such as

streamline the company’s payments

machine learning, he explains that

infrastructure creating a safe, secure

Visions FCU currently utilizes a digital

and consistent platform for its mem-

marketing tool powered by machine

bers. Supporting the member in a way

learning for personalized marketing

that is optimal to their lifestyle is of

within digital banking, noting that “we

paramount importance to Visions FCU.

have datasets that we are working on

In addition to payments, Novak is

with our fintech partner, Micronotes, to

focusing on bolstering Visions FCU’s

determine the probability of someone benefitting from a certain product or piece of educational content. If there

“ Delivering a top tier member experience across every channel has become an increasing trend across the entire banking industry and for Visions, it’s our communities, members and employees that are really the driving force behind digital transformation journey” — Thomas Novak AVP of Digital Banking, Visions Federal Credit Union

is a high propensity, then we communicate with the member within digital banking through a conversational note to see if they wish to move forward.” He highlights that, every time a campaign is run, the result is more targeted and provides stronger insights. Most recently, a certificate campaign helped to yield over US$4.3mn in deposits.

With regards to other technologies, Novak highlights work in the Business Performance Department exploring robotic process automation (RPA): “Business Performance is in the early stages of utilizing RPA within our card servicing department to reduce the w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

125

VISIONS FEDERAL CREDIT UNION

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127 repetitive, low value tasks that some

front-end for Union users, but transform

employees endure in order to facilitate

the manual processes in the back office

an increase in the amount of high value

following the submission of a successful

work produced,” he says. “RPA isn’t

application to be more efficient overall.”

being used to replace employees, it’s

Naturally, with any implementation

to complement and enhance what they

of new technologies comes a greater

are currently doing so that their focus

focus on cybersecurity. For Novak,

can be transferred to our members

Visions FCU’s cybersecurity maturity

and high value projects.” In addition, he

is one of its key strengths. “Whenever

ultimately hopes to utilize automation

we look to develop internally, we do

for the entire mortgage process: “Our

so through a secure development

SVP/CMEO and VP/CLO in conjunction

lifecycle,” he explains. To combat

with the Digital Dept. want to transform

cyber-crime, Visions FCU’s efforts

the entire process, making it end-to-

include education on how the busi-

end. We not only want to simplify the

ness interacts with them, educating w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

VISIONS FEDERAL CREDIT UNION

its employees on phishing, providing sophisticated multi-factor authentication for digital banking access, as well as notifications to alert members of login attempts to digital banking. In recent months, Visions FCU has also created a separate risk department that leverages knowledge and experience from various areas to create improved transparency for employees and members regarding fraud mitigation. In addition to this, Novak is currently researching with multiple 128

business units, innovative solutions to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) for fraud mitigation and detection, noting

“ We don’t just want to be the best credit union; we want to be the best financial services provider and advocate to those we serve” — Thomas Novak AVP of Digital Banking, Visions Federal Credit Union DECEMBER 2019

that “instead of casting a wide net and carrying out a manual process, we want to utilize AI to have more precision and accuracy for catching potential fraud”.

Looking to the future, Visions intends on utilizing an AI chatbot solution and natural language processing in member-facing technology that can learn various dialects and slang terms, providing an extra convenience layer for members for a 24/7 service offering. In addition to this, Novak wants to build a financial ‘health score’ for the

129

company’s members, stating that

to solve real business problems, as well

“we believe a person’s financial health

as its financial strength that helps it

is integral to other parts of their life”.

propel its initiatives and innovative tech-

With this in mind, Novak discusses

nology. “We’re always looking for more

the creation of a platform that helps

ways to achieve better results for our

members better understand how their

members, communities and employees.

funds are being utilized, “underpinning

We don’t just want to be the best credit

this would be AI, data analytics and an

union; we want to be the best financial

elegant UI and UX”.

services provider and advocate to

Reflecting on the business, Novak

those we serve.”

believes that Visions FCU’s biggest strengths are its commitment to people and openness to leveraging technology w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

130

DECEMBER 2019

RANDALL: construction the right way

WRITTEN BY

DAN BRIGHTMORE PRODUCED BY

TOM VENTURO

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131

RANDALL CONSTRUCTION

RANDALL Construction is cementing its position as the leading self-perform in Florida by investing in innovative market disrupting products across an impressive portfolio of business units

T

he genesis of RANDALL Construction lies in a full-service plumbing company launched in Orlando, Florida back in 1986.

“We started the business out of my apartment,” recalls Jeff Condello, President & CEO. RANDALL’s 132

portfolio of business units has grown to include everything from electrical and engineering to BIM and fabrication. “The more complex a job, the greater value we bring,” pledges Condello. “We like to partner with construction managers and owners who value a well-managed, professional contractor for their specific solutions.”

It was the acquisition of Seminole Sheet Metal in 2010 that elevated RANDALL’s offering and triggered a period of extreme growth, positioning the business as both a major mechanical and plumbing company, as well as the largest sheet metal company for construction in Florida. “It was the largest non-union metal manufacturer in Florida,” remembers Condello. “Today, we’ve more than doubled the size

DECEMBER 2019

133

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RANDALL CONSTRUCTION

“ The more complex a job, the more value we bring.

We like to partner with construction managers and owners who value a well-managed, professional contractor for their specific solutions” 134

— Jeff Condello, President & CEO, RANDALL Construction

of the manufacturing facility to 20 acres.

We used the acquisition to enable us to offer in-house fabrication and grow our mechanical plumbing group. The reason for that growth is our aim to be a one-stop shop and provide value to our customers by working out of the same facilities to ensure our costs can be competitive in any market. Our ability to self-perform most of the work on a construction site has future-proofed our business model.”

During the last recession, Condello explains the company took advantage of the struggling economy and was able to expand the RANDALL family.

“Companies were shutting down,” he recalls. “We were able to take on many good people and fund new and innovative branches of our business. That’s how we started our concrete tilt wall company, which is now among the largest contractors of its type in Florida.”

DECEMBER 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘RANDALL ENGINEERED PRECAST’ 135 Innovation is key to RANDALL

the general contractor. Through our

enhancing its capabilities as a spe-

design-build process, we offer a full

cialty contractor. “We aim to provide

turnkey service that ensures every-

solid, state-of-the-art service to make

thing is coordinated via a unified

projects more efficient for our clients,”

approach resulting in greater effi-

maintains Matt Reinders, Vice President

ciency.” By employing a vertically

of RANDALL. “Because we self-per-

integrated offsite construction

form, we can control our job sites

approach, RANDALL can reduce

– especially with the mechanical

labor on site by up to 50%. “Bringing

plumbing, electrical, and fire protec-

a prefab mentality to each project is

tion all in one unit. We can deploy

the perfect solution to meet the chal-

prefabricated solutions with ease, use

lenges of today’s tight market with

BIM models for more accuracy and

its labor shortages,” adds Reinders.

provide one point of contact for com-

“We’re tooled to be that subcontractor

munication which makes it easier for

in the marketplace.” w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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As part of its strategy, RANDALL

attractive company to work for. “You’re

has invested in BIM technology to aid

not going to find another contractor that

its approach to pre-construction pro-

does approximately 70% of a total pro-

cesses, providing General Contractors

ject in-house and self-performed; from

and project partners the capability to

site work, tilt walls and precast to archi-

see what’s happening in real-time when

tectural, metal work and MEP-FP. Our

work on site begins. With 360-degree

innovative mindset is a differentiator.

cameras on the job sites, the ability

We’re taking that to the next level with

to deploy drones – and with most of

our modern approach to modular con-

its workforce connected with mobile

struction, using prefabrication to push

devices – technology in the field is

the possibilities to make construction

aiding collaboration by keeping all

sites safer and cleaner while producing

disciplines across a project connected.

less waste.”

Reinders believes RANDALL’s commitment to technology makes it an

Located in the heart of America’s theme park industry, RANDALL has

1986

Year founded

100,000

Square feet fabrication facility in Florida

1,300 Number of employees

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137

RANDALL CONSTRUCTION

formed partnerships with themed-

which minimises the challenges most

entertainment companies like Disney,

other companies in our industry face.”

Universal and Sea World to name a few.

RANDALL has found success with

“People like working with RANDALL,”

a diverse range of state-of-the-art

says Reinders proudly. “We have the

projects including a bio science labo-

resources, strength, safety progamme

ratory at a UF Research & Academic

and the reputation. No matter how dif-

Facility, Dr. Phillips Performing Arts

ficult, RANDALL is the go-to player in

Center in Orlando, several airport pro-

the South East marketplace that will

jects, Cabana Bay Resort for Universal,

exceed expectations and get the job

themed metal work for both Star Wars

done. Our business model is controlled

attractions in Anaheim and Orlando,

and our planned growth is strategic,

and The Land of Pandora for Disney.

138

E X ECU T I VE P RO FI LE

Jeff Condello Jeffrey S. Condello is an entrepreneur. Looking to break into the construction space, Condello worked for a plumber in Philadelphia, as his apprentice to learn the plumbing trade, before breaking away to begin his own company in 1980.

Shortly after, the Condellos moved to Central Florida and Randall Mechanical Inc. was born in 1986. Under Condello’s leadership, and with the full support of his wife, Debra, and his two children (who now work for the company), Chris and Danny, this once just-aplumbing company has grown into the largest self-performing subcontracting firm in Florida.

Condello famously shares words to live by as he encourages his employees to “do the right thing, every time.”

Sustainability is another important area of focus for RANDALL as the firm aims to identify ways it can lessen its carbon footprint. Thanks to an offsite, modular approach to construction, significant progress is being made.

For example, “engineered precast combines a two and half-inch thick concrete wall with a steel-stud panel and is a much lighter product, when compared to the traditional thickness of brick or concrete walls reducing the

“ We aim to provide a solid, state-ofthe-art service to make projects easier for our clients” — Matt Reinders, Vice President of RANDALL Construction 139

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Matt Reinders Previously an Operations Director at Balfour Beatty, where he worked on major construction projects for more than 20 years, Matt Reinders brings a wealth of experience to his role at RANDALL. During a decade of service at the company, he has helped oversee a period of sustained growth that has seen the specialty contractor develop its 10 self-performing business units to offer a one-stop shop for its clients. “We can do it all in house, it’s a big advantage that gives us control,” confirms Reinders, who is focused on meeting the challenges ahead. “Our aim is to achieve growth with our founding principal of finding solid leadership candidates to help RANDALL thrive.”

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amount of natural resources (water, sand etc) required,” explains Jessica Allen, RANDALL Brand Manager. “In turn, this makes a building’s foundations smaller. Lighter precast products further reduce the number of loads to be transported by large emission-producing trucks.” RANDALL’s approach is also helping owners and developers qualify for LEED green building credits, promoting greenier solutions across the construction industry. “In our precast yard, we recycle and reuse waste concrete,” adds Reinders.

“Broken down concrete from one DECEMBER 2019

project can be recycled as fill for another.”

Reinders sees a growing trend for

RANDALL is actively seeking suppliers

prefabrication and modular solutions

who can enhance this eco-friendly

across the construction industry leav-

approach. For example, the company

ing RANDALL well-placed to take

has teamed up with Kingspan as one

advantage of emerging requirements

of its few manufacturer distributors

for MEP and fire protection systems,

for the KoolDuct product. Kingspan’s

which it can deliver in-house. “We’re

KoolDuct System has a phenolic core

also moving towards offsite pod con-

and is a pre-assembled, pre-insulated

struction for bathrooms and kitchens

duct system for HVAC installations that

at our facility,” he adds. “They can be

is 70% lighter than alternatives avail-

put on a truck, delivered to site and

able and much greenier as it uses

craned into position.” Ultimately,

fewer materials.

RANDALL is able to increase the 141 C OM PAN Y FACT S

RANDALL is very familiar with virtual design construction (VDC) concepts, protocols and implementation, including Building Information Modeling (BIM). Utilising BIM is beneficial for its team to analyse physical building changes and improve overall building, design and structural changes as the project proceeds on schedule.

RANDALL has the expert personnel to fully engage and implement BIM, activating its

many benefits, including: •B uilding prototypes and analysed best options •P redictive logistics conf licts •B uild faster, smarter, more cost effective • Reduces risks • Controls cash f low •E liminates unnecessary costs •O ptimises scheduled activities, reduces construction time •F inds, fixes errors before they become expensive mistakes

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RANDALL CONSTRUCTION

142

“ Our innovative mindset is a differentiator” — Matt Reinders, Vice President, RANDALL Construction

DECEMBER 2019

projects’ speed to market, reduce risks and provide much needed alternatives to the traditional, antiquated methods of construction.

Condello affirms RANDALL is always looking to improve. “We always ask our people: ‘what are the problems in the construction industry?’. It’s always been done the same way for many years.” he laments. “A lot of companies aren’t happy with where they are and what they’re doing. The solution? Think differently and find better ways to achieve your goals. We do this by partnering with our manufacturer relationships and discovering new approaches to projects through the progress they are making with materials and technologies. We do facility tours and apply those learnings at RANDALL, both in the field and in our own workshop.” Under Condello’s watchful stewardship, the RANDALL family will continue to evolve, looking to redefine ‘the right way’ to achieve the best construction solutions.

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144

PEPSICO LATAM: DRIVING INNOVATIVE SUPPLY CHAIN OPERATIONS IN A HIGH PERFORMANCE MARKET WRITTEN BY

MARCUS LAWRENCE PRODUCED BY

DENITRA PRICE

DECEMBER 2019

145

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PEPSICO

PEPSICO LATAM HAS BEEN UNDERGOING A SIGNIFICANT SUPPLY CHAIN TRANSFORMATION AS THE COMPANY AT LARGE CONTINUES TO STREAMLINE AND OPTIMIZE THE EFFICIENCY OF ITS OPERATIONS

P

epsiCo’s portfolio of evocative household names has a foothold in every major market around the world, and delivering

those products to consumers in the most effective manner possible has become a company-wide 146

strategic imperative. For PepsiCo’s operations in Latin America (LATAM), the centralization of procurement has been an ongoing endeavor for the past several years and the transformation is reaping dividends. As a key region for PepsiCo’s wider balance sheet, optimization of procurement and logistics in the region stands to have a significant impact on success at large. The procurement function is, in effect, essential to the company’s wider growth strategy. When new CEO, Ramon Laguarta, came in last year, there was a refinement in the company’s vision focused on how PepsiCo can become the leader in convenience food and beverages by winning with purpose rather than just performing – and this mentality is central to the company’s supply chain transformation.

DECEMBER 2019

$64.6bn Approximate revenue

1898

Year founded

250,000+ Number of employees worldwide

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147

PEPSICO

“ THE FIRM’S STRONG PARTNERSHIP MANAGEMENT IS TIED INTO THE SUCCESS OF ITS NEW FLEET MANAGEMENT CAPABILITIES”

With its LATAM operations accounting for around 11% of PepsiCo’s global revenues, optimizing supply chain and procurement operations in the region is essential for continued growth at both a national and global level.

Leveraging relationships with suppliers worldwide is key, along with the capacity to negotiate on a global scale whilst simultaneously servicing and supporting local markets. In 2012, previous CEO Indra Nooyi set a goal of securing $1.5bn in cost savings through streamlining and incrementally

148

DECEMBER 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘PEPSICO SUPPORTS RECYCLING IN LATIN AMERICA WITH INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS’ 149 upgrading the company’s productivity,

region, has been vital to the realization

citing the firm’s positive performance

of this ambitious goal. By combining

in the five volatile preceding years

procurement and operations, both

for world economies. “Our goal is to

delivering more cost-effective ways

continue on that earnings trajectory

of purchasing and enabling the supply

over the next five to 10 years, fully

chain with new technologies – such

recognizing that we need to make

as the new fleet management system

changes to the way we operate to

– quarterly productivity has been

address the challenges identified in the

enhanced significantly both on a local

review process,” said Nooyi in a press

and wider level.

statement at the time. “2012 will be

Partnerships have been particularly

a transition year, in which we will be

crucial to the cost-saving strategy, as

taking the appropriate steps to build

more effective relationships can yield

a stronger, more successful company

higher quality solutions at cheaper

going forward.” Latin America, as a

rates. Not only that, but the complex w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

We transport your future Tomorrow’s mobility is what drives us today Electricity is the fuel of the future – not just because switching to electric vehicles is good for both your business and the environment. Thanks to compact batteries, short charging times and unrestricted access to ultra-low emission zones, you will have a head start in urban mobility.

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The opinion and feedback of our customers is very important to us. That is why we always work closely together with them when developing new products. In addition, a huge capital employment enables us to consistently push the transformation towards zero-emission mobility. With the all-electric e-Crafter, ABT e-Caddy and ABT e-Transporter (the last two developed together with our strategic partner ABT), our portfolio contains solutions for urban traffic that are already sustainable now.

Expected in 2022, the fully electric ID. BUZZ, which has entirely developed anew, will be one of our most important products for the future and is our technology carrier for autonomous driving.

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For more info on Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle’s Fleet solutions, visit: www.volkswagen-nutzfahrzeuge.de/de/geschaeftskunden/grosskunden/kontakt-international.html

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153 nature of Latin America’s established

source locations. The aforementioned

and varied markets necessitates

regional and intra-regional quirks are

a high degree of expertise on the

similarly vital to consider when it

business side to initiate and maintain

comes to both partner selection and

such relationships. Every country

the application of innovative techno-

has its particularities, so having the

logical solutions. Driverless vehicles,

necessary talent and capability

for example, are not currently viable in

to connect with the correct partners,

places like Sao Paolo and Lima due to

provide the right efficiencies and

both infrastructural and technological

scale relative to different countries

limitations. However, these limitations

is essential for PepsiCo’s delivery

have not prevented the company from

of its supply chain objectives.

establishing a new fleet management

PepsiCo proactively and regularly

solution in the region replete with

assesses its partners and ensures it

benefits to productivity, efficiency,

is leveraging the most cost-effective

logistics, sustainability, driver safety w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

PEPSICO

and more. Focusing on safety and making sure hard braking, hard cornering, inefficient acceleration and so forth are reduced has reaped myriad benefits, improving the employee experience along with wider ranging results. Beyond safety, the new fleet management system has a much broader reach: the platform pilot is seeing a reduction of 10% in both idling and travel distance, significantly reducing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The 154

implications for enhanced sustainability are a particular boon as consumers around the globe become more conscious of the environmental impacts of the products they buy.

The firm’s strong partnership management is tied into the success of its new fleet management capabilities, too. Leveraging key relationships with expert fleet managers to augment its ability to build and deploy customized systems has enabled PepsiCo to boost efficiency, automatic dispatching, roadside assistance, and more. These efforts have resulted in a 90% reduction in DECEMBER 2019

“ IT’S CLEAR THAT THE POTENT INTEGRATION OF TECHNOLOGIES AND BLENDING OF THEIR CAPABILITIES HAS BEEN KEY TO PEPSICO LATAM’S SUCCESS”

155

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PEPSICO

156

DECEMBER 2019

associated administrative work, enabling employees to focus on more fulfilling value-added activities.

No single technological solution or platform is responsible for or capable of securing such successes, however, it’s clear that the potent integration of technologies and blending of their capabilities has been key to PepsiCo LATAM’s success. The transport management system is tied into the telematics system, the last mile system, the route planning systems and so on, enabling the best qualities of each solution to be available in the same place.

Taking a broader view of business operations, growth of the company at a global level, and the focus on a clear strategic vision are collectively bringing PepsiCo ever further forward as an example of procurement and supply chain operations done right.

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157

158

Seamless customer journeys and digital readiness WRITTEN BY

MARCUS LAWRENCE PRODUCED BY

JAKE MEGEARY

DECEMBER 2019

159

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WSIB

Samantha Liscio, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, discusses the organisation’s digital transformation and its drive to enable seamless customer experiences

I 160

n Ontario, Canada, workers benefit from legislation compelling their employers to provide workplace insurance. This

strategy necessitates a provider for that cover and Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is that very organisation. While many companies view digital transformation as a means to keep up to date with the times or gain a measure against the competition, such compulsions are not so clear for state-mandated entities; if the organisation is essential, one might wonder why that organisation would prioritise exhaustive modernisation and the heavy investment and strategic challenges of shifting operations to digitised solutions that it entails. Samantha Liscio, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at WSIB, dismisses such notions. The focus, she says, has to be on making the customer experience seamless, straightforward, and easy, irrespective of whether employers have the option to change insurer. “Our DECEMBER 2019

The digiHUB is located at WSIB’s head office. It is a workspace for all things digital, featuring an open layout that encourages employees to come together and collaborate

1914

Year founded

CA$4.4bn Revenue in Canadian dollars

4,000 Number of employees

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161

WSIB

“ Our CEO affirms that our goal here is to be the insurer of choice.

Even as a monopoly, if our customer had a choice they should pick us, and he’s very vocal about that”

162

— Samantha Liscio Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, WSIB

CEO affirms that our goal here is to be the insurer of choice,” she says. “Even as a monopoly, if our customer had a choice they should pick us, and he’s very vocal about that.”

This obligation is driven by the services and solutions that customers have come to expect from the modern world, where vital information and operations can be accessed and actioned through apps that define and enable sleek, optimised customer journeys. “We still have competition on customer expectations, and

WSIB has a lab at Kitchener’s innovation hub Communitech – employees can collaborate and leverage other communal creative environments

DECEMBER 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘WE’RE MAKING IMPROVEMENTS TO DELIVER BETTER SERVICE’ 163 we feel that very keenly these days

status, and they want the WSIB to be

when people can go online and bank

easy and straightforward and availa-

or purchase airline tickets with one

ble. That really is what’s driving digital

click,” explains Liscio. “It makes an

transformation for us.”

imperative for us to be able to provide

With this focus on the customer,

services like that to them, because

WSIB has identified the processes

when our clients come to us they’re

which define the customer journey

injured or they’re ill and they expect

and performed a series of ethno-

that the great work that we do to help

graphic studies into the needs and

them get better and return to work

expectations of its customer base. By

isn’t overshadowed by how difficult it

then taking staff through each facet of

is to deal with us. They don’t want to

that journey, the areas of convolution

be worrying about mailing or faxing

and friction become clear. Addressing

information to us, they don’t want to

these areas of frustration, Liscio says,

have to call to figure out their claim

will enable the digital transformation w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

WSIB

“ With a clear focus on what our customers want, IT can foster discussions around the art of the possible in using digital tools to enable transformation” 166

— Samantha Liscio Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, WSIB to precipitate the correct changes for

enable transformation. IT can show

the organisation as a whole. “Getting

the business what modern technol-

staff to think from an outside in kind

ogy and modern software can bring

of focus, and getting that customer

in terms of enablement and meeting

experience right, drives other values

those customer needs, effectively

too. We track public value as a key

orchestrating and architecting for the

measure and part of our strategic

future in a scalable, efficient, and

metrics reporting, and if we get the

sustainable way.”

customer piece right, our public value

While Liscio believes that some tra-

and trust measures change for the

ditional access channels will remain

better as well. With a clear focus on

in place to serve the less digitally-

what our customers want, IT can

enabled, removing reliance on paper

foster discussions around the art of

is a fundamental piece of the trans-

the possible in using digital tools to

formation. Claims related documents

DECEMBER 2019

Located in WSIB’s head office at Simcoe Place, the digital factory represents its commitment as an organisation to develop solutions for the people it serves, improve its processes, upgrade its systems, and enable employees to provide the services that customers need with the least amount of effort.

WSIB’s digital factory is both a physical space and a way of working

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Samantha Liscio As Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at the WSIB, Samantha is responsible for digital transformation, leveraging technology and customer experience to streamline processes, provide value and modernise the business. She ensures IT operational excellence, directs innovation and drives the highest possible value from technology assets and investments.

Samantha has over 20 years of experience in IT leadership roles. In previous positions in both the public service and private industry, she led the design and implementation of large-scale digital transformative initiatives.

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167

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘PETE’S RETURN-TO-WORK STORY’ 169 can now be uploaded directly from a

because if you’re handling digital

laptop or mobile phone and delivered

information it fundamentally changes

to the organisation digitally, signifi-

the business processes, rationalising

cantly decreasing the lead times for

those business processes in line with

postage and processing of faxes that

customer journeys and then finally

traditionally hinder the expedition of

deploying the enabling technology

claims processes. This customer-

using agile methods that can be sus-

facing element permeates through

tainable in the long term. Doing all

the organisation as part of what Liscio

three of those together is key so this

calls WSIB’s biggest transformation

isn’t just a technology project, even

endeavour in its 105-year history: the

though a big component of that is

core services modernisation pro-

replacing and upgrading our core sys-

gramme. “It’s essentially doing three

tem of record.”

things,” she explains. “It’s getting rid of paper and becoming digital at source,

This is where key partner Guidewire comes in, providing a suite of w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

WSIB

PA RT N E R S

Wipro “Providing continuous improvement enhancement and on-going defect fixes has been a vital component in maintaining performance and stability in our core system.

Wipro have helped the WSIB rollout system enhancements that have reduced the number of clicks from our core system users by more than 50%” 170

IBM “We’ve just partnered with IBM to do our managed hosting and cloud services, and they’re helping us understand how we can be better use data and analytics in our data centres so that we can automate the repetitive server administration tasks and drive efficiencies as we plan and orchestrate cloud services” Samantha Liscio Chief Transformation and Innovation officer

DECEMBER 2019

WSIB’s leaders come together frequently to talk about its modernization journey and plan for next steps

digitally-enabled insurance tools to facilitate rapid claims registration, administration and return-to-work processes. “A ‘quick win’ for us has been the digital document upload tool that we launched last year, and its connectivity to Guidewire,” enthuses Liscio, adding that the organisation’s time to market has been cut drastically through using the digital factory to drive development. “In the past, it took years to launch WSIB products, but this one was 16 weeks from inception to launch. In 2018, we received more than 2.3mn pieces of paper either by mail or by fax and we’re cutting a lot of that through the digital upload tool; it now has more daily uploads than the total documents we receive in paper. They come in and they go into the Guidewire backend system instantaneously. It also removes some of the call volume that we have from people asking if we have received their postal or fax documents, removing all of the barriers to good and fast customer service.”

To remove the barriers to its own transformational success, WSIB has also partnered with IT and business w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

171

Change. It’s what we do.

Avenai is a business and IT services consulting company that specializes in helping our clients transform into high performing organizations. With a value driven focus, we work with our clients to create business strategies and solutions that drive positive impact. With offices in Ottawa, Toronto and Victoria, BC we are a growing consultancy that has an excellent reputation for working closely alongside our clients and rolling up our sleeves to make sure that change sticks.

Learn More

We’re honored to help WSIB deliver on its mission

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘DOUG’S RETURN-TO-WORK STORY’ 173 services consultancy Avenai to intro-

it,” Liscio explains. “Avenai helped

duce a new, digitally-empowered

us do a current state assessment of

organisational framework. “Previously

how our legacy model was impeding

there were silos of IT operations and

our progress and then suggested an

solutions delivery; it didn’t work well

industry standard IT operating model

together. When a major project was

that was much more client focused,

finished and the development work

with delivery verticals leveraging agile

was done, it kind of got thrown over

and DevOps methods and supported

the fence to operations to manage

by horizontal IT shared services func-

and maintain it. If there were defects

tions. We’ve moved our entire 300+

that needed to be worked through

person IT organisation into that new

with problem management, that work

functional model, and have started to

was difficult to assign and there was

change behaviours at the leadership

finger pointing between operations

level by agreeing on a set of values

and delivery as to who should do

that we aspire to. At its heart, it’s w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

WSIB

An employee uses WSIB’s new best-in-class phone system, Genesys

about being customer focused, collaborative, demonstrating clear value to the business and moving from a project to a product focus. Avenai was very helpful in helping us help shift the organisational culture, applying specific behavioural performance objectives, and helping us bring the necessary leadership, values, and culture piece into the change management approach during the deployment of the new model.”

Change management, the Everest of all digital transformations, has thus DECEMBER 2019

“ In the past, it took years to launch WSIB products, but for the digital upload tool it was 16 weeks from inception to launch” — Samantha Liscio Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, WSIB

175

been enabled by this structural revolu-

simple reimbursement for medical

tion to WSIB’s IT operations and the

costs. Those can be processed auto-

associated change in culture across

matically in the Guidewire solution,

the IT organisation. The success of its

based on WSIB business rules, and

new digital products, and the ability to

we can take advantage of the auto-

automate repetitive tasks and expand

mation potential within the software

the capacity for employees’ additional

itself. This straight-through process-

value-added activities, is facilitated

ing means that claims processing

by this newly-enabled readiness. An

times are dramatically improved and

example that Liscio offers regarding

staff with high skills and expertise

automation is in the straight-through

can spend their valuable time on the

processing of medical expenses

complex claims that require human

claims that it enables. “More than

decisions.” As a result, a claims

70% of the claims that we have involve

process that could have taken a full w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

WSIB

176

“ It’s about being customer focused, collaborative, demonstrating clear value to the business and having the IT leaders model those behaviours by building commitments into their performance objective directly” — Samantha Liscio Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, WSIB

DECEMBER 2019

payment cycle to deliver has become instantaneous, and the benefit for customers speaks for itself.

In the age of digital transformation, customer centricity and operational preparedness are characteristics that separate the winners from the chasers, and this is no less certain for companies whose offering is mandated by local authorities. These qualities resonate through the entirety of Liscio’s strategic endeavours. “For digital transformation to succeed, IT can’t be the order taker to the business to execute on individual priorities, it needs to demonstrate clear value that’s aligned to the customer, it needs to do these things while keeping the engines running and the plumbing working, all in a safe and secure and sustainable way,” she asserts. “It’s about looking at things foundationally, assessing the key pieces that we need to have in place to truly transform how we do our business, and leveraging the expertise of key partners that will help us get that right.”

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177

178

MCU: putting members at the heart of digital transformation WRITTEN BY

OLLIE MULKERRINS

DECEMBER 2019

179

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MERIDIAN CREDIT UNION

David Baldarelli, SVP for Meridian Credit Union, keeps member quality of life and security at the heart of digital transformation

A

s a credit union, Meridian (MCU) is 100% owned by its Members: their interests are first. Profits are returned to them not in

dividend payments, but in the form of innovative products, technology and services along with a focus on community and overall member well-being.

180

“We’re ruthlessly focused on our members and employees, we’re really all about focusing on wellbeing: financial, physical and mental,” says David Baldarelli, SVP, Digital & Analytics and COO, motusbank.

Baldarelli led the campaign to develop motusbank, a subsidiary of Meridian. It took four years of heavy lifting – both technology build and regulatory approvals – before motus launched in April 2019.

The name Motus is Latin for new movement, representing disruption and rebellion, an idea MCU wants motusbank to embody, with a new movement in banking. This new movement is putting customer welfare and a sustainable relationship between the platform and its members at the forefront of its development.

DECEMBER 2019

181

2005

Year founded

2,000

Approximate number of employees

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MERIDIAN CREDIT UNION

“ The legacy way of doing things is no longer accepted” 182

— David Baldarelli, SVP, Digital & Analytics and COO, MotusBank for Meridian Credit Union (MCU)

DECEMBER 2019

MCU is aware that modern cultural shifts have left consumers expecting more from their financial services.

“So Financial Institutions in Canada are now being compared to the likes of Google, Amazon, Apple, Uber, because this is who they’re using for their day to day,” says Baldarelli. “They’re expecting the same from financial companies.

The legacy way of doing things is no longer accepted.”

The financial sector has been forced to adapt and evolve to changing demands from consumers, as younger generations requiring more immediate

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘MOTUSBANK: OUR STORY’

access to their finances enter the

them for the sort of change they want

market. “Three or four years ago,

to see as members. “One of the

digital didn’t contribute much at all to

biggest things is to never assume that

the overall new membership growth,”

you have the answer,” says Baldarelli.

explains Baldarelli. “When you fast

“It’s important to listen to what your

forward to today, digital is the number

members are saying, to spend time in

one new member acquisition channel

operations, the contact center and

across all of our districts.”

branches as well as obtaining a holistic

The launch of motusbank has realised a surge in new membership for

understanding of the business.”

Specifically on digital member

MCU. As new members benefit from a

experience, MCU worked closely with

holistic approach towards banking with

TELUS Financial Solutions. Keith

a company that doesn’t assume the

Nugara says: “Through collaboration

needs of its users but rather approaches

with Meridian, we aligned on its digital w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

183

TELUS Financial Solutions A partner to help you grow.

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E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

David Balderelli As Chief Operating Officer of Motus Bank, David oversees and executes go-to-market strategies and is responsible for delivering against the bank business plan. He is responsible for overseeing the strategy, management and execution of Digital Banking and Analytics strategy for both the credit union and the bank. This includes a strong focus on driving a superior digital member experience, operational efficiencies, and member engagement and growth.Â

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MERIDIAN CREDIT UNION

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1.855.233.9226 • equifax.ca © Equifax Canada Co., 2019. All rights reserved. All marks appearing herein are trademarks or registered trademarks owned or licensed by Equifax Canada Co. No part of this document may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language in any form by means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, for any purpose, without the prior written consent of Equifax Canada Co.

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member experience and national

Financial Solutions enabled us to

strategy, resulting in Meridian’s use

provide members with enhanced

of TELUS Financial Solutions robust

digital financial services coast to coast,

technologies that are designed to

streamline internal processes and

streamline processes and aided

focus on growing our business.”

Meridian to gain a competitive edge by

Demand has led to company

focusing on its member digital journeys.

branches becoming more intercon-

Through this collaboration, our

nected through technology such as

customers will continue to benefit

cloud services, making it much easier

from our respective strengths includ-

to share and process data across

ing strategic and targeted payment

multiple platforms. This comes with its

solutions that enable electronic

own risks though, as cyber security

payment, digital data collection and

threats continue to adapt at a compa-

more efficient analytics.”

rable pace and networks present more

Balderalli adds: “Member journey is

points of entry. Working with MX and

a critical piece of our digital national

Personetics, MCU has developed AI

strategy. Our partnership with TELUS

analytics to process mass data more w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

187

MERIDIAN CREDIT UNION

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“ We’re three to four times where we thought we would be in terms of new members and balances” — David Baldarelli, SVP, Digital & Analytics and COO, MotusBank for Meridian Credit Union (MCU)

DECEMBER 2019

189

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and adapt to potential threats across

rapid up-scaling required to keep up

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the influx of new members. One such

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DECEMBER 2019

Motusbank has given MCU a reliable and innovative National platform to growth its membership and enhance its brand. Baldarelli explains the initiative has seen “great success! So far, we’ve seen tremendous growth with motusbank. We’re three to four times where we thought we would be in terms of new members and balances.”

This success has put MCU in good stead for the future, but it won’t be without its challenges. “Competition is a big thing on our radar. Especially with the likes of the Facebooks, Googles and Amazons. From an economic perspective, we’ve had a really good run over the past 10 years, but we think those good times won’t be there forever. Finally, our capital is precious.

Making sure that we’re leveraging our capital in the right way and optimizing it to ensure we’re getting the most bang for our buck is important to us.”

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193

194

KUBRA: information security and customer experience WRITTEN BY

SHANNON LEWIS PRODUCED BY

JAKE MEGEARY

DECEMBER 2019

195

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KUBRA

We speak to Tushar Chandgothia, Vice President of Information Security and Risk Management at KUBRA, about how businesses can provide customers with the service they want while keeping digitally safe

K

UBRA was originally founded in 1992 as a bill printing service provider. Clients looking to outsource printing, from

statements to invoices, turned to KUBRA. As the company expanded, so did its interests. From printing, KUBRA moved into billing and payments, 196

which itself moved from the analogue to the digital.

Today, KUBRA provides digital and software services to over 365 clients and their customers.

Tushar Chandgothia has been Vice President of Information Security and Risk Management at KUBRA for over three years. His background is primarily with other service providers. “I make sure, from an executive standpoint, that there is someone to be held accountable for data security,” he says.

KUBRA processes 1.5bn transactions every year, ranging from printed invoices to bank statement, text messages. “We collect a lot of personallyidentifiable information,” says Chandgothia.

“We need to make sure that the systems that actually host that data on behalf of our clients are secure.

At the end of the day what we want to do is maintain customer trust and reliability in our services.”

DECEMBER 2019

197

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KUBRA

“ At the end of the day what we want to do is maintain customer trust and reliability in our services” 198

— Tushar Chandgothia, Vice President of Information Security and Risk Management, KUBRA

DECEMBER 2019

A shift in mentality between generations has forced KUBRA to re-evaluate how it provides services. Gen X, Y, and Z are looking for easy, frictionless interactions. “They ask a question and expect a reply within minutes.”

In response, KUBRA developed artificial intelligence-based solutions to efficiently respond to client messages. With new technology comes both convenience and complication. KUBRA’s applications are made up of over 600 different components, flavours or sub-applications. To avoid vulnerabilities in new

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘KUBRA EXPERIENCE BETTER’ 199 code, KUBRA engages in a shift-left

work as hired hackers, trying to break

mentality. KUBRA’s development and

into applications and find vulnerabilities

implementation team, made up of over

that KUBRA can then adjust for.

150 people, centres around creating

When it comes to ensuring a balance

and testing new code. Every piece of

between functionality and security,

billing and payments code at KUBRA

Chandgothia says it is important to

is passed through a security tool that

always be on the lookout for the next

highlights potential security vulnerabilities.

great thing. “We want to be at the fore-

“When the developer is tinkering with

front of payments,” he says. “That’s the

new functionalities, they find out about

strategy that has driven us in the last

the vulnerability early and it’s fixed

few years.” Services such as Forrester

before it is released into the market,”

and Gartner help him compare

he says. For additional security testing

vendors, ensuring any technologies

in its billing and payments applications,

KUBRA replaces will only be made

one of KUBRA’s partners, Cobalt Labs

better. “We are continuously evaluating w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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“ While secure delivery of new products is something we will always do, there is no compromise on security” — Tushar Chandgothia, Vice President of Information Security and Risk Management, KUBRA

what makes the most sense from a business perspective, where we have the most flexibility, where we can allow the client to provide for themselves rather than having us be in the middle.

How can we help them help themselves to meet their expectations?”

To focus on process building, KUBRA co-sources its security technology from some of the best security vendors.

“We focus on making solutions that are great when it comes to billing and payments,” he says. “When it comes to security, we’re looking for

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Tushar Chandgothia Tushar Chandgothia is the Vice President of Information Security and Risk Management at KUBRA, a customer experience management solutions provider to some of the largest utility, insurance and government entities across North America. Chandgothia has over 16 years of experience in information security, IT audit, and risk management functions in technology, financial, media, and healthcare sectors. As the first Information Security Vice President at KUBRA, he is working along with his team to strengthen the first line of defence and mature the cybersecurity and technology risk management practice by embedding security controls in KUBRA’s billing and payment solutions.

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201

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203

a relationship where the partner’s core

automate certain processes. Another

business is to provide that. Rather

way KUBRA has opted for security in

than managing it all in house, we find

technology is through the tokenisation

someone for whom security tech is

of data, which allows the company to

their bread and butter.” Finding the

reduce the footprint of actual credit

correct technology is about econo-

card numbers in its environment by

mising. “We try to solve five problems

registering these as different values.

with one piece of technology,” he

This reduces risk since, if the card

says. This mentality has led KUBRA

numbers are tokenised, it means that

into a partnership with FireMon. It

no client card numbers would be

had the most seamless integration

exposed if the system were compro-

when it came to its firewalls and the

mised. When searching for partners

additional service of real-time review

to do this, stacked functionality was

of security rules and the capability to

once again key. The provider KUBRA w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

KUBRA

C O M PA N Y FACT S

• Today, KUBRA provides digital and software services to 365 clients and their customers.

• KUBRA processes 1.5 billion transactions in a year • KUBRA’s applications are made up of over 600 sub-applications.

204

DECEMBER 2019

chose to work with offers stateless tokenisation, which removes the usual database of tokens, making the data even more secure. It is also speedy, able to tokenise over a million credit card numbers an hour.

Internal methodology is as important to information security as having the right technology in place at KUBRA. Chandgothia has seen major changes in the security team since he joined in 2016. “We have proper pillars now. We centralised a lot of the preventative controls. We don’t want to be just in the detection game, we want to control the first line of defence, hands-on.”

The change, from a client standpoint, has been seamless. “I think for the most part we use common sense.

It’s what we call a Defence-in-Depth approach.” It allows adaptability.

Clients who are switching to KUBRA from a less-secure position can ask to reduce security restrictions temporarily for an initial adjustment period.

KUBRA’s security infrastructure is multi-layered, so the company has the flexibility to do this without compromising safety. Legal security restrictions, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

205

KUBRA

206

“ This legislation has allowed us to promote a security culture. If someone wants to push back, we have a regulation behind us” — Tushar Chandgothia, Vice President of Information Security and Risk Management, KUBRA

DECEMBER 2019

(CCPA) or General Data Regulation Protection (GDPR) have been helpful to KUBRA in maintaining its high standards. “This legislation has allowed us to promote a security culture. If someone wants to push back, we have a regulation behind us. We’ve never seen it as something that has stopped our business,” says Chandgothia.

Looking forward, KUBRA is interested in becoming an omni-channel provider.

“We want to be involved in every facet where client communication is

1992

Year founded

500

Number of employees

207

involved.� Chandgothia says. Security-

KUBRA is looking into adopting

wise, KUBRA is looking to develop

machine learning, artificial intelligence,

a zero-trust environment, in which

and cloud computing, allowing clients

neither external nor internal users

to further self-serve. “While secure

have unlimited access to information.

delivery of new products is something

A 10-year exercise, it has been imple-

we will always do, there is no compromise

mented in parts. So far, KUBRA has

on security.

segmented its production environment, where all personally identifiable data is kept, from its user environment and also segmented its credit card data environment in production from other non-card services. Technologically, w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

208

DRA GLOBAL: HELPING MINING COMPANIES REALISE THE BIG PICTURE FOR THEIR PROJECTS WRITTEN BY

DAN BRIGHTMORE PRODUCED BY

RICHARD DEANE

DECEMBER 2019

209

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DRA GLOBAL

DRA GLOBAL IS DELIVERING INNOVATION TO THE MINING SITE, TURNING UNDERPERFORMING PROJECTS INTO OUTSTANDING ONES

D

RA Global (DRA) is a diversified global engineering, project delivery and operations management group. Founded

in 1984, its impressive track record spans over three decades. With expertise in the areas of 210

project development, mining, mineral processing, plant optimisation, operations & maintenance and related water, energy, and infrastructure requirements, the company successfully delivers comprehensive solutions to the resources sector.

DRA has detailed design and construction at its core but also supports major innovations to drive cost savings at the PEA (Predicted Energy Assessment) level while focused on guiding these projects through to construction.

Brent Hilscher, DRA’s Director of Process for Western Canada, was brought in to broaden the company’s global footprint and start its Vancouver office. Expanding DRA’s impressive array of services, Hilscher brings expertise in ore sorting, floatation, grinding and extraction. “Typically, when you look at a block model, there won’t be huge DECEMBER 2019

211

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DRA GLOBAL

C O M PA N Y FACT S

• 4,300 staff worldwide • 4,500+ projects completed globally • 3 decades of experience

variability in the grade of the deposit and every block looks like it’s 100% ore,” he explains. “But, when you take that block and you crush it, you normally find that half of the rocks that leave your gyratory are waste rocks. Extraction is a resource and cost intensive process, so, there’s a lot of potential to take that crushed material and reject a certain amount, allowing us to boost mill feed grade while using less power and water.”

DRA employs many distinct technologies for bulk and particle sorting.

For bulk sorting prompt gamma neutron

212

activation analysis (PGNAA) is one of the most common, where the ore is scanned and exposed to neutrons.

Gamma rays are re-admitted from the

“ EVERY ROCK IS SCANNED INDIVIDUALLY WITH TECHNOLOGY CAPABLE OF ANALYSING EACH PARTICLE TO TELL YOU WHAT’S ORE AND WHAT’S WASTE” — Brent Hilscher, Director of Process, Western Canada, DRA Global

DECEMBER 2019

ore with specific signatures a result of the atoms contacted which can, for example, reveal how much copper is in the ore on the conveyor. “Particle sorting is where I probably spend most of my time,” adds Hilscher. “Every rock is scanned individually with technology capable of analysing each particle to tell you what’s ore and what’s waste.”

During this process, a variety of sensor methods are used to improve efficiency. “Dual energy

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘DRA GLOBAL OVERVIEW’ 213 x-ray transmission (XRT) looks at

gold ore, it could be that the estimated

the density of particles and does so

gold value is determined based on iron,

by compensating for the size of the

titanium, and zirconium, things you

rock using two energy levels of x-ray,”

might not often think of being associated

explains Hilscher. “The technology has

with gold,” adds Hilscher. “It could

advanced to the point where we can

also be that the waste has a certain

look at the density profile of a block

quantity of things that the ore does not,

rather than the average density of the

so you could create reverse correla-

rock and use that characteristic profile

tions with the XRF.” Other techniques

to tell the difference between ore and

include the use of lasers which assess

waste.” DRA also deploys XRF, which

the brightness of the rock and its

provides a profile of the heavier ele-

translucent characteristics. However,

ments and can detect copper, lead,

not all approaches are fruitful. Hilscher

zinc, titanium, zirconium and more to

has worked on more than 40 major

help determine the ore’s value. “If it’s a

projects, where his team have had little w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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CLICK TO WATCH : ‘BRENT HILSCHER FOR DRA GLOBAL’

216

success with electromagnetic sensors,

metric for operations where, for example,

and admits that “you want to keep an

we’ll look at how much gold or copper

open mind but some techniques work

is recovered at the end of the process.

better for certain ore types, so it’s

When we do ore sorting, we’ll often

important to match the right analysis

throw away 5% or more of the valuable

approach to the specific site”.

minerals, so we developed a metric to

Allied to the practical dynamics of

learn the actual value of what’s being

the sorting process, Hilscher believes

lost where the operating costs for

ore sorting economics are crucial.

the extraction and tailings facilities

“Building an economic model for every

are incorporated into that recovery

project tells us what the optimum

number. Discarding a low-grade rock

operating conditions are going to be.

would have a positive impact on profit

A key metric is profit recovery.

recovery, which rewards us for throwing

Normally, metal recovery is a driving

away rocks we’re losing money on.”

DECEMBER 2019

Preparing an economic model for

payback period for a specific project.

each project helps DRA build the best

“For Brownfield projects we’re usually

algorithm to support the second phase

targeting a payback of six months,”

of testing with a bulk sample. “The eco-

says Hilscher. “That seems to be what

nomic model is able to show us the best

mining companies are looking for

sorter operating conditions,” confirms

these days and it’s certainly achievable

Hilscher. “We can see the best upgrade

for a lot of these ore sorting projects. For

ratio for the ore sorter to be running at,

Greenfield, it’s even easier because

so that once we get into the large-scale

your CAPEX is so much lower. For

test, we’ve got the correct algorithm

example, for a single sorter Brownfield

and operating setpoints for the deposit.”

system, it might cost $5mn to install a

That test work and algorithm sup-

200 tonne per hour system, but with

ports the economic model, allowing

the ore sorting equipment incorporated

DRA to more accurately define a

into your design at the beginning of

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Brent Hilscher Brent Hilscher has 20 years’ experience in mining and mineral processing. He has operated and supervised mineral processing plants, published papers, patented technologies, and been a speaker at over a dozen conferences and universities in Canada and around the world. Brent has led design and construction projects for Teck, Goldcorp, New Gold, Barrick, Xstrata, Agnico Eagle, and many others.

He won the CMP Bill Moore Award for technical excellence in 2013, and served as an officer in the Canadian Armed Forces.

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217

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technology combinations, including: X-ray transmission (XRT); X-ray

Focusing on pre-concentration adds previously uneconomic zones to ore and mineral reserves, and improves the effectiveness of ore blending management programs. Processing low-grade stockpiles, even waste dumps, and selective upgrading generates value from previously uneconomic material. This leads to reduced tailings, less environmental impact, reduced milling energy requirements — all which add value to the life of the operation.

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“ METALLURGISTS TEND TO BE WORRIED ABOUT RECOVERY. GEOLOGISTS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT OUNCES AND POUNDS IN THE GROUND. MINING GUYS ARE FOCUSED ON TONNES, WHILE CEOS ARE COUNTING THE DOLLARS. I’VE FOUND THAT THE ECONOMIC MODEL DOES A GREAT JOB OF BRINGING ALL THOSE PEOPLE TOGETHER AND HELPING THEM SEE THE BIG PICTURE” — Brent Hilscher, Director of Process, Western Canada, DRA Global

Hilscher worked on a silver mine 12 months from closure due to constantly declining grades. Ore sorting was investigated to get the grades back up.

“We did the test programme, we got the samples and discovered that nine out of 10 of their rocks were below cut-off grade,” explains Hilscher. “But one out of 10 of their rocks was extremely valuable. So, it was a very easy sort. We could have used XRF, XRT, laser, any one of those would have worked, so we scanned the rock with a conservative approach only throwing away 60% of the rock to begin with. We eventually achieved double the feed grade, with over 95% silver recovery.”

DRA has worked for many years to develop approaches to dense media

construction, the cost can be halved.”

separation (DMS) that use fluids of

In greenfield designs there is also an

suitable density so that the minerals

opportunity to reduce project capital

lighter than the fluid float and those

while maintaining or increasing designed

that are denser sink. Hilscher’s team

production. Hilscher notes that instead

is also developing conservation tech-

of spending $100mn on a new mill, a

nologies to meet the changing needs

smaller mill with sorters could produce

of the sector. “Ore sorting is just part

the same product for $70-80mn.

of our tool kit for project revitalisa-

“Spending a little more on your ore sort-

tion. DMS coarse particle recovery,

ing system up front can lead to a clear

modular construction and many others

win for the overall project,” he confirms.

are looked at for each new project. w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

219

DRA GLOBAL

Bel Air Bauxite

220

In 2017 DRA Global was awarded the contract for the development of a port facility and associated infrastructure for the export of bauxite, by Alufer Mining in Guinea. The Alufer Bel Air Mine project was DRA’s first causeway development, which expanded the company’s exposure within the marine environment. Bel Air was expected to have an initial production rate of 5.5 million tonnes per annum and included a 22.5km haul road running over eight river crossings, an export facility with the ROM tip that feeds a 6500-tonne live capacity stockpile, and a causeway extending 1.4km into the Atlantic Ocean, where a barge load out berth was constructed.

DECEMBER 2019

The scope included all the necessary infrastructure to operate the facility: construction camp, wellfields, power generation, offices, laboratory, workshop and a bailey bridge across the Koundinde Work on the project commenced in January 2017 and was completed in August 2018 before commercial production was achieved within the first six months of operation. Alufer is on target to reach its annual production rate of 5.5 million wet tonnes by the end of 2019. DRA Global’s extensive material handling, earthworks and infrastructure design capabilities have contributed significantly to the success of the project.

221 Hydrofloat is a new coarse particle

so they can test solutions in their own

recovery flotation technology, which

operations.” The solutions DRA offer

we’ve started installing for clients,” he

leverage the company’s relation-

confirms. “It uses the slurry current to

ships with key tech partners including

assist in the flotation of exceptionally

Tomra, Steinert, Eriez, Scantech,

coarse particles.”

Rados, Minesense and others.

Hilscher notes that mining has his-

Safety is a hot topic in the industry

torically been hesitant to innovate but

today. Given the tragic impact of

the adoption of ore sorting technolo-

recent dam failures in Brazil, Hilscher

gies into the mainstream has proved

is particularly interested in developing

the exception because the results

DRA’s services to provide alternative

are so dramatic. “It comes down to

tailings solutions. “We’ve done a lot

education,” he says. “We need to make

of work on dry stack tailings, which is

mining professionals aware of the

becoming a more popular option for

benefits from emerging technologies,

plants,” he says. “Even within dry stack w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

DRA GLOBAL

designs, there are optimisation opportunities. Instead of sending all the tailings sand to a filter plant, you may have a two-stage cyclone plant first.

The coarsest fraction is used for roads and earthworks, the fine fraction goes to the existing tailings pond (or co-disposal piles), and the mid-size material is filtered. This compromise reduces tailings pond sizes by two thirds while also removing most of the fines and clays that are so difficult to filter.

“Of course, sensor sorting, DMS, and 222

coarse particle flotation all have a tailings pond benefit because if you can take those worthless rocks and keep

“ BUILDING AN ECONOMIC MODEL FOR EVERY PROJECT TELLS US WHAT THE OPTIMUM OPERATING CONDITIONS ARE GOING TO BE” — Brent Hilscher, Director of Process, Western Canada, DRA Global

DECEMBER 2019

them coarse you are able to put them in a waste pile or road bed. That’s a direct reduction to your tailings pond size. The pond dam won’t need to be expanded as often, and that tends to make them much safer,” he adds.

Hilscher believes that in order to drive innovation, all metrics and operational concerns need to be addressed. It’s a weighty issue where he argues a balance must be struck.

“Metallurgists tend to be worried about recovery. Geologists are concerned

1984

Year founded

4,300 Number of employees

223

about ounces and pounds in the

achieve all of these goals simultaneously.

ground. Mining guys are focused on

We can drive growth, while making

tonnes, while CEOs are counting the

tailings ponds smaller, use less water,

dollars,” he muses. “I’ve found that

less energy, and produce less CO2.

the economic model does a great job

All of this simply by rejecting the

of bringing all those people together

worthless rock earlier in the process.

and helping them see the big picture.

It’s the future for sustainable mining

How do the ounces, tonnes, and

and something we’re really excited

recovery feed into making a deposit

about at DRA Global.”

as economical as possible? What can we do to reduce the environmental impact and also make the mine more profitable? With ore sorting, and other preconcentration techniques, we can w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

224

DECEMBER 2019

State-ofthe-art data centers in Canada WRITTEN BY

WILLIAM SMITH PRODUCED BY

TOM VENTURO

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ESTRUXTURE

Todd Coleman, eStruxture’s President and CEO, explains how the company is leveraging its knowledge of the Canadian market for data center excellence

C

anada’s eStruxture provides carrier and cloud neutral data center service across the country. The company is

experiencing rapid growth – this year alone, it 226

acquired its first facility in Calgary and its second in Vancouver, as well as upgrading existing facilities in Montreal and Vancouver.

Behind the company’s success is its keen attention to the specificities of the Canadian market, as Todd Coleman, President and CEO, explains: “What sets us apart from other data center providers is our 100% focus on the Canadian region, our ability to serve a multitude of markets and our willingness and ability to pre-deploy capacity to enable our customers to quickly deploy, even up to multiple mega-watts, in our state-of-the-art facilities.

We are Canadian owned and headquartered, and focus entirely on our region. Our mindset is not diluted with other out-of-region markets; we know how to get things done in the markets in which we operate, we believe in local customer touch at the DECEMBER 2019

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2017

Year founded

60

Number of employees

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228 market level and, as data sovereignty

“ Our goal has always been to become the leading data center provider in Canada” — Todd Coleman, President and CEO, eStruxture

DECEMBER 2019

and foreign ownership issues increase, we are very sensitive to the Canadian regulatory landscape and how that may impact our customers.” eStruxture’s portfolio of data centers may be growing, but expansion is always carefully and responsibly considered. “We have a unique set of requirements that we look for in target acquisitions particularly around the facilities, requiring Tier III, concurrently maintainable architecture, redundancy across the electrical and mechanical systems, access to incremental utility

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘ESTRUXTURE SHARES BIG NEWS AT TEX NYC 2019’ 229 power, close proximity to fiber networks

building, formerly a Montreal Gazette

and massively scalable power distribu-

printing facility. “We are confident that

tion within the facility up to 30kW per

this facility is the most scalable, state-

rack,” says Coleman. “The Calgary

of-the-art carrier-neutral facility in

acquisition checked all of our boxes

Quebec – and quite likely all of Canada,”

on the technical requirements and

says Coleman. “We considered every

included highly skilled employees and

detail of the design, architecture,

an expanded customer base. With this

equipment selection and operating

acquisition, eStruxture has positioned

model to enable us to serve our retail

itself as the largest carrier-neutral data

and wholesale customers in ways that

center provider in the market.”

are unique to the Canadian data center

The company is also constructing

industry. The facility was designed

brand new, state-of-the-art facilities in

around the fundamental tenet of high

Montreal and Vancouver. The former,

scalability, efficiency and sustain-

MTL-2, is situated in a repurposed

ability, which translates to 30MW of w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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immediately available, hydro-electric

the area. “We announced earlier this

power; utilisation of free-cooling up

year the development of a new, 55,000

to 8 months a year; a power utilisation

square feet, 10MW data center in

efficiency that is designed for sub-1.2

Burnaby, just on the edge of the City

at load; the latest lithium battery, UPS

of Vancouver. This facility is being

technology; scalable and flexible power

designed and architected around the

configurations that support up to 30kW

basis of design we have developed for

per cabinet and 2N redundancy; and

our MTL-2 facility with focus on scale,

pre-deployed and built-out capacity

flexibility, efficiency and sustainability.

that allows us to deploy a multi-mega-

We are confident that this state-of-

watt customer in less than 90 days.�

the-art facility will be a game changer

The latter, Vancouver facility is being

for the Vancouver market offering

developed to take advantage of the

substantial expansion capabilities for

underserved data center market in

our retail and wholesale customers

DECEMBER 2019

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E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Todd Coleman Todd Coleman is the President and CEO of eStruxture.

Todd brings more than 25 years’ experience in the IT, data center and telecommunications industries.

Most recently, he was the Chief Operating Officer and co-founder of Cologix. Todd has also held several senior positions at Level 3 Communications, a global telecommunications company, including Senior Vice President of Data Centers, Senior Vice President of Media Operations and President of Level 3 Communications Europe. Todd holds a juris doctorate and a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems.

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“What sets us apart from other data center providers is our 100% focus on the Canadian market” — Todd Coleman, President and CEO, eStruxture

DECEMBER 2019

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with dedicated fiber access to our VAN-1 facility as well as the downtown Vancouver carrier hotel.” eStruxture ensures that a focus on sustainability is built into its facilities from the earliest design stage. “From a design perspective, our engineers work to design and develop the most energy efficient data center possible,” says Coleman. “We are constantly challenging to drive to the highest efficiency possible. Additionally, the customer IT and server equipment produces a significant amount of

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“ Our engineers work to design and develop the most energy efficient data center possible” — Todd Coleman, President and CEO, eStruxture

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘ESTRUXTURE: PTC’19 EDGE CAPABLE DATA CENTERS’

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ESTRUXTURE

C O M PA N Y FACT S

• Constructing facilities in Montreal and Vancouver • In the last year, has acquired data centers in Calgary and Vancouver

heat that we strive to re-use through heat exchangers, either in our own building through uses like heating our office space and/or by providing 236

it to other adjacent buildings or businesses.” It’s also about making sure facilities run as efficiently as possible, with ramifications from both a business and sustainability perspective. “A traditional data center has total energy expenditure for cooling alone of 50% or more of critical IT load – sometimes significantly higher. In eStruxture’s case, we were able to achieve a yearly average power saving of about 70% through the use of air flow management, CFD analysis and air side economisers, allowing us to benefit from the lower ambient temperatures in Canada that enable us to achieve up to eight months per year of free cooling.”

DECEMBER 2019

eStruxture is confident in the path it is taking, while keeping an eye on upcoming industry trends such as edge computing. “With new technologies like AI and autonomous vehicles rapidly gaining traction, companies are beginning to need much more powerful and local compute, storage and networking resources than most current data center providers are used to deploying,” says Coleman. “As a result, interest in facilities located outside of traditional Tier 1 data center markets will continue to surge.

“Our goal has always been to become the leading data center provider in Canada, and we will continue to strive for that superlative,” he adds. “We will continue to expand, both into new markets and within our existing markets, and we will continue to be sure our customers have state-of-the-art technology at their fingertips all while receiving white glove customer service.”

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