Let’s rethink how the world works. Businesses and communities around the world are in various stages of reopening. As they do, changing how they work isn’t a consideration for tomorrow—it’s an imperative for today. Perhaps this isn’t a restart. It’s a rethink. A time to reimagine how business and society work. A time to reinforce the viability of our companies and the health of our workforces. A time to reconsider how we can solve today’s problems—and actually thrive in the years to come. At IBM, we believe that when people and technology work together, our world can emerge in a way that’s more resilient. Stronger. Smarter than ever before.
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elcome to the September edition of Digital Innovation Magazine. It’s been a great opportunity for us to explore some of the ground-breaking technology that has surfaced as a result of Covid-19. One of the most interesting applications has been the development of a touchless touchscreen, part of a research collaboration between the University of Cambridge and Jaguar Land Rover (p18). Could this be the future of interactive displays at supermarkets, airports, railway stations and cinemas? We were also excited to hear about Starship Technologies’ mini machine, which has been delivering take-away orders and grocery shopping around Milton Keynes (p52). It’s the first project of its kind for a UK town, with plans for the service to be rolled out further across the country… Watch this space! What’s more, we bring you an exclusive feature courtesy of Matt Shearer, Director of Product Innovation at Data Language (p6). Matt shares his five best practices for businesses driving to become digitally adaptable. Many thanks to Matt for imparting his well-earned wisdom! Plus, we have a PricewaterhouseCoopers report on connected and autonomous supply chain ecosystems (p28), a rundown of the all-important role of a company’s CISO (p62), along with an intriguing review of the relationship between blockchain and the IoT (p42). Happy reading!
Editor Anna McMahon
Director Danielle Harris
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d.harris@ithink.media
Senior Digital Designer Daniel May
Director Tom Barnes
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Cambridge Univers no-touch tou
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Matt Shearer, Director of Product Innovation at Data Language
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PricewaterhouseCoopers’ report on supply chain ecosystems
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Can blockchain and the IoT be combined to offer the best of both? 4
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GetYourG issue’s st
sity’s pioneering uchscreen
Guide is our September tart-up of the month
The role of a company’s Chief Information Security Officer
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Starship Technologies’ delivery robots – a first for a British town! 5
BUSINESS
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Matt Shearer, Director of Product Innovation at Data Language, explains what businesses need to do to become digitally adaptable.
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his has led to many more enterprises embarking on digital transformation journeys to increase efficiency, innovation capabilities and revenue. In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought into sharp relief the need for focusing on adaptability and rapid value delivery. A formal roadmap is generally understood to be the best way to achieve digitisation, as it creates focus and establishes priorities. Companies must bear in mind that it’s one thing to achieve 8
a digitisation roadmap and another to become successfully digitally adaptable. In the time that it takes to achieve your initial targets, the goalposts will have changed; technology will have evolved. As such, organisations need to become truly digitally adaptable to ensure they are ready for rapid change and can continue to create value. Here are five best practices drawn from my experience of working with large organisations to achieve digital adaptability: 9
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Situational awareness When valuable information is scattered throughout the businesses, it can be difficult to understand the bigger picture, particularly when it comes to reporting and metrics. This can result in a lack of transparency and confusion among different teams, increasing the risk of bad business decisions.
Organisations should start their digitisation journey by developing a living ‘map’ of the business (many use a ‘domain model’ for this purpose) that gives teams a clear way to communicate on important business elements, and how they relate to one another, independently of any technology. Use this domain model to determine the areas that are mission-critical to your business which have an influence over your unique selling points; these are the areas that should be the primary focus. Everything that is not mission-critical or market-differentiating should be bought or delivered by a partner, so as not to expend time and resources on services that can be purchased off-the10
MATT SHEARER (FLO IS
S PERSON TO CONTACT)
shelf. Essentially, don’t try and reinvent the wheel. Keep your focus on your core strengths and specialisms, as this is where you stand the best chance of success.
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Strategy
Having a clear strategy is essential to successful digitisation. This may seem obvious, but many digital transformation ‘strategies’ are overly complicated and involve a jumble of mixed ideas.
A good strategy must: 1) start with a clear diagnosis of the current business situation and digitisation challenges to be overcome; 2) outline a simple, guiding policy for all staff to follow so that every decision and every plan will address those challenges and take the business in the right direction; 3) involve 11
a list of coherent and prioritised actions aligned to that guiding policy, enabling the future business to adapt and innovate rapidly. Lack of a simple strategy will certainly lead to a wasted effort and the creation of disconnected platforms and information silos, which hinder a truly digitally adaptable capability.
Culture In order to become digitally adaptable, you will need to analyse your company culture 12
to ensure it is capable of supporting a rapid change in direction. Ultimately, business leaders may need to rethink the way they work, as the optimal result of digital transformation is the establishment of a company-wide agile operating model; a commitment to delivering value rapidly with small increments and iterating from there! Any transformation and innovation initiatives are unlikely to succeed if they do not have total commitment from the leadership team, and an open mind to taking risks and moving quickly. Senior leaders must communicate a vision of what needs to be achieved, and why, to demonstrate that
digital innovation is a priority. Without this, good intentions can quickly turn into missed opportunities, and worse, new and expensive technology can become a burden immediately, and make it harder still to innovate quickly.
Emerging technology Digitisation initiatives can lose traction quickly if the organisation’s knee-jerk reaction is simply to 13
Digital transformation is a worthy undertak journey to drive increased efficiency, innova and revenue can present challenges. It is cr elements such as a well-thought-out strate knowledge assets and a shared living ‘map' b these aspects, a digital transformation initi the required focus to add value across the b Matt Shearer, Director of Product Innovation at Data Language
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king, but the ation capabilities rucial to consider egy, portable because, without iative will not have business rapidly
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invest in the latest technology, which goes on to have minimal impact. This is not because of fundamental flaws in the technology, but because suitability to the business has been overlooked. When investing in emerging technologies, you should always ensure that it adds value to your business’ core offerings and strengths. As previously mentioned, having a living ‘map’ helps you to identify differentiators and where your expertise lies. Investing in technology that is market differentiating or missioncritical is far more likely to create a competitive advantage.
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Data backbone
One fundamentally important element that is so often neglected in favour of exciting technology is data portability, and the ability to move data between different applications. Without data
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MATT SHEARER (FLO IS
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portability, it is challenging to connect assets across company silos and quickly adapt to changing market conditions, such as Covid-19. As organisations store growing quantities of data and move data from one use case to another, they need to have their knowledge assets in portable, structured formats that can be repurposed quickly to help them adapt. This end-to-end portability of data and the ability to re-use, track, measure and optimise knowledge assets across silos and systems is, in my opinion, the single largest enabler of future innovation. Equipped with a welldesigned data backbone, an organisation can repurpose its knowledge assets rapidly to new use cases. Digital transformation is a worthy undertaking, but the journey to drive increased efficiency, innovation capabilities and revenue can present challenges. It is crucial to consider elements such as a well-thought-out strategy, portable knowledge assets and a shared living ‘map' because, without these aspects, a digital transformation initiative will not have the required focus to add value across the business rapidly. In addition, a digital roadmap should not be viewed as finite. Companies must move beyond that mindset to become truly digitally adaptable. 17
T E C H N O L O GY
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Could Cambridge University’s latest development have widespread applications in the post-Covid world?
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Researchers at Cambridge University have developed a ‘no-touch touchscreen’ that uses AI to predict a user’s intention before their hand reaches the display.
riginally designed for use in cars, the engineers who built the screen claim it could reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission, as well as helping fight against future pandemics. The patented technology, known as ‘predictive touch’, is part of a research collaboration between the University of Cambridge and Jaguar Land Rover. It uses a combination of AI and sensor technology to detect a user’s intended target on touchscreens and other interactive displays or control panels, selecting the correct item before they make contact. More and more passenger cars have touchscreen technology to control entertainment,
navigation or temperature control systems. However, users can often miss the correct item (for example, due to acceleration or vibrations from road conditions) and have to reselect, meaning that their attention is taken off the road, increasing the risk of an accident. In lab-based tests, driving simulators and road-based trials, the predictive touch technology was able to reduce interaction effort and time by up to 50 per cent due to its ability to predict the user’s intended target with high accuracy early in the pointing task. As lockdown restrictions around the world continue to ease, the technology could be retrofitted 21
to existing displays to prevent the spread of pathogens on touchscreens at supermarket self-service check-outs, checkin kiosks at airports, ATM machines and ticket terminals at railway stations and cinemas. Eliminating the need to actually touch a touchscreen or other interactive display could be extremely significant in the fight against virus transmissions. In addition, the technology could also be incorporated into smartphones, and could be useful while walking or jogging, allowing users to easily and accurately select items without the need for any physical contact. It even works in situations such as a moving car on a bumpy road, or if the user has a motor disability which causes a tremor or sudden hand
jerks, such as Parkinson’s disease or cerebral palsy. Professor Simon Godsill from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, who led the project, said, “Touchscreens and other interactive displays are something most people use multiple times per day, but they can be difficult to use while in motion, whether that’s driving a car or changing the music on your phone while you’re running. We also know that certain pathogens can be transmitted via surfaces, so this technology could help reduce the risk for that type of transmission.” The technology uses machine intelligence to determine the item the user intends to select on the screen early in the pointing task, speeding up the interaction. It
“This technology also offers us the reducing the cognitive load on driv time they can spend focused on th our Destination
Lee Skrypchuk, Human Machine Interface 22
e chance to make vehicles safer by vers and increasing the amount of he road ahead. This is a key part of n Zero journey�
e Technical Specialist at Jaguar Land Rover 23
“Our technology has numerous ad interaction techniques or conventio supports intuitive interactions and doesn’t require any learn
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uses a gesture tracker, including vision-based or RF-based sensors, which are increasingly common in consumer electronics; contextual information such as user profile, interface design, environmental conditions; and data available from other sensors, such as an eye-gaze tracker, to infer the user’s intent in real time. Lee Skrypchuk, Human Machine Interface Technical Specialist at Jaguar Land Rover, added, “This
technology also offers us the chance to make vehicles safer by reducing the cognitive load on drivers and increasing the amount of time they can spend focused on the road ahead. This is a key part of our Destination Zero journey.” It could also be used for displays that do not have a physical surface such as 2D or 3D projections or holograms. Additionally, it promotes inclusive design practices
dvantages over more basic mid-air onal gesture recognition, because it s with legacy interface designs ning on the part of the user”
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and offers additional design flexibilities, since the interface functionality can be seamlessly personalised for given users, and the display size or location is no longer constrained by the user ability to reach-touch. Dr Bashar Ahmad, who led the development of the technology and the underlying algorithms with Professor Godsill, said, “Our technology has numerous advantages over more basic mid-air interaction techniques or conventional gesture recognition, because it supports intuitive interactions with legacy interface designs and doesn’t require any learning on the part of the
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user. It fundamentally relies on the system to predict what the user intends and can be incorporated into both new and existing touchscreens and other interactive display technologies.� This software-based solution for contactless interactions has reached high technology readiness levels and can be seamlessly integrated into existing touchscreens and interactive displays, so long as the correct sensory data is available to support the machine learning algorithm. For further information visit www.cam.ac.uk
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S U P P LY C H A I N
SMART
STRATEGIES
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A PricewaterhouseCoopers report on connected and autonomous supply chain ecosystems highlights the approach of the so-called ‘digital champions’.
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CUSTOMER BEHAVIOURS AND EXPECTATIONS ARE CHANGING DRAMATICALLY, BUYING PRODUCTS ACROSS MULTIPLE CHANNELS, INCREASINGLY DEMANDING PRODUCT PERSONALISATION AND EXPECTING TRANSPARENCY AROUND ORDER STATUS AND DELIVERY, WHICH CHALLENGES THE ESTABLISHED SUPPLY CHAIN OPERATIONS. upply chains are also increasingly facing major disruptions such as extreme weather conditions, global health crises (like the coronavirus outbreak) and supply shortages. These changes are taking place against the backdrop of emerging digital technologies, ushering in new real-time data gathering, smart analysis and algorithms to better simulate
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and predict different supply chain scenarios and foster data-based decision-making. To succeed in this digital marketplace, companies need to transform their supply chains, becoming more autonomous and more integrated with multiple value chain partners. In turn, companies can become more customer-centric and flexible whilst maintaining cost efficiencies.
The research found that the companies that stood out as supply chain leaders have already implemented a wide range of advanced technologies, developed sophisticated digital capabilities and are upskilling their employees to achieve digital transformation 31
Digital champi ahead of the pa comes to makin of end-to-end
To take a closer look at the supply chain infrastructure, PricewaterhouseCoopers conducted a survey into how digital champions are transforming linear supply chains into connected and autonomous supply chain operations. They surveyed more than 1,600 supply chain executives and decisionmakers in 33 countries across the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific between October and November last year. Questions were asked about their key supply chain capabilities, supporting technologies, organisational structures and challenges, as well as the benefits they are seeing from their investments into
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ions are far pack when it ng the most planning
the supply chain. In addition, the survey included an in-depth report on six companies whose supply chains are leading the way by driving innovation and excellence in the supply chain. The research found that the companies that stood out as supply chain leaders have already implemented a wide range of advanced technologies, developed sophisticated digital capabilities and are upskilling their employees to achieve digital transformation. Representing around 9 per cent of the sample group, what are these digital champions doing differently to boost their results and promote success? According to the report:
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Having access to the right data is the first step to accelerating supply chain improvements, and many companies are already making use of a wide variety of different types of data to support their supply chain decisions, particularly financial data
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80% of digital champions describe their supply chain focus as external integration or even end-to-end orchestration, compared to just 36 per cent of all companies Tomorrow’s supply chains will be connected and selforchestrated ecosystems, connecting the supply chain with other functions across the enterprise, such as R&D, finance, sales and customer service. The links will run both internally and externally, working closely with suppliers on the one hand and with logistics service providers and customers on the other hand, to optimise all aspects of supply chain performance.
55% of digital champions consider supply chain transparency as a top priority This kind of visibility across the entire supply chain, from materials to customers and back and all the steps in between, involves the power of AI solutions, detecting relevant patterns in the vast amount of data flowing from the supply chain, as well as managing supply chain risks. This is the first step on the way to an autonomous supply chain.
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82% of digital champions have implemented smart logistics, putting it at the top of their agenda Smart logistics is having a very large positive impact on the businesses of digital champions, given that respondents reported that transportation management and warehousing solutions together contribute to over half of the total cost savings gained from advanced supply chain capabilities. This therefore presents a major opportunity for many companies to drive efficiency.
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72% of digital champions are already using endto-end planning Although many companies recognise the value of an endto-end integrated planning approach, many still have a long way to go to create one. Digital champions are far ahead of the pack when it comes to making the most of endto-end planning, having gone beyond the pilot stage and having partly or fully implemented it, and those efforts are paying off, with improved volume flexibility, for example.
DIGITAL CHAMPIONS appreciate the importance of end-to-end planning, smart logistics, transparency and data-driven decisions 37
70% of digital champions use financial data to make supply chain decisions Having access to the right data is the first step to accelerating supply chain improvements, and many companies are already making use of a wide variety of different types of data to support their supply chain decisions, particularly financial data. This data can then be further enhanced by applying AI methods such as machine learning.
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By achieving all of the above, the digital champions enjoy accelerated supply chain improvements, which are soon to become the new norm for those companies following in their footsteps. They appreciate the importance of end-toend planning, smart logistics, transparency and data-driven decisions, but they now need to put this into practice in order to see the kind of results that the supply chain leaders have reported. To view the full survey, visit www.pwc.co.uk
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B L O C KC H A I N
Both technologies have promised to revolutionise the way we live, but could blockchain bring further advantages to the Internet of Things?
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BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY AND THE IOT ARE EXPECTED TO MAKE THE WORLD MORE CONVENIENT, SAFER AND MORE DECENTRALISED. he IoT has been rolled out to both businesses and consumers, with smart home devices like internet-connected thermostats and lights great examples of this. Meanwhile, businesses regularly use IoT devices to monitor the efficiency of processes in production and logistics. The most prevalent example of blockchain technology is in cryptocurrencies. These digital alternatives to traditional currencies take some of the qualities of gold and combine them with a decentralised mechanism for governing and policing operations. With no central bank, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethererum and Litecoin have a public ledger listed on the ‘blockchain’. Instead, computers (or ‘nodes’) 44
“THE MOST PREVALENT EX TECHNOLOGY IS IN C THESE DIGITAL ALTERNA CURRENCIES TAKE SO OF GOLD AND COM DECENTRALISED MECHA AND POLICING
XAMPLE OF BLOCKCHAIN CRYPTOCURRENCIES. ATIVES TO TRADITIONAL OME OF THE QUALITIES MBINE THEM WITH A ANISM FOR GOVERNING G OPERATIONS”
operating around the world process and verify transactions. These cryptocurrencies can be used in a small but growing number of places for day-today commerce. For example, it’s now possible to buy your morning caffeine fix from Starbucks or new stationery and furniture from office superstores. And enthusiasm for crypto is beginning to gather pace, with many blogs and crypto news sites reporting on the latest developments. But, can these two revolutionary technologies be combined to extract the benefits from both at the same time? Market research seems to think so. It has forecasted the two could be worth $254billion by 2026.
SECURITY IMPROVEMENTS
The IoT has been held back by the inherent security issues that come with having many devices connected to a network. They are attractive targets for computer criminals who want to launch Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, since they can launch many simultaneous attacks when infiltrating a single network. 45
IoT devices have (traditionally at least) been harder to secure than computers and other devices. Smart refrigerators, Wi-Fi routers and connected thermostats are all common targets for this kind of attack, particularly when they are left with their default password. Blockchain technology can be used to tackle this security challenge. Firstly, the distributed ledger is immutable, as in tamperproof, meaning trust between each device doesn’t need to be established in the same way. Data leaks can also be more easily identified since they are recorded permanently in the ledger. Additionally, blockchain provides better encryption and an additional layer of security, making it harder for hackers to infiltrate a network.
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“IN TANDEM WITH IM DECENTRALISED PROCESSING ON TH TO REDUC
MPROVED SPEEDS, D BLOCKCHAIN HE IOT COULD HELP CE COSTS�
SCALABILITY
As networks of IoT devices grow, it can be difficult to authenticate and authorise each device on a centralised network due to the high levels of resources required. Traditionally, this would mean you need huge numbers of powerful services to meet the demands. With blockchain technology, these issues can be addressed by allowing all the devices on the network to undertake authentication. This means other IoT devices could perform some of this role, spreading the workload over the entire network and removing the need for huge gateway devices.
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“USING A BLOCKCHAIN WOULD DISTRIBUTE BOTH AUTHORISATION AND AUTHENTICATION OVER AN ENTIRE NETWORK, THUS REMOVING THE SINGLE POINT OF FAILURE� SPEED
A decentralised network spread out across many IoT devices would also allow blockchain systems to be quickened up. Blockchain technology, particularly cryptocurrencies, are currently held back by the slow speed at which they process transactions. By utilising the IoT, this could be addressed by adding significantly more decentralised processing power to the network.
COSTS
In tandem with improved speeds, decentralised blockchain processing on the IoT could help to reduce costs. Large numbercrunching computers can be
prohibitively expensive but could be much cheaper when spread out over many smaller devices.
RELIABILITY
Current IoT networks often have a central gateway with which all the devices communicate. This creates a single point of failure vulnerability that could be attacked, resulting in the entire network being taken down. While you can use backup and redundancy limits to prevent or limit downtime, they can also be expensive. Using a blockchain would distribute both authorisation and authentication over an entire network, thus removing the single point of failure.
Source: IoT Business News
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ROBOTICS
MINI MACHINES
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From dispatching food to ferrying medicines, delivery robots have become a vital service to people staying at home during lockdown.
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TWO YEARS AGO, A STARTUP CALLED STARSHIP TECHNOLOGIES DEPLOYED A FLEET OF ROLLING DELIVERY ROBOTS IN MILTON KEYNES IN THE UK, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CO-OP AND TESCO SUPERMARKETS.
t the height of the Sam Crooks, Mayor of Milton pandemic earlier this Keynes, said, “I’ve got a fairly year, Starship became young demographic in my the first robot delivery service to ward, and they love it. There operate in a British town centre was obviously a burst of use with the rollout of its service at the beginning, because of across Milton Keynes. the novelty, but already it’s just a part of people’s routines. The squat six-wheeled robots Something like the robot shuttle groceries and dinner deliveries are absolutely ideal, orders to homes and offices because people can order and around the town. Locals can obtain something without going download the app and make out.” purchases such as cooked food and grocery shopping, which As the company plans to then gets loaded into the robots expand further across the and delivered to them without UK, Andy Curtis, the Head of any human contact. UK Operations at Starship,
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said, “We’ve seen huge surges in demand since we started operating in Milton Keynes two years ago. We’re excited that both residents and workers can now enjoy this low cost and convenient benefit in the centre of Milton Keynes, and we hope that it will make the town an even more attractive place to work in the future.” The sudden usefulness of the robots to people staying in their homes is a tantalising hint of what the machines might one day accomplish – at least
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under ideal conditions. Milton Keynes, with a population of 270,000 and a vast network of bicycle paths, is perfectly suited to rolling robots. Demand has been so high that some residents have spent days trying to schedule a delivery. But there are still some technical and logistical hurdles that delivery machines currently face. The robots in Milton Keynes, for example, can carry no more than two bags of groceries, so residents are unable to do a big supermarket shop.
Elliot Katz, who runs Phantom Auto, a start-up that helps companies remotely control autonomous vehicles when they encounter situations they cannot navigate on their own, says that a pandemic may add to demand but does not change what you can deploy. According to Elliot, “There is a limit to what a delivery bot can bring to a human. But you have to start somewhere.” Founded in 2014 and backed by more than £63million, Starship Technologies had previously deployed most of its robots on
college campuses. Equipped with cameras, radar and other sensors, they navigate by matching their surroundings to digital maps built by the company in each location. The company chose Milton Keynes for a wider deployment in part because the robots can navigate it with relative ease. Built after the Second World War, the city was carefully planned, with most streets laid out in a grid, with bicycle and pedestrian paths, called ‘redways’, running beside them.
“EQUIPPED WITH CAMERAS, RADAR AND OTHER SENSORS, THEY NAVIGATE BY MATCHING THEIR SURROUNDINGS TO DIGITAL MAPS BUILT BY THE COMPANY IN EACH LOCATION” 57
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“OUR FLEETS ARE DRIVING NONSTOP, 14 HOURS A DAY” Lex Bayer, Starship’s Chief Executive
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When the Starship robots first arrived in Milton Keynes, some residents thought they were a novelty. Then, in early April, many received letters from the NHS advising them not to leave their homes due to existing health conditions that made them particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus. In the weeks that followed, the robots provided a much-needed connection to the outside world.
forced to curtail its testing. Bigger companies like Amazon have also got involved. The retail giant has been trialling its Scout robots, but not without controversy. However, delivery robots and flying drones do require human help. Starship and similar companies must monitor the progress of each robot from afar, and if anything goes wrong, remote operators take over. With social distancing, that has become more difficult. Remote operators who once worked in call centres have moved into their homes. Katz’s company, Phantom Auto, is now helping companies make the transition.
Residents typically pay £1 for each delivery, but in Milton Keynes, Starship raised the price to as much as £2 during the busiest times in an effort to spread demand across the day. The robots deliver groceries to doctors, nurses and other For Milton Keynes, the robot employees of the NHS for free. delivery service has gone from a convenience to a vital service. Starship is one of a number of Starship’s Chief Executive, Lex start-ups hoping that lightweight, Bayer, added, “Our fleets are pedestrian-friendly vehicles might driving nonstop, 14 hours a day.” be the solution to normalising unmanned vehicles. Wing, a As Starship expands its service, subsidiary of Google’s parent doubling its fleet and teaming up company, Alphabet, has been with several new grocery stores, it offering drone deliveries of grocery will be interesting to see whether shopping, but they cannot yet robots will soon become a familiar deliver prescription medicines, sight on our paths and cycle lanes. and Nuro has long promised larger robots that can drive on For further information on public roads, but it has not yet Starship Technologies, visit deployed them. Like most selfwww.starship.xyz driving car companies, it has been 60
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PROFILE
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We explore the all-important role of a company’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). 63
THE ROLE A CISO is the executive-level manager responsible for an organisation’s information and data security, directing and managing strategy, operations and the budget for the protection of the enterprise information assets. The title is often
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used interchangeably with CSO and VP of security, as well as CIO (although some companies have a separate CIO position), Information Systems Security Manager, Corporate Security Executive and Information Security Director.
Responsibilities The scope of a CISO’s responsibilities will encompass communications, applications and infrastructure including the policies and procedures that apply. As the guardians of information security, CISOs understand how the cybersecurity threat landscape is evolving and how that could affect the security risks facing
their particular organisation. Compliance is a key element of the role, as is understanding risk management. Stephen Katz, who pioneered the CISO role at Citigroup in the 1990s, outlined the areas of responsibility for CISOs in an interview with MSNBC. He breaks them down into the following categories:
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Security operations: real-time analysis of immediate threats, and triage when something goes wrong Cyber risk and cyber intelligence: keeping abreast of developing security threats, and helping the board understand potential security problems that might arise from acquisitions or other big business moves Data loss and fraud prevention: making sure internal staff don’t misuse or steal data Security architecture: planning, buying, and rolling out security hardware and software, and making sure IT and network infrastructure is designed with best security practices in mind Identity and access management: ensuring that only authorised people have access to restricted data and systems Program management: keeping ahead of security needs by implementing programs or projects that mitigate risks – regular system patches, for instance Investigations and forensics: determining what went wrong in a breach, dealing with those responsible if they're internal, and planning to avoid repeats of the same crisis Governance: making sure all of the above initiatives run smoothly and get the funding they need, and that corporate leadership understands their significance
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of IT leaders have increased spending on cybersecurity
Importance How important is the role of CISO? Ensuring that IT systems comply with security and regulatory requirements is the top priority for tech chiefs, according to Grant Thornton LLP
and the Technology Business Management Council. They report as many as 83 per cent of IT leaders have increased spending on cybersecurity in the past year or so.
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Key Skills There are a number of key qualities that successful CISOs demonstrate such as leadership skills and the ability to manage, motivate and drive enterprise-wide information security teams and programmes, and to be a leader and influencer within the executive tier of the business. Strategic delivery and execution skills are also important, carefully defining short and longterm organisation-wide strategies and roadmaps for security that overlap and support the business
strategy. In addition, a good sense of humour can be an important attribute of a successful CISO. In a high-pressure job, where the next crisis could unfurl at any moment, an ability to communicate the risks and threats across the business in “an approachable manner can really help. As the job can be very demanding and stressful, it’s crucial that CISOs can find a way to manage the pressure and remain calm in challenging situations.
“As the job can be very demanding and stressful, it’s crucial that CISOs can find a way to manage the pressure and remain calm in challenging situations”
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Richard Armour, former global CISO at General Motors and now cybersecurity advisor at Nozomi Networks, lists a number of key characteristics he considers successful CISOs possess:
• Effective and inspirational leadership style • Strong communication skills with a variety of audiences • Ability to remain calm under pressure • Collaborative and results-driven • Extremely strong sense of urgency • Skilled multi-tasker • Intense curiosity about technology and the ever-changing cyber-threat landscape • Strong technology and security knowledge • Strong risk management instincts • Strong business acumen
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The Future One thing's for certain, the critical role of data security is unlikely to diminish anytime soon, and the way that organisations manage and use customer data will become just as important as product and service quality when it comes to attracting customers in the future. Maintaining high levels of data security means CISOs are going to spend a lot more time interacting with the rest of the business. Consultant KPMG says the CISO of the future will be an outwardlooking role, making decisions that tie not just into technical controls and security processes, but which also consider ethics, independence, consumer trust, and even national resilience and economic security. Rana Bhattacharya, CTO at Atom Bank, is another IT leader
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who believes the future of IT security is outwardlooking. Like Harris, he feels line-of-business units must take responsibility for data integrity, especially given their ever-increasing use of cloudbased services. He says, “I'd hope more people generally are hands-on, because the changes in the whole security landscape in terms of threats to the capabilities you have to data in places like the cloud are always ever-changing. You have to be nimble and fleet-offoot today to grow the level of protection that you have.� CISOs certainly have a real opportunity to add value to their organisations, and with the constantly changing threat landscape, it’s an exciting but pressured role that will in itself continue to evolve.
“Maintaining high levels of data security means CISOs are going to spend a lot more time interacting with the rest of the business�
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IN THE SP OTLIGHT
START-UP OF THE MONTH GetYourGuide is on a mission to transform the way the world travels. nline travel agency and marketplace for tour guides and excursions, GetYourGuide sells activities and tickets to many tourist attractions around the world. It was an idea that was conceived in 2007 by co-founders Johannes Reck and Tao Tao when travelling to Beijing for a student conference. They found
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navigating a foreign city as tourists very difficult, so drawing on that experience, a business plan was developed for a peer-to-peer internet platform that connected tourists with amateur guides, later expanded into an internet booking platform. Enabling people to make the most of the places they visit so anyone can create their dream holiday, GetYourGuide acts as a mediator between customers and providers. The service is free for customers, but the provider of the tour has to pay GetYourGuide a percentage of its revenue. An online customer review system enables potential customers to assess the quality of tour providers. To be labelled a GetYourGuide tour, an operator must agree to follow its best practices regarding meeting points, check-in processes, starting times, duration
“Enabling people to make the most of the places they visit so anyone can create their dream holiday, GetYourGuide acts as a mediator between customers and providers� supported languages to its global and other factors. In return, the retailer will send more customers the inventory. These additions brought the total number of languages on operator's way. GetYourGuide to 18. The app pulls in information Earlier this year, GetYourGuide on more than 23,000 tours and raised a $484million investment activities from over 2,200 global from SoftBank Group. This infusion destinations, detecting a user's of capital brought its valuation location and making relevant above the $1billion mark, making it a suggestions based on their unicorn. preferences. With headquarters in Berlin and engineering offices in Zurich, 14 additional sales offices are As the company has grown, it has made two acquisitions, Gidsy and also maintained in Sydney, Vienna, Paris, Hong Kong, Rome, Dubai, San iGottaGuide, as well as establishing ancillary revenue partnerships Francisco, New York City, Bangkok, Cape Town, Barcelona, London, Rio with hundreds of airlines, hotels, transportation networks and online de Janeiro and Tokyo. publishers, through which those businesses' customers can directly In November 2017, GetYourGuide access its global inventory of tours announced a $75million Series and activities. D funding round to help support expansion in Asia and the For further information on Americas, and soon after, added GetYourGuide, visit traditional Chinese, Japanese, www.getyourguide.com Russian and Mexican Spanish as 73
SEPTEMBER 22 – 24, 2020
Global Women Supply Chain Leaders Awards REGISTER NOW Ceremony 2020 Join us to celebrate Women Leadership in Supply Chain! GWSCL 2020 is the first global event to shine the spotlight on the dedication, passion and incredible success stories of women in supply chain – cross-domain and from around the world. Join us for a 3-day mega event which will bring together industry’s brightest minds to share idea-focused insights on a wide range of subjects, provoking conversations that matter. The first two days from September 22 - 23 will be packed with panel discussions with live Q&A, keynote speeches and loads of networking opportunities. This will finally culminate in the virtual awards ceremony on September 24 @ 6 PM.
Our Jury
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Why Attend? • 3 days of roundtables, talks
Lebogang Letsoalo
Heather Sheehan
Sandrine Annebicque
Founder, African Women in Supply Chain Association
Executive Director, AWESOME
Deputy Director of Transformation & Cofounder, WoMen @ Eramet
Chamariq Jamal
Francisco García Fornaro
Frederic Gomer
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Senior Vice President Global Supply CHAIN - APAC, Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
Supply Chain Group Director L’Oreal
Partner B2G Consulting
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and networking opportunities
• Participation and speeches
from C-suite decision-makers
• Jury comprising of global
business leaders from Estee Lauder, Eramet, L’Oreal and leading industry associations. Expected attendance of 10,000 participants Opportunity to promote diversity and inclusion on a global scale
For sponsorship and speaking opportunities, please contact Jay Kostos at jay.kostos@b2g-consulting.com