Digital Innovation Magazine - May 2021

The top platforms to have revolutionised the world of work

Damien Montessuit Senior Vice President, Global Sales at MediaKind

discusses the next evolution in the era of video content delivery

e x c l u s i v e

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Welcome to the May edition of Digital Innovation Magazine.

We have some fantastic interviews lined up for you this issue. First up is Damien Montessuit, Senior Vice President, Global Sales, at MediaKind (p6). It was a pleasure to chat to Damien about the new era of digital streaming, delivering video content to millions of users around the world. Plus, Luiz Boucas, Global Logistics Director at Kraft Heinz, takes us through his vision for supply chain efficiency on page 44, while business growth expert and Founder of The Table Partnership, Julian Burnett, shares his invaluable business experience over on page 82.

Thank you to all three for their contributions.

As we adapt to our ‘new normal’ post-Covid, we explore the leading applications that have made the shift to remote working possible (p68), as well as the advanced technology trends transforming today’s supply chain (p94). What’s more, we bring you the latest news in the field of autonomous transport, with driverless trucks gathering pace (p32), along with a report on the newfound partnership between StrongPoint and Halodi Robotics (p60).

The top platform have rev s to olution world of ised the work

Damien Montessu it Senior Vic Global Sa e President, les

at Media discusses Kind the nex the era of video t evolution in content delivery e x c l u s i v e

Danielle Harris Director d.harris@ithink.media

Tom Barnes Director t.barnes@ithink.media

Daniel May Senior Digital Designer design@ithink.media

Last but not least, do check out this issue’s start-up of the month (p106). We are very pleased to include next generation digital conversation platform, Quiq – a company that is breaking new ground in customer engagement.

As always, we hope you enjoy the issue!

+44 (0) 203 890 1189 enquiries@digitalinnovationeu.com

Anna McMahon Editor editorial@ithink.media

All rights reserved. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of material published in Digital Innovation Magazine. However, the company cannot accept responsibility for the claims made by advertisers or contributors, or inaccurate material supplied by advertisers.

Digital Innovation is a product of iThink Media Ltd. Company Registration Number: 10933897.

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Talking streaming with MediaKind’s Damien Montessuit

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Meet Julian Burnett, Founder of The Table Partnership

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The top platforms to have revolutionised remote working

Luiz Boucas, Global Logistics Director at Kraft Heinz, on supply chain efficiency

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Mobile grocery lockers, StrongPoint, is partnering with Halodi Robotics

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Transforming supply chain cost centres into valuedriving networks 5

C OV E R STO RY

Damien Montessuit, Senior Vice President, Global Sales, at MediaKind, introduces us to the next evolution in the era of video content delivery. It’s a time where streaming will enable us to watch what we want, when we want, and anywhere we want it – but in a way we have never seen before.

Written by Anna McMahon • Produced by Danielle Harris 6

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The MediaKind brand name may be one you’re unfamiliar with. But the chances are, you’ve probably watched video content that has utilised some of its products and services.

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ediaKind’s software components and solutions enable its customers to create, manage and distribute media content in all its

various formats. Put succinctly, MediaKind’s technology spans from ‘glass-to-glass’. It enables the process of acquiring content from the moment video is recorded through the camera’s glass lens, all the way through to the delivery on the glass of a screen on a mobile device or a big television.

MediaKind is the successful spinoff of the former video wing of

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the global telecommunications firm, Ericsson. Although the MediaKind brand itself is less than three years old, it boasts a rich heritage that spans almost three decades of pioneering digital video evolution.

Ericsson spent a decade building an extensive media portfolio, acquiring some of the best media technology 10

companies in the industry. It was a period when the rise of digital consumption was experiencing exponential growth.

In 2018, Ericsson decided to focus solely on its core business – building mobile networks. It spun off its media business unit, creating the

“Since the start of the pandemic, our customers, particularly those involved in live video content, have had to adapt to a multitude of challenges on a scale that we’ve previously never seen” all media processing and delivery requirements, including hardware and software. It includes Emmy award-winning video compression solutions for contribution and directto-consumer (DTC) video service distribution; advertising and content personalisation solutions; highefficiency cloud DVR; and TV and video delivery platforms.

MediaKind entity. Today, MediaKind is an established joint venture, majority-owned by the New Yorkbased One Equity Partners (51 per cent), with Ericsson retaining 49 per cent of the business.

MediaKind’s end-to-end portfolio of media solutions is built to address

2021: The next chapter in the MediaKind tale So, what happens next in the MediaKind story? It’s here that Damien Montessuit, Senior Vice President, Global Sales at MediaKind, picks up the MediaKind narrative.

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“When it comes to our channel partners, we have strong relationships with Lutech in Italy and MoMe in Spain” 12

Damien has spent 25 years in the technology space, working for BT Global Services and Microsoft, before joining Ericsson in 2013.

Having been part of MediaKind’s executive leadership team for the past two and a half years, he plays an instrumental role in helping his organisation formulate and evolve its go-to-market strategy.

“We live for innovation at MediaKind; it motivates and drives us,” Damien explains. “Since the start of the pandemic, our customers, particularly those

Do you want to shape the next entertainment experience ?

Continuous innovation and revenue generation Improve Customer Engagement & Monetization Optimize Operations and reduce Management cost

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Solutions for low latency contribution of Audio / Video signals E2E solutions for the broadcasting of Audio / Video services on Terrestrial (DVB-T) and Satellite (DVB-S) networks Advanced solutions (i.e. cloud-based) for the treatment and distribution of Over The Top (OTT) Audio / Video services Solutions for IP migration of legacy baseband systems (SDItoIP)

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Big & Fast Data, Data Warehouse, Business Intelligence & Analytics Robotic Process Automation and Intelligent Automation solutions CRM, Marketing Automation and Contact Center solutions Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques applied to text, audio and video contents

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involved in live video content, have had to adapt to a multitude of challenges on a scale that we’ve previously never seen. 2020 saw empty sports stadiums, empty classrooms, empty theatres – even regular social interactions disappeared from our lives.

“But it’s also clear the constraints of the pandemic have acted as a catalyst for innovation and creativity. We’ve seen broadcasters and operators embrace the rapid, global demand for streamed content, and it has had a unifying effect.

It has enabled people all over the world to stay connected, continue to receive access to education and be entertained.”

For most businesses worldwide, there was no blueprint, let alone a detailed plan for business continuity and employee safety, in the event of a global pandemic. But with its foundations and technology credentials already well laid in the video space, MediaKind was well equipped to help its employees transition to a new working from home environment with relative ease.

Damien continues: “For all of us, it has meant changing the way live video content is prepared, captured and distributed, and 15

“We live in a cloud-fi world, but you can ad that list – ‘streamin impact of this stream universally across a theatres, cinema – yo

Damien Montessuit, Senior Vice Pres

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irst and mobile-first dd another term to ng-first.’ We see the ming-first trend all industries. Gaming, ou name it!”

sident, Global Sales, at MediaKind

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using a different set of workflows.

All of these global changes have driven our decision to change the emphasis of our primary strategy, with a far greater focus around organising our teams to concentrate on specific industry verticals rather than regions. Our strategy is now focused around Multichannel Video Programme Distributors (MVPDs) and operators, broadcasters and live event organisers, spanning sports, conferences and festivals.

“By providing a full suite of components and solutions across these various segments, we can be more accountable, reliable and offer greater stability to our customers and partners while also strengthening our ability to balance our revenues and continue to be financially secure. Our strategy has already enabled some inspiring results, including in our European operator segment, which grew by six per cent over the past 12 months.”

The transformation of the media technology marketplace One of the most significant shifts in the media sector has been the transition towards software-centric and cloud-based ecosystems. This shift has helped to facilitate the number of viewers who are now able to watch across an array of different services and delivery mechanisms, 18

including traditional broadcast (terrestrial, satellite and cable), linear, over-the-top (OTT) via the internet or video-on-demand (VOD).

It has also given rise to the terms ‘cloud-first’ and ‘mobile-first’, which is now where much of the media ecosystem operates.

Operators in this space have evolved with these cloud-first and mobile-first environments, achieving this by either building their own cloud services or partnering with larger cloud providers.

Damien adds: “We live in a cloud-first and mobile-first world, but you can add another term to that list – ‘streamingfirst’. We see the impact of this streaming-first trend universally across all industries. Gaming, theatres, cinema - you name it! The streaming-first world is changing our behaviours as consumers and transforming how we connect with one another, whether it’s socially, professionally or through education.

“The primary benefit of the streaming-first approach lies in scale and reach. You can reach a diverse and multiplatform audience. Through cloud-based technology, we

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“Futurion provides expertise on end-to-end deployments of innovative media solutions which support the entertainment business needs of MediaKind’s customers.

Telestream combines MediaKind’s award-winning media delivery products with the power of its market-leading monitoring solution to enable high-quality OTT delivery” can drive the impact of streaming to deliver high-quality viewing experiences with reduced time-tomarket requirements and optimal operational efficiency.

“As technology evolves and traditional value chains shorten, so too will the relationships between broadcasters, content owners and consumers. DTC propositions have enabled operators to 20

become orchestrators of popular entertainment services, and this has opened up two-way, transparent dialogues between brands and consumers. In the future, I believe the vast majority of service providers will rely on operators for coverage and reach.”

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Thanks to the rapid migration towards IP environments, a few clues are emerging. For Damien, faster content delivery, with greater portability, flexibility and reliable connectivity all point to rapid acceleration and mainstream success for the world of gaming. During spring 2020, several high-profile eSports events took centre stage at a time when physical sporting events couldn’t take place.

Several leading broadcasters were able to attract younger audiences, using various streaming platforms when VOD services saw a significant uplift worldwide.

“The experience we have at home today is not down to one particular piece of tech or one component, but a combination of cloud, network, content, distribution and algorithms,” says Damien. “This combination enables immersive streaming experiences that viewers can access anywhere in the world.

If you think about the success of Instagram, it is the creative crossing of the phone used as a digital photo device, the network, the technology within the phone, and the social need.

“The blend of different components has revolutionised social networking. Gaming is close to achieving this creative 22

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“We have used Microsoft’s Azure cloud in conjunction with our MediaFirst TV platform service to great effect by building our platforms on its cloud technologies” 24

crossing of experiences. The next step for this sector will be to bring a higher level of interactivity and personalisation to these audiences, enabling exciting crossovers between real and virtual events.”

Why MediaKind values the importance of partnerships The change in traditional media workflows has heightened the need for greater collaboration and

New ways to experience the worlds of sports, music, and entertainment

Creativity in the Digital Age

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partnerships. Collaborations can pool diverse resources and expertise, which can help lay the foundations for robust innovations that can bridge the gap between legacy and emerging technologies and new sources of revenue.

Through a diverse network of partnerships, from global companies to more local partners, each player can bring its own unique set of benefits.

Damien says: “Today’s media industry is very fragmented, and we continually look to find new ways to build familiarity and understanding with our partners, as well as to find collective ways of working and areas where we can knowledge-share. All our partners bring something different to the company, and that’s why we love working alongside various businesses.

“In some instances, we look for compatible companies who can integrate our solutions within their customers’ ecosystems. Our close partnership with Microsoft is a testament to that; it’s a key player in the industry that we are proud to have built a strong relationship with. We have used Microsoft’s Azure cloud in conjunction with our MediaFirst TV platform service to great effect by building our platforms on its cloud technologies.

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“Our strategy is now fo Multichannel Video Pro (MVPDS) and operators, live event organisers, s conferences and festiv

ocused around ogramme Distributors , broadcasters and spanning sports, vals”

“Indeed, some of our biggest successes over the past 12 months have been driven by our partnership with Microsoft. Returning to the start of the pandemic, it was clear that inperson events would not be possible for many months. With Microsoft, we created a blueprint that enabled a physical independent film festival to take place as a fully virtual event 27

“We work with iWedia to enhance the quality and consistency of the content we deliver across a wide variety of platforms and devices through our MediaFirst TV Platform”

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last May. Due to the success of this project, we were then able to consolidate our scalable, cloud-optimised video platform to power the first fully digital Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January this year, where we streamed live and on-demand video content concurrently to millions of virtual attendees around the world. This use case is a real example of the value and capability of successful partnerships. We can now use this blueprint continually, refine it and repeat it for our prospective customers worldwide.”

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“As we move further into this streamingfirst world, operators have a ripe opportunity to capitalise on their data and compete in the land of giants, dominated by Google, Facebook and Amazon”

Demonstrating the power of close collaboration Another example of MediaKind’s close associations can be seen through its relationships with Futurion and Telestream. Futurion provides expertise on end-to-end deployments of innovative media solutions which support the 30

entertainment business needs of MediaKind’s customers. Telestream combines MediaKind’s awardwinning media delivery products with the power of its market-leading monitoring solution to enable highquality OTT delivery.

Damien says: “We are also working alongside iWedia, a renowned provider of software components

“When it comes to our channel partners, we have strong relationships with Lutech in Italy and MoMe in Spain. Our local partners are knowledgeable, familiar with our portfolio of solutions, and can position themselves not only as distributors but as advisors to our customers.

“If there is one area where I feel partnerships can have an even greater impact in the future, it’s the advertising space. As we move further into this streamingfirst world, operators have a ripe opportunity to capitalise on their data and compete in the land of giants, dominated by Google, Facebook and Amazon.

and solutions for TV devices, to combine our respective technologies so that we can enhance the living room TV experience via the set-top-box.

We work with iWedia to enhance the quality and consistency of the content we deliver across a wide variety of platforms and devices through our MediaFirst TV Platform.

“To do so, we believe operators and broadcasters have to join forces to monetise their data and audiences while working hand-inhand with technology suppliers like ourselves to deliver premium advertising solutions that will help them compete in this space.

MediaKind is providing products and solutions that are creating highly personalised, data-driven advertising experiences that are related to the viewer’s sphere of interest.”

For further information on MediaKind, visit www.mediakind.com 31

AU TO N O M O U S V E H I C L E S

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Companies are increasingly looking at making autonomous technology work at scale.

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The promise of autonomous vehicles (AVs) appears to be coming to fruition, as manufacturers have shifted their attention to trucking, specifically Class 8 tractor-trailers.

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ompanies like Tesla, Uber, Cruise and Waymo envisioned a future where cars acted as mobile robots, taking us anywhere with a few taps on a smartphone.

But autonomous trucks have been quietly making just as much, if not more, progress toward commercial deployment, and their impact on the transportation of goods will no doubt be profound.

More and more companies are seemingly deploying autonomous trucks on public roads – with safety

drivers on board – and shippers are increasingly willing to entrust their cargo to autonomous technology.

This speaks volumes, as confidence in the technology appears to be growing. We can therefore expect to see autonomous trucking gather pace in the foreseeable future, with self-driving companies learning and testing new routes, building out their network and gaining momentum.

And while many companies explore the point-to-point model – a self-driving truck travelling from origin to destination without

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human intervention – many in the industry are focused on a model that simplifies the technical and operational challenges of autonomous driving. Deloitte’s operating model is built around transfer hubs which limit variables and minimise the challenges of deploying self-driving vehicles in congested urban environments or complicated distribution centre lots. Long-range trucks are driven by humans from their origin point to a dedicated space near an interstate on-ramp before taking off down the highway in autonomous mode. Near the destination, the truck would navigate to a transfer facility near an offramp, where a human driver would take over for the final surface-street driving on local roads. This model is designed to keep humans in charge of local driving and cargo loading and delivery, while enabling AV fleet operators to focus on operating trucks in a more controlled interstate highway environment.

Many companies are also exploring trailer swapping as part of the transfer hub model. In that variation, the trailer is moved from an autonomous tractor unit to a separate human-driven tractor at the transfer hub. This would have the added benefit of allowing the 36

autonomous tractor unit, which would include custom technology and design, to immediately connect to another trailer and stay utilised. The downside would be the operational complexity and time required to swap tractor units, compared with the simplicity of having a human drive the autonomous tractor in manual mode.

Transfer hubs could therefore accelerate the path to commercialisation, and while most autonomous trucking companies view them as critical to initial commercialisation, there is no industry consensus on whether they will be needed in the long term. If autonomous tech evolves to enable the point-to-point model, a carrier could potentially eliminate the time and complexity of visiting a transfer hub – and realise additional cost savings from automating the entire trip.

One company is doing exactly that. The start-up, TuSimple, is planning to deploy autonomous tractor-trailers that drive themselves from pick-up to delivery without anybody on board. In an attempt to get ahead by combining unique technology with a series of strategic partnerships, TuSimple is working with truck manufacturer, 37

Test operations have already been conducted in Arizona and Texas, including depot-to-depot autonomous runs

Navistar, as well as shipping giant, UPS. Test operations have already been conducted in Arizona and Texas, including depot-to-depot autonomous runs. These are being run under what is known as ‘supervised autonomy’, where somebody rides in the cab and is 38

ready to take the wheel if needed.

The start-up plans to begin doing away with human supervision later this year, in a bid to achieve Level 4 autonomy.

Both autonomous cars and autonomous trucks rely on similar

underlying technology – sensors that feed data to a computer, which, in turn, controls the vehicle using skills learned through a massive amount of training and simulation. In principle, developing an autonomous truck should be somewhat easier than developing

an autonomous car. That is because they generally follow fixed routes and spend most of their time on highways that are more predictable and easier to navigate than surface streets. Trucks are also a better platform for autonomy, with their large size providing more power for 39

Electrified autonomous trucks have the potential to offer door-to-door service whilst reducing shipping expenses, which explains why many companies are increasingly exploring the ever-growing AV space

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computers and an improved field of view for sensors, which can be mounted higher off the ground.

TuSimple claims that its approach is unique because its equipment is purpose-built from the ground up for trucks.

Chuck Price, Chief Product Officer at TuSimple, said, “Most of the other companies in this space got the seeds of their ideas from the DARPA Grand and Urban Challenges for autonomous vehicles. But the dynamics and functional behaviours of trucks are very different.”

The biggest difference is that trucks need to be able to sense conditions farther in advance, to allow for their longer stopping distance. The 200-metre practical range of lidar that most autonomous cars use as their primary sensor is simply not good enough for a fully loaded truck travelling at 120 kilometres per hour.

Instead, TuSimple relies on multiple HD cameras that are looking up to 1,000 metres ahead whenever possible.

Price argues that this capability gives TuSimple’s system more time to make decisions about the safest and most efficient way to drive. Indeed, its trucks use their brakes less often than trucks operated by human drivers, leading to improvements in fuel economy of about 10 per cent. Steadier driving, with less side-to-side movement in a lane, brings additional efficiency gains whilst also minimising tyre wear.

TuSimple’s fleet of 40 autonomous trucks work across routes that are about 95 per cent highway, but the trucks can also autonomously handle surface streets, bringing their cargo the entire distance, from depot driveway to depot driveway. Electrified autonomous trucks therefore have the potential to offer door-to-door service whilst reducing shipping expenses, which explains why many companies are increasingly exploring the ever-growing AV space.

For further information on TuSimple, visit www.tusimple.com 41

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B U S I N E S S I N T E RV I E W

Luiz Boucas, Global Logistics Director at Kraft Heinz, shares his vision for supply chain efficiency.

Written by Anna McMahon • Produced by Jennifer Davies

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Working out of Kraft Heinz’s global centre of excellence in Amsterdam, Luiz Boucas has been Global Logistics Director at the company for the last four years.

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his role has changed dramatically, covering a broad range of business areas, as Luiz explains, “I covered many different topics within logistics, ranging from strategic planning and network design, to defining the global management model and logistics structure.

Over the last two years, I have been highly focused on the digital

logistics space, where there is value to be aligned. Companies using AI in supply chain and manufacturing operations increased their value significantly, so it has been a big focus for me.”

Alongside AI, Luiz and his team are leveraging a number of tools in order to create a more efficient supply chain at Kraft Heinz. Luiz

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says, “The tools are important because they enable us to leapfrog our processes and results. But, if I had to call out what really drives efficiency in supply chain, it is most certainly related to our people and values. Out of the values, there are two highly connected to driving efficiency.

“The advancements done in digital technologies, such as 5G, IoT and quantum computing, will enable supply chains to be truly synchronised” The first is ‘we own it’. The fact that we are accountable for our deliverables and treat the business as our own puts us in a different position when we look at our performance and results.

“The second is that we ‘dare to do better every day’.

This reflects our continuous improvement journey and 48

our constant push towards challenging the status quo.

Those values are at the very core of how we operate and are the driving forces behind super-efficiency.”

Digital technology came to disrupt Kraft Heinz’s way of doing things, prompting the company to rethink or transform the core business.

Luiz adds, “Digital technology will continue to disrupt things in the future. The advancements done in digital technologies, such as 5G, IoT and quantum computing, will enable supply chains to be truly synchronised.

They will give us the ability to better understand what is happening across the entire chain, identifying where there is likely to be an impact so corrective actions can be applied. On the other hand, advancements in robotics and automation are also disrupting the way we do things physically.”

Luiz makes the distinction between what some of the largest online retailers are doing with autonomous vehicles, drones and robotic warehouses, and more traditional ways of working.

He explains, “Human drivers, 49

Seeing the future with the

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The pressure on supply chains today is massive.

Consumers are demanding the best product selection at the most competitive prices.

They want rapid delivery and the option to customize. At the same time, the world is more volatile than ever. So how do you plan with so much uncertainty?

The good news is that for many businesses, artificial intelligence and machine learning are new approaches that are proving very powerful. By leveraging multiple demand drivers and not only past sales, the new AI/ML forecasting models can much more accurately predict future demand — and also do it at a much more detailed level of granularity.

This was certainly a challenge for Kraft Heinz. This leader in food and beverage industry focuses on long-term value creation and world class brands - including Heinz Ketchup.

However, internally, greater forecast accuracy could create a series of positive impacts on its supply chain.

native platform—uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to drive better data-driven decisions for businesses. build market knowledge models of Kraft Heinz, consumers, retailers and distributors. These, combined with further demand drivers, from trade promotions to weather data, allowed Kraft Heinz to better predict future customer demand, faster and at a higher level of detail. With this clearer, more precise vision of the future, Kraft Heinz now has a clear competitive market advantage.

www.o9solutions.com

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human pickers and human packers increase cost and risk. The differences between traditional businesses and those using digital technologies are immeasurable.

They are not playing the same game.”

Is the long-term vision for Kraft Heinz’s supply chain therefore to exploit more advanced digital solutions? Luiz answers, “I believe the future will be a place where technology will complement the

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human decision-making process. If you think about Gartner’s analytics maturity model, it takes time to move from the basic stage to the transformational stage. You have to make big steps to evolve.

Technology gives us the ability to move through the stages much faster.”

However, Luiz does not see human beings being replaced by technology in the short term. He says, “Technology only complements our

Kraft Heinz EMEA Trainee Program

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ability to make decisions. It can help us to make better decisions than we otherwise would have done, but we still need the human component to make sure we are not driving any bias within the algorithms and AI engines.”

As supply chains are now operating under greater market pressure, having a resilient supply is key. Luiz explains, “You need to be in the right place at the right time to service your customers. If you do not have the right network with the right design, chances are that you will struggle to fulfil your customers’ needs within the expected time. We are always looking for ways to better service our customers,

“If you take people with you on the journey, it will be a much easier road to take.

Failure to do so will only lead to a struggle” 54

Confidence in uncertain times with Machine learning forecasting

:o9

www.o9solutions.com

Forecasting is the critical function that predicts future customer demand, and therefore triggers many of the decisions that companies make in the area of supply chain and beyond. With the increased volatility of demand, forecasting has become much more difficult. This comes in addition to the increasing number of products that companies offer — the result of expansion strategies and the attempt to serve more and more market niches.

Another major trend is impacting the consumer products industry — and even other industries as well: The shift towards new, digital channels. E-commerce was never more widely embraced than in 2020. As physical retailers opened and closed their doors in sync with infection rates, consumers increasingly turned into online shoppers looking for competitive pricing and convenient delivery options.

This made forecasting using historical data, the way many companies are still forecasting, very unreliable and unable to predict the rapid demand shifts.

For many companies still using traditional forecasting methods, the result was missed sales opportunities or worse, poor customer satisfaction, excess inventory, and a greater risk of obsolescence or perished products — a considerable risk in the fast moving consumer goods industry.

With all the uncertainty, complexity, and volatility described above, innovative companies are turning to nextgeneration digital platforms such as :o9’s Digital Brain. This integrated, cloud-native platform uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to drive collaborative, data-driven decisions. By bringing together siloed and external market data, the :o9 digital brain allows companies to gain real-time insights, helping them plan better, make better decisions.

For more information on how next generation technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and :o9’s Digital Brain can significantly increase the accuracy of a business’ forecast, download our whitepaper now.

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by constantly revaluating our network and partnering with the best logistics service providers to fulfil that need.”

Kraft Heinz prides itself on partnering with companies that are constantly looking for new opportunities. One such company is O9 Solutions.

Luiz continues, “O9 Solutions are fundamentally changing the way we look at demand planning. Instead of relying on historical patterns, O9 brings a variety of internal and external drivers to come up with the most probable forecast.

With that mentality, you can understand relations and make better forecasts to service your customers.”

For Luiz’s supply chain vision to come to fruition, he says it must be viewed as a journey, as opposed to a sprint. He explains, “It can take years to accomplish your vision.

Algorithms are 10 per cent, technology is 20 per cent, and change management is 70 per cent of the problem, so the focus should be on the latter when setting out your visual roadmap. Be clear on what you want to achieve in defining your data strategy. Having IT by your side is crucial.

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“embrace uncertaint and enjoy the LEARNIN process. You are not to have all the answ to your questions, so take a stepping-stone approach”

ty NG going wers o e

“My last point would be to embrace uncertainty and enjoy the learning process.

You are not going to have all the answers to your questions, so take a stepping-stone approach. There is no such thing as a static strategy.

Things are moving at such a fast pace that you have to constantly revisit it, bringing in new trends and any changes in the industry and pair it to your strategy.”

Going back to the subject of change management, Luiz argues that you need to get people on board for any strategy to be successful. He says, “Not everyone knows what digital is, the benefits and value it brings, and what is required from them to make it work. If you take people with you on the journey, it will be a much easier road to take.

Failure to do so will only lead to a struggle.”

As for the foreseeable future, Luiz tells us he will be focusing on maturing the projects he has in place, as well as fulfilling the commitments he has made for the rest of the year.

For further information on Kraft Heinz, visit www.kraftheinzcompany.com 57

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ROBOTICS

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The world's first mobile grocery lockers, StrongPoint, is investing in and partnering with another Norwegian company, Halodi Robotics.

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StrongPoint, a leading provider of grocery retail technology solutions, has announced that it has invested in and formed a strategic partnership with Halodi Robotics. alodi is a leading provider of humanoid robots and will, together with StrongPoint, develop an in-store grocery retail robotics solution. The value of the partnership is approximately NOK 8 million,

with half being allocated to research and development in the project, and half as a direct investment in Halodi Robotics.

The aim of the partnership is to develop a robotic solution for the grocery

Halodi Robotics EVEr3 humanoid robot

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“We are extremely proud to be partnering with StrongPoint on this project. Their team brings decades of experience and knowledge of the grocery retail sector, which is where we see huge opportunities for the use of robotics in stores, supporting staff” Bernt Børnich, Chief Executive Officer at Halodi Robotics

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FEATURES

- Human sized - 23 dof - Native compliance - 8kg playload per arm - Force and impedance control on all joints - Optional deep learning compute add-on

retail sector that will help staff with repetitive tasks, so they can focus on more complex tasks and spending time with customers.

Jacob Tveraabak, Chief Executive Officer at StrongPoint, said, “At StrongPoint, we believe that technology is an important part of the solution for boosting in-store efficiency and productivity. We have a long history and a proud reputation of providing cutting-edge and world class technology solutions to our grocery retail customers, and through this partnership, we look forward to developing, together with Halodi Robotics, technology solutions for the future.”

As part of the partnership, StrongPoint will become the exclusive distributor in key areas of Europe of the jointly developed solutions and is aiming to initiate talks with selected leading grocery retailers to pilot and collaborate on the project.

Bernt Børnich, Chief Executive Officer at Halodi Robotics, added, “We are extremely proud to be partnering with StrongPoint on this project.

Their team brings decades of experience and knowledge of the grocery retail sector, which is where we see huge opportunities for the use of robotics in stores, supporting staff.”

For further information on StrongPoint, visit www.strongpoint.com To find out more about Halodi Robotics, go to www.halodi.com 67

TECH

Our rundown of the top platforms to have revolutionised the world of work.

The transition to remote working for many companies last year was made easier thanks to advances in technology, as well as collaboration tools helping teams to stay connected without being physically in the same place. Keeping in close contact with employees is key to maintaining productivity.

Conferencing tools provided 68

structure to employees’ days, along with the added benefit of enabling face-to-face communication. As we navigated the shift to remote working, many apps and platforms proved to be essential in establishing a professional working environment at home. And with this new way of working here to stay, we present our top 10 tools for working from home.

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Asana Using tools such as Asana can help employees to stay focused and productive with a virtual to-do list, letting team members know when it is their time to review a project, and keeping employees on track for tasks due that day. Asana offers a great way for teams to stay organised and manage their work.

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G Suite It goes without saying that utilising the full suite of tools that Google has to offer is a must for any business. Through video conferencing, chat and the wide collection of productivity apps, companies can collaborate no matter where they are located, ensuring streamlined, reliable access.

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Zoom Where would we have been without Zoom meetings over the past year? Connecting with workers via video call has proven to enhance the feeling of being part of a team. Zoom meetings are therefore a top priority for remote workers, enabling employees to ask questions or check in with one another. Using video conferencing apps like Zoom also creates more opportunities for the free flow of information and feedback, a necessity for maintaining remote workforce engagement.

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Slack Communication is key with all employees, but it is even more imperative when it comes to remote workers. To ensure remote team members feel included, it is better to over-communicate so they do not feel isolated. Through using communication applications, such as Slack, you can create continual permission for employees to bring up issues that are not coming up in team meetings or one-on-ones, or to ask quick questions they would normally do in person. Slack features chat rooms organised by topic, private groups and direct messaging, as well as a ‘do not disturb’ option.

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Continuous performance management solutions like 15Five are extremely helpful when it comes to facilitating effective feedback and regular check-ins between employees and managers. These elements are crucial for maintaining an engaged and motivated team, and help team members feel acknowledged for their hard work. Plus, routine check-ins with team members can help managers gauge how they are feeling, identify challenges, and keep employees focused throughout the year.

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Soapbox When you work remotely, you lose those ad-hoc conversations that on-site workers experience. That’s where Soapbox comes in. Soapbox is an agenda tool for one-on-ones and team meetings. The app provides a central place for teams to collaborate on shared agendas, take notes, assign next steps and share feedback. You can also access suggested questions that drive meaningful conversations, a robust library of agenda templates, and AI-powered meeting insights based on the conversations you are having with your team.

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Scheduling meetings can be difficult if you have to check team members’ availability one-by-one to find a mutually convenient time. Meeting scheduling software solves this issue. 10to8 makes it easy to arrange recurring meetings, as well as ad-hoc phone calls at times that are convenient for all participants. 10to8 can handle staff members in multiple time zones, so if you have a distributed team spread worldwide, that is not a problem. And thanks to the automated reminders, you have no excuse for missing a scheduled meeting.

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Microsoft Tea

Microsoft Teams offers even – you can chat, jump on a gr co-worker and collaborate i really makes Microsoft Team Together mode that enables in a digital working space.

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ams

n more ways to be a team roup meeting, call a in other ways. But what ms stand out is the new s teams to come together

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PukkaTeam PukkaTeam is a remote working tool offering a solution for teams with members worldwide. The web app allows you to see which team members are available for a quick chat, and you can simply click and call them without having to ping them a message first to ask if they are free. Team members can easily change their status of availability, which helps when people are working different shifts or in various time zones. PukkaTeam also helps employees feel more connected and have a real-like presence with the rest of their team.

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VirtualOffice A virtual office background creator tool, VirtualOffice offers amazing, always-tidy home office backgrounds.

With a library of options that look like they could be your very own home office, what really puts the cherry on the cake is that you can even brand the office with your personal business logo. The tool is free to use – you only need to pay if you want to remove the VO logo – and the backgrounds work with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Skype.

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B U S I N E S S I N T E RV I E W

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Connections Count We chat to business growth expert, Julian Burnett, Founder of The Table Partnership.

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What is your experience in delivering digital and business transformation?

My experience of delivering digital and business transformation is rich and varied, through a career spanning over 30 years. I’ve helped companies, big and small, to drive innovation and performance improvement through the adoption of technology, new ways of working, new ways of exploiting data, and new ways of engaging with both customers and suppliers. I have a very strong belief that technology and data, in all its forms, can really enhance the potential of people and the value and efficiency of connections within and between businesses. But digital and business transformation is not only about implementing technology and exploiting data. Digital is a way of doing business to innovate and optimise performance across a wide range of functions, supporting people, teams and businesses overall to achieve their full potential.

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What did you learn from your role as VP, Global Markets Distribution Sector at IBM (UK)?

After a decade leading digital and tech functions, helping to transform some big brand retailers, I went to IBM to sharpen up my knowledge and build experience of the technologies that I believe will revolutionise business and our society during the next decade or so. IBM leads the way in commercial applications of AI, Blockchain and IoT. With 5G connectivity and low cost, scalable and secure edge and cloud infrastructure now mainstream, these technologies are driving a new wave of transformational possibilities.

When combined in applications that connect the physical and digital aspects of retail, for example, there is huge potential to deliver massive cost efficiencies, reduced waste and improved working conditions in the supply chain.

What do you look for in building a strong team?

Team building is part art, part science and part magic! A high performing team generates its own energy, and given the

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right motivation and direction, can achieve far beyond the expectations of the individual team members. The art of team building is about creating a supportive, open and challenging environment and a culture which feels restless, always moving forward and stretching for the team. The science is about ensuring there is a balanced mix of experience and psychology in the team to avoid any bias towards one way of thinking and working. Diversity of thought and approach is critical for me. The magic is about providing a continuous pipeline of varied problems and opportunities for the team. This last point is really important, in my experience, as it is how you give people the opportunity to develop and grow to their full potential. Ultimately, I believe variety is the spice of working life and businesses grow through the growth of their people.

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Which qualities do you consider important for good leadership?

Leadership is context sensitive, so the qualities of good leadership really vary from one situation or role to another. Strong operational leaders thrive in an environment where repeatable methods, processes and controls are important, focusing on relatively short-term horizons, often motivating and inspiring very large teams through continuous improvement of a defined set of measures. Leadership in strategic roles, where the time horizon is perhaps looking out as far as 10 years from now, draws on creativity and innovation, reimagining business in the context of a market that might not even exist yet. In any leadership role, it is essential to have resilience, empathy, courage and confidence – and great communication skills – to influence

and inspire. Great leaders blend all these qualities, applying them with dexterity and moving with versatility between different modes of leadership, from operational to strategic and back, depending on their context.

Tell us about The Table Partnership – what is it all about?

The Table Partnership originally came about to address the shortcomings of how company boards gain independent strategic advice. The idea was simple – rather than hire one Non-Executive Director

with relatively narrow functional expertise or a consultancy with little in the way of executive level operational experience, gain access to a unique team of successful practitioners who’ve been around the block quite a few times and offer a far broader and deeper range of relevant functional expertise than either a NED or a consultancy. And because The Table Partners are all entrepreneurial, we often invest capital into our clients’ business and take our fees as equity to demonstrate complete alignment to our clients’ growth objectives.

We choose to get involved in a very diverse range of businesses and

“Leadership is context sensitive, so the qualities of good leadership really vary from one situation or role to another”

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hope to add the kind of value that simply isn’t available from elsewhere.

You have a keen interest in the ethics of AI. How does it discriminate? What is the solution?

I have a keen interest in the ethics of all technology, not just AI, and have been working for many years to ensure that technology supports and facilitates people and does not disadvantage anyone. I’m really into the positive role technology can play in levelling up the playing field for people with disabilities, in particular. For example, I’ve been amazed by the therapeutic results achieved by SpecialEffect, a charity which develops and adapts gaming technologies to enable profoundly disabled children to engage in team games. For the last few years, I’ve been growing equally inspired by and alarmed by the applications of AI. The risk of discrimination is real and relates to the possibility of inherent bias or insufficient representation in the data used to train the algorithms involved.

I have a very significant concern over the use of visual and voice recognition technologies used in interview processes. Many claims about reducing the risks of human bias are made by vendors of these technologies, which simply don’t stand scrutiny when their tools are used to automate and 88

“I have a keen intere technology, not just working for many y technology supports a and does not disad

Julian B

est in the ethics of all t AI, and have been years to ensure that and facilitates people dvantage anyone”

Burnett

analyse interviews of people with facial disfigurements or speech impediments, for example.

The solution to avoid this risk is rigorous and comprehensive testing, using truly representative data – or just not using these tools to automate processes that require the finesse of human judgement.

How can AI be applied for business growth?

Like all progressive technologies, AI has already found applications across a really wide range of business activities.

There are so many different forms of AI that it shows up pretty much everywhere. But to fuel business growth, like all technologies, it must be targeted at activities that will benefit from compressing time – doing things faster; improving quality – doing things better; and efficient scaling – doing things bigger but relatively cheaper! So, AI used to automate repetitive tasks that demand consistency and control, AI to improve the productivity of a process with no loss of quality and no increase of cost, AI that crunches vast quantities of disparate data to generate actionable insight – they’ll all go some way to drive business growth. But like all progressive technologies, AI can be misapplied too and yield no benefit at all – so best to choose wisely!

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“I’m pretty convinced that AI (in all its forms), Blockchain and IoT, enabled by ubiquitous 5G connectivity, and low cost, scalable and secure edge and cloud infrastructure will be the prevalent technologies that lead through the next decade”

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What role do IoT and blockchain play in promoting greater transparency and trust in food supply chains?

Consumers want to trust that the food they eat is safe and authentic. But transparency in food supply chains and the information which passes along them to the consumer is poor and fragmented. Food supply chains are complex, always involving multiple parties, multiple processes and multiple product components. Imagine something as seemingly simple as a ready-made fresh soup.

That soup will contain tens of different base ingredients sourced from numerous different suppliers, with each ingredient flowing along a different strand of the overall supply chain – milk, cereals, vegetables, meat, seasonings and spices – to name a few. The product container, packaging and labelling materials each have their own supply chains too. All of these things are components of the finished product. Information about each and every component and the production processes it went through is generally known and recorded somewhere in the supply chain, but it is rarely shared. So, blockchains can be used to make that information available in a

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trusted and secure way – from farm to fork, for example – and used to enhance confidence and trust in the safety and provenance of food products. IoT and connected sensor technologies can be used to gather and transmit important data about supply chain events (like stock movements) and environmental factors (like ambient temperatures in manufacturing plants or fertiliser concentrations in the soil) that enhances the information known about the product, building transparency and trust even further.

GS1 standards for product data and supply chain events already exist, so sharing food product information on a blockchain can be accelerated if these are adopted.

Which technologies do you expect to take the lead in the future?

I’m pretty convinced that AI (in all its forms), Blockchain and IoT, enabled by ubiquitous 5G connectivity, and low cost, scalable and secure edge and cloud infrastructure will be the prevalent technologies that lead through the next decade.

The rate and scale of innovation and digital transformation is already increasing through the application of these technologies, and along with the emergence of economically viable quantum computing over the next few years, business and society will be truly revolutionised by them.

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“Blockchains can be used to make that information available in a trusted and secure way – from farm to fork, for example – and used to enhance confidence and trust in the safety and provenance of food products”

Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?

Within five years, I hope to be hanging up my corporate boots for good, after one more big digital and technology leadership role, with the aim to enjoy an increasingly varied home/work life supporting small and medium-sized business and technology innovators to thrive and grow. And I’ll still be campaigning hard for the positive role technology can play in levelling up the world for disabled and disadvantaged people.

For further information on The Table Partnership, visit www.thetablepartnership.com 93

S U P P LY C H A I N

TECH TRENDS Pioneering companies are using advanced digital technologies, virtualised data and cobots to transform supply chain cost centres into customer-focused, value-driving networks.

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A Deloitte report says that over the next 18 to 24 months, we can expect to see manufacturers, retailers and others take supply chain transformation to the next level by optimising their supply chain ecosystems for resilience and risk.

They will begin transforming their supply chains from traditional back-office cost centres into value-driving operations. How? By following industry leaders’ playbook for optimising supply chains for customer segments:

• Trend participants can deploy an array of digital tools to hypersegment customers and capture demand signals from disparate parts of their value chains. They can then use this information to make supply chains more responsive to unique customer needs and to fluctuations in demand.

• They can explore ways to capture larger volumes of structured and unstructured data. By mining this data for operational insights, they can continuously optimise systems and processes throughout the 96

organisation. And by sharing the data more widely, they can look to optimise their entire supply ecosystem.

• Organisations may also pursue opportunities to use robots, drones and other technologies to make supply chain teams more effective, efficient, productive and safe.

While companies have been digitising their supply chains for some time, recent shocks have provided fresh urgency for change. After years of small-scope efforts to optimise and strengthen their supply networks, many leaders were confident that they had created robust, transparent supply networks. When Covid-19 hit, it quickly became clear that their efforts had been insufficient. Even the most flexible, resilient supply chains proved to be only as strong as the weakest links of their suppliers’ chains.

Implementing autonomous robots can drive value by reducing direct and indirect operating costs and increasing revenue potential 97

The ensuing disruption was widespread. In a recent survey of supply chain professionals, 97 per cent of respondents said their organisations experienced Covid19-related disruption, and 73 per cent said their organisations are now planning major shifts in the way they approach supply chain management and procurement. As a result, some are now taking a page from digital supply network pioneers.

Using analytics to understand their customers more deeply and predict their behaviour, a growing number of organisations are working to understand the sources of value for and buying behaviour of those customers. By sharing information with their network of suppliers – and receiving information in return – they can better link supply and demand.

And understanding their customers’

value drivers makes it possible to optimise for deployment, logistics and procurement in their new supply networks.

The work of turning a traditional cost centre into a robust value driver will not happen overnight, nor will building the flexibility, transparency and resilience that complex supply networks need to weather disruption.

But the time to start is now.

From cost centre to value driver The idea of transforming the supply chain from cost centre to value driver is not new. Over the past two decades, leading companies have fine-tuned strategies for optimising incentives and disincentives for online purchasing and delivery timing –

Hyperpersonalisation and customer segmentation have standardised across retail and are now poised to transform supply chains across industries

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strategies that manufacturing, retail and other sectors may find helpful as they transform their supply chains.

Online retailers were among those pioneering the art of using predictive models to optimise the location and volume of inventory, procurement and replenishment. Using customer data, they developed highly detailed customer cost-to-serve profiles used to segment customers into groups based on location, preferences and service expectations. These retailers found that, in some cases, customers will pay premium prices for premium delivery services, while more pricesensitive customers will accept longer delivery timeframes. Developing nuanced insight into the complexities of demand and customer priorities helped these organisations preposition products closer to demand, decrease transit time and risk, and

increase delivery schedule reliability.

Meanwhile, they could maintain remote warehouses to supply nonurgent deliveries to the more pricesensitive. These insights transform supply chains into something new – a tool that encourages customers to make informed, personal buying decisions while simultaneously improving company profitability.

Hyperpersonalisation and customer segmentation have standardised across retail and are now poised to transform supply chains across industries. Some of these same approaches can help organisations better understand demand patterns and their impact on the supply chain, from point of sale to the manufacturing floor and all the way back to tier-three suppliers.

Indeed, the extent to which customer

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information can be captured in real time to feed supply chain and manufacturing production decisions is already becoming a competitive differentiator.

Data becomes interoperable As supply chains are transformed into value-providing supply networks, it is critical that organisations understand the value they provide customers, develop greater clarity into internal operations, and work to make supply more visible across their networks. Data – from internal supply chain operations and external partnerships alike – is the keystone for these efforts, so we can expect to see organisations take the following steps to capture and analyse more data:

• Leverage IT/OT convergence Smart factory applications and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) sensor technologies that marry IT networking with operational technology software and machines on the factory floor are finding new applications in smart warehouses, logistics and sourcing. Aggregating real-time operational data from these and other supply chain functions into a commonly shared data platform enhances end-toend transparency, live metrics that support human and machinebased decision-making, and operational efficiency. In addition to IIoT sensors, visual, acoustic

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and temperature monitoring tools can generate unstructured and non-traditional data streams that, once digitised and analysed, can help maintenance teams identify anomalies and perform predictive maintenance.

• Boost data capabilities at the edge In the arena of data management, time is money. Time-sensitive data can become essentially valueless after it is generated, often within milliseconds. Therefore, the speed at which organisations can convert data into insights and then into action across their supply chains is often mission critical. Edge computing can turbocharge this process by moving processing and storage capacity closer to the source of data.

Meanwhile, as organisations optimise their internal operations to serve clients and customers better, they are realising that they need more visibility into their external sources of supply.

Some are starting to explore the idea of creating common logistics platforms that can be used to share information across all the suppliers in the network in real time. When platforms become transparent, they offer visibility into every organisation’s supply chain, not just their own. The platforms may bring an AI and advanced analytics layer positioned on top of all the information to enrich the entire data corpus. Data, then, becomes interoperable.

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Digital tools and advanced techniques that seemed mildly interesting to supply chain leaders only a few years ago are now critical

New tools for supply chain teams When we think of supply chain in its historic role as a cost centre, we cannot overlook the cost, safety considerations and inefficiencies associated with some non-valueadded tasks performed by supply chain talent. For example, though an integral part of many supply chain operations, processes in which human workers operate heavy machinery in transit hubs and enclosed warehouses are often costly and inefficient. They may also carry a degree of safety risk.

In the energy and utility industries, where field teams work with power lines and telecom towers in remote 102

locations, the risks and the costs can be even higher. As the supply unchained trend gathers steam in the coming months, we can expect to see more organisations address this challenge head-on with an array of technologies:

• Autonomous robots and

collaborative cobots Implementing autonomous robots can drive value by reducing direct and indirect operating costs and increasing revenue potential.

They can lower labour costs and increase productivity by working around the clock. Likewise, cobots work alongside human workers, augmenting their performance.

Their movements are easily

programmable, which enables them to perform specific, limited tasks, such as sorting packages.

In material transportation environments, cobots can zip past each other, humans or moving objects in a warehouse or on a factory floor thanks to advanced collision avoidance capabilities.

• Aerial drones

Companies can use unmanned drones for a variety of tasks, from providing inbound logistics in time-critical situations, to carrying materials from storage to factory and transporting directly from receiving to shipping. Drones can also scan inventory efficiently and reduce labour costs.

• Computer vision Cameras are rapidly becoming ubiquitous and connected. Supply chain operators are placing them, in tandem with AI, throughout warehouses and freight yards to count stock. Companies are also using these computer-vision technologies on factory floors and in offices to monitor social distancing among employees, validate safety protocols, and help maintain procedural compliance.

More advanced computer vision capabilities make it possible to visualise temperature radiation, detect subtle movements imperceptible to the human eye, and ‘ultra-zoom’ in on individual parts of a complex whole.

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Interoperable data, AI and machine learning also have a role to play. The ability to tie even the most remote supply chain functions into a seamless network with real-time data and, then, automate those functions or control them from a central location will be critical to lowering costs, while enhancing worker safety and efficiency.

The way forward The list of promising tools and techniques in this field will continue to grow in the coming years, as organisations work steadily to transform their supply chains from cost centre to value driver and to prepare for the next big disruption. Digital tools and advanced techniques that seemed mildly interesting to supply chain leaders only a few years ago are now critical.

The Covid-19 pandemic has not only undermined many long-held assumptions about globalisation and businesscritical dependencies, but it has laid bare the vulnerabilities of traditional supply chain models operating in a world where large-scale disruption may be no longer the exception, but the rule.

For further information, visit www2.deloitte.com/us/en.html

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IN THE SP OTLIGHT

START-UP OF THE MONTH

Next generation digital conversation platform, Quiq, is breaking new ground in customer engagement. uiq helps brands to present their customers with unparalleled customer experiences across SMS/text messaging, rich messaging, web chat and social channels. With Quiq’s Conversational Engagement Platform, companies can easily orchestrate commerce and service conversations involving both bots and humans, enabling them to engage with their customers in the same way as people communicate with their friends.

Quiq believes that customers are happier when they can reach businesses how they want and when they want. Customer satisfaction is 106

higher for messaging channels than voice and email, so by converting phone calls to text, companies are able to serve their customers better with fewer resources.

Reaching new heights in customer engagement, many of the world’s leading companies have chosen Quiq to power digital conversations with their customers, enabling them to serve three to five times as many customers at once. In this way, these brands are defining the new standards for customer conversations in their respective industries.

CEO Mike Myer said, “Like all of us, your customers are tied to their mobile phones. They are having conversations over messaging all

day, every day. Businesses (which) don’t support messaging are losing customers. Adding Quiq messaging to your business is easy and it will fundamentally change the quality of conversations you have with customers.”

With decades of experience building software for organisations focused on delivering superior service to their customers, Quiq has learned how to build simple yet sophisticated solutions that work for businesses worldwide.

“Businesses (which) don’t support messaging are losing customers. Adding Quiq messaging to your business is easy and it will fundamentally change the quality of conversations you have with customers” Mike Myer, CEO

For further information, visit www.quiq.com 107

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