Digital Bulletin - Issue 14 - March 2020 by NODE

Issue 14 | Mar ’20

INNOVATING FOR HEALTH

Hartmann Group’s tech-driven quest to save lives

TAPPING TECHNOLOGY

CIO Tony McCandless outlines how Thames Water’s £1 billion investment in digital will revolutionise the customer experience

The Bulletin

HIGHLIGHTS

AWS WINS JEDI INJUNCTION IN BATTLE AGAINST MICROSOFT A judge has ordered that work on the Jedi cloud contract for the US Defense Department be halted. AWS was tipped to win the $10bn contract, but it was awarded to arch rival Microsoft. But AWS is challenging the decision, claiming pressure from President Trump was central to Microsoft winning the contract. Microsoft will have to stop working on the project until AWSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s case is heard in court. (14/02/20) MORE ON THIS STORY

The Bulletin is our stream of the most relevant enterprise technology news, aggregated from highly-respected sources and packaged in a short, digestible format, delivering a simple yet indispensable read. A one-stop shop for all of the newest major developments of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, The Bulletin, available at digitalbullet.in, is a vital and dependable resource for technology professionals.

ony McCandless is a man on a mission; this month’s cover star is Thames Water’s CIO who, having joined the utility company in 2017, has helped reframe its entire model around digital excellence, with the ultimate objective of transforming the experience for its 15 million customers. Concurrently, McCandless and his team are planning for a future that will see it invest £1 billion ($1.3 billion) in industry-leading technology by 2025. “To spend £1 billion over the next five years is a lot of money but to put it in context, Thames Water runs 139,000 kilometres of water and waste network which would go around the world threeand-a-half times. We have got to invest in technology inside that network in order to know what’s going on with it,” McCandless says. Elsewhere, technology is emerging as a force for good in healthcare. AI and machine learning algorithms are already diagnosing life-threatening diseases, while technology is being used to oversee time

consuming menial tasks, freeing up doctors and consultants to focus on more important and potentially life-saving matters. With that in mind, Digital Bulletin travelled to the Bavarian region of Germany to look at how the near 200-year-old HARTMANN GROUP is using technology to, in its own words, “go further for health”. “This is a time where every function in organisations like HARTMANN gets impacted by technologies,” the company’s CIO Sinanudin Omerhodzic tells us. Using tech for good is the central theme of our conversation with crypto personality Charles Hoskinson, who outlines why he believes blockchain platforms can help people take control of their finances in areas of the world without established financial networks. You’ll also find a number of other deep dives in this month’s issue, with Barracuda Networks, IFS, Kofax and Inifidnidat featured in our newest edition. We hope you enjoy it.

PUBLISHED BY BULLETIN MEDIA LTD, Norwich, UK Company No: 11454926 www.DigitalBullet.in TALK TO US editorial@digitalbullet.in business@digitalbullet.in

PUBLISHING

MEDIA PRODUCTION

DIGITAL MARKETING

INSIDE VIEW

Thames Water’s CIO, Tony McCandless, speaks to Digital Bulletin about the organisation’s plan to invest £1 billion in technology and innovation over the next five years

CONTENTS

CASE STUDY THAMES WATER Tapping technologyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s potential

CASE STUDY HARTMANN GROUP Innovating for a healthier world

6 28 DEBATE

PEOPLE Answering the diversity question

58 FUTURE

KOFAX Augmenting the human element

66 874 SECURITY

Charles Hoskinson Using blockchain to democratise finance

A LIFE IN TECH

Clario Techâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CEO Alun Baker tells his story

IT SERVICES IFS The future of ERP

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82 8 1 10 90

EVENTS

The biggest and best technology events for your diary

CONNECTIVITY

BARRACUDA NETWORKS Securing network automation

DATA INTELLIGENCE INFINIDAT Enabling petabyte-scale innovation

CLOSING BULLETIN

An exclusive column from Terry Walby, Founder and CEO, Blue Prism Cloud

CASE STUDY

TAPPING TECHNOLOGY’S POTENTIAL Thames Water is achieving digital excellence in the relentlessly challenging utilities industry. CIO Tony McCandless takes Digital Bulletin through the transformation process and tells us why a robust technology layer will allow the UK’s biggest water company to deliver a service revolution for its customers

PROJECT DIRECTOR: Richard Durrant AUTHOR: Ben Mouncer PHOTOGRAPHY: Krystian Data VIDEOGRAPHY: Joe Murray & Adam Turner

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THAMES WATER

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o mark the point Thames Water has reached on its technology journey, Tony McCandless prefers to use a baseball analogy. “We’ve got to first base,” the company’s Chief Information Officer reveals to Digital Bulletin from inside its headquarters in Reading, UK. Ever since McCandless joined Thames Water - initially on a consultancy basis in 2017 before quickly signing up full time - the UK’s largest water and wastewater services provider has been on a mission to reframe its entire operating model around digital excellence, with the wider goal of transforming the experience for its 15 million customers. It has been an undertaking of not inconsiderable proportions, with Chief Digital Officer John Beaumont and McCandless 10

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leading the charge. In a short space of time, Thames Water has completed some ambitious change programmes to greatly enhance its technology and IT capabilities. Simultaneously, it has been planning for a future that will see it invest £1 billion ($1.3 billion) in industry-leading technology by 2025. All in all, time has been a precious commodity for Thames Water’s technology workforce and raft of strategic partners; less time for theorising, more for action - especially given the standing start its teams endured at the beginning of the process. Now it has all but reached the end of phase one, McCandless can reflect on this with a refreshing honesty. “I think it’s fair to say that there had been over a decade of under-investment in the

THAMES WATER

asset of technology,” he admits. “In the two-year period, we’ve rewritten our contracts with our partners and suppliers, we will have moved on to a new mainframe, we have done an end-user compute [EUC] rollout across the entire estate and changed people’s ways of working, we’ve remediated a lot of applications, we’ve completely refreshed our networks and we’ve built two new data centres. So it’s been an exciting two years.” Technology is increasingly the key enabler for utilities companies feeling the squeeze of customer pressure, regulatory compliance and stakeholder demand. As the biggest organisation of its kind in the UK, Thames Water has a sizeable public profile. It is responsible for the daily supply of 2.6 billion litres of tap water to around

10 million customers throughout London and across the Thames Valley, removing and treating more than four billion litres of sewage for an additional five million. Its services touch 27% of the country’s population and it manages some significant water infrastructure projects, including the £5 billion Thames Tideway Tunnel. In summary, a reliable Thames Water service is nothing short of essential. “People don’t necessarily realise, for companies like Thames Water and the water industry, just how complex it is for you to be able to go home, turn a tap on and flush your toilet,” explains McCandless. “Behind that is just a huge amount of effort from all of the assets that we have and all of the people that are running them. And there is maybe an illusion as well,

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It’s a fantastic jigsaw that we all deal with. Below all of that, there needs to be a solid technology base that helps enable it” Tony McCandless, Thames Water CIO about the size of companies like Thames Water; we’re only 6,500 people, so when you put it in that context, and then all of the things that we’ve got to deal with; water factories, science labs, sewage works, pumping stations - it’s a fantastic jigsaw that we all deal with. Below all of that, there needs to be a solid technology base that helps enable it.” To align with its customer-centric business plan, Thames Water has primarily focused on technology initiatives that bolster its service delivery. One such example was a major undertaking to implement a new CRM (customer relationship management) and billing platform for its customers, a project named internally as the Spring Programme. 12

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The Spring Programme wrapped up its final large-scale migration at the end of 2019, with 3.2 million homes now active on the platform. Users dealing with Thames Water, and especially those with urgent queries, are now addressed in a much faster and more accurate way than was possible before. “I think Spring has been an incredibly important programme for Thames Water,” says McCandless. “Anyone who’s been involved in either of those types of projects before [CRM or billing] knows that it is a whole can of worms. When you try and do both of them together, it seems like some form of lunacy. It has taken a number of years to get there but it’s really critical because it allows us to have a 360-degree view of the customer.” An indispensable technology support for Thames Water on the Spring Programme has been Wipro, the billion-dollar Indian IT services organisation. Wipro’s SafeWater Rapid Deployment Solution - pre-built with water industry-specific business processes - smoothened the shift to Thames Water’s new SAP-based CRM and billing solutions after 20 years on legacy. “Wipro has been resilient, it’s kind of rolled with it when things haven’t been going well, and when they have, it’s celebrated with us. It remains here for the longterm and it has a good team of knowledgeable people,” adds McCandless. “Having

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McCandless with Duncan Cousins (centre) and Henrik Nilsson from Apptio. “With Apptio, we can be confident that anything that we do, we will know the cost and value.” ISSUE 14

Transform the IT Operating Model Measure the Cost, Quality and Value of IT

On average, Apptio customers: shift 2-5% of run costs to growth spend.

reduce spend to plan variance by 50%, in 75% less time than with alternative approaches.

“Having Apptio allows us to have confidence as we’re looking to do new things. We can demonstrate we’re in control of costs, see the advantages, know what we’re stepping down or up. It’s all based on commerciality, as everything costs money, and to have insight into that is critical.”

About Apptio Apptio is the leading provider of SaaS solutions that help organisations make smart decisions as they analyse, optimise, and plan technology investments that will transform the IT operating model. Apptio SaaS solutions consolidate financial and operational data into a single platform, creating a business-centric view of technology that enables organisations to:  Improve organisational agility.  Optimise technology investments.  Reinvest spend to fund innovation.

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finished the Spring programme as a large waterfall programme, we’ve now turned that into four specific product areas, so we’re really looking at moving it into a DevOps scenario. I think for Wipro and us it’s a fantastic opportunity to get into a highly-active and fast-paced improvement model.” For the extensive Spring Programme, Thames Water also benefited from the input of Accenture - but the consultancy giant’s main responsibility as a technology partner has been to execute the comprehensive EUC roll-out and network BAU (business-as-usual) services, pinpointed by McCandless as core elements of Thames Water’s transformation. Accenture’s EUC refresh saw it deploy a suite of Microsoft products, including Windows 10, Office 365, Skype and Microsoft Teams, to Thames Water’s network of devices, instantly transforming the user experience for employees and, in turn, the service to customers. According to McCandless the residual gains from working with Accenture are, however, even more valuable than technical implementations. “The emphasis was actually on the business change element more than technology, because we’re changing how people work, so it really brought some skills to the fore there,” he outlines. “A lot of our work was sprint-based, so two or three weeks of effort with something out of the other side that we can 16

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I really have a lot of faith that adopting the product-based model will allow us to respond to business needs” measure, and I think that brings the best of Accenture into play. When it’s got something it can really help you move the needle on, it gets them excited and it helps us. Accenture brings a known capability. It is a global player, it is large-scale, but when you get down into it, to be able to help us with business change, with a process approach, it is really, really critical.” Beaumont and McCandless have steadily grown Thames Water’s internal teams to support these initiatives, moving from a largely outsourced model to a 200-person technology function. Under McCandless’ CIO organisation exists three core units: an ITIL-based service team with a SIAM (service integration and management) layer of around 100 specialists, a delivery unit for digital projects and programmes, and most excitingly for McCandless, a recently-formed, product-led development function. Through the adoption of new DevOps models, McCandless says the development

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team will ensure the continued iteration of Thames Water’s products and platforms. “I really have a lot of faith that adopting the product-based model will allow us to respond to business needs and [make us] more likely to deliver outcomes that really fit that business need, while having the flexibility along the way to make some changes that we may take on.” Crucial to this vision is the maturation of an IT architecture that Thames Water’s teams can count on day-in, day-out. Like most organisations of its scale, Thames Water’s underlying infrastructure and systems are complex and require their own intelligence to be managed and maintained. To that end, it has enlisted the help of AppDynamics, a Cisco company and the

world’s largest and fastest-growing APM (Application Performance Monitoring) vendor. AppDynamics enables enterprises to accelerate their digital transformations by actively monitoring, analysing and optimising complex application environments at scale. McCandless first ran the AppDynamics platform on the Spring Programme estate and after being struck by the “ridiculous” levels of insight, it is now being applied across Thames Water’s full environment and application stack. “I don’t think it matters what company you are a CIO for, the challenge of knowing what is going on in your estate - from an infrastructure level, an application level, an end-user experience level - remains the same, and I think AppDynamics

Thames Water supplies 2.6 billion litres of drinking water, on average, each day to ten million people 18

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THAMES WATER

has brought a lot of capability into that,” McCandless says. “At the end of the day, we’re always going to have issues and we’re always going to have incidents. In order to be able to respond to them quickly and restore service, having the likes of AppDynamics help guide us to where the problem is really helps the business. And that in turn helps us give a fantastic service to end customers.” The real-time capability of the AppDynamics platform is reflected in Thames Water’s wider objective of drawing on data to become 20% more efficient by 2025. A key tenet of the company’s fiveyear business strategy - which includes the £1 billion technology investment - is to “use technology to turn customer insight into action”. It aims to engage with operational

data to manage its water networks, predict leaks and flooding and to improve the speed and quality of its responses. McCandless doubles down on the vital role data intelligence will play in Thames Water’s digital-led future, revealing that it is currently standing up its own “data factory” to consolidate and systemise the vast amount of data that exists across the business. “We’re a company that has people who have been here two, three, four decades, and they have such incredible knowledge - now what we need to do is capture that knowledge and feed that into our systems,” he explains. “We need to knit it together and work out what analytics are really, really important to each part of the flow. And that way we know what our waste teams need, what our water teams ISSUE 14

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Thames Water delivers services to 15 million customers in London and the Thames Valley need and what our engineers out in the field need. “To spend £1 billion over the next five years is a lot of money but to put it in context, Thames Water runs 139,000 kilometres of water and waste network which would go around the world three-and-a-half times. We have got to invest in technology inside that network in order to know what’s going on with it - where water is flowing, water pressures, how the pipes are, how the sewage treatment works are, and bring that together in a data model that allows us to be more proactive than reactive.” Any technology investment, not least of the scope and size Thames Water is 22

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making, must be rigorously controlled and McCandless saw the need to engage another specialist partner in this area in the shape of Apptio. With its range of software-as-a-service business management tools, Apptio is expert at translating IT spend into tangible outcomes, using machine learning to analyse, optimise and plan financial outlays. Thames Water first worked with Apptio on a vendor rationalisation programme before entering a more strategic partnership. The purpose is to give its leadership team a transparent view of operational IT costs as well as a total cost of ownership for both services and applications, all based

THAMES WATER

McCandless chats with Accenture’s Sanjeev Mathur. “Accenture brings a known capability. It is a global player.” ISSUE 14

Don’t react, predict. See why AppDynamics is the world’s #1 APM solution.

www.appdynamics.com

THAMES WATER

To spend £1 billion over the next five years is a lot of money but to put it in context, Thames Water runs 139,000 kilometres of water and waste network which would go around the world three-and-a-half times. We have got to invest in technology inside that network in order to know what’s going on with it” on Apptio’s well-established Technology Business Management (TBM) framework. “I think it’s really critical,” adds McCandless. “There’s nothing that you can do that doesn’t cost money. And it’s easy sometimes to construct technical platforms and applications, but you’ve got to do it with a cost in mind. So with the Apptio platform and capability as the foundation stone of managing that, I think we can be confident that anything that we do, we will know the cost and value. “TBM has given us the ability to work with the business but also with finance, so we can actually have conversations in universal terminology. We can reassure the finance department that we in technology actually have a grasp on this.” Prior to laying out its £1 billion investment plan, Thames Water gathered detailed feedback from one million of its domestic and wholesale customers. As a result,

a significant outcome is the design and roll-out of a brand new customer care platform. The business has close to 60 million interactions with its customers each year so, for the technology and digital teams, this project is a matter of great importance. The platform promises to take Thames Water’s operational resilience to more robust levels, while transforming the effectiveness and efficiency of resolving customer queries. Backed up by the installation of 700,000 smart meters, Thames Water’s service delivery will become more personalised than ever before. “Our customer care platform is really at the centre of how we enable our teams to be able to interact with our customers,” outlines McCandless. “If you think about it, you as an individual; when was the last time you actually called your water company? You may call to query your bill, you might call to report a water leak or a sewage incident. ISSUE 14

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All of these things are when customers are probably in a heightened state of being concerned about something, so our ability to be able to respond to them in a manner that appreciates that and to be able to get them a response to what they’re asking is critical.” Customer-centrality evidently drives Thames Water and its employees; the 2025 business plan lays out its vision of being ‘Here for you, in a changing world’. The organisation recognises the diverse requirements and differing circumstances of its 15 million customers, and the plan was scrutinised in detail by Thames Water’s Customer Challenge Group. The leadership team is intent on building a community for Thames Water customers, which includes the launch of an online service to host and facilitate conversations between users on key topics, yet another way for Thames Water to glean insights. McCandless says this customer focus shines through each and every day. “Thames Water is absolutely obsessed with customer service,” he asserts. “It’s one of the great things about being here. In previous roles, I’ve had to worry about quarterly sales cycles and profit and loss margins, and all of these things; I don’t have to worry about that here. What I focus on is getting value for money for Thames Water and its customers, and then trying to help our teams deliver great customer service. 26

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While we’ve done what we’ve done, the path ahead in the next couple of years is still massively challenging to build on the basics that we have here and continue to make an impact that helps Thames Water, helps the people here and helps our customers” “That’s where our future ambitions lie. We have got a lot of focus on responsibility; environmental responsibility is really critical to us too. So I think it’s about looking after the environment, looking after our customers, and it may sound a little contrite, but being a good place to work. Since I came here in 2017, I can truly say this is undoubtedly the best job that I’ve ever had. “We’ve had a lot of challenges but the team here just said: “We’ll listen, we’ll

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have faith in the things that you want to do, we’ll sponsor them. And it’s great to be in that environment and to say that we’ve put these things together and we’re making a difference.” As the CIO of a utilities firm, McCandless’ burning ambition is to turn Thames Water’s technology into a utility itself: “I want it so people can rely on it, the same way that they do on turning the tap,” he finishes. “I personally wouldn’t know what to do

with a job that was just joining and churning the handle - so while we’ve done what we’ve done, the path ahead in the next couple of years is still massively challenging to build on the basics that we have here and continue to make an impact that helps Thames Water, helps the people here and helps our customers.”

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DEBATE

CHANGING THE FACE OF TECHNOLOGY Each month, Digital Bulletin canvasses the opinion of some of the tech industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading minds. Here, we ask: What more can the technology industry do to diversify its workforce?

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PEOPLE

“ Deep rooted issues need to be addressed” Danielle Ramsbottom, Director, Head of Strategic Alliances & Enterprise Sales at Mason Frank International

The diversity conversation in tech is becoming more prominent every day. Organisations like ‘WeAreTechWomen’ and ‘Black Tech Nation’ are gaining greater exposure, and more companies are seeing the value a diversity and inclusion team can bring to their business. Although the tech community has begun to take proactive steps to diversify the industry, we still have a long way to go. For me, the focus should be on increasing internal workplace diversity and making the sector more inclusive as a whole. Historically, in some companies, diversity initiatives have been used as a box-ticking exercise to improve a brand’s image. However, this tactic is not adequately addressing the deep-rooted cultural issues that underrepresented tech professionals deal with every day in the workplace. To truly resolve the lack of diversity in tech, we have to go beyond the surface-level of the conversation and look at

the underlying issues impacting the entire hiring process — from bias in job ads to the high turnover of minority employees. In most industries, it’s easy for biased language to creep into job descriptions, application materials, and interviews unnoticed. However, studies have shown the average tech job advert has twice as many masculine-coded phrases as feminine ones. If tech companies want to prevent excluding highly-skilled candidates from applying, then a combination of feminine and masculine words should be used in the job ads to attract a more diverse candidate pool. If the problem goes beyond the hiring process and is impacting the daily working culture of the office, then consider turning your attention to the progression opportunities in your business. Research shows that women tend to drop off at middle-management, and a lot of this coincides with having a family. Yet even without the ‘motherhood penalty,’ female tech professionals are often cited for leaving their tech job because of an unwelcome male-dominated work environment and unfair pay. In addition to the shortage of women in seniority, minority groups often feel overlooked and under-supported by their superiors — limiting their opportunities to progress in their field. If you’ve noticed ISSUE 14

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a lack of inclusivity in the workplace, then as a manager, perhaps it’s time to take action. Promoting the importance of inclusivity in the workplace will help employees feel supported as well as a significant player in the company. To prevent specific individuals using biased promoting and exclusivity to sully your initiative, establish an official career pathway curriculum that provides tailored progression opportunities for each employee. Finally, consider setting up a mentoring programme with a diverse range of role models that can champion the importance of an authentic inclusive work culture, and ensure all employee’s achievements are visibly celebrated throughout the business.

Historically, in some companies, diversity initiatives have been used as a box-ticking exercise to improve a brand’s image” 30

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“ Employee-led initiatives are key” David Hanks, COO at global emerging talent specialist, mthree

Over the past few years, talk has increasingly been turning to the distinct lack of diversity within the technology industry, and the good news is that we are finally starting to see this translate into meaningful action. There are an ever-growing number of diversity initiatives across the UK, Europe and beyond that are beginning to make some really encouraging progress. One of these is the Tech Talent Charter, a non-profit organisation that is working to address inequality in the UK by driving inclusion and diversity in a practical and measurable way. Hundreds of businesses in the UK and Ireland have signed the charter, with signatories encouraged to tackle their lack of diversity head-on by making a number of pledges in relation to their approach to recruitment and retention. Tech Talent Charter recently released its second annual benchmarking report, which showed that, among its signatories, women now make up 24%

PEOPLE

of tech employees, up from 19% last year. However, there is still a lot more work to be done; the benchmarking report also revealed that only 17% of the wider tech workforce currently are women. This demonstrates both the effectiveness of employer-led initiatives, and the need for more businesses to start ac-

tively addressing their lack of diversity. The early success of gender-based initiatives such as these also highlight the importance of ensuring that our inclusivity efforts are truly intersectional, taking into account everything from ethnicity and age, to mental health and neurodiversity. Only by regularly benchmarking all of

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The UK government’s Parker Review report published at the beginning of February showed that, shockingly, 63% of the FTSE 100 have no board members from ethnic minority backgrounds” these groups will we be able to gain full insight into our progress, what has been working successfully and exactly where further work needs to be done. It’s also crucial to acknowledge that changing the attitudes of employers is just one half of the battle. Concerns are often raised about the lack of diversity in senior roles, particularly in the boardroom. The UK government’s Parker Review report published at the beginning of February showed that, shockingly, 63% of the FTSE 100 have no board members from ethnic minority backgrounds. The initial report in 2017 recommended that all FTSE 100 boards should have at least one director from an ethnic minority background by 2021, 32

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which it will now be almost impossible to achieve. However, while a growing number of businesses may now be keen to diversify their senior leadership teams, the chronic underrepresentation of minority groups in the past has resulted in a shortage of leaders from diverse backgrounds. This means that this sort of change clearly isn’t going to happen overnight, and tackling this particular issue will be a more long-term undertaking. In order to genuinely resolve this, we need to ensure that we are building diverse tech businesses from the ground up. There are a number of different strategies employers can put in place to ensure they are offering equal opportunities for exciting young talent, regardless of who they are or where they have come from. This can include sourcing talent from diverse educational institutions, rethinking essential requirements in job descriptions to avoid deterring female applicants, and working with recruiters or talent sourcing companies that share their values when it comes to diversity. Only by actively working to build an inclusive junior talent pipeline will the industry will naturally have diverse representation at board level in years to come.

PEOPLE

“ Businesses that don’t adapt will pay the price” Sarah Assous, CMO, AI-driven conversational search platform, Zoovu

The exciting thing about working in technology is that change is constant. Evolution happens, and happens quickly, which means new opportunities present themselves on an almost daily basis. And while more needs to be done to improve diversity within the technology industry, this is a good environment in which to be operating. We’re seeing a massive rise in new technologies - everything from the increasing prevalence of voice search to the digitisation of industries like banking and retail. On the one hand this is opening up new and exciting opportunities in incredibly attractive sectors but equally it is reflecting a mass change in consumer behaviour - changes that are colour, race and religion agnostic. Alexa or Siri simply do not care about any of those things. That means for organisations to keep pace and act, and react, appropriately, cultivating a diverse workforce isn’t simISSUE 14

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Young people from all backgrounds have to be educated that these doors of opportunity are open to them, and see that fashion or sports brands are looking for passionate people with the right skills to take their businesses forward”

ply a box to tick, but something fundamental to the future of the business. One that is reflective of the entire consumer base so that the knowledge, drivers and understanding of the ‘real word’ are actually in the company. Businesses that don’t have this level of insight and spread of individuals within their teams will simply fall behind. The best companies are those that know this and are factoring this level of decision making into their recruitment and selection processes. 34

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But this relationship is a two-way street. Young people from all backgrounds have to be educated that these doors of opportunity are open to them, and see that fashion or sports brands are looking for passionate people with the right skills to take their businesses forward. And therefore that having the right skills is a valuable and valued commodity. STEM subjects aren’t just for the techies, but are the door to exciting companies at the cutting edge of a changing world.

PEOPLE

â&#x20AC;&#x153; STEM subjects must be pushed harderâ&#x20AC;? Natalia Escribano, CCO, digital out of home advertising marketplace VIOOH

Change always needs to come from the top and the technology sector is no different. This means empowering industry leaders and those with a responsibility for hiring to recruit with diversity in mind to build a culture of inclusivity. In the advertising industry specifically, broadening our reach when looking to recruit and working with agencies that foster an active approach to diversity is key. It not only sends the message that clients and partners are actively looking at diversity as a point of attraction, but by proxy it will promote the issue of diversity to the wider industry. We also cannot forget the talent that currently exists within the sector - of which there is a lot. Putting those individuals under a spotlight to find out how they got to where they are today is a positive message to send to others just making their first steps into the workforce. But this canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t exist in isolation. What hapISSUE 14

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pens at an industry level is the tip of the iceberg. Despite all the advances made in equality and diversity, more still needs to be done in terms of educating young people about the long-term benefits and potential career varieties that STEM subjects can bring. This means looking at ways those subjects can appeal to a wider background of an individual. Unfortunately, social class injustice and gender inequality are still big problems many industries are facing. We need to tackle those problems to make sure we ensure opportunity is accessible and fair. Real diversity will then exist within companies. 36

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Unfortunately, social class injustice and gender inequality are still big problems many industries are facing. We need to tackle those problems to make sure we ensure opportunity is accessible and fairâ&#x20AC;?

PEOPLE

“ The gig economy is helping bridge the gap” Megan Neale, co-founder of gig CX platform Limitless

Gig models don’t care about race, gender or sexual orientation; it’s all about getting a task done in a way which suits the individual. There’s an inbuilt flexibility and lack of inherent bias which encourages a naturally diverse freelance workforce across the world. In essence – for ‘tech’ businesses (and that covers a vast range of businesses nowadays), gig models help make di-

versity a non-issue and as gig grows it can start to build a world where we don’t need to talk about diversity and inclusion. As a gig company our experience tells us that quality and productivity increase significantly when people have the ability to work on their own terms. As tech companies seek out the best talent to achieve competitive differentiation, offering flexible working models will be critical to their success. Gig allows businesses to tap into amazing talent pools like skilled parents who want to work from home, those with fewer hours to commit (like retirees and students), and workers from every country around the world who can complete tasks online. ISSUE 14

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HARTMANN GROUP

Saving lives with technology innovation HARTMANN GROUP has been at the forefront of healthcare innovation for nearly 200 years. Today, technology transformation and new digital business models are enabling it to “go further for health”. Digital Bulletin met with CIO Sinanudin Omerhodzic and his team to find out more

PROJECT DIRECTOR: Charles Rumball AUTHOR: Ben Mouncer PHOTOGRAPHY: Marco Kleebauer VIDEOGRAPHY: Liam Painter & Guy Turner

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HARTMANN GROUP

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ake a walk around the entrance hall of HARTMANN GROUP’s sprawling German headquarters and you will quickly be immersed in the company’s long and fascinating backstory. Inside the front door is a life-size image of Paul Hartmann Sr., the man who - in the middle of the 19th century - founded the Paul Hartmann Bleaching, Dyeing and Dressing Company, the forerunner to the thriving healthcare products and solutions business which exists today. Further on, adorning the walls are timelines that stitch together multiple HARTMANN milestones and highlight the groundbreaking innovations that make up its history. From the very beginning, Paul Hartmann set his store out to engage the era’s leading medical minds and pioneer 40

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solutions to radically improve healthcare provision. In tandem with Sir Joseph Lister, the British surgeon who invented the first dressing with a germicidal effect, and Victor von Bruns, a German who designed groundbreaking dressing material using cotton wool, Hartmann helped revolutionise wound management, in turn saving millions of lives. This quest for innovation remains hardwired within HARTMANN GROUP. Flash forward to 2020 and it is the rapid onset of new technologies that is remodelling how it operates, innovates, and delivers. Change has been a constant for HARTMANN over nearly 200 years and, today, technology and digital transformation are among the main forces behind its ambition to “go further for health”.

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In the middle of HARTMANN’s Heidenheim base is a vast and somewhat imposing conference room. This is where the leadership team communicates its top-level objectives and strategy to the wider staff, making it one of the vital hubs on the HARTMANN campus. Sinanudin Omerhodzic, HARTMANN’s Chief Information Officer, is one person who has regularly taken to the podium. Since joining three years ago, Omerhodzic has led the group’s IT and technical implementation initiatives and the shift to modern, digital-led business models. Last November, he was included among the top 10 large-enterprise CIOs in Germany by the popular magazine ‘CIO’. “Innovation is key in the era of digitalisation,” Omerhodzic tells Digital Bulletin during

a wide-ranging interview. “What we’ve seen in the last 10 or 20 years is a huge change in business but also in society, around how technology impacts our lives. This is a time where every function and business unit in organisations like HARTMANN gets impacted by technologies.” The company boasts a broad portfolio of healthcare products and devices in its three principal business areas: incontinence management, disinfection management and wound management. Sold to hospitals, nursing homes and personal users in more than 100 countries worldwide, the products accounted for the majority of HARTMANN’s €2 billion+ ($2.3 billion+) 2018 revenues and are recognised as market-leading by patients and professionals.

Sinanudin Omerhodzic (right) has been HARTMANN’s CIO since January 2017 ISSUE 14

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This is a time where every function and business unit in organisations like HARTMANN gets impacted by technologies” Sinanudin Omerhodzic But the healthcare sector, and as a consequence HARTMANN, is currently facing some steep challenges. Chronic, or noncommunicable, diseases are on the rise while ageing populations are putting strain on healthcare systems which in many instances are underfunded. How can organisations like HARTMANN help find solutions to these difficult problems? Omerhodzic believes the use of advancing technologies will become more and more valuable and he cites a potentially transformative idea currently being explored by HARTMANN. Emerging from its infection management division, the pilot aims to tackle the spread of hospital infections; more than four million patients contract such 42

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infections in Europe annually, with around 37,000 mortalities. “This is a huge issue on the one hand, but also on the other hand creates a huge cost for the hospitals in treatment for people who get infected,” Omerhodzic explains. “One of our products is called Sterillium, an alcohol-based disinfectant for hygienic and surgical hand disinfection and it’s been on the market for over 50 years, helping hospitals utilise liquids to disinfect hands. “But now we are thinking of going even beyond the product. We are experimenting with how we could utilise artificial intelligence (AI) and IoT technologies to analyse the data available in hospitals and detect infections. For example, when the doctors are doing patient visits in the morning and creating the report - we should analyse and understand the data and then check medical libraries for potential patterns or indications of symptoms that were not discovered immediately. The software and AI can then map those patterns, maybe indicating potential infections.” Omerhodzic rates AI as one of the highest-potential technologies in healthcare and recent research appears to support this claim, with the ‘Global AI Market in Healthcare’ sector set to grow by 28% year-on-year until 2023, according to a report by Technavio. On top of helping to identify infections, he sees AI, IoT and data analytics use cases

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Omerhodzic with Andreas Rollmann (left) and Olaf Haupt (centre) from Siemens. “We have been working very closely together on the PLM side.” ISSUE 14

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Now we are thinking of going even beyond the product. We are experimenting with how we could utilise artificial intelligence (AI) and IoT technologies to analyse the data available in hospitals and detect infections” Sinanudin Omerhodzic in supply chain and manufacturing, where future demands could be predicted by analysing internal data, such as customer history, and external data, like weather conditions and epidemics. HARTMANN recently developed a smart fulfilment solution for a pilot in Spain, where if a product was running low on stock IoT sensors would detect that, automatically triggering an order. This helped optimise process efficiency and offer better customer service. Yet Omerhodzic sees AI deployments going even further. “Let me mention another one which is a little bit more futuristic,” he teases. “In the areas outside of big cities, we see a shortage of specialist doctors but demand is increasing through demographic change, hence medical support and treatment is in danger. AI could help to make a first level of diagnosis so the patient won’t need to travel to the city to talk to specialists.” In truth, the possibilities offered by technologies like AI are impossible to predict.

HARTMANN is diligent enough to widen the scope of its analysis to other areas of innovation, including IoT (the Internet of Things), making its products ‘smarter’ - “it sounds very strange, but even a plaster can be smart” - and the modernisation of applications for a future where the entire ecosystem will be connected via one healthcare platform for a more seamless customer experience for institutions, professionals and patients. In order to maintain HARTMANN’s position at technology’s cutting edge, Omerhodzic has rethought the role of IT to become more innovative - and central to this has been the creation of the Technology Leader role. There are three different Technology Leader roles: Technology Leader Process, Technology Leader Market and Technology Leader Scout. These jobs are at the transformation coalface for HARTMANN IT. The ISSUE 14

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Technology Leader Process takes charge of internal process efficiency, the Technology Leader Market focuses on customer-driven innovation, while the Technology Leader Scout assesses the viability of recently developed and emerging technologies. All Technology Leaders are supported by the wider HARTMANN IT team, which boasts deep expertise in every discipline. “This is something that is very unique for HARTMANN IT,” says Alexandra Fibitz, Technology Leader Scout for wound management. “I am constantly screening the market for new technologies; AI, IoT and big data, for example. We adapt them to our HARTMANN work, include them in all of our projects where applicable and see where they fit our needs, and how we can integrate them in our solutions to help the patient.” Patrick Feil, a Technology Leader Market,

adds: “This is a complete transition phase we are currently in, and we at HARTMANN IT don’t see it as a tremendously complex change process - we really see it as an outstanding chance. The changes in our organisation are not only related to roles, responsibilities and new innovative structures, it’s also about getting new technologies, methodologies and toolsets into our teams. This is exactly what we require to achieve the digital goals in collaboration with our customers.” Feil is hinting at the wider overhaul implemented by Omerhodzic in his role as CIO. While innovation is supported by the Technology Leaders, efficiency on the corporate IT side is maximised through an agile, product-oriented structure that involves designers, developers and analysts forming teams in a new IT operating model that oversees the end-to-end delivery of products.

HARTMANN has driven healthcare innovation for close to 200 years

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Omerhodzic chats with SAP’s Johannes Heydt. “SAP is going to be very key to us to move to the next area with S4/HANA.” ISSUE 14

“It’s not just about SAP’s technology. “On one hand we have a key technology partner, but on the other they understand and support our vision in healthcare. “They co-innovate with us and support us as we evolve our products and services as we ‘Go further for Health’ and, in the end, save patients’ lives.” Sinanudin Omerhodzic, CIO HARTMANN GROUP

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Alexandra Fibitz, Senior Manager and Technology Leader for HARTMANN

In contrast to the previous methodology built around project rather than product management, Omerhodzic believes this way of working lends itself to increased levels of teamwork, focus and knowledge-retention and it is a foundational part of the ‘OneIT’ - one associated IT organisation working across the entire business - strategy at HARTMANN. Subhrajyoti Bose, Director of IT Strategy and Architecture, has had heavy involvement along the transformation journey. “Our IT strategy is to transform IT from being an operational support organisation acting on requests to one that is proactively 52

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watching the market for technology changes, and bringing in the best technologies and methods in the world to enable business innovation and the future corporate strategy at HARTMANN,” he comments. “When we look at the markets, it is clear that the innovations of the future are not only centred around the product itself but also encompass integrating digital technologies into the products and deriving business intelligence and insights from the data to drive customer value.” HARTMANN is pushing on all fronts to lead in the digital healthcare world of the future - yet, as with all industry players intent on bringing about effective trans-

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formation, the role of technology partners cannot be underestimated. SAP has been a long-time technology partner to HARTMANN, with the two companies first collaborating in the 1980s when SAP - now a billion-dollar software corporation with tens of thousands of clients all over the world - made HARTMANN just its 37th customer. Over the years they have worked on a range of integrations and their relationship today covers a broad spectrum of services. HARTMANN is integrating SAP S/4HANA, SAP’s most advanced enterprise resource planning (ERP) system yet, as the backbone for its internal systems. In addition,

HARTMANN is moving to cloud-based tools with SAP SuccessFactors, which delivers HR solutions, and SAP Ariba, the industry-leading procurement software. Each implementation is supported by SAP Services, guaranteeing the sustainability of every product and supporting HARTMANN’s data-led business models and digital transformation. “SAP is going to be very key to us to move to the next area with S4/HANA and optimise and make our processes more efficient,” outlines Omerhodzic. “It’s not just about SAP’s technology. On one hand we have a key technology partner, but on the other they understand and support our vision in healthcare. They co-innovate with us and support us as we evolve our products and services as we ‘go further for health’ and, in the end, save patients’ lives.” That versatility applies equally to Siemens, another technology partner for HARTMANN. With its own expertise in the medical devices and healthcare segment, Siemens offers HARTMANN comprehensive services around product lifecycle management (PLM), including the management of product data, material data, variant management and data for regulatory compliance. Due to new legislation in the healthcare market, internal processes at HARTMANN had to be adapted. Siemens has been chosen as vendor, and with its Teamcenter ISSUE 14

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application suite it designed the internal processes in accordance with the new regulations. Omerhodzic believes that the partnership will continue as he is very satisfied with the cooperation. “There are various opportunities because this [Siemens] is a very large company with a lot of competencies and a lot of experiences,” he adds. “So far we have been working very closely together on the PLM side, and how we document and digitalise the PLM process as such. “But we are also thinking now to see other opportunities when it comes to Healthineers [Siemens’ med-tech arm] and to see how its ecosystem can collaborate with our ecosystem, and how we could maybe even get some more benefits.” Every digital transformation story serves a greater purpose. For HARTMANN, that purpose is transparent: to improve the quality of lives and, ultimately, save them. “I think this is a very rewarding experience,” Fibitz states. “If I’m sitting at my desk, if I’m having meetings, if I’m doing my work - I always know at the end that I’m helping the customer, who is for us the patient. So if I think about my grandparents, or about my parents, for example, they are getting older - that’s life - but I know that with our products, we can at least make lives easier and help them experience a little bit more confidence and convenience.” Omerhodzic is now in a position to see 54

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This is a complete transition phase we are currently in, and we at HARTMANN IT don’t see it as a tremendously complex change process - we really see it as an outstanding chance” Patrick Feil

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Patrick Feil, Senior Manager and Technology Leader (left) and Subhrajyoti Bose, Director of IT Strategy and Architecture.

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the results from seeds sown over the last three years - but that doesn’t mean he or HARTMANN will be resting on their laurels any time soon. In December, the company outlined its five-year transformation programme built around innovative strength, competitive strength and process efficiency, also promising further investment in its digital infrastructure. The end goal is international leadership in its three core areas of incontinence management, infection management and wound management. “I’m 1000% committed to an organisation,” Omerhodzic concludes. “There is no 9-to-5 job in my life. But if you have a strong commitment, you need to also strongly believe in something, otherwise you can’t go the extra mile. That means you need to have a strong purpose, and HARTMANN has one. “You, as an IT expert, really have the chance, working for HARTMANN, to help save patient lives and utilise its technologies. The company is very open-minded, is welcoming to people and is very culturally involved in terms of willing to make you think. That’s maybe the reason it has been successful for 200 years.” If HARTMANN continues to wed its purpose, innovative spirit and technological knowhow to “go further for health”, then the industry is in safe hands for a few more centuries yet. ISSUE 14

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THE AUGMENTED HUMAN

Chris Huff, Chief Strategy Officer for Kofax, gives Digital Bulletin the blueprint for automation and seamless “human augmentation” AUTHOR: Ben Mouncer

n the debate around technology’s effect on the enterprise, leaders and thinkers naturally lean to the big picture. The starting point for any technology implementation is the organisational goals: how a new system or product can help move the needle for that business, whether the measure is cost balancing, efficiency or customer service. How its workforce will feel the impact is also part of that mix, but as agitational coverage of automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and the like refuses to subside, is industry fully cognisant to the human consequences of digital transformation? And how will the rela-

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tionship between technology and workers manifest in the future? For those with a positive hunch, the answer lies in “human augmentation”. Also known as “human enhancement”, human augmentation is a broad field of research into how human abilities can be boosted. In the digital arena, the term is used to describe a worker’s job and output being enhanced by the aid of technology. This is in contrast to the argument that technology will have negative and far-reaching consequences for the workforce, including mass job displacement. But the reality is far more nuanced than these two black-and-white views.

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FUTURE

We have so many converging technologies that are starting to offer companies the ability to develop a lot of capacity very quickly without adding any headcount” Chris Huff, Chief Strategy Officer for Kofax

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The future dynamic between employees and technology is dependent upon infinite factors and, at this stage, is still horribly hard to predict. Chris Huff, a strategic mind in this area for Kofax and a thought leader around human augmentation, believes we are in the midst of a race between technology convergence and human preparedness. “We have so many converging technologies that are starting to offer companies the ability to develop a lot of capacity very quickly without adding any headcount. At that point, are we empowering the individual worker at the same rate that we are developing that capacity?” he asks Digital Bulletin as part of an indepth interview. “If not, you can absolutely start to see when enterprises are going to sway towards technology more than people, in terms of what they’re relying on. We really need to be balanced around this accelerated rate of change and the convergence of technologies.” Huff believes a common problem is employees engaging too much with work - and that this issue is only going to get worse because of the explosion of data alongside the onset of 5G and a proliferating Internet of Things. In an ever-more demanding business culture enabled by enhanced technology and connectivity, he says human

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augmentation could be the only answer to redressing the balance. “I’ve done a fair number of presentations when you say “human augmentation” to a crowd and they automatically think of Terminator and Skynet… and that’s not a good thing! You have to dig yourself out of that hole initially. But then I introduce the topic by saying humans are more connected to their work than ever before,” Huff outlines. “The pressures of work are non-stop. Most people feel like they’re trying to fit 11 hours of work into an eight hour day and it’s simply unsustainable. Unless we find a way to embrace these new technologies to augment us, we’re simply going to end up with more technologies

that enable us to do more work and keep us more connected, and that’s a very dangerous slope for us to be on.” Huff’s viewpoint might first be interpreted as unusual; a technologist warning of the side effects of technology and advising a cautious approach to its adoption. But for human augmentation to be successful, he isn’t advocating a technology-resistant approach but an understanding of where it should be deployed. The aim, Huff says, is for workers “to shift from being data collectors to highend data users” - and the key to that transition is automation. By his definition, human augmentation is the automating of basic data tasks to support and free up the employee to take more ISSUE 14

The Bulletin

HIGHLIGHTS

INTEL AND QUTECH UNVEIL SPEC FOR CRYOGENIC QUANTUM COMPUTING CONTROL CHIP Intel has unveiled the technical designs for its first cryogenic quantum computing control chip, made in collaboration with QuTech. “Horse Ridge” promises to deliver capabilities for quantum scaling, flexibility and fidelity. “We’re continuing to make steady progress on quantum computing,” said an Intel spokesperson. The designs were shown at the International Solid State Circuits Conference. (19/02/20) MORE ON THIS STORY

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Unless we find a way to embrace these new technologies to augment us, we’re simply going to end up with more technologies that enable us to do more work and keep us more connected, and that’s a very dangerous slope for us to be on” decisive actions. But Huff is keen to make a distinction between this strand of automation and RPA, or robotic process automation. “Most people, when they think of automation, they think of RPA. It’s one of the most hyped markets right now and it certainly has its place but RPA is really around task automation rather than process automation,” he explains. “When you start to think about data, data needs to flow along an entire process, all the way from data ingestion - often unstructured items like PDFs, emails etc. - to the transformation of that data with automation and AI. The starting point for RPA is standardised and structured data but first we need to put intelligent automation on the front-end to ingest the data and feed solutions like RPA.” Kofax’s whole pitch is around the delivery of “intelligent automation”. Huff acts as its Chief Strategy Officer, so drives

the growth plans of its core platform which is built around the five capabilities of process orchestration, cognitive capture, advanced analytics, RPA and mobility & engagement. Huff, who previously led Deloitte’s public sector robotics and intelligent automation efforts in the United States, has helped Kofax leverage its legacy asset portfolio to now offer this broader range of automation services - and the results have been impressive. The company has more than 25,000 global customers, including eight of the world’s 10 biggest banks and seven of the 10 largest insurers. “Ours is a horizontal platform that relates to any industry,” he adds. “So if it’s manufacturing, healthcare or any others, our technologies are relevant in all of those. But I’d say the quickest to adopt and scale is the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) industry, followed closely by transportation ISSUE 14

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Job displacement is something that is absolutely real and needs to be discussed. We can’t sweep it under the rug” and logistics. Manufacturing I would put third, and then I would put healthcare and lifesciences at four, followed by the public sector.” Why are the big financial players turning to Kofax? Huff believes the rapidly changing dynamics of that particular market have forced the historically-dominant institutions to move quickly in their pursuit of innovation, largely due to activity from a number of disruptive startups with more product agility. “The moats that large companies built around their businesses have largely dissipated, because the barriers for entry are now very low,” Huff says. “If you know how to leverage technology, you can have the reach and impact that a legacy company with a huge workforce hasn’t. “What we hear, especially in verticals like BFSI, is they want to rebuild those 64

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moats using the newest and latest intelligent automation. A lot of the AI algorithms are open source now, and so you see the BFSI companies starting to develop products using open source AI code and then utilising their deep domain experience to try and standardise that across their industry.” Kofax has undoubtedly benefited from this, successes that will be reflected when it reports another significant boost to its annual revenues later this year. In February it also completed the headline $400 million acquisition of NDI (Nuance Document Imaging) but familiar challenges remain for any business looking to take advantage of enterprise’s craving for data tools. Concerns around bias are inherent in software development, and then there’s the awkward subject of automation and jobs. “Job displacement is something that is absolutely real and needs to be discussed. We can’t sweep it under the rug,” Huff admits. Consequently, he believes the catalyst for positive change is collaboration. Huff demands a consortium approach where government, private industry and individuals come together to work proactively on aligning the future workforce with technology. “I think governments need to do essentially what they did moving from

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combustible engines to electric vehicles; they need to incentivise society to move in a particular direction. Private industry needs to take the onus around creating learning pathways for workers, whether that’s gig workers, traditional full-time workers or contractors. That is so people can shift into higher value jobs. Then, from an individual perspective, they need to want to upskill. “I think, over time, we’ve proven through human ingenuity that people do want to do things smarter and better, I think that’s an innate quality.” For Huff, the human element will always be number one, not just in terms

of workers but also customer service. A determined focus on the customer has steered Kofax’s transformation. “One of the first things I did when I came over here two years ago was say that we should refocus on the customer. Even though we were a product company, we were not going to be a product-driven company - we would be a customer-driven company,” he finishes. “That’s how you see us moving forward with human augmentation; taking a balanced approach where we are customer-focused but also delivering a balance between the enterprise and the individual through this intuitive software.” ISSUE 14

SECURITY

BLOCKCHAIN FOR GOOD Charles Hoskinson is one of cryptocurrencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s foremost personalities. Here, in the first installment of a two part interview, he tells Digital Bulletin why global payment systems are broken and how blockchain platforms can bring in billions of people from the economic cold AUTHOR: James Henderson

echnology has made it easier than ever to pay for goods and services with the tap of a card or the click of a button. As a result, the payments industry is booming, with fintech startups and challenger banks giving consumers more choice than ever before over their finances. It led to the value of M&A activity in the fintech sector tipping past $100 billion for the first time in 2019. But while the developed world reaps the benefits and convenience of this booming payments market, billions of people find themselves effectively 66

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locked out of the global financial system. Primarily made up of people living in developing nations, these people are being hamstrung by a lack of credit records, access to financial services and formal identity documentation. Typically, incumbent governments have lacked the economic means or desire to build the infrastructure necessary to lift their people out of financial services poverty, especially in unstable geopolitical areas where regimes can change at the drop of a dime. But technology could be about to alter the landscape forever.

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The Ethiopian capital city, Addis Ababa It is a subject Charles Hoskinson is deeply passionate about. The 32-yearold Colorado-native will be well known to anybody with a passing interest in the cryptocurrency world, as an Ethereum (ETH) co-founder, founder of Cardano (ADA), CEO of IOHK (Input Output Hong Kong) and the director of The Bitcoin Education Project. Having left his role at Ethereum over disagreements about the direction of the blockchain-based platform, Hoskinson went on to team up with former Ethereum colleague Jeremy Wood to establish IOHK, which is in the business of building cryptocurrencies and blockchains for corporations, government entities and academic institutions. IOHK took payment exclusively in the form of Bitcoin, a strategy that paid off in spades when the value of the cryptocurrency skyrocketed. Having chased 68

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in his virtual chips, Hoskinson is now reckoned to be one of the wealthiest crypto figures in the world, somewhere between $500 million and $600 million depending on who you listen to, and enough to keep IOHK operating for at least a couple more decades. When Digital Bulletin speaks to Hoskinson, he is rubbing shoulders with the great and the good at the Davos Economic Forum, which must be just about the best place on the planet to spend the week networking. It is rarified air for somebody who has been described as a maverick, a boardroom brawler and a straight talker, but Hoskinson makes no apology for his style. “You need to have strong opinions if you are an entrepreneur, especially in emerging markets,” he says. “It is very easy in the legacy world to be polite and political but I just don’t have the

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patience for it because there are three billion people on the planet that are excluded from the global economy and they’re not living so well - there is no excuse for that. “I’m outspoken because I believe we have a limited window to decide how the world is going to work in the 21st century. It is going to be either distributing power to the edges or more of the same times ten, where power is consolidated and centralised. This means structural poverty that people cannot escape from.” It is this drive that led Hoskinson and his team to develop Atala, an opensource blockchain framework, which unlike other blockchain platforms, is primed for cryptocurrency use. Using Atala in combination with a cryptocurrency could, says Hoskinson, provide a secure and dependable means of payment for people currently without one. IOHK is currently working on a feasibility study with Ethiopia’s Ministry of Innovation and Technology to get a deeper understanding of how to build admissabe currency. “The problem we are trying to solve is that you’ve got four million people in Addis Ababa [Ethiopia’s capital city] trying to pay their utility bills, it takes hours because they have to stand in line at kiosks and there are not enough of them,” Hoskinson states.

It is very easy in the legacy world to be polite and political but I just don’t have the patience for it because there are three billion people on the planet that are excluded from the global economy and they’re not living so well - there is no excuse for that” Charles Hoskinson

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The Bulletin

HIGHLIGHTS

FORESCOUT SOLD TO ADVENT INTERNATIONAL FOR $1.9 BILLION Forescout, the security firm that specialises in device and network visibility, is to be acquired by global private equity investor Advent. The transaction will be worth $1.9 billion when completed. Forescout will stay in California and Michael DeCesare will remain as CEO. An Advent spokesperson said Forescout is â&#x20AC;&#x153;a mission-critical business positioned to capitalise on key tech megatrendsâ&#x20AC;?. (07/02/20) MORE ON THIS STORY

CHARLES HOSKINSON

If we’re successful we will have built a payment system for four million people that has a great chance to become a payment system for all of the country, which is 106 million people and then a pan-African payment settlement system. It’s a high-risk, high-reward play” “What the Minister for Technology wants to do is take the local currency, the Birr, and let people go to telecommunications stores and use those locations as cash-in and cash-out stores as they are well distributed and easy to use. “You then use a digital token that represents that money and it will live on your phone. The use case of that will be allowing people to pay their utility bill whenever they want, wherever they want using that application.” If successful, the initiative could lead to a general payment system linked to the Birr, as well as the opportunity to develop digital identity systems. Following the feasibility study, there is the potential for a trial designed by the Ministry of Innovation & Technology and IOHK where a subset of Addis Ababa’s four million population would use the

payment system in an A/B testing environment, with it being scored on criteria such as efficiency, satisfaction and metadata per transaction. IOHK and Hoskinson would then be looking at a full roll-out. It is a drawn out process, he admits, but one he is fully committed to. “If we’re successful we will have built a payment system for four million people that has a great chance to become a payment system for all of the country, which is 106 million people and then a pan-African payment settlement system. It’s a high-risk, high-reward play,” he comments. “This is a system that will not require power from a government or need a traditional company to run and operate, so you’re not going to get middle men sucking value from every transaction. ISSUE 14

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This is a system that will not require power from a government or need a traditional company to run and operate, so you’re not going to get middle men sucking value from every transaction”

We want to be a part of this conversation to help people be in charge of their identities, their assets and their data.” Hoskinson is clearly passionate about the potential he perceives that project to have, and believes, if successful, it could prove to be a use case for other large-scale projects across the African continent, which is home to some of the fastest-growing economies in the world. However, a lack of financial infrastructure - Ethiopia has posted double digit GDP growth on numerous occasions over 72

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the last decade, but doesn’t have a stock market - is a barrier to securing direct foreign investment. “There is a lot of foundational work to do and you can look at it as a challenge but we look at it as a great market opportunity because there is no incumbency. There is no Microsoft or SAP - there is no vendor preference. We think we can get in on the ground floor with a blockchain solution that can be the foundation for everything,” says Hoskinson. “People always love it when they are in charge of their identity, information

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and money. It intrinsically makes sense to them and there is a suspicion of government and foreign actors for obvious reasons. This is a continent that has been deeply exploited in many cases. It is refreshing when you come in and say you want to build something together and as a partner. “We worked with the local university to train 22 women to become programmers so we could have a group of people who could service these deals proactivity, which took two years. We flew people out to live here and to train,

which most Western companies aren’t prepared to do. But we are.” Hoskinson and IOHK are attempting to change the conversation and reminagne how financial systems can be democratised using emerging technologies, therefore, in his own words, pushing power from a few people in the centre, to the general population around the edges. Whether or not we grasp this chance to use technology for the betterment of all will be one of the defining issues of this generation and many to come, he argues. “We live in an age of wonder, one with amazing technology and productivity,” Hoskinson concludes. “America manufactures more today than we did on our golden days in the 1960s and 70s, and that is because we are far more efficient because of great technology. “So with all of that, why the hell are three billion people still not living well? Because we have bad systems. And we don’t have a lot of time left to fix them.” Next month, Charles Hoskinson returns to Digital Bulletin, where he speaks about his plans for Cardano in 2020, his thoughts on Bitcoin, working with the EU, and what cryptocurrency has to do to make it mainstream.

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IT SERVICES

THE FUTURE OF ERP Traditional enterprise software categories are breaking down as organisations refocus on their customers. Should this alter our longheld views around ERP and the like? Christian Pedersen, Chief Product Officer for IFS, gives Digital Bulletin the answers AUTHOR: Ben Mouncer

nterprise resource planning (ERP) is one of the most established software categories around today. Itself the product of a billion-dollar industry, ERP software provides the digital spine for organisations existing at scale and is an enabler for many critical business functions. But as technology permeates deeper and deeper into business operations, the lines are blurring between ERP and other well-defined categories like CRM, enterprise asset and service management (EAM/ESM) and even industry-specific solutions such as MES, or manufacturing execution systems. In fact, some experts hold the view that in the not too distant 74

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future, software categories of this ilk will disappear completely. One authority from this field of thought is Christian Pedersen. Active in the ERP market for nearly 25 years, Pedersen has seen it all: from helping to grow and sell an early ERP startup at the turn of the millenium, to leading ERP practice at Microsoft and working for sector behemoth SAP, the Dane speaks from a position of clarity when forecasting the future. “I think these barriers will be broken down,” he explains to Digital Bulletin. “That by default will make it simpler and easier for customers, because we as vendors should

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IT SERVICES

We can only maintain our insights by being close to customers, because at the end of the day, it’s the customers that have the expertise in their industries” provide them with solutions that they can adopt where they need them. It’s a positive for customers but I think it will challenge the providers.” Pedersen’s argument is that, to the all-powerful customers, traditional software categories are artificial and are just terms invented and used by those inside the industry. As the shift to customer service excellence continues at its relentless pace, what will become the priority is the construction of perfectly-integrated business systems tailor-fitted to the client. For that, a close relationship with every customer will be essential, according to Pedersen. “We can only maintain our insights by being close to customers, because at the end of the day, it’s the customers that 76

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have the expertise in their industries. We can only constantly learn from that and bring that together with our insights on the technology side. It’s the coming together of what customers and businesses actually need, with the possibilities and opportunities that technologies bring.” A company tackling this reality is IFS. Founded in 1983, IFS has long been the ERP vanguard for organisations who manufacture and distribute goods, maintain assets and manage service-focused operations. Its solutions equip more than one million users globally and Pedersen has been its Chief Product Officer since September 2018.

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Brought in for his strong domain expertise and to steer the IFS product strategy, Pedersen naturally takes a keen interest in the the wider market’s roadmap. He believes three points of inflection have caused the convergence of different software categories and the consequent transformation. “Firstly we talk about the inflection point between business and technology, where technology allows completely new business models, that’s one element,” says Pedersen. “The other element of digital transformation is the inflection point between people and experiences; so the experience that people get when

they come to work, that they feel the software and solutions they’re using are helping them do a better job. “Then the final element is the inflection point between automation and efficiency. For decades, we as an industry have been focusing on making things better, more efficient, faster and so forth, but now we are starting to automate complete processes and roles.” These are seismic shifts for any industry to contend with. Having already established the need to achieve customer-centrality in the changing ERP space, Pedersen and IFS are excited by the potential that technologies have to achieve

ISSUE 14

The Bulletin

HIGHLIGHTS

GOOGLE CLOUD SNAPS UP CORNERSTONE FOR MAINFRAME MIGRATIONS Google Cloud has continued its acquisition spree with the buyout of Dutch firm Cornerstone Technology. Following on from the recent agreements with Alooma and CloudSimple, the Cornerstone acquisition will strengthen Googleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mainframe migration capabilities. Cornerstoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s technology, built over more than 30 years, automates large parts of the migration process. (20/02/20) MORE ON THIS STORY

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new levels of service delivery that would recently have seemed impossible. Pedersen is all too aware that to continue on the path towards truly integrated and bespoke business systems, IFS and other players must retain a pragmatic approach to technology development. “We are completely open in our technologies,” he asserts. “We are native and open API-enabled at the core. We know that we have to work with not only other software packages but also IoT devices, industrial machines in the manufacturing plants and so forth. Therefore there are really three categories that we’re focusing on. “We’re focusing on software, obviously as we have always done. We’re focusing on emerging technologies - what are the emerging technologies that are coming into play? And then we’re focusing on data. The ability to consume data from everywhere, but also the ability for us to provide the access to our data for many other systems, is essential. So those are the three categories of investment.” The conversation turns to just exactly which emerging technologies Pedersen feels will drive the biggest change, and his response is definitive: it is through digital twins that he is adamant ERP systems of the future will be delivered. Gartner defines a digital twin as “a digital representation of a real-world entity

The area that we see super exciting is everything around digital twins” or system… an encapsulated software object or model that mirrors a unique physical object, process, organisation, person or other abstraction”. The value to ERP systems that incorporate physical and non-physical assets is obvious, with tangible business benefits from real-time insights and data in one place. “The area that we see super exciting is everything around digital twins,” Pedersen reveals. “Being able to have real-time representation of what goes on directly in the ERP system is not only critical but it also opens up some phenomenal new scenarios. For instance, if you’re looking and working with a customer on sales engagements and other things, you would be able to immediately see the status of existing assets we may service for that customer. Digital twins are absolutely critical.” Contextual intelligence - the ability to provide anybody performing a task in an organisation with relevant and live information - is also a clear ambition ISSUE 14

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In the context of automation, simulation becomes really important too - if we can actually simulate certain scenarios and see how these automation engines will react, that will impact directly how the business operates in the future”

for IFS, as is the building of capabilities that fit with augmented and mixed reality, where use cases could prove valuable in its core verticals of aerospace & defence, manufacturing, engineering, construction and infrastructure. On an even higher plane, ERP providers are racing to keep up in the development race around robotics, automation and advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Again, Pedersen gives insights from the perspective of manufacturers. “We have a situation where our future engineering and manufacturing plants may not be run by a person anymore 80

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but they may actually be a robot, so the user of the ERP system may be a robot,” he speculates. “This is an example of reversed augmented reality; where if the robot finds something that it doesn’t know what to do with, it can connect with a supervisor who can look through the eyes of the robot and maybe take action. It’s a very exciting evolution. “In the context of automation, simulation becomes really important too - if we can actually simulate certain scenarios and see how these automation engines will react, that will impact directly how the business operates in the future. That type of simulation combined with the

IFS

maximum powers of AI/ML is fascinating, challenging and it’s also scary.” Scary and exciting, for sure, but Pedersen refuses to allow IFS to get swept up in the hype around buzzwords like AI - instead, the focus is centred on providing a more personalised, agile set of business systems to its customers, with these technologies as the silent forces beneath. “You will not actually hear us go out and talk about having augmented reality, for example, we’ll just say that we now have remote support for our service technicians. It’s the same thing when it comes to automation and robotics - we will not talk about having an AI or ML

offering, we will talk about how we have optimisation for the workforce. That’s the difference; we put all these technologies in context for our customers. “We see it as our responsibility to serve our customers’ needs in their industry, end-to-end, be it with a classic ERP, be it with these emerging technologies or be it with different data sources.” IFS has come a long way since its humble beginnings. The company was famously founded by a group of five Linköping University students who, when servicing its first client Barsebäck Nuclear Power back in 1983, camped outside its offices in a tent to save costs and work double shifts. Now IFS’s main customer base is in the United States and it boasts more than 10,000 customers worldwide - with no camping involved. Pedersen, who is based in the US, is sure its upward trajectory is on course to continue. “I think the future looks very bright for us - we have the right angle that is customer pragmatic and customer friendly. We’re just focused on doing the right things for the businesses we serve,” he concludes.

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CONNECTIVITY

SECURING NETWORK AUTOMATION Barracuda Networks’ Dr Klaus Gheri talks to Digital Bulletin about securing network automation, the pros and cons of 5G, compliance in the cloud and Firewall-as-a-Service

r Gheri, thanks for joining us. Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Barracuda Networks? I’m the VP & General Manager, Network Security at Barracuda Networks, which means I head up the new network security part of our business, and I’m responsible for the cloud generation and firewall product line. I’ve been with the company for nearly 10 years. Could you tell us a bit about Barracuda Networks? Barracuda is a pretty unique animal. We started 17 years ago with email and have progressed to networks and applications, which are three areas that all customers have a need for. The network 82

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backbone, which is my domain, is something that is getting increasingly important as things get more dispersed, which is also true of data protection. We specialise in providing protection in these various areas, with a strong emphasis on cloud connected environments. What security considerations must enterprises take when they’re thinking about their strategy for network automation? I think it’s fair to say that cloud is the new data centre, and one of the nice attributes of cloud is automation. Network assets on public cloud can easily be automatically created and destroyed. Some of this is doable in the physical data centre by way of virtualisation but

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I think it’s fair to say that cloud is the new data centre, and one of the nice attributes of cloud is automation” Dr Klaus Gheri

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increasingly so, this is actually happening in the cloud. The problem for customers is security is not necessarily an integral part of it so you can do many things with automation, but security stays within the responsibility of the subscriber or the organisation using automation. Operators or admin have to be aware of this and actively make security plans. Where does network security automation fit into this conversation? I think that security needs to become scriptable. We try to be really flexible with our architecture, making it scriptable, enable policy through APIs from the outside, making it DevOps friendly. It might be a new paradigm for some vendors and something that will take a while to get their heads round, but it’s something we’ve been doing for more than six years. Another really important element is security posture monitoring of these new cloud assets. Everything that is stored in the cloud needs to fall in line with compliance, and that is where the security industry can help both in terms of just getting a grip on the current inventory, visualising it and then benchmarking it against some complaints and baselines. We can take it even further, so that rather than just alerting a customer when there

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is a deviation, the system can take control and tell me when it has sorted the issue. These highly automated environments make a tonne of sense in environments where so much is going on. It’s so transparent and offers an extra layer of monitoring and control to see what’s going on. How are technologies such as AI, ML and 5G impacting network automation and network security? AI and machine learning can help detect anomalies and deviations from baseline. We use some of that technology in email security products, for instance, trying to see subtle deviations in communication patterns. The systems, after having learned for a little while, can detect those and then basically raise an alarm or quarantine the email before it can do any harm.

I think this is an ongoing process where AI and machine learning technologies just grow into the product. 5G is a different topic. That’s high performance, new access technology that will massively affect the way things will communicate. Could tech such as 5G result in new network vulnerabilities that enterprise needs to guard against? Yes, every new communication technology has new vulnerabilities. You’ll find there’s a flaw in the protocol, IoT will be layered in on top because through 5G, IoT will be able to communicate to an unprecedented extent. And that in itself creates problems because it’s a tech surface that is accessible from the outside. The other thing that I consider an issue around 5G is a little bit like MPLS. ISSUE 14

The Bulletin

HIGHLIGHTS

CIA PREPARING FOR MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR COMMERCIAL CLOUD CONTRACTS: REPORTS The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is gearing up to award a number of commercial cloud contracts, according to reports. Both Nextgov and Bloomberg said they had seen draft request proposals for the contracts that could run up to 15 years. Known by the CIA as its Commercial Cloud Enterprise, or C2E contract, the deals handed out could be worth â&#x20AC;&#x153;tens of billions of dollarsâ&#x20AC;?, said the reports. (06/02/20) MORE ON THIS STORY

BARRACUDA NETWORKS

MPLS is deemed by many people like private networks, which it is not because of shared infrastructure and it’s as secure as your telco makes it. You’re actually handing over your privacy to the telco. 5G has similar elements to it. It has baked insecurity. We’re getting requests around 5G already to layer in security as companies do not necessarily trust the providers. From a personal point of view, I would always just like to control my own fate and just add encryption. Again, that is something that’s sometimes challenging because especially at the low end of things like devices communicating with some cloud service, the device may in itself not be capable of providing good enough cryptography. Could you speak about how you are enabling automated security compliance in the cloud? We launched Cloud Security Guardian about a year ago, which works with AWS and Microsoft Azure. It’s a cloud service we provide that points the cloud service to your cloud assets. That means what happens then is we deploy a little agent in a container to your cloud subscription. That’s the anchor point through which our service can actually retrieve information. Basically it pulls in telemetric data about the assets, the

We’re already getting requests around 5G already to layer in security as companies do not necessarily trust the providers” setup, which cloud components talk to which other cloud components, what are the security settings etc. It actually depicts the whole thing. You get a mentor diagram, which is something that normally blows people away because they’re super hard to come by otherwise. That’s an immediate benefit and you can also test drive that for free and just see for yourself whether you can make sense of what you’re getting. In addition to that, you can actually then enforce compliance controls. One of the main networking trends for 2020 is predicted to be ‘Firewall-as-aService’, what is your opinion on this? I actually think the new acronym that’s getting a lot of traction is SASE, which stands for Secure Access Service Edge. It will terminate in the cloud. The configuration will all be cloud-centric and inISSUE 14

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I actually think the new acronym that’s getting a lot of traction is SASE, which stands for Secure Access Service Edge”

spection will then take place. The heavy lifting will take place in the cloud. The IoT connecting that I talked about before, it’s actually pretty much in line with that model because the heavyweight components, they run on cloud. They do the inspection. The low end trims down little hardware contraption that goes next to the machines onprem. Basically all it does is try to be as resilient as possible in terms of making 88

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a connection back home into the cloud. But the same thing, of course, works for office networks and that’s now increasingly getting referred to as the SASE model. This is the way it’s going. Conflict in the cloud, termination into the cloud because the bulk of your assets is going to be in a cloud and then dark breaker locally and of course layered in on top of the smart routing, state-of-the-art SD-

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WAN technology. This is where we are heading and this is sometimes summed up as firewall-as-a-service or some of these elements would also be found in the firewall. But this is where the industry is heading slowly and steadily. What other trends will we see over the next 12 months? I think SD-WAN of course is a macro trend that will continue. For us, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve

been having data in the product since 2005 when it was not called SD-WAN, just multi-transport VPN. More lately this became super popular especially in conjunction with cloud. I think this will continue and what was known as a firewall will become a kind of a multifunctional product with those elements added.

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DATA INTELLIGENCE

SIMPLIFYING MULTI-PETABYTE APPROACHES Infinidatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s EMEA CTO, Eran Brown, tells Digital Bulletin how companies can take control of their multi-petabyte datasets in a cost effective and efficient way AUTHOR: James Henderson

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INFINIDAT

nfinidat’s CTO Eran Brown likes to tell a story to illustrate how he believes a new kind of currency exchange is being established when it comes to enterprise and the cloud. “At every event I go to, I’ll ask who is taking business units to the cloud, and everyone will stick their hands up, but when I ask who is doing so because it is a cheaper way to do business, people look at me like I’m crazy,” Brown explains to Digital Bulletin. “Lastly, I’ll ask how many of them are going to the cloud to accelerate timeto-market, and all of the hands shoot up again. For these companies that are running hundreds of terabytes of data, the public cloud service is going to come at a premium. “When I ask them why they are prepared to pay that premium, they all say the same thing, which is when they want to launch a new business service it is all about being first, time to market is the new currency that is being traded in. And I always joke that there is a new currency exchange that is if you can pay 20% but get to market five months faster.” ISSUE 14

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The anecdote is a clear illustration of the cloud dilemmas that face companies struggling to make sense of increasingly complex and sizeable datasets and decide what stays on-prem, what is transitioned into public cloud, and how data can be effectively analysed to gain business insights. Infinidat is a data storage company that specialises in creating top and bottom-line value for customers who depend on data at petabyte scale to create competitive advantage. Just last month, it announced that it has deployed more than six Exabytes in global storage capacity, moving from five Exabytes in less than six months. It is a reflection of the rapid growth in the market for large, 92

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high-availability storage systems, according to Infinidat. Brown joined the company seven years ago, initially as senior product manager, leading many products from ideation through to release, and then taking the CTO EMEA position in 2018. Brown says that key to his role is to act as the voice of the customer, looking beyond the obvious to understand what services Infinidat should be offering to clients. “I like to be able to speak to clients to understand what they are trying to achieve. Often, you’ll find that the tertiary issue they’re trying to resolve is the result of a decision that was taken seven or eight years ago when digital transformation wasn’t a thing,” Brown says.

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“That is the root cause, so just selling them a product is going to be nothing more than a band aid I’ll try to work with them to agree a wider technological solution to their business problem that allows the company to solve the issue from the root. That is what being an evangelist is all about, looking at wider challenges and offering different solutions altogether.” Brown reflects on the changes in technology in his relatively short time at the company. But, he says, there is a commonality that links the leaps and bounds being made. “We live in a deja vu era where every few years there is a new technology that allows us to do more with data and every couple of years technology causes us to consume, whether that’s storing or analysing, more data,” says Brown. “It was databases in the past, then file sharing and collaboration suites, then it was business intelligence and support systems, then big data and now we are talking about AI, ML, DataOps. Every single milestone along the way has led to more storage and analysis of growing datasets to drive more value. “I think that another exchange rate here is how much value can you drive from your data versus how much does it cost to do so. Businesses need a way to disrupt their cost structure when it comes to data.”

At every event I go to, I’ll ask who is taking business units to the cloud, and everyone will stick their hands up, but when I ask who is doing so because it is a cheaper way to do business, people look at me like I’m crazy” Eran Brown

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The Bulletin

HIGHLIGHTS

ORACLE STRENGTHENS MACHINE LEARNING CLOUD CAPABILITY Oracle has released a new cloud platform for data scientists. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Oracle Cloud Data Science Platformâ&#x20AC;? will, according to the company, support the development of machine learning solutions for enterprise. Its software automatically selects the most suitable training datasets for optimal ML models. A lack of tooling has previously hindered data science teams, says Oracle. (12/02/20) MORE ON THIS STORY

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Infinidat’s recent work with UK-based cloud services provider Core DataCloud is a noteworthy use case of its value, taking disc storage from EMC Isilon, Unity, Nimble Storage and Rubrik and consolidating it on its petabyte-scale storage platform. The Infinidat Infinibox will support backup and disaster recovery services for Core DataCloud, which serves around 120 customers from its data centre in Reading, UK. “One of the things we hear most from our customers is that we allow them to gain agility on-prem that they can usually only get on public cloud, and Core

DataCloud is a great example of this,” Brown comments. “Two things that are really important to that are flexible business models, and enabling technologies that allow customers to accelerate their own operational processes. These two things together allow them to gain a lot of agility while still staying within their own premises, without worrying about things like the US Cloud Act, without having to prepay for infrastructure that they’re not using. “This pay-as-you-grow mentality means they can gain agility in the more cost effective private cloud and the additional value of the public cloud is drastically deISSUE 14

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This pay-as-you-grow mentality means they can gain agility in the more cost effective private cloud and the additional value of the public cloud is drastically decreased for themâ&#x20AC;?

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INFINIDAT

creased for them. That’s not to say that we don’t believe in hybrid clouds, everyone will have something in the cloud and on-prem, but the question becomes where the cost line goes.” In addition, in February it was announced that leading data services provider US Signal is relying on the InfiniBox enterprise storage system to power its ongoing expansion. US Signal’s seven Midwest data centres currently use 12 InfiniBox systems for business-critical application and data storage. Additional InfiniBox arrays will support a newly constructed, purpose-built eighth data centre in Metro Detroit scheduled to go online in March 2020. “InfiniBox has the horsepower and the price-per-terabyte cost advantage we need to offer the most competitive managed security services on the market,” said Marc Creviere, principal systems engineer at US Signal. “Infinidat’s products tie in very well with our infrastructure. The performance, availability and proactive support Infinidat delivers are a vital part of our success.” Brown and Inifindat believe that by embracing a more cost cautious approach to data projects, IT departments stand a better chance of getting potential projects rubber stamped. He takes the

examples of IoT and machine learning, two areas companies are keen to leverage to gain a competitive advantage. “One of the biggest challenges customers are having when they are pitching projects to management is the need to push the cost down so the net value is higher. At the same time they want to de-risk the project because, while it may be compelling, it may fail,” he comments. “If I just buy $2 million worth of specialised hardware that I’m stuck with whether or not the project is successful, that is not necessarily very good from a risk management perspective. Whereas if I buy something that I can pay-asI-grow and is versatile so I can use it for something else, then that business flexibility and business model can really help get the buy-in from management and get a project launched. “So it may be $2 million, but it is equipment that can be repurposed if the project is ultimately unsuccessful. It’s all about agility and improving the existing processes to enable private clouds to really be there for the business so they don’t have to access the more expensive public cloud.”

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A LIFE IN TECH

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Alun Baker has 20 years’ experience in playing a key role growing and transforming technology companies such as Oracle, Merrill and Accenture. Here, Clario Tech’s Chief Executive Officer tells Digital Bulletin about some of the lessons and knowledge he’s picked up along the way

ALUN BAKER

got involved in tech in the 90s and really thought it was the most exciting dynamic place that was rapidly emerging, although it was also a very different environment to the one we have today. I wasn’t a technologist for the sake of technology, to me it has always been about how it can change lives and businesses. For me it was about using what technology does to affect outcomes. Whatever I’ve done in my career, the transformative moment is always making that link between using technology to change lives or in a market. If you cannot put yourself in the shoes of the person you are in discourse with and see not just the technology challenges they see, but also the personal challenges, you won’t bring effective change to somebody. Technology is a global marketplace but if you apply the same approach to every country or situation, you’ll fail. What you say to an American is going to land differently to a French person or somebody from Germany - one size never fits all. You are constantly adopting and adapting to suit different environments.

Oracle was a fascinating place for me. Larry Ellison [founder) always reminded me of David Copperfield because he dressed like him, he always wore all black and Larry proved to the market that it was never about the best product, it was always about the best marketing. Oracle won the database wars not with the best product. It was always about the messaging to the market which won the day. That really taught me that it’s about perception, if people perceive you in a position, then you’re halfway to winning. You can have the best product in the world, but if people don’t perceive that, it really doesn’t matter. The internet has changed lives in a way nobody could ever have imagined, and we take it for granted a little bit now. I think the reason why the internet is now so pervasive is the arrival of smartphones and I believe they have transformed technology so that it is now totally consuming, everything we do is digital. Technology means we are always available and I think that is the biggest change I’ve seen. We used to arrive and leave the office at a certain time and to a certain extent leave our work there ISSUE 14

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and live our lives outside of work. That division has gone. People think you’re available because you have a phone and it is globalised because of timezones. I ask people to put timers on their email, because when people get messages late on Sundays, it makes them think they should be doing that too, and that is an intrusion on our private lives. America has taught the world a model where technology people, or ‘geeks’ form businesses and are public facing, and a lot of engineering subjects people did at school were male dominated, 100

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which can be reflected in the workforce and boardroom. That’s a challenge, how do you get females involved in those subjects at a younger age? My management style has always been to coach and mentor, one size doesn’t fit all. When I started out the smacking the desk and shouting style was still around to some extent, but that’s just not in my nature and I don’t see the value of it. I always prefered to coach and mentor people, giving them the tools to improve. If I was starting out again I’d tell myself that everyone is equal. I had im-

ALUN BAKER

quicker on the go. All of the tech that is being trailed around AI, IoT, wearables will all be enabled by 5G. I think it will accelerate our digital footprint beyond anything we’ve seen previously. I’ve always had an ability in seeing how a market can be disrupted through positioning a message and putting yourself in the shoes of the person or company I’m addressing. When I look at the cyber security market, it is full of 10-year-old companies that have built their companies through antivirus and that’s become a housekeeping piece, and it hasn’t really changed much. poster syndrome for a long time and never got completely over it. It took me a long time to accept that I deserve a seat at the table, but it probably slowed me down a lot. I’d also say that the one talent to hold above all others is good communication because that is what helps you thrive in almost every career and it’s not well taught in schools or universities. The arrival of 5G is going to be the biggest driver of change over the next decade. So much of technology is being held back by wireless speeds and 5G means everything will be infinitely

I looked at the market and asked: why is cybercrime out of control? It’s because consumers have not engaged and that’s because the tech out there is super technical and super complicated. As a consumer I just want to feel safe and not really think about it in great deal. Clario comes at cyber security from the consumer side, so we avoid technical technology with the interface. Everything in the product is simple and easy to understand.

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EVENTS

EVENTS Digital Bulletin rounds up the industry events that are worth clearing your diary for...

CLOUD EXPO EUROPE 11–12 MARCH, 2020 EXCEL, LONDON Cloud Expo Europe, one of the UK’s biggest and best attended technology events, returns on 11-12 March 2020 at ExCeL London. Technology enabled change is on the boardroom agenda for businesses of all types and sizes. Cloud Expo Europe is the UK’s leading event for connecting technologists, business leaders and senior business managers with experts, solutions and services to help accelerate digital transformation plans. Whether you are cloud-first, scaling up, refining, or just getting started, Cloud Expo Europe is an unrivalled opportunity to meet with leading technology innovators and service providers.

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MARCH â&#x20AC;&#x201C; MAY

AI & BIG DATA EXPO 2020 17â&#x20AC;&#x201C;18 MARCH, 2020 OLYMPIA, LONDON The AI & Big Data Expo Global, the leading Artificial Intelligence & Big Data Conference & Exhibition event will take place on 17-18th March 2020 at the Olympia London. It is a showcase of next generation technologies and strategies from the world of Artificial Intelligence & Big Data, an opportunity to explore and discover the practical and successful implementation of AI & Big Data in driving forward your business in 2020 and beyond. The AI & Big Data Expo will showcase the most cutting-edge technologies from more than 300 exhibitors and provide insight from over 500 speakers sharing their unparalleled industry knowledge and real-life experiences.

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GARTNER DATA & ANALYTICS SUMMIT 23–26 MARCH, 2020 GRAPEVINE, TX Gartner Data & Analytics Summit 2020 is the must-attend conference for data and analytics leaders. Leading organisations in every industry are wielding data and analytics as competitive weapons, operational accelerants and innovation catalysts. New business models and sweeping technology change, including AI, are driving the need for a data and analytics-centric culture. Trust and ethics must be established and supported. Data literacy is an imperative. New behaviors and skills will be required. Creative thinking must be cultivated as a fundamental competency. Leaders must evolve their organisational culture by design to support and foster the creativity necessary to survive and thrive in these times of change.

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GOOGLE CLOUD NEXT 06-08 APRIL, 2020 MOSCONE CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO Join thousands of IT professionals, developers, and executives at Google Cloud Next for three days of networking, learning, and collaboration. Attendees will get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest Google Cloud innovations and hear from some of the world’s leading brands on how they’re using the cloud to solve their most important challenges and transform their businesses and industries. Those in attendance will get the opportunity to explore the latest tech and business trends through immersive learning experiences and 500+ sessions.

MARCH – MAY

IOT WORLD 06–09 APRIL, 2020 SAN JOSE CONVENTION CENTER, CA Internet of Things World is North America’s largest IoT event, bringing you the top technologies, strategies, and case studies for the key industries implementing IoT. Over four days, you will meet 12,500+ leaders and innovators from across the IoT community. The ultimate opportunity for you to get out of the office and build valuable connections all in one place. The conference agenda includes keynotes and tracks covering industrial and consumer verticals, and technical focused sessions. Whether you are just starting out or want to scale your IoT projects, there is content designed for you.

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DUBLIN TECH SUMMIT 22–23 APRIL, 2020 THE RDS, DUBLIN Dublin Tech Summit is a two-day global tech conference that sits at the heart of the Irish tech scene. In just three short years DTS has emerged as Ireland’s largest tech event as well as “Europe’s fastest growing tech conference”. DTS brings together some of the most influential tech and business leaders to Dublin for two days of growth & development, knowledge sharing, covering the latest trends, and networking. Exploring a myriad of themes and topics such as emerging technologies, diversity, scaling for startups and much more, we have built a community of innovators, co-founders, developers, and c-level decision makers that are turning ideas into reality and affecting global change.

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MARCH – MAY

EUROPEAN IDENTITY & CLOUD CONFERENCE 12-15 MAY, 2020 MUNICH, GERMANY IBM THINK 2020 04–07 MAY, 2020 SAN FRANCISCO For the second consecutive year, Think is taking over San Francisco. IBM Think 2020 is your best opportunity to work directly with technical experts, build essential skills and network with industry leaders from around the world. Acquire hands-on experience with the latest advancements in open technologies from hybrid multicloud to data and AI – then meet the luminaries who are using them to transform our lives. Think isn’t a single conference for thousands of people. It’s thousands of curated conferences in one.

The European Identity & Cloud Conference offers a mixture of best practice discussions, visionary presentations, and networking opportunities with a future-oriented community. More than 100 thought leaders, leading vendors, analysts, visionaries, executives, and end-users get together in Munich to be inspired by a list of world-class speakers. With five parallel tracks, more than 200 international speakers and experts, many Best Practice presentations and 130 hours of relevant content, EIC 2020 provides you with a comprehensive overview of future trends in Internet security as well as practical information about current projects.

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EVENTS

MICROSOFT BUILD 19â&#x20AC;&#x201C;21 MAY, 2020 SEATTLE, WA Experience the latest technologies and learn new ways to solve your development challenges. At Microsoft Build, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll meet with the engineers behind the products you use every day and connect with your peers. Bring your questions and curiosity to Seattle and leave with inspiration and new skills to use and share. Event topics will include: developer tooling and language innovation; cloud development and containers; AI and machine learning; DevOps automation; cross-platform apps; IoT; building Microsoft 365 extensions; and low-code tooling.

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MARCH – MAY

DIGITAL ENTERPRISE SHOW 19–21 MAY, 2020 IFEMA MADRID Digital Enterprise Show is a place, where the synergy between knowledge and experience is achieved, where the new ways of making business, implementing new solutions and ideas arise. The global expo with over 300 world’s top technology companies, Congress with 500 world’s best digital experts, and 26,000 visitors, who gather every year in Madrid to discuss how the digital changes the business, to acquire the crucial knowledge, skills and solutions to shape their industries’ future.

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THE CLOSING BULLETIN

THE CLOSING BULLETIN Terry Walby, founder and CEO of Blue Prism Cloud, discusses the new drivers of automation

or a technology that was once perceived as a tactical means to reduce cost and eliminate inefficient processes, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has rapidly evolved into something far more strategic and meaningful over the last three years. Automation has been widely deployed by many organisations across all sectors for a number of years, primarily to streamline and speed up back-office processes which were highly inefficient due to legacy IT systems and disengaged teams, fed up with performing repetitive and mundane process-driven tasks. 110

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However, new innovation is set to change the way that organisations (and their people) think about automation and how they deploy it within their organisation. We recently carried out research exploring future drivers for automation amongst businesses who have already deployed RPA technology within their operations. The study, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Taking Automation to the Next Levelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, illustrated how those organisations that have already begun their automation journey over the past few years (all of which reported positive results from these early initiatives), are now setting their sights on more strate-

TERRY WALBY

gic objectives as they look to scale up their automation programs. Indeed, 61% of automation strategy leaders stated that they focused their first automation efforts on under-performing processes, with 42% reporting that cost reduction was their main goal. Less than a third (31%) saw automation as a tool to increase productivity, and only 13% expected automation to deliver tangible business outcomes. The Productivity Tipping Point However, as business leaders look ahead to the next five years, the picture is set to become very different. By far the biggest objective for future automation within these organisations is to improve pro-

ductivity, with 44% declaring that to be the primary goal for their automation programs. There is also set to be far more focus on automation as a way to deliver improved business outcomes (24%) and improved speed to market (12%). Within the next three years our industry will reach a highly significant tipping point, where productivity overtakes cost reduction as the biggest driver for automation. This is the moment at which automation will truly establish itself as a game-changing, strategic business technology with the potential to transform the way that any organisation can run its entire operations, service its customers and expand its services. Indeed, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re already seeing it hapISSUE 14

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Increasingly, organisations will use digital labour to pursue initiatives that they otherwise simply wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have been able to consider using traditional resourcing methodsâ&#x20AC;?

pening in pockets across a range of industries, from financial services to utilities. Intelligent Automation (IA), which combines RPA with Artificial Intelligence (AI), and additional capabilities such as Natural Language Processing, is now enabling businesses to automate a far wider range of workplace processes, in a fast, effective and secure way. By integrating AI into their RPA platforms, businesses are moving beyond the tactical automation of basic back-office tasks and processes, (in the contact centre, HR function or accounts department), to more complex and strategic initiatives. Shifting the conversation to focus on how Intelligent Automation can enable organisations to use their people in a far 112

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more effective way. So rather than having highly-skilled talent tied up on executing mundane tasks, businesses can automate processes to maximise the time these people dedicate to strategic, high-value work. Employers can have their best talent wholly focused on their biggest strategic priorities â&#x20AC;&#x201C; transformation and innovation. This is good for the business but also for employees who can undertake far more creative, interesting and rewarding work. We talk about three waves of adoption. The first wave of RPA deployment is about cost reduction and efficiency. But once you add in AI, organisations can progress onto the second wave, where automation and digital labor drives im-

TERRY WALBY

proved business performance, and the third wave, where the technology delivers genuine business transformation. Increasingly, organisations will use digital labour to pursue initiatives that they otherwise simply wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have been able to consider using traditional resourcing methods. Ideas and plans that were once abandoned due to a lack of resource and skills, or prohibitive costs, will no longer be out of reach. Indeed, our research showed that more than half (52%) of organisations will look to create new or enhanced revenue streams as one of their three main targets for automation initiatives over the next five years. With this in mind, it is critical that all busi-

nesses, whether they are already reaping the benefits of RPA within their operations or yet to start out on their journey, develop automation strategies which can scale easily and at pace. This means ensuring access to the right skills and governance from the outset, and adopting an automation platform which is agile and responsive to rapidly changing business needs. Of course, business leaders will continue to reach for automation technology as a means to drive efficiencies in a challenging market, but our research clearly shows that they should do so with their eyes wide open to the potential prizes that await them further down the line.

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EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES

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