Tech-Exec Issue 17

A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Whilst talent, persistence, and business acumen are undoubtedly needed to become successful in the technology industry, every leader we spoke to in this issue acknowledges that no journey is the same, and a huge part of that success is a group effort, boiling down to surrounding yourself with the right people.

“It’s about building a network for yourself and building a network for the company,” states this issue’s cover star, Sara Geising-Eggers, of Olympus. “This contributes to your success because the success that you create with others is something like a trademark.”

Geising-Eggers has had an impressive decade-long career, with four years at Olympus, whic has seen her become a real driving force in Process and Data Management, and someone who encourages her colleagues to learn, experiment, and ultimately, find the fun within their roles.

This issue features many industry leaders with unique and exciting career journeys. We speak with Uttam Soni of Stratvals about the evolution of the industry, from his start in the Y2K era, to now. We chat to Kelly Services’ Alexandre Kozlov about giving his all at every level, throughout his 20-year career, and David Miller of Macquarie University discusses the unique challenges he has faced in the five industries he has worked in, all of which led him to his role as CDO.

Heiko Weigelt explains his passage from young metal worker to becoming CIO at FUNKE Mediengruppe, and Esther Munyi discusses overcoming those who judge her simply for being herself within the industry.

As with our previous issue of The Purchaser, issue 17 of Tech-Exec is our first magazine with an entirely new creative team at the helm. Whilst we hope that our recent rebranding and revitalisation of content is a welcome and refreshing change for readers, we believe that the essence of the magazine, and our care towards sharing the careers, products, innovations, and passions of those in the tech industry, remains within our pages.

Thank you for reading Tech-Exec.

EDITORIAL

PROJECT

CONTENT

Stroud & Clarke is a cutting-edge multichannel digital media company that produces exceptional technology, business and lifestyle content via our portfolio of digital magazines, websites and social media platforms.

© Stroud and Clarke Ltd 2023. All rights reserved. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that information is correct upon publishing, Stroud and Clarke Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of this information. All information in this magazine is provided “as is”, with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy,timeliness or of the results obtained from the use of this information. This magazine may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

FOUNDER & COO CHARLOTTE CLARKE

FOUNDER & CEO JAMES PEPPER

FOUNDER & CRO JACK PASCALL

DIRECTOR BECKY NORTHFIELD

MANAGER TARA QUINN

PROJECT MANAGER HENRY ALLTON-JONES

MANAGER ALEX NEAGU

GRAPHIC DESIGNER KIMBERLEY STOTT

ART DIRECTOR TOM CAMP

CONTENTS

Increasing productivity in the workplace and promoting environmental consciousness.

On the culture of change, empowering employees, and achieving Olympus’s purpose of making people’s lives healthier, safer, and more fulfilling.

On the journey to being a top CIO, winning teams’ hearts, and business challenges.

On the transformation and technology behind one of the most prestigious organisations in Australia.

6. INSIGHT EXEC SUMMARY News, views and insight.

12. INTERVIEW SARA GEISING-EGGERS - OLYMPUS

24. PORTFOLIO TECH YOU NEED Innovations for work, leisure and the environmentally conscious.

34. INTERVIEW ALEXANDRE KOZLOV - KELLY SERVICES

48. INNOVATOR FOREST

50. INTERVIEW DAVID MILLER - MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY

Helping people dance, walk, and play their way into a more sustainable future.

On business, technology and digital transformation, and why they’re not just buzzwords in the C-level environment.

On the world of data, and the never-ending value of technology.

Developing the CUE1 and pioneering Parkinson’s technology.

On transforming Funke’s tech department into an innovative and agile strategic asset.

What the power of people and data can do to transform the banking business.

64. INNOVATION ENERGY FLOORS

68. INTERVIEW

UTTAM SONI - STRATVALS

80. INTERVIEW LOVELL HODGE - MUNICH RE

96. INTERVIEW HEIKO WEIGELT - FUNKE

108. INTERVIEW ESTHER MUNYI - SASFIN

120. TOP 10 TV shows about Advanced technologies.

124. EVENTS The best events for 2023.

94. DISRUPTOR CHARCO NEUROTECH

EXECSUMMARY

A bitesize collection of news, content, ideas, thoughts and papers from around the industry.

“We are thrilled to be a part of the Artemis missions and to deliver NASA`s first zeroemission built-for-mission crew transportation vehicles”

TONY AQUILA, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, CANOO.

EXECSUMMARY

With the mission to bring EVs to everyone, Canoo has designed a versatile electric vehicle that can be customised for everyone. Whether you’re raising a family, running a business, or looking for a vehicle to accompany you on outdoor adventures, Canoo’s Lifestyle Model, Pickup Truck or Multi-Purpose Delivery Vehicle will cater to your needs.

As well as being available for commercial preorder now, Canoo has also found a collection of huge clients who can’t wait to get their hands on an EV. US retail corporation Walmart has agreed to purchase over 4,000 vehicles, whilst fleet management company Zeeba and van rental provider Kingbee have ordered thousands more.

However, it is NASA’s partnership with the company that is maybe the most impressive of all. It was recently announced that Canoo is set to provide the vehicles that will transport the astronauts to the launch pad for the Artemis Lunar Missions. WWW.CANOO.COM

MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

MIT Technology Review has published what could be potential milestones in the future of AI-powered politics, including:

• The acceptance by a legislature generated by, and submitted under the name of, an AI.

• AI-generated political messaging outscores campaign consultant recommendations in poll testing.

• AI creates a political party with its own platform, attracting human candidates who win elections.

• AI autonomously generates profit and makes political campaign contributions.

WWW.TECHNOLOGYREVIEW.COM

PHOTO: RODION

MISSENSE MUTATIONS

With its new AI tool, Google DeepMind hopes to facilitate an increase in the speed at which genetic diseases can be diagnosed and have treatments developed. Known as ‘AlphaMissense’, the AI model categorises missense variants, or genetic mutations that affect human proteins. Whilst most of the 9000 missense variants that humans can carry are completely harmless, in some cases, they can lead to the likes of cystic fibrosis or cancer. The AI model was able to classify 89% of 71 million missense variations as either harmless or likely pathogenic. This AI tool has the potential to accelerate research and development of treatments for diseases at a crucial rate.

DEVELOPER SALARIES

Honeypot’s 2023 Software Developer

Salary Report finds that the gender pay gap between software developers has remained consistent or grown in many countries across Europe. In Germany, women were paid up to 8.6% less than male developers, especially in Junior Roles. In Austria, this disparity comes in with men earning 3.3% more and in the Netherlands, the gap has increased from 6% in 2022 to 8.3% in 2023. However, it is Spain that comes in with one of the most significant gender pay gaps across Europe. In 2023, female software developers in Spain were offered between 5% and 18.6% less than their male counterparts.

CULT.HONEYPOT.IO

PHOTO: MIRZA BABIC

AI ASSISTANT

The popular videoconference platform Zoom is launching an AI companion that aims to help with productivity and meeting engagement. The AI assistant will be able to accomplish tasks such as composing messages and chat responses, preparing meetings and constructing emails, whilst also going a step further and being able to summarise meeting notes before the user even joins the call. This is perfect for those busier days where joining a meeting a few minutes late would usually result in missing key discussions. WWW.ZOOM.US

VFX UNION

After a month of votes being cast, Visual Effects artists at Marvel Studios have unanimously voted in favour of unionising, with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. This comes after both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA have been deep into their own strikes for months, and VFX artists have reported ridiculous working hours, impossible deadlines, and unfair pay when working for the studio. The VFX artists have become the first-ever group of exclusively VFX workers to unionise with the IATSE.

IATSE.NET

PHOTO: DYLAN FERREIRA

SHORTS

• The Google Pixel 8 is set to debut, in New York City, on October 8th.

• UK neobank, Zopa, reaches 1 Million customers.

• TikTok debuts a tool that allows users to label content that is AI-generated.

• Ocado launches UK robotic customer fulfilment centre in Luton.

• The UK rejoins the Horizon Europe Programme, which provides funding for research and innovation targeting climate change and sustainability, after a hiatus due to Brexit.

AMAZON & ANTHROPIC

ChatGPT and OpenAI may be the big names in AI Chatbots right now, but that could be changing soon. Amazon is making sure it has its own seat at the generative AI table by investing $4 million in Anthropic. The AI startup is known for its chatbots Claude and Claude 2 and was founded by siblings Daniela and Dario Amodei, who both have previous experience in the AI sphere. Anthropic claims that its model, which will now be utilised by Amazon in various ways across the business’s products, is safer than competitors due to being able to revise responses by itself instead of needing to be moderated by humans.

WWW.ANTHROPIC.COM

SARA GEISING -EGGERS

AN OPERATION OF EXCELLENCE

VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL PROCESS & DATA

EXCELLENCE AT OLYMPUS, SARA GEISINGEGGERS, DISCUSSES THE CULTURE OF CHANGE, EMPOWERING EMPLOYEES, AND ACHIEVING OLYMPUS’S PURPOSE OF MAKING PEOPLE’S LIVES HEALTHIER, SAFER, AND MORE FULFILLING.

A passion for excellence is a great place to start on any career path, especially in the technology industry. For Sara Geising-Eggers, VP of Global Process and Data Excellence at leading global medical technology company, Olympus, this passion has seen her thrive during a career spanning more than a decade. We spoke with Geising-Eggers about how a drive for excellence is threaded throughout both her personal goals and Olympus’s goals as a company.

“What we do here, in this context of operational excellence, is to help Olympus achieve its purpose of making people’s lives healthier, safer, and more fulfilling,” she says. “We do this by taking responsibility for making methodologies and technologies accessible. To me, accessibility means that you understand it and that you can use it. With the help of analytics, we can accelerate and simplify how we want to work day-to-day.”

FORWARD THINKING

Geising-Eggers’s approach to leadership, and the several roles she undertakes, is one that not only strives for excellence but focuses on what she enjoys and the areas in which she can constantly revitalise common processes. “Ever since I started working, I have focused

on the fun part of work and encourage colleagues around me to do so as well. Once you learn continuous improvement methodologies and technologies, you start understanding how you can focus on the core,” she states, adding that “it’s not about constantly improving something that already exists, but rather taking a completely different, new, and surprising perspective in order to achieve the goal through more forward-looking thinking.”

Currently based in Japan, Geising-Eggers has found an appreciation for the differences between her experiences in Europe versus what she is discovering about certain processes in Asia. “In Japan, there is this intuitive and creative way of thinking considering a holistic approach, and its method is referred to as Kufu. This is very well explained in K. T. Suzuki’s wonderful book, “Zen and Japanese Culture.”,” she says. “This is in contrast to the Western world, where we leverage, for example, design thinking as an innovative problem-solving way emphasising customer experience.”

Geising-Eggers recognises Olympus’s current readiness when it comes to utilising data and analytics. “Some teams are already driving

key business decisions, like order management, supported by data analytics and real-time process mining, whilst others are getting the advantage of, for example, benchmarking performance,” she tells us. “I think it still takes two to three years of evolution until we have grown to think in end-to-end process performance, rather than in what specific function is contributing.”

When it comes to achieving strategic objectives and transforming businesses, Geising-Eggers believes driving evolution starts with the culture of change; that it is important to question what should be changed, why things should be changed, and who those changes affect. “Does the organisation reward change? And if it does, then how is it empowering you to take time to improve, to go and access, learn, explore, and test? Building the foundation for this empowerment is my key driver.” she says.

“It’s not necessarily about sending people to training, but it’s about letting people test, letting people explore.” she continues. “When I first introduced chatbots, many colleagues could not imagine how this works. So for them, it was really far away. However, after we had started to talk about it for some time, we took a different perspective and asked them about administrative tasks, which are timeconsuming for them, and they don’t like to do. Now chat-bots assist in doing these tasks faster and more interactively. Staying too strict in your day-to-day routine hinders you from being creative.”

PEOPLE BEHIND DATA

Geising-Eggers’s own journey in data, global processes, and digital

transformation is impressive. Over a decade in several industries, and almost four years at Olympus, have seen her become a real driving force in Process and Data Management. However, when asked about her story, and the root of her passions within the industry, she humbly deflects to the work of others.

“For me, it’s this ultimate moment when you see people are happy with the outcome. It’s not about me, it’s about them. They have done hard work and they are rewarded for it, and that’s what my passion is. Making other people happy makes me happy.”

Similarly, Geising-Eggers recognises the importance of working alongside others to achieve joint goals, even in a leadership position, saying “I cannot tell people what to do or how to do it. Instead, it is really about empowering

them. It’s about actively listening to their needs and supporting them. In most cases, employees know the best what they need, helping to make it explicit or concrete is my job. Sometimes it is helping to find the question for an answer and with this learn about what is really the problem. It has a lot to do with leadership, which is not always hierarchical, but a kind of mentoring leadership, a kind of empowering leadership. That really means something.”

“It’s about building a network for yourself and building a network for the company,” she states. “This is then contributing to your success because the success you deliver for others, or the success you contribute to with others, is something like a trademark.”

PHOTO: IRWAN

Looking at Operational Excellence, Olympus distinguishes between basic maturities, end-to-end improvement methods, and operational excellence, and does so in three distinct phases. Geising-Eggers comes to our discussion equipped with an image which she states is presented in many management meetings and explained in the digital academy to employees across the company. These phases, if understood correctly, allow employees to take ownership and create a competitive advantage in any function of an enterprise.

“The first phase is that the employee understands what they do. If you look at it from an enterprise perspective, that means there is a specific operational maturity. The processes are documented. There is an understanding of what drives performance, and there are certain controls defined on how to make sure the performance is as desired.

Then, there is what I call a management operating system,” she continues. “The employee understands in what context they’re operating, and how they contribute to that. When they do that, they automatically ask, what does good really look like? What is really needed in this activity? Imagine I’m a finance person, I’m creating a report. Who’s using the report? What for? Or, if I’m a recruiter, what is this

PHOTO: CDC

position needed for? How can I contribute? Is it needed tomorrow, or is it needed in three months?

“Finally, you apply methodology, like Lean Six Sigma, waste reduction, which is Kaizen, for example. You look into the standardisation of processes, you look into defect reduction, or you try to harmonise to at least get some business words standardised across the process. And that’s when the employee goes into the phase where they take ownership for competitive advantage. When they understand what they do, when they understand what is needed from them to be good, they desire to focus on the core,” she explains.

Processes like these will always take some time, which is why Geising-Eggers passionately encourages experimentation and adapting defined processes to fit personal needs, create new strategies, and understand functions at their core. In the functions she is personally heading, Geising-Eggers finds that the backbone is the idea of ownership.

“I learned that this is something very abstract. People tend to misunderstand each other, and what ownership means. They have different expectations of it. There are several concepts which have to match a company’s maturity, the strategy of the company, as well as tactical priorities the company has, and the need for action,” she explains. “For Olympus, we have selected a consulting approach, in which an in-house consultancy helps functional owners to drive improvements and support them by leveraging various methodologies and tools,” Geising-Eggers says. “With this, they can accelerate and overcome potential capability needs in their own function. We know that many processes today can be improved by leveraging platform technologies, like robotic process automation, and process execution tools, and here a dedicated team helps to translate requirements into technology needs,” she adds.

Being a woman in any industry, especially in business and technology, is bound to see you confronting some challenges. Whether it is just getting your foot in the door, or having your voice heard. Geising-Eggers understands this, and instead of letting it set her back, aims to look

“With the help of analytics, we can accelerate and simplify how we improve processes.”

PHOTO: JC GELLIDON

for opportunities and ways to learn from certain struggles.

“I think there are always obstacles, whether you are a woman or a man. If you want to go into a career, you should not be too sceptical about yourself,” she says. “You should expect setbacks and see them as an opportunity, and you should determine what you want to achieve. In the end, everything is possible. It’s a matter of whether you want it or not. When it comes to specifically girls and women, my advice is to come out of your comfort zone. I, myself, did this and learned that it’s always worse to not try than to branch out and potentially learn something new.”

IMPLEMENTING CHANGE

When it comes to business culture, it should not be stagnant. For a company to grow as an institution, and to develop its products and services, every level has to be willing to evolve and develop. This is something that

we spoke about in depth. Geising-Eggers states that “you need to have a culture that is willing to change, a company that is willing to change. So if the culture is averse to change, it’s very difficult to drive all of this. Changing process and data governance will change your company.”

“Sharing data as an asset, or considering data as an asset will change your company, will change roles, will change the way you process, and the way you look into your organisation.” she continues. “It’s very important to not see this as from zero to 100 but to really grow on your own speed as a company to make change digestible at the beginning. Having data as an asset in your corporation means that everyone sees it as an asset, treats it as an asset, and understands the ownership, or the responsibility towards, for example, data quality.”

PHOTO: OLGA GURYANOVA

SARA GEISING-EGGERS

Celonis is for people like you.

The change-makers who know that work can be better. Things can be done faster. Businesses can be more sustainable. Value can be greater.

Hundreds of leaders just like you at the world’s best-run companies have put Celonis to work. They’ve brought their vision of a different and better way of working to life by improving how their processes run every day.

They’re changing how they ensure shipped orders are billed, improve vendor performance, manage material shortages, and much more – extracting hidden value with every invoice, every order, and every material.

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Celonis is helping change-makers become game-changers.

On the topic of data literacy, GeisingEggers believes it is important for everyone to take responsibility. Still, in order to do that, data needs to be accessible and easily understood in context. “Understanding what your data means needs to be transparent and accessible,” she says. “If you look into technologies, they support you today with this. You even have qualified, trusted data categorisation that people understand.”

“I can use this data and trust this data to, for example, do my analysis. This also tells you about the company’s maturity. If you have a marketing staff that understands

how the products they market here perform and have a sophisticated launch monitor to review customer satisfaction, or even if you go to other markets than med tech to see the sales data live, it makes a difference on your marketeer decisions,” she adds.

“This can only be possible with analytics and insight on data,” Geising-Eggers continues. “This is one example. At the moment, we have not harmonised product master data. So, when a customer calls us and says they have an issue with the product and it needs repairing, we must investigate which product this is. We cannot go to our systems within seconds and automatically see that the customer has received the product from a certain batch, produced on a certain date, which has specific materials from a specific supplier. But that’s our commitment to patient safety. We know which materials are in which product, at which customer side, and we strive for this excellence.”

LIGHTHOUSES IN OLYMPUS

Geising-Eggers joined Olympus in 2020 and, despite noting leading capabilities in data and analytics processing within the company and its products, she describes these as “lighthouses” and notes her aim to open up the accessibility of these technologies.

“My objective was to make access to data and analytics, and process improvement methodologies, really broadly open,” she says. “We have achieved great maturity in areas where this is more natural, like in

“It’s not about constantly improving something that already exists, but rather taking a completely different, new, and surprising perspective.”

PHOTO: AKRAM HUSEYN

production, or areas that deal with the logistics and distribution of our products, and the planning. We still have a lot to do to make this end up in every part of our organisation. That’s an objective that remains a part of our strategic priorities.”

Since she began working at the company, Geising-Eggers and her team have implemented some key initiatives, which she built upon a picture of common understanding. Whilst establishing a top-down approach, from a leadership perspective, she also found members of Olympus’s digital academy were naturally adept when it came to implementing initiatives and starting discussions with peers at all levels.

“This helped us to speak a language independent of our culture and to classify where we were. It’s all about awareness and education,” Geising-Eggers quips. “We disseminated the image via presentations and management meetings and started a bit of a top-down approach, but it’s also where we used our digital academy – a forum where everyone can join. It naturally has more digital pioneers. We made it available for everyone in the intranet to have video clips that are easy to watch, which enabled them to enter into this more heavy, technical methodological topic.” she notes.

“We had started discussions on all levels of the organisation, giving room for peers to talk about operational excellence. We have also actively discussed with external consultants and software providers to bring in a dialogue, and to learn how other industries adopt and how we could leverage and shortcut catching up.”

Yes, data analytics and machine learning are already being utilised within the medical technology industry, but this is still very much in its infancy. Looking forward into the future of the medical equipment manufacturing industry, Geising-Eggers hopes for ease, simplicity and accessibility.

“I dream of a user interface, in which I open up my laptop in the morning and there is one search bar, a field, where I can ask my question and a chat assistant that tells me what I have to do,” she says.

“I think this user-centricity is the ultimate future of the way of working in our industry. For us as a med tech company, but as well for the doctors, the nurses, for everyone in this industry to work.”

WWW.OLYMPUS.CO.UK

Boosting Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction at Olympus

Med tech company Olympus uses Celonis to optimise their Order-to-Cash process, leveraging data and automated actions to maximise efficiency and delight customers.

Once known and loved for their old-style photo cameras, Japanese firm Olympus shifted their focus to medical technology in 2021. Today, the company delivers hightech medical equipment such as microscopes, stents, or endoscopes to hospitals and healthcare providers. In their quest to improve order fulfilment and delight customers, the Japanese company knew they needed a 360-degree view of their Order-to-Cash process, so they could turn insights into action and value. This is why they turned to process mining leader Celonis

Real-time overview of critical orders

With Celonis intelligently layering over their source systems, Olympus gained a comprehensive understanding of the hidden value opportunities in their process — and how to deliver on them. As a result, Olympus managed to significantly cut manual work, streamline order handling, and increase customer satisfaction.

The key to success: Celonis’ Open Order Management Cockpit. Powered by AI, Machine Learning, and process mining, the cockpit provides a real-time view of open orders and instant access to critical information. This includes frequent updates on order status – providing them with AI-based recommendations, for instance, on when to allocate materials or send final products for shipping. The cockpit also uncovers potential bottlenecks, such as missing materials, or credit and delivery blocks.

Targeted actions for a seamless Order-to-Delivery

Want to see the value you can unlock with Celonis?

Watch our short demo or get in touch.

Armed with real-time visibility, Olympus’ order managers are now able to intelligently prioritise orders at risk and address issues before they escalate. Olympus also eliminates rework and unnecessary order touches through Celonis’ intelligent order entry automation, and removal of delivery, credit, and billing blocks. No more hours wasted scrolling through excel sheets, playing detective on why orders were blocked, or chasing other teams via email.

If SLAs can’t be met (for instance due to material shortages), Celonis’ intelligent automation capabilities, dubbed Action Flows, come into play. These suggest the next best delivery date, and communicate delivery changes to customers via automated emails. Harnessing the power of data, Olympus has all they need to drive their performance to new heights and exceed customer expectations.

PORTFOLIO

Innovative and inspired items for work, leisure and sustainable living

NIX BIOSENSORS

Whether you choose Apple or Garmin to accompany you on your workouts, Nix Biosensors can heighten your experience and keep you performing to the best of your ability. With nothing but a tiny hexagonal patch that is placed on the upper arm, weighing less than 0.5 ounces, the Nix hydration biosensor evaluates biomarkers in your sweat, sends

notifications to your phone or watch, and lets you know when to drink and refuel your body. With a battery life of up to 36 hours, the biosensor helps you maintain the optimal level of hydration during even the most gruelling of workouts.

WWW.NIXBIOSENSORS.COM

Capturing outdoor adventures has never been easier! The Osmo Action 4 is the perfect camera for everyone from casual adventurers to those who enjoy more extreme sports. 360-degree Horizon Steady keeps shots looking smooth during the roughest terrains and even complete 360-degree rotations. The Action 4 allows you to capture stunning video during all hours of the day and night with enhanced low-light imaging, and even in the most extreme of conditions, 18 metres underwater or at -20 degrees Celsius. With a maximum recording time of 2.5 hours, The Osmo Action 4 is a reliable companion for every experience.

STORE.DJI.COM

MY AMI BUGGY II

The My Ami Buggy may have begun life as just a concept in 2021, but its popularity led to the production of 50 vehicles. This summer, a further run of 1000 units has been ordered, and come equipped with an improved roof, Bluetooth speaker and waterproof door covers. Powered by an 8bhp motor and reaching a top speed of just 28mph, you’re not going to be taking this little electric vehicle to Silverstone any time soon. Instead, Citroën is targeting frequent beachgoers and those who are looking to soak up the last remnants of the summer sun when they roll out in September.

WWW.CITROEN.CO.UK

NOTHING PHONE (2)

After a lengthy hype campaign, Nothing has revealed its second flagship Android handset. Much like its predecessor, Phone (2) has an effortlessly cool design. It has the unique transparent look and Glyph lighting of the (1) but promises a larger screen and battery, as well as more processing power. With two camera lenses on the back (wide and ultrawide, which is a 50MP Sony IMX890) and a selfie camera, the (2) comes in white and dark grey and contains the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset for better photos, videos, and battery life.

WWW.NOTHING.TECH

ALEXANDRE KOZLOV BLOODSTREAM OF THE ENTERPRISE

KELLY SERVICES’ ALEXANDRE KOZLOV TALKS ABOUT THE CHALLENGES OF BEING A TOP CIO, WINNING TEAMS’ HEARTS, AND BUSINESS CHALLENGES.

WORDS: BECKY NORTHFIELD

From having touched his first computer back in high school, Alexandre Kozlov fell fast for technology. And since then, he’s always had a passion for IT. With over 20 years of international experience, he says that as he progressed in his career, “it wasn’t really an objective to grow in terms of hierarchy and positions.

“It was more a realisation that at any level, once you give all you can, you realise that you need to move up to the next level in order to address what is remaining.” Currently the CIO of the International Business Unit of Kelly Services, a global leader in workforce management solutions, Kozlov has led IT organisations and teams around the world, launching and delivering several business and IT transformation programs, large-scale M&A integrations, and IT turnaround initiatives.

A standard approach in one industry can sometimes not be known in another, so Kozlov feels his experience in multiple industries gives him a better perspective and broader view on how things could be done.

He adds: “We are at the stage that no business can run without IT, even if it’s a garage startup. Yet the level of sophistication and solutions is different. That also creates a perception that IT is a commodity. It’s like electricity –it should always be on, and if it’s suddenly not there, it’s a catastrophe. Whenever the normal flow is interrupted – whether due to internal or external causes – the enterprise, like an organism, cannot function anymore.” Kozlov goes on to say that essentially, IT becomes a ‘bloodstream’ system for enterprise, as

it runs across and connects all functions within any business. Data and information flow between different departments, organisations, and more between the company itself and the external world.

Despite the importance of technology today, Kozlov warns that it alone is not enough. Having the right technology solutions in place is an essential competitive advantage for any company. However, Kozlov says “technology is like a magic rod – it will give you what you ask for, but it will not tell you what to ask. It is for the latter that IT needs to work with the business.”

The progress of anything that relates to IT is exponential, and Kozlov reckons that no other event has accelerated digital transformation quite like Covid-19. “Today, the speed of acceleration is probably measured within days, if not hours,” he adds. “Without technology, you cannot imagine how you can capture, absorb and derive insights from that data and information.”

However, Kozlov gives a word of warning regarding digital transformation – that it has probably become the most used (and misused) phrase these days. “Many companies still fall into an old trap – they focus on digital, but the key word in digital transformation is transformation,” he says.

“If you dissect the word, ‘trans’ means change, and ‘form’ means shape. Change of the shape is the foundation of any transformation. When people talk about digital transformation, they often stop on the word digital, and then focus on something like, ‘Oh, it’s about new technology, or a new system, or a move of applications from a local data centre to cloud.’

“IT becomes a ‘bloodstream’ system for enterprise, as it runs across and connects all functions within any business.”

“But the key is in the word, transformation - digital becomes just the way to transform, or enable and support the journey. One metaphor I often use is to see digital transformation like a fitness programme. If someone is serious about their fitness programme, they should understand that it is not about the latest and greatest (and most expensive) treadmill or belly burner (i.e., technology). It is about changing your lifestyle,” he adds. Kozlov also says transformation naturally takes time and might be challenging at the beginning, but ultimately rewarding. It is also not a one-off project, but rather a long-term commitment to change things and maintain the new way of doing business.

DIGITAL AS PRESCRIPTION

Very often, a company declares that it is embarking on the digital transformation journey, but in essence it’s doing digital optimisation, i.e., making its operations more efficient. “It’s not to say this is easy – it’s not,” Kozlov says. “But it’s very different because transformation implies there is something fundamentally new behind it.

“Sometimes, companies try to copy/ paste digital transformation initiatives,” he adds. “They see a big success story in a magazine or conference and think they must do that. We should see digital transformation as a prescription – copying someone else’s digital transformation is like taking someone else’s medication. Your transformation must be specific for your industry, for your enterprise, for your unique company culture when you launch such initiatives.”

Kozlov says you must be conscious of why you want to change. Is it because you see your market position will be attacked, and you may suffer as a business and company? Do you want to reach the next level in your sector and to get there you must transform?

Or is it because there is an urgent change which must be done within the company or business to respond to changes taking place in the economy? “We need to be crystal clear on what this will look like, why we want to go there, and how everybody will benefit from that,” he adds.

It is imperative your teams understand the urgency, drivers, and benefits, so everyone participates consciously and wholeheartedly. Alas, often management launches initiatives “that really mean nothing for most company employees,

so it’s difficult to get them engaged,” Kozlov says, adding that it is the company management’s task to communicate a compelling vision, i.e., reason for change and clear destination, how the company is going to get there, and, probably most important, what is in it for everyone. Once employees buy in for the vision and their (not company) benefits, teams will come up with solutions rather than pointing at problems.

And when it comes to problems, being a CIO is very demanding in any industry,

and people often expect magic. “They also think you can change things on the fly, and always around things that are not material, like software. No one ever asks to change the architecture of a skyscraper when half of it has already been built, but people often consider it normal to change

systems halfway through implementation. “There’s this perception of when something is intangible, it’s easier to change, and everyone expects it to be done quickly with all the benefits and at no cost,” he says.

“Today IT is like electricity – it should always be on, and if it’s suddenly not there, it’s a catastrophe.”

Kozlov always liked the idea of being with companies during the times when they were going through large transformations. He cites his journey with Norsk Hydro, a metals and mining company, as an example, where he was leading the global IT organisation in the Extruded Products Division. “Norsk Hydro is a vertically integrated aluminium company which covers the entire cycle starting from digging out bauxite, producing aluminium from it, and then a variety of products, and my division was at the end of this chain,” he says.

The operating model of Kozlov’s division was decentralised. They had more than 40 factories in 22 countries across four continents, largely operated independently. His task was based on the business decision that the company needed to streamline operations and standardise them across the factories.

“I needed to come up with IT solutions that supported the rollout of standardised processes, simultaneously taking into consideration local specifics for a given factory,” Kozlov says.

“There was a large ERP program behind it, but that was not the only one, because my team was also responsible for production floor systems that operate various machines and devices on the production floor as well as customer-faced IT solutions.”

His division eventually merged with the company’s number one competitor, forming the largest extruded products company in the world – the SAPA Group, with turnover of US$8.6 billion. “And for the last half a year in that role, my main task was to carve out all these IT solutions from the Hydro environment, bring them across into the new common environment and merge with solutions of the group,” Kozlov explains.

And surprisingly, the challenge was not so much around systems developed by IT. It was simply emails. “The new group was on Microsoft Exchange. But historically, Hydro was on Lotus Notes, which has this feature that users can build, so called, ‘databases’ – a functionality to build custom workflows and capture and share data and documents with colleagues across the enterprise.

“Upon the assessment of our environment for integration, we discovered that within Lotus Notes, we had thousands of databases and 2,500 of those were classified as ‘critical’ to run the business. We were asked to migrate all critical databases, but, apart from just the volume, the challenge was that you didn’t have similar functionality within Microsoft Exchange Outlook (and something like SharePoint was not available).

“Theoretically that meant we had to replace every single of those 2,500 ‘databases’ with an application – you can imagine the volume of new implementations in the new company. What was critical? What could be replaced with extensions of existing or implementation of new proper IT solutions?” Kozlov ponders.

“And even if you find a new home for this database, data migration with complex conversion was a big headache. But again, that’s probably the beauty of the role, and at the same time, a good lesson to learn,” he reflects.

“Technology is like a magic rod – it will give you what you ask for, but it will not tell you what to ask.”

Joining Kelly Services in 2018, Kozlov had a mandate to develop and execute a new IT strategy which would enable future business operating models and support business growth. There were several urgency drivers like the existing legacy IT solution portfolio which was misaligned with the target business operating model and was limiting performance. Additionally, some key business solutions reached their end of life and were out of vendor support.

His objective was to differentiate Kelly versus the competition with a superior user experience for candidates, clients,

and employees by delivering solutions that enabled and supported standardised processes; and rationalised the portfolio of local solutions.

“I needed to turn things around in IT and get my team to focus on business outcomes instead of looking at things through technology glasses,” Kozlov says. “Among the key principles of my new IT strategy were standardisation, configure, don’t customise (unless compliance cannot be met), and cloud-smart (i.e., cloud-first when it makes business and technology sense). Overall, I aimed at creating an IT

ecosystem as homogeneous as possible while as heterogeneous as necessary. And my team took the motto ‘digitise where possible, humanise where needed’.

“Today, we have our foundation in place. The suite of new front- and back-offices together with advanced data analytics and common integration platforms form our backbone – and now we can quickly add ‘functional plug-ins’ and see if they work. If not, replace. It’s important these new ‘bricks’ are standardised with no or minimum customisation,” he comments.

“We should see digital transformation as a prescription –copying someone else’s digital transformation is like taking someone else’s medication.”

Kozlov believes uncertainty and challenges were always there, and always will be. “But ideally you develop an approach based on designing your IT ecosystem with standardised ‘bricks’. Then, when time comes and you have the need to change, you can easily replace a ‘red brick’ of v.2.0 with v.3.0 or even with a ‘blue brick’ from another vendor and move on,” he says. Therefore, the business doesn’t suffer any impact.

these cross-business-line and crossmarket activities on the operations side,” he adds. And to deliver and maintain those practices, you need a skilled and motivated cherry-picked team, and this is when the COE comes into the game.

Kozlov says one of his early lessons in the leadership role was that teams are more important than solutions. “Always aim at building a great team instead of a great system. If you’ve got a great system, eventually, it becomes obsolete. But with a great team, you could always build another great system,” he reflects.

THE PEOPLE SOLUTION

For the CIO, Kozlov says the biggest challenge is not technology, but it is the person sitting between the chair and the keyboard “whether it’s on the IT side –when you talk about putting together the right team with the right skillset – or on the business side, where you implement IT business solutions.

“However, your universal biggest help and solution is also in the same place. Because at the end of the day, these are people in your team,” he says.

Kozlov points out that any IT solution should fit the strategy and the business without the kind of over-designed approach that inevitably moves you into the customisation trap. “It’s about business relevant IT,” he emphasises.

And to further improve the business, the Centre of Expertise (COE) was implemented at Kelly Services International. “This was driven and coming, based on the objective – we wanted to move into a new business operating model, where we focus on regionalised practices for specific business lines,” Kozlov says. “Those practices would require IT solutions to support

And as a leader, you are in the position of tremendous responsibility because you impact other people’s lives. “Not only employees directly, but also their families,” Kozlov adds.

Kozlov says that people management, which was assumed to be the domain for HR in the past, is now everybody’s task to execute. He believes first and foremost, you need to win people’s hearts, then switch on their heads so they use their hands effectively. “You need to state and show an inspirational vision and mission. It should become everyone’s common goal, not just something that you announce,” he adds.

“An IT solution should fit the strategy and the business without the kind of overdesigned approach that inevitably moves you into the customisation trap. It’s about business relevant IT.”

In his view, people and company culture are the two most powerful and sustainable competitive advantages of any company, “because you can always buy a technology, a patent, or get a credit from bank, but you cannot replicate people or copy culture. And when a company pays attention to those two, then the sky is the limit.”

Kozlov quotes Richard Branson who once said, “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.”

FUTURE OF TALENT

Kozlov believes new technology will impact the evolution of the global talent solution sector. He says that “people fear those solutions will replace them, but I read this somewhere: ’You won’t be replaced by AI,

but you might be replaced by someone who uses AI better than you.’

“So, you have to keep an eye on the market, whilst actively working with the business to find challenges and new opportunities that can be addressed with new technology.”

Kozlov concludes that first and foremost, the staffing and recruitment industry is a talent business. “Despite all technology, it’s the people and the human touch here that will remain very important,” he says.

“It may change form, or the interaction that we have today, but it will remain. And in that regard, I like the noble purpose of Kelly Services, which is about connecting people with work that enrich their lives.”

THE INNOVATOR / FOREST

STAY FOCUSSED, BE PRESENT

Set a period of time, put down your phone and start planting.

As time goes by, the sapling will grow gradually

If you use your phone, your tree will wither

Earn coins with each successful plating session and grow your own forest!

The sapling will grow into a big tree if you’ve been staying focused

FOCUSING ON THE ENVIRONMENT

The working world of 5 years ago would barely recognise the ways that we function in 2023. Whilst many businesses and employees have adapted to the increase in remote opportunities, others are still grappling with an inability to focus when working from home. That is where Forest comes in.

Forest is an app that can be downloaded on IOS and Google Play or as a Chrome Extension. Users can set custom time slots in which to focus, represented by growing a tree. If you pick up your phone during this time, the tree dies and becomes an unsightly mess in your virtual garden. For each tree grown, users earn coins which can be spent on in app features or on something a little more sustainable.

Now, what is better than an app that helps heighten productivity at work in a fun way?

An app that heightens productivity whilst also making a conscious effort to contribute to the environment. Forest is a proud partner of Trees

For The Future, a non-profit organisation that strives to restore landscapes in developing countries, tackling hunger, poverty and environmental destruction. Since 2015, Trees

For The Future has planted over 300 million trees across Africa, over 1.5 million of which were donated by Forest users.

WWW.FORESTAPP.CC

PHOTO CREDIT: ZE MARIA

DAVID MILLER

PASSION IN THE MISSION

DAVID MILLER, CDO AT MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY, TALKS ABOUT THE TRANSFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY BEHIND ONE OF THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS IN AUSTRALIA.

From looking after mine workers in South Africa, to becoming a CDO at a prestigious Australian University, David Miller has gone through quite a transformation. He has worked in five industries, all with unique challenges.

But people are why it matters to him.

Beginning after university, Miller’s first job was at Gold Fields of South Africa, overseeing a team that managed access control systems. One device they built had the ability of track testing for heat tolerance for miners. “When you work in a deep mine, it’s very hot and you can succumb to heat exhaustion. So, we built these tests that they’d have to undergo before going underground.”

And one event showed him that real people are impacted by such technologies, and that sometimes it’s life or death. “I got a call from a mine manager who said that one of his miners died and my system let him underground. That was a very confronting

conversation to have when you’re in your twenties,” he recalls.

“We established that this individual had taken holiday, come back to his family, and wasn’t acclimatised to working underground anymore. He decided not to do the test and do a shift because he was paid for it. But he didn’t swipe his card to clock in and tailgated someone else. So, the system never picked up that he went underground.

“That was a personally transformative experience,” he says. It wasn’t just about technology for Miller; it was the real-world impact these tools can have. “My whole career has really been at that junction of how we use technology and data to drive transformation, which ultimately has a real-world impact on people’s lives,” he adds.

Miller left the country for the UK, working for British Gas and Centrica for several years.

He then joined BT Cellnet and, in support of its rebranding to O2, oversaw all the business process design as part of the development of a new IT stack, to deliver positive outcomes for customers. “That’s always been an interesting part of the transformative effect of technology,” he says. “It’s the interface with people, how you design processes and cultural change around this.”

When he moved to Australia, he joined 3 Australia and when they merged with Vodafone, he was responsible for the design and implementation of a complete endto-end business intelligence architecture. Side-stepping into media, Miller worked for Seven West Media, owner of Channel Seven. With no data assets or architecture in place, he and his team built all the foundational data capabilities the company needed to be competitive as a digital business.

“Now I’m working for Macquarie University where it’s been a fascinating journey to improve their analytics sophistication,” Miller says. “The University has undergone an amazing transformation of its physical campus over the past 10 years. Our Vice-Chancellor talks about the similar transformation he has seen in how the University now uses data and analytics.”

Working closely with the executive team, Miller and his group have focused on the strategy and problems they’re attempting to solve. “We have events like an annual University Council strategy planning day where we provide a data and insights pack that drives conversation around strategic planning for the university right at the very top.

“Getting that buy-in from Council and our executive has been a key part of driving data adoption,” he says.

BIG BELIEVER

Miller is not a big believer of data analytics sitting in IT.

“There is real power in being closer to where business problems are,” Miller quips.

“Many organisations sit under the CFO because they have a very broad view and can be quite independent. Within a university, there’s tension between the need for financial sustainability versus academic outcomes we’re trying to deliver. I sit under the VP for strategy, so that’s seen as independent,” he says.

And regarding strategy at the university, they focus on three enterprises: the education, research and health – Macquarie is the only Australian university with its own hospital.

To deliver transformational changes for enterprises, Miller says you must be very clear on the purpose; why you are undertaking data analytics in the first place, whilst aligning with the mission of the organisation to ensure the priority initiatives are defined, and then having strong data governance around the delivery of those initiatives.

“We focus on having clear business definitions, data quality, and use cases that are acceptable, and that the right people get access to the correct information,” he adds.

Miller says the modern data stack gives you agility and flexibility to be able to accomplish these use cases. “What I love with available technology stacks is how fast it can be deployed,” he says, recalling his time at Vodafone, when they upgraded their data warehouse – “fridge-size cabinets that took months to be shipped over from the US

“My whole career has really been at that junction of how we use technology and data to drive transformation, which ultimately has a real-world impact on people’s lives.”

and I remember going to watch them being installed in the data centre. Now you can have almost unlimited amounts of compute and capacity at the click of a button. Having that agility and then partnering with the right technology providers means you get a technology that just keeps evolving.

“If you don’t have a modern data stack, you’re going to fall behind quickly.”

From a user perspective, Miller says the data and analytics must be accessible, which often comes down to storytelling. “Once you are telling that story and you’ve got this data

landing, it’s all about culture and adoption. It’s how you ingrain use of data into how people work and processes around that to help drive adoption of it, ultimately becoming a data-enabled organisation,” he says.

In partnership with some colleagues, Miller and his team built a comprehensive view on the performance of their courses.

“It’s become embedded in the organisation via an annual health check,” he says, adding that every course director reviews their performance and presents back to their leadership team on what’s working, what’s not, and what needs to change.

“It’s that partnership between us and the business to land this within the organisation

so it gets pulled through. That’s really where the transformation happens,” he adds.

Yet the main mission is to transform students’ lives. Last year, they tracked student success rates and visualised in a way that was accessible, as dashboards. “Our Vice Chancellor looked at these and highlighted unacceptable issues with success rates around some of our larger units.

“This resulted in the Vice Chancellor asking his executive team to form strategies for addressing these issues,” Miller says. “Now a year later, we can see the positive impact of those strategies with improved success rates across most units. This is real cultural change where people are picking up this data, driving change and we can measure the impact.”

And when it comes to change, trying to keep up with rapid technology evolution is a challenge for CDOs. “For example, the rapid development of generative AI, ChatGPT and large language models is

requiring everyone to come up with an approach for their local context,” Miller says.

“With these developments, which ones do you look at? Which ones do you ignore? How do you evaluate what’s going to work for us? How do you ensure you move in an agile way whilst still maintaining robust governance? Those are all challenges in the role.

“We want to enable data literacy across the organisation, but we need to make sure it’s safely done off governed data sets, and we get the right outcome and protect the organisation and individuals’ data,” he adds.

As well as this, Miller says an effective

“There is real power being close to where business problems are.”

CDO must have good relationships and communication with the executive and senior leaders right across the business and be able to have conversations with key stakeholders around issues they’re grappling with, their strategy, and problems they’re trying to solve. “You must have a clear focus on threats around data privacy and making sure that everything is well governed is always a challenge,” he says.

EMPOWER AND SERVE

And when it comes to his leadership style, Miller likes to empower. “I think the leader’s role is to be clear on the why, set the direction and then get out the way and go, ‘Look, you’re the experts we’ve brought on for this reason to help deliver on these outcomes.

“My job is to serve you and to help with obstacles you’ve got. What resources do you need? What partners are required? How do we secure funding? How do we get technologies we need?’ It’s about setting people up to do their jobs effectively and empowering them to get on with it,” he says.

And for Miller, what interests him when working in a university environment is that many people are attracted to purpose-led organisations. “I’ve always focused on the why, and in a purpose-led organisation you find a lot of people are there for the same reason. They feel passionately about the mission itself,” he says.

“They want to see students successful; they want to see research that has an impact in the world.”

When Miller joined Macquarie in 2020, the team had been around for about 10 years, “had had multiple directors, and was more focused on mandatory things like statutory reporting to the government. It didn’t have a strategic view. When I started it was largely seen as a technology function,” he says. A data warehouse project, Snowflake, was being implemented, but there was no discussion about use cases or business outcomes or benefits they were attempting to deliver.

“The first thing was to be very clear with the executive about the strategic priorities. We focused on students as the highest priority, securing investment to build capabilities to get more insights around our students and how to better enable their success,” he says. Miller also focused on building the right team of skilled experts, always ensuring they had the correct cultural fit and attitude.

Miller says one of the amazing things about being in the organisation is helping students be successful, and sometimes getting to engage directly with them. “I’ve been doing some guest lectures to students in the analytics space, and that’s been fantastic to talk about data analytics enabling transformation.

“There is sometimes a gap between skills they’ve been taught at university and exact job readiness the industry needs. We are working with some of our industry partnerships to help address this gap,” he says.

The team offers internship opportunities to students, and they are currently working on

graduate recruitment schemes. “We’re bringing through that next generation of students to become data professionals and to have an impact on the world,” Miller says happily.

They have also been working on identifying students who are considering dropping out. “We have built a process to proactively identify any students who haven’t been retained from one session to the next via realtime dashboard,” he says.

Miller adds that faculties and support teams then reach out to these students to see how they can help, to try and get them back. So far, they are seeing some good results, but are still waiting to see how it plays out in longerterm planning around their continuing load.

Predictive analytics are also being implemented regarding students at risk of failing or leaving. “We can then move from predictive into prescriptive analytics which we can embed back into our digital architecture. That is driving material change

in the organisation, because we can respond to these students as it’s happening and ensure they get the support they need,” Miller says.

Miller and the team have very dedicated specific data analytics programs of work – in addition to the one focused on students there is also one for research, and another

for health. These all form part of a broader digital transformation program that is underway at the University, “which is a huge investment with multi-year programs of work,” he quips.

He says they have agreed some architectural principles within IT to govern all these projects. “One principle is around always treating data as a strategic asset.

“Every IT initiative is expected to do an impact assessment in terms of how it touches data. The initiative might be touching something we already use, so potentially could break, or enrich an existing strategic data asset. Or it could be that programs create new data assets for us to take advantage of from a strategic perspective,” Miller adds.

And with this technology and data, you need partnerships, as Miller says, “You just can’t do this stuff on your own.” They have a very discreet number of partners, including Snowflake and Alteryx. “What is great about those technologies and partners is

“I’ve always focused on the why, but in a purpose-led organisation you find a lot of people are there for the same reason. They feel passionately about the mission itself”

the extent to which they evolve and become more sophisticated. They keep solving problems you’ve got,” he adds.

Miller explains that some partners provide a technology solution as well as a robust methodology in support of the University’s data governance and dashboard certification approach. For example, Intraversed is a provider of a glossary tool, which has a specific methodology around documenting your business definitions.

BLOCKBUSTER METHODOLOGY

“There’s an entire methodology around establishing librarians, which are your data owners, and a process for how you structure your definitions in a linguistically correct way. And then going through a workflow to get the approvals of those definitions,” he says.

“Retention at a course level is different to student retention at a university level. If you don’t understand the difference between those definitions, you’ll be looking at the number and making a completely wrong inference and potentially the wrong decision.

“So, we’ve really focused on the importance of getting this glossary right,” Miller adds, adding the partnership with Intraversed is “extraordinary. They run these blockbuster sessions to make sure we get the support about structuring definitions and then helping us through that methodology. We have just approved our 1,000th definition!”

They also have partnerships with Billigence and Bi3, professional services organisations that play a similar role. They help with giving strategic advice around technologies, where the industry’s

going, opportunities around technologies, and so forth. “Importantly, they give us access to people with the right expertise and cultural fit to supplement our team,” he says. Supplementing and sustaining the enterprise is incredibly important, especially in the wake of Covid-19.

Universities were hard hit, and required the organisation to look at its sustainability, bringing the use of data “to the forefront to really understand, well, where were student numbers coming from? How do we forecast where they’re going to grow again? How do we recover? Where does the growth come from?

“We’ve had good success in the last year around getting more sophisticated around our student number planning and using the data to drive growth in our student numbers,” Miller says.

Covid-19 has also shifted learning to online and hybrid. Miller gives the example of you

This is what’s changed forever in universities, this merging of digital with the real world.

INSIGHT INNOVATION IMPACT

At Bi3, we make a positive impact on the world by accelerating innovation, and empowering leaders with datalead insights. Following our i3 model, Bi3 was able to deliver transformative change at Macquarie University:

· INSIGHT: Through a consolidation of the reporting suite, we enabled better decision-making, migrated legacy Tableau dashboards to PowerBI, and introduced new efficiencies.

· INNOVATION: With the integration of Snowflake and DBT technologies, we modernised ETL workflows, defining new standards to boost efficiency and growth. We introduced offshore distributed delivery, reducing costs while enhancing outcomes.

· IMPACT: Macquarie University’s data has never been more accessible, reliable, and secure, allowing for real collaboration and innovation that impacts the overall experience for Students, Faculty, and the community.

Let Bi3 unlock the potential of your data. Connect, collaborate, and transform with us.

Bi3, we deliver impact through insight and innovation.

David Miller Chief Data Officer, Macquarie University

“Bi3 helps with giving strategic advice around technologies, and where the industry’s going. Importantly, they give us access to people with the right expertise as supplement to our team.”

walking around campus and finding a group of students sitting in a common area. “They’ll have their laptops in front of them and they’ll be watching a lecture happening in a hall just down the road on campus,” he laughs.

“This is what’s changed forever in universities, this merging of digital with the real world. People still want a student experience with their mates on campus, but they want all the benefits of digital learning,” Miller explains, adding that it’s transforming the delivery of learning, which is a key part of their digital transformation program. “The more digital we are, the more opportunity we have to leverage data to improve experiences,” he says.

Miller mentions a review due next year, called the Universities Accord, which looks at the role of universities in Australian society.

“That’s going to completely change the landscape for all universities, but we’re well positioned in terms of defining what the strategy will be to support that Accord in this

new world. What is clear is that the role of data analytics will be a key enabler to whatever that strategy is, and it will only become more pronounced because of the transformation we’ve done already,” he explains.

The organisation has become data-driven and insight-led, and so the strategy will be built on that. Miller expects he will be driving up data literacy and more adoption across the organisation: “So, how do we use data to drive more growth and open new business opportunities? How do we use data to understand investment in research and the impact of that research? How do we use data to improve student experience?

“And of course, what the role of AI will be, with these large language models and new technologies.

“I can see some key objectives for me coming already,” Miller concludes.

WWW.MQ.EDU.AU

Companies with higher analytics maturity outperform their competitor over a 10-year period in both operating income and revenue

4.8x 6x

The reason? They use data maturity as the foundation for their decisions.

The question now is: How data mature is your organization?

Answer six questions and find out

FIND OUT YOUR SCORE

BART S.

INNOVATION / ENERGY FLOORS

UNIQUE, INTERACTIVE, ENERGY-SAVING, AND FUN! SEE HOW ENERGY FLOORS IS HELPING PEOPLE DANCE, WALK, AND PLAY THEIR WAY INTO A MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE.

Founded in 2008, Dutch tech company Energy Floors aims to generate energy and make sustainability and environmental consciousness more visible. The company began by opening the world’s first sustainable dance club in Rotterdam and allowed patrons to generate power through movement on interactive dance floors. The company followed this up by designing and developing multiple versions of Energy Floors for a variety of different purposes and clients.

The first Energy Floors product, ‘The Dancer’, utilises kinetic energy. The floor, whose name was coined due to being implemented in the company’s nightclub, generates energy from dance moves and foot traffic and allows

companies and their visitors to physically interact with and think about their personal contributions to sustainability.

Alongside ‘The Dancer’, Energy Floors also produces other flooring which is designed to be used outside and is powered by solar energy. These are known as ‘The Walker’ and ‘The Gamer’. ‘The Walker’ is designed for use outside offices, stadiums, malls, train stations and car parks, especially in areas such as entrances and exits, where the footfall from visitors is at its peak. Not only does this help push companies towards carbon neutrality, but it shows casual visitors, employees and regulars that your company is making a conscious effort towards sustainability.

‘The Gamer’ is designed to bring fun, environmentally conscious learning to the playground. With interactive games for children at multiple levels, ‘The Gamer’ encourages education, exercise and sustainability, three things which are perfect for the development of children and the good of the planet.

Energy Floors already working with many high-profile clients across the globe, and have recently become an important fixture of Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres world tour.

In 2019, Coldplay announced that they would only tour again when they could ensure that their concerts were environmentally friendly.

The band is currently implementing

sustainable practices on their World Tour, where they will be travelling to over 30 countries. These include planting trees for every ticket purchased, switching to plant-based catering and the use of Energy Floor’s kinetic dancefloors at the shows. The band recently released a sustainability report, announcing that they have managed to lower their CO2 emissions by 47% when compared to their previous tours. It is safe to say that Energy Floors have played a huge role in that. Hopefully, this sets a precedent for change in the music industry and brings the missions of companies like Energy Floors into public consciousness.

WWW.ENERGY-FLOORS.COM

UTTAM SONI

COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE

STRATVALS’ UTTAM SONI ON BUSINESS, TECHNOLOGY AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION, AND WHY THEY’RE NOT JUST BUZZWORDS IN THE C-LEVEL ENVIRONMENT.

WORDS: BECKY NORTHFIELD

For Uttam Soni, business, technology, and digital transformation are not just buzzwords; they are essential for an organisation’s survival and growth in today’s fast-paced world.

Being Principal Managing Partner at StratVals, he is focused on innovation, technology strategy, and product development.

“Collaborating closely with fellow C-suite leaders, I ensure that technology and product initiatives align seamlessly with our overall business strategy.

“My responsibilities encompass formulating and executing our technology strategy, overseeing the entire product development process, fostering innovation, optimising our technology infrastructure, and leading dynamic technology and product teams,” he says. Soni also assesses and mitigates technology-related risks, nurtures partnerships with vendors, manages budgets, and remains vigilant about industry trends and customer feedback. “As a technology advisor, I am committed to crafting solutions that deliver tangible value to our organisation,” he adds.

In Soni’s professional perspective, AI and cloud operations hold immense appeal. “Firstly, these fields are in a state of perpetual

evolution, offering an endless wellspring of opportunities for continuous learning and exploration – a prospect I find personally fulfilling,” he says. “Moreover, AI and cloud operations stand at the vanguard of technology, affording professionals like me the privilege of working with cutting-edge innovations that are reshaping our world, aligning perfectly with my passion for all things tech.”

However, what truly drives his enthusiasm is the potential for AI and cloud operations to affect positive change on a global scale. “These technologies have the capacity to revolutionise sectors like healthcare, education, and environmental sustainability.

“As a technology advisor, I am committed to crafting solutions that deliver tangible value to our organisation.”

“Leveraging my skills to contribute to these advancements and make a meaningful impact on the world resonates deeply with my professional aspirations,” Soni adds.

And from a leadership standpoint, Soni reckons AI and cloud operations offer many advantages. He believes their scalability makes them adaptable to businesses of varying sizes, while their agility allows swift adjustments in response to technological or operational changes. “The inherent cost-efficiency can significantly reduce IT expenditure, and their robust security measures bolster data protection in an increasingly interconnected world,” he says.

Soni explains that in practice, AI and cloud operations are transforming industries across the board. “In healthcare, AI aids in drug development, diagnostics, and patient care. In finance, it automates trading, enhances risk management, and detects fraudulent activities. Manufacturing benefits from AI with optimised production and quality control.

INNOVATIVE AND TRANSFORMATIVE

“Retail utilises AI for personalised shopping experiences and inventory management, while logistics sees improvements in shipping routes, tracking, and inventory management,” he says, adding that in general, AI is enabling organisations to embrace intelligent process automation at various levels. “Dynamic solutioning and process adjustments driven through AI are helping organisations with more innovative and transformative solutions,” Soni says.

Over the past two decades, the landscape of technology objectives has undergone a profound transformation. Soni’s journey started in the Y2K era, a time when digitisation and digitalisation took centre stage in the realm of technology ownership. “From crafting bespoke in-house solutions to adopting Custom-Off-theShelf (COTS) systems and now embracing the agility of SaaS-based solutions, the technological footprint within operational processes has witnessed a remarkable evolution,” he says.

Yet, amidst these shifts, fundamental pillars of technology have remained unaltered.

“I regard these pillars as the bedrock of technology: Business (B), Technology (T), Finance (F), Operations (O), and Security (S). These constants continue to guide our decisions, shaping well-balanced and futureready technology solutions,” Soni explains.

Breaking down why transformation is imperative and outline fundamental steps for successful execution from a leadership and organisational standpoint, he points to the business landscape, which is rapidly evolving due to technological advances and changing consumer preferences. “Organisations that fail to adapt find themselves left behind. Digital transformation is necessary to stay competitive and relevant,” he says.

Soni adds that technology enables automation, streamlining processes, reducing errors, and increasing efficiency. “Embracing these digital tools can lead to substantial cost savings and improved productivity and data driven decision making,” he says.

And through data analytics and AI-driven insights, organisations can offer personalised experiences, driving customer loyalty and revenue growth. “Being digitally enabled fosters a culture of innovation and agility,” Soni adds, explaining that it empowers teams to experiment, iterate, and respond swiftly

“Organisations that fail to adapt find themselves left behind. Digital transformation is necessary to stay competitive and relevant.”

PHOTO: NASA

to market changes – especially in SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis scenarios.

UNDERSTANDING URGENCY

From a technological leadership and organisational perspective, being a change agent requires a broader collaboration across organisations, and Soni believes some steps that have helped him with successful transformation are “getting the leadership buy in. Leaders must understand urgency, champion change, and be willing to invest time and resources.

“Also, you must define a clear and compelling vision of what the organisation aims to achieve through transformation. Communicating this vision effectively to the entire workforce helps in taking the plan from inception to effective implementation,” he says.

Another transformational step is keeping the customer at the centre of all decisions. “Understand their needs and preferences and tailor your transformation efforts accordingly,” he quips.

Soni believes anticipating challenges and having contingency plans in place is vital, as transformation comes with risks, so effective risk management is crucial. As transformation is an ongoing process, he says you must encourage a mindset of continuous improvement and stay adaptable to future changes.

“Success hinges on leadership commitment, a clear vision, cultural alignment, datadriven decisionmaking, and a commitment to ongoing improvement.”

PHOTO: SIGMUND IM

PHOTO: MICHAEL DZIEDZIC

“Success hinges on leadership commitment, a clear vision, cultural alignment, data-driven decision-making, and a commitment to ongoing improvement. It’s a journey that requires patience and persistence, but the rewards are well worth the effort,” Soni comments.

With two decades of unwavering commitment to excellence, Soni is a seasoned leader at the forefront of catalysing transformation in the dynamic world of e-commerce. “My deep comprehension of the multifaceted challenges facing e-commerce enterprises, from the fluidity of consumer preferences to the relentless march of technological advancement and the complexities of supply chain and logistics, empowers me to craft tailored solutions that transcend industry standards,” he says.

GOLD STANDARD

As leadership is a multifaceted discipline that demands a unique blend of qualities to inspire and drive a team towards success, Soni believes a powerful leader sets the gold standard by embodying expected values, work ethics, and behaviours, acting as a role model of commitment, integrity, and professionalism.

“At the core, leadership entails fostering a culture of teamwork and open communication, valuing diverse perspectives, and harnessing collective intelligence to solve complex challenges,” he says, adding that adaptability is paramount in today’s ever-evolving technological landscape. Leaders must embrace change and uncertainty, exhibit resilience, and confidently guide their teams through transitions.

“Effective leadership requires a forward-thinking approach, crafting a long-term vision while remaining agile in achieving short-term goals. This enables leaders to influence and rally support for their initiatives, directing their teams towards shared objectives,” Soni adds.

He advises that an effective leader empowers their team by delegating responsibilities, granting autonomy, and nurturing individual growth, instilling trust in team members and encouraging ownership. “Simultaneously, leaders must exhibit empathy to create a culture of trust within their organisation, understanding the needs and concerns of team members and providing the requisite support and motivation,” Soni adds.

“I am a results-driven leader who continually harnesses emerging trends and technologies to orchestrate

strategic change. My fervour for delivering value through technology has culminated in the establishment of Strategic Value Solutions (StratVals),” he explains.

Soni says StratVals was born from a fundamental belief in the transformative power of technology-driven value creation, and this seemingly simple yet profoundly impactful mission embodies the essence of leadership. “In today’s fast-paced business environment, many organisations find themselves reacting rather than proactively harnessing the potential of technology, leading to inefficient processes and soaring ownership costs,” he says.

StratVals stands at the forefront of addressing these challenges, offering organisations a pathway to unlock the true value of their technology investments.

“As the driving force behind this endeavour, I relish the opportunity to serve as an effective change agent, drawing upon my wealth of professional and educational experiences to navigate the complex intersection of technology and business,” Soni explains.

“The prospect of collaborating with visionary entrepreneurs and founders within the StratVals ecosystem is nothing short of exhilarating.

“Transitioning from the corporate world to lead an organisation teeming with untapped potential while aiding fellow organisations on similar growth trajectories presents daily excitement and a host of challenges,” he says.

FUTURE MANAGEMENT

In an era defined by dynamism and digitalisation, Soni says the strategic management services sector stands at the precipice of a profound transformation, poised to meet the evolving demands of contemporary businesses. “In order to sustain their pertinence and

“Success hinges on leadership commitment, a clear vision, cultural alignment, data-driven decision-making, and a commitment to ongoing improvement.”

PHOTO: CHRISTIANO IRMANI

effectiveness amidst this perpetually shifting landscape, strategic management practitioners must epitomise adaptability, harness the latest technological innovations, integrate sustainability and ESG principles seamlessly, and master the art of delivering meticulously tailored solutions that intricately align with the idiosyncratic requisites of their clientele,” he adds.

Soni reckons the unrelenting pace of technological advancement continues to wield a transformative influence over the strategic management terrain. Organisations, recognising the paramount significance of staying at the vanguard of innovation, will increasingly seek astute guidance on capitalising upon emerging technologies such

as artificial intelligence, data analytics, and blockchain to secure a competitive edge.

“Furthermore, the burgeoning importance of data as a quintessential corporate asset necessitates the evolution of strategic management services to encompass advanced data analytics, predictive modelling, and

“Being digitally enabled fosters a culture of innovation and agility.”

prescriptive analysis, thereby empowering decision-makers with invaluable insights gleaned from the vast sea of data,” he says.

“As disruption and innovation continue to redefine established business paradigms, consultants are presented with the imperative task of aiding organisations in adapting to novel business models. This may encompass embracing platformbased approaches, subscription services, or other innovative strategies tailored to the specific needs of each client.

“Within the realm of strategic road mapping and planning, a burgeoning opportunity emerges in the form of technological solutions

designed to fortify organisations against unforeseen crises,” Soni explains.

“Lastly, in a hyper-connected world enriched by social networks, discerning customers and clients harbour elevated expectations for bespoke, personalised strategic counsel that adeptly addresses their distinctive challenges and opportunities,” he says, concluding that strategic management practitioners “must cultivate strategies that facilitate the creation of tailor-made solutions precisely aligned with the unique objectives of each client.” WWW.STRATVALSLLC.COM

PHOTO: ANTON MAKSIMOV

HELPING BUSINESSES FIND WAYS TO CREATE VALUE THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

FROM IMPLEMENTING BUSINESS STRATEGIES TO ULTRA-EFFICIENT WORK PROCESSES, FROM PRODUCT ROAD MAPPING TO PROGRAM MANAGEMENT STRATEGIC VALUE SOLUTIONS IS READY TO TACKLE ANY CHALLENGE AND PUT YOU ON THE PATH TO SUCCESS.

SCHEDULE A CONSULTATION TODAY.

LOVELL HODGE

SPEAKING OF SYNERGY

WE SIT DOWN WITH LOVELL HODGE, AS HE RECOUNTS HIS ACADEMIA DAYS, A PASSION FOR HIS CRAFT IN THE WORLD OF DATA, AND THE NEVER-ENDING VALUE OF TECHNOLOGY.

Q: By way of an introduction, could you tell me about your role and responsibilities at Munich Re?

With a more than 140-year history, Munich Re is one of the world’s leading risk carriers and is a leading global provider of reinsurance, primary insurance, insurance-related risk solutions, and capital markets solutions. We are playing a pivotal role in driving digital transformation in the insurance industry in order to push the boundaries of insurability.

I am the vice president of data and adaptive intelligence at Munich Re Canada Branch (Life), based in Toronto. I’m part of the business transformation team – our mandate is to use advanced technologies to transform the business. My role encompasses data

engineering, AI, business intelligence, and digital solutions. If you look at each of those pillars, you can think of it as a four-legged chair. They all interact with each other, and they’re all dependent on each other. So, with synergy across those pillars, it makes sense to have one team.

I’ve been in my position for about four years and I am focused on solutions within the life insurance space. Prior to that, I spent 14 years at a very large bank in Canada. Before that I was teaching at University of Waterloo as a lecturer in AI (I have a PhD in AI). Throughout my tenure on the academic side, I specialised in research around artificial neural networks, multi-agent systems, and fuzzy logic.

PHOTO: RYOJI

Q: What have your experiences taught you about the adoption and evolution of data and AI, and those other associated technologies in the enterprise? What are key trends driving the change we’ve seen over your career?

Over the years, there has been a realisation that data has an inherent information value to the organisation. As the years go by, we’re rapidly producing more data at an increasingly and somewhat alarming rate. So, what a lot of folks in the industry have realised is that there is not a huge space between theoretical concepts around information from data, and how they can use that information to simplify internal processes and also benefit clients.

So, you’re seeing that sort of interdependence starting to mature. And because of that, many organisations are looking at their data not as just something they have to store, but as an asset they can leverage. And once you start thinking in that sort of way, then you start to formulate methods by which you can gain value from data, and it becomes an important part of your corporate strategy.

In addition to the preponderance of data, it’s become a lot easier to adopt computing infrastructure. You don’t need massive computer rooms in your organisation anymore – everything has gone to the cloud. So, migration to the cloud, rapid growth in the amount of data we have and are exposed to, and now data becoming a part of the strategic objectives of the company from a value add perspective.

For example, here at Munich Re we rely on reinsurance data for improving and simplifying processes for our customers thereby helping carriers be more efficient especially in their underwriting practice.

Q: Is that a more complex environment for businesses to navigate?

It is, because you must wear multiple hats at the same time. Most executives think at the higher level, “I want to achieve these objectives.” Many don’t understand the underlying technology to achieve the

objectives and what additional technological resources they would have to invest in. There’s a whole range of technologies out there, so now the problem is multidimensional. You may understand your objectives, but you may not understand how to get there. And then you must think about the talent you need to get you there.

I’ve found that unless you’re really tech-savvy, these emerging technologies, especially around AI – a very complex field – come with challenges: what you can do with the technology is important, but even more important, is understanding its limitations.

When I speak to clients and even associates out there in related fields, I always make sure that I talk about limitations as much as I talk about ‘the art of the possible,’ because this is not a magic potion.

One problem that most companies have is transferring data from its current form, for example, PDFs to a digitised version. A lot of it has to do with unstructured data. What you’ll find is that we employ different techniques, OCR and some natural language understanding, and the expectation is that it’s going to be accurate 100% of the time. That’s untrue. If you haven’t put a process to mitigate any risks associated with that sometimesinaccurate operation, then you could get in trouble, especially when accuracy is a priority.

Q: What does financial services look like as an industry in terms of technologies, challenges or complexity around using data and so on? And how does that compare to other sectors?

“As the years go by, we’re rapidly producing more data at an increasingly and somewhat alarming rate.”

I entered the banking industry because I was asked to work on a very specific project around data. A piece of legislation came, Basel II, that essentially mandated banks to report on capital assets in a new way. And to do that, they had to gather a lot of data.

It was a bit of a surprise to me because banks typically sit on a lot of data, but they weren’t making use of it in a way that could diversify how they made money and they didn’t really make use of the data they collected. It is only because of legislation that they built infrastructure to collect and structure data that could be used to meet the regulatory commitments.

So it dawned on me, “Well, wait a minute. If we’re collecting all this data, what ways can we use it that support business strategy

and customer needs?” With that I set about to help them understand the potential of data in terms of developing new products and creating efficiencies.

When you talk about data, you’re not necessarily talking their language, so I had to make the connection for them. Because of that conversation, we built the first data mart that collected data from the credit side (where the legislation focused), and the asset side (deposits and cash). We started doing things like developing a better understanding of our clients, realising that if we knew our clients better, we could target them with certain products and upsell.

Now, I’m not saying I started the revolution in terms of data at the banks, that’s far from the truth. Around the same time, many banks

then started investing in their data. And over the years, data became an asset almost as important as the customer.

When I left the banking industry, I was working on fraud analytics, using a lot of data to identify fraud – understanding customer behaviour and what is normal, and then looking for abnormalities. That became a very powerful tool in fraud prevention and detection, all because of data.

Q: Data is a more of a strategic asset –that link was not there before. Was it just a case of data being used for the purposes it served?

Traditional structures existed in these very traditional institutions. There were business people that knew the business like the back of their hand; they knew customers, they went on hunches, feelings, relationships, golf. All these things played into the growth of their

“Many don’t understand the underlying technology to achieve the objectives and what additional technological resources they would have to invest in.”

PHOTO: BERKAY GUMUSTEKIN

customer base. What they didn’t invest in is talent they did not necessarily understand, because they would hire people akin to their own thought processes. So, by bringing in more data-centric and tech-savvy people, it added a perspective that wasn’t there before.

When you look at what I do today and the investment that Munich Re has made with respect to transformation, we are hiring data scientists and AI experts in addition to the traditional roles.

Q: When you joined Munich Re, what was your assessment of the business, and your objectives you wanted to implement?

There was a will to change and transform. It was exciting because they were at the beginning of the journey, and there was an opportunity for me to contribute to the change, as opposed to just adopting it. So, when I joined, I had to understand where we had the largest gaps. The realisation was that you can’t do anything without data and information, so we must get that tucked and tied.

For the first order of business, I prioritised data-centric infrastructure projects, because if I at least accessed data in a way that made sense, then we could start with more cognitive contributions like AI and automation. We’re still working at that today, but in the first year or two, I put infrastructure in place.

Q: Could you tell me more about Munich Re’s transformation strategy?

We used a lot of the AI that we created to boost our team’s internal productivity. As you go through digital transformation, one of the most important factors to consider is how it is adopted and how it affects people. So, we didn’t just throw a whole bunch of stuff out there without a strategy behind it. We got people onboard to help us formulate intended outcomes. “What would you like to see? How would this affect your role or team positively if you did it this way?”

Once they had skin in the game, they got excited about it.

The Digital Solutions team started leveraging a lot of technical innovation ideas and formulated it into products that we could use. Our data strategy and AI products that we are putting together for the organisation are examples of that. We also built out a fraud, waste and abuse tool that could be used anywhere in the insurance industry. It’s a very smart tool.

We focused on cutting-edge technology that is not necessarily ready for production, but we must have a handle on things like Large Language Models. We are at the forefront of research for that, and how we can apply it to our underwriting process, our claims processes and other areas of our core business.

Q: How do you identify areas or products or fields that you think will be relevant to the business?

Essentially, the core business of a reinsurer is risk management. Although I am talking specifically about the life and health space, in the non-life space, you have different technologies, but the same concept. We don’t want to stray too far from our core business, but at the same time, we’re always looking to make it more efficient and pass those capabilities on to our clients as we see ourselves as a true innovation partner.

If we invest in a particular technology and can share it in a way that specifically benefits our clients, then that’s where our priorities lie, and that’s how we choose those projects and initiatives that make sense.

“I always make sure that I talk about limitations as much as I talk about ‘the art of the possible,’ because this is not a magic potion.”

Q: Regarding efficiency, particularly with automation and AI innovation, that frees up people to focus on other tasks. Is that one of the main benefits of those kinds of technologies?

That’s correct and also the creation of novel products our clients can use to improve their efficiency as well. We create internal and external products, and both are focused on either automation and improving efficiency or removing some sort of roadblock to a particular business strategy. It is also

important for us to conform to any regulatory requirements in the jurisdictions that we operate and this is taken into consideration when new products or services are conceived.

One example is an automated underwriting tool called Alitheia. It’s being used by a number of carriers in the US currently and facilitates life insurance applications by providing an underwriting recommendation in about 10 minutes. It delivers the highest straight-through through processing rate in

the industry – over 50%. This is all based on proprietary machine learning models and data sources developed at Munich Re.

Q: With digital solutions, you focus on new products. How do you identify the need for those?

Typically, we go into a line of business and essentially undertake a process assessment. Essentially a Lean Six Sigma of the processes. We find the pain points, bottlenecks, things

“What they didn’t invest in is talent they did not necessarily understand, because they would hire people akin to their own thought processes.”

PHOTO: SCOTT WEBB

that can be automated, stopped or started to improve efficiency of the process. Once that assessment is done, it gives us a clear idea as to where to target our efforts and technical innovation.

Generally, we would focus on inefficient steps in the process and automate those to a point that provides efficiency and then move on.

Our job at the VP and similar levels is to execute on that strategy. You have a communication that says, “We are going in this direction.” And then you have the people that are around to execute. Then it becomes, “What specifically are we going to do? What specifically are our objectives and when do we need to achieve them?” That’s when you can start onboarding the ideas around, “Help me to help you, help me to

Q: What does the transformation process look like from a cultural change perspective?

You can’t have successful transformation without the appropriate change management. You can throw as many tools at the problem as you want, but if no one is actually using them, you’re just wasting money. The best practice is to engage with the consumers of the transformation on day one. However, in my experience, an important step before that is to create a culture at the top. Senior leaders in the organisation should clearly communicate their strategic objectives around change and transformation, and how important it is, so that you get the masses moving towards it.

understand where those gaps are so that I can fulfil the company-wide strategic objectives alongside you.”

That collaborative approach creates a culture of trust because you’re not making assumptions as to what would help people. We must know our overarching goals and get there together. Having the constant conversations around what would make sense is important.

To sum it up, the strategic objectives and overall goals must be set at the top of the organisation. Then there must be some very specific initiatives and projects that move towards achieving those strategic objectives.

Once we have defined those initiatives , we can have conversations with the business folks to ensure they agree with those initiatives, and then we can execute. Those are the basic steps in any transformation journey.

Q: From a leader’s perspective, how do you build your team?

I look for people that are hungry for change

Q: The transformation is ongoing. Where are you in the process from those initial objectives that you set?

We have achieved most of what we set out to do in the initial plan for transformation. Where there’s something that’s not totally achieved, it’s in progress. But transformation never really ends, as technology and people evolve. You may get to a point where you will

and are anxious to showcase their skills. People don’t necessarily come into a role knowing everything, but they should have an open mind and the ability to learn fast. When I see that type of talent, I know that I can develop it and show them what they do today is probably not everything they’re capable of. And that’s a reward for me.

Skill sets are important. At the end of the day, everyone on the team has strengths and weaknesses, so you must build a team that compliments each other, and the communication style across the different pillars of the team must be one of consistent collaboration. If you can achieve that, you’ll have a high-performing team.

be transforming in a more subtle way as opposed to an outright rip down and build up again.

Your modus operandi must change over time as well, and it must mature with the organisation’s situation.

When we started, there was a rapid, significant transformation, and now we’re building on those foundations that we laid over the last three or four years. So, the transformation becomes not so much of a construction, but more of a refinement.

That’s where we are. We are continuously achieving our objectives because we are

PHOTO: FAUXELSSHAKES

always setting new ones. And any organisation that exists today, especially a global one, will consistently look beyond the finite horizon they’ve set and have objectives beyond that. We set objectives for 2025, we call it Ambition 2025. Now we’re setting objectives for 2030, and eventually we’ll look beyond that.

Q: Can you tell me some of those objectives for 2030?

It’s a focus on the use of emerging technologies, certainly more efficient use of our data assets, improving our efficiencies. All of these must stay close to our core business commitments with our clients because it’s important for us to be an innovation partner with our clients.

We have a reputation at Munich Re for leading the industry when it comes to innovation. We are constantly innovating, and we set our sights on targets and goals that are quite lofty. We do that because we have faith in our greatest asset, which is our people. If we set those stretch goals, our people will rise to the challenge and meet them. And we do, without fail.

Q: In the world of enterprise, is there a crossover in similarities from your early academia days?

It is a mindset change. I keep telling my AI team, especially, “I’d love to sit down and build some models with you guys and research certain things.” I wish I could be more hands-on, but I can’t, I must look at the big picture. It has taken me a while, but I’ve accepted that. What is important to me is keeping an eye on the technology and constantly staying abreast of technological changes so I can guide the team accordingly. One advantage I have is a lot of expertise in AI, so conversations with the team and experts in AI is at a different level than it would typically be for an executive. So that’s a good thing, I pride myself on that.

PHOTO: KINDEL MEDIA

THE DISRUPTOR

/ CHARCO NEUROTECH

NON-INVASIVE PARKINSON’S TECH

“We believe in simple, non-invasive technologies like the CUE1 that can help improve quality of life for people with long-term conditions.”

Charco Neurotech takes its name from renowned Neurologist Professor Charcot who, in the 19th century, noticed the therapeutic effects of vibratory stimulation on Parkinson’s symptoms. That is where the company began when developing the CUE1.

Charco Neurotech’s CUE1 is a noninvasive wearable device that works to improve motor performance in those with Parkinson’s disease. Usually worn on the sternum, the device’s electric motor produces a specialised pattern of localised vibrations, or focused vibrotactile stimulation. These vibrations send sensory

neuronal signals to the brain which are incredibly important for motor and balance control. The CUE1 also uses a Parkinson’s therapy called cueing, in the form of rhythmic vibrations, which can help those with Parkinson’s sustain regular cycles of bodily movement.

Ten devices are being trialled at Addenbrooke’s in Cambridgeshire, with the hopes of aiding Parkinson’s patients with managing their symptoms and returning home.

WWW.CHARCONEUROTECH.COM

HEIKO WEIGELT SHAPING THEFUTURE

FUNKE’S HEIKO WEIGELT ON TRANSFORMING THE GROUP’S TECH DEPARTMENT INTO AN INNOVATIVE AND AGILE STRATEGIC ASSET.

In his own words, Heiko Weigelt doesn’t have your typical IT career journey. But, that’s what makes his passage from young metal worker – albeit with a fascination in the computer control machinery at his disposal – through studying mechatronics, work in software engineering and consulting, to tech and IT-focused leadership roles in internationally recognised media organisations all the more exciting. Of course, the fact that, as a young seven or eight year old he was already more interested in computers than he was in school, leaves us little doubt the success he has achieved would always happen.

Today Weigelt is Chief Information Officer at FUNKE Mediengruppe, a role in which he has transformed the organisation’s IT function from a traditional, corporate IT department model to an innovative, agile and business-focused technology department known as FUNKE Technology – while also navigating a serious ransomware attack in late 2020.

His work at FUNKE is the culmination of more than 20 years’ experience in technology, including working for a tech startup and, later, as a consultant for SAP, before moving into the media industry first with scientific publishing group Springer Nature before taking his current position in 2019.

Over this period, Weigelt says, the use and adoption of technology and its impact on businesses has evolved rapidly. “The rate of transformation and change is increasing all the time,” he explains, picking up on the theme. “Of course, if we’re talking about the media industry specifically, then it’s still very diverse – from traditional print publishers to video, audio and digital media companies. Broadly, there’s a strong appetite for transformation and you can really see the rise of digital processes, business models, innovation, and products. Because of the diverse nature of the sector, the level of adoption differs from media companies that had early digital business products, like scientific publishing, which went through the digital transformation process quite early through to daily newspaper publishers or those producing print products.

“Generally though, everyone in the industry is under a lot of pressure to position themselves as quickly as possible as digital and technologically innovative businesses because future print models alone just aren’t sustainable anymore,” says Weigelt. “I think that urgency explains the diverse level of adoption and uses of technology behind the new business models in the market. From a pure technology perspective, there are some key themes across the transformations we’re seeing. In terms of infrastructure, for example, most are moving away from on-prem systems towards the cloud, which also goes hand in

“There’s a strong appetite for transformation and you can really see the rise of digital processes, business models, innovation, and products”.

PHOTO: FEDERICA GALLI

hand with an evolution from legacy systems and technologies, investing in and building up new applications that offer greater scalability, and the increased use of SaaS solutions. More broadly, I think COVID has changed the way we work and had a significant impact in shaping the future mobile workplace. It’s definitely behind organisations making more use of AI or AI-powered solutions.”

Weigelt explains that one of the drivers for media companies using digital technologies to develop new products and methods of delivery is the evolution of consumer demand. “You’ll always have digital frontrunners developing new products that address specific needs or requirements,” he states. “This then creates new demand – it’s a constant cycle that doesn’t really stop and, even if you’re not at the forefront, you have to follow to remain competitive and give customers what they want.

BUILDING FUNKE TECHNOLOGY

Since 2019, Weigelt and his team have been steering this type of transformation at FUNKE Mediengruppe. The organisation is one of the

largest and most successful media houses in Germany, delivering journalism with passion through three core business areas: regional media, magazines and digital. Across this spectrum, FUNKE has around 1,700 journalists and close to 3,800 media professionals dedicated to delivering the highest quality content and products for readers. While FUNKE’s roots are in traditional media and print journalism – its earliest publications dating back to the late 1940s – it uses a broad scope of technologies and innovative products to deliver digital and print, audio and visual content.

“COVID has changed the way we work and had a significant impact in shaping the future mobile workplace”

Weigelt joined the group in the summer of 2019 to build on the technology capabilities and innovation already in the business. Since then he and his colleagues have transformed the organisation’s technology department, now known as FUNKE Technology, into an innovative digital service delivery function. FUNKE Technology now provides innovative, highly efficient and technology-driven application platforms across the entire FUNKE group, using IT as a strategic driver for the business that supports all its products and brands.

“We’ve really evolved from essentially a corporate IT department in the traditional sense, to a true technology department that exists to push tech-based innovation forward through the entire business, covering everything from future workplace applications and product development, through to infrastructure services and everything in between,” explains Weigelt. “We’re well on our way to the ultimate vision of that technology department, too. As an example, when implementing changes in the SAP environment or building new solutions we’re now doing so in full stack development rather than just sourcing a prebuilt solution from the market.

“Previously, the typical IT strategy was to pick a ready-to-go solution, make some minor adjustments and then operate it,” he continues. “Now working as a technology provider, yes, we still may have to source some standard solutionsfor commodity IT functions, but in those areas across the business where we believe technology can deliver a true competitive advantage, we work to deliver custom solutions. To do so, we’ve built a strong group of application developers, full stack developers and focused on new skills around machine learning ops, DevOps and more so we can build the gamechanging applications of the future.”

CULTURE AND LEADERSHIP

FUNKE Technology works collaboratively with other departments across the FUNKE Group to translate digital and data strategies into valuable solutions and explore, develop and operate high-performance IT platforms for sectors such as editorial departments, sales, customer support and more. “The requirement for new business applications is done together,” says Weigelt, elaborating that they’ve “built the team in a way that works really closely between business departments and everyone in FUNKE Technology. Across the individual business departments, we have a business owner who oversees goals, objectives and how they translate into digital solutions.

Then a dedicated IT business partner works closely with them to define the new business capabilities we need, what areas we’re looking to improve, or how we can deliver business value more efficiently. It’s a really collaborative way of working.”

Such collaboration wouldn’t exist without the right culture and team in place – equally important as any technology or innovation. A central aspect of transforming the technology function within the business for Weigelt has been nurturing this aspect of FUNKE Technology. This includes creating an environment in which creative thinking is encouraged through agile team structures, change and the opportunities that come with it are embraced, collaborative leadership is practised, and each team member is guided by innovation.

“It’s the type of culture that I really believe is absolutely essential for any kind of transformation like this,” Weigelt states.

“We’ve a group of really talented people who want to take responsibility for their work and align with a shared purpose and so the kind of environment we create, the processes we have and the way we manage the team has to take all of this into account to enable innovation – it won’t happen without that approach. Historically, we had a relatively hierarchical or instructive leadership and management style in which very few people made and delivered decisions. The change we’ve made has really been about listening to people more and defining a set of shared values that guide us around transparency, trust and communication. It’s crucial for making people feel they are part of the change that’s happening.”

Weigelt’s approach to leadership enables this change. His role, he explains, is to provide the right environment for talent to grow and flourish. “They’re all experts,” he adds, “the last thing they need is me telling them how to do their jobs. Rather,

I have to provide them with perspective, the goals or objectives, or strategy and then it’s up to them how they meet those goals through their own creativity. When you’re working with technology talent, they’re highly skilled so it’s about ensuring they feel enabled and engaged to deliver the gamechanging technologies and ideas that will drive FUNKE forwards. Every team member is an opportunity for a disruptive great idea and a new business model. The responsibility I have is to remove obstacles and give them everything they need to create better solutions and achieve their best performance.”

TECHNOLOGY MITIGATING RISK

Aside from organisational change, and to enable greater innovation, Weigelt and his team have also worked to move FUNKE away from legacy technologies, including from on-premise systems to hybrid cloud technology.

He explains: “This had to change to support our future vision. To start, we focused on moving to cloud services and system migrations to consolidate the application landscape – historically, FUNKE had isolated IT departments in the different regions it operated in, meaning that infrastructure wasn’t consolidated so we’ve focused on evolving this structure as a core priority.” Consolidating infrastructure in this way brings several benefits to the organisation, including improving security and resistance to cyber attack. In late 2020, prior to this consolidation, FUNKE experienced a serious ransomware attack, the result of an undetected phishing email that allowed attackers to access the group’s IT network and encrypt data, making it unusable. “We had backups in place, which helped mitigate the potential damage,” says Weigelt, “but because nearly everything was encrypted we had to recreate or restore more or less all our systems and applications, which took a couple of months to complete. It really drove home

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the lesson that, when it comes to technology and IT, security has to be the number one priority – if there is any indication of risk, everything else is on hold.

“The challenge, of course, is that it’s a constantly evolving battlefield,” he continues. “Attack vectors change all the time and businesses face the impacts on a daily basis. The challenge a lot of companies have is that the topic of IT security still isn’t on every board’s agenda, despite it being the foundation on which you build your entire digital home. Working through the kind of transformation that we are, you invest so much in technology, in digitalisation and new solutions, so having the right foundations in place is absolutely critical. We’re in constant communication with other publishing houses in Germany so we can collectively maintain awareness and mitigate further security risks, we’ve invested a lot in security now moving forwards, and we work with dedicated partner organisations.”

This investment, says Weigelt, has centred around recreating and redesigning infrastructure, building

“We’ve really evolved from essentially a corporate IT department in the traditional sense, to a true technology department that exists to push techbased innovation forward through the entire business”

good business continuity management systems and preparedness, and creating a 24/7 security operations centre in partnership with Northwave Security, which provides organisations like FUNKE with integrated, high-quality information security services. “This operations centre, which can react permanently and whenever required and gives us oversight over our security capability, is a key investment; for a company of our size, it’s the most important security service.”

“Northwave is crucial to that,” he adds. “When choosing any partner like this, it’s so important that, beyond the technical offering, there’s a strong relationship and a desire to work together seamlessly on joint objectives. I always

look for a partner who is prepared to make our problems their problems and has an understanding of what our business wants to achieve - it should be working together towards joint success with trust and transparency, and that’s certainly the case with Northwave.”

In just four years, Weigelt and his team have made significant changes to the way in which FUNKE adopts and uses technology, and brought innovation to its product and brand portfolio. “Much of the early work is now complete, and we’re in a position where we can start piloting new applications. We’re in a constant loop, checking how we can provide the existing applications and technologies more efficiently, while also driving forward technical progress and delivering really innovative solutions. I want to position us as an early adopter of new technologies that shows the entire group the potential for new products or service ideas that simply weren’t possible before. It’s an exciting, but challenging prospect.”

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WORDS:

ESTHER MUNYI THE POWER

OF PEOPLE

SASFIN’S ESTHER MUNYI DISCUSSES WHAT THE POWER OF PEOPLE AND DATA CAN DO TO TRANSFORM THE BANKING BUSINESS.

Imagine a world where organisations are just hiring clones – they’re not going to be innovative, and companies will not be able to grow. You need to embrace different people who think, well, differently.

But throughout Esther Munyi’s career, she’s been judged for being who she is. “And that means being criticised for things I can’t change. I can’t change being a woman, I can’t change being a person of colour. I mean, I’ve been judged for being soft-spoken, for not being assertive enough.”

But for someone who describes herself so modestly, she is truly a powerhouse in the industry.

Having just recently won the sought-after CDO of the Year 2023, she is currently Chief Data and Analytics officer at Sasfin, a South African independent banking and financial service.

She looks after the whole enterprise data capabilities, and “that’s throughout the full value chain of data from data integration, data analytics, data governance, data architecture, pretty much everything other than capturing the data itself,” she says.

“I basically have a team of data engineers, analysts, architects that work every day to try and make sure that we get data to the people in the organisation that need it, make sure that we oversee and make sure that there’s proper

governance on the data that we use, and use it ethically.”

Hailing from a background in consulting, Munyi has worked with a broad base of clients in different industries and markets. “I think that’s really enabled me a lot in terms of my journey and where I am now. It’s because of being able to work with different types of solutions and problems to enable diverse opportunities,” she says.

DATA DRIVER

Munyi believes that, in terms of where it sits in Sasfin, data is becoming a top strategic driver, and is one of the top priorities – how the organisation leverages and uses data it has and can obtain to make informed decisions. “We’ve realised that if we don’t use data, we will be sort of at the back foot in the industry because everybody’s using and leveraging it. So, it’s about how we also get on that bandwagon,” she adds.

Sasfin realised data is a critical asset for the organisation, with Munyi musing that it can be difficult to properly govern, so it is protected, secure, and utilised in the

best way possible. And she has the view that everybody has responsibility when it comes to data, no matter the position.

“It’s not about the data team managing the data asset, it’s about everybody’s responsibility around how we leverage it. So, this is all the way from the board to the people that capture the data. We’ve made sure that even from a priority perspective, people’s KPIs, strategy, operational efficiency, that data is part of that whole ecosystem.”

And when it comes to data and technology, Munyi says it’s important to use it based on the proper use case. “We are not an organisation that wants to just go out and use technology just for the sake of it. It’s about what makes sense, and to make sure we get value out of that technology.”

The Sasfin team perform many pilots and proof of values, partnering with vendors who are familiar with those technologies and tools, which brings a shared advantage: “if we utilise skills, talents and the understanding of certain consulting agencies and vendors that understand the technology, we can leverage from that and not have to do it all on our own.

PHOTO: CHRIS LIVERANI

“Something I’ve come to understand is that building solutions using technology and data is the easy part – changing behaviours and shifting culture is the challenge, especially if you are used to certain processes,” she adds.

The most important part for Munyi in that process is not necessarily the technology, but the people.

She says that you are asking people, especially leadership teams, who have been using their experiences and “gut feelings” to make decisions, to now use data. “It’s a mind shift, it’s a huge ask. It’s all about changing that behaviour and changing the culture.”

A large part of Munyi’s responsibility as CAO is helping people through the journey of changing how they work, but not in a way that is aggressive and demanding. “It’s about how we support those experiences with data. It’s about enablement, it’s about support. It’s not about trying to push things down their throat”.

Munyi says people learn differently, and roles and responsibilities in business are varied. With that in mind, “when we are building programs and taking people through the journey, we also must understand these different types of personas.”

She uses the leadership teams as an example: “There’s a saying that nobody decided by looking at a number, they made a decision by looking at the story, right? So, how do we get our leadership teams to be able to understand and see the story behind the numbers, behind the reports, behind the charts? How are they able to read it, understand it and use it in a way to be able to make the right decisions? Therefore, we are gearing programs for the leadership teams through that type of lens,” she says.

Then there’s the people capturing the data or liaising with clients –how does the company enable them based on their roles? “There are so many programs out there that are very generic, but we’ve decided we want to take a different step as to how we gear those programs based on those personas in the organisation,” Munyi quips.

In terms of effective leadership and data transformation of an organisation, Munyi says it must start from the top, adding “We tend to start, try and work bottom up, but I think it can only work from the top down. The leaders of the organisation are the ones that set the culture, they lead by example.”

If they’re not data transformative and are not leading the charge in terms of using and mandating the use of data, then the organisation is doomed. “In order to truly have transformative change and have a data-driven culture, you must start from the top. That’s always my focus,” she says.

“The most important part I think, especially for my role as CAO, is not necessarily the technology aspect, but the people aspect. How do we get people to leverage data and use it?”

And when it comes to helping people on their learning journey with data, Munyi believes an effective CDO, CAO or data leader must lead with empathy, but she holds a ‘controversial’ thought: “I don’t think everybody should be a leader.

“We live in a society where they say success is through status. And status means holding a leadership title and being a leader; you must lead others. And I don’t think that’s true.

“I believe that to be a leader of others, you need to lead with empathy because at the end of the day, leadership is about leading yourself, then others, and then the organisation. You must be able to empathise with people’s plights.”

you can’t run an organisation; you can’t run the world without people.

“I’m a big believer of people.”

UNLEARNING, RELEARNING AND AUTHENTICITY

As a woman in a C-level position, Munyi has experienced challenges to become the high-flyer she is today.

She uses COVID as an example: “Through the pandemic, I’m so glad that I am working with an organisation where our CEO and our leaders were empathetic to our people.” The company’s outstanding IT leadership team was already leveraging technology as best as possible, so when COVID came, employees of Sasfin could work from home with no hassle. Munyi adds that “from a technology perspective, it made us realise that there needs to be a balance between, from an operational efficiency perspective, how we utilise and depend on technology and people.”

And what came first was the people, because “at the end of the day, they are our greatest assets. Without the people,

And her advice to women and young girls who wish to pursue this kind of career? “It is hard. And that’s important to know that from the onset because knowledge is power – knowledge of knowing that it’s going to be hard means you can be prepared emotionally and mentally.

“It’s not easy, but you’re not alone. It’s important to know you’re not alone,” she says.

Admitting she has social anxiety –she has even left conferences she was asked to speak at as soon as she walked in – Munyi deals with it by not talking about herself, but rather her three lessons learned in her journey: “unlearning, relearning and authenticity.

“I just imagine a world where learning, experiencing other cultures, other people, embracing our differences and unlearning biases becomes the guiding principle of how we succeed as just as

“It’s about how we support those experiences with data. It’s about enablement.”

PHOTO: CHRISTINA

human beings. And we can’t be innovative without diversity.”

Being a woman in the industry, Munyi notices that many women try to become people

they’re not in order to be accepted. “I truly think that’s a disservice not only to the organisation, but to themselves. Because if you’re not yourself, you can’t grow.

“If you’re not authentically you, you can’t bring your best self to the table. So, I think it’s important to embrace yourself, but it doesn’t mean embracing the things that could hinder you.” This is what Esther means by unlearning.

For example, in Munyi’s culture, from a young age, you are told you must respect your elders. “But that has always been translated as obey. We sometimes misconstrue respect with obedience. It was very difficult for me, especially in my journey to, for example, reprimand someone older.”

“How do we get our leadership teams to be able to understand and see the story behind the numbers, behind the reports, behind the charts?”

She had to unlearn and understand it is not obedience, but respect.

And you cannot stop learning. “Learning is forever. And it’s about curiosity as well. Take Albert Einstein, he didn’t think he was a genius. He just thought he was just passionately curious.”

MAINTAIN AND EVOLVE

Munyi says to be successful in maintaining good relationships with clients, you must meet their needs as they evolve. “In today’s world, clients want options. They want hyperpersonalisation of the offerings and products. So, we also put huge focus on making sure we remediate our data, ensure we have the right

controls, and that client information is protected.

“A big part of being a bank is also meeting regulatory demands, that we’re managing our data correctly and our clients’ privacy properly.

“We’re also perfecting what we do best. But it’s about how we build relationships with our clients even more. And we try to do that with data. It’s how we enable the business, our leaders and our people to be more efficient using data.”

Munyi says there is so much power in data – and there isn’t a problem you can’t solve with it.

“If you want to remove inconsistencies, resource intensive processes, if you want to be digitally transformative, if you want to be client-centric, if you want to build strategic products, all of that can be done with data,” she adds.

“It’s about doing what’s right, not just for the sake of doing it. Because a lot of people just follow what’s new and emerging. But with us, our aim is doing what’s right for our organisation. And that’s starting with value. What’s the value we can gain from using the technologies, from using data?”

THE COST OF GROWTH

Many organisations are working on how to reduce costs, not just focus on growth. Especially in South Africa, with Munyi pointing to huge microeconomic factors affecting the economy in the country. For example, load shedding, where utility company Eskom is unable to meet power demands of the country, so power is shut off for two hours every day. Also, “we had an interest rate increase the other day, we just came out of COVID, our country just got into grey listing, which also again is impacting our economy and investors are shying away a bit. So, there’s huge pressure.

“How do we survive in an economy with all these different factors affecting us?” Munyi says that leveraging technology, and utilising what you have, is the answer.

Sasfin has partnerships with different organisations and vendors. “The way we define a successful partnership is around

“In order to truly have transformative change and have a data-driven culture, you must start from the top.”

PHOTO: PRICILLA DU PREEZ

UNLOCKTHE POWEROFYOURDATA

partners that truly want to see us succeed. Because they realise if we succeed, they do.” The ideal partner for Sasfin, is one that understands and shares risks, as well as benefits.

“If that partnership doesn’t work, it shouldn’t just be on us as an organisation, it’s also about them coming with us through that journey. We find a lot of these service providers and vendors take more ownership of that partnership if they’re also sharing the risk, and help change things to make sure we realise the value.

“We like service providers that can say, ‘You know what? This is a mistake’ when they look at a particular use case and they see the dollar or the rands in that implementation. Because there’s cost to a lot of these things,” she adds.

Using cloud computing as an example, Munyi has seen organisations go bankrupt

just by moving to the Cloud because of huge costs: “They don’t realise the unseen and hidden costs around the migrations.

“We are very much around the cost benefit aspect of it to make sure that we have vendors that can help us. We want vendors who can come in and say, ‘Look, we know you want to do this huge implementation.

Perhaps there’s a better way, a more costeffective way, a better way of doing it.’ Instead of just seeing the money aspect.” With partners such as Microsoft and OneStream, Sasfin also looks to partner with Fintechs like Hello Paisa, a mobile platform where you can send money from South Africa

At BI-LabSolutions ,webelieveinthepowerof partnership.

Ourteamofexpertsworkscloselywithyouto understandyouruniqueneedsandchallenges todevelopcustomizeddataanalyticssolutions thatdeliverrealresults.

Together ,wecantransformyourbusinessand unlockthefullpotentialofyourdata.

“I don’t think everybody should be a leader.”

overseas. “They don’t necessarily have the track records, as they’re new and emerging. But if you are willing to share in the risk of us taking on those solutions, then we are willing to have that conversation.”

As a niche boutique financial company, Sasfin deals primarily with asset financing, wealth management and business and commercial banking, and the clientele are mostly SME’s. “And that’s what we do well in. So, we want to partner with technology companies that know how to do the technology part well, right?” Munyi says.

Sasfin wishes to evolve its data platforms to also be cloud-based. “We want to be more low-code, no-code type of technology. Our engineers spend a lot of time doing heavy work around coding, programming, and around integration, our orchestration, and building warehouses.

“We live in a society where they say success is through status. And status means holding a leadership title and being a leader; you must lead others. And I don’t think that’s true.”

PHOTO: CAMPAIGN CREATORS

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“We want to move away from a lot of that heavy work to ‘surface level’ work where the real value is seen, the analytical work, building models and more analytical engines.

“So that means less orchestration – you can imagine when we are building our repositories and our warehouses, we are pulling data from different types of systems,” she adds.

Yet when it comes to Sasfin’s regulatory requirements, much data needs to be integrated, like into warehousing and reporting solutions. But as the company is cost-sensitive, it wants to work with efficient, cost-savvy technologies.

BELIEF AND UNDERSTANDING

Munyi believes it’s important to understand that there is high competition in the financial services industry – not just in the market, but in the solutions on offer. Giving emerging aspects of open banking or embedded financing, as an example, Munyi says we live

in a world where non-financial businesses are also offering financial products, “so it’s important to be aware and be part of that journey. We also must focus on what we do well, but I believe we need to see what’s happening in the market competitively.”

And when it comes to the global skills shortage, Munyi wants everyone to work together to solve the problem for the future, not just for today. “We must get more people into this industry and not just look at it from a university level: how do we embed data and analytics skills from a younger age? Because by the time you start to understand data and analytics at university, it’s too late – you’ve already made your choices.

“It’s important for governments and the education departments to get involved in the conversation. We need to look at getting governments and the NGOs and NPOs aboard so we can create solutions for tomorrow.”

TOP10

TV SHOWS ABOUT ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES

1.

BLACK MIRROR

When talking about technology in TV shows, it is hard not to mention Black Mirror. The Channel 4-turned-Netflix anthology series features some of the most jaw-dropping narratives about people and societies that push technology to its absolute limit, for better or worse.

From explorations of AR, cloning, and simulated reality, to an interactive episode where viewers can build their own narratives, Black Mirror captures the audience in every episode.

2.

MR ROBOT

Starring Rami Malek as cyber-security engineer and hacker Elliot Anderson, Mr. Robot delves into the world of hacktivists and a group called “fsociety”, who aim to take down the largest conglomerate in the world by encrypting the company’s financial data and eliminating their debt records.

Show creator Sam Esmail developed the series due to his fascination with hacker culture and the communities it created. Esmail did thorough research and consulted with experts in the field to make sure the portrayal of hackers and hacktivists was as true to life as possible.

3. 4. 5.

Biohackers, a techno-thriller series from Germany, explores the world of illegal genetic experimentation through the journey of Mia Akerlund, a medical student at the University of Freiburg, who attempts to investigate the suspicious death of her twin brother.

Whilst biohacking and synthetic biology are explored on a huge scale, Mia’s roommate Ole partakes in more accessible forms of biohacking, such as implanting payment chips into his hands, and various other practices that we see making the news across the world today. The series has been praised for addressing realworld concerns about genetic engineering and DIY biology.

Netflix’s popular 2021 animated series Arcane takes place within the League of Legends universe and follows two sisters, Vi and Jinx, who find themselves at the centre of the battle between the utopic, technologically advanced Piltover, and the impoverished undercity of Zaun.

Much of the narrative revolves around the growth of Hextech, a magical technology which enables the user to harness great power that can be developed into weaponry or within their own bodies. Whilst the magical aspect of the tech is obviously fiction, the characters’ use of this technology to advance their bodies, biological abilities, and lifespans is not unlike certain advancements we are seeing today.

BIOHACKERS ARCANE WESTWORLD

Based on the 1973 film of the same name, HBO’s Westworld follows the guests and inhabitants of a technologically advanced amusement park. Whilst Westworld itself is Wild West-themed, the technology utilised within the park is definitely that of the future.

Here, guests walk amongst and interact with android “hosts” who serve their every fantasy and cannot retaliate due to their programming. The series explores the powers, limitations, and ethics of artificial intelligence and what this could look like if pushed too far in the real world.

6. 7.

The 2015 series Humans unpacks themes of artificial intelligence and robotics through the stories of the Synths, anthropomorphic robots which are built for various purposes, such as being caregivers and servants to families.

As with many shows with similar themes, Humans explores ideas of consciousness, autonomy, and power, in relation to AI, when the Synths begin to become aware and wish to rebel against the roles they have been allocated in society.

HUMANS LOST IN SPACE

Inspired by the 1960s series of the same name, and the 1812 novel The Swiss Family Robinson, Netflix’s 2018 series Lost in Space follows a family of space colonists whose ship crashes on an Earth-like planet after Earth itself is no longer habitable by humans.

The family’s youngest offspring, child prodigy Will, rescues and rebuilds a Robot with whom he forms an incredibly tight bond. The series explores space travel and futuristic technology but also delves into topics such as robotics, alternative fuels and sustainability.

8. 9. 10.

Running for two seasons in 2009, Dollhouse follows a corporation running underground labs called Dollhouses. Each house is inhabited by Actives, humans who have their identities stripped and memories wiped. Wealthy clients can hire the Actives, equipped with appropriate implanted personalities, for purposes from dates and relationships, to heists and assassinations.

The series explores the ethics surrounding digitally constructed identities and a consciousness’s rights to their own bodies, minds and actions, which has never been more relevant than today, in a world of evolving AI.

At first glance, Mrs. Davis may seem like a pretty wild concept, but somehow, it really works. The limited series follows nun, Sister Simone, and her ex-boyfriend Wiley, who travel across the globe in order to stop a powerful AI, named Mrs Davis.

The series explores the powers of AI both within the show’s narrative and on the production side. The writers actually used AI to come up with titles for each episode, which provided gems such as “A Baby with Wings, a Sad Boy with Wings, and a Green Helmet” and “A Great Place to Drink to Gain Control of Your Drink”.

DOLLHOUSE MRS DAVIS THE PERIPHERAL

Amazon Prime’s The Peripheral stars Chloë Grace Moretz as Flynne Fisher, a young woman who lives in a society, in the near future, that has been drastically altered by technological advancement.

When her brother is contacted by a company called Milagros Coldiron about an advanced prototype gaming headset, Flynne finds herself in real danger when she is transported into an ultra-realistic SIM world and faces enemies that could pose a threat to her own personal life.

EVENTS

GITEX GLOBAL

16/10/23 - 20/10/23

Dubai World Trade Centre

The world’s largest tech show upscaled across 2 mega venues.

TECHSPO

19/10/23 - 20/10/23

Johannesburg, Netherlands

Showcasing the next generation of technology & innovation.

MONEY 20/20

22/10/23 - 25/10/23

Las Vegas, USA

The Agenda About To Shake Up The Fintech World.

WEB SUMMIT

13/11/23 - 16/11/23

Lisbon, Portugal

Web Summit is the world’s largest gathering of international media.

THE PLATFORM FOR PROCUREMENT AND SUPPLY CHAIN LEADERS

The Purchaser examines the trends and technologies impacting procurement and supply chain executives across all major industry sectors. It provides insight and analysis on those technologies driving change and explores how and why the role of procurement and supply chain leaders is evolving.