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AUTUMN EDITION | 2021

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A flexible platform allows customers to deploy the solution in the way that best suits their technology and infrastructure requirements - as a service or on-premise organisations can move to the cloud at their own pace.

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Video communications as it should be

Table of Contents 8 News 13

Bottomline Announces New Strategic Partnership With MRI Software

14

Richard Ells explains what the ETN-Network future holds after the most exciting blockchain update yet!

16

Remote possibilities: can your organisation unlock greater ROI from hybrid working?

18 Questionnaire 20

How businesses should prepare for changes in the commercial real estate sector

22

How we stop the next petrol panic in its tracks?

24

The top 10 most baffling trading terms, according to Google

26

Uncapped Offers 1000 European Founders £50,000 in Fee-Free Capital

27

Profile Interview: Thomas Johann Lorenz

28

IBM Unveils AI-Driven Software for Environmental Intelligence, Helping Businesses Address Sustainability Objectives and Climate Risk

30

ASEAN Digital Generation Survey Calls for Joint Action for an Inclusive and Sustainable Digital Economy

32

Sweden - A Fintech Mecca

34

The great “return to work” and why we need to look at office space differently

36

What Is Jewellery? Criss-cross through the Jewellery Museum’s collections

38

Wine Investment: Diversifying and De-Risking Portfolios

40

European Business Magazine Interviews OenoGroup Founders Michael Doerr and Daniel Walker

45

DP WORLD at the forefront of sustainable industry efforts in Europe

48

How Search Engines Really Work

55

Educating and Training The Next Generation Of Data Scientists, Lab Technicians, Cyber Defenders and Programmers

58

Getting the start-up infrastructure right to support tech entrepreneurs

60

The art(s) of data science: Advocating for storytellers in analytics

62

Turning back the crypto clock and answering the ‘what ifs’

64

The Circular Economy: Where We Are and Where We Will Be in Five Years

66

Now is the time for finance leaders to take on a more strategic and valuable role

68

Forget ChatBots – here’s why Conversational AI is the future of workplace training

70

How to create a culture that unlocks growth

72

Businesses Are Using Skills Management Software To Build For The Future

74

Why is Skills Management important?

And how can you succeed in your strategy?

76

CEO Interview: Anders Hagberg

78

Not all Intent Data is created equal

80

As cities fill tech gaps, power of smart cities unleashes, report finds

82

AI In Banking - Hype Or Revolution

84

What You Need to Know About Ad Fraud

88

Can Bitcoin Even Be Regulated?

90

Saint Lucia: Beyond the Beaches

92

Stealing Ideas – Prevention is Better than Cure

europeanbusinessmagazine.com

EUROPEAN BUSINESS

M AG A Z I N E Publisher Nick Staunton Editor Patricia Cullen Deputy Editor Anthony Gill Associate Publisher Brad Adams Features Editor Katie Winearls Head of Production Paul Rogers Head of Design Vladimir Mladenovski Subscriptions Manager Rebecca Hill Head of Business Development Paul Matthews Advertising Sales Brad Adams Tara Duckworth Advertising Sales Tara Duckworth, Mike Ray, Andy Ellis, Mark Holburn Contributing writers Patricia Cullen, Richard Fitzpatrick, Bala Murali Krishna, Shilpa Meen, Argee Laraya, Aimee Ni Mhaolcraibhe, Gordana Ristic, Jonathan Hooker, Jose Ignacio Latorre Head of Digital Stephen Scott Photographer Ben Fisher NST Publishing Ltd, 19 Leamington Spa (studio 1) Leamington Spa,Cv324tf, UK The information contained has been contained from sources the proprietor believes to be wholly correct however no legal liability can be accepted for any errors. No part of this publication can be reproduced without consent of the publisher.

europeanbusinessmagazine.com 7

Investment in space companies reaches a new annual record Private investment in space companies reached $3,9 billion in the third quarter of 2021, according to a report by New-York based firm Space Capital.

That propels this year to a new annual record of $10,3 billion, exceeding the record of $9,8 billion set in 2020.

The quarterly Space Capital report divides investment in the industry into three technology categories: infrastructure, distribution, and application.

Infrastructure includes what commonly would be considered as space companies, such as firms that build rockets and satellites.

Space companies closing SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) mergers and going public made up a significant portion of the capital raised in the third quarter — with moves completed

by Rocket Lab, Spire Global, BlackSky, Momentus, and Redwire. The two largest deals in the quarter were by ORBCOMM, which was taken private for $1,1 billion, and satellite broadband company OneWeb, which raised $550 million.

Bitcoin tops $60,000, as investors eye first US ETFs Bitcoin topped $60,000 for the first time in six months on October 15, nearing its all-time high, as hopes grew that US regulators would allow a futures-based exchange-traded fund (ETF), a move likely to open the path to wider investment in digital assets.

Cryptocurrency investors have been waiting for approval of the first US ETF for bitcoin, with bets on such a move fuelling its recent rally.

The world’s biggest cryptocurrency rose to $61,869.05, its highest since mid-April, and was last up 6,9 percent at $61,346. It has risen by more than half since September 20 and is closing in on its record high of $64,895 hit in April.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is set to allow the first American bitcoin futures ETF to begin trading next week. Such a move would open a new path for investors to gain exposure to the emerging asset, according to traders and analysts.

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Virgin Galactic stock falls after commercial spaceflights are delayed

Virgin Galactic has pushed back the start of full commercial service to the fourth quarter of next year, sending shares in the space tourism company founded by billionaire Richard Branson down sharply.

The stock dropped 14 percent in early trading on October 15 after Virgin Galactic said it was making schedule changes that would delay a crucial test flight and the start of commercial services, which had been expected to commence late in the third quarter of 2022.

Virgin Galactic said it would focus on an “enhancement program“ to improve the performance of its rocket-powered plane VSS Unity and the mother ship from which it launches. It will also carry out physical inspections after a lab test “flagged a possible reduction in the strength margins of certain materials.“ More than 600 people — who purchased tickets for between $200,000 and $250,000 when Virgin Galactic sold its first batch of tickets nearly a decade ago — are already on the waiting list for a flight.

Volvo to recall 460,769 cars worldwide over airbag rupture fatality Volvo Cars is recalling 460,769 older model cars worldwide due to faulty airbags that could be deadly in the event of a crash.

The problem occurs when the airbag is activated because of a crash. Fragments of the inflator inside the airbag may, in certain cases, project out and in the worst-case strike an occupant, potentially resulting in serious injury or death, the company told US safety regulators.

Geely-owned Volvo, which recently confirmed plans to go public, is aware of one rupture incident that resulted in a fatality due to the problem, according to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The vehicles impacted are older-model Volvos. They include the 2001-2006 S80 and 2001-2009 S60. The vehicles were produced between May 2000 and March 2009.

More than half of the vehicles — 259,383 — were sold in the US. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 9

Microsoft shutting down LinkedIn in China

Microsoft is shutting down its social network, LinkedIn, in China, saying having to comply with the Chinese state has become increasingly challenging. This announcement comes after the career-networking site faced questions for blocking the profiles of some journalists.

LinkedIn will launch a jobs-only version of the site, called InJobs, later this year, but this will not include a social feed or the ability to share or post articles.

LinkedIn senior vice-president Mohak Shroff noted that “We’re facing a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China.“ And the firm said in a statement: “While we are going to sunset the localized version of LinkedIn in China later this year, we will continue to have a strong presence in China to drive our new strategy and are excited to launch the new InJobs app later this year.“ LinkedIn had been the only major Western social-media platform operating in China.

Honda to launch new EV brand in China next year

Japan’s Honda Motor announced some news: it will launch a new electric vehicle brand in China next year, and will only launch battery-electric, hydrogen fuel-cell, or petrol-electric hybrid vehicles from 2030.

Known for its fuel-efficient internal combustion engines, Honda sold over 1,6 million vehicles in China last year.

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The new brand will be called “e: N Series” and it plans to roll out 10 models with partners GAC and Dongfeng Motor over the next five years, Honda said.

Its two joint ventures, GAC-Honda and Dongfeng-Honda, plan to build new EV-only assembly plants that are expected to begin production in 2024. The planned new models will

use a new vehicle operating system and are being developed based on an auto product platform designed for electric vehicles.

China’s sales for electric, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles are expected to reach three million this year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Elon Musk says Starlink will provide faster internet speeds on airlines Elon Musk touted SpaceX’s plan to use Starlink for in-flight Wi-Fi, emphasizing that his company is in discussions with airlines to add the high-speed satellite internet service.

“Please let them know if you want it on your airliner,” Musk wrote in a tweet, adding that Starlink could add “low

latency ~half gigabit connectivity in the air!”

SpaceX has launched 1,740 Starlink satellites to date, and the network has more than 100,000 users in 14 countries who are participating in public beta, with service priced at $99 a month.

Starlink is the company’s plan to build an interconnected internet network with thousands of satellites, known in the space industry as a constellation, designed to deliver high-speed internet to consumers anywhere on the planet.

SpaceX Vice President Jonathan Hofeller earlier this year said that the company is “in talks with several” airlines about adding Starlink in-flight Wi-Fi, noting that it has an “aviation product in development.”

Macron unveils a €30 billion plan to create France’s “high tech champions of the future“

French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a €30 billion plan to create the “high tech champions of the future“.

Dubbed “France 2030,“ the aim is to invest the funds over five years in sectors such as robotics, semiconductors, electric cars, and nuclear and renewable energy sources. “I want us to look ahead and see our weaknesses and strengths. We need the country to produce more,“ Macron said. The main focus will be on “decarbonizing“ French industry, building small reactors, and becoming leaders in green hydrogen, he added.

The plan will include €8 billion being spent on renewables, nuclear and hydrogen. But €4 billion will be spent on transport and mobility, with a target to produce 2 million electric and hybrid vehicles and the first low emission aircraft. Meanwhile, €6 billion will be put towards robotics, €1,5 billion will be allocated for projects such as virtual reality, while another €1,5 billion will be earmarked for food and agriculture. A further €5 billion will be ring-fenced for industrial startups and €2 billion will be for training for sectors that are booming. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 11

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin successfully launches crew with William Shatner to space and back Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launched its New Shepard rocket for the fifth time this year on October 13, and with Canadian actor, William Shatner joining the company’s second crewed spaceflight to date.

Called NS-18, this New Shepard mission carried a crew of four: Shatner,

Blue Origin VP of mission and flight operations Audrey Powers, Planet Labs co-founder Chris Boshuizen and Medidata co-founder Glen de Vries.

Shatner, who famously played Capt.

Kirk in the original “Star Trek” television series, is now the oldest person to fly into space, at 90. The record was

previously held by aerospace pioneer Wally Funk, who at 82 flew on Blue Origin’s first crewed launch in July.

The rocket launched from Blue Origin’s private facility in West Texas, reaching above 100 kilometers (or more than 340,000 feet altitude) before returning to Earth safely a few minutes later. From start to finish, the launch lasted about 11 minutes. The crew experienced about three minutes of weightlessness.

European stocks mark the best week in seven months European stocks were headed for their best weekly performance in seven months on October 15.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0,7 percent to close at a one-month high, ending the week with a 2,6 percent gain after a sharp rebound in risk appetite in the past two sessions.

Banks were the top gainers in Europe after forecast-beating quarterly results from four of Wall Street’s biggest lenders on Thursday, October 14.

“A renewed focus on the bottom-up news has helped global equities over the last couple of sessions, and results from the US banking sector delivered another significant boost to indices overnight,“ said Ian Williams, an analyst at a specialist UK Investment Bank Peel Hunt.

European earnings kick into high gear in the next few weeks, with analysts expecting a near 47 percent jump in third-quarter profit for companies listed on STOXX 600, as per Refinitiv IBES data. Energy and industrial companies are forecast to provide the biggest boost to earnings performance.

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Bottomline Announces New Strategic Partnership With MRI Software PORTSMOUTH, N.H., Oct. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -Bottomline (NASDAQ: EPAY), a leading provider of financial technology that makes complex business payments simple, smart and secure, today announced that it is a Platinum Solution Partner of MRI Software, a global leader in real estate technology. Central to the partnership is a scalable, APIbased integration coming this quarter between Paymode-X, the company’s AP automation solution, and MRI Software. The integration enables real estate companies to use one platform for all their accounts payable and payment automation needs – B2B, B2C, domestic and international.

The partnership furthers the aim of Paymode-X to make it simple for real estate companies to pay and get paid.

Paymode-X is transforming how more than 450,000 member businesses securely pay and get paid, processing more than $250 billion annually. Paymode-X was named a “Market Leader” in the Ardent Partners 2021 ePayables Technology Advisory report.

The Paymode-X MRI integration allows real estate companies to reduce the cost of processing payments, improve the efficiency of accounts payable, reduce the risk of payment fraud and improve cashflow by capturing early-pay discounts or maximizing cash-back rebates on their AP spend. Its features include: • Simple, easy-to-use integration— eliminating the need to develop unique extraction and loading routines for company entities, vendors, purchase orders, cost centers, invoices, payments and reconciliation data • Ongoing maintenance of Paymode-X vendor information— synchronizing vendor data in MRI and allowing companies to turn on new vendors to be paid through the platform

• Improved visibility and control— supporting the end-to-end process and helping to achieve better financial visibility from invoice to payment with data validation and process control • Minimal IT support requirements— enabling plug and play technology that reduced time required to build and test customer invoicing and payment interfaces “We are delighted to announce our Platinum partnership with Bottomline and the Paymode-X network,” said Sean Slack, Vice President of Partner Connect at MRI Software. “Integrating with a single, secure platform for all digital payments—domestic, international, B2B and B2C— is a new option for our clients. Our upcoming integration with Paymode-X will provide simple implementation, fast onboarding and continuous

vendor recruitment and enablement, to help real estate companies reduce AP complexity, prevent fraud and improve cashflow. We look forward to demonstrating our joint offering at the upcoming Ascend event this month.”

“Our MRI partnership strengthens the vertical-specific value Paymode-X delivers to the real estate market,” said Tom Dolan, General Manager for Paymode-X, Bottomline. “The largest payers network by spend includes one of the largest networks of real estate suppliers who are ready to be paid digitally. That means MRI clients can realize faster time to value in both digitally transforming their payments and maximizing their rebate potential.”

Look for Bottomline at MRI Ascend 2021 this October 17 – October 20.

For more information, or to register, visit MRI Ascend.

About Bottomline: Bottomline (NASDAQ: EPAY) makes complex business payments simple, smart, and secure. Corporations and banks rely on Bottomline for domestic and international payments, efficient cash management, automated workflows for payment processing and bill review, and state of the art fraud detection, behavioral analytics and regulatory compliance solutions. Thousands of corporations around the world benefit from Bottomline solutions. Headquartered in Portsmouth, NH, Bottomline delights customers through offices across the U.S., Europe, and Asia-Pacific. For more information visit www.bottomline.com. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 13

Richard Ells explains what the ETN-Network future holds after the most exciting blockchain update yet!

O

pening the door to smart contracts and the ability to bring in more validators is just the tip of the iceberg, says the ETN-Network CEO and Founder All eyes have been on the blockchain update that the ETN-Network blockchain developers, led by the talented Head of Blockchain, Chris Harrison, have been working on for the past few months. It includes a further 75% reduction in block rewards to transactions validators.

And it’s here! Mr. Harrison has released it after careful testing to ensure its flawless functionality and security. It lays the groundwork for many exciting integrations that will take the ETN-Network to the next level.

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It is important to note that 99.99% of users have no action required by this update, the millions of app users can sit back and watch the update take place; the only people who need to update their software are the exchanges and anyone running a node.

The techy stuff first Firstly, says Mr. Harrison: “The goal of the V10 Blockchain release is to make the ETN-Network blockchain as transparent as possible. That permits us to develop in line with the direction of travel of the global cryptocurrency industry as a whole and do business with institutions and whole countries that may

otherwise have their doors closed to us. This helps us future-proof our network.”

The Head of Blockchain also explained: “The new blockchain will permit two types of transactions.” The first type will solely be for migrating ETN User’s balances over to the new blockchain.

And the second type will be the new status quo, which is fully transparent blockchain transactions.”

1. Migration transactions that will sweep users’ private balances back to themselves (at no cost, of course), with the beneficiary (ETN User) ETN wallet address completely public.

“This enables their funds to be sent on to the new version,” he said. “Migrations will be automatic upon an ETN User opening their ETN Online Wallet,” he said.

2. New Public transactions that are transparent (the new standard).

also has the potential to improve the performance of the ETN Online Wallet by speeding up refresh times, an aspect of the system that people have had issues with in the past.”

Mr. Harrison went on to further explain that “the block explorer has been updated to reflect the new transparency and includes benefits like: 1. Instant wallet balance lookup for anyone’s wallet address.

2. Much clearer transfer information and the ability to traverse the history of funds (from the launch of V10 onwards).

3. A rework of the overall theme of the Explorer.

“The technology behind this update will also pave the way for making wallet synchronisation ,” Mr. Harrison said, adding that it is “something we will be releasing soon after the hard fork. It

“This is the first step that we need to move toward the exciting use cases that smart contracts allow, such as potentially entering the world of DeFi, interacting with other blockchains such as Ethereum or CBDCs, and so much more,” said ETN-Network Richard Ells. “In the future, we want to enable the development of smart contracts on our blockchain.

That is the first step towards that on our roadmap.”

Mr. Ells explained that the blockchain update “unlocks the ability for us to develop many other use cases. We are currently researching those possibilities. We are reaching out to potential partners to understand their needs

So, why all the excitement?

and how we can find blockchain solutions for them.

“We’ve been analysing the possibilities for quite some time,” he added.

“And after that extensive analysis and conversations with others, we understand they have had concerns with the features that we have now removed with this network update.”

Conclusion The CEO of the award-winning crypto project said that removing the limited privacy features also benefits transaction speeds and user interface (UI), and user experience (UX). And it unlocks future collaborations with corporations.”

So, the blockchain update is now a reality after months of development and many weeks of testing. This blockchain update paves the way for many integrations to follow, including new and exciting ETN App features and integrations. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 15

Remote possibilities: Can your organisation unlock greater ROI from hybrid working?

Drawing on years of experience deploying remote working technologies to some of the world’s leading businesses, Keith Ali, MD at Creative ITC, shares five top tips for overcoming VDI investment obstacles and ensuring your organisation maximises ROI from workforce mobility. balance sheets, securing IT investment for the remote working long haul is tough. The situation’s not helped by issues with VDI adoption in some sectors. Many IT teams discovered off-the-shelf VDI platforms were unable to cope with the realworld demands of power users dealing with graphics heavy applications away from the workplace, resulting in frustration and poor productivity.

IT departments now face the twin challenge of overcoming C-suite caution and user reluctance due to poor experiences.

The chances of successfully unlocking investment in long-term VDI solutions greatly increase when you know the five common pitfalls to look out for – and how to avoid them.

Unrealistic resourcing

A

doption of VDI soared in 2020 as IT teams sprinted to enable business continuity during global lockdown. Now, as organisations transition to long-term hybrid working models they’re facing a new

16 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

challenge - choosing a sustainable solution that improves workforce mobility and productivity without increasing cost and complexity.

However, with many organisations across Europe still grappling with

Implementing and managing a VDI solution long-term is anything but simple.

You can spend a lot of time firefighting issues with legacy infrastructure, cloud deployment and user problems. Be honest about your team’s skillset and examine existing infrastructure closely when choosing a deployment model.

Now intrinsic to hybrid working, personal PCs and devices are susceptible to a wide range of attacks and security issues, making it hard to ensure security and compliance for data accessed on WFH systems. Find a provider who can meet industry needs and who offer consumption in the cloud, on-premise, or hybrid in one seamless solution giving IT the freedom to decide where VDI workloads sit.

The managed service provider (MSP) route offer unexpected value for

money with savings on data centre space, infrastructure, upgrades, licensing, application deployment, support and headcount. Scrutinise their technical credentials and abilities to provide ongoing management, optimisation and technical support.

Check your business will benefit from access to the latest technologies and how often these will be updated.

One-size-fits-all assumptions Providers pitching one-size-fits-all solutions wrongly assume all staff will have the same needs and interact similarly with VDI - they don’t and won’t.

Not all VDI platforms or providers are the same. Look for a purpose-built platform that assures user experience identical to, or better than, in the workplace. A supplier with a successful track record in your sector – one who fully understands virtualisation in the cloud and how industry-specific applications and network services behave together – will be invaluable here.

Empty money-saving promises Beware VDI providers promising to save you money - chances are they won’t. IT infrastructure costs can

remain flat or rise slightly. Building a case based on a specialist provider’s ability to unlock much greater value for around the same outlay has proven to be a more realistic route.

From an IT perspective, gains include enhanced data security, built-in disaster recovery, smaller storage footprint, faster IT provisioning, centrally managed updates and less helpdesk traffic leaving more time to spend on transformational IT projects.

Inaccurate financial comparisons Ensure cost comparisons are like-forlike. In moving from on-premise VDI or WVD managed in-house to Desktop-as-a-Service delivered by a managed service provider (MSP), start by calculating the total cost of ownership usually over a five-year period.

In-house expenses should include PC hardware refreshes, virtualisation software and additional GPU, together with costs associated with system administrator salaries, power, rack space, out-of-hours staffing and training costs.

To strengthen your business case, look for an MSP offering scalable pricing.

Pay per user, per month, per profile by purchasing credits you can stipulate

and reallocate, providing instant VDI burst scalability as and when needed.

Overlooking powerful productivity gains Most importantly, build a value-driven case that uncovers often-ignored business gains like improved collaboration and productivity. That might be team members in different time zones working together on complex designs and models, delivering projects faster at less risk and cost; or employees benefiting from faster access, improved version control, and time saved eliminating rework and duplicated effort. You can quantify the value using time/pay calculations or similar activity-based costing models.

As European businesses strive to flourish in the new era of hybrid working, IT teams must overcome increased financial scrutiny when seeking investment in new technologies. A business case based purely on financial costs ignores a host of wider benefits. Taking a holistic approach to VDI investment will result in a compelling case demonstrating clear ROI, making it easier for finance and IT directors to reach the right business decision. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 17

EUROPEAN BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Questionnaire

Fantasy football, how it works and what’s involved In traditional fantasy sports games, each user gets a dedicated budget to create a “fantasy team”. The customised team is later ranked based on the real-time performance of the players in real life. For example, if a user chooses a particular striker for a fantasy dream team, and he scores a goal, they get an additional 50 points. The overall score of all of the user’s players is then compared to other players as part of a league table.

This is the classic fantasy sport which is played all over the world by millions of users. Our game is a ‘fantasy’ with a twist; by using the in-app currency, you can boost your team’s performance, train the players, hide your squad and take multiple different actions which will give your team an edge and show yourself as being 18 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

ahead of the pack. Our unique features engage the fans far beyond the classic fantasy, as they engage with their team several times a day. Most of our younger users stay engaged by interacting with the game, watching commercials, answering surveys, and devoting time that extends well beyond the normal weekend fixtures.

The fans that don’t have the time to buy the in-app currency in the application shop. We make sure Real Manager remains a skill-based fantasy game; this is achieved by helping users make smarter, more informed decisions and results reveal the winners are the most skilled players.

The main Esports countries in Europe Fantasy sports in Europe is lagging behind the US market, especially when it comes to football but the

potential is phenomenal. The biggest fantasy game in the world of football (soccer) is the Premier League fantasy game. Other than that, the market has no dominant player and this is where Funatix’s opportunity lies, offering the only official multi-league solution.

A few factors that will lead to significant growth of the fantasy market and Funatix include: • Consumption matters – rights holders understand that unless they provide digital byte-sized activities to their younger fans they might lose them, and fantasy is one of the features that every competition is expected to hold.

• The betting industry has been deemed one of the most lucrative and rapidly developing industries in the world. and its partial overlap with Fantasy gaming creates a lot of interest and value in fantasy games.

Bio: Ohad Crystal is a serial entrepreneur and an angel investor with over 20 years of industry experience. In early 2019, Ohad joined Funatix Club as an angel investor and international business development advisor. Few months later he was appointed CEO of the company.

• Right holders defend their rights (such as pictures of players, logos etc) primarily by means of digital enforcement; Funatix, unlike most of the market players, has fully licensed rights and therefore, as digital enforcement is increasing, it will remain incredibly important.

• Fantasy sports in Europe, Latin America and Asia is far from reaching its true potential and it is expected to become a Billion dollars market in the coming few years.

How Ohad established Funatix Club as the official fantasy football game for the various leagues The company’s expansion began when we started working with the Israeli league, which is also a shareholder in the company. When the partnership proved to be successful, we grew by word of mouth to three additional leagues across Europe. After that, and based on our experience, we had Liga MX, the biggest league in North America as our exclusive and official partner in the vast Mexican market.

In July of this year, we officially began our partnership with the Swiss Football league and are on the verge of signing with other territories in Europe, Asia, and SouthEast Asia.

We intend to add other sports to our portfolio in the coming months , with Basketball being the first. Europe, where we have a loyal and comprehensive fan base, will be the starting point for our products to come.

The challenges in generating investment as an Esports startup In the next 5 years, all sports leagues will have a complementary fantasy league - the basic game has proved to

be the most engaging reality-based game in sports attracting a lot of fans. Our game not only attracts fans but keeps them engaged on a daily basis, all season long.

In terms of our offering, Funatix offers a 100% full turn-key solution to a league. The game is a multi-platform and is fully managed with a Content Management System that enables automatic graphics creation based on LIVE data, changing in game sponsors with 1 click, personalized communication with the fan cohorts (Pop-Ups, Pushes), localization (Language, Graphics), and data collection (Rewarded Surveys). This is the most comprehensive fantasy manager solution on the planet, hence, Funatix is already the most trusted fantasy solution provider in the world of soccer. A gamified fantasy that interacts with the younger digital-age fans will be the standard going forward and Funatix will be driving this.

The future of Esports in a post-COVID world We believe that the strongest e-sport is the one which is based on reality.

“Real Manager” is an e- Manager game about reality - and we believe this is the future of ESports. There will be much more reality based e-games, driven by real sports events.

Covid-19 pushed our abilities to engage with our fans in more creative ways. not having real-life games, holds a risk that users will lose their interest, and this is where we had to be innovative and flexible. Luckily, our team managed to overcome this by incorporating new features and designs, and with the return of the games , the functionality of the platform is better than ever before.

About Funatix Club: Funatix Club is a leading fantasy sports provider which develops engaging online sport-management games for fans across the globe. Co-founded by COO Yoni Simhon and CBO Lishar Bahar in 2015, the company’s Real Manager app aims to revolutionise the eSports ecosystem, through empowering younger fans to get more involved in fantasy games.

With the backing of lead investor SIBF and Ohad Crystal, SIBF representative who has gone on to become CEO, Funatix Club is unique in that it boasts partnerships with many established football federations, leagues and media partners.

europeanbusinessmagazine.com 19

How businesses should prepare for changes in the commercial real estate sector Wybo Wijnbergen, Co-founder and CEO, infinitSpace

What to expect in the next five years

T

The rise of flexible workspace operators over the past decade tells us that the model is nothing new, and certainly not a result of the pandemic.

The difference now is that hybrid models have become firmly established as the new normal. As businesses establish their own working patterns, the design, build, functionality, management and marketability of a commercial building will be driven by the growing demand for flexible working.

The workspaces of tomorrow will be focussed on providing an enjoyable experience, rather than simply providing a basic office setup consisting of a desk, chair and a communal kitchen area. Offices will become hubs that bring people together on those days that they choose to venture into the workplace, offering perks that employees won’t find at home – whether that is collaborative spaces or after-hours fitness classes and wellbeing workshops.

Many enterprise tenants will no longer be satisfied with the traditional workplace set-up. The design of a building; the technology that governs the use of the space; the sense of community; the meeting rooms; and the additional networking opportunities – these will all be critical.

Positively, businesses in the UK are already preparing for this eventuality. A recent Knight Frank study of UK businesses found that 81% believe they need to implement a new workplace strategy post-pandemic, and just shy of half (47%) envisage their real estate strategies to include a

he Covid-19 pandemic had an immediate and widespread impact on the commercial real estate (CRE) sector.

It took just a matter of days for offices, retail outlets and hospitality venues to close their doors in March 2020 as national lockdowns were implemented. Many commercial landlords were served lease termination notices as businesses shifted to a remote-first model, unsure of when they would be able to return to the workplace.

Yet the sector proved its resilience: in Q1 2021, Savills reported that £10.5 billion was invested into UK commercial property, a figure that is 112% above the total turnover recorded just nine months prior in Q2 2020.

On reflection, much has changed over the past 18 months. While some businesses were already aware of the benefits of a more flexible working model – not least its positive impact on employee satisfaction and productivity – the pandemic has catalysed this trend. In fact, 30% of workers today say they would prefer the option to choose when and where they work over a pay rise.

This has implications on those providing and managing office spaces across Europe: the trends that have emerged in this time will dictate what the future holds for the industry. Here are just a few examples of what commercial landlords and businesses renting office spaces can expect in the coming years…

20 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

Wybo Wijnbergen Wybo Wijnbergen is the Co-founder and CEO of infinitSpace, a company that enables commercial landlords to easily create and run a flexible office space under their brand and conditions. Prior to launching infinitSpace, Wybo was a Managing Director at WeWork, where he helped oversee the company’s expansion across Western Europe. greater amount of flexible, serviced or coworking space.

With that in mind, there is another trend that will unravel post-pandemic: the growing number of flexible workspaces available on the market will no longer be dominated by existing operators like WeWork and The Office Group. Instead, we will increasingly see commercial landlords converting traditional office buildings into flexible workspaces that meet the needs of today’s businesses and their employees, whether by forging ties with flex space operators or going it alone.

Right now, for instance, around 6.9% of total office stock in central London

consists of flexible working spaces.

JLL predicts that this figure will rise to 30% by 2030. Similar trends will be seen across Europe.

Tech will play a starring role in the workplace of the future Technology has had an irreversible impact on most industries, particularly since the onset of the pandemic.

It should come as no surprise that the workplace of the future will be built around great tech, too.

A survey of CRE senior executives during the summer of 2020 by Deloitte found that less than 50% considered digital tenant experience a core competency of their organisation. Yet digitising operating models will become an important differentiator of successful workspaces in the future.

As employees demand more from the office experience, businesses and landlords must embrace the flexible working revolution and deliver exceptional facilities – or risk losing out to their competition.

The first port of call will naturally be to fit-out existing office spaces to

meet the expectations of long-term tenants; for businesses, this will mean seeking out flexible workspace providers that have taken the design and functionality of a space into careful consideration to ensure that employees’ needs are being met. The services on offer within the building itself will also determine which workspaces businesses choose to rent, and spaces that inspire productivity, collaboration, community and wellbeing will sit high on the list of priorities.

Underpinning all this is the importance of having technology in place that helps tenants to utilise the space effectively.

The experience of an entire building can be improved through an app, for example, which enables users to locate meeting rooms, check availability, browse events, and, while the pandemic continues, avoid crowded areas.

More than that though, tech will support the ongoing evolution of workspace. Through apps and other platforms, data can be collected that allows both businesses and landlords to continuously alter spaces based on users’ preferences. By analysing people’s movements and behaviours, landlords will get a clearer idea of

what end-users (namely, employees) want from their office space, and set about making the necessary changes to suit tenants.

The proliferation of technology will also give control back to landlords who would prefer to manage their own spaces, under their own brands, rather than relying on large operators. Over the coming years, businesses will enjoy unique office spaces managed by smaller-scale providers.

Generic workplaces with standardised facilities will not need to become the de facto model, as landlords leverage technology that can not only do the heavy lifting when it comes to optimising building space – but that also allows them to curate a unique experience for tenants.

A major shift has taken place since the start of the Covid-19 crisis, which will determine the fate of the CRE sector. It has not all been bad, however.

In fact, a plethora of new opportunities have been created for businesses, and the landlords servicing them, to re-think how they can use space to deliver a positive experience to those within it: whether that is once a week, or on a full-time basis. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 21

The electric opportunity:

HOW WE STOP THE NEXT PETROL PANIC IN ITS TRACKS?

Attributed to Lisa Conibear, Zoomo UK & EU Regional Director

T

he societal impact of the petrol shortage in the UK has been staggering and has seemingly impacted people in all walks of life.

Consumers can’t fill up their car to take their kids to school, shop owners are waiting on critical supplies and delivery workers whose petrol car or moped lays dormant are seeing orders stack up and income lost.

At the same time, electric car owners in the UK are feeling an overwhelming sense of validation as chaos continues

22 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

to play out at petrol stations across the country amid shortages and panic buying.

Analysis of Google search data revealed that online searches for ‘electric cars’ in the UK were up 1,600% over the weekend, and it makes sense. Electric cars are a great long-term alternative to petrol-based vehicles, and they’re crucial in helping to build more sustainable cities.

But the sole focus on electric cars as the answer to the petrol crisis is reductive. Such a narrow focus will also slow down the race to zero emissions. As Mike Granoff, managing

partner at Maniv Mobility, a leading early stage automotive sector VC, has said: “Electrification is about more than cars.” This couldn’t be more true.

If we all hopped back onto our Google search history, backspaced ‘cars’ and added ‘bikes’, we’d find an exciting and practical answer awaiting us.

This is because the nature of mobility, especially in big cities, is fundamentally changing. We now have to consider not only the type of engine we use, but also whether it is practical to use a 2-tonne vehicle to transport an 80kg human just 2km through a metropolitan area.

Light electric vehicles (LEVs), such as e-bikes and e-mopeds, are the alternative option for commuters, couriers and small businesses who need to be mobile around our cities.

Take delivery riders for example.

Those currently reliant on their petrol-fuelled mopeds (approx. 40% of the UK’s delivery fleet) are experiencing considerable downtime as they struggle to find petrol to quite literally fuel their daily jobs. The result is lost income, and it ultimately has a ripple effect on consumers waiting for their burrito bowl to arrive.

E-bikes offer immediate accessibility - there’s no license required and subscription models are available to reduce entry costs. They are far cheaper than both petrol-fuelled vehicles (cars and mopeds) and electric cars. One average, purchasing an e-bike costs 1/20th of the cost of a petrol car, and this doesn’t even account for the lifetime cost savings associated with car ownership, including insurance, regular servicing and the annual replacing of parts you never knew existed.

The 2021 petrol panic underscores an over-reliance on petrol-fuelled vehicles to get around. Even worse, this panic is centered on increasingly smaller and smaller trips. Research from Transport for London (TfL) highlighted that one third of all the car trips made by London residents are less than 2km. Trips that can be made cleaner and smarter with electric alternatives.

Beyond just cost and convenience, there is a far greater need for the uptake in e-bikes and e-mopeds, and that’s to protect our planet.

It’s been disappointing to hear about petrol stations workers being abused and seeing scenes of people clashing as angry drivers tussle to get their hands on fuel. Mostly because this entire situation could be avoidable if we decrease our reliance on unsustainable forms of energy.

The reality is that petrol is a critical need only because humanity still has taken longer than necessary to move towards an electric future.

The shortage is not a time to grab a bucket and fill it with gas. It’s time to critically re-evaluate when and where

petrol is required in our daily lives and when and where we can opt for a cleaner alternative.

We have a unique opportunity to explore a new means of transport, one that can protect our planet and offer cleaner substitutes. LEV’s are a strong way forward. They are accessible to most and greener than petrol-fuelled alternatives. To use a likefor-like equivalent, a petrol moped emits 98 grams of CO2 emissions per km, whereas e-bikes emit just 22 grams of CO2 emission per km - less than 1/4th of a petrol moped.

Even when compared to driving an electric car, emissions from e-biking

can be up to ten times lower, a recent study found.

Electrification is about more than cars. The role that LEVs can play in building greener and more efficient cities is significant. Micro-mobility is not only the answer to the current petrol crisis, but the answer to the future of urban transport - how we move both people and goods around our cities.

Society will shape the future of urban transport.

So, in the future, let’s stop characterising this as a petrol crisis and instead re-frame it as an electric opportunity. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 23

The top 10 most baffling trading terms, according to Google Curious traders are most confused by ‘pump and dump’ tactics and market ‘slippage’ in 2021, up 265 percent and 484 percent respectively

I

n recent years, it’s clear to see that trading has been on the rise. From the emergence of new currencies to the rise and fall of topical stocks, the news has been dominated by stories of the trading world.

There is over 2 million Brits now proud traders, however a third of surveyed people said that despite their curiosity about cryptocurrency, they were too baffled by it to start investing.

Considering these findings, retail broker Eurotrader conducted a study* to reveal the most searched terms and questions related to trading, to discover the most curious and confusing expressions to the British public.

TRADING TERMS - TOP 10 INCREASES IN ONLINE SEARCH INTEREST RANK

KEYWORD

Y2020

Y2021

1

Pump and dump

7200

26300

265%

When owners artificially inflate the price of their stock through misleading statements to sell cheaply purchased stock at a higher price

2

Fiat currency

24400

75800

211%

A government-issued currency that is not backed by a commodity such as gold, like the pound sterling (£) or the US dollar ($)

3

OTC (over the counter) trading

2380

6800

186%

A decentralised market in which people trade stocks or other instruments directly between two parties without a central broker or exchange

4

Averaging down

800

1800

125%

Investing strategy that, following a price drop, involves a stock owner purchasing additional shares of a previous investment.

5

Call option

20200

43700

116%

Financial contracts give the option buyer the right to buy a stock, bond, commodity or other asset or instrument at a specified price within a timeframe

6

Greenshoe

940

2030

62%

In an IPO underwriting agreement, this is the provision or clause that allowed the underwriter to change the number of shares that they plan to sell

7

Trading volume

3140

6550

109%

The overall quantity of shares/contracts traded for a specified security. It can be measured on any type of security traded during the specified day.

8

Hedge fund

106100

213000

101%

Actively managed alternative investments that may also us non-traditional investment strategies or asset classes

9

Unborrowable stocks

50

100

100%

A stock that is unable to be lent out to short sellers, as no one wants to do so

10

Stock charts

30000

57200

91%

A price chart that shows a stock’s price, picking out key points of information, plotted over a set time

24 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

% INCREASE DEFINITION

Taking the top spot is the illegal trading tactic, ‘pump and dump.’ These schemes take advantage of unsuspecting people and make scammers a big sum.

An influencer or investor will receive a fee behind closed doors to promote a stock or another commodity. This draws unaware traders to the market, inflating the cost, before the colluding parties sell their investments and pocket the money, leaving the little guy down and out.

The surge of Dogecoin and the ‘GameStop’ fiasco may have had something to do with the term’s whopping 265 percent increase year on year, inflating from 7,200 to 26,300 searches. Both news stories led to speculation of ‘pump and dump’ tactics.

Following on in second position was ‘fiat currency,’ earning a 211 percent increase this year, rising from 24,400 searches to 75,800. The form of payment is celebrating its 50th birthday this year, which may have contributed to its rise in interest.

More likely however, the surge in interest is down to recent publicity.

The great crypto versus fiat currency debate has gained traction this year, with surveyed crypto experts believing that global finance will be overtaken by digital currency.

‘OTC stocks’ are drawing in far more interest this year than the last, earning

it bronze position on the podium.

Eurotrader’s findings show there were 6,800 searches, a 186 percent increase from 2020’s 2,380.

This form of trading is for smaller scale stocks, that are not listed on a centralised, global exchange. With trading interest showing no signs of slowing, it’s unsurprising it is of interest to web browsers.

Completing the top five most searched terms are ‘averaging down’ and ‘call option’, up 125 percent and 116 percent respectively.

Eurotrader also looked at the most asked questions associated with financial terms. Many of these corresponded with the top-ranking topics, swapping out only ‘averaging down.’

Interestingly, the only addition to the top five came in at the top spot, with ‘what is slippage’ searches increasing 484 percent in the last year, up from 430 searches to 2,510.

‘Slippage’ occurs when market participants receive a different trade price than intended. Often, this instance happens when the bid changes between order request and the time an exchange takes.

Commenting on the study Nick Whitehead, Head of Product from Eurotrader said: “It’s understandable many of us feel inundated by the mass of trading jargon we read and hear, and this can often put people off entering such markets. Our research suggests there is a need for increased financially focused resources and education to help traders across the country gain more confidence and better knowledge before entering the market.

“Trading is a complex industry, so it is vital those considering becoming involved, enhance their knowledge prior to making any financial commitments.”

TRADING QUESTIONS - TOP 10 INCREASES IN SEARCH INTEREST RANK

MOST POPULAR TRADING QUESTIONS

PERCENTAGE INCREASE

1st

What is slippage?

484%

2nd

What is a fiat currency?

457%

3rd

What is OTC trading?

435%

4th

What is pump and dump?

364%

5th

What is a call option?

283%

europeanbusinessmagazine.com 25

Uncapped Offers 1000 European Founders £50,000 in Fee-Free Capital

U

ncapped, a London-based startup changing the way online companies fund their growth and inventory costs, has today announced that it will offer 1,000 European founders up to £50,000 in fee-free capital.

Uncapped’s fee-free funding offer is inspired by its founders’ own frustrating experiences of getting funding for their first businesses. It also meets the needs of the thousands of startup brands, particularly in the e-commerce sector, who missed out on vital growth opportunities in 2020’s Golden Quarter because they could not access the capital they needed from traditional funding sources.

Uncapped has seen a 28% rise in funding applications in advance of Black Friday, driven by growing numbers of e-commerce businesses looking to borrow funds now to secure the future success of their businesses.

These e-commerce entrepreneurs are turning to Uncapped for their funding as the lender offers an alternative to traditional debt financing and venture capital, providing companies with growth finance for a flat fee that goes down to 6%, and fast-released capital. Businesses repay the capital as they make revenue. There is no set repayment and no compounding interest, equity or personal guarantees. There are even no credit checks or business plans required.

The Uncapped Story Uncapped’s founders, Asher Ismail and Piotr Pisarz, set-up the company in 2019 to meet the finance needs of digital-first entrepreneurs. Uncapped has seen a sharp rise in demand for its services since its launch as a result of the e-commerce boom, partly driven by the pandemic. The company believes that the sizable e-commerce sector requires much more capital than existing VCs or banks 26 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

can provide. Legacy banks struggle to understand how new entrepreneurs operate and neobanks lack credit offerings and can still be slow. VC’s require a percentage of equity ownership and a round can take months to close. This is in contrast to Uncapped which charges only a flat fee and can fund a business in 24 hours.

Asher Ismail, co-founder of Uncapped, said: “Uncapped was born out of my own frustrations when trying to secure capital to launch and run my first business. I didn’t want to take financing from the banks because they all wanted personal guarantees and venture capital wasn’t ideal as I didn’t want to lose equity. This meant I repeatedly missed out on growth opportunities. With this fee-free funding offer we aim to help 1,000 more businesses across the UK and Europe grow to their full potential.”

Since its launch, Uncapped has grown to become the largest e-commerce investor in Europe, now funding more businesses each day than a typical

VC will fund in a year. The company has enjoyed 10x year on year growth to the month of September 2021 Uncapped deployed more funding in September 2021 than it did in the whole of 2020.

Uncapped has been praised by the startup community including the founders of Wise, Butternut Box, Marshmallow, and Mahabis for how it has modernised fundraising.

Piotr Pisarz, co-founder of Uncapped, said: “As startup founders ourselves, we felt it was vital to help our fellow founders secure inventory finance in advance of Black Friday. Our economy is changing, with digital native businesses contributing an ever-increasing share to overall GDP. It is in everyone’s interest to ensure these businesses are successful, yet time and again we see their need for fast, flexible finance is not met. We’re delighted to offer them a valuable boost to their business by making it easier and cheaper to secure finance to drive their company’s future success.

Profile Interview:

THOMAS JOHANN LORENZ CEO and co-founder of JOURNEE

our daily lives. For this to be possible, we need technical innovations that enable new digital experiences - such as our JOURNEE solution, which provides metaverse experiences directly in the browser on any device.

How is the metaverse shaping the future of our online experience?

First, there will be less and less of a hard-line separating our online experience and physical experience. Fundamentally, the metaverse will ensure that "online" is not just about efficiently accessing information. Hard information is only 7% of human communication. That's what the internet has been about for the last few decades. But the remaining 93% addresses human emotions - proximity, gestures, feelings, sound, subtle memories, and so on. The metaverse will tap into that unaddressed 93%.

What does doing business in the metaverse look like for companies?

The metaverse will fundamentally change and improve the way digital communication works. This also applies to how brands communicate with their customers, how celebrities connect with their fans, and how knowledge content is shared. Here we will see a multitude of new business models, the true scope of which we only see hints of today.

What is your background in and what led you to work with this cutting-edge technology?

W

e catch up with Thomas Johann Lorenz (pictured), CEO and co-founder of JOURNEE and discuss the metaverse and what can we expect from this new technology, How does the metaverse work and how does it differ from virtual reality and how is the metaverse shaping the future of our online experience.

What exactly is the metaverse and what can we expect from this new technology?

The metaverse is the next iteration of the internet. It is a more humanistic technology experience, blurring the

lines between the physical and digital world. It is a meta-technology, enabling eg new business models, forms of commerce, entertainment, community, culture, learning, and experiences.

How does the metaverse work and how does it differ from virtual reality?

Virtual reality requires us to wear complicated and unusual hardware.

But the metaverse is not accessible only through technical gimmicks on the contrary, it will become much more organically integrated into

I have been an entrepreneur since I was 10 years old and decided to launch a family magazine. Since then, I've gone through various stages always with the goal of bringing people together. Most recently I founded a global digital B2B platform for the fashion industry, Veee. com, which was acquired in NYC in 2019. I then teamed up with my longtime friend Christian Mio Loclair one of the most talented creative technologists of our time. Together, we have made it our mission to drive fundamental innovations in technology. We then started research on JOURNEE in Q4-2020. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 27

IBM Unveils AI-Driven Software for Environmental Intelligence, Helping Businesses Address Sustainability Objectives and Climate Risk

Oct. 12, 2021: IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced a suite of environmental intelligence software that leverages AI to help organizations prepare for and respond to weather and climate risks that may disrupt business, more easily assess their own impact on the planet, and reduce the complexity of regulatory compliance and reporting.

Companies are facing climate-related damage to their assets, disruptions to supply chains and operations, as well as increasing expectations from consumers and investors to perform as anenvironmental leader.

Extreme weather, climate action failure and human-led environmental damage were cited as the top three most likely risks for businesses over the next ten years in the World Economic Forum's "Global Risks Report 2021." Businesses need actionable 28 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

environmental insights to address these challenges, but current methods are often cumbersome and complex – requiring intensive manual labor, climate and data science skills, and computing power.

The IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite announced today aims to help companies streamline and automate the management of environmental risks and operationalize underlying processes, including carbon accounting and reduction, to meet environmental goals. The suite leverages existing weather data from IBM, the overall most accurate provider globally, advanced geospatial analytics already in use by companies around the world, and new innovations from IBM Research. The offering is the first to bring together artificial intelligence, weather data, climate

risk analytics, and carbon accounting capabilities in this way – allowing organizations to spend less resources curating this complex data, and more on analyzing it for insights and taking action to improve their operations.

IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite is a SaaS solution designed to help organizations: • Monitor for disruptive environmental conditions such as severe weather, wildfires, flooding and air quality and send alerts when detected; • Predict potential impacts of climate change and weather across the business using climate risk analytics; • Gain insights into potential operational disruptions and prioritize mitigation and response efforts;

• Measure and report on environmental initiatives and operationalize carbon accounting, while reducing the burden of this reporting on procurement and operations teams.

The suite delivers environmental insights via APIs, dashboards, maps and alerts that can help companies address both immediate operational challenges as well as longer term planning and strategies. For instance, the suite could be used to help retailers prepare for severe weather-related shipping and inventory disruptions, or factor environmental risks into future warehouse locations; energy and utility companies to determine where to trim vegetation around power lines or which of their critical assets may soon be at greater risk from wildfires due to climate change. Or the suite could be used to help supermarkets get a clearer picture of how refrigeration systems are contributing to their overall greenhouse gas emissions and prioritize locations for improvement.

“The future of business and the environment are deeply intertwined. Not only are companies coping with the effects of extreme weather disruptions on their operations, they’re also being held increasingly accountable by shareholders and regulators for how their operations impact the planet,” said Kareem Yusuf, Ph.D., General Manager, IBM AI

Applications. “IBM is bringing together the power of AI and hybrid cloud to provide businesses with environmental intelligence designed to help them improve environmental performance and reporting, create more efficient business operations to reduce resource consumption, and plan for resiliency in the face of climate disruptions.”

Companies around the world are already using many of the core weather and AI technologies found within IBM’s Environmental Intelligence Suite. For example, IBM environmental data and geospatial analytics are being used by Brazilian ethanol, bioelectricity and sugar company BP Bunge Bioenergia to help it better understand its agricultural sugarcane production and improve its market intelligence estimates regarding global sugar production and by agribusiness leader Cajamar to help Spanish farmers aiming to improve yields and reduce environmental impact via its digital Plataforma Tierra tool.

The IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite also takes advantage of AI-driven innovations from IBM Research that make it easier for climate and data scientists to analyze massive environmental datasets, and a new climate risk modeling framework used to generate data on future wildfire and flooding risks. Additionally, the suite will leverage unique

technologies from IBM Research which apply natural language processing and automation designed to help companies estimate carbon emissions and identify opportunities to reduce them across their operations or with suppliers.

The Environmental Intelligence Suite can be integrated with IBM’s broader software portfolio for additional efficiencies across business operations – including IBM Maximo Application Suite to help companies protect and extend the lifecycle of their critical assets and IBM Supply Chain Intelligence Suite to help build more sustainable and resilient supply chains.

Businesses can also tap into the cross-industry expertise of IBM Global Business Services to help design, implement and accelerate their environmental business transformation journeys. These strategies include reimagining operations, supply chains, emissions management, or ESG and climate risk reporting with the help of emerging technologies to assist organizations in meeting their environmental goals.

For more details on IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite, visit: ibm.biz/environmental-intelligence. To learn more about how innovations across IBM are helping clients seeking to create a more sustainable and resilient future, please visit: ibm.com/sustainability.

europeanbusinessmagazine.com 29

ASEAN Digital Generation Survey Calls for Joint Action for an Inclusive and Sustainable Digital Economy

Geneva, Switzerland, 13 October 2021 – The World Economic Forum launches today the ASEAN Digital Generation Report 2021, a special edition of its annual ASEAN youth survey report series, which examines the impact of the pandemic on personal income, savings and the role of digitalization in the region’s economic recovery. The report’s survey, conducted with close to 90,000 participants from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam, also flags the gaps needed to build a more inclusive and sustainable economy, namely: access 30 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

to technology, digital skills training for all generations, and measures to enhance online trust and security.

The survey’s findings confirm e-commerce’s role as the key driver of growth in the ASEAN region. Wholesale and retail trade sector had the highest proportion of people starting new businesses (50%), while the logistics sector had the highest share of people finding new jobs (36%).

Notably, respondents from these two sectors are among those who also reported a decline in income.

This could be because when people

experienced a fall in income, they started new businesses in the wholesale and retail trade sector to leverage e-commerce opportunities.

A majority of respondents have adapted to the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic through significant digital adoption. Across ASEAN, 64% of respondents have digitalized 50% or more of their tasks, as have 84% of respondents who are owners of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Respondents who reported greater levels of digitalization of their work and business reported lower levels of income

respondents pointed to trust and security concerns instead.

The identified obstacles were consistent across all six countries surveyed. As such, multistakeholder and regional joint actions are needed to unlock the full potential of ASEAN nations in the digital age and narrow these gaps.

“Through this annual survey, we wanted to understand the views, priorities and concerns of the digital users in ASEAN and gain statistical insights that will help inform and shape relevant regional policy,” said Joo-Ok Lee, Head of the Regional Agenda, Asia-Pacific, World Economic Forum. “The survey showed improving the quality and affordability of ASEAN digital infrastructure, equipping the ASEAN workforce with appropriate skills and enhancing people’s trust in the digital environment are crucial to bring ASEAN over the tipping point for inclusive and sustainable digital transformation.”

decline. Similarly, business owners with an online presence were more likely to report an increase in savings (24%) and income (28%) compared to those without one (18%).

However, the benefits of digitalization are unevenly spread across the region.

Those who are less “digitalized” found

further digital adoption less appealing. As in 2020, respondents continued to point to expensive or poor internet quality or digital devices as the top barriers to digital adoption.

While less digitalized respondents pointed to lack of digital skills as a key additional obstacle, more digitalized

“One of the key findings was that digitalization has a ‘flywheel’ effect wherein users who had first experienced the benefits of technology were more eager to deepen their levels of digitalization,” added Santitarn Sathirathai, Group Chief Economist at Sea, a Singapore-based global consumer internet company. “It is critical for the public and private sector to work even more closely to lower any friction and barriers, which may prevent the positive digitalization momentum from taking place. Through this, digitalization can enable post- pandemic recovery in an inclusive and sustainable way.”

Between July and August 2021, the survey polled participants from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. Some 77% of respondents are youths aged between 16 and 35, 56% female and 10% business owners.

This year’s edition continues to monitor the impact of the pandemic on respondents, explores how the ongoing digitalization has benefited their life and society in the real economy, what stands in their way of further digitalization and maximization of such benefits, and how to tackle the identified obstacles. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 31

SWEDEN - A FINTECH MECCA

S

weden’s future is digital. The jet engine of the Nordic tech scene, the Swedish start-up landscape has always been outstanding, and it is rapidly emerging as one of Europe’s top competitors to the US’s Silicon Valley. The inspiring growth is due to world-famous technology education, a sincere

32 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

drive for work-life balance and the necessary resources to build global companies. Swedes are an incredibly technophilic society.

The successes of Skype, Spotify and King have paved the road for a thriving start-up ecosystem and a culture that is highly attractive to aspiring entrepreneurs. The 2021 edition of

the yearly Stockholm Fintech Guide showcases a flourishing market, with a growing presence of green fintechs.

The Guide, produced by Invest Stockholm, offers a synopsis of the financial landscape in Stockholm. This year’s guide states that the capital is not only a central hub in Sweden, but also throughout the Nordics.

Stockholm-based companies account for nearly 85% of all fintech investment deals in the Nordics, and 90% of the Swedish ones.

Quick to adapt to new financial technologies, Sweden is set to become the first cashless economy in the world.

This innovative country offers more than just IKEA, H&M and Volvo. Since

1990, the nation has reinvented itself into a state-of-the-art technology hotbed. Apart from the technological developments and economic stability, Sweden also offers companies relatively easy access to the government authorities.

Home to one of the largest and bestknown tech ecosystems in Europe, Sweden is a fintech powerhouse, counting nearly 400 companies that use technology and digital platforms to support, enable or innovate banking and financial services. The linchpin of Sweden’s fintech triumph lies with its incumbents. These unusually forward-thinking banks and other financial institutions have simply refused to accept legacy systems and are driven by innovation.

The country had a rapid rise as one of the most substantial and significant European technology hubs – home to more billion-dollar startups per capita than anywhere in the world outside Silicon Valley.

Between 2015 and 2019, approximately 800 start-ups raised funding in Stockholm, a capital of fewer than a million people. Sweden’s fintech ecosystem has gone from strength to strength over the years, and according to a study by TechEU, Sweden ranks third, only behind the UK and Germany, when it comes to fintech investments. Almost two in every three-fintech investments in the Nordics in the past two years were made in Sweden.

The ecosystem’s origins can be tracked back to the launch of niche banks such as Nordnet, Avanza, Collector and Resurs in the early noughties. Spotify, Skype and iZettle are all examples of successful digital ventures to come out of the country. The Swedish corporation Klarna is the largest fintech -company in Europe to get a banking licence and it is also the highest valued private fintech company in Europe, raising $1 billion in equity funding for international expansion in March 2021. This has paved the way for other fintechs. And more are certainly on the way.

Introducing Gothenburg’s Juni.

Barely 12 months old, it’s already gone global and has investors scrambling for a piece of the action.

Founded in 2020, Juni was created to address the shortcomings of traditional banking services that represent a hurdle for many e-commerce and online marketing entrepreneurs. The banking app provides a centralized overview of all your bank accounts, networks and payment services, as well as debit card, cash flow management, invoice and bank statement matching, and liquidity management. The financial companion for eCommerce entrepreneurs, has secured $52M in funding led by EQT Ventures, with participation from FJ Labs and other existing investors to add to the $21M already raised from their Series-A round in late June this year. Sweden has an ever-growing pipeline of newcomers, including ‘smart economy’ app Anyfin and open banking platform Minna Technologies.

The country’s fintech ecosystem was always ahead of the game. Rather than turning to digital ways of payment because of the pandemic, Sweden’s leading position as a cashless society gave them a head start.

This cutting-edge outlook has enabled Stockholm to present itself as an attractive destination for companies and start-ups looking to regain a foothold in the Eurozone.

Although the COVID-19 crisis has been a time of significant financial turmoil, it has also presented opportunities in the field of e-commerce, and cross-border consumerism has grown significantly over the past 18 months - with both B2B and B2C firms enjoying the benefits of digital transformation. Even in the face of a global pandemic, Sweden’s fintechs successfully raised massive funding rounds in 2020. Klarna, Lendify and Tink all secured cash injections worth hundreds of millions last year.

The crisis has undoubtedly had a significant impact on European business, but it has also opened doors in Sweden to exciting fintech platforms and digital transformations that will help accelerate a return to normal.

Through embracing new technologies, businesses across Europe and beyond could be set for a bright, efficient, and borderless future. And Sweden is leading the way. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 33

THE GREAT “RETURN TO WORK” AND WHY WE NEED TO LOOK AT OFFICE SPACE DIFFERENTLY

The return to offices has been a gradual process, staff are looking for a balanced working life and so employers are seeking ways of making the commute to the office simpler, writes Garret Flower, CEO and Founder of ParkOffice

T

he media talks about the “return to office” as some impending mystical time. You would almost be led to believe that one day a switch will be flicked and boom everyone will be back. The reality is very different.

For many, the return to office is currently happening; for many more, it happened months ago. While large numbers of multinational companies have been understandably slow to return to the office, many SMEs and indigenous employers have been back

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to the office for months now. So what can we learn from these companies?

Through my work, I’ve been lucky enough to have a front-row view of the return to the office for tens of thousands of employees across hundreds of employers in over 20 countries around the world. Here are some of the key takeaways: People do want to go back, just not all of the time - Don’t always believe what you read in the papers. It seems every day there is another report

from a remote working software provider which is outlining how the office is dead forever and that nobody wants to work from the office ever again.

On the ground, this is playing out very differently. There is an undoubted segment of employees who would be happy to never see the inside of an office ever again. By and large though, workers are looking for balance.

The rigidity of 9-5, Monday to Friday might be a thing of the past for most employers. However, staff are

still looking for socialisation, connection, and community. On average, we are seeing the majority of employees returning to the office. Some work from the office most of the week, others might only pop in once a fortnight to recharge their remote working batteries.

Employers are now expected to be more hands-on when it comes to commuting - while there is a definite role for the office moving forward, the expectations around the office have changed massively. People like to get in and about the office but they aren’t willing to re-engage with arduous commutes.

More and more we are seeing an expectation on employers to make the commuting process easier for hybrid

staff. This can manifest itself in many ways, on a basic level it might look like increasing bike racks and changing rooms or flexible start times so people can avoid busy public transport.

However, for many companies, particularly larger companies, it always leads back to one issue - parking.

Pre-COVID over 70% of companies assigned all or some of their parking spaces to certain staff on a fixedterm basis.

This meant that a director was given a parking space, if they weren’t in the office, the space would lie empty.

Employees accepted this cultural quirk as an unfortunate fact of life.

This has all changed.

Many staff are demanding parking certainty so they can travel to work safely. The good news for employers is hybrid working means companies will have more space than ever before. All those assigned spaces will now be lying empty a lot more often.

Businesses are turning to new solutions to cater to this increasing demand for parking flexibility among staff.

Getting the commuting mix right removes a massive barrier for return to the office and the companies who invest time and money in this space really reap the benefits.

Businesses are struggling to find their real estate sweet spot - so how much space does your business need anymore? Workplace planning used to be quite easy, employee attendance was close to fixed, and working out the exact floor space required was a simple formula.

This has now radically changed. You might have 30% of staff in on Wednesday, 10% on a Thursday, and 60% on a Friday. This poses a short-term challenge of tracking who is in and when from a COVID safety perspective.

In the long-term, it raises a much bigger question: just how much office space do you actually need? I’ve seen some companies return to the office after almost a year at this stage. They underpinned their whole return with software that allowed them to track occupancy.

Now they are in a position to work out exactly how much space they need, taking anecdotal opinions out of the equation. This is unlocking massive savings for their businesses.

Get ahead of the game and focus on developing the data points you need to find your real estate sweet spot.

Garret Flower is CEO & Co-Founder of ParkOffice.io, employee parking management software that enables companies to optimize employee parking. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 35

WHAT IS JEWELLERY?

Criss-cross through the Jewellery Museum’s collections New presentation of the ethnographic Herion bequest Opens on Sunday, 5 December 2021, 11:30 a.m.

W

hat looks like an octagon formed by two intersecting squares is in fact a small box complemented by triangles on the sides. Made of silver set with turquoise, it is called Ga’u, and was created in Lhasa in the 20th century. It is juxtaposed with a blue brooch of comparable size, crafted from blue steel mesh and silver by Than Truc Nguyen in Berlin in 2012. The two objects share similarities in colour and form: both are a shade of blue, and they are based on geometrical shapes. However, there is an essential difference between them. The former is an amulet case, originally worn by Tibetan noblewomen to both ward off evil and conjure up protective spirits, whereas the latter is a piece of contemporary jewellery, whose moiré effect plays with appearance and reality, resembling a glittering gemstone when the incident light is at a certain angle. This pairing may be surprisingly unusual, but it invites visitors to take the time to get a feel for the objects’ individual character. »We’re showcasing the objects on the basis of universal design principles,« says Cornelie Holzach, the museum’s Director. Commonalities and differences – across putative boundaries in terms of culture, region or era – are the focus of the new presentation of the Herion bequest, which will be on display at Pforzheim’s Jewellery Museum from early December 2021.

special focus on Africa and Asia. Conceived as a semi-permanent exhibition back then, it is now being redesigned on the basis of a fundamentally new approach. The discussion held in recent years about our approach to ethnographic artefacts requires a new view of non-European jewellery. Here it is essential to see the objects from different perspectives. Their cultural and historical context is as important as the artistic aspirations involved, and they also need to be regarded within the framework of global jewellery history. Objects from all of the museum’s collections, whether from the historical, the modern or the ethnographic collection, will therefore be exhibited in a manner that allows them to enter into dialogue with each other. »We’ll no longer be showing the ethnographic artefacts in the context assigned to them for a long time, i.e. as something foreign that stands in contrast to our Western culture. Instead, we’ll be displaying them subsumed under the overarching theme of ‘The phenomenon of jewellery’, highlighting that there is something innately human about jewellery,« explains the

jewellery expert. This will give visitors an opportunity to immerse themselves in a wide variety of jewellery in a presentation that has not been put together according to previously accepted criteria, allowing them to discover diverse new perspectives or even come up with their own.

»Ga’u« amulet case Silver, turquoise Tibet, Lhasa, 20th century Eva and Peter Herion collection at Pforzheim Jewellery Museum Photo Petra Jaschke

»Moiré« brooch Silver, powder-coated stainless steel Thanh-Truc Nguyen, Berlin, 2012 Pforzheim Jewellery Museum Donation from the ISSP/sponsorship purchase 2014

Contextualising instead of categorizing The redesigned exhibition’s rich diversity of objects piques visitors’ curiosity to explore it. They are drawn into the room by what looks like a display case in a cabinet of curiosities in the centre, brimming with a motley assortment of intriguing artefacts.

The exhibits in the showcases along the walls are contextualised culturally, geographically and historically.

They are displayed according to aesthetic, functional or technical aspects on the basis of fundamental criteria like form and material, as well as corresponding sub-criteria, such as surface design and colour, for example.

Visitors will need to take a closer look to become aware of these aspects,

Jewellery in a wider scope The ethnographic »Eva and Peter Herion« collection had originally been given to the Jewellery Museum as a permanent loan, and has meanwhile passed into the museum’s ownership. When the remodelled museum opened in 2006, parts of the Herion collection were set up with a

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and there will be moments of surprise, or of pausing and pondering to avoid categorising a piece prematurely.

The display case devoted to the colour red, for example, shows a breast ornament: a crescent-shaped piece of mother-of-pearl, coloured with redwood pigment. It is called Kina, and was created by the Mendi people in the highlands of Papua New Guinea in the 20th century. The same showcase displays a Nabataean-Hellenistic lunula pendant, which is also shaped like a half moon, and was crafted from gold and garnets in the second to first centuries BCE. Both objects are similar in colour and shape but very different in terms of their meaning, origin, materials and the crafting technique involved, as visitors can read in accompanying texts. The mother-of-pearl ornament is a coveted barter item, and is worn on the breast at special occasions involving dances. The brighter the red colour the higher the piece’s value. This is why the shells are often painted. Lunula pendants, in contrast, were popular both during the New Kingdom in Egypt and the Hellenistic period, and were worn as amulets to ward off evil.

This exhibition concept is underscored by the room’s design: a network of lines criss-crossing the display cases shows connections between individual objects, as well as points of intersection. The underlying idea runs like a leitmotif throughout the other rooms of the permanent exhibition because ethnographic jewellery will be displayed in several

»Kina« breast ornament Mother-of-pearl coloured with redwood pigment, textile Papua New Guinea, Mendi, 20th century Eva and Peter Herion collection at Pforzheim Jewellery Museum Photo Petra Jaschke

showcases there as well. Thus, this newly designed exhibition space has an additional function: it introduces visitors to the theme of jewellery and self-ornamentation.

The aim of presenting the Herion collection in dialogue with the museum’s historical and modern collections is quite in line with the collectors’ ideas.

The Pforzheim-based couple Eva and Peter Herion, who acquired a wide variety of adornments on their travels – mainly to Africa and Asia – between 1970 and 2006, were fascinated by jewellery in all its diversity. Peter Herion was an entrepreneur, goldsmith and artist, and both had a strong interest in non-European cultures and their artworks.

A starting point for further exploration Also, labels with questions, such as »wearable or not?«, »valuable or not?« or »heavy or lightweight?«, for example, are attached to individual display cases in the ethnographic collection.

This detail expresses the exhibition makers’ desire to offer scope for experimentation and participation. Cornelie Holzach comments: »We’ll have more questions than answers, and we want to find answers to these questions with the help of experts, as well as non-specialists.« The new presentation is not a definitive exhibition format but a starting point for further exploring the aspects concerned and introducing them into public discourse.

Nabataean-Hellenistic lunula pendant Gold, garnets 2nd to 1st century BCE Pforzheim Jewellery Museum Donation by the ISSP Photo Neck Bürgin

In addition to the analogue exhibition, there will be a digital platform allowing visitors to approach the objects in their own individual way. Those who want to can embark on a journey around the world or through different eras in the shape of an avatar, or explore each of the »curiosities« separately. Moreover, detailed views and descriptions enable visitors to arrange groupings according to their own criteria, or to have a timeline created for their selection.

The new presentation has been conceived and developed by the entire team of the Jewellery Museum in collaboration with the ethnologist Dr. Andreas Volz and the art historian Dr. Martina Eberspächer. Exhibition design by the interior designer Cornelia Wehle, graphic design by L2M3 Kommunikationsdesign, digital applications by 2av.

* * *

Opening hours: Tue–Sun and holidays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (except for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve) | Admission to the permanent exhibition € 4.50, reduced price € 2.50, € 6 incl. a visit to the Technical Museum of Pforzheim’s Jewellery and Watchmaking Industries, free admission for children no older than 14 and for holders of a Museums-Pass-Musées | Guided tours for groups by appointment | Public guided tours through the permanent exhibition Sun 3 p.m., € 6.50, reduced price € 4.50 | Partners: Pforzheimer Zeitung and SWR2 | For more information, please visit www.schmuckmuseum.de

»Pakol« breast ornament Sea shell parts, Nassa snail shells, textile Papua Neuguinea, Mendi 20th century Eva and Peter Herion collection at Pforzheim Jewellery Museum Photo Petra Jaschke

Belt buckle Horn, silver Piel Frères Paris About 1904 Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim Photo Rüdiger Flöter

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WINE INVESTMENT:

DIVERSIFYING AND DE-RISKING PORTFOLIOS

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ccording to the Office for National Statistics, the UK economy is currently 21.8% smaller than it was at the end of 2019.

This decline prompted investors to look outside traditional asset classes to fortify and diversify their portfolios. Notably, against this backdrop of market turbulence, the fine wine market has continued to thrive, with little correlation between it and the wider economy.

Wine investment differentiates, de-risks and strengthens investment portfolios. Up until recently, the wine industry’s lack of financial transparency had prevented it from benefiting from the investment drive that has buoyed nearly every other business sector. Gradually however, the wine market has become less ambiguous, and is gaining traction as a lucrative, alternative investment avenue that can protect and enhance wealth.

Though there is strong evidence of increased transparency, wine investment is still an unregulated market, and it is crucial to choose a company

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with a trustworthy track-record and reputation.

Step forward award-winning OenoFuture, shaking up the fine wine investment industry, offering expert knowledge to clients and building lucrative portfolio strategies to match. OenoFuture goes beyond its competitors, paying for the cost of storage and insurance at market price all within its offering. Using a London City Bonds state-of-the-art storage facticity, which is temperature and humidity controlled, investors wines are in safe hands. OenoFuture researches the market and offer various exit strategies, making it easier for investors to enjoy market-beating returns that consistently average at 10% to 15% per annum. But why invest in wine to begin with?

Firstly, wine markets are experiencing strong growth, according to the latest wealth report from consultancy Knight Frank. Fine wine topped the charts in its latest Luxury Investment Index, outperforming other collectibles like high-end watches, cars,

jewellery and art. Knight Franks ‘fine wine icons index’ rose in value by 13% in the 12 months to the end of June 2021, highlighting that wine is surpassing other forms of investments.

Watches were the nearest challenger, with this index up by 5%, followed by cars, up 4%. This presents an exciting opportunity to investors.

Secondly, investing in wine is more profitable than leaving money in the bank. It is safer than investing in cryptocurrency. It offers reliable returns. While stocks can rise and fall for many reasons, the value of fine wine is determined by plain old, dependable supply and demand.

Pricing is mostly determined by the simple supply and demand economic model. Demand for fine wine around the globe is rising, especially as more developing countries acquire a taste for luxury products. From an investment perspective, wine is part of a wider investment portfolio. It will help anchor other investments. Offering a consistent, steady growth forecast, wine is considered a

medium to long term investment, and a must on any comprehensive, profitable portfolio.

Thirdly, wine is a discontinued asset.

Top wineries such as Chateau Latour and Mouton Rothschild only produce a limited number of cases of wine a year, approximately 20,000-30,000.

Pair that with the fact that as wine gets consumed, it means an already scarce asset gets even scarcer. As soon as a vintage is bottled, you can’t get the vintage back. Unlike other luxury commodities, supply cannot be increased. Once the production in a given vintage comes to market, that’s it – there will never be any more. Over time this already limited supply will reduce as the wines are consumed.

Fine wine is one of the only luxury commodities that can be used and enjoyed just once.

The result is a perfect inverted supply curve that is truly unique to fine wine. The is hugely important from an investment perspective. If sales increase for Range Rovers or Hermès handbags, it’s straightforward to raise production to meet demand.

With wine, it’s quite the oppositeas demand grows the inverse supply curve accelerates. On the demand

side, too, wine has some beneficial characteristics. Fine wine, by definition, improves with age. Consequently, as it matures and enters its prime drinking phase, it becomes more desirable and therefore subject to greater demand. Also, the finite quantities produced, ever decreasing through consumption, ensure predictable growth in the long-term with an inverse supply curve.

OenoFuture offers a multi-layered exit platform and a unique consumption exit model. One option is trade.

OenoTrade sells wines to a network of Michelin-starred restaurants and top hotels and bars, offering a watertight market exit strategy for investors. Clients retain the rights as full legal holders and must give permission to trade. In July, OenoHouse, a wine bar at the Royal Exchange, a place where wine lovers can sample and purchase rare and iconic wines from all over the world, opened its doors. This unlocks another exit avenue to investors, selling wine directly to consumers. Iconic wines served at the launch included Château HautBrion, Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Mouton Rothschild, Château Latour and Château Margaux.

OenoFuture is also expanding globally, across Europe, the US and Asia, bringing these world-wide opportunities and retail exits to investors. While increasing exit capabilities and raising profit for their clients, OenoFuture is also the first wine investment company to have an in-house anti-fraud unit. They verify each wine bottle, producing a high-tech hologram label guaranteeing authenticity.

Wine is a safe and stable investment, where risk is substantially lower than investing in the stock market, and it is proven to outperform 98% of other investments. Where share prices may increase one day and decrease the next, wine provides steady returns year after year, and very rarely decreases in value. Since 2004, wine has yielded a return of 247%, whereas, over the same period, the stock market, with a return of 129%, has provided a significantly lower yield. Wine is a better and more reliable investment than both property and stocks.

The time is nigh to invest in wine.

Demand for fine wine is increasing.

This increased demand cannot be placated by increased production, only by higher prices. Cheers to that!

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European Business Magazine Interviews OenoGroup Founders

Michael Doerr and Daniel Walker

The award winning wine investment group based in the heart of London city about their journey so far and what the major challenges that they have overseen , the industry that they are involved in and how they see the future of their company and their goal to be more transparent in an industry which has been rife with shady firms trying to make a quick buck Let’s start from the beginning.

Oeno Group was founded back in 2015 by an Italian wine expert Daniel Carnio. A few years later, you purchased the business and completely adapted the company and successfully increased turnover.

Tell us more: why did you both decide to start this company, what vision did you have in mind?

And what is the story behind you purchasing the Group? What was the biggest challenge that you had to overcome once you started working here?

MD: The company that Daniel Carnio founded in 2015 is not the company that it is today. It was a totally different company. My business partner Daniel Walker and I sat down together and discussed how we love the concept of fine wine and we had an idea of fine wine as an investment.

We put together a whole group to incorporate three arms of its service offering to facilitate a higher degree of excellence in each department from trade to investment to consumption. For us, it is the only true full 360-degree circle asset from collector-to-investor-to-consumer.

There could be two people in a chain or two thousand people in a chain: as long as someone consumes that wine in the end, you have a wholly ethical investment cycle.

DW: Creating Oeno Group as a full service offering was a way for us to bring an esoteric luxury concept like wine investment to the wider masses.

If we look back 10 years, wine investment was seen as a luxury investment only for those who knew about wine and had large amounts of wealth.

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MD: With Oeno Group, we made wine investment accessible to the masses.

What was once looked upon as only an investment for the elite for people such as Warren Buffet and Alex Ferguson, we revolutionised the very concept of wine investment to make it simple and more accessible for individuals interested in wine. Because both Daniel Walker and I don’t come from a strong wine background, we both brought an untainted view to the industry: introducing wine investment to all walks of life.

DW: Although we still maintain that exclusivity, we make wine investment more accessible by opening our doors to those who don’t have the experience or knowledge about wines. We are probably the first company to do this in such a welcoming way.

MD: We love the stories behind the wines and the winemakers. We enjoy being storytellers that engage wine investors with the heritage of great wines. The difference between spending £20 on a bottle of wine and spending £20,000 on a bottle of wine can be the story behind the wine.

Penfold’s Grange came from a young man who made wine in a unique way and was shunned by his peers. Penfold’s is now widely considered the greatest wine Australia has ever produced and, to some, one of the greatest wines in the world.

Today, Oeno Group is known as “the top wine investment firm “.

Looking back, was it difficult to gain such status? What was the tipping point for the company, when you knew that things are about to unwind?

MD: We were slugging away for years and it was tough. We wanted to make

the greatest rarest fine wine portfolio the world has ever seen. We are trying to offer a near-perfect service whether you are an experienced collector or have just had your first glass of wine, we aim to please all walks of life. We wanted to be an honest, upfront, and approachable company.

DW: Our ultimate goal was to take a company that was already good with so many benefits and positive attributes. We saw the flaws and gaps in the business and wanted to turn it around and make all aspects of it as perfect as possible.

DW: When we first started this company ourselves, we thought about our own family members and how we could make wine investment as simplistic, streamlined, and approachable as possible. With the greatest things in life, when you take something that’s complicated and make it simple, you know you are doing something well.

MD: Oeno Group is the only wine investment firm worldwide that has active exit strategies with clients.

Oeno Group has a retail arm that sells wine that is 70% client-owned. We also have a trade arm and we sell wine to some of the top Michelin star restaurants and members clubs in London from Annabel’s, 67 Pall Mall, City Social, Park Chinois, L’Enclume, Cinnamon Club, Guards Polo Club and more. We are one of the only companies that has a dedicated in-house anti-fraud team that has a 60-point anti-fraud checking system. After our team verifies a wine bottle’s authenticity, we adorn the bottles with a hologram label that cannot be removed.

DW: If someone comes to us and wants to know why we think Oeno Group is the greatest wine company to exist, they have the absolute

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right to have the top service which includes having an irrefutable guarantee of authenticity. That means when it is time to sell your wine, you can demand a premium which we guarantee as a company.

Wine Investment Company. When your peers and competitors acknowledge that you are doing something completely different, that’s when the penny drops and we felt like we were doing something right.

DW: We are a multi-award winning company. We have been voted Europe’s Best Fine Wine Investment Company two years in a row which makes us the first company to achieve that. We’ve won Best Alternative Investment and Best Global

Oeno Group advises both experienced wine investors and novices of all ages on which wines to invest in. Tell us a bit more about what it’s like to work with so many different clients?

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DW: It’s fantastic to work with so many different types of clients from a vast demographic. We get approached by around 600 individuals per week with about 75 people per month who will become our clients.

We have injected a level of energy and innovativeness into the wine market that has attracted so many different interested individuals.

MD: With us, you have a dedicated account manager specific to different regions of the world. I know that a ton

What is more, during the Covid19 pandemic, in January 2021, the company opened new offices in Spain and Portugal. of our clients have a great relationship with their personal account managers as I have met with many of our clients personally.

DW: We have created an environment where our clients know that they are speaking to a dedicated account manager for a very specific reason to suit their individual needs.

Oeno Group has offices all over the world — from New York, Madrid, Bordeaux to Munich.

What was it like to extend the business during the pandemic?

What were the biggest challenges at that time?

MB: Everyone said to us, was it a risk to extend the business during the pandemic. We actually saw it as an opportunity.

DW: During the pandemic, so many people were losing everything they had from FTSE 250 to S&P 500 companies that were going under. Fine wines always had this characteristic of staying strong and robust, even

whilst the economy was fragile. We thought, if we remained strong, we would flourish. We saw a big change in the type of people who approached us during COVID, such as more professional investors looking at Oeno Group as a capital preservation tool. It went from a luxury to a total necessity.

Even when Brexit was announced, sterling fell to a 23-year low but wine saw a spike of 47.2%, with a particular rise in California.

In your opinion, what are the most important things and features that make the Oeno Group stand out from the crowd?

MD: We have a mindset that we can do everything. One of our biggest europeanbusinessmagazine.com 43

achievements in our delivered experiences was a huge 12-hour day of wine tasting for hundreds of top decision makers in the trade industry joined by an array of winemakers who flew into London for the event.

Our in-house experts like Master of Wine Justin Knock, Head of Trade Olivier Gasselin, and Head of Buying and Rare Wines Mattia Tabacco were there hosting food pairings and wine tastings from Screaming Eagle, Liber Pater, Penfold’s and Soldera to name a few. We showcased an oyster bar, offered Rolls Royce chauffeurs, and had a live DJ at Tower 42, which is the whole floor atop a 600 ft skyscraper in the clouds of the city of London.

MD: As the number 1 wine investment company in Italy, we also put on a large wine tasting event during the Venice Film Festival with over 30 wine experts and the greatest Italian wines to taste.

Oeno Group is also the very first wine investment company to have a dedicated in-house AntiFraud Unit. Tell us more about a stringent certification process and how did the company end up creating such a unit?

MD: We knew we could buy the stock from the vineyards but if we couldn’t find a special bottle and couldn’t go direct, we wanted to know we could protect our clients with guarantee of authenticity hence why we decided to have an in-house Anti-Fraud Unit. We came up with a very detailed stringent process to authenticate each bottle of wine then affix a hologram label on each verified bottle. We are setting the standard for the industry so that, hopefully one day, everyone will do detailed checks to authenticate wine as we are doing.

DW: We feel a total obligation as a company that, if someone decides we are the company for them, we have the duty to make sure that our clients are happy from start to finish. We take it upon ourselves to be a ground-breaking company, spearheading the industry to give our trusted seal of approval. Our team have created an actual label that is fixed on each bottle after it successfully goes through 44 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

the anti-fraud checks. You wouldn’t buy a Rolex without paperwork so you wouldn’t buy a bottle of wine without our stamp of approval.

7. Tell us a bit more about Oeno’s exclusive client-only app, which was supposed to launch in the late Summer of 2021. What is the main idea behind it?

Are there any newer projects coming soon that you’re particularly excited about?

MD: Due to launch later this year, the Oeno Group app is a natural progression of where we are going. These days, not everyone has time to speak with their account manager. One of our clients may be laying in bed on Christmas Eve and they may be curious about their wine portfolio – they can log into their app and view their wine portfolio performance. The app will be a way for Oeno Group to be there whenever clients want to view their portfolio progress with notifications of special offers, tastings, or events.

DW: The app will give clients autonomy and an interactive relationship with us. The app will give clients more control of viewing their wine portfolio with a click of a button anytime they want.

Let’s talk about the future.

How do you think Oeno House will look in 5, 10 years from now?

And the whole wine market — although since 2005 fine wine has seen the growth of 198%, making it a very attractive safe haven for investors keen to diversify their portfolio — what it will look like?

DW: We move at warp speed. Look at where we were and look at where we are now. We do things differently and like to shake things up. We are happy to work with vineyards that are not on the global scale. There are great wines in China and Lebanon and, if the wine is good, we are happy to bring this to our client base. In 5 years, I can imagine we will be bigger, better, faster with a greater service and we will be more streamlined.

MB: We put our clients first. We always have our goals in place and we will be ready to adapt to our clients’ needs and market needs’ as we progress over the next five years.

Oeno Group https://oenogroup.com/ Oeno House https://oenogroup.com/house/

DP WORLD at the forefront of sustainable industry efforts in Europe

25 October 2021 – LONDON, UK: Innovation holds the key to reducing emissions and creating a greener and more sustainable trade and logistics industry in Europe, according to global end-to-end logistics and smart trade enabler, DP World.

DP World operates 20 terminals in 12 countries across the breadth of Europe, all of which are at various stages of their respective journeys towards implementing more sustainable operations.

The business has an impressive story to tell in Western Europe where its Rotterdam World Gateway (RWG) terminal, located in the Netherlands, is on the pathway to be the first carbon neutral container terminal in the world.

The fully electric terminal – renowned for its high level of automation – boasts a number of new and existing

green innovations and technologies, including 84 electric lift AGVs (automated guided vehicles) that operate on green electricity and 18 stateof-the-art cranes that capture and regenerate their own energy. The use of plastic and other oil-based packaging materials at the terminal has also been cut back and all of its waste products can now be fully recycled.

In addition, RWG is also the first deep-sea terminal that is ‘LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) ready’ and is capable of loading and unloading containers whilst the vessel is refuelling. The transition from using fuel oil to LNG as a sustainable fuel represents an important step in making shipping and the industry more sustainable.

In neighbouring Belgium, DP World Antwerp has its own set of impressive green credentials, as the first terminal

in the world to publish its own sustainability report. Between 2017 – 2018, the report found that DP World Antwerp saved over 10.6 million kilograms of carbon dioxide over a four-year period, while the business simultaneously took over 90,000 trucks off the Belgian roads in the space of a year by offering greener intermodal options.

Its commitment to sustainability is exemplified in its investment in automated stacking cranes, wind turbines and a biogas plant. In addition, the new operations building at the dock – part of the business’ €200m investment plan at the port – harnesses residual energy to control the temperature of the building, making it almost energy neutral.

Elsewhere in Europe, DP World-owned Unifeeder, based in Denmark, is a provider of the largest feeder and shortsea europeanbusinessmagazine.com 45

About DP World We are the leading provider of smart logistics solutions, enabling the flow of trade across the globe. Our comprehensive range of products and services covers every link of the integrated supply chain – from maritime and inland terminals to marine services and industrial parks as well as technology-driven customer solutions.

We deliver these services through an interconnected global network of 128 business units in 60 countries across six continents, with a significant presence both in high-growth and mature markets. Wherever we operate, we integrate sustainability and responsible corporate citizenship into our activities, striving for a positive contribution to the economies and communities where we live and work.

Our dedicated, diverse and professional team of more than 53,220 employees from 131 countries are committed to delivering unrivalled value to our customers and partners. We do this by focusing on mutually beneficial relationships – with governments, shippers, traders, and other stakeholders along the global supply chain – relationships built on a foundation of mutual trust and enduring partnership.

We think ahead, anticipate change and deploy industry-leading technology to create the smartest, most efficient and innovative trade solutions, while ensuring a positive and sustainable impact on economies, societies and our planet. network in the region. The innovative firm recently introduced new stateof-the art live tracking technology – ‘Actual Emission Tracker’. The realtime tool calculates, on a micro level, the emissions of each individual twenty-foot equivalent unit, thereby giving businesses greater awareness, visibility and control over their overall emissions.

In September this year, Unifeeder announced its ‘ElbBlue’ vessel was carrying out a world-first trial voyage 46 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

using liquefied Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG), a synthetic form of LNG that is carbon-neutal and generated from 100% renewable energy.

In Turkey, DP World Yarimca recently purchased hybrid vehicles and installed solar panels at the terminal that are expected to generate 4% of its annual electricity needs, helping to reduce overall carbon output by over 220,000kg per year.

Rashid Abdulla, CEO, DP World – E u r o p e a n d R u s s i a , C E O,

commented: “We are absolutely committed to doing all we can to help not only our own operations, but also our supply chain partners and customers, reduce their carbon footprints. We are making great progress in the region, which is largely due to the adoption of innovation and technology, which drives awareness and visibility of where action can and must be taken.

“Over the next decade, consumer choice and corporate procurement responsibilities will drive this type of emission

tracking and data capture from being a ‘nice to have’ to a ’must have’ and we want to be at the forefront of driving that highly significant change in attitudes.

“Our terminals in Rotterdam and Antwerp are leading the way and we have a number of exciting green solutions that will be implemented in other areas of Europe over the next five to ten years.”

Another key part of the firm’s green strategy in Europe is to reduce the number of trucks on the roads, achieved through the increased

accessibility of intermodal transport across inland Europe. As a result, DP World’s Inland business unit – which operates across Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands – offers resilient trimodal-transport solutions to its customers, acting as a bridge for the flow of trade between European deep-sea ports and its network of inland terminals.

The firm offers rail and/or barge infrastructure at approximately 95% of

its terminals in the continent and is investing further across its portfolio, including further east at its ports in Serbia, Romania, Ukraine and Turkey, helping to create more sustainable routes stretching across mainland Europe.

Rashid continued: “Our Inland network is absolutely key to our strategy in Europe, with established rail networks in the UK and the vital Hinterland area in the northwest. However, our trimodal transport strategy stretches further east where our terminals in the Ukraine (DP World TIS Pivdennyi) and Turkey (DP World Yarimca) are already seeing the benefits of rail investment.”

A recent study revealed that, when using the same amount of fuel, trucks move cargo a fraction of the distance compared to alternative modes of transport such as rail and barge. The studied highlighted how trucks – operating off 4.5 litres worth of fuel – can only transport a ton of cargo 233 kilometres, whereas rail and barge achieve significantly higher distances of 768 and 1,041 kilometres respectively.

One significant example where DP World is looking to maximise barge use is on the River Danube, which passes through more countries than any other river in the world, thereby making it a hugely important trade route.

Barges on the Danube can transport goods all the way from south-west Germany, through several mainland countries, including Serbia - served by the DP World Novi Sad terminal, all the way through to DP World Constanta in the southeast coast of Romania, where it meets the Black Sea Basin connecting to Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East.

Rashid added: “It is no secret that the industry must come together to make genuine and impactful sustainable changes as we look to achieve as a sector in supporting the net zero emission commitments made in the Paris agreement.

“At DP World we are very aware that we still have a long way to go, but we are excited by the progress made in recent years and we are in no doubt that we will be at the very forefront of that conversation in Europe.” europeanbusinessmagazine.com 47

HOW SEARCH ENGINES REALLY WORK

By Jeff Ferguson

T

he Internet and the World Wide Web we know today would be utterly unnavigable without search engines. But how do Google, Bing, and the other search engines really work?

The short answer: Search engines work by filling a database, or index, of billions of web pages through crawling. During the crawling process, computer programs called web crawlers, also known as bots or spiders, download the content and the links to other web pages found on these pages. Search engines analyze these web pages using algorithms for factors such a topicality, quality, speed, mobile-friendliness, and more to determine the position, or rank, in the search engine results presented to users.

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But let’s dive a little deeper. In this study , you will learn: • About Machine Learning • What is a Search Engine?

• How Do Search Engines Obtain Their Results?

• How Do Search Engines Understand Your Query?

• How Do Search Engines Rank Web Pages?

• Pulling It All Together: How Google Really Ranks Web Pages • Summary

FIRST LET’S TALK ABOUT MACHINE LEARNING Before we discuss how search engines work, you should understand a little about Machine Learning. According to Jim Stern, author of Artificial

Intelligence for Marketing, “Machine Learning is the automated creation of predictive models based on the structure of the given data.” To say that Machine Learning is a computer teaching itself how to do something is an oversimplification, but it’s an excellent place to start for this discussion.

While Machine Learning lives under the Artificial Intelligence (AI) canopy, it should not be confused as being the same thing. Machine Learning is already in use daily in a myriad of computer systems; AI is the name given to a variety of technologies, some of which are still the stuff of science-fiction.

Some Machine Learning systems can run on an Unsupervised basis, still requiring data to get started to find patterns in data and reveal correlations. There is also Supervised Machine Learning, whereby we

ensure the algorithms are doing their jobs properly like a teacher grading a student’s homework. Lastly, there is what is known as “Reinforcement Learning,” automated systems that optimize marketing campaigns, such as Google Ads optimizing a handful of variables to get as many conversions as possible at the right price.

The big takeaway here is that these systems, while fixed in their purpose, are not fixed in their modeling, and evolve as they consume more data.

Know that modern search engines are using Machine Learning systems of all three types in their attempts to organize the world’s knowledge.

WHAT IS A SEARCH ENGINE? At this point in history, I’m sure just about everyone knows what a search engine is in theory; however, let’s talk a little about what a search engine is from a technical standpoint.

The concept of a database, that is, a structured collection of information stored in a computer, has been around since the 1960s. That’s basically what a search engine is, a vast database of web pages combined with a set of algorithms, that is, a collection of computer instructions, that decide which web pages to return and in what order they should appear when someone asks that database a question, or query.

HOW DO SEARCH ENGINES OBTAIN THEIR RESULTS? That database is filled through the process of crawling, whereby a computer program visits a known web page and downloads the information found on that web page, a process known as parsing, into the database. The data collected during this process is not only the contents of the web page itself but also the links found on that page, which point to other web pages. The links found on that web page get added to a list of web pages for the crawler to visit at another time.

Despite the name, crawlers, also known as bots or spiders, do not move from page to page by way of the links

found there; instead, it’s more like the parser adds the newly discovered pages to a sort of “to-do list” to visit later. This to-do list is what’s known as a scheduler, and itself is an algorithm that determines how vital those newly discovered web pages are in comparison to all the other web pages on the internet the crawler knows about already.

The parser then sends the information it obtained from the web page to what is known as an index (a process known as, well, indexing), which itself is a kind of database. However, an index is more a database of locations (or citations) of information along with brief descriptions of that information (called abstracts). These citations and brief descriptions are basically what search engines provide to you when you query them for information about a given topic.

that you should ask is, “Is our web page even indexed?”, that is, is the web page in question even in the search engine at all. If it’s not, then either the search engine crawlers simply haven’t reached your website yet, or there is something technical in nature keeping your web page from being crawled or indexed.

Once included in a search engine’s index, the search engine must then determine when and where that web page will appear to its users when they search for something. That is, the search engine needs to decide which keywords and in what position your web page will appear, or rank, in a search result. This process is where a search engine’s ranking algorithms come into play.

Every search engine’s ranking algorithm works a little differently; however, since Google dominates the search engine market in most of the English-speaking world (and beyond), we’ll focus on its ranking process for this discussion.

HOW DO SEARCH ENGINES UNDERSTAND YOUR QUERY? If you would like to learn more about this process, I suggest Andrew Hogue’s excellent tech talk at Google from 2011 called, The Structured Search Engine.

Just getting your web page into a search engine’s index is a substantial process, and search engines perform this action thousands and thousands of times a day for new and old web pages alike. Google and the other search engines have made this job of discovery a bit easier for themselves by allowing website owners to provide a list of web pages to them, a file known as a sitemap. Additionally, you can submit new individual pages to both Google and Bing via the Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools websites, respectively.

As a website owner, it’s essential to understand this process. When the time comes to determine why your website may or may not receive any attention from the Organic search channel, one of the first questions

Before Google can show you any results for your query, it must first determine what your question is about, that is, not only understanding the words in the query but the intent of those words as well. According to Google, “This involves steps as seemingly simple as interpreting spelling mistakes and extends to trying to understand the type of query you’ve entered by applying some of the latest research on natural language understanding.”

This task is more complicated than you may think. The English language is, frankly, a mess, and Google’s ability to decipher that mess has improved steadily over the years. Google continues, “For example, our synonym system helps Search know what you mean by establishing that multiple words mean the same thing. This capability allows Search to match the query ‘How to change a light bulb’ with pages describing how to replace a light bulb.” europeanbusinessmagazine.com 49

During the process, Google attempts to determine if the information you are looking for is broad, or very specific, or if the query is about a local business. Google also tries its best to determine if your question requires more recent, or fresh, information.

“If you search for trending keywords, our freshness algorithms will interpret that as a signal that up-to-date information might be more useful than older pages,” Google continues. “This means that when you’re searching for the latest’ premiership scores’, ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ results or ‘BP earnings’, you’ll see the latest information.”

And you thought Google just read your question as entered, didn’t you?

Now that Google has figured out what you’re asking, it needs to determine which web pages answer that question the best, a process known as ranking.

Again, this is no simple matter.

HOW DO SEARCH ENGINES RANK WEB PAGES? Google reviews hundreds of traits, or signals, of a web page to determine when and where it should appear in its index. Despite what anyone might tell you, no one outside of Google knows all these signals, nor do they know if any signal has a higher priority or importance than another. Although, when Google introduced RankBrain, one of their engineers admitted that it was the third most important ranking signal, but, as you’ll see, that isn’t all that helpful.

Google has been kind enough to define some of the groups of signals, which in and of themselves are algorithms dedicated to specific areas of interest by Google.

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The groups of signals in the above image were shown to me and a small group of SEO professionals by Google spokesperson, Gary Illyes, at the Search Marketing Summit in Sydney, Australia, in early 2019 in what was supposed to be a closed-door session.

Gary’s one request was that we didn’t share this information, which is supposedly taught to Google’s engineers “on day one,” on Twitter or any other social media platform. However, this request was honored until just slightly after the session was completed, so I assume it is safe to share it here as well.

Not shown in this collection of algorithms is Personalization and Localization, which Google sometimes calls “Context and Settings.” Personalization is the dynamic adjustments to the search engine results page (SERP) based on your Google usage history.

Similarly, Localization is the proactive adjustments to the SERP based on, well, your location. These two factors alone are enough to make tracking your web pages’ positions on Google frustrating.

Let’s look at the individual algorithms that make up Google’s ranking process.

for years, it’s essential to understand this next sentence. Google’s modern Machine Learning based algorithms use a variety of signals beyond just a word’s appearance in a piece of content to determine if a web page is a relevant answer to a question. Thanks to this collection of signals, the concept of “keyword density” no longer matters, if it ever did at all.

Counter to what some SEO bloggers have published, this does not mean that Google looks at engagement metrics such as click-through rate or bounce rate for every page to help determine its rank. Instead, Google’s Machine Learning system has used similar information for thousands of web pages in aggregate over time and then looks for similarities in other content. While this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t concern yourself with metrics such as click-through rate and bounce rate for your content, it does mean that Google isn’t tracking these metrics for every web page in its index to determine that web page’s rank. Instead, focus on these metrics because it is a good indication that the readers of that content find it useful.

TOPICALITY Sometimes also referred to as “topical relevance,” this algorithm group’s function is perhaps the most crucial concepts you must understand in Search Engine Optimization. If you, as the creator of a web page, want your content to appear for a given search result, then your web page must be about the topic searched for in the first place.

This concept, for some, is Earth-shattering news.

Again, Google tells us precisely what they mean here, “The most basic signal that information is relevant is when a webpage contains the same keywords as your search query. If those keywords appear on the page, or if they appear in the headings or body of the text, the information is more likely to be relevant.”

However, before you run out and start stuffing your content with the same words repeatedly, which was, honest to goodness, an SEO strategy

QUALITY When I took some of my first computer science classes in high school, one of my teachers attempted to demonstrate the complexities of a computer program by having her students tell her, acting as a computer, how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The teacher would sit at the front of the class with jars of peanut butter and jelly, a knife, and a bag of sandwich bread, and say, “Where do I start? Tell me, the computer, what to do.”

The first student to take on this challenge would usually say something like, “Ok, first put the peanut butter on the bread,” only to have the teacher grab the entire jar of peanut butter and place it on the bag of bread. After a few giggles, the students would understand that they first needed to tell the computer to open the bag of bread, take a slice of bread from the bag, open the jar of peanut butter, use the knife to obtain some peanut butter, and so on. Even now, I’m

simplifying these instructions, as she would sometimes get hung up on using the twist tie on the bread bag.

My point here is that getting a computer program to replicate human activity is incredibly complex. So, you can imagine how difficult it is to try and teach an algorithm the definition of something so multifaceted as quality. Google’s Machine Learning systems are once again used to bridge the gap between our human opinions on the subject of quality and a machine’s interpretation of that opinion.

After it was leaked onto the web in late 2015, Google released its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines to the public in its entirety. Leaks of this document had occurred a few times since 2008. In 2013, Google even released an abridged version in response to the continued leaks; however, this was the first time that Google responded by publishing the entire 160-page guide to the public.

When the Guidelines were released, some SEO professionals treated them like the Dead Sea Scrolls. To calm the SEO community down a bit, Google’s Ben Gomes stated in a 2018 interview with CNBC, “You can view the rater guidelines as where we want the search algorithm to go. They don’t

tell you how the algorithm is ranking results, but they fundamentally show what the algorithm should do.”

It is incredibly important here to point out that the Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines are not ranking signals.

Instead, these guidelines are used by actual humans to check the accuracy of Google’s algorithms so that the Machine Learning systems used to assess the complicated concept of quality can continue to learn and improve their results.

Once again, does this mean you shouldn’t concern yourself with the matters we’re about to discuss? Of course not. As you will see, what Google is looking for here is solid advice for anyone trying to create quality content. You, as a web page creator, may try your best to follow all the guidance provided in those quality guidelines, like you were checking items on a to-do list, and still not end up on the first page of results. Google’s Machine Learning algorithm doesn’t have a specific way to track all these elements; however, it can find similarities in other measurable areas and rank that content accordingly.

Let’s discuss what those elements are in more detail.

Beneficial Purpose – Although not added to the guidelines until 2018, this aspect has become the top priority in the process of determining quality content at Google. It specifically states that “websites and pages should be created to help users.” If your page is trying to harm or deceive Google’s users or to make money with no effort to help users, then Google’s quality raters are not going to rate your content well. Chances are Google’s algorithms wouldn’t like it much either.

Google is not against your website selling products or services; it’s just that you need to be helpful in the process. As Google’s John Mueller stated in a 2011 Webmaster Central blog post, content creators should focus on providing “the best possible user experience” rather than treating the various aspects of Google’s algorithms as a checklist.

Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) – Google has stated in its guidelines that the accuracy of some content must be judged more critically than other content. This type of material, which they refer to as “Your Money or Your Life” pages, can “impact a person’s future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety.”

Quoting directly from Google’s guidelines, this content takes the form of the following: • News and current events: news about important topics such as international events, business, politics, science, technology, etc. Keep in mind that not all news articles are necessarily considered YMYL (e.g., sports, entertainment, and everyday lifestyle topics are generally not YMYL). Please use your judgment and knowledge of your locale.

• Civics, government, and law: information important to maintaining an informed citizenry, such as information about voting, government agencies, public institutions, social services, and legal issues (e.g., divorce, child custody, adoption, creating a will, etc.).

• Finance: financial advice or information regarding investments, europeanbusinessmagazine.com 51

taxes, retirement planning, loans, banking, or insurance, particularly webpages that allow people to make purchases or transfer money online.

• Shopping: information about or services related to research or purchase of goods/services, particularly webpages that allow people to make purchases online.

• Health and safety: advice or information about medical issues, drugs, hospitals, emergency preparedness, how dangerous an activity is, etc.

• Groups of people: information about or claims related to groups of people, including but not limited to those grouped on the basis of race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity.

• Other: there are many other topics related to big decisions or important aspects of people’s lives which thus may be considered YMYL, such as fitness and nutrition, housing information, choosing a college, finding a job, etc. Please use your judgment.

To sum this up, if you’re trying to share facts, not opinions, about a topic, Google is going to take the evaluation of this content seriously, and so should you.

Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness (E-A-T) – A close, yet less uptight cousin to the YMYL content mentioned above, the concept of E-A-T has become a source of considerable discussion in the SEO community since its release. Research on the matter will reveal numerous explanations of the idea along with a few well-meaning articles on “How to Write E-A-T Content for Google” and the like. If you don’t understand the words “expertise,” “authoritativeness,” and “trustworthiness,” feel free to seek these blog posts out as defining (and redefining) the words themselves seem to be their favorite pastimes.

That said, the lesson you should learn from Google’s inclusion of these terms in their Guidelines is that Google is looking at more than your ability to construct a proper 52 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

sentence when it comes to the concept of quality. Therefore, your content must then prove that you have a respectable level of understanding of a given topic (Expertise), that others in your industry or community agree with your understanding by citing you as an expert (Authoritativeness), and that few disagree with that authority (Trustworthiness).

E-A-T is a dynamic concept. Someone writing a guide on foods you can grill during BBQ season doesn’t need to meet the same content standards as someone writing about cancer research. As Google states in their Guidelines, “Keep in mind that there are high E-A-T pages and websites of all types, even gossip websites, fashion websites, humor websites, forum and Q&A pages, etc.”

As I stated earlier, there are numerous blogs and slide presentations that try and turn E-A-T into a checklist of tactics (SEO professionals love a good list); however, the best way to learn about this concept is through example.

Luckily, you can read the same standards that Google provides to its quality raters in the Guidelines itself (specifically, section 4.6, “Examples of High Quality Pages” in the 2019 edition of Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines).

Just remember that these examples were written by humans, for humans, who are attempting to teach a computer to do their job. Avoid getting overly fixated on certain details or try to attach a specific quantity to the quality rates actions. For example, when some SEOs read the section header, “A Satisfying Amount of High-Quality Main Content” from these Guidelines, they try to assign

a specific number of words that need to be written or prove that “longer is better,” but that is simply not the case.

As Google’s John Mueller and a bevy of other Google employees will tell you, “Write for the readers, not us.”

PAGERANK One of Google’s oldest algorithms, PageRank, is charged with evaluating the quality of inbound links to a website. Google’s long-held idea that “if other prominent websites link to the [web] page, that has proven to be a good sign that the information is well trusted,” is one of the things that has set the search engine apart from its competitors.

While many SEO tools and bloggers love to question the importance of links in Google’s algorithms, according to Google, it is still very much a part of the equation. Occasionally, in

blog posts on the matter, an SEO will state that links have a “high correlation” to ranking, which is kind of a silly statement when Google has already indicated that they use inbound links in their algorithm since 1998. Claiming you confirmed this is like saying you figured out a Manhattan cocktail uses bourbon when there are recipes readily available.

RANKBRAIN Introduced in 2015, RankBrain is, well, complicated. According to Danny Sullivan, when he still worked for Search Engine Land (he works for Google now), RankBrain is “mainly used as a way to interpret the searches that people submit to find pages that might not have the exact words that were searched for.”

Every day, Google processes something like three billion searches. Of

those searches, anywhere from fifteen to twenty-five percent have never been done before. Let that sink in a little. That means that every day, there are 450 million to 750 million searches done every day that Google sees for the first time. While that may seem daunting, many of those previously unknown searches are close to inquiries made before. That’s where RankBrain gets involved.

Google had systems in place before to help with this sort of thing. Early in its history, it was able to start understanding the similarities between words like “bird” and “birds” through a process called stemming, that is, reducing a word down to their word stem, or root form. Additionally, in 2012 Google introduced the Knowledge Graph, which is a database of known facts like, “Who was the third President of the United States?” (Thomas Jefferson) that it could quickly answer without having to refer you to a website. The Knowledge Graph also allowed Google to understand the connections to other facts. For instance, as Sullivan illustrated, “you can do a search like ‘when was the wife of Obama born’ and get an answer about Michelle Obama… without ever using her name.”

RankBrain was designed to take these concepts even further by looking for similarities between new and old searches, or, as Greg Corrado, a senior search scientist at Google, put it, “That phrase seems like something I’ve seen in the past, so I’m going to assume that you meant this.”

Some SEO bloggers claim that the introduction of RankBrain to the algorithm set was the point when Google first started understanding what SEO professionals call “search intent,” that is, Google’s alignment of search results with users’ purpose for searching. However, nothing that was ever officially reported by Google upon the release of RankBrain confirms this theory.

There is also a lot of conjecture in the SEO community if you could really “optimize” for this algorithm or not.

Additionally, many SEO professionals focused on this algorithm’s importance in the overall collection of algorithms. A quoted Google representative said it was the third most europeanbusinessmagazine.com 53

important after “links” and “words,” as Sullivan put it, which we can safely assume to be PageRank and Topicality, accordingly. I wouldn’t concern yourself as much with these theories, and instead, just be thankful that you don’t need to write content with every possible variation of a word to appear for relevant searches.

SITE SPEED/CORE WEB VITALS In 2010, Google first started using how quickly a web page loads on a desktop computer as a ranking signal. Why? Because slow loading web pages are bad for business for both Google and the web page owners. In 2018, Google expanded this focus on site speed to include mobile web pages as well, further proving that they are not messing around in this area.

In early 2020, Google introduced a new set of tools to its Google Search Console, called the Core Web Vitals, and stated explicitly that the metrics found there would become ranking signals starting in 2021. Core Web Vitals absorbed the site speed metrics looked at previously and expanded into new areas that thankfully needed to be addressed (such as the sloppy way some web pages load advertisements and other images).

MOBILE Depending on which study you read, anywhere from 60%-70% of all searches start on a mobile device. Google has been pushing mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal since at least 2015; however, in 2018, they made it official by focusing on what they call the “Mobile-First Index” process. “Mobile-First” does not mean “mobile-only,” but instead that Google now looks at the mobile version of your website first during the process of evaluating your website.

After the introduction of this algorithm, the days of website owners not concerning themselves with mobile-friendliness were officially over. While the “Mobilegeddon” update wasn’t the bloodbath that the SEO press made it out to be, the importance of mobile cannot be undersold here. There have been numerous articles written on the subject on mobile optimization, most of 54 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

them by the legendary Cindy Krum, who literally wrote the book on the subject, so I won’t spend any time on what to do here. Just know that it needs to be done.

Google’s focus on Site Speed and Mobile are great examples of the search engine forcing website owners to do what they should have been doing for years, making their websites easier to use. This requirement is kind of like the government telling you to wear a seat belt when riding in an automobile – you should do it because it keeps you safe and is a smart thing to do, but sometimes, people just want their “freedom” (to be ejected through the windshield of their car).

As a website owner, you should want to make your website fast loading and functional on mobile devices because your customers want that, but that wasn’t happening as much as it should.

So, Google said, “if you want to show up in organic search results, you should do these things,” so now more website owners concern themselves with these matters.

PULLING IT ALL TOGETHER: HOW GOOGLE REALLY RANKS WEB PAGES Now that you know all the various aspects of Google’s ranking system, here’s the most important lesson: How Google combines these multiple algorithms to determine the rank of a given web page. While most would assume that Google assigns a score for each of these areas then simply adds them up for a total score that equates to rank for a given query, they

would be using the incorrect arithmetic operator.

In fact, according to Gary Illyes, on that beautiful day in Sydney, Google assigns a score for each of these areas then multiplies those scores for a total score that determines the rank for a web page in the results for a given query. To see why this is important, one has only to remember the difference in outcomes for 1 plus 0.1 versus 1 multiplied by 0.1, which is 1.1 and 0.1, respectively.

This mind-blowing news means that there is no specific priority for these various algorithms in the grand scheme of things. One could spend all their time making sure that their website was the fastest amongst their competitors but get dragged down by low-quality content. You could spend all your marketing budget on the best writers for your content only to be ranked lower because your website wasn’t optimized for mobile devices.

There is no silver bullet when it comes to Search Engine Optimization.

In summary , If you learn anything from this discussion of how search engines work, remember this: Search Engine Optimization is about doing all the marketing, website design, and public relations tactics that roll up to form SEO. These tactics aren’t about writing a specific number of words in an article or attempting to trick Google by abusing canonical tags, but about creating excellent content for your target audience on a properly built website.

Search Engines are incredibly complex systems, but they are systems designed to bring out our best efforts.

SEO is work and lots of it.

BRITISH TECH COMPANIES ARE LEADING THE GLOBAL RACE TO INNOVATE THE TECH EDUCATION METAVERSE-CREDERSI WORLD SCIENCE & TECH CAMPUS:

EDUCATING AND TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION OF DATA SCIENTISTS, LAB TECHNICIANS, CYBER DEFENDERS AND PROGRAMMERS

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wo of Manchester’s leading tech companies are leading the race to innovate the global education metaverse with their own science and tech campus, Credersi World, using a mixed reality platform that includes virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

While Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has outlined his vision of what a global metaverse might look like, tech and science educators Credersi and 3D tech innovators PixelMax are at the forefront of developing and shaping what the education metaverse will actually be. Tech disruptors Credersi

and PixelMax are already making this a reality and for the last 12 months, they have been developing and creating their own virtual science and tech campus.

‘Credersi World’ is an immersive platform in which students – and employers who want their workforces reskilled for careers of the future – shape their learning in a virtual campus world, complete with shops, cinemas, art galleries, wellbeing rooms and food and coffee shops by using immersive mixed reality technologies.

The concept for Credersi World was to create a virtual science and tech campus that could train and reskill

workforces of the future in an immersive and engaging way. The Covid pandemic has resulted in more people than ever before taking up training and learning with a view to reskilling for a career of the future.

Credersi co-founders Darren Coomer and Andy Lord saw how the pandemic had impacted university students and those in further education courses.

Many students were struggling to keep up with remote learning on platforms such as Zoom and Teams and maintain their engagement to learning. At the same time, through their tech training company Credersi, europeanbusinessmagazine.com 55

they then saw employers and business suddenly finding a skills shortage as never before, as well as a rapid advancement of future technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).

They decided to team up with PixelMax co-founders Shay O’Carroll, Rob Hilton and Andy Sands, to see how they could revolutionise and shape the learning and education metaverse.

Credersi CEO, Andy Lord, said: “The reality is that technology is now driving businesses forward at such a rapid pace that there is simply not enough skilled workforce available to fulfil those roles, which is why we have such a massive skills shortage and demand is outstripping supply.

As companies try to keep up with the rapid pace of technology as it evolves, they have realised that a large percentage of their workforce are simply not fit for purpose. That now means companies have to identify the talent from within their workforces and organisations and create the opportunity to educate and train them – and reskill them for a career of the future.”

The Credersi World science and tech campus is an immersive experience with its own real estate. Delegates enter the concourse – much like they would at a physical university campus – and will be able to delve into different learning pods relevant to their courses. Various boulevards line the tech estate, which engages with the delegates at all levels, providing breakout rooms, libraries, shops, cinemas, art galleries, oceanic aquariums, as well as virtual banks and even wellbeing counsellors.

The careers boulevard will have exhibitor totems, where tech, pharmaceutical and bio science companies can have a presence on the campus real estate. Delegates can drop in to learn more about career opportunities at each company and the campus will also have its own careers fairs, where companies can come to recruit delegates.

The lecture boulevard will have rooms that allow delegates to wander in and listen to visiting academics and tech entrepreneurs giving masterclasses.

Bio scientists will be able to carry out and conduct live experiments in AR 56 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

and VR laboratories, while coders and cyber security students can simulate real-time ethical hacking and defence exercises on real-life infrastructures.

Andy Lord added: “The simple question all CEOs and business leaders need to ask themselves is, ‘What do you do when demand outstrips supply? Try and find people who don’t exist?’ You simply can’t just wait and hope the workforce will come back.

The pandemic has been a clarion call to the global economy. Business and industry must rethink how they adapt

to the future after the impact of events such as Brexit and the pandemic. With the rapid advancement of technology and AI, we must now look at how we reskill our workforces to make them future proof. Businesses also need to create a culture of continuous personal development for their staff and talent. They will find this in the education metaverse, which will future-proof their workforces with the right skills in an immersive and engaging way.”

Dubbed “Silicon City”, Manchester is now the fastest growing tech hub

in the UK and across Europe and is widely seen as the UK’s version of California’s Silicon Valley thanks to its phenomenal growth of tech companies. Credersi is at the forefront of incubating, training and developing the digital pioneers, codebreakers, vaccine developers, bio scientists, biological and cyber defenders, software engineers and data scientists of the future.

PixelMax was founded in 2018 and created by co-founders Shay O’Carroll, Andy Sands and Rob Hilton. Their

specialism lies in creating virtual 3D worlds, where they have delivered ground-breaking initiatives and won numerous awards. They have worked with some of the world’s biggest businesses to deliver innovative solutions that solve a variety of business problems and challenges.

PixelMax co-founder and tech disruptor, Shay O’Carroll, commented: “The 3D worlds we create and the solutions we offer our clients are vast. The pandemic has changed the way businesses operate and it has become clear

that virtual worlds add a huge amount of value. The PixelMax technology allows our customers to deliver something truly unique. Our mission has always been to create a place where people can effectively communicate and collaborate in real time.:” Over the last 18 months their 3D world technology has evolved to offer world first virtual events and more recently to create ‘always on’ 3D environments which businesses are now starting to use as their virtual office to complement their hybrid working model. The PixelMax technology harmonises the virtual world and the physical world to deliver an enhanced or more immersive reality for the user. Partnering with Credersi to create the science and tech campus is a great example of what can be achieved.

Andy Lord explains: “What we have created with the Credersi World science and tech campus is something truly unique, which is immersive, engaging and interconnecting. We are creating the education and training metaverse, a unique ecosystem for companies to reskill their existing workforces and make them future proof. It also means that we educate and inspire the next generation of tech and science pioneers in a world they relate to. We want to ensure that each delegate can be immersed into their surroundings and engage with their syllabus learning within an exciting platform.

As a result of creating and shaping the education metaverse, we can also create our own real estate within the campus.

Big pharmaceutical companies and technology firms can exhibit their companies and recruit the very brightest minds and talent coming out of our incubator programmes. We become much more than just a tech training provider, but a science and tech campus that has everything to offer delegates and future employers.

There is no reason why you couldn’t have companies like AstraZeneca, PWC and British Aerospace alongside Government organisations such as the Home Office and GCHQ, as well as retailers like Boohoo and ASOS, and Deliveroo or an Amazon online shop.”

For more information on Credersi please go to www.credersi.com europeanbusinessmagazine.com 57

Getting the start-up infrastructure right to support tech entrepreneurs

By Linda Smith (Pictured), founder and CEO of UK tech accelerator BetaDen

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urope is home to a vast eco-system of incubators, accelerators, innovation labs and projects, all specialising in different areas of technology and with differing rules of engagement. This can make it a confusing landscape to navigate and means many early-stage tech businesses need help to identify the support they really need.

Incubators - often tied to universities are a good initial port of call. Developing technology-led ideas arising from undergraduate and postgraduate

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studies, or hosting R&D projects as part of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, this is where the foundations of new tech businesses can be firmly put in place.

But what next for those early-stage businesses that have completed the incubator process and are ready to scale, go to market and prepare for investment?

Accelerators, Government-led initiatives and scale-up support programmes are all designed to help businesses test and develop their offer, build business relationships and, ultimately, create real value in their company. The approach, type and level of support varies from programme to

programme; from resources and lab space, to business mentoring, industry-specific skills development, access to technology test beds, development partners and simply being part of a wider network of entrepreneurs, sector specialists, customer and investor networks.

The key to success lies in choosing a programme that places commerciality front and centre of its offer.

Almost every tech development has a multitude of potential applications but this means it can be all too easy for founders to get lost in the tech itself, worry about the needs of the end user too late, or be pulled in too many different potential directions to maintain focus.

One of Europe’s biggest responsibilities to early-stage businesses is to make sure there is a real world need for their product - right from MVP or concept stage. Keeping sight of who the end customers are, what their needs are and which of those potential customers may be best placed to take advantage of the technology at an early stage, are crucial to informing the route to market. Without this focus, there is a real tendency for early-stage businesses to simply react to whichever initiative, trial or project is most pressing deadline-wise or offers the next available batch of funding.

So, what can the start-up ecosystem do to help early-stage tech businesses scale successfully?

Geography has a part to play, with real potential for complementary programmes to work more collaboratively to attract and support businesses at various stages of their development. This has the added benefit of providing a clear focus and building on existing skills and knowledge-bases in a region or nation to speed up the development and adoption of new technologies. By playing to the existing strengths of a local population be that in manufacturing or security expertise, for example - tech innovators can identify real world challenges and opportunities more quickly than would be the case when working in isolation. More exposure to different requirements drives the creation of more-effective solutions, all while building a critical mass of demand that allows exciting concepts to move more quickly off the screen and into reality.

Returning to the theme of putting the customer at the heart of the eco-system, one of the biggest barriers to adoption of new technology is supporting the end customer to make the transition to new ways of working.

This is where digital technologies and the programmes supporting them can really come into their own.

The creation of digital twins allows companies to combine two worlds one ‘real world’ and the other, a digital copy where they can test and prove both the technology itself and possible end use cases. This is a real benefit when it comes to building the business case for investment, from both the entrepreneur’s and customers’ points of view.

Building relationships between accelerators and industry bodies that allow their members easier access to such ‘bridging’ technology can also be a real win win; allowing more traditional companies to trial and shape the technology they need, while informing the route to market for tech entrepreneurs and adding value for industry body members.

Crucially, commercial acceleration means being genuinely agile.

2021 has delivered a real gear change here with the growth of remote working, which has shifted the focus of investors onto deep tech entrepreneurs who can demonstrate how their technologies enable businesses to reap the benefits of the agile working revolution.

There’s no reason the next Amazon, Apple or Microsoft shouldn’t come from a European nation. We just need to join the dots to make it happen.

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The art(s) of data science:

ADVOCATING FOR STORYTELLERS IN ANALYTICS

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e live in a business world that has never been as flush with data as it is today. 97% of organisations are now investing in big data and AI, with 95% citing the need to manage unstructured data as a problem for their business, according to TechJury. There’s so much data coming at businesses so quickly that most aren’t ready to handle it effectively yet.

Making the most of this wealth of information isn’t just about having the right tools, but the right people. Data scientists are the specialists capable of taking billions of bytes of structured and unstructured data and creating concise, tangible business insights, weaving them into a compelling narrative that can have a real impact on the bottom line of any business.

This has made the role of a data scientist one of the most in-demand of any sector. Harvard Business Review labelled the data scientist ‘the sexiest job of the 21st century’ in 2012.

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Less than a decade later PwC estimated that there would be more than 2,900,000 job listings for data science roles by the end of 2020 – that’s enough to populate Jamaica! While the Royal Society has suggested that demand for data scientists has risen by 231% in the last five years.

However, there currently isn’t enough supply of skilled individuals to meet this growing demand. With that in mind, there is clearly work to be done by educators and businesses to nurture talent and equip our future workforce with the right skills and knowledge to consider a career in data.

Where it all begins Our recent study found that half (49%) of those aged 16-21 don’t consider data science as a career option.

Less than half (43%) consider themselves data literate, and almost half (48%) feel that their education hasn’t given them the confidence or skills to use data.

We need these young prodigies to be our future data champions. Without them, businesses are in danger of missing out on new ways to solve data challenges and push the boundaries of industry as we know it.

So: how do we overcome this?

STEM the tide Part of the problem is the perception of the requirements needed to excel in a data career. A common misconception is that data scientists need to have a STEM education, but there’s actually a much wider selection of skills that lead people to succeed and flourish in data science fields.

The best data scientist that I ever managed didn’t have a traditional science background, but a degree in Philosophy from the University of Warwick. He was creative and curious, capable of turning insights from data into compelling arguments and stories.

You can apply the same logic to other Arts subjects. English Literature, for example, is a perfectly suited discipline for developing the vocabulary and structure of a compelling narrative; Politics is more likely to give you a sophisticated idea of how to deliver that story.

If we concentrate too much on STEM, then we’ll have people who understand the numbers and stats, but they won’t necessarily have the skills to articulate the meaning of that data, turn it into actionable insights or communicate next steps around those insights to the business. There needs to be a balance between STEM subjects and Arts subjects that give the future workforce the tools and techniques to deliver a truly gripping story.

Full STEAM ahead A good place to start is with the school curriculum by putting more of a focus on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) education. This will not only widen the talent pool, but encourage a

more diverse approach to learning about, and working with, data. That’s because STEAM’s foundations lie in inquiry, critical thinking, and process-based learning. And the entire idea surrounding STEAM learning is that it’s based around in-depth questioning.

Curiosity, problem-solving, and being creative in finding solutions is at the heart of this approach.

Data holds astonishing amounts of potential value for businesses, but none of that value is accessible until it’s translated into the insights that lead to business outcomes. Packaging up data insights as a story, using the numbers as a means of grounding your story in truth without relying on them to do the talking for you, is vital to telling a convincing tale.

The End The power of storytelling That said, arguably the most important skill for a data scientist to have in their arsenal is the ability to tell stories. Storytelling is a universal language that everyone can understand.

Our latest survey of 500 data professionals quantifies its importance – highlighting that data storytelling can empower everyone within a business to make data-driven decisions, while also having a significant impact on the bottom line. In fact, 93% of companies agree that decisions made as a result of successful data storytelling have the potential to help increase revenue.

The appetite for data scientists is not going to go away. Data analytics and the use of data to inform business decisions is on the rise: we can only speculate on the sophistication and complexity of the field in a decade.

If we’re going to achieve such lofty highs, we need hungry and talented young storytellers to recognise the potential that they have to make a powerful impact by choosing a data career. That, in turn, means making that pathway clearer for them, providing the opportunity to develop a wellrounded STEAM skillset and making it clear that they can thrive in what is a fast moving, exciting industry. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 61

TURNING BACK THE CRYPTO CLOCK AND ANSWERING THE ‘WHAT IFS’ As an investor, it’s all too easy to let the ‘what ifs’ run riot in your head. What if you had invested in Amazon in 1997? What if you had backed a new real estate development opportunity? What if you had invested in Bitcoin ahead of its rapid price acceleration in 2013?

Written by Charlotte Wickens

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hile indulging in these alternative realities is all well and good, the truth is that a myriad of different factors could have impacted any investment you made.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but only when you have it.

Never has the surprising nature of investments been more clearly demonstrated than with cryptocurrency. Since its foundation in 2009, Bitcoin has gone from strength to strength, rewarding those who believed in the technology from the start and surprising those who were less sure. Widely considered the original cryptocurrency, in the past twelve years, Bitcoin has gone from having no monetary value to surging to a record high of more than $63,000. For those who invested early and hung on, the returns have been remarkable. But naturally, for many, the temptation to

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sell has proved all too great throughout the years.

While we can’t physically turn the clock back on our past investment decisions (despite wishing that we could), the new cryptocurrency calculator from Coinread does make it possible to look back and see what you could have made if you had the foresight to invest early in various cryptocurrencies. The ‘If I invested’ calculator also makes it possible to discover how much you would make today if you invested in a cryptocurrency.

Answering the ‘what ifs’ With the Coinread calculator, users can select an amount to hypothetically invest from one of the ten fiat currency options available. They can then choose from over one hundred cryptocurrencies to invest in and see the outcome of their speculative investment.

The calculator also has the option to change the initial investment date and the date for the calculated outcome, making it easy to satisfy your curiosity when it comes to historic crypto investment and answer the questions of friends and colleagues when they start discussing ‘how much you could have made if you had invested in Dogecoin’.

Let’s look at an example: It’s March 2020 and the Covid19 pandemic hits the world. With more and more people being required to stay inside and isolate, you find yourself with more time on your hands.

After exhausting all the lockdown activities you can think of, which includes baking banana bread, yoga and binge watching the Tiger King, you decide it might be interesting to look more closely into the world of crypto currency. After doing some

reading about the crypto space, you decide the next step in your cryptocurrency education is to try investing. Your lack of experience and financial situation means you only want to invest £100 on the 1st of March, and you’re determined to sell at the end of March in 2021 no matter what.

Looking at five different cryptocurrencies, here’s what the hypothetical you could have made in that time by investing.

• Your Bitcoin investment would equal €619.21 • Your Ethereum investment would equal €719.56 • Your Tether investment would be equal to €99.33 • Your Cardano investment would be equal to €2,399.69 • Your Binance Coin investment would be equal to €1,326.89 With any of these investments, assuming you hadn’t decided or needed to

sell earlier, 2020 you would probably have been happy. But with different types of cryptocurrencies, any of these amounts could have varied. The ‘If I invested’ calculator from Coinread enables users to experience different potential investment outcomes from an ‘almost’ first hand perspective and learn more about what it means to invest in cryptocurrency for themselves.

Looking to the future As any experienced investor will tell you, the key to successful investments is looking to the future and trying to spot trends that might profit long term future investments.

Not only does Coinread’s ‘If I invested’ calculator provide users with the chance to access historic cryptocurrency investment data to help identify trends, but it also acts as a means

of reassurance for newer investors or those curious about cryptocurrency.

By updating the dates in the calculator to 2021, you’ll be able to see how much you could make if you invested this year. While the ‘If I invested’ calculator sadly isn’t a crystal ball, being able to see up to date investment calculations is a great way to begin to learn more about the cryptocurrency market as a whole and what you need to consider if you’re looking to invest.

Despite the recent volatility of 2020, the crypto space has shown itself to be continually evolving and making way for new investors. Discovering more about the crypto space and seeing how it has performed historically for yourself is a great way to begin to explore the potential of cryptocurrency investments further. So even if you didn’t make your hypothetical millions with an investment in Bitcoin back in 2013, it’s still fun to have a look and satisfy your ‘what ifs’.

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The Circular Economy:

Where We Are and Where We Will Be in Five Years

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he world’s economic demands keep increasing year after year, forcing us to use our resources at an alarming rate and produce large amounts of waste. Though such a system can still function, it’s far from sustainable. In fact, staying on this path will lead us to an ecological disaster of an unprecedented scale, one that will have dire consequences for the entire planet.

So, is there a way to avoid this catastrophe? Well, experts believe the solution might be the circular economy. For that reason, they’ve already started implementing it or advocating for its implementation.

What Is the Circular Economy?

To fully understand the circular economy, we need to take a look at its opposite, which is prevalent today — the linear economy. The linear economy favors short-life disposable products that you use several times and then discard. Those products then 64 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

end up in a landfill, where they sit decomposing for years.

Ultimately, the linear economy presupposes that the planet has infinite resources and space for waste storage. But, of course, we know that’s not true. That’s exactly why the circular economy was invented — as a more sustainable alternative to the linear one.

In the circular economy, the emphasis is on repairing, reusing, and recycling a product as long as possible. That way, the need for resources and the production of waste becomes drastically lower.

For the circular economy to work, two conditions have to be met. First, we need to redesign existing products so that they can be easily repaired and reused. This step is crucial, as many items we buy nowadays are short-life and single-use.

The second condition is even more difficult, though. Namely, we have to change people’s mindsets and attitudes about products and waste. Most

of us think nothing of buying an item, using it for a while, and then discarding it for a new one. But the circular economy requires far more mindfulness and ecological awareness, which isn’t easy to achieve.

The Circular Economy in 2021 The circular economy concept is fairly new, but not so much that its implementation hasn’t started. Actually, the idea has gained some traction all across the globe, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, it became obvious that our linear economy isn’t nearly as resilient as we thought. Another similar disaster, and the world probably won’t be able to handle it if nothing changes.

And what sort of a disaster is most likely to happen in the next fifty years?

Without a doubt, an ecological one.

That’s why several governments around the world have decided to put serious plans into action, hoping to bring us closer to circularity.

So, for instance, the EU introduced the Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP), a plan meant to change our toxic relationship with planet Earth and its resources. CEAP values transparency, reusability, and durability. Basically, all products on the market need to comply with its standards, and single-use solutions can no longer be sold.

The EU isn’t the only one taking action, though — Rwanda, South Africa, and Nigeria are, too. These three countries founded the African Circular Economy Alliance, which advocates for adopting the circular economy in Africa. The Alliance holds seminars and workshops on this topic and encourages various circularity and environmental protection projects.

Sadly, though, we don’t have only good news. While some progress is definitely being made, it’s far from enough. In fact, the 2021 Circularity Gap Report says that the global circularity rate is now 8.6 percent, as opposed to 9.1 in 2018. Clearly, we still need to do a lot of work.

The Future of the Circular Economy Despite the unsatisfying circularity rate statistics, most governments see the circular economy as the best solution to our growing ecological problems. So, more and more of them are joining the circularity movement, and we expect that number to keep growing. That, of course, means that many new policies will come into effect, forcing several industries to drastically change the way they operate.

For example, the fashion, textile, and construction industries might be first on the agenda. They are notorious for their waste production, and the fashion industry in particular follows the “purchase-use-discard” model that’s so problematic. Aside from these three, though, we expect the new policies to target food, transport, packaging, and electronics industries as well.

Also, thanks to the rise of new technologies, it should be possible to trace the ecological impact of various

products. The methodology for calculation already exists — its name is Product Environmental Footprint (PEF). Now, using various apps or QR codes, the buyers could get a quick assessment of each product before the purchase. That is sure to increase everyone’s environmental awareness and help with the implementation of circularity.

In Conclusion The circular economy is already taking hold as the only viable solution for our ever-growing ecological problems. Sadly, the transition from linear to circular is slow and full of hitches, so it may take years before we see any real progress.

Still, the people and the governments are becoming aware that change is necessary, and that’s the first step in the right direction. After all, if we wait too long or don’t do anything, the damage to the environment will become irreparable. And at that point, it will be too late to save our planet. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 65

Now is the time for finance leaders to take on a more strategic and valuable role

By Gavin Fallon , General Manager at Board

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f finance leaders were focused last year on reducing the cost of operations, to ensure their enterprises survived the biggest business challenge in a generation posed by a global pandemic, what’s changed today, is finance decision-makers are being challenged now more than ever, to prioritise revenue growth through new technology and business models.

This return to an emphasis on transformation, as well as managing and restoring enterprise financial health, creates a whole new set of challenges, and pressures on finance leaders

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which have wide-ranging implications across the complete office of finance function.

The C-suite demands acceleration of the digital enterprise, growth, and new genuinely transformative business models as a number one strategic priority. They expect their finance leaders to play a crucial role in making this all happen. The Resurgent Finance Leader research amongst 600 finance leaders worldwide, explores the transformation of the office of finance, provides a view from the top and evidence into how well global finance leaders are making progress on these strategic priorities and expectations today.

If the C-suite expect digital technology to transform their industries and are racing to accelerate these plans, then it’s clear the office of finance will have to rise to the challenge too and transform fast, in parallel with the acceleration of the digital enterprise. These research findings show how finance leaders know they have the backing of management to do so, and how business leaders are ready to embrace the finance team, as a key player to support business goals.

The vast majority (94%) of global finance decision-makers surveyed believe their organization’s executive leadership are willing to completely rethink traditional finance roles and

About the author Gavin Fallon, General Manager, Board Gavin Fallon is the General Manager for Northern Europe, Middle East, India and Africa at Board International. Gavin is responsible for driving the businesses strategy in these regions, working with the teams across the organisation to ensure success. With more than 20 years’ experience, Gavin has spent the last 19 years at Board International working in roles including Head of Services & Consulting and Product Director. Prior to joining Board International he worked as a consultant for SDG Business Consultants. With his passion and experience, Gavin is widely considered an expert in the application of Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) across sales and operations.

responsibilities. Further reassurance is taken from the fact that the same proportion (94%) believe their executive leaders are willing to support the office of finance, to become more strategic and accelerate the digital enterprise by enabling the function to become the hub of the of the most important strategic asset to the business: Data.

The research findings reveal now is the time for finance leaders to back their own transformational capabilities and take on a more strategic and valuable role in the business. These finance decision-makers know the office of finance could be potentially automated out of existence unless it makes the leap from background support function to strategic hub for vital data. Perhaps then, it’s no surprise that most finance leaders agree, it’s time to accelerate the change from being a scorekeeper to performance driver, and finance should be the natural home for all data.

The Resurgent Finance Leader report also shows however, that whilst finance leaders worldwide know now is the time for the office of finance to make the transformational leap to become the strategic hub for driving more value from their data, not all of them are completely convinced their office of finance is entirely ready to drive business decisions, profitability, and performance.

Just under half (47%) of all global Finance Leaders surveyed are totally confident in their office of finance’s capability to capture valuable insights which drive business decisions and profitability. The report identifies 62% of finance leaders who don’t believe current finance reporting enables them to totally accurately project performance and adapt forecasts in realtime to reflect changing market conditions. Perhaps more concerning, is the report’s evidence highlighting most finance Leaders (81%) believe how their office of finance uses technology to influence business decision-making and drive strategy needs a complete overhaul OR a lot of improvement.

Our research evidence shows how progressive finance leaders know a change is needed, with more sophisticated insights and planning capabilities to be able to change and keep on changing, plan for the unexpected, and generate new meaningful insights, beyond traditional budgeting processes, to always plan and be ready for new opportunities when they arrive. The research also shows that despite receiving the validation of their organizations’ leaders, who are ready to embrace the finance team as key player to support business goals, finance decision-makers

believe transformation of finance needs to be reflected in wider finance team skills & culture.

Just under half (44%) of all finance leaders surveyed are totally confident their organization has the right technical skills and talent within the business to ensure technology is driving better business decisions, and a huge majority (92%) of senior finance decision-makers worldwide believe that company culture should encourage the finance team to be creative, curious, and rebellious, allowing them to think quickly and constantly challenge the status quo.

The Resurgent Finance Leader shows there’s a huge opportunity for finance decision-makers who can enable the winning combination of transformative skills, culture and technology across the office of finance to unlock the value of vital data insights, and play a strategic role in shaping the digital enterprise. At the same time, it shows there are still gaps to fill when it comes to pulling all these vital elements together.

Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be this way. The opportunity exists right now for finance leaders to fill these gaps, starting with democratising access to intelligence, analytics and planning delivered via the cloud, to provide a genuine empowering and transformative experience across finance teams, utilising a winning combination of technology, skills, and culture, to transform the office of finance today and lead the digital finance function of the future.

Register now to download the Resurgent Finance Leader report and access the research findings.

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Forget ChatBots – here’s why Conversational AI is the future of workplace training

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ver the course of the last few years, advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and Conversational AI (CAI) have been gaining traction. Indeed, research predicts that the global Conversational AI market will grow from $4.8 billion in 2020, reaching around $13.9 billion by 2025. And with virtual personal assistants like Alexa and Siri dominating the space, these technologies have certainly captured the wider public imagination. By Nikolas Kairinos (pictured ) , CEO, Soffos.ai Now, many corporations are looking to implement similar solutions to transform the way they do business.

However, digital communication tools have not always left an overwhelmingly positive impression, and some employees remain sceptical about the utility of new technologies.

This is for one main reason: user experience (UX) with solutions like

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simple ChatBots and older interactive voice response (IVR) technologies have been mixed at best. As these platforms have typically been used to provide more basic and transactional exchanges, expanding their use into areas like employee training, where workers will typically require less structured and more open-ended support, has come with some hiccups.

From misunderstood queries to rigid responses, companies might be hesitant to offer their employees training via CAI platforms – but here’s why they should reconsider…

ChatBot vs. Conversational AI – how do they differ?

Although they may seem very similar at face value, it is vital to point out the differences between CAI technologies – which provide genuinely conversational experiences – and their predecessors.

Typically, earlier ChatBots that are not powered by AI are rule-based, following pre-programmed workflows and exchanges. Although they may look like AI-powered solutions (some even have the ability to prompt users when they have been inactive for a period of time, and are programmed to sound ‘human’), they require a greater level of human intervention, and respond only to a set of specific key words and synonyms. Put simply, this means that there is very little room for manoeuvre.

For some organizations, for example those who are looking to employ these technologies to provide purely transactional support to customers, this isn’t always a problem. But if your offering is more complex, and staff might be in need of some more intricate support, then these solutions may not be a good fit.

On the contrary, CAI platforms integrate back-end systems to provide

can therefore better imitate human cognitive abilities in reading, comprehending, interpreting and conversing. As such, this means that the usecase for CAI technologies can span far beyond providing basic customer support.

New horizons: expanding the use-cases for CAI

Nikolas Kairinos is the chief executive officer and founder of Soffos, the world’s first AI-powered KnowledgeBot. The platform streamlines corporate learning and development (L&D) to deliver seamless professional training for employees. You can register for beta here. information to users. This means that there isn’t the same need for programmers to manually input keywords, with the platform able to synthesize large volumes of data to extract the most relevant knowledge, before delivering it to the end user in a succinct manner.

By relying on AI and neural network technologies, these smarter systems

Thanks to machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP), emerging AI-powered systems can understand more nuanced contexts and learn on their own based on previous interactions – making them ideal training solutions. Rather than relying on keywords, they decipher the meaning of input and can derive the intention of the user. Particularly in the new hybrid working climate, the ability to engage in meaningful dialogue with AI agents in order to receive workplace guidance should be a huge assistance to companies.

Rather than relying on en masse in-person training incentives or lengthy Zoom calls, for example, employees should be able to take the reins when it comes to their professional development. Whether asking simple questions on the go, or keeping

up a more consistent dialogue with a CAI system to boost their knowledge in a specific area, individuals will be able to reap the benefits of AI-powered technologies, compared to the limited support that ChatBots are able to provide.

Indeed, for individuals who quickly need a refresher on their knowledge before an important client-meeting, or for employees who are keen to make training more of a priority in their day-to-day, these technologies will be vital. As some systems even have the inbuilt capability to store exchanges in their memory bank, this means that the platform will be able to recall previous interactions and provide tailored support to each individual user. Beyond this, they will also be attuned to the finer details of conversation, given their ability to interrogate complex knowledge graphs and understand dialects, abbreviations and even regional accents, CAI solutions can deliver support to employees – not just customers.

Ultimately, the possibilities are infinite when it comes to next-gen Conversational AI technologies, and I look forward to seeing what businesses can do when armed with new and innovative solutions.

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HOW TO CREATE A CULTURE THAT UNLOCKS GROWTH

By John Harte, Managing Partner at Integrity Governance

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good, positive company culture encourages healthy day-to-day attitudes, behaviours and work ethics within an organisation. Importantly, it sets the foundations for real, tangible business growth.

As the pandemic starts to ease and boards come out of crisis mode, culture must be one of the first things they turn their attention to if they are serious about moving from survival to delivering long term growth.

Boards are custodians of company culture Effective boards recognise that they are responsible as custodians of culture - keeping, protecting and nurturing the good things, the ‘assets’, in company culture, as well as shaping it. They are also aware they need to address where the culture is not appropriate and must change for the business to be ‘fit for the future’. In fact, effective boards enact their role in culture by inspiring it, ensuring alignment, demonstrating authenticity by both reflecting and demonstrating the behaviours implicit in the culture, while guiding, encouraging and assuring themselves about it.

Three types of directors on the issue of culture Some directors struggle when it comes to culture. We see three populations on the boards that we work with: 1) The ‘Jurassics’. They view culture as the latest management fad which will pass like previous ones; for example, total quality management and mindfulness.

2) The ‘restless’. They know that culture is important but just don’t understand or know what to do, or how to deal with culture as a board.

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3) The ‘effective enablers’. These are directors that not only recognise the importance of culture but are vigorous in actively engaging in shaping and directing it.

The pillars of culture that support business success Boards must recognise that the pandemic has demanded four key success factors for effective boards - adaptability, resilience, courage and candour - which remain relevant today and for the foreseeable future. These must be the core pillars of company culture moving forward.

1) Adaptability and agility are critical factors for evolutionary success and are now demanded of boards and businesses as they plot their way through the uncertainty, volatility and complexity of the COVID age. To deliver a culture of adaptability and agility requires the board to promote an entrepreneurial spirit, which unleashes the potential of their people to provide new ideas to help take the business forward. As part of this, boards must engender a curiosity and fearlessness to

inspire creativity, innovation and continuous improvement. Leading by example, by demonstrating diversity of thought and ideas in the boardroom, will give confidence to the rest of the business to follow suit. However, it’s important to realise that it’s only those boards that have diversity across demographics, skills, experience and thinking styles which will have a true diversity of thought.

2) Resilience, the capacity to bounce back from setbacks, is a valued cultural attribute which is in demand as we build back better and orientate for growth in the recovery.

To deliver resilience a business needs to have strong, transparent and visible leadership, engaged and empowered employees, and

strong brand trust, both internally and externally.

3) Courage. It is time for directors to be courageous in confronting reality. As part of this they should have a healthy scepticism but avoid the corrosion of cynicism. In fact, a culture of courageousness must run throughout the organisation. This will see everybody within the business having the opportunity – and responsibility – to speak up, to do the right (if difficult) thing. For this to happen there must additionally be a culture of psychological safety to encourage people to speak up and protect those that do.

4) Candour. Finally, an open culture where bad news comes more quickly to the board than good news is critical for effective

governance and leadership by the board. This way the board can quickly focus on and solve challenges before they potentially become bigger problems, which can easily occur if they are not picked up early.

Ignorance is not bliss Those boards that continue to ignore culture face the consequences of a poor company culture. It can lead to a major disconnect between the behaviour that was promised and what was actually delivered by the business, along with bad practice which will damage the reputation of the organisation. Poor company culture – with the subsequent damaging practices and harmful outcomes - is motivating

governments and regulators around the world to make directors legally liable for the culture within the companies they lead.

It is time for boards to step up and become ‘effective enablers’ when it comes to culture and consider how fit theirs is for the future. Fostering a culture of adaptability, resilience, courageousness and candour will play a vital role in ensuring their organisation bounces back as the pandemic eases, putting them in a position to drive long term growth. However, broads must remember to support and demonstrate the culture they shape at all times, to help provide assurance around it. Failure to do so will mean the culture they nurture will not be effectively adopted throughout the organisation. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 71

Businesses Are Using Skills Management Software To Build For The Future

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kills management software has become an integral tool for any business looking to better utilise their employees and maximise the productivity of all departments whether they are an SME or a much bigger corporation.

The process involves designated management staff using free or subscription-based software to understand and monitor the skills of their employees, developing those or other abilities to better fulfil their specific roles and then introduce new practices that will achieve business growth from utilising the workforce better.

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The four main outcomes of this process are generally seen to be: finding specific staff members to solve urgent problems, allocating resources to the most in need departments, finding areas where new projects can be launched and to develop staff competency to achieve their purpose.

In a basic form, this process can be referred to in such ways as digitise, track, and assess, and is a crucial part of businesses planning for their future.

One key tool in this process is maintaining an ‘employee skills database’, allowing employers to keep track of

their workers’ skills, goals, and future opportunities with greater precision when making decisions, meaning that companies stay agile and able to react to changes by allocating tasks to the experts who will therefore achieve greater success in their role.

Within every category, by rating each skill on an average point scale from 1 to 5, employees and new hires record their confidence and abilities in each area, with 5 representing the highest level of experience and confidence and providing insight into areas that require improvement for future progression.

Constant updating and adaptation of this database results in rich, relevant and ever -accumulating data, giving clear guidance on not only skills staff members have, but the perfect types of candidate who can fulfil the company’s needs. With this knowledge, current team members can find new roles and managers can hire incredibly talented candidates, all within a reduced timeframe.

Not only does that transform the businesses capability over time, but also allows depth in planning for both employees and companies, as businesses provide each individual employee with a career roadmap that shows what is expected of them, and how they can be guided to become a much larger player in the future.

Staff turnover is likely to be much lower for any workplace who clearly defines their expectations and gives hope and opportunity to staff who

feel valued and supported in their career aims.

A specific element of this is the ‘competency matrix’, which works to map specifically the required skills for a team or a project.

This allows HR managers to arrange their teams through balanced and focused skills allocation, which then allows them to assess, update and earmark those team members who will excel in the future projects.

By creating this skills matrix, they also gain clear guidance as to what they need to look for, with someone in HR needing skills such as staff hiring and firing (onboarding), employee relations and administration, leading to an ability to prioritise the search based on the company function, seniority of the roles and how highly each employee scores in different areas.

These mainly come in two forms: excel based, and software/external

programming based, meaning that all businesses, no matter their level of technical ability, will have access to management improvement tools, with easy adoption of these tools and the cost implications almost eradicated.

In fact, much of this software is free to use, allowing these businesses to learn and develop these skills with employee reports, skill analysis and competency evaluation, all becoming an easily integrated facet of business performance.

The future is all about responding to situations in the quickest way possible, with speed and agility vital to ensuring the maintenance of competitive advantage and by providing access to software that has the capability to be up and running within minutes, businesses protect themselves and build resilience against the challenges that they may face moving forward, regarding staffing and project allocation.

Some of the biggest challenges that face companies involve industry changes in critical areas like cyber security and data protection, such as the introduction of GDPR, which means that while data may be at risk in current circumstances, the outsourcing and development of external software helps to also guarantee a level of confidence internally from managers using these tools.

This is true also for outside sources, who may be more inclined to work with a company that shows its commitment to both the safety of its information, developing its staff, guaranteeing peak performance and targeted resource allocation by staying up to date with all advances, both through tracking the market, and by using these programmes which will naturally allow the business to constantly stay responsive, which is effortless through such use of tools.

Reducing costs, improving performance, becoming more aligned with modern day and future advances in technology and providing staff with the ability to grow and perform for the business, which provides unlimited potential and a strategy that will help the company stand the test of time. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 73

Why is Skills Management important?

And how can you succeed in your strategy? well as collective, growth. All in all, this contributes to the organisation’s growth.

How Can Skills Management be Utilized?

KNOW YOUR SKILLS

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any companies today lack both structure and knowledge of how they handle their most important asset - the combined expertise of the company.

Due to the rapid development of technology, the relative demand for skills, and the distribution of hard and soft skills, has been altered. The dynamic market has put a strain on companies, and they have had to act quickly to maintain market demand. During the last quarter, we have seen a rise in both giggers and huge enterprise companies joining the platform.

This shows that Skills Management is not solely a problem for big corporations with 2000+ employees, it is also a challenge that smaller firms have to deal with.

Since employment forms are becoming more flexible, many companies start building their “network capital” with both internal and external competencies, in order to secure delivery capacity. There needs to be a structure to quickly find internal as well as external competence, which adds another dimension into the efficiency in skills management.

What tomorrow’s winners have understood is that skills management is a true growth engine, helping managers identify available skills at a detailed level, in order to make the right managerial decisions with regards to allocation, assignments, reskilling, upskilling etc.

Individuals get matched to the right opportunities, driving individual, as

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In an ever changing market with rapid digitalisation and new needs amongst customers, new market trends arise and skills become outdated with time.

Companies need to stay relevant and aware in order to maintain their market attractiveness towards a wide base of customers.

By inventorying and knowing your skill supply, you can get a more clear view of current and future market demands and trends, and which skills need to be developed and upgraded in accordance with market trends. With this data you can make quicker managerial decisions, putting you pole position.

Important to note is that workforces are dynamic, changing in shape and size as the business grows. Therefore, make sure to continuously update your skill inventory so that it gives an accurate reflection of your current workforce.

SHOW YOUR SKILLS

The core of “Show your skills” lies within the visualization of skills. By demystifying skills, everyone gets the same opportunities to make their knowledge and ambitions visible.

Skills Management increases the visibility of every employee as their profile gives management an indication of what they want to learn, need to learn and what their dream assignments are.

Match talents with the right challenge, both within and between companies. This empowers employees by giving them the steering wheel to their own growth and success.

Employees can connect with projects and business opportunities that match with their skills and ambitions, further leading to heightened motivation at the workplace as everybody gets a say in which assignments they want to take on.

GROW YOUR SKILLS

People naturally have different attributes and competencies, be it due to upbringing, education or experiences.

Today we see that no attribute is chosen over the other, instead, many industries have started to comprehend that a mix of attributes is the key to success.

Companies need to procure a healthy mix of people and skills in order to cover the increasing demands on the market and the ever growing needs of the customers. The first step to finding the right sets of skills which can complement the existing workforce is to identify gaps between supply and demand. When a skill-gap has been

identified, companies know in detail which skills they need to recruit, which applicants are the best fit for the team and if it should be brought in internally or externally.

When the right sets of skills have been brought in, managers need to keep track of developmental needs.

For a business to grow, managers need to keep track of skills and identify which skills need to be re-skilled or up-skilled to meet the market demand. With a skill inventory, managers together with their employees can easily predict which skills need to be developed over time.

How to succeed with your Skill Inventory In “knowledge-intensive” industries where the core business activity involves selling services based on individuals’ sets of skills, it is surprising to see that few companies work with their Skills Management in a structured manner. Most companies work ad-hoc with their skills, and it often turns into an excel spread-sheet circus that becomes a time consuming issue/task.

We clearly see that businesses are moving from building a 100% employee driven business, to a business that now

includes subcontractors/giggers/partnerships as part of their sales/delivery capacity.

The lack of control over and knowledge about the skill inventory can result in the supply not being used to its full potential. Managing the external “network capital” of skills in a structured manner opens up both new sales channels and access to expertise - the knowledge and overview of the potentials is a booster for growing the business.

The first step to successful Skills Management is creating a skill inventory. A skill inventory should contain;

1) A summary the employee’s past; previous assignments, employers, experiences 2) The status of present skills; their skills, a grading of each skill, which skills are becoming outdated 3) The future; dream assignment, what do the want to learn, what do they want to work with These data points provide you with a snapshot of the current skills and capabilities of your workforce, as well as current and future skill gaps, and which decisions have to be made moving forward.

Three tips on how to succeed with Skills Management 1. Transparency; identify skills and ambitions!

Make it easy for everyone in the organization to show their competences and ambitions. With a digital platform, skills become visible and searchable, which enhances transparency. The structured data points provide you with a clear overview of your most important asset - the company’s overall competence - and how it should be handled.

2. Match the right skills with the right projects To really succeed with your projects, you need to have the right person on the right assignment. Skills, ambitions and availability is the key. Choose a digital platform that helps you succeed with matching, and optimize the utilization rate.

3. Use external skills to grow - create your network of freelancers and partners Build your network of freelancers and partners in a structured way to increase your delivery capacity. Even if you don’t have the internal skills at hand, use your network to fill out eventual skill gaps.

Skills Management as an EVP Growing competition and opportunities in the labour market place have enabled prospects to choose whether to join the lucrative freelance world or move to a competitor. The increased amount of options has made it harder for companies to recruit talents and retain their present skill supply. This means that every company needs to develop a strong employee value proposition to be able to compete on the labour market and reach out to top talents.

Individualized personal development is a strong EVP which acts as a basis for motivation moving forward. Making sure that your workforce stays motivated and engaged at the workplace is key to minimizing staff turnover, as employees often leave due to lack of growth opportunities. Everybody knows that high staff turnover is costly, and it is in everybody’s interest to keep the costs associated with layoffs and staff turnover as low as possible. Thus, Skills Management should be a priority for all organisations.

About Cinode Cinode has over ten thousand users in 20+ countries. In Sweden, the company has more than half of the Swedish listed consulting companies as customers, and they are now growing in other segments, such as retail and telecom. The company is growing rapidly among both one-man companies and large knowledge-intensive organizations.

The goal is to have one million users on the platform by 2025. To reach this goal, and to help more organisations excel in their Skills Management, Cinode is going global. The company is currently at the forefront when it comes to Skills Management in Sweden, and now they are hoping to become global thought leaders within the field. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 75

CEO Interview:

ANDERS HAGBERG How long have you been involved with Cinode as CEO ?

I’ve been part of the Cinode journey since 2014. When I joined the start-up, I was the Head of Growth, and through meeting customers and various businesses I gained a lot of insights within skills management and its potential. In September of 2018 I took on the role as CEO. During that time the company was growing at a fast pace, going from a start-up into a scale up phase, which is a phase that I truly love from a management perspective. I am very passionate about building companies, strong company cultures, and managing the growth together with all amazing Cinoders.

Can you explain how Cinode works for businesses looking to use your platform - What are the main advantages of integrating such a platform for major businesses?

First of all, digital Skills Management and a transparent skill inventory aids companies streamline their decision making with regards to their daily operations and their workforce - How should we allocate our resources?

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Should we reskill, upskill, recruit or bring in external expertise?

With the data points about skills ambitions, availability and assignments, you get a clear overview of your workforce, their skill supply and eventual skill gaps. This helps you procure the best teams with a mix of skills, as well as it helps you match the right individual with the right assignment, with speed and accuracy.

For employees, the value lies in the transparency and visibility. The platform lets employees show their skills, experiences and ambitions, in order to be matched with the perfect assignment. The feedback we have received from customers is that this enhances the employees engagement in their own growth, as well as their motivation at the workplace.

IS the platform aimed at any specific industry or company size ?

With regards to industries, until this point we have focused on professional service organisations (IT consultants, Technical engineers, Management Consultants). However, we have started to see a growing demand in other “knowledge intensive”

industries where services rely on skills and networks. We are now starting to expand our offerings to be able to help as many companies as we can, regardless of industry.

The platform is suitable for a range of firm sizes. We have big global corporations joining the platform, as well as giggers who join the platform via Cinode Market or via an invitation from other users. The platform’s embedded network drives network effects and business opportunities for both paying and non-paying customers. It is truly cool to see that global corporations as well as one-person companies benefit from the Cinode ecosystem in different ways.

Cinode has grown over 45 % in the last 9 months, and has come to be a leading platform for Skills Management - Why do you think there has been such a huge rise in such a small space of time ?

We see that more and more business leaders have started to understand that their skills are their most important assets, and to reach their full potential successfully they need to work with their Skills Management.

Cinode has proven to have a really good product market fit with regards to our customers needs and the demand for digitized Skills Management. With the pandemic affecting how and where we work (working from home becoming the “new normal”), we have seen an increased demand for a digitized Skills Management. Organisations still need to engage with and keep track of their workforce, their available skills and their ongoing/upcoming assignments. The new normal of the “digital office”has meant that everything has to be done through a digital platform rather than in person. With this, we have seen a rise in popularity as

our platform supports this new way of working.

Furthermore, I believe that the growth is a result of the time we have invested in creating a strong relationship with our current customers and companies within the industries we are targeting. We currently have two main markets. Sweden and Finland.

In Sweden, we have a strong footprint in IT technology and management consulting operations. This, I think, is a result of focusing on Skills Management as a subject and sharing our knowledge rather than just pushing for a product. We have taken the knowledge we have and created content around the product, such as our podcast and our newsletter, which have become “go-tos” for professionals in the industry. By showing that we understand the industry, and by sharing our knowledge about Skills Management, we have positioned ourselves as a thought leader in Sweden.

A source of knowledge that companies turn to. In Finland, we have managed to build strong relationships with our customers and the industry, but we do not have as large of a market share as in Sweden, but we

are well on our way. The goal now is to secure the position as a market/ thought leader in Finland, and then do the same thing on the global market.

What do you see as the next challenges for you to grow the company and what does the next 18 months hold for Cinode Our goal is to reach 1 million users by 2025. To be able to reach this goal, we need to grow our team. Finding the right talents with the right mindset is one of our top priorities at the moment.

To reach the 1 million goal we also need to go global. We know that there is a global demand for our product, and we currently have users all over the world (+20 countries). We have focused on Sweden and Finland the past couple of years to make sure that we build a solid foundation, but now we have finally reached a point where international expansion is our priority.

As you can see, we have a lot to do in the coming months and years, but we are all very excited to see where this journey will take us. https://cinode.com/en/ europeanbusinessmagazine.com 77

Not all Intent Data is created equal

by Jon Clarke, Founder & CPO, Cyance

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hen it comes to intent data, it’s quality, not quantity, that really matters. Intent data has the potential to transform sales pipelines and create meaningful, lasting connections with customers and prospects, but only - and this is the crucial point - when it is really accurate and relevant.

Lately, I’ve seen an influx of agencies and vendors floating the term ‘Intent Data’ around the marketplace. They claim to be offering intent data services, but they are providing very little clarity about what type of data they are delivering and where it’s coming from, nor any real detail on how it can be applied by businesses.

The longer this goes on and the more often the term is used without any clear definition, the more confused

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sales and marketing professionals will become. And unfortunately that means the real value that intent data can and should be delivering for B2B businesses will be lost on some people.

With this in mind, I think there are three key elements that need to be clarified. Firstly, what intent actually is and the different types of intent available. Once those two pieces are understood then marketers need to understand that some intent data is more effective than others, most often dependent on the geography of your business, where you are based and what you are trying to achieve.

Before investing in intent data, it’s important for businesses to have clear, specific and measurable needs and objectives. This enables them to have a defined brief against which to evaluate the ever-growing number of available options.

What is intent data?

In broad terms, intent data works with predefined keywords and taxonomies that give a level of behavioural signals to indicate buyer intent. Intent data providers generally fall into one of three categories: 1. Third party intent data vendors, such as Cyance - they will pick up on behaviour across a series of general websites that exist and are relevant to your business. They will collate all of this information, attribute that to companies and make it available in either a data feed or online platform.

2. Second party vendors - these tend to be quite limited and ‘walled’ solutions that have their own set of websites and they only track behaviour across those specific sites. Quite often this is based upon known users that are filling

in forms in order to download information or sometimes they are captured in a database and called manually by telemarketing teams.

3. First party vendors - this is simply the process of capturing and analysing the data from visitors to your own website.

Importance of Accuracy Once sales and marketing professionals have understood these different types of intent data and established what will generate the best results for their business, they then need to select the marketplace which will provide the greatest levels of accuracy.

The primary driver for using intent data is to help an organisation drive greater efficiency in achieving its sales goals. A more efficient business will achieve faster growth, scalability and greater productivity, all of which lead to more profits. Intent data has a significant role to play in propelling an organisation towards that end goal.

Prior to having intent data, B2B marketers had very little in terms of actionable insight on both their existing and potential customers. This inevitably led to an inefficient and sometimes scattergun approach to marketing and lead generation activities. Intent data really turned everything around, enabling organisations to pinpoint, with laser precision, those prospects that look like they’re on a relevant buying journey through their online behaviour and research.

However, intent data has now evolved beyond this point, with the overlaying of additional contextual information with behavioural data. For instance, marketers can now know when a particular prospect has been through an investment round and is therefore likely to be in a significant stage of growth. Or it may be that a company has made an acquisition and will need new technologies or consultancies to help with integrating the new business.

Being able to overlay a wide range of these types of signals or sales triggers massively increases the accuracy and relevance of intent data and gives sales and marketing teams complete confidence about which prospects

they should be targeting and what type of message will resonate best.

Finding Accurate Intent As you would expect in such a new discipline, intent is evolving as we continue to learn what works and what doesn’t. There are new technologies emerging that can delve deeper into behavioural signals to form a much more informed picture of buyer interests and needs and start to accurately indicate what signals ‘real’ intent versus misleading behaviour. By mapping signals to a more defined and personalised description of intent, we can then start to accurately predict the ‘fit’ or readiness of buyer behaviour to a particular product or service.

There’s also more opportunity now, as we collate more signals, to introduce machine learning into the mix and let algorithms and AI do the heavy lifting.

This allows for analysis of billions of signals on a daily basis and being able to track the outcomes. It’s still important to evidence both the negative and positive outcomes from this activity so as to ‘train’ an algorithm. Over time it will learn what works, what doesn’t, what points are more significant than others and when to present this information back for the most effective and positive results. We’ve found that companies that embrace both the best of a human and a technological workforce are producing the most conversions.

Finally, another important part of driving accuracy is having access to local intent data for each region or country. This is particularly pertinent

for businesses looking to target buyers in Europe, many of which still rely solely on intent data generated on US websites, rather than European sites (and local language sites). This means these businesses are missing out on a huge number of high-value signals which could significantly improve the accuracy and quality of their intent data, leading to higher conversion rates and sales. Furthermore, vendors that are based in Europe and live GDPR are much more likely to understand the nuances of compliance, have DOs in place and the data is hosted in Europe, they understand that GDPR is a framework that is enabled differently between countries.

Accuracy of Intent = Improved Engagement Ultimately, by prioritising accuracy within intent data, businesses can develop greater engagement with potential buyers and existing clients, throughout the buying journey and ongoing customer lifecycle.

Used well, accurate intent data can inform a more personalised experience leveraging tailored content and messaging that is designed specifically for the needs and objectives of a particular account This gives sales and marketing teams the ability to define and focus on priority accounts based on their fit and propensity to convert, leaving behind the scattergun approach to digital marketing that still resides in places.

The end result is better leaders and higher conversions - but that start point must always be accuracy. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 79

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overning Smart Cities, a report released today by the World Economic Forum, provides a benchmark for the ethical and responsible use of smart city technologies by looking into the inner workings of 36 Pioneer Cities. The authors of the report seek to help city leaders identify gaps, protect long-term interests and keep up with the pace of technology.

According to the report, cities of all sizes, geographies and levels of development have serious governance gaps, such as the failure to designate a person accountable for cybersecurity or to assess privacy risks when procuring new technology systems. However, leaders can close these gaps and protect long-term interests by acting now.

Written in partnership with Deloitte, the report follows the call to action from G20 ministers in 2019 that resulted in the creation of the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance. The Alliance and its partners represent over 200,000 cities, local governments, leading companies, start-ups, research institutions and civil society communities. It acts as a platform to help cities strengthen their knowledge, expertise and governance of smart city technologies. The Forum is its secretariat.

The 36 Pioneer Cities surveyed span six continents and 22 countries, and have populations ranging from 70,000 to over 15 million. Policy experts and government officials were interviewed from January to March 2021 to assess the implementation of a set of five essential policies identified by the G20 Alliance last year.

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Key findings • Nearly all the cities surveyed – including those that are generally regarded as leading global cities – have critical policy gaps related to their governance of smart city technologies • D e s p i t e a n u n p r e c e d e n t e d increase in global cybersecurity attacks, most cities have not designated a specific government official as ultimately accountable for cybersecurity.

• While the majority of cities recognize the importance of protecting the privacy of their citizens, only 17% of cities surveyed carry out privacy impact assessments before deploying new technologies.

• Less than half of the cities surveyed have processes in place to ensure that technologies they procure are accessible to elderly residents or individuals with limited physical abilities.

• Open data policy is perhaps the only area in which most cities in the sample have achieved a level of basic implementation. Even here, only 15% of the Pioneer Cities have integrated their open data portals with their wider city data infrastructure, which is a necessary step towards making a city “open by default”.

“Cities are continuing to invest heavily in new technologies to automate and improve city services and urban life.

Yet our findings validate our fears that most cities are falling behind when it comes to ensuring effective oversight

and governance of these technologies,” said Jeff Merritt, Head of Internet of Things and Urban Transformation, World Economic Forum. “The G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance is working with cities across the globe to address this gap, beginning with more than 15 policy workshops with city officials this summer.”

“Cities have an array of opportunities to become more resilient and sustainable. Technology is an enabler but, to fulfill its full potential, Cities need to revise their governance, operational, and financing models. Here lies the biggest challenge Cities face.

Deloitte is proud to have worked with the Forum in this initiative. It is fundamental for us all to gain consciousness of the complexity of the issues and focus on how the moment we are all living can be a key opportunity”,

said Miguel Eiras Antunes, Global Smart Cities Leader, Deloitte Global.

“Now is the moment for a great urban transformation. Addressing urban challenges through the lenses of sustainability, inclusion, and technology is critical to develop and implement a roadmap to guide cities with their governance of smart technology and make an impact that matters.”

overcoming these challenges. Inclusion, data privacy and cybersecurity attacks are top concerns and the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance has a mandate to help cities close the governance gaps that this report has uncovered. Cities looking for assistance in identifying and addressing their policy gaps are encouraged to contact the Alliance via their website.

How to take action

About Deloitte

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Learn how Deloitte’s more than 330,000 people make an impact that matters at www.deloitte.com. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 81

AI In Banking

Hype Or Revolution

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everal years ago, the CEO of Deutschebank stated in an interview that he thought AI would replace up to half of its staff. The prediction sent shockwaves through the industry and made a lot of employees feel uncomfortable about the longevity of their roles. The bank soon fired him and replaced him with somebody else, so he won’t be responsible for the organization’s sweeping changes.

But it did reveal just how much hype there is in financial circles about the promise of AI. Other people have joined the fray, calling for the end many routine jobs in the banking industry. Citigroup executives believe they will say goodbye to around a third of workers. Japanese financial group Mizuho says that it is looking to replace more than 19,000 by the end of the present decade.

But whether the digital transformation in banking will bear fruit remains to be seen.

Currently, there’s a problem right at the core of AI research. The people at the forefront of the movement know that the technology is very good when it has an objective function - something to optimize - but it isn’t so good in other situations. So, for example, it can maximize the probability that an image shows a cat. Still, it can’t engage very well in regular conversation - the sort of thing you need for healthy client relationships.

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Artificial intelligence is also a long way from becoming what you might call “general intelligence.” The software is good at performing cognitive tasks, but it has no subjective experience of them. It doesn’t know what it is doing - it just goes through the motions.

This fact of the matter means that some of the more outlandish predictions probably won’t come true.

What we seem to be looking at is something that will allow software to perform a subset of cognitive tasks. However, it is doubtful we will see programs with subjective agency any time soon. When you tell them what to do, they’ll do it well. But they won’t be running their own companies just yet. That’s very futuristic.

AI, however, is a wishy-washy concept. Unlike the tech revolutions of the last decade - like the cloud - you can’t easily pin it down. AI doesn’t just do one thing - it is a solution for a whole bunch of tasks. The banking sector, therefore, is going to have to figure out how to deploy it sensibly. For now, it won’t replace people.

Instead, it’ll be more like a tool that makes them more valuable.

It is, in a sense, a form of cognitive assistance, just like machines are assistance for manual labor. Robots can’t do all the work themselves, but they can dramatically increase the output per worker. The same may

now be coming to the banking industry. You’ll still need officers to process business banking customers manually, but AI could speed up aspects of the process, like credit checking.

The banking sector needs to be careful not to set unrealistic expectations of AI. The people at the forefront of the field are more than willing to point out that the science isn’t done yet.

They can replicate some aspects of intelligence, but they can’t fabricate it wholesale.

Researchers still need to make fundamental breakthroughs to usher in that exciting and giddy new world.

To call AI in banking pure hype, though, is taking it too far. There are n umerous examples of AI in banking already, and the technology only continues to improve.

Biometrics For Added Security We first saw biometrics in banking in the film Blade Runner. But advances in technology and AI have made it to make it a reality. And it’s already been done. British bank Natwest, for instance, now allows customers to open accounts with a selfie. It then stores their data securely, linking their biological profile to their financial information.

The security benefits of AI could be quite extraordinary. It might sound unsafe, but it is actually a massive improvement over the current system of using government-mandated IDs like passports and driving licenses.

Biometric forms of identification are much more challenging to forge and, generally, safer than their paperbacked rivals.

Investment Trading Currently, bankers rely on seasoned traders’ quick wits to make investment decisions in the equity markets on behalf of their clients. Movements, however, are often so fast-paced and unpredictable, that many traders struggle to equal the market, let alone beat it.

Banks and other financial institutions, therefore, are wondering whether there is a way to use the data-crunching abilities of AI to make better split-second decisions.

Artificial intelligence could theoretically evaluate firms based on publicly available data, establish fair value, and then conduct trades based on those insights. By using data better than any human could, it might be better at determining value - at least in the short-term.

(consistent with fraud), it can put a block on it, protecting money until the owner confirms that it made the transactions.

Better KYD Checks The Patriot Act introduced a bunch of new security requirements for online transactions. But ensuring that all these are being met is difficult, even

for experienced banking professionals. The idea now is to use AI to check a range of data, from a customer’s social security to their social media, to determine whether fraud or money laundering is taking place. The technology should reduce the amount of time that it takes to assess an applicant. And that might bring banking fees down and make the process more efficient.

Fraud Protection Banking fraud is currently a massive issue for the banking sector. Every day, thousands of people lose money from their accounts because of fraudsters usually operating over the internet.

AI tech, however, offers a potential solution. Because AI can connect the dots between vast troves of customer information, it can often spot potentially fraudulent activity quickly.

Fraudsters trying to access accounts from an unknown IP or location, for instance, could trigger a denial of service. Similarly, if an AI suddenly detects unusual account activity europeanbusinessmagazine.com 83

A $50 BILLION PROBLEM: What You Need to Know About Ad Fraud

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new study from Juniper Research, an independent UK based researcher, forecasts that advertisers will lose $42 billion of ad spend globally this year to fraudulent activities committed via online, mobile and in-app advertising. To be more specific, for every $3 spent on digital ads, $1 is lost to fraud.This is a 84 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

21 percent increase from the $35 billion lost to ad fraud in 2018.

According to the World Federation of Advertisers (WEF), such numbers mean that up to 30 percent of advertising is unseen by consumers, affecting about 21 trillion online ads annually. The WEF predicts that ad fraud will become the biggest market for

organized crime by 2025, worth $50 billion.

Such an increase will be influenced by differing factors but the main one will be the fact that fraudsters will start to rely on more advanced techniques such as spoofing ad networks to falsify clicks, or exploiting the programmatic ad buying algorithms that

fraud overall because the number of app installs remains high. Countries like India and Indonesia are experiencing massive growth in their digital economies, but this results in marketers being distracted with scaling quickly because it presents tempting business possibilities.“ In general, ad fraud is defined as “a type of online fraud where fraudster deceptively makes an advertiser pay for low quality and fake traffic.“There are many ways to commit ad fraud.

The most common are cookie stuffing, ghost sites, ad stacking, domain spoofing, app spoofing, bots.Ad fraud tactics evolve and grow more innovative every year, spreading to emerging channels.

A few years ago, the Department of Justice unsealed indictments against eight people, who ran the infamous online advertising scams, dubbed 3ve and Methbot. The defendants were accused of collecting more than $36 million from companies.

online advertising relies so heavily on.

Fraud is obviously a global problem but Juniper Research predicts that the cost of online ad fraud in China alone will amount to $19 billion in 2022. More worryingly over 80 percent of the world’s advertising fraud originates in China, according to Group M. Ronen Mense, the president and managing director for APAC at AppsFlyer, commented on the numbers, saying that “Marketers are not paying enough attention to new anti-fraud technology and neglect the threat of

They managed to infect 1,7 million computers with malware that remotely directed traffic to empty websites designed for bot traffic. To be more specific, websites were designed to fool advertisers into thinking that an impression of their ad was served on a premium publisher site, like Vogue or the Economist.

Meanwhile, views were faked by malware-infected computers with marvelously sophisticated techniques to imitate humans: bots faked clicks, mouse movements and even social network login information to imitate engaged human consumers. Computer security company White Ops, which was the first to first reveal Methobot’s existence back in 2016, commented on the scheme, saying that “It was bringing whole new levels of innovation to ad fraud, operating at an unprecedentedly large scale that spooked advertisers.“ But let’s take a closer look at the most popular ad fraud tactics. Today, as much as 40 percent of internet traffic comes from botts, making it the number one source of ad fraud.The Times recently reported that for a certain period in 2013, a full half of YouTube traffic was “bots masquerading as

people“.And there’s more, The Times also found out that you can buy five thousand YouTube views — thirty seconds of a video counts as a view — for as low as $15. Most of the time, customers are led to believe that the views they purchase come from real people. However, more likely, they come from bots.

As you’ve already understood from the example above, bot traffic refers to automated systems, designed to mimic human activities often at the center of an ad fraud scheme. Malicious bots are programs that infect devices and perform tasks in the background, sapping computing power from legitimate tasks. Each bot instance can be controlled by one controller, creating a botnet on individual programs that can be used to create fake traffic to scam advertisers.

Unsophisticated bot traffic can be spotted easily: if there’s a high number of visitors simply opening and closing a webpage, you can be sure that behind this scheme is a hacker.

However, as hackers understand what triggers suspicion, today they manage to adapt algorithms to mimic mouse movements, browsing behaviors, and any other interaction, making it look more believable.

Then there’s also domain spoofing: any scheme that reroutes ads to a different website than expected, usually to maximize traffic, qualifies for the term. Consequences of domain spoofing can range from a waste of money to a brand safety disaster.

A new type of ad fraud that has been increasing in recent years are websites, known as “ghost sites“. At first sight, these websites might look like real sites with real content, but when you take a closer look, most of the content is actually stolen from other sites.

The entire purpose of a ghost site is to look as real as possible, so it can get approved on ad networks and display ads. Then, once it has the ads up and running, it buys fake traffic to generate impressions on the website. In the end, generated impressions get turned into advertising commissions from the oblivious networks, which usually pay on a per-impression basis. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 85

For one thing, in order to use blockchain to effectively combat ad fraud, all parties to a programmatic transaction must agree to use it — and use the same system.Another important factor is speed: Dan Slivjanovski, CMO at the DoubleVerify, says that “To prevent ad fraud, it’s necessary to operate in virtually real-time. Digital advertising transactions require a 10-millisecond response interval. The fastest blockchain transaction takes 1,5 seconds. If latency issues could be overcome, the technology might have a more material role in combating fraud.“ But there are also other ways to combat ad fraud. Most advertisers work with a certain partner to place their digital ads. And that’s the first step right there: to start a conversation with the digital partner, making sure they have all the necessary steps in place to combat ad fraud.

Guy Tytunovich, founder and CEO of Cheq, a cybersecurity company, noted that “Hackers look for loopholes. The more convoluted an environment is, the easier it is for fraud to occur.“ Today, fraudsters show a special interest in mobile apps: industry reports revealed that fraudulent transactions from mobile apps have increased by 300 percent since 2015.

Mobile advertising fraud, which has been a concern since 2010, continues to be one of the most serious challenges for businesses: according to AppsFlyer, it is costing brands between $700 and $800 million globally quarterly. However, the Asia Pacific region is suffering the most: from November 2018 to April 2019, the region experienced an average fraud rate that was 60 percent higher than the average worldwide.

What is more, the 2018 Mobile Ad Fraud Report by Interceptd revealed that Android suffers from a slightly higher level of digital ad fraud than iOS, with 26,9 percent of app traffic fraudulent, compared to 21,3 percent.

The report also found out that some app categories are more vulnerable to fraud than others: on Android, finance 86 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

tops the list, followed by shopping, gaming, and social media. On iOS, the most vulnerable category is shopping, followed by gaming, finance, and travel.

The question is, how to combat the ad fraud, especially when it comes in so many different forms that aren’t always obvious. Well, there’s no catch-all ad fraud solution, especially keeping in mind that web fraud and mobile fraud behave differently. However, there are some beneficial tactics for combating ad fraud.

John Malatesta, CEO, and President of the ad tech company Codewise, noted that today the ad ecosystem is fully globalized in nature, so the challenge of regulating against ad fraud requires a truly global approach.

According to him, an ultimate solution to ad fraud could be “the creation of a global ad blockchain, a distributed ledger of online interactions that unites all actors in the ad ecosystem under a single and open platform. This could drive transparency and detect and eliminate fraud nearly instantly.“However, this solution , although an effective one, might still take some time to implement.

The recent TAG report carried out by the 614 Group showed that working with certified partners, channels, and vendors reduced fraud rates across the European markets from an industry average of 8,99 percent to 0,53 percent. The situation is improving, and collaboration within the industry has proven to be a crucial tool for combating ad fraud on a global scale.

It’s also important to look at the metrics, which show real engagement and conversions and to focus on organic traffic, not just exclusively on ads.

The problem of ad fraud is a complex one, and it will not entirely go away anytime soon, if ever. But to maintain reputations in the digital advertising space and to protect their budgets, brands and businesses should concentrate on making reasonable and proactive efforts to avoid ad fraud.

There is some good news, too: according to the fourth Bot Baseline report from White Ops and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), for the first time ever more ad fraud will be stopped in 2019 than will succeed.

Bob Liodice, the ANA CEO, commented on the news, saying that “The decrease in ad fraud suggests that the war on fraud is winnable. Less fraud means more resources can be devoted to brand and business building.”

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Can Bitcoin Even Be Regulated?

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s Bitcoin and other digital assets continue to grow in adoption and popularity, a common topic for discussion is whether the U.S. government, or any government for that matter, can exert control of its use. There are two core issues that lay the foundation of the Bitcoin regulation debate: The digital assets pose a macro-economic risk. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can act as surrogates for an international currency, which throws global economics a curveball. For example, countries 88 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

such as Russia, China, Venezuela, and Iran have all explored using digital currency to circumvent United States sanctions, which puts the US government at risk of losing its global authority. International politics and economics are a very delicate issue, and often sanctions are used in place of military boots on the ground, arguably making the world a safer place.

The micro risks enabled by cryptocurrency weigh heavily in aggregate. One of the most attractive features of Bitcoin and other digital assets is that one can send

anywhere between a few pennies-worth to billions of dollars of Bitcoin anywhere in the world at any time for a negligible fee (currently around $0.04 to $0.20 depending on the urgency.)

However, in the hands of malicious parties, this could be very dangerous.

The illicit activities inherently supported by a global decentralized currency run the gamut: terrorist funding, selling and buying illegal drugs, ordering assassinations, dodging taxes, laundering money, and so on.

to wrangle full control over the network and manipulate it as they please.

By being distributed, Bitcoin exists at many different locations at the same time. This makes it very difficult for a single regulatory power to enforce its will across borders. This means that a government or other third party can’t technically raid an office and shut anything down.

That being said, there are several chokepoints that could severely hinder Bitcoin’s adoption and use.

Targeting centralized entities: exchanges and wallets A logical first move is to regulate the fiat onramps (exchanges) , which the United States government has finally been getting around to. In cryptocurrency’s nascent years, cryptocurrency exchanges didn’t require much input or approval from regulatory authorities to run. However, the government started stepping in when cryptocurrency starting hitting the mainstream.

Where are we at ?

Before diving deeper, it’s worth asking whether Bitcoin can be regulated in the first place. The cryptocurrency was built with the primary purpose of being decentralized and distributed– two very important qualities that could make or break Bitcoin’s regulation. By being decentralized, Bitcoin doesn’t have a single controlling entity. The control of Bitcoin is shared among several independent entities all over the world, making it nearly impossible for a single entity

The SEC, FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network), and CFTChave all played a role in pushing Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policies across all exchanges operating within U.S borders. Cryptocurrency exchanges have no options but to adhere to whatever the U.S. government wants. The vast majority of cryptocurrency users rely on some cryptocurrency exchange to utilize their cryptocurrency, so they will automatically bend to exchange-imposed regulation.

Regulators might not be able to shut down the underlying technology that powers Bitcoin, but they can completely wreck the user experience for the great majority of cryptocurrency users, which serves as enough of an impediment to diminish the use of cryptocurrency for most.

Targeting users.

The government can also target individual cryptocurrency users. Contrary to popular opinion, Bitcoin (and even some privacy coins) aren’t anonymous. An argument can be made that Bitcoin is even easier to track than fiat because of its public, transparent ledger.

Combined with every cryptocurrency exchange’s willingness to work with U.S. authorities, a federal task force could easily track money sent and received from certain addresses and pinpoint the actual individual with it. Companies such as Elliptic and Chainalysis have already created solid partnerships with law enforcement in many countries to track down illicit cryptocurrency uses and reveals the identities behind the transactions.

Beyond that, we dive into the dark web and more professional illicit cryptocurrency usage. Although trickier, the government likely has enough cyber firepower to snipe out the majority of cryptocurrency-related cybercrime. In fact, coin mixers (cryptoMixer.io), coin swap services (ShapeShift) and P2P bitcoin transactions (localbitcoins.com) have been investigated for several years now and most of them have had to add KYC and adhere to strict AML laws. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 89

Saint Lucia: Beyond the Beaches

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s we enter a new decade it is vital that investment decisions and rationale evolve as markets evolve. With over US$ 1.5 billion in foreign direct investment committed to St Lucia over the next two years, this unique island nation deserves your attention. So, what makes this Eastern Caribbean sovereign country really stand out?

Ranked as the second freest economy in the Caribbean, based on the Economic Freedom Index 2017, it boasts a strategic geographic location, a stable economic, business and political climate, modern infrastructure, a solid history of attracting and cultivating great investments, an industrious, well-educated workforce and a rich biodiversity. It also offers comparative advantages regarding regulation, starting a business, market access, incentives, transportation, 90 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

infrastructure and quality of life, making St Lucia the place to invest in in 2020 and beyond.

The positive momentum experienced in 2019, including record tourism arrivals, continued national economic

growth, further reductions in unemployment and numerous initiatives that have benefited the island nation and those that invest there, are all set to continue this year. Furthermore, St Lucia has been recognised in several investment-related awards including winning the Best Caribbean Island to Invest In, European Business Magazine 2018 and 2019 and the Best Investment Award for Latin America & the Caribbean, AIM Awards 2018.

Invest Saint Lucia (ISL), the prime agency that offers guidance and direction to new and established investors who are interested in pursuing investment opportunities in St Lucia, have recently adopted “the Royal Standard” of investment promotion and facilitation, endorsing the island’s natural and physical attributes, alongside its economic advantages, facilitating both national and foreign clients.

Additionally, the St Lucia Business Incubator & Accelerator Program, established

by ISL, is in the pipeline and will offer invaluable support to assist entrepreneurs and start-up businesses.

Current investment opportunities cover a range of sectors, promising that 2020 is going to be an exciting year in St Lucia. These include Fond d’Or which is ideal for development in eco-tourism, touted at US$ 150 million - US$ 200 million to Anse Canot suitable for call centre and related BPO/ KPO operations, with an investment range of US$ 1 million - US$ 1.5 million.

In other industries, a record 760,306 cruise passengers visited St Lucia in 2018, owing to the expansion of Berth No. 1 at Pointe Seraphine, and 2019 is projected to be an even greater year for the maritime industry. For example, for the month of March last year, there was an estimated 145,000

tourist arrivals from cruises, with twelve cruise ships calling at the island on the first three days of the month, highlighting the enormous scope and opportunity within the tourism and maritime sectors.

Upgrading and building new roads and the sprucing up of the capital city of Castries are more improvements set for 2020, further enhancing St Lucia’s attractiveness for business and commerce. Moreover, the expansion of Hewanorra International Airport, which will accommodate 1 million visitors per year (the current setup is designed for 300,000) is set to complete in 2021, and will further enrich the location’s accessibility and attractiveness.

St. Lucia offers much more than just sun, sea and sand, and ISL is on hand to answer all investment queries. https://www.investstlucia.com/ europeanbusinessmagazine.com 91

Stealing Ideas – Prevention is Better than Cure

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rcan Demiralay, Partner at Wellers, one of the UK’s leading accountancy firms, looks at why prevention is better than cure when it comes to protecting your business ideas and explains how to ensure they stay safe.

Perhaps it is a reflection on how easily connected we are nowadays, making us unguarded and more open than ever, but it no longer comes as a surprise to hear that the act of stealing business ideas occurs. No matter whether it happens intentionally or accidently, it can have a huge impact on even the most established of businesses.

So, how can businesses protect, plan, and respond?

In its most simplistic form, it is always better to be proactive and plan ahead, so that your business concept is protected, rather than react to a situation once it has happened. Playing catch 92 europeanbusinessmagazine.com

up after the event is much harder than setting plans in motion when things are operating smoothly.

For those that want to follow the prevention line, there are some established ‘safety measures’ that can be put in place to stop business ideas being stolen, for example, trademarks, patents, and/or copyrights. If a business uses any of these solutions, they are in an incredibly strong position from which to fight against anyone looking to steal their concept.

However, the process of actually putting these measures in place can be lengthy, so in the meantime, I would suggest taking three steps to protect your intellectual property: Non-compete agreement – It is important that you ask all employees to sign a non-compete contract. This prevents them from starting any business that might rival or impede yours.

Non-disclosure agreement – Similar to the non-compete, asking everyone who has worked/is working on your

idea to sign an NDA is an absolute must. By doing this, they are bound by confidentiality, and are therefore not able to talk to third parties about your idea. Do be wary of an expiry date, because not having one might be preferable.

Work-for-hire agreement - If you have people helping you improve your idea or product, then make sure that you have it in writing that all improvements are owned by you.

Doing this means that any advancements that are made during their work will still come under your ownership.

Cure not prevention I have discussed why prevention is better than cure, but in some instances you might not have been aware it was necessary, or never got around to doing it because you were so carried away with your fantastic idea. So, if no protection measures

have been put in place and your idea is stolen, there are some important things to remember.

Firstly, do not confront the person/s involved. Wait for an hour or two, making sure you are thinking rationally about the situation. Thinking with your head over your heart in these situations will always have a more desired outcome. Then, calmly contact them and ask to discuss the issue in person.

At this stage, you might find that it has all been a simple mistake, in which case the problem can be resolved amicably. If it is not, then it is likely that legal steps will be required. Approaching the situation calmly makes the most business sense at this stage, because if the issue can be settled without involving third parties, it is a much cheaper and quicker option, which for many entrepreneurs is always a preferred route.

Once the dispute has been settled, in person or in court, there are three things that need to be considered – learn from the experience, keep your idea and then move on.

Learn from it – Put plans in place to stop it happening again in the future.

This is fundamental, and is certainly a case of ‘fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me’.

Though it is incredibly tempting to share your concept with anyone willing to listen, it might be better to only share it with those you implicitly trust.

Useful idea – Although the process and concept may seem useless to you now, this isn’t the case. The only thing that has been taken is the actual idea itself, not the strategy or plans you were going to put it place in order to establish a successful business.

Having the vision is only one part of creating a successful business, so keep your strategy and implementation to yourself for next time around.

Also, having your idea stolen does not mean you can’t launch it to market. It is still your creation, so you know it better than anyone else. Just make sure you are clear on how you are going to launch and ignore the disturbance that has taken place beforehand. You had plans, stick to

them, and innovate wherever possible to affirm your position as the leading product/service available.

Leave it – Your other option is to move on. If the process has left you feeling uninspired about the idea or less passionate about your initial vision, you can just walk away.

Starting again isn’t for everyone, so don’t feel embarrassed if this is the avenue you take. Don’t give up though. You can start a new project, or find a different market to operate within, but don’t give up. The entrepreneurial spirit is not in everybody, so don’t waste your talents feeling sorry for yourself, pick yourself up and be an improved version second time around.

In Summary Stealing someone’s idea is underhand and unethical, but it does mean that someone thought your idea was worth taking. No matter if you are just starting out, looking to grow, or have had your idea stolen in the past, the same rules apply. Protect your concepts and plan against them being taken. If you have all the appropriate protocols and systems in place, it minimises the risk of them being taken, and helps you rest slightly easier at night.

For more information and insight into how to asses and implement your business idea visit: https://www. wellersaccountants.co.uk/blog/howto-assess-and-implement-your-business-idea. europeanbusinessmagazine.com 93

H I R E A N YO N E , ANYWHERE, ANYTIME. Global expansion simplified.

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What Is Jewellery?

Criss-cross through the Jewellery Museum's collections Inauguration of the new presentation of the Herion bequest Sunday, 5 December 2021, 11:30 a.m.

Captions: objects in dialogue

»Ga’u« amulet case Silver, turquoise Tibet, Lhasa, 20th century Eva and Peter Herion collection at Pforzheim Jewellery Museum Photo Petra Jaschke

»Moiré« brooch Silver, powder-coated stainless steel Thanh-Truc Nguyen, Berlin, 2012 Pforzheim Jewellery Museum Donation from the ISSP/sponsorship purchase 2014

»Kina« breast ornament Mother-of-pearl coloured with redwood pigment, textile Papua New Guinea, Mendi, 20th century Eva and Peter Herion collection at Pforzheim Jewellery Museum Photo Petra Jaschke

»Pakol« breast ornament Sea shell parts, Nassa snail shells, textile Papua Neuguinea, Mendi 20th century Eva and Peter Herion collection at Pforzheim Jewellery Museum Photo Petra Jaschke

Nabataean-Hellenistic lunula pendant Gold, garnets 2nd to 1st century BCE Pforzheim Jewellery Museum Donation by the ISSP Photo Neck Bürgin

Belt buckle Horn, silver Piel Frères Paris About 1904 Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim Photo Rüdiger Flöter

When you publish these photos, please mention at least the artist’s name, »Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, Germany« or, if applicable, the lender as well as the photographer’s name. The photos listed may be used only once and exclusively for the purpose requested. Please contact Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim in the event that you want to use them again. Thank you.

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The city of Durban (eThekwini Municipality) is South Africa’s second most important economic region

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