Technology - December 2021

December 2021 | technologymagazine.com

SMC:

IT alignment to automate the world

Fetim Group:

How technology added value in the supply chain

MSD:

Building a digital superhighway

“AI has the potential to revolutionise healthcare” Patrick Bangert, Vice President of AI

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The Technology Team SENIOR EDITOR

ALEX TUCK EDITOR

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FOREWORD

Hybrid theory put into practice

“The hybrid workplace has taught organisations a valuable lesson in trust”

TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BY

T

he cornerstone of digital transformations across industries, the hybrid workplace has taught organisation’s a valuable lesson in trust. Digital-first is now an expectation of employees and vital to driving productivity and retaining talent. So, what will 2022 bring us?

These ecosystems are certainly complex. Hybrid and multi‑clouds must find a universal way of integrating and managing these environments. To do that, business technologists will play an important role alongside IT departments in making digital transformation successful.

The mythical ‘single source of truth’, where consumers can get the right data in the right context at the right time, will remain a key goal; and hyperautomation - the orchestrated use of multiple technologies, tools or platforms- will unlock productivity, accelerate time‑to‑market, and transform employee and customer experiences.

While productivity levels have grown trust operationally, cybersecurity efforts to protect against the likes of Ransomware will heighten the adoption of Zero Trust.

ALEX TUCK

alex.tuck@bizclikmedia.com

© 2021 | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

technologymagazine.com

5

CONTENTS

Our Regular Upfront Section: 14 Big Picture 16 The Brief 18 Timeline: Netflix 20 Trailblazer:

Mike Vildibil 22 Five Mins With:

Tristan Foureur

44

Digital Transformation

Key considerations when implementing a digital strategy

26

Samsung SDS

Saving lives with AI

52 SMC

How IT alignment is enabling SMC to automate the world

72

Enterprise IT

IT asset management: A single source of truth

98

AI & Data Analytics Managing data in the new world of IIOT

108

Tech Mahindra

Seize the day to create a green business model

122 80

TELUS Communications Keeping Canadians connected

134

166

Talking about a ‘human’ revolution

Visualise to monetise

SAP

Tableau Software

148

180

Committed to Net Zero data centres by 2030

How technology added value in the supply chain

Interxion HQ

Fetim Group

CONTENTS

230 Reckitt

Embedding quality in a changing environment

196

Pepper Financial Services Andrew Day: Transformational lending in a digital age

246

Novant Health

Advancing digital transformation during Covid

214 MSD

Building a digital superhighway

260 Careem

Driving digital transformation in the Middle East

272

316

Energy efficiency and CO2 challenges on the road to Net Zero

Empowering IT teams with next-generation networks

Orange

286

Dassault Systemes Harmonising the real and virtual worlds

300

Higher Colleges of Technology

Educating for the digital age

Aruba

328

Nautilus Data Technologies Naturally cold water cooling for high-performance sustainable data centres

342

The Ceph Foundation Democratising data storage

COMING SOON FOLLOW N OW

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FO LLOW N OW

BIG PICTURE A meeting of bugs

Is there a place for AI in nature?

According to Ericsson, Trustworthy AI should be: Lawful - respecting all applicable laws and regulations; Ethical - respecting ethical principles and values, and Robust - both from a technical perspective and by taking into account its social environment. When a complex system has predictable behaviour, the trust in the system increases.

Ericsson ericsson.com/en/internet-of-things/programmable-world

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December 2021

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THE BRIEF “ In distribution, centralization saves costs, offers improved flexibility and drives efficiency”

BY THE NUMBERS

Frans J. Beerkens

Director, Fetim Group  READ MORE

“ AI, in general, is creating new jobs and allowing people to work in very different areas - in medicine specifically” Patrick Bangert

VP of AI, Samsung SD  READ MORE

“ The organisations that succeed in years to come will be those who’ve embedded sustainability into the core of their operations” Sandeep Chandna

Chief Sustainability Officer, Tech Mahindra  READ MORE

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December 2021

500bn This is the amount of trees that Dendra, an Oxfordbased tech company, plans to plant by 2060 using drones and AI. Drones identify ideal environments, collect detailed terrain data, and generate high quality 3D maps of the areas to aid reforestation.

Find out more about Dendra 

READ MORE

EDITOR'S CHOICE BLUE PRISM ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH ABBYY: Blue Prism has announced a new partnership with digital intelligence company, ABBYY to offer complete process and task discovery as a standard capability.

ATOS BECOMES 01TALENT’S TECHNOLOGY PARTNER IN AFRICA: The launch of this strategic partnership between Atos and 01Talent will support the acceleration of the digital transformation in Africa.

WE TAKE A LOOK AT THE TOP 10 UNICORNS IN TECHNOLOGY: The United States has long been the home of exciting technology startups. In this list we look at the top 10 European tech unicorns ranked by valuation.

Light sources may power next-gen quantum technologies Rearranging photon distribution in nanoscale systems can create different forms of light. Quantum technology could advance through this.

In what way?

Engineering light with quantum mechanical properties could advance multiple quantum technologies, enabling the reduction of multiphoton system fluctuations, boosting the sensitivity of protocols for quantum sensing.

What is light's exact role?

In future, data will be treated and transmitted by lasers. Quantum light properties endow machines with gigantic computing potential and incredible execution rates.

The "qbit" (a photon) can have several states at once, 0 or 1 or both. Maintaining photons in superposition states means computers can carry out multiple calculations in parallel and simultaneously, drastically increasing speed.

Drawbacks?

Capacity for finding several states at once can’t easily be achieved unless a photon is isolated. It’s necessary to easily emit photons one by one, which is extremely difficult.

 BLUE ORIGIN Hollywood actor William Shatner became the oldest person to go to space aboard the sub-orbital capsule.The 90-yearold is famous for playing Captain Kirk in Star Trek films and TV series.  ATLASEDGE Digital Realty invests in AtlasEdge. Liberty Global and Digital Colony formed it to run 100 edge data centres across Europe, bringing together Digital Colony’s Edge assets and Liberty Global's real estate portfolio.  TWITCH A massive breach in October exposed information pertaining to its source code, unreleased projects and its top earners.

It was the latest in a series. In August, ‘hate raids’ hit the platform.  TESLA Elon Musk flew to Berlin to host Gigafest at his gigafactory attempting to drum up support.

Activists from Citizens’ Initiative Grunheide chanted “stop Tesla!” and handed out pamphlets in opposition.

U P DEC21

D O W N

technologymagazine.com

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TIMELINE From DVD rental to media omnipresence and multiple awards: The rise of Netflix via its data use

N

etflix and its streaming service has become a mainstay of the media today and has come a long way since it started out as a DVD rental delivery service. Here we look at key dates in its history and how it has evolved the way it uses data and algorithms to develop and bolster its success.

1997 STILL SPINNING DISCS Netflix started out as a US DVD rental company, sent to subscribers via courier. In 2000, Netflix owners Hastings and Rndolph offered to sell the company to Blockbuster LLC for $50 million. John Antioco, CEO of Blockbuster, thought the offer was a joke, saying "The dot-com hysteria is completely overblown.”

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December 2021

THE BIRTH OF NETFLIX PLAYER In 2007, subscribers could start streaming movies and television shows directly to their homes through the Internet and the company also delivered its billionth DVD. In 2009, Netflix streams overtook DVD shipments and it found the elusive algorithm, awarding $1,000,000 to the "BellKor’s Pragmatic Chaos" team.

2006

THE RACE FOR THE ALGORITHM On October 1, 2006, Netflix announced the Netflix Prize, $1,000,000 to the first developer of a videorecommendation algorithm that could beat its existing algorithm Cinematch, at predicting customer ratings by more than 10%.

200 20

07009

EVOLUTION OF NETFLIX LOGOS 2000-2001

1997-2000

2001-2014

2016-present

+

20132015 POWERED BY THE CUSTOMER In 2013, Netflix developed original programming, based on analysis of their customers’ data. Where studios were wanting to just make a pilot, Netflix already knew based on its data, that a series would become a hit. 2015 also saw a minor hack reported by McAfee of netflix user’s accounts.

2021

MEASURING VIEWERSHIP October 2021 sees viewership measured for programming based on the number of viewers or households that watched a show in a given period. This will include the number of hours that a show was watched including rewatches. This breakthrough makes Netflix even more attractive to partners.

Marc Randolph CO-FOUNDER & FORMER CEO

Reed Hastings CO-FOUNDER & CEO

technologymagazine.com

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TRAILBLAZER

Building computer systems for the future Mike Vildibil

Vice President, Product Management,

Qualcomm Technologies

M

ike Vildibil, Vice President General Manager for the Cloud, Edge, AI business unit at Qualcomm has a history of building very large data centre supercomputer complexes. With this wealth of knowledge and expertise, Vildibil and his team have been involved with the design of many of the largest computers in the world.

“We've been driving some of the highest and highest performance supercomputers in the world,” he explained.

Looking back over his career journey, Vildibil explains “it's a good example of the reality of where many of the leading edge technology jobs are going and what skill sets you need to go there, especially in a leadership position.”

Having also worked in the academic community, Vildibil has had the opportunity to learn and grow in different working environments: “I began my journey working

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December 2021

for a supercomputer company, it was the leader in building supercomputers.

I actually started out as an employee of the University of California, San Diego.

And my job was to lead a team that bought one of these $40 million computers and operated it,” he said.

In this role, Vildibil provided computational services to the research community who were doing things like drug discovery, cancer research and global warming research.

“This was the beginning of what really took off to be the third leg of just scientific discovery. It has become a fundamental element to how science is conducted today as is doing a lot of it in computers. In doing so, I became very involved in research programmes, I was a researcher at UCSD where I wrote my own grant proposals and did fundamental research for the national science foundation and others,” Vildibil commented.

“ I drank the Kool-Aid” In the next part of his career with computing, Vildibil looked to make huge strides in the academic community. “ I went into industry and began work for a computer manufacturer helping them build high-performance computing, technical computing solutions.

Adding to this, he said: “This was so that on the commercial side, the enterprises could begin doing much of the same computational research and it was very successful. We brought many of these methods into the commercial space, which was exciting.”

Now, with his work at Qualcomm Vildibil told Technology Magazine that he invents as he goes and emphasised that his passion lies in the computing industry.

“I drank the Kool-Aid,” he explained. “Back in the day that was a comment that most people often kind of said. Once you get bit by computing or computational science, you're forever stuck, forever drawn to that field.”

With the wealth of knowledge and expertise gained throughout his career, Vildibil now also works in a mentoring role, he explained: “I speak with a lot of entrylevel employees and people coming just out of school to give them some advice about how to navigate the technology space.”

He continued: “I tell many people that are in the early stages of their career to focus deeply on what they are doing. Learn very deeply about the core of your product, but also look for opportunities to develop breadth because you need a little bit of both to really drive in this world where technology is changing so rapidly.”

“I often say you know the longevity of a new technology concept is about the same as the shelf life of a banana. In other words, things change really quickly. You don't develop one thing and sit on your laurels for a decade. You develop one thing and you start working on the next thing, the pace is ridiculously fast,” concluded Vildibil. technologymagazine.com

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FIVE MINUTES WITH...

TRISTAN FOUREUR CTO AND CO-FOUNDER OF WEMAINTAIN

WeMaintain uses IoT-enabled sensors to collect data on how and when elevators, escalators and now fire alarm systems are used. This allows building managers to predict the need for maintenance, avoiding costly emergency repairs and scheduling work at convenient times.

Q. CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT YOUR ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES?

» As Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of WeMaintain, my main responsibilities are to oversee our team of data developers and engineers. We build and programme WeMaintain’s range of IoT-enabled products to be fitted in buildings around the world.

Q. WHAT IS THE ADVANTAGE OF IOT?

» The practical advantage of IoT systems is

that the hardware offers a viable solution for legacy infrastructure; rather than gutting and rebuilding entire structures, small sensors can be fitted onto existing equipment to monitor how they work. Because the devices are largely autonomous and can constantly collect data, they make traditional databases obsolete.

IoT data management is by far the most effective way of gathering information quickly and reliably for the money.

Q. BIGGEST CHALLENGES?

» A challenge for IoT data management

is to create systems that can manage different kinds of data, so effective use of IoT will depend on an intelligent team of data interpreters.Those using IoT for data management will have to connect potentially distinct systems together to make sense of 22

December 2021

complex data. Because the technology fits the space and not the other way around, so the scope of IoT is limitless but users must be clear in what they want to measure.

Q. WHO ARE YOUR MAJOR PARTNERS?

» We will provide proprietary IoT solutions

to 56 Workspace properties throughout their London portfolio. This will give building owners and managers greater knowledge of the condition of their critical equipment and other assets in real time. IoT sensors installed in Workspace lifts will give site managers access to high-quality real-time data not previously available to them, letting them know if there is deterioration of critical equipment and reacting quickly to resolve any issues that might arise.

Q. THE FUTURE

» Since the pandemic, IoT data management has been used in mixed-office buildings as hybrid residential/commercial shared spaces become more common.

If a city can manage the challenges of different protocols and data types, it has the potential to create seamless and fullyinformed experiences for service managers and users. IoT is attractive because it grows around the systems we already have in place.

“A CHALLENGE FOR IOT DATA MANAGEMENT IS TO CREATE SYSTEMS THAT CAN MANAGE DIFFERENT KINDS OF DATA”

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23

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December 2021

SAMSUNG SDS

SAVING LIVES WITH AI WRITTEN BY: ALEX TUCK

PRODUCED BY: GREG ST QUINTIN

technologymagazine.com

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SAMSUNG SDS

Using the power of AI and AutoLabel, the IT services giant is looking to alleviate pressure on physicians worldwide

S

amsung SDS stands for Samsung data services, and it is one of approximately 20 companies that make up the Samsung Group: well-known for manufacturing mobile phones, TV sets, laptops, chips, hard-drives, home electronics like fridges and dishwashers and even operating in heavy industries building ships.

One of the core offerings of SDS is the operation of data centres, in which they also run the Brightics AI Accelerator automatedmachine learning (AutoML) platform; enabling users to create AI models much more efficiently, accurately, and quicker than ever before.

Dr. Patrick Bangert, Vice President of Artificial Intelligence at Samsung SDSA, directs the AI engineering and AI sciences teams. The AI engineering team develops the Brightics AI Accelerator, providing distributed training and automated machine learning to speed up the creation of an AI model. The AI sciences team makes models, provides expert consulting services, and develops AutoLabel to automatically annotate datasets in preparation for AI modelling. They supply the full spectrum of AI model development, backed by state-of-

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December 2021

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SAMSUNG SDS

the-art technology and human expertise.

The AI team sources projects inside and outside of Samsung Group, maintaining their own computing infrastructure and covering a global footprint.

The human benefits of automating the imaging process A big focus for Samsung SDS has been the healthcare sector, where AI has been automating imaging processes in areas such as radiology. As Bangert states in no uncertain terms: “The medical system worldwide is overloaded. There are not enough doctors around to fulfill the demand and they are heavily impacted by workflows, bureaucracies, and billing processes. The amount of time that any physician can spend with the real human patient is really a minority of their time. A doctor’s opinion might be wrong about 30% of the time, and so complex diseases – diagnosed Ricky Datta, the director from complex medical of AI engineering at images – are often Samsung SDS, observes; either missed or mis“AI models typically diagnosed. Getting achieve an accuracy a second opinion is in the high 90% range, already a billion-dollar sometimes up to 99.9% market today.” accuracy in certain cases, Second opinions depending on how much typically come from data is available and how other humans. Artificial good quality that data Intelligence provides is. By automating these an objective third party processes, we simply and very neutral second make everything faster.

PATRICK BANGERT or third opinion to any The benefit of this would VP OF AI, diagnostic procedure. significantly lower the SAMSUNG SDS Using AI removes the costs from both the variability of any one physician having a providers and the patient’s care costs, while certain amount of experience, because increasing accuracy of diagnosis and speeding the AI model can process vastly more up the overall time from the initial pain point cases and doesn’t forget things. to the start of the treatment cycle.”

“The medical system worldwide is overloaded.

There are not enough doctors around to fulfill the demand”

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December 2021

This applies to all areas of medical imaging from MRI and CT scans, over X-ray and ultrasound images to regular photos of skin. Zakia Rahman, clinical professor of dermatology at Stanford University School of Medicine, says “dermatology represents two great frontiers for new business models powered by artificial intelligence. Patients

can take mobile phone pictures of their skin and obtain instant reliable diagnoses of any condition, and people may use pictures of their healthy faces and bodies to compare them against society’s beauty standards for precision cosmetics to look better while not looking abnormal. The biggest obstacle to both is having an expertly annotated large technologymagazine.com

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December 2021

SAMSUNG SDS

“Annotation or labeling is the principal obstacle in making AI models, which can be reduced 90% by AI” PATRICK BANGERT

PATRICK BANGERT

VP OF AI, SAMSUNG SDS

TITLE: VP OF AI LOCATION: SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA

dataset of images. We want to create such datasets and models in a partnership with Samsung SDS. The skin, in addition to being the largest organ, is also the most visible. This accessibility has resulted in an exponential increase in the number of images. The skin is, and will likely continue to be, the most imaged organ. While there is potential for democratising diagnosis for the general public, the impact to mental health through image distortion cannot be overstated.”

EXECUTIVE BIO

Patrick heads the AI Division at Samsung SDSA. He is responsible for Brightics AI Accelerator, a distributed ML training and automated ML product, and AutoLabel, an automatic image data annotation and modelling tool primarily targeted at the medical imaging community. Among his other responsibilities is to act as a visionary for the future of AI at Samsung.

Before joining Samsung, Patrick spent 15 years as CEO at algorithmica technologies, a machine learning software company serving the chemicals and oil and gas industries.

Prior to that, he was assistant professor of applied mathematics at Jacobs University in Germany, as well as a researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Patrick obtained his machine learning PhD in mathematics and his Masters in theoretical physics from University College London.

Samsung’s ultimate AI toolkit: the Brightics AI Accelerator The jewel in the crown of Samsung’s AI efforts is the AutoLabel facility in the Brightics AI Accelerator platform. Dr. Hankyu Moon, the leader of team behind AutoLabel answers in three parts why this toolkit is so crucial: “Firstly, in the case of imaging, for example, an annotation is typically a manual drawing of an outline around something that's important and assigning the category name to it. We see this in street scenes for autonomous vehicles, where we might draw an outline around people to say ‘okay, this is a person who denotes an obstacle that the car must not hit’.”

These annotations, he explains, are made very quickly by the AutoLabel facility, which technologymagazine.com

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SAMSUNG SDS

Samsung AI: Saving lives with AI

“ By automating certain clerical and image analysis tasks, physicians and patients can deal more with the planning of treatment” PATRICK BANGERT VP OF AI, SAMSUNG SDS

effectively sorts the images in the correct order that provide the information. The secret is that only a few, typically 10%, of the images in a dataset contain virtually all the information – but finding them is challenging.

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December 2021

The second part, according to Moon, is related to the Brightics AI Accelerator AutoML platform, which conducts feature engineering, which means pre-processing the data in such a way as to bring out those aspects of the data that are most informative, and selecting the correct model for the situation.

In Moon’s opinion, artificial intelligence is really an umbrella term for many distinct methods and model types, including neural networks, support vector machines, random forest, or decision trees. It’s a case of picking the right one.

Moon explained that the third part that AI can play in healthcare imaging is hyper parameter tuning: “The algorithm that trains one of these models has parameters of its own. They are set typically by a human being, which then leads to a trial-

and-error process of tuning these things correctly. AutoML tunes them for you automatically.”

When it comes down to the AI accelerator, distributed training is another tactic of Samsung’s as Datta explains: “We utilise more than one graphics processing unit (GPU).

To help speed up the process, we may use many hundreds of these GPU processors, simultaneously distributed over many computers to execute a single training task.”

With the AI accelerator as the go-to toolkit for Samsung SDS, the aim is to work on all the areas of efficiency, labelling, tuning of the models and distributed training in parallel, so they can “execute the artificial intelligence workflow a lot more quickly and efficiently

and actually arrive at a much more accurate model in the end.” said Datta.

Challenges in healthcare imaging Nasim Eftekhari, director of applied AI and data science at City of Hope, a worldrenowned cancer research and treatment organisation near Los Angeles, says, “All supervised models that we use today have been trained on labeled data. Regardless of industry, labelling the data for training is always the most expensive part of any AI solution. It is very time-consuming and expensive because doctors and healthcare professionals have to annotate these images, and each image takes hours and hours of time. City of Hope wanted to explore technologymagazine.com

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SAMSUNG SDS

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HANKYU MOON

RICKY DATTA

TITLE: DIRECTOR OF AI SCIENCE

TITLE: DIRECTOR OF AI ENGINEERING

COMPANY: SAMSUNG SDS

COMPANY: SAMSUNG SDS

LOCATION: CALIFORNIA

LOCATION: CALIFORNIA

Dr. Hankyu Moon has been a Director of AI Science as part of the AI Team, Samsung SDS Research America since 2015. He received a B.S. degree in Mathematics Education from Seoul National University and a Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Maryland College Park. His R&D career in AI started when he joined Center for Automation Research, University of Maryland in 1996 as a graduate student. Prior to joining Samsung, he worked at NEC Research Institute and Hughes Research Laboratories as a research scientist. Throughout his career he has collaborated with worldclass researchers, producing numerous publications and patents in the areas of Computer Vision, Deep Learning, and Data Mining. At Samsung, he and his colleagues have developed Data Efficient AI for several years, resulting in successful launching of the AutoLabel solution that leverages Representation Learning, Active Learning, and Unsupervised Learning.

Ricky has been responsible for the technical direction of Brightics AI Accelerator since day one. He oversees all aspects of design and implementation of AI Accelerator. A seasoned Enterprise Software Leader, Ricky is an expert in Machine Learning, Deep Learning and Big Data and works together with customers to ensure all their specialist technical needs are met.

He started his career in small software startups to specialise in Enterprise Software.

Ricky has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.

December 2021

EXECUTIVE BIOS

SAMSUNG SDS

ZAKIA RAHMAN

NASIM EFTEKHARI

TITLE: C LINICAL PROF OF DERMATOLOGY

TITLE: DIRECTOR OF APPLIED AI & DATA SCIENCE

COMPANY: STANFORD UNIVERSITY

COMPANY: CITY OF HOPE

LOCATION: CALIFORNIA

LOCATION: LOS ANGELES

Dr. Zakia Rahman, MD, FAAD is a Clinical Professor of Dermatology at Stanford where she is Director of the Resident Laser and Aesthetic Clinic. She is also Assistant Chief and Co-Director of Dermatologic Surgery at the Livermore Division of the PAVAHCS. She serves on the advisory board of multiple medical device companies where her collaborative work as the principal investigator has resulted in FDA clearances for consumer and professional class lasers. She is also a subject matter expert for venture and angel investors in dermatology medical devices.

Dr. Rahman is the Chair of the Stanford School of Medicine Faculty Senate. She is passionate about physician professional fulfillment and is a member of the Wellness Directors Council for Stanford Hospital. She sits on the Diversity Taskforce, Electronic Medical Records Taskforce and the Media Expert Panel for the American Academy of Dermatology. Dr. Rahman is also a member of the Federal Affairs Work Group and Research Workgroup for the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery.

Nasim Eftekhari leads the Applied AI and Data Science Department at City of Hope, aworld-renowned research and treatment organisation for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases located near Los Angeles. She helps supervise teams responsible for applying machine learning in clinical decision support and patient care, research andprecision medicine, as well as operations and finance.

Before joining City of Hope in 2017, Nasim co-founded an AI company focused on social media data mining and financial markets and political events prediction. She continues to advise startup companies on successful implementation of AI solutions. Nasim holds a master’s degree in computer science from Southern Illinois University and a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Khaje Nasir Toosi University in Tehran, Iran. On a personal level, Nasim enjoys an active lifestyle in sunny Los Angeles and has a passion for fitness and sports. She plays soccer and beach volleyball and goes to the gym every day.

technologymagazine.com

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SAMSUNG SDS

DAN WATERS TITLE: DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCT

Dan leads Business Development for the AI Team at Samsung SDS America and is responsible for the go-to-market strategy. As a Senior Business Development leader, Dan’s devoted his career to bringing to market disruptive products, building teams to scale rapidly and quickly growing revenue for companies like xnor.ai, Zebra Technologies, Apple, Siri, and Motorola.

Previously, the VP of Marketing & Business Development for XNOR. ai, Dan validated the commercial product/market fit for XNOR. AI’s research technology spun out of the Paul Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (Ai2), built brand awareness and executed proof-of-concept, commercial and government agreements to close deals, recognise revenue, and grow the sales pipeline.

In 2009, Dan introduced Siri to Apple and was retained by Apple following its acquisition of Siri in 2010. Dan is an MBA graduate of the Kellogg Graduate School of Business, has a BSEE from Iowa State University and is conversant in Spanish.

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December 2021

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA

using Samsung’s active learning in autolabeling images. There is no question about the value that deep learning brings to auto-labelling pathology images. We are really excited to explore the idea of a system that can learn little-by-little from pathologists.”A doctor takes 20 to 30 minutes to draw their annotation on top of a single image. And to train an AI algorithm to recognise anything meaningful, thousands of such annotated images are needed. The process is the most timeconsuming and expensive of the entire AI workflow.

It’s the primary obstacle that the AutoLabel facility of the Brightics AI Accelerator is there to overcome, using a technique called active learning to speed that process up by 90%, so it will reduce the amount of human labour from 100%

“ AI has a large role to play in trying to limit the rise of various greenhouse gases.

That has a lot to do with how efficiently we can run things” PATRICK BANGERT VP OF AI, SAMSUNG SDS

down to 10% - a very significant gain, usually in the double-digit millions per model.

A further challenge for Dan Waters, the director of business development and product at Samsung SDS, is related to his home in the United States, where The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must approve any physical device used in the medical industry. Waters states that “because governmental agencies are not as advanced in their treatment of artificial intelligence, getting a physical device approved can take a long time.

The established processes and personnel are simply not familiar with this new technology, as far as they're concerned, AI is relatively new.” technologymagazine.com

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SAMSUNG SDS

Medical Diagnostics by Artificial Intelligence

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December 2021

AI applications beyond healthcare “Climate change is the one great challenge of humanity” says Bangert.

“AI has a large role to play in trying to limit the rise of various greenhouse gases. That has a lot to do with how efficiently we can run things in factories, vehicles, airplanes, and people's homes,” he continued.

Samsung’s consumer electronics and home automation devices can help through their efficient use of energy and in helping to reduce the total carbon footprint of any home or building.

Data centres – especially because of AI workloads – are often blamed for exacerbating the climate impact of the modern world but

this is short sighted. “Other carbon emitting factors of the physical world are circumvented due to AI. Take, for example, the primary use of the internet, which is shopping. You go to a website, buy something, and that is delivered by the postal service. That is a lot more efficient from a greenhouse gas perspective than if you take your SUV by yourself and drive 20 miles to the next mall.”

AI, ethics and earning trust One of the biggest cultural disconnects with AI is trust. Companies such as Samsung SDS take their ethical responsibilities very seriously: “We make sure that not only have we created the model in an ethical manner, but also that we are using it in an ethical manner,” says Bangert.

This leads to explainability, where the AI model should not just deliver the answer, but it should deliver an explanation of why that is the correct - and best - answer. technologymagazine.com

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Elevator Pitch: Brightics AI Accelerator

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December 2021

SAMSUNG SDS

“AI has the potential to revolutionise healthcare in diagnosis, treatment, and clerical processes creating new jobs and allowing existing staff to be more efficient” PATRICK BANGERT VP OF AI, SAMSUNG SDS

“It must present the information in a way that's understandable for the audience. In healthcare, this is of course the doctor and the patient. So, if you're going to tell people that they have cancer – you better say why.” said Bangert.

It’s clear that trust is something that Samsung SDS must generate alongside the global AI community. But beyond just the imaging domain, Samsung is exploring electronic medical records that go beyond the pure image to unify the analysis of natural language processing, which would be relevant to the text that the doctor writes.

“The ‘multimodal’ AI system can take care of image input, text input, numerical input, and unify it to a holistic picture of what might be the case, and what should be done about it.” said Bangert.

Bangert focuses on the good that AI can bring: “By automating certain tasks, physicians and patients can deal more with the planning of the treatment, discussing how treatment might impact the patient's life. Doctors can act as doctors rather than expert data processors.”

Another criticism of AI-enabled automation is that it’s making a lot of people redundant, but that is not true according to Bangert: “AI, in general, is creating new jobs and allowing people to work in very different areas – in medicine specifically. Because of the lack of personnel, this is extremely welcome. And of course, patients expect doctors to be patient-facing rather than be internal facing.”

Discover Brightics AI Accelerator

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DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Key considerations when implementing a digital strategy As more companies turn to digital technology as a driving force for economic prosperity, we explore the best practices for an effective digital strategy WRITTEN BY: CATHERINE GRAY

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December 2021

D

igital strategy has become an expansive term in recent years, particularly in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic where the uptake of digital technologies in business has been critical to ensuring operations run smoothly to facilitate remote working.

A survey by McKinsey highlighted that the pandemic has increased the pace of business. Shedding light on the critical nature of technology post-pandemic, it also showed that technology capabilities are critical to companies’ COVID-19 exit strategies as well as preparation for the future.

“Today, customers make decisions regarding their preferred companies, products and services based on their use of technology” MOHAMED KHALIFA

CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, HAYEL SAEED ANAM (HSA) GROUP

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Content Management and Process Automation Content Management and Process Automation

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ICC Community Development Solutions is a subsidiary of the International Code Council, and provides software solutions for municipalities andisbuilding safety “Our solutions make easier ICC Community Development Solutions a subsidiary ofprofessionals. the International Code Council, anditprovides to get work done faster for local governments,” said Dan professionals.

Foster, General“Our Manager, ICC Community software solutions for municipalities and building safety solutions make it easier Development Solutions, speaking from their headquarters in Rochester, New York. to get work done faster for local governments,” said Dan Foster, General Manager, ICC Community Development Solutions, speaking from their headquarters in Rochester, New York.

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DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

HSA Yemen is Yemen’s largest and leading company, employing 20,000 people across the country.

“Organisations looking to formulate their own digital strategy must firstly get the support of the leadership of the company” MOHAMED KHALIFA

CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, HAYEL SAEED ANAM (HSA) GROUP

Now, it is crucial that businesses rethink their strategies for the post-pandemic era. Companies that have already adopted robust and comprehensive digital strategies highlight the intrinsic link between technology and improved economic performance.

Previously, a survey by McKinsey showed that across key areas of the business model, companies’ overall adoption of digital technologies had sped up by three to seven years in a span of months.

Now, the newest results show that this

acceleration is also happening at the level of core business practices and what was considered the best-in-class speed for most business practices in 2018 is now slower than average.

Interestingly, the survey also highlighted that many businesses recognise that their companies understand they need to change their strategies as the ones prior to the pandemic will become obsolete. It found 64% of companies in the survey know they need to build new digital businesses to help them achieve economic viability. technologymagazine.com

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DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

“ Digital strategies offer the potential to deliver highly personalised and adaptive experiences to the end user” DAVID ROSE

DIRECTOR, CHELSEA VENTURES

Appealing to the new, technologically savvy customer To achieve economic growth and prosperity, companies need to listen to the needs of their customers. Interestingly, David Rose, Director of Chelsea Ventures thinks it’s important to consider younger generations, those who are the new and emerging customer base, as an acceleratory force for digital transformation in business. He said: “We’ve educated several generations through gaming and social media has accelerated this trend.”

“Any business whether selling direct or just developing a true relationship with their audience requires a digital strategy. This is true throughout the product development cycle, from the exploration of new ideas to refining the service to be the very best experience and finally to customer loyalty,” added Rose.

This push to appeal to the customer comes back round to the drive for economic prosperity. As a driver for digital transformation, customer experience is, and 48

December 2021

has always been, a key thing to consider in business strategy.

Echoing this idea, Mohamed Khalifa, Hayel Saeed Anam (HSA) Group’s Chief Information Officer also believes in the importance of customer needs and expectations when looking at the push to digitalisation in business, he explained: “I think that the current emphasis on digital transformation is driven by the changing needs and

expectations of customers, which have evolved dramatically in the space of a few years. Today, customers make decisions regarding their preferred companies, products and services based on their use of technology – both how it enables them to purchase products and how it is incorporated into a product or a service provided.”

Technology has undoubtedly changed consumer habits, the evolution of the mobile phone, for example, means consumers have greater access to information from the palm of their hand. This expectation permeates into all aspects of everyday life and to accommodate the new, modern-day buyer, businesses need to adapt to fit the needs of consumers. technologymagazine.com

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“ Any business whether selling direct or just developing a true relationship with their audience requires a digital strategy” DAVID ROSE

DIRECTOR, CHELSEA VENTURES

David Rose has held senior executive roles across the games and consumer digital industries for over 25 years, including working on the genesis of PlayStation in the early Nineties.

Understanding technology to implement it effectively What is becoming increasingly clear is that businesses need to secure a mutual understanding with all business stakeholders on the important role that technology plays.

Without this understanding, it will become difficult for business leaders to maximise the full potential of a digital strategy.

Highlighting the importance of this, Khalifa said: “ For a strategy to be effective and adaptive, team leaders must not only be fully comfortable with the different technology systems and processes used but also be keen to push the boundaries and apply the best systems and practices to their areas of the business.”

Another consideration when looking to implement digital strategies is business integration. Expanding on this, Rose explained: “Digital strategies offer the potential to deliver highly personalised and adaptive experiences to the e nd user. This is often limited by shortcomings in system design or implementation but is equally impacted by inefficient organisational structure.”

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December 2021

Creating the best business structure for digital success When looking at the importance of organisational structure to the success of a digital strategy, a key thing to consider is research from Insight.

From its research, the company found damaging divisions between IT teams and the wider organisation that had been made clearer by the pandemic.

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

The research found 62% of companies are failing to take advantage of new technologies because they aren’t listening to IT and 71% of companies have a disconnect between IT and the wider business. A trend within this disconnect is that IT tends to be treated as a utility rather than a business enabler.

“Organisations looking to formulate their own digital strategy must firstly get the support of the leadership of

the company.

It is incredibly important that they set the right tone and stress the importance of embracing digital evolution for the success of the business as a whole,” Khalifa told Technology Magazine.

Pairing this with the research from Insight, business leaders need to look to create synergy between themselves and their IT department. Without this support and mutual understanding of the importance of the digital strategy to business success and economic prosperity.

This is particularly significant as Insight also found that the failure to engage properly with IT teams almost certainly contributed to organisations spending an average of £2m a year on projects that don’t provide the expected benefits or fail outright. technologymagazine.com

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How

IT Alignment

is Enabling

SMC

to Automate

the World WRITTEN BY: JANET BRICE PRODUCED BY: TOM VENTURO

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December 2021

SMC

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SMC

Technology is the toolkit for SMC – the global leader in manufacturing pneumatic components

I

T alignment at SMC enables us to automate the world, allowing our customers to do incredible things”, says Michael Loggins, Global Vice President of IT who is keen to give insight into how this global company is leveraging its digital transformation.

SMC is the global leader in manufacturing pneumatic technology for industrial automation that supports customers in every industrialised nation. The SMC Corporation of America is a subsidiary of the SMC Corporation based in Japan founded more than 50 years ago.

“Our vision is to take our awesome community of people and provide the enablers that allow SMC to automate the world. At SMC we're perfectly aligned with our customers, with our product and our vision, enabling our customers to automate their needs and help build a better planet,” said Loggins, speaking from his office in Noblesville, Indiana.

He pointed out that during the past two years SMC has invested US$130m in IT as part of its digital transformation to accelerate their cloud journey, cyber security, streamlining and optimising the digital processes.

“We’re the world's largest pneumatic and component manufacturer in the industrial automation space,” said Loggins, who has been with the company 15 years. “SMC has offices in more than 83 countries, over 1,000

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Example of an image caption technologymagazine.com

55

SMC

How IT alignment is enabling SMC to automate the world

“ We are dedicating a great deal of capital, time and people towards our drive for a sustainable future” MICHAEL LOGGINS

GLOBAL VICE PRESIDENT OF IT, SMC

engineers in the US, the UK, Germany, China, and our headquarters in Japan, to develop these great products.

“We also have more than 5,000 salespeople scattered across the globe and more than 8,000 people working tirelessly building and shipping out our products on a daily basis in different factories and logistics centres across the world.”

Founded in 1959, in Tokyo under the name Sintered Metal Corporation (SMC) the 56

December 2021

company evolved from basic pneumatics to more sophisticated automation solutions which has granted SMC a global market share of 38%, and 65% in the Japanese market.

With 12,000 basic products and more than 700,000 variations, SMC offers solutions from air preparation, instrumentation, through to valves, and actuators covering practically every single step in the automation process.

“At SMC, I have an awesome opportunity to work with amazing people to unify all the global SMC organisations around a common corporate goal and vision by using technology to change the way we deliver our products and help our customers,” said Loggins who turned his back on a career as a music teacher

MICHAEL LOGGINS TITLE: GLOBAL VICE PRESIDENT OF IT INDUSTRY: INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION LOCATION: USA

to focus on a career in technology. Each SMC production facility works to ensure the integrity of the best, most inventive designs, and to supply these products to customers with a focus on quality, lead time and cost control. The supply network includes their North American headquarters, production facility and distribution centre in Noblesville, Indiana. SMC's global network also includes facilities in South America, Europe, and Asia.

Digital transformation Loggins pointed out the digital transformation at SMC is at different stages of maturity due to its vast global presence and highlighted how they are using Industry 4.0 to overcome

EXECUTIVE BIO

Mike Loggins is the Global Vice President of IT at SMC. He is responsible for planning the future of IT as well as the implementation and maintenance of current systems.

Loggins works to create a culture of innovation in SMC’s cyber-physical systems and networks. He is known for his community oriented and proactive approach to both IT and leadership and has set the standard for “awesome” at SMC. Under his leadership, SMC has moved IT standardisations to a global scale, as Loggins pushes his teams to model the values of inclusion, growth, support, and diversity. He is a member of the Forbes Technology Council.

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A manufacturer’s path to mature cybersecurity The partnership between Trace3, Critical Start and Palo Alto is bringing peace of mind to SMC Corporation For SMC Corporation, the world’s largest manufacturer of pneumatic components and a global leader in automation, keeping its data and IP safe is a big headache.

Threats proliferate at alarming speed and with ever-increasing sophistication, and as Michael Loggins, Global VP of IT at SMC said: “Cybersecurity is one thing that keeps me awake at night. Finding a trustworthy partner like Trace3 who has the ability to look out further than we were doing and get us prepared for what is coming next is huge.”

Customers like SMC also benefit from the managed detection and response (MDR) services, offered by Trace3’s close partner Critical Start, the MDR provider that puts a stop to alert fatigue by eliminating false positives at scale through their Zero Trust Analytics Platform (ZTAP) and industry leading Trusted Behavior Registry.

Critical Start provides 24/7 investigation and response services by leveraging powerful solutions such as Palo Alto Networks, which SMC was also evaluating. Palo Alto Networks platform is a powerful solution to help mitigate cyber-attacks across the organizational footprint. Cortex XDR is one of the lightest MDR agents out there, however it does not skimp on features - bundling behavioural threat protection with machine learning, AI, and cloud-based analysis.”

SMC is on a mission to transform its security capabilities. Leading manufacturers and the IoT they utilize are a big target for cyberattacks and their environments can be very complex to secure. With Trace3’s oversight of the architecture and infrastructure requirements, combined with the power of Critical Start’s MDR and Palo Alto Cortex XDR, the threat landscape and the attackers’ techniques are continuously monitored and thwarted, allowing manufacturers who rely on the integrity of their complex automation and IoT capabilities, to sleep well.

LEARN MORE

A B D

SMC

“ We’re the world's largest pneumatic and component manufacturer in the industrial automation space” MICHAEL LOGGINS

GLOBAL VICE PRESIDENT OF IT, SMC

legacy architecture with a focus on agile assessment. “Our process efficiency may be slower in some spaces in terms of digital transformation because it wasn't as 60

December 2021

important to them in the past. Then we have places like the US, Germany, Austria, Hong Kong and Taiwan, where the digital journey needs are much higher, and we've been able to push further down that path,” he said.

“For those that are doing a great job with their digital transformation we are offering next level opportunities of maturity to their operations, and finding new ways to create better customer and employee experiences using technology.

In those places where it hasn’t been as important, we’re starting to work with them on how to get those projects moving forward and get them into a place where we have a baseline for maturity across the entire organisation. Having that common

SMC

ETECH

Centres of excellence SMC’s cloud journey - which is predominately in the SaaS space - has taken an intentional step during the past two years as they have been building cloud infrastructure. “The goal of that private cloud infrastructure is to design the new operating models that will allow us to leverage the multi-cloud capabilities in the future, and also allow us to consolidate and provide that baseline of technology capabilities across the globe.

DID YOU KNOW...

base of what digital transformation needs to look like, is going to allow us to have a much higher impact across the entire organisation,” said Loggins.

SMC is expanding engineering resources by continually challenging their own innovations. The driving force is to make it easier for customers to do business with them which has inspired innovative design solutions and support in the shape of the foundation for the development and release of ETech. ETech features several easyto-use product selection methods, such as parametric selection, solutionbased selection, and a hierarchical product catalog. Once a product is configured, 2D and 3D CAD models can be downloaded and inserted into final assembly drawings. In addition, online sizing is available to ensure the right product has been selected for each application. Because ETech is internetbased, you can view and download SMC product information at any time from anywhere. ETech represents a long standing digital transformation effort as a partnership between SMC marketing departments and IT to deliver configuration support that allows customers to download 2D and 3D CAD configured parts to include in their designs.

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Engineering Led, Customer Focused.

“At Lucidia IT, we partner with our customers. We integrate with your teams and work to become trusted technology and business advisors. We’re passionate about technology and passionate about enabling our customer/partner teams to leverage technology to drive business outcomes.”

- Jason Legendre, Vice President of Engineering.

“Our partnership with Lucidia and Dell is what has enabled our Global IT team to deliver unparalleled service to SMC offices around the world. Our vision for our digital transformation is built upon the values of innovation and proactivity, and in them, we have found a community of partners that not only share our vision, but provide the knowledge and expertise necessary to take our ambitious goals to the next level. I am incredibly grateful for the partnership we have with both Lucidia and Dell, and for the phenomenal insight their talented teams bring to the table as we seek to adopt advanced technologies for our global enterprise.”

- Mike Loggins, Global VP of Information Technology, SMC

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LEARN MORE www.lucidiait.com 317-953-9800 8275 Allison Pointe Trail, Suite 150 Indianapolis, IN 46250

SMC

“This will give us the ability to consolidate and improve 83 countries worth of IT infrastructure, applications and capabilities, and then put in a new operating model that allows us to better disperse that technology across, across the entire world.”

Loggins said SMC is actively looking at different Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) models as they work towards building centres of excellence.

“The most important thing is getting the correct data and to start getting some correlations built, leveraging ML technology to help us make quick decisions. AI is important but a long way off for us, but we will be watching the developments and how we can integrate it into things like call centre applications, RPA applications, data management and data intelligence strategies.

“One of the biggest uses for us right now in the ML and AI space is in our operational technology areas. How we manage the plant floors, how we make better use of our factory resources, how we better plan, and where we can leverage our people. For a manufacturing organisation that is one of the big capabilities ML can help us with.”

“Technology is our toolkit” Commenting on how SMC is engaging its global workforce with digital technology, Loggins says there is no longer an issue with so many digital natives now in the workforce. But he points out the challenge today is matching the right technology to a specific business process.

“Adopting technology is not usually the hardest challenge anymore. Today, the challenge is finding the right technology that matches and enables the business processes, rather than finding a technology to put in because it's technology, we really need to find what the processes are and what the business value is to that technology.

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“Technology isn’t our job anymore, we do our job by helping the company grow, but for us in IT, technology is our toolkit. We are very good at technology, we can find new ways of utilising technology, but we've become organisational change agents.

We can't just put in and implement new systems, we have to work with the business to figure out how to best adopt those products and find ways to improve them once they're implemented.”

Competitive edge Loggins said it is the vast range of products that gives SMC its competitive edge in the

SMC

global market. “We have a catalogue of products - way over a million parts that we sell - and we're able to customise those parts. We work with our customers to understand their applications. We're trying not to just sell components. We want to work with our end users. We want to work with our machine builders to make sure that we are delivering value in our products, to what they're trying to build, to what they're trying to release to their end users and to their customers.

“When you think about the number of engineers and salespeople we have around the globe, I believe we are

uniquely capable of providing that to all our customers in a way that our competitors can't. We are also extremely healthy, so we can spend the capital we need to make sure that we can provide new capabilities as fast as possible.

“SMC has invested more than US$130m in the last two years, on increasing our capabilities in IT. That’s primarily along the lines of our private cloud journey, and security implementations. But it’s also in our capabilities of streamlining and optimising processes for communication, as well as collaboration amongst multiple departments and divisions across the technologymagazine.com

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Don’t limit digital success — transform at scale LEARN MORE

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December 2021



M OS E R IT.CO M

SMC

“Technology isn’t our job anymore, we do our job by helping the business grow, but for us in IT, technology is just our toolkit. We've become organisational change agents” MICHAEL LOGGINS GLOBAL VICE PRESIDENT OF IT, SMC

globe. So, our company is very healthy in that manner which has allowed us to do many things that we couldn't do before with that investment.”

Best practices Loggins commented how the US team has learnt from their Japanese counterparts on the methodology behind every decision and how implementing best practices from other parts of the world is proving beneficial.

“It is not just about the technology, but by working with our colleagues in Japan we have a better understanding of why we’re doing something. Everything we've seen from our Japanese partners is intentional and well

thought out. We have gained a lot of maturity, and this has helped us out tremendously across the entire globe. We've matured from just being a technology team in IT to really enabling the business and leveraging our technology background to do that.

“One of the things we’ve been able to do by communicating with these other groups is find a small nugget of information, or a new process, that we can leverage. We are able to cross-pollinate those ideas across the globe and get people to start thinking and talking about things very differently.”

SMC and sustainability SMC is dedicating a global business continuity plan for our factories and delivery capabilities as well as to focus on a more sustainable future.

“We are dedicating a great deal of capital, time and people towards our drive for a sustainable future. For several decades we technologymagazine.com

67

SMC

have relied on centralised engineering and production, but as we keep growing we are now trying to diversify.

Our business continuity plan has a clear objective that we will be prepared for any emergency and have business activities quickly resume without any disruption. As we continue going forward we will make sure a single incident around the globe does not stop us from serving our customers.

“IT has a huge part to play in this area.

We've built out our private cloud, to make sure that when it comes to the data and capabilities of the systems, we're providing the same level of continuity across the globe so our factories can work, our logistics centres have the ability to ship, and our engineers can continue to design great products.”

Loggins also pointed out that SMC is working to reduce CO2 emissions from both their factories and products. “If our products are more CO2 aware and less wasteful that allows our customers’ factories to emit less CO2 gases and hopefully helps have a positive impact on the environment across the globe.”

Partnership with Lucidia, AHEAD, Moser and Trace3 Lucidia has been a long-term partner of SMC and several of their engineers and team members have been a part of SMC’s ecosystem. Trace3 is a newer partner that is helping SMC focus on its security. Loggins also commented on the valuable partnership with AHEAD and Moser.

“Lucidia has been a trusted architecture partner of ours for more than 10 years, helping us design and find new ways to build our infrastructure, to support the growth that we have around the globe. They are a partner that helped bring in Dell Technologies, Arista, 68

December 2021

SMC

VMware, and Palo Alto Networks to allow us to build these things that we're doing.

“Trace3 has really allowed us to rapidly increase our capabilities at a security operations level, bringing maturity into a place that we didn't have before and helping us build an organisation that didn't exist six months ago.

“Cyber security is one thing that keeps me awake at night, so finding a great partner like Trace3 who has the ability to look out further than we were doing and get us prepared for what is coming next is huge.

“We've taken a systemic and mature approach to protecting the organisation, relying on our risk management capabilities, and then quickly identifying those risks and mitigating them. Creating a baseline and consistency of security practices and policies and technology across the globe, and making sure that we have a workforce of people across the globe that have enough awareness to be our best defenders.

“We've tried to take an overall approach from the enterprise space and then from the operational technology space, looking at the best way we can protect and grow that footprint, but also make sure that we balance the efficiencies and capabilities with the ability to secure, not only the operations, but our enterprise networks.

“In our constant pursuit of partnerships to advance our innovation initiatives, we’ve forged an incredibly valuable partnership with AHEAD. They have been instrumental in providing Program Management oversight and leadership for our data centre projects, in addition to their Day 2 VM configurations in-country. This investment in providing in-language and in-country resources to our global teams is instrumental to our global success as these resources ensure we are able to deliver a top-tier service technologymagazine.com

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SMC

evaluate our current global servers so we can understand the migration path to a new and centralised system.”

Commenting on the partnership with Moser Loggins said: “They have been an advanced strategic partner with SMC for more than five years. Their collaboration and contributions to our teams have been invaluable as we’ve relied on Moser for assistance in strategy development, Big Data conceptualisation and advanced technology stack development.

“Moser has been instrumental as they have worked on processes across SMC divisions as they contribute to the process analysis and recommend improvements throughout the entirety of the business.

They’ve also done a great deal of work in maintenance and monitoring for North America, leading our efforts to patch and maintain our servers. Through this partnership, Moser has helped SMC streamline our processes and create easier systems for implementations.”

and incomparable assets across multiple work streams.

“AHEAD has been a valuable partner, offering the knowledge of their highly experienced global network and managing multiple work streams for our data centre builds around the world. In addition to these builds, they are helping provide Day 2 VM support, including an assessment of current conditions in targeted locations to

Smart factories of the future Diving into operational technology will be a focus for SMC during the next 12-18 months.

“This will be the biggest focus for us as operational technology will help us in figuring out how we are diversifying our factory capabilities and making sure those factories are smart. It will also help us leverage all the data to help make it more efficient.

“We will continue to find new ways to streamline our businesses and provide new capabilities to allow better collaboration across the globe, allowing us to better serve our global customers in a seamless manner,” said Loggins.

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I T ASSET

MANAGEMENT:

A SINGLE SOURCE OF TRUTH

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December 2021

ENTERPRISE IT

In order to build resilience and futureproof organisations, an ITAM strategy is fast becoming essential to business objectives WRITTEN BY: ALEX TUCK

IT

Asset Management (ITAM) ensures valuable items, both tangible and intangible, are being tracked and used within an organisation. These include such assets as hardware, software, and critical information that holds value to a business. In an IT department, some of the most important assets are the computers, software licenses and hosting servers.

IT assets have a finite period in that they can be used, so the lifecycle must be proactively managed at all stages. According to Atlassian, who develop software and collaboration tools, these stages usually include: planning, procurement, deployment, maintenance, and retirement.

Having an overlying ITAM strategy is vital to understanding the total cost of ownership and optimising the use of assets.

IT departments must also be agile to deal with subscription-based software and employees' expectation to customise the tools they work with, which are typically accessed through app stores or marketplaces.

According to Pamela Wheelwright, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner, “Most organisations do not have a formal IT asset management (ITAM) programme but recognise the need to implement one in support of their digital business objectives.” Awareness seems to be one thing, but implementation is quite another technologymagazine.com

73

ENTERPRISE IT

when it comes to ITAM and software asset management (SAM). As Deloitte’s Global ITAM survey report in 2021 showed, organisations are rethinking how they invest in governing IT assets and license their hardware and software.

Further explaining the need for IT Asset Management, PwC insists that if an organisation has a considerable software spend, they may be spending too much or under-utilising these assets.

PwC list these initiatives as the most common part of ITAM strategy: • Optimise software costs • Drive down software and infrastructure costs • Increase procurement efficiency • Improve compliance • Increase asset and intellectual property security • Reduce financial, contractual and reputation risk • Decrease support costs • Reduce resource requirements The single source of truth Believed to have been coined by Lionel Grealou of Tata Technologies, single source of truth (SSOT) is often bandied about in asset management circles, despite the full realisation of it being extremely difficult due to the multiple information systems, such as ERPs and CRMs, each of which needs access to data relating to the same entities (such as customers). Therefore "offthe-shelf" software from vendors is difficult to modify and a business can end up with many versions of common data or entities.

Despite the ‘ideal’ of SSOT being unrealistic for many, it is still regarded as a crucial tactic to help use the latest 74

December 2021

ITAM Global Survey 2021

84%

• A vast majority (84%) of respondents believe that they lack a truly effective ITAM initiative in place in their organisations.

61%

• Six out of ten (61%) respondents are yet to make IT Asset Management a selffunded initiative.

90%

• Nearly 90% of respondents believe that the rapidly changing business, regulatory and technology environment is making it more challenging to enhance ITAM maturity in their organisations.

“ It’s the ideal time to examine the ‘bubblegum and duct tape’ approach

by IT teams to keep their organisation functioning” JENN MARKEY

PRODUCT MARKETING DIRECTOR, ENTRUST

information when optimising budgets, supporting lifecycle management and determining the organisation's strategic approach as a whole. In order to reduce risk significantly, it is beneficial for systems to keep track of IT assets rather than humans,

so they can focus on relationship building and strategic thinking.

According to Gartner in its report Prepare Your IT Asset Management for 2020, organisations are focusing on effective asset management to manage consumption of “on-demand services,” given over-reliance on platform and infrastructure services. Gartner suggests that with “increased control, visibility, and assigned responsibility, teams can reduce excess consumption including overprovisioning, and idle instances, avoiding unnecessary costs.”

Identity Asset Management According to research by Omdia for IT security company Entrust, Identity Asset technologymagazine.com

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ENTERPRISE IT

“We’re now in a time where IT and security teams are dealing with the challenges of the Everywhere Workplace” SRI MUKKAMALA

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT SECURITY PRODUCTS, IVANTI

Management (IAM) is a big focus this year with the rise in a hybrid/distributed workforce. Jenn Markey, Product Marketing Director at Entrustremarked: “This is making it the ideal time to examine the ‘bubblegum and duct tape’ that was needed by IT teams to keep their respective organisation’s functioning, and take stock of how to more robustly and securely manage their IT workforce going forward. This needs to be done before these temporary measures become permanent fixtures in the new working framework.”

When questioned on its IAM direction for 2021, nearly half (47%) of those interviewed

by Omdia said they were looking to augment existing IAM implementations, and 42% also said they would be focusing on migrating to the cloud.

Markey believes that “without a centralised IAM solution to onboard and offboard users, IT teams are left having to manually manage parallel work streams and user access processes, adding cost, complexity, and risk”. A core component for Entrust is ironically around zero trust, the model that recognises that trust is a vulnerability and that, as Markey puts it, Entrust will use identity orchestration to ensure that a "seamless and secure experience is achieved through the continual monitoring of user and device behavior.”

Such orchestration provides a “single pane view of protected resources, user identities, technologymagazine.com

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“ ITAM provides visibility and control over software assets” NERYS MUTLOW

EVANGELIST IN THE CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICE, SERVICENOW

and access controls as well as a simple UI for integrating applications from the identity platform,” says Markey.

The Everywhere Workplace and the importance of patches Coined by IT platform provider Ivanti, the Everywhere Workplace is where employees use myriad devices to access IT applications and data over various networks to stay productive, as they work from anywhere.

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Over 40,000 customers, including 96 of the Fortune 100, have chosen Ivanti to discover, manage, secure, and service their IT assets from cloud to edge, and deliver excellent end user experiences for employees, wherever and however they work.

A critical area managed by Sri Mukkamala, Senior Vice President Security Products at Ivanti, is patch management, the process of distributing and applying updates to software.

These patches are often necessary to correct errors in the software that make a whole organisation susceptible to a cyber-attack.

As Mukkamala remarks: “There are a few areas that will always need patches, which include, operating systems, applications,

ENTERPRISE IT

What lies ahead for ITAM? “The relationship between FinOps and ITAM is something fairly new to our world. We’re looking to expand on the benefits ITAM can bring to an organisation, collaborating with FinOps to optimise and save money in the Cloud whilst ensuring compliance from a licensing perspective”.

DAVID FOXEN, CONSULTANT

and embedded systems. When a vulnerability is detected after the release of a piece of software, a patch can be used to fix it. Doing so helps ensure that assets

in your environment are not susceptible to exploitation. Ultimately, patch management can fix security flaws in software and protect an organisation's network.”

According to Ivanti’s report on patch management challenges, IT pros are spending a lot of time and resources on patching, with 57% of IT and security professionals stating that remote work has increased the complexity and scale of patch management.

In terms of cash, 14% of respondents experienced a financial hit worth between $100,000 and $1 million to their businesses in the last 12 months that could have been avoided with better patch management.

“Patching doesn't just affect IT” says Mukkamala, as “60% said that patching causes workflow disruption to employees.”

Mukkamala is highly regarded in the area of ransomware, including predicting the WannaCry ransomware attack in May 2017, which encrypted an estimated 200,000 computers in 150 countries. He states that “most organisations do not have the bandwidth or resources to map active threats, such as those tied to ransomware, with the vulnerabilities they exploit and costs. All the while enterprises are slow to patch, cybercriminals and accelerate vulnerability weaponisation efforts.”

Patching has no alternatives and is necessary to protect an organisation.

There is hope of staying ahead of the cyber criminals, says Mukkamala, as “organisations can deploy automated solutions that combine risk-based vulnerability prioritisation and patch intelligence to bring to light any vulnerabilities that are being actively exploited. With unique patch reliability, IT and security teams can seamlessly deploy patches, and solve common challenges that are putting organisations at risk”. technologymagazine.com

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KEEPING CANADIANS

CONNECTED WRITTEN BY: JANET BRICE

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December 2021

PRODUCED BY: CRAIG KILLINGBACK

TELUS

technologymagazine.com

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TELUS

I

TELUS is harnessing the power of network softwarisation to build a better future for its 16 million customers across Canada

found out that if you are going to win games, you had better be ready to adapt,” is a famous quote from record-breaking Canadian ice hockey coach, Scotty Bowman.

These words resonate as much in the telco industry today as they do in sports, with one of Canada’s leading communication and IT companies, TELUS, working to ensure they remain agile to the needs of their 16m customers from the Atlantic to British Columbia.

This is no mean feat for TELUS when you consider the world’s second largest country covering 9.98 million square kilometres. In 2020 TELUS was recognised as the fastest wireless network in the world. The company reports CAN$16 billion in annual revenue.

In a country that stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the focus on sustainability is paramount. TELUS reinvests 5% of its profits back into communities, connecting Canadians in need and committing to become a zerowaste, carbon neutral company by 2030 and working “to make the future friendly, together”. TELUS was named the most giving company in the world, leveraging its world-leading technology and compassion to drive social change and enable remarkable human outcomes.

By the end of the year, more than 70% of the Canadian population will experience TELUS’ fast 5G network, providing speeds 82

December 2021

up to 1.7 Gbps. It is estimated 5G will create 250,000 jobs and contribute CAN$150 billion to Canada’s economy over the next 20 years, which could be key to Canada’s fiscal recovery.

“If I were to summarise what TELUS offers in one word, I would say connectivity,” said Ali Tizghadam, Principal Technology Architect/Network Softwarisation Lead at TELUS, who is keen to discuss how network softwarisation and cloudification is shaping the company’s digital strategy.

“The meaning of connectivity has evolved within the industry from a simple physical connectivity to a connectivity in the context of connected societies and connected citizens,'' commented Tizghadam. “That's why TELUS is also offering services such as technology solutions for agriculture and health, smart cities, Internet of Things (IoT) and network slicing. Connectivity should now be considered part of Maslow’s Hierarchy of human needs along with food and shelter and that is our focus at TELUS to ensure those in need are all connected.”

Nazim Benhadid, VP of Network Infrastructure and Virtualization at TELUS, said: "Digital transformation and automation opens a world of possibilities which, combined with our strong culture and the commitment of our team members, allows us to spearhead innovation and deliver exceptional outcomes to our customers.”

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TELUS

Keeping Canadians connected

Instantiating connectivity Tizghadam pointed out how the telco world is changing rapidly. The need for instantiating connectivity as a service on-demand for a specific time slot has come and manifests in different forms, such as bandwidth calendaring service. For example, one could ask for a network slice with dedicated mobile core to offer a high capacity mobility service between 6-10pm for a hockey game at a sports centre in downtown Toronto.

“The ability to create such a service requires a programmable network underlay and its software-defined service overlay creation platform,” observed Tizghadam.

“The network must be able to self-tune - we need to build self-driving networks.

This in turn requires new foundations to be built and some traditional approaches to networking must evolve, or sometimes even revolve, to make the shift possible.

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We built these required foundations by carefully following our network softwarisation strategy.”

He pointed out that TELUS has a rich infrastructure that offers different layers of connectivity.

“We have an impressively large fibre footprint which enables us to provide connectivity highways for customers. This includes different types of access networks, enabling, heterogeneous set of service points for customers and a wide range of mobile services.

“I would like to shed a bit more light on this aspect of connectivity that might have been less at the centre, but it is important.

Nowadays connected society is probably the most important type of connectivity that every service provider or hyperscaler is working on.

“We are investing significantly in smart city initiatives that can help build a better connected society and we have also

TELUS

ALI TIZGHADAM TITLE: P RINCIPAL TECHNOLOGY ARCHITECT / NETWORK SOFTWARISATION LEAD INDUSTRY: TELECOMMUNICATIONS

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: CANADA Ali Tizghadam has been with TELUS in full-time capacity from April 2013. He is a Principal Technology Architect focusing on Network Softwarisation including AIbased network analytics. In the last few years aside from normal daily support for their engineers and architects, Tizghadam has been leading the design and development of TELUS’s SDN brain, which is called TINAA (TELUS Intelligent Network Analytics and Automation ecosystem). Tizghadam holds PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Toronto. He is a frequent speaker and contributor in conferences and standard bodies. His interests span SDN, NFV, Multi-layer orchestration, AI / ML, smart city, IoT, 5G, network slicing, DevOps

“ WORKING WITH COMMUNITIES IS IN THE DNA OF TELUS” ALI TIZGHADAM

PRINCIPAL TECHNOLOGY ARCHITECT / NETWORK SOFTWARISATION LEAD, TELUS

entered into home automation and home security business to enhance the portfolio of the services centred around connected citizens.”

Network softwarisation Tizghadam has been driving the network digital transformation at TELUS for about nine years and explained how he is using network softwarisation to benefit customers.

“Networks softwarisation is the art of separating the life cycle of software pieces that are used to create network functions, protocols, and services from the hardware,” remarked Tizghadam . “One part of network softwarisation addresses the question of how to manage a softwarised network while the other part makes an effort to find strategies for softwarisation of network management.

“An integral part of a softwarised network is the concept of network functions as atomic foundational blocks of networking.

Red Hat: Transforming partnerships through technology Gino Grano, VP of Telco, Media and Entertainment for the Americas at Red Hat, tells us how they are impacting customers today, for tomorrow Red Hat, the world’s leading provider of enterprise open source solutions, including high-performing Linux, cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies, is playing a major role in connecting companies through the latest innovative technologies.

Digital transformation Grano believes that while many companies have struggled to operate remotely, Red Hat has long be a proponent of the practice. Because they are so used to operating under these conditions, communicating with and managing customer expectations has been ‘work as usual’.

“At Red Hat, because we’re an open source company and we are used to working with the open source community, this remote world in which we are communicating mostly with screens and not face-to-face is something that we not only are used to, but that we excel at.”

New technology and the cloud

Gino Grano, Red Hat’s VP of Telco, Media and Entertainment for the Americas, plays a key role in managing strategic collaborations between industry leaders. He works with customers in the area of digital transformation and automation, assisting them in modernising their networks as well as their IT.

As Red Hat looks forward into the future, really, the company is looking to scale its organisation and find a way of driving the adoption of open source technologies, much more prevalent across all industries and different areas within that space.

Currently, Red Hat is partnered with TELUS, the Canadian communications giant that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, voice, entertainment, healthcare, video, and IPTV television.

The move is a bold one, and will involve helping more customers with the adoption of a hybrid cloud architecture. “Customers are working towards modernising their applications and moving to a development model that is much more cloud native,” says Grano.

It’s been a productive experience for both parties, says Grano, who points out that the past two years has been a huge learning curve that has resulted in unprecedented progress.

“Our hope in working with customers like TELUS is that we can truly drive business value to help in their transformation of their businesses, basically so that they can serve their customers in a way that’s automated, cost effective and provides them with a significant amount of choice moving forward,” he explains.

He adds, “So we’re focussed on automation, focussed on hybrid cloud and focussed on the introduction of AI and machine learning, to enable that feedback and implement the corrective actions moving forward.”

Learn more

TELUS

“ THE NETWORK MUST BE ABLE TO SELF-TUNE ITSELF - IN A SENSE WE NEED TO BUILD SELF-DRIVING NETWORKS” ALI TIZGHADAM

PRINCIPAL TECHNOLOGY ARCHITECT / NETWORK SOFTWARISATION LEAD, TELUS

DID YOU KNOW...

FUTURE-FRIENDLY FOUNDATION Founded in 2018, the Future-friendly Foundation is an independent registered charity with TELUS as its founding donor. The mission is to help connect youngsters to a world of opportunities by supporting Canadian organisations that offer health, education or technology programs.

Thanks to TELUS all administrative expenses are covered, with 100% of donations going directly to Canadian registered charities. Funding priorities include: • Supporting at-risk youth through increased access to health and educational programming

“The main objective is to create a more friendly future for vulnerable Canadians, especially the • Promoting innovative use of technology youth to thrive in a digital world,” commented Ali Tizghadam, Principal Technology Architect • Providing immediate care to communities / Network Softwarisation Lead at TELUS. needing critical disaster relief

TELUS SCOOPS TOP AWARDS In Opensignal’s first Canada 5G User Experience Report 2021, which analysed Canada’s next-generation networks, TELUS took home six awards including Fastest 5G Download and Upload Speeds, Best 5G Video Experience, Best Voice App Experience and Best 5G Availability nationwide. Additionally, TELUS recently earned the top spot in Ookla’s 2021 Fastest Mobile Network.

These achievements, along with the numerous, sustained accolades TELUS has earned over the years, showcase the strength and speed of TELUS’ globalleading mobile network.

These blocks can be virtualised and used in different environments. In other words, here we talk about Virtual Network Functions (VNF) and Network Function Virtualisation infrastructure (NFVi). This is all about how to coordinate among multitudes of VNFs and Cloud-native Network Functions (CNFs).

However, the control and overall management of the network is a different story.”

Commenting on how important network softwarisation is to the digital journey of TELUS, Tizghadam pointed out the challenges of modernising legacy applications in relation to network cloudification.

“The challenge lies in modernising our networks through cloudification and accelerating the time to production release with the limitation of not being able to easily migrate, or replace, all legacy workloads with cloud-native equivalents at once.

“A good cloudification strategy should be able to build a bridge between two silos: the silo of legacy applications that you want to modernise and the silo of new modern cloud-native workloads. Towards finding that strategy, the first thing to keep in mind is that cloud is not just another location where you plan to migrate your workload to, cloud is rather a new method. To address the two-silos problem, one effective approach is to build an abstraction layer by creating a unified software development pipeline, where you have put together all you need to deliver code safely and reliably to the production. The abstraction layer enables us to use the same pipeline to push the code to production, both for cloud native workload, as well as legacy.

“At TELUS, this is what we try to achieve in our cloudification programme and more generally in our network softwarisation.” technologymagazine.com

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WHAT SETS TELUS APART? TELUS, supports meaningful change in communities, this means ensuring equal access to technology, promoting its responsible use, and putting world-leading solutions to work for good.

Social purpose TELUS gives 5% of their pre-tax profits back to communities. Connecting Canadians in need and protecting the planet with zero waste and carbon neutrality by 2030.

DID YOU KNOW...

Empowering Canadians with connectivity TELUS helps to ensure all Canadians have equal access to the technology they need.

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Creating a more sustainable future Through investments in innovative technologies like 5G and sustainable business practices, TELUS is working to build a better future for the next generation.

Phones for Good™ Donate preloved phones and tablets at

December 2021

a TELUS store and they will upcycle them to help Canadians in need or responsibly recycle them and keep them out of landfills.

Powering smarter cities Through our Smart Cities solutions TELUS is leveraging emerging technologies like 5G to transform urban areas into safer, greener cities.

Innovating in healthcare By applying innovative technologies to improve access to healthcare, TELUS is helping Canadians live healthier lives.

High customer satisfaction TELUS customers enjoy the highest satisfaction and loyalty in the industry either online, over the phone or face-to-face.

Streamlining health records and data Ten years ago TELUS invested in removing data silos and linking systems together, today they are a leading provider of EMR (electronic medical records) software solutions.

TELUS

leverage the power of AI and machine learning techniques to bring us closer to realising the dream of having a self-driven network.”

TELUS Intelligent Network Analytics and Automation ecosystem (TINAA) Tizghadam has been leading the design and development of TELUS’s SDN brain called TINAA. “As the name suggests, TINAA is an operating system for automation that we have built on top of our current cloudified network to enable creation and control of services,” commented Tizghadam.

“Within the TINAA ecosystem, the abstraction layer and pipeline to address the two-silos problem is created and is getting more and more mature. We try to follow the same concept in other parts of our cloud program. It is also clear that cultural changes are required in addition to the technical shifts, such as changes in the processes that have been in place for a long time and changes in the ways we organise teams and build trust.

“TINAA also helps to create network applications that can automatically control the performance of the network under different unexpected changes. These applications

Connectivity at the heart of healthcare TELUS Health is Canada’s leader in digital health technology, improving access to health and wellness services and revolutionising the flow of health information.

“At the heart of every good healthcare system is proper connectivity; connectivity at the right time, in the right place and for the right person, or device,” reflected Tizghadam as he explained how TELUS Health supported this sector during the global pandemic.

What TELUS Health offers is a portfolio of services and applications connecting healthcare professionals such as doctors, nurses, patients and pharmacists. It streamlines many automation workflows, such as prescription refills, getting medical test results or updating patient records.

The ultimate goal is empowering patients to manage their own health by providing services, optimising waiting times and improving medication management.

From a technology perspective, even before the proliferation of IoT, TELUS has been leveraging sensors and concepts of IoT in healthcare. During the pandemic, one of the major areas of focus has been providing remote healthcare by leveraging software defined WAN solutions.

According to Tizghadam, TELUS has been ahead of the game even before the pandemic, as the company had already adopted a hybrid working model for their staff. “There is a four-hour time difference between the east and west coast so we were already using collaboration tools on a daily basis. As a result, it was relatively easy for team technologymagazine.com

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Experience-Driven Automation across the Service Lifecycle

Plan, orchestrate, and assure with intent-driven automation.

LEARN MORE

Experien Automati the Servi Telecommunications company, TELUS manages more than 16 million customer connections across wireless, residential network access lines, high-speed internet and television. Juniper Networks is working with TELUS to automate their network test certification process, reducing their certification time from several weeks to a few days.

services organisation, and some of our software tools, to accelerate and automate test certification.”

“Juniper has been a partner of TELUS for many years and we’ve had a great role to play in building their network and delivery of their services.

We’re excited to partner in this new world of network automation which will help to simplify and speed up the processes.”

“Our partnership with TELUS enabled them to offer better quality of services and faster time to service introduction,” said Brendan Gibbs, Vice President, Automated WAN Solutions at Juniper Networks.

•

Leader of networking and security solutions in the Cloud + AI + 5G era

•

9,500+ employees

•

120+ locations in 50 countries

“One of the problems the industry has is test certification can take weeks, depending on the customer, and use case. Juniper partners with TELUS on our professional

“I think the industry needs to automate the entire endto-end service life cycle,” comments Gibbs.

Juniper Networks: • Founded in 1996

“Automation can help onboard customers rapidly

and assure the quality of experience. A study showed that 60-65% of problems were discovered by the end users, not the service provider.”

To help with these types of silent failures Juniper has introduced a suite of software applications that deliver closed-loop automation to translate business intent into service performance across the service delivery lifecycle: plan, orchestrate (design, implement, operate), assure, correlate, and optimise.“Customers can move up the stack to higher value functions. We’re now in an experience-first era of networking and that’s what Paragon aims to help with.”

Plan, orchestrate intent-driven au LEARN MORE

members to move to working from home when the Covid-19 pandemic hit globally in March 2020.”

However, he pointed out there were some interesting effects as the source of traffic shifted abruptly from business to rural locations. “At the beginning, some of the AI engines were confused and identified rural traffic as abnormal traffic which was quickly resolved.

“Traffic monitoring capabilities of our network infrastructure helped us be on top of changes, even in the presence of sudden traffic shifts. One more thing I would like to highlight is TELUS's contribution to research work amid the pandemic. We contributed to the work in different ways. For instance, we provided a large pile of data, which we call 94

December 2021

data for good, for academic-related research projects, focusing on addressing COVID related issues.”

Working with communities is in the DNA of TELUS Driven by a passionate social purpose to connect all citizens for good, the TELUS philosophy is to give where you live and this has inspired their team members and retirees to contribute more than CAN$820m and 1.6m days of service since 2000. This unprecedented generosity and unparalleled volunteerism have made TELUS one of the most giving companies in the world.

Commenting on how TELUS works with communities Tizghadam said: “Working with communities is in the DNA of TELUS. We have days of giving when our global

TELUS

volunteer movement brings together team members, retirees, families, friends, customers, and fellow citizens to give back and make positive impacts in our communities.

“One brilliant example is the activity initiated by our team members to make the sea plastic-free. They spent hundreds of hours to make sure our sea stayed clean.

Planting trees is another popular activity on our days of giving,” he said.

“ NETWORKS SOFTWARISATION IS THE ART OF SEPARATING THE LIFE CYCLE OF SOFTWARE PIECES THAT ARE USED TO CREATE NETWORK FUNCTIONS, PROTOCOLS, AND SERVICES FROM THE HARDWARE” ALI TIZGHADAM

PRINCIPAL TECHNOLOGY ARCHITECT / NETWORK SOFTWARISATION LEAD, TELUS

Power of partnerships Tizghadam highlighted the importance of partners like Juniper Networks and Red Hat who he says both align to the strategy at TELUS. Tizghadam pointed out one of their recent partnership activities with Juniper Networks is centred around test automation, specifically regression and conformance testing, which saves TELUS money on these time-consuming tasks and greatly improves time to market.

“We have leveraged Juniper's NITA product, based on an open source which is called Robot and we are currently finalising knowledge transfer and the first phase of deployment.

In this initial phase, there has been a piece of development that is done for us to provide custom APIs that we have asked to be consumed within TINNA applications.”

Tizghadam outlined how Juniper Networks has helped TELUS overcome some of their business challenges, especially regression test automation - which can sometimes take three to six months.

“Test regression and test conformance have been among major sources of operation expenses for us. With the emergence of software-defined networking, the automation of test cases also started to come around.

Our partnership with Juniper is exactly in this domain, we leveraged the Juniper test automation suite to address part of our regression test issues by automation.” technologymagazine.com

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FOCUS ON TELUS HEALTH, AGRICULTURE AND INTERNATIONAL TELUS Health is Canada’s leader in digital health technology, improving access to health and wellness services and revolutionising the flow of health information across the continuum of care.

TELUS Agriculture provide innovative digital solutions throughout the agriculture value chain, supporting better food outcomes from improved agri-business data insights and processes.

TELUS International is a leading digital customer experience innovator that delivers next-generation AI and content management solutions for global brands across the technology and games, ecommerce and FinTech, communications and media, healthcare, travel and hospitality sectors.

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TELUS

“WE HAVE AN IMPRESSIVELY LARGE FIBRE FOOTPRINT WHICH ENABLES US TO PROVIDE CONNECTIVITY HIGHWAYS FOR CUSTOMERS” ALI TIZGHADAM

PRINCIPAL TECHNOLOGY ARCHITECT / NETWORK SOFTWARISATION LEAD, TELUS

Commenting on TELUS strategic partnership with Red Hat, Tizghadam said they are one of the strongest providers of supported open source software particularly in cloudification.

“Red Hat OpenStack edition has been the main operating system for our NFV on-premise infrastructure from the inception in 2016 and Red Hat OpenShift has also been extensively used within our infrastructure to provide part of containeras-a-service solutions for our tenants.”

Focus on an agile future TELUS is focused on delivering more products to help achieve their dream of connected society and connected citizens.

“We will continue strengthening our 5G-oriented portfolio of services from a customers' perspective and will invest on smart city initiatives, and IoT platforms.

Internally, we derive more network softwarisation strategy with focus on leveraging learning-based techniques to move step-by-step towards realising the dream of having a self-driving network, and we try to get closer to becoming a platformoriented company with highest emphasis on reliability. This requires a detailed technology evolution roadmap. It will also

require some culture changes along the way.

For example, we have started to change our development practises towards adopting agile methodologies and from three years ago we focused more on embracing DevOps models for practises in this cultural journey.

“We have faced challenges and opportunities that we will try to take advantage of. Agile is an adjective and requires the name qualifier, but for a long time we have been just using the term agile without any qualifier.

The result is that we have focused more on the things that are between the common denominators of all agile methodologies for example, sprint planning; this was necessary, but not sufficient. We should take this to the next level and introduce more focused changes for areas like agile software development, and agile capacity planning.

“During the next 18 months we will continue to evolve based on the strategy of becoming a platform-oriented service provider and enable the creation of over-the-top applications and services. We will also continue contributing to standard bodies to make sure in next steps of evolution our view is heard more globally.”

technologymagazine.com

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IN THE WORLD OF IIoT

As an increasing amount of data is captured, sent and stored; we explore how industry is using this as an asset to operate more efficiently WRITTEN BY: ALEX TUCK 98

December 2021

AI & FEATURE DATA ANALYTICS HEADER

part of a distributed IIoT platform. It can improve asset management decision making, operational visibility and control for plants, depots, infrastructure and equipment within asset-intensive industries.

Data types within the IIoT Crucially for a number of start-ups and small businesses, industrial applications provide the opportunity to deploy innovative sensor-based technologies and data analytics services; offering up the potential for lucrative contracts with enterprise and government supply chains who must collect and optimise vast amounts of data.

Below are examples of data types that IIoT devices might collect:

here once the internet of things (IoT) was just a buzzword doing the rounds in technological publications, it now plays such an active role in our everyday lives, with the data it collects offering priceless insights to help individuals save time, energy, and money. But it is within the scale of entire industries and in the industrial internet of things (IIoT), or Industry 4.0, that integrated software platforms are making transformative operational efficiencies.

According to Gartner, the IIoT platform software that resides on devices — such as controllers, routers, access points, gateways and edge computing systems — is considered

• Automation data (lights, thermostats, traffic signals) • Status data is something on or off? If there are spaces left etc • Location data package tracking, equipment tracking, lost mobiles) • Processing IoT Data standardise data to a uniform format, backups, filter out, integrate structured and unstructured data from other sources to enrich data sets • IoT Data Analytics Applying data analysis tools or procedures to the data types IoT devices generate • Prescriptive analytics is a combination of descriptive and predictive analysis • Spatial analytics determines spatial relationship between physical objects, including parking applications, smart cars, and crop planning • Streaming analytics event stream processing such as traffic analysis, air trafficking, and the tracking of financial transactions • Time series analytics reveals any anomalies, patterns, or trends, such as healthmonitoring and weather-monitoring systems technologymagazine.com

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AI & DATA ANALYTICS

“Offices must. become more. organised,. responsive and. adaptable to. accommodate. hybrid work”.

Building on existing infrastructures, not from scratch Tristan Foureur, CTO and co-founder of WeMaintain, that uses IoT-enabled sensors to collect data on how and when elevators, escalators and fire alarm systems are used, said that: “IoT data management removes the inefficiency of manual approaches.

These are becoming the go-to costeffective solution for problems spanning every sector. By next year, 50 billion enabled devices will be in use around the world.

“The practical advantage of IoT systems is that the hardware offers a viable solution for legacy infrastructure; rather than gutting and rebuilding entire structures, small sensors can be fitted onto existing equipment to monitor how they work. Because the devices are largely autonomous and can constantly collect data, they make traditional databases obsolete.

“IoT data management is by far the most effective way of gathering information quickly and reliably for the cost involved. Compared to traditional approaches, IoT data management is precise, predictive and proportionate, collating data to inform decisions about how equipment is used and maintained.”

ELIANE LUGASSY

FOUNDER, WITCO

The path to success is not without significant challenges in managing all the different kinds of data, with overlapping systems that may be collecting structured (patterned) data and unstructured data which includes everything else.

As Fourier explains: “Those using IoT for data management will also have to connect potentially distinct systems together to make sense of complex data. IoT data management can be incredibly efficient but the process of joining up its parts requires skilled managers.

“Because the technology fits the space and not the other way around, the scope of IoT is limitless but users must be clear in what they want to measure. To make this model attractive to businesses, providers will have to offer bespoke, segmented analysis based on need and clear communication with stakeholders. IoT grows around the systems we already have in place. In the future, we can expect diverse applications as IoT becomes the flexible template solution for modern problems.” technologymagazine.com

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The 5G network and improving connectivity IoT may have existed since the 1980s, but as costs have gone down and advances in cloud computing and 5G have largely moved the technology along, it has become far easier, faster and cheaper to collect and store data.

Physical hurdles such as power cables are also being tackled by the likes of Ericsson and PowerLight Technologies, who recently claimed to have demonstrated the world’s first safe and fully wireless powered 5G base station. Its laser-based technology uses ‘optical beaming’ to convert electricity into high-intensity light, which is then captured and transformed to electricity at the radio base station. Wireless power could also support automated guided vehicles and drones, as well as devices like IoT sensors and lamps. It’s expected to become commercially available in the next few years.

In an industry where productivity is a major business objective, the cost of software, the lack of standardisation and a short supply of developer talent mean there is so much more to be gained from implementing Industrial IoT programmes. Edge devices, with their own languages and resource constraints, can benefit from industry-agnostic collaborative projects such as thin-edge.io, which suggest that product manufacturers need secure cloud and hardware agnostic connectivity; robust device management and monitoring.

“ The use of small IoT sensors that simply .peel and stick have.revolutionised data .management into a seamless experience” WILLIAM COWELL DE GRUCHY CEO, INFOGRID

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4.7bn

By 2030 there will be 4.7 billion wireless modules across smart manufacturing floors, with a value of over US$ 1 trillion.

94%

By the end of 2021, Microsoft has predicted over 94% of businesses will use IoT in some shape or form.

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TOP 10 IOT BENEFITS SOURCE: MICROSOFT IOT SIGNALS REPORT 2021 INCREASE EFFICIENCY

INCREASE YEILD

IMPROVE QUALITY

91%

91%

85%

IMPROVES OVERALL EFFICIENCY

55%

ALLOWS TEAM TO BE MORE PRODUCTIVE

42%

35%

HELPS ME BE BETTER 33%

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INCREASES REVENUE

36%

REDUCES BUSINESS EXPENSES

35%

OF CUSTOMER OFFERINGS

27%

ENABLES NEW REVENUE STREAMS 26%

ENABLES NEW TYPES OF BUSINESS MODELS

39%

ENABLES NEW TYPES

INFORMED AND MAKE BETTER BUSINESS DECISIONS

WITH COST SAVINGS

26%

REDUCED CHANCE

45%

FOR HUMAN ERROR

PROVIDES MY BUSINESS

SAVES TIME FOR TEAM TO FOCUS EFFORTS ELSEWHERE

INCREASES PRODUCTION CAPACITY 43%

INCREASES CUSTOMER

44%

SATISFACTION INCREASES COMPANY'S COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

41%

.“Smart buildings. .are the future.and. .boost the economy. .by .reducing the. .costs of running. .the public. .sector estate”.

NICK SACKE

HEAD OF IOT SOLUTIONS, COMMS365

The collaboration allows enterprises to shorten time-to-market, reduce in-life software management overhead and future-proof their products.

Nick Sacke, Head of IoT Solutions at Comms365, who design, build, integrate and operate specialist networks by combining products from a portfolio of SD-WAN, IoT, Bonded Internet and 4G network services, believes IoT technologies and the use of data can boost and support industries and the wider economy to unlock more efficient and sustainable production cycles, as well as offering greater insights into product value and optimisation to help businesses to survive in the short term and thrive in the future.

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flow; supporting connections of one million devices per square kilometre.

By supercharging the potential of IoT with new 5G networks; connected buildings, vehicles, transport infrastructure and healthcare devices could all benefit from the value this enhanced connectivity will bring. 5G could help to revolutionise

“ In the future, we can expect diverse applications as IoT becomes the flexible template solution for modern problems” TRISTAN FOUREUR

CTO AND CO-FOUNDER, WEMAINTAIN

traffic and congestion management, in turn, reducing delays and allowing quicker access for emergency services.

Smart buildings are the future, and postCOVID-19, can help to boost the economy by reducing the costs of running the public sector estate, such as the introduction of smart lighting and optimising the use of air conditioning,” Sacke explained.

With a nation now familiarised with remote working, facilities management is growing in importance in the home too, according to Sacke: “For facilities managers, the monitoring of indoor environmental conditions and ventilation systems is now part of the service portfolio.”

Buildings are a data goldmine Commercial and residential buildings are transforming their spaces to be more serviced and collaborative. According 106

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to Eliane Lugassy, Founder of French proptech Witco: "Offices must become more organised, responsive and adaptable to accommodate hybrid work.

HRs must invest in digital technologies to support shared workspaces and respond to the bespoke and changing needs of employees, who for many months have grown used to home working. Flexibility and experience will be key as we return to the office and mobile or desktop technology must support these assets at all times."

CEO of Infogrid, William Cowell de Gruchy, believes there are missed opportunities within real estate for asset management: “Buildings are the largest asset class in the world, yet are a data black hole.

For the vast number of buildings the only source of data is humans regularly travelling to site and taking notes on clipboards.

As Cowell de Gruchy explains, costs are hemorrhaging in this space: “These compliance checks are costly and labour intensive, not to mention environmentally detrimental. The use of small IoT

sensors that simply peel and stick have revolutionised data management into a seamless experience. Monitoring a building in real time allows facilities teams to proactively react to issues that arise, rather than wasting time constantly checking fully functional equipment on the off chance of finding a problem. Data driven maintenance is the necessary step forward, it allows more time for facilities managers to maximise efficiency using real time intelligence that improve operational efficiencies and in turn reduce costs.” technologymagazine.com

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SEIZE THE DAY TO CREATE A GREEN BUSINESS MODEL WRITTEN BY: JANET BRICE

PRODUCED BY: GLEN WHITE 108

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How sustainable experiences and a connected world drives profitability for Tech Mahindra clients as they embark on their post-pandemic digital journey

S

eize the post-pandemic-day to create a green business model.

This is the message from Sandeep Chandna, Chief Sustainability Officer at Tech Mahindra a US$5.1bn company - that believes sustainable experiences can power change for good, and not at the cost of profitability.

“Climate change has become a reality.

All of us have to make a concerted effort to resolve this together, it can't be a one-man show, or a one company show, it has to be a collaborative approach,” said Chandna.

“The organisations that succeed in years to come will be those who have embedded sustainability into the core of their operations. Businesses have to be responsive towards moving into a green business model in order to combat global climate change.”

As keynote speaker at Sustainability LIVE, Chandna will share further insights from Tech Mahindra on how they are working with global clients to create a future which is both sustainable and profitable.

People, plant and profit Tech Mahindra is focused on leveraging next-generation technologies including 5G, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), blockchain, and cybersecurity to enable digital transformation while ensuring their clients incorporate green initiatives to benefit their people, plant and profits.

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Chief Sustainability Officer, Sandeep Chandna,

Example of an image caption technologymagazine.com

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A Tribute To The Tech Mahindra Culture

“ The organisations that succeed in years to come will be those who have embedded sustainability into the core of their operations” SANDEEP CHANDNA

CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER, TECH MAHINDRA

Tech Mahindra is a company that practices what it preaches. For instance, when you log on to their website run on dark mode by default – it shows a saving of 10.1 kW since 2020 and read that their ‘Green Marshals ’ have planted 65,000+ trees till date.

Despite being one of the fastest growing brands among the top 15 IT service providers globally, sustainability is in the DNA of Indiabased Tech Mahindra, which is driving 112

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connected businesses with sustainable experiences. “We share our best practices with our customers, and we look at how we can share knowledge that brings improvements for both the organisation and its customers” comments Chandna.

Founded in 1986, Tech Mahindra is part of the Mahindra group, which is one of the largest multinational federation of companies with more than 2,60,000 employees in 100 countries.

How Tech Mahindra is RISING above the ordinary to combine strategy and sustainability to build a green future: • Turning to renewable energy (RE) (from 1.77% in FY 2015-16 to 21.2% in FY 2020-21) to achieve ecological balance • Investments remain in the green • Profitability aligned with principles - the company has saved more than US$2 million through sustainable initiatives

TECH MAHINDRA

• Sustainability-approved milestones of becoming Carbon neutral by 2030 and increase sourcing from Renewable Energy to 50% by 2025 and 90% by 2030

Trigger of the pandemic for digital transformation Chandna pointed out that the global pandemic was undoubtedly the biggest driver of technology adoption with most of the Tech Mahindra workforce having to work from home but with “no major customer escalations at any point of time.”

“Companies had to be adaptable, flexible, agile, and resilient. Digital working is now a way of life and it is predicted that 65% of the world’s GDP is set to be digitised by 2022 which could be almost 6.8 trillion by 2023,” commented Chandna who pointed out it was now time for companies to seize the

TITLE: CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER INDUSTRY: IT AND SERVICES LOCATION: INDIA

EXECUTIVE BIO

“Tech Mahindra is focused on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) globally. It is enabling both rural prosperity and enhancing urban living with the goal to drive positive change,” said Chandna.

“When you hear the name Tech Mahindra, you see a company with purpose both with sustainability and individual social responsibility. We are proud to be recognised among the top 100 sustainable companies in the world this year by Corporate Knights. That gives us the confidence that we are moving on the right track.”

Chandna has passionately led the sustainability agenda from the initiation stage at Tech Mahindra for 14 years. “I’ve been very lucky that I got the opportunity to put in these green goals at the grassroots level. Over the years, we have been able to set up a structure, we have seen regular improvements and we have really accomplished something very important.”

SANDEEP CHANDNA

Sandeep Chandna is a versatile, goal driven, resultsoriented executive leader with diverse background in multiple sectors with a proven track record of 25 years in IT & IT Services, Oil & Gas and Infrastructure industry. With more than a decade of experience in the area of EHS and Corporate Sustainability, Sandeep has led the Sustainability agenda from the initiation stage at Tech Mahindra to its Leadership position today. He has been instrumental in several key policy advocacy initiatives, leading a diverse stakeholder base and is being recognised by the national and international agencies.

TECH MAHINDRA

Pune Windmill

Mahindra Group - driving a RISE for good Tech Mahindra is part of the Mahindra Group, which has a strong focus on renewable energy, agriculture, logistics, hospitality and real estate.

Founded in 1945, the Mahindra Group has a clear focus on leading ESG globally, enabling rural prosperity and enhancing urban living, with a goal to drive positive change in the lives of communities and stakeholders to enable them to RISE .

It is one of the largest multinational federation of companies with 260,000 employees in more than 100 countries and is the world’s largest tractor company by volume.

Solar Power Plant at Pune

DID YOU KNOW? How Tech Mahindra harnesses technology in a sustainable way At Tech Mahindra, growth leading to a sustainable future is a never-ending journey.

Nurturing the technologies of the future, such as cloud, 5G and investing in blockchain has helped to net deals in Healthcare and BPS sectors along with acquisitions.

BPS, cloud and digital engineering are all driving growth. Tech Mahindra expects double-digit growth from the cloud adoption business, while 5G and blockchain will bring new growth frontiers. The key focus will be on the blockchain-led initiatives such as digital payments, government-to-citizen services, and digital identities.

Tech Mahindra formed a Cloud Advisory Board of 30 members divided across EMEA, America and the APAC regions.

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“ Tech Mahindra is focused on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) globally. It is enabling both rural prosperity and enhancing urban living with the goal to drive positive change” SANDEEP CHANDNA

CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER, TECH MAHINDRA

moment to incorporate sustainability into their digital transformation.

“The pandemic has triggered a discussion on what we really value and highlighted the extent of local interconnectedness. As a result, we regard the future as an opportunity to rebuild economies with a focus on ESG. COVID-19 has hit almost every industry and it is important every leader believes that clean energy investments could spur recovery from economic devastation that accompanied the pandemic.”

“There has been a major shift to clean energy with companies pledging to reduce or eliminate their carbon emissions. Big companies have also announced modifying their executive bonuses to be based on

Hyderabad TMTC

environmental issues of 2021. So, you can see how sustainability is being incorporated into the digital transformation.”

Focus on 5G, cloud, AI and IoT for a sustainable future Chandna pointed out technologies like 5G and AI are going to play an increasingly important role in reducing harmful emissions for global organisations.

“Companies are strategising ways to decarbonise their business models to create a greener future. Digital transformation powered by 5G, cloud, AI and IoT offers the best ways to meet these goals. Technology has been defining the role to address some of the grievous challenges faced by the planet and humanity, said Chandna who pointed out Tech Mahindra is working on their innovation platform IRS to offer solutions for their customers and society. technologymagazine.com

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“Technology will definitely enable the sustainable transformation for most businesses post-pandemic,” said Chandna who provided some examples of how these emerging technologies can reduce carbon emissions: • Implementing 5G solutions in the UK manufacturing sector has a potential to save almost 14 megatons of carbon emissions by 2035 (A Greener Connected Future, O2) • The UK’s NHS reported initiatives of moving email servers to cloud and improving it's digital infrastructure could reduce almost 4,000 tonnes of carbon emissions • Implementing AI solutions during the initial outbreak of COVID-19 - doctors were able to speed up the analysis of data, allowing for quick turnaround of diagnosis and vaccinations • Use of drones to deliver vaccinations to rural communities

“ When you speak of Tech Mahindra you are talking about a company with purpose for both sustainability and individual social responsibility.

We are proud to be recognised among the top 100 sustainable companies in the world this year by Corporate Knights. That gives us the confidence that we are moving on the right track” SANDEEP CHANDNA

CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER, TECH MAHINDRA

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Low carbon energy installations 250KWp Solar Power Plant at Pune

1986

Year Founded

US$ 5.1 bn Revenue

141,100+

Number of Employees Operating in

90

countries

1123

Global customers including Fortune 500 companies

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“These are just a few examples of how emerging technologies are reducing carbon emissions. At Tech Mahindra we are playing a major role in looking at how we can help our customers reduce their carbon emissions.”

Human-centric experience with NXT.NOW framework Tech Mahindra has launched a NXT. NOW framework, which aims to enhance the ‘human centric experience’ for their

ecosystem and drive collaborative disruption with synergies arising from a robust portfolio of companies.

“This will allow us to collaborate on creating value and building scale for our joint customers through rapid prototyping and development of next generation low-code, no-code apps across 5G, IoT AI, ML, and the customer experience,” said Chandna.

“It will also identify specific opportunities and build industry solutions for keywords, in communication, media and entertainment,

Tech Mahindra – Chennai TMCC

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TECH MAHINDRA

“ COVID-19 has hit almost every industry and it is important for every leader to believe that clean energy investments could spur recovery from economic devastation that accompanied the pandemic” SANDEEP CHANDNA

CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER, TECH MAHINDRA

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SUSTAINABILITY LIVE EVENT BizClik Media Group – publisher of Sustainability Magazine – is excited to announce the launch of its ground-breaking Sustainability LIVE event.

It all takes place on 23-24 February 2022 at Tobacco Dock – London's premier 'upcycled' venue. Indeed, the only thing that will be smoking is Sustainability LIVE's inspirational sessions, speakers and stages.

During the two days, the allencompassing event will cover every aspect of Global ESG, Diversity & Inclusion, Global Equality, Net Zero Strategies and Renewable Energy. It will also feature a unique stage entirely dedicated to the most pressing subject within the corporate ecosystem – Supply Chain Sustainability.

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energy, and utility, and to accelerate crossindustry adoption.”

He also stressed that it was time to focus on carbon pricing mechanisms. “All the green initiatives that we speak about need some kind of funds. It is high time that we bring in carbon pricing mechanisms for these sustainability efforts and see how they progress in green business, so that funds don't become an issue for businesses.”

Tech Mahindra shows its green credentials The ultimate goal of Tech Mahindra was to be among the top five IT companies and top three IT companies within India by 2021 which they have achieved. “We were very clear on how we wanted to achieve this with responsible business growth and enhanced operational eco-efficiency along with being recognised by others as a top brand to work for.

“Our customers give more preference to the vendors who can show their green credentials,” said Chandna who stressed that Tech Mahindra is the only company which is listed in Carbon Clean 200 and ranked #1 in India in the list of World’s 100 Most Sustainable Corporations by Corporate Knights. .

“We are constantly rated among the highest, whether it is for sustainability or for our eco-ideas - that brings an added advantage in the marketplace as this is a company with a good ESG performance, which is dependable, has the right practices and good global policies in place.”

Tech Mahindra not only has all the attributes above, but also a passionate advocate and speaker in Chandna who we look forward to hearing from next year at Sustainability LIVE. Come and join us.

“ At Tech Mahindra we are playing a major role in looking at how we can help our customers reduce their carbon emissions” SANDEEP CHANDNA

CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER, TECH MAHINDRA

Extensive landscape and tree plantation

TOP 10

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TOP 10

The need for innovative Chief Data and Analytics Officers (CDAOs) has become more significant in this data-driven world, we take a look at some of the best in the business

I

WRITTEN BY: CATHERINE GRAY n this era of big data, it is becoming difficult to find a successful organisation that is not data-driven in some capacity. Now imperative to business operations, Chief Data and Analytics Officers (CDAOs) utilise data as a means of driving business outcomes.

Collection of data has become easier than ever with the introduction of new technologies that generate this data. With this vast amount of information at a CDAO’s feet, the job is bearing more and more responsibility as businesses adapt to this new data-driven world. Here, Technology Magazine looks at some of the top CDAOs working to support their businesses operations through data and analytics.

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10 Chu-Cheng Hsieh Chief Data Officer

Etsy

Chu-Chung Hsieh, Etsy’s Chief Data Officer, leads engineering and science groups at Etsy in the US and globally. In his role, he manages engineering teams, applied science teams, ML infrastructure teams, and experiment platform teams.

Partnering with Etsy’s marketing, product, and business executives, Hsieh leads and supervises strategy, AI innovation, machine learning & data infrastructures.

His specialities lie in search engines, recommendation systems, and machine learning technology. Adding to this, Hsieh leads vendor evaluation and steers cloud migration at Etsy.

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09

Micheal Woodburn

Chief Data & Analytics Officer

ClearScore

ClearScore’s Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Micheal Woodburn, is passionate about doing exciting things for the financial services industry. With an interest in technology and analytics, Woodburn believes there is an opportunity to create better products and services. In his role at ClearScore, Woodburn is looking to work out the best financial options for all of ClearScore’s users. On top of his work at ClearScore, Woodburn is also an Associate at Blenheim Chalcot and a credit advisor at Liberis.

“ Micheal Woodburn is passionate about doing exciting things for the financial services industry”

TOP 10

08

“Munsie has a proven track record in delivering deep commercial insight and data products aligned to the corporate strategic vision”

Samik Chandarana

CIB Chief Data & Analytics Officer

JPMorgan Chase & Co

Samik Chandarana is the Chief Data & Analytics Officer for the Corporate & Investment Bank (CIB) at J.P Morgan, where he has more than 22 years of experience. In this role, he is responsible for driving the data strategy and governance, data commercialisation agenda as well as delivering data analytics solutions to the businesses.

He also leads the CIB CDAO office where he partners with organisations across the firm to deliver best-in-class data management capabilities and platforms that offer secure and reliable data.

07

Wade Munsie

Global Chief Data Officer

GSK

GSK’s Global CDO at GSK Consumer Healthcare, Wade Munsie, has worked in this role for two years. Previously to this, he held the same role and the Royal Mail. Munsie is a data leader and strategist with a proven record of implementing data-driven change at a corporate scale. With his experience in data-driven roles, Munsie has a proven track record in delivering deep commercial insight and data products aligned to the corporate strategic vision. technologymagazine.com

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Download now

TOP 10

06

Lynee Bailey

Chief Data Officer

KPMG UK

Since the end of 2019, Lynne Bailey has held her role as KPMG UK’s CDO. Bailey joined KPMG from PwC where she also worked in data-driven roles as the Director of Data Governance and Analytics. Her passion lies in getting value from data and using it to enable and benefit organisations. The data strategy she works on at KPMG is critical to KPMG’s digital transformation and the firm’s core strategy - to deliver growth through trust.

05

Seamus Murphy Global Chief Data & Analytics Officer

HSBC

Seamus Murphy, HSBC’s Global CDAO, leads 1000+ people worldwide to deliver a differentiating data and analytic proposition. This proposition delivers balance sheet growth, increased revenue, exceptional customer experience, significant cost take out and RWA optimisation. Murphy is also responsible for defining and executing the Global Data and Analytics strategy for HSBC Commercial Banking and Global Banking. With his level of expertise, Murphy is recognised for transforming organisations into market-leading franchises with an emphasis on a customerfirst approach, digital and data. technologymagazine.com

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04

Christian Pierce

Chief Data & Analytics Officer

Bank of Ireland

The Bank of Ireland’s CDAO, Christian Pierce, is a highly experienced strategy, data and innovation specialist.

Throughout his career, Pierce has shown his expertise across financial services, private equity, retail and engineering enabled businesses. On top of his experience working across multiple sectors, Pierce also has experience in data platform development. This includes data sourcing, data pipeline development, algorithm/ model development and assurance (including AI), insight development/ scheduling, customer feedback loops and consent management.

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03

Ashok Krishnan Global Chief Data & Analytics Officer

AXA XL

Since the start of 2021, Ashok Krishnan has supported AXA XL as its CDAO. He joined AXA XL from AXA Hong Kong where he held the position of Chief Data Officer and Customer Experience Director. In this role, Krishnan was responsible for leading Analytics, AI & Data Science, Customer Experience, Insights, CRM Marketing and Data Management & Governance functions covering AXA’s Life, Health and P&C insurance businesses. With his knowledge of the P&C insurance market, Krishnan further strengthens AXA XL’s innovation and technologyled approach and data strategy.

02

TOP 10

Laia Collazos

Chief Data & Analytics Officer

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Laia Collazos, CDO at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP), has a large responsibility as CCEP is one of the leading consumer goods companies in the world. Her team’s mission is to make data count and see analytics contributing to the company’s performance. To do this, Collazos and her team focus on platform, data governance, insight services and analytics. Having joined CCEP in 2017 as the UK’s CIO, Collazos was later moved to become CIO of Northern Europe.

She pioneered the setup of the first data science capability that built predictive and prescriptive data products for execution, promotion, and trade marketing effectiveness to drive top-line growth. With her extensive expertise in data and analytics, Collazos is a change leader, champion of data and a driving force for analytics.

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Robin Sutara

Chief Data Officer

Microsoft UK

Microsoft’s Chief Data Officer (CDO), Robin Sutara has spent over 20 years with the company in roles such as business management, data engineering and since the start of 2021, she has held her role as CDO. Sutara notes herself as an advocate of data-driven decisions and as a result, she has spent most of her career ensuring organisations have the tools to leverage the zettabytes of data available today to achieve their digital transformation vision. In her role, she helps customers and partners obtain value from data and analytics and bring them the best that Microsoft has to offer. Whilst working full-time at Microsoft, Sutara has also obtained two law degrees and Sutara herself explains this is down to her drive to bring her best in all aspects of her work and personal life.

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“Sutara notes herself as an advocate of datadriven decisions”

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Talking about a ‘human’ revolution WRITTEN BY: MARK JACKSON

PRODUCED BY: GLEN WHITE

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SAP

Dr Tom Janoshalmi, SVP in Customer Success at SAP, talks Fifth Industrial Revolution with humans at its heart and a resilient and ethical value chain

W

ith organisations across the world being held more accountable for the labour practices and environmental consequences of the goods and services they procure both by customers and governments, a key question businesses should ask is how ethical is your supply chain, says Tom Janoshalmi.

“I’m a passionate believer of how every supply chain needs to be designed to be resilient and to be transparently sustainable,” says Janoshalmi. He feels that in today’s world, there is a “clear need to have a consolidated, single view of who organisations serve, their business partners, whether that’s customers and suppliers.”

SAP is a German multinational software corporation based in Walldorf, BadenWürttemberg. It develops enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. As Senior Vice President in Customer Success Janoshalmi’s role is to look after the next generation cloud delivery programme for a wide range of clients.

“What makes me proud is the impact that we can have both on our customer's businesses, but also on people's lives,” he says.

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SAP systems and technology can impact so many lives whether it’s a pharmaceutical company that produces vaccinations and that’s how we will save lives, or whether it’s an airplane manufacturer which makes sure that flying becomes safer because we process data in a very different way, or whether it’s an energy and natural resource company which is shifting completely towards future energies or a carbon neutral footprint.”

Now, management teams are not just looking into how the current global crisis is impacting their company, but that their business processes are future proof. This has to take into account the new business environment. With more people working and buying remotely, the Covid pandemic has accelerated technology shifts with most transactions now taking place online.

“ What makes me proud is the impact that we can have both on our customer's businesses, but also on people's lives” DR TOM JANOSHALMI

SVP IN CUSTOMER SUCCESS, SAP

Dr Tom Janoshalmi

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SAP

Talking about a ‘human’ revolution

“Even customers who previously didn’t have an e-commerce focus are now pivoting business models and business processes towards these online transactions,” he says.

Janoshalmi believes that this digital transformation lends itself to a new data strategy that can remodel business

“ What is coming next is really to buy better,” he says. “If I had to use just two words, then it’s really to buy better” DR TOM JANOSHALMI

SVP IN CUSTOMER SUCCESS, SAP

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processes to establish “responsible supply chain practises and processes that will ultimately make the organisation more competitive.”

Bluntly put, this requires a business to know precisely what is going on not just within its HQ, but throughout its supply chain.

“For a supply chain to be environmentally responsible and ethical the company needs to have full control of the end to end processes and not just on paper, but within a system to make sure that the process is compliant with these requirements,” he says.

That is where SAP can help. “We help them realise that goal,” he says.

SAP works with thousands of organisations in both the public and private sectors.

In recent years with greater consumer awareness and governmental regulation, the ethical supply chain has become a greater priority for businesses, together

SAP

with compliance goals and sustainability benchmarks. For instance, Janoshalmi states that the UN has 10 criteria with which to measure supply chain sustainability, ranging from environmental responsibility to labour practises, human rights and corruption. SAP works to ensure that not only are its clients compliant to current regulations, but to future proof them from inevitable changes both within the regulatory sphere and consumer’s ethical demands.

“Most recently we have been looking at the next generation cloud delivery that would make our customers, platform and infrastructure totally future-proof,” he says.

“Cloud is the pivot making sure that there is resilience in the supply chain.”

Janoshalmi confesses to always being fascinated with supply chain challenges. His academic background is about technology and innovation.

DR TOM JANOSHALMI TITLE: SVP IN CUSTOMER SUCCESS INDUSTRY: COMPUTER SOFTWARE LOCATION: AUSTRALIA

€27.34bn Revenue in 2020

1972

102,000+ Number of employees

#1

Software company in Dow Jones Sustainability Index for 14 years

200m+

Subscribers in SAP’s cloud-based user base

EXECUTIVE BIO

Year founded

Tom Janoshalmi is member of SAP’s Global Executive Team, responsible for SAP Customer Success’ Next Generation Cloud Delivery program, reporting into the Executive Board. In his current role, Tom focuses on developing and implementing strategies for high customer impact from their investment, delivering the SAP technology promise fast and safe at customers, in the new experience economy.

Tom has a 20-year track record of leading successful business transformations with Global Fortune 500 companies. Since joining SAP, Tom has held several leadership positions, including Chief Growth Officer at Digital Business Services, Line of Business General Manager in America, Asia Pacific, Greater China.

He also served as Director of Corporate Strategy & Portfolio and was member of the Corporate Development Executive Committee responsible for short and midterm strategic technology business plans and M&A strategies.

The key to achieving supply chain stability is to ramp up the speed and resilience of the infrastructure, while increasing the usability of the application, thus creating inherent intelligence to allow clients to solve complex problems.

“When you combine the agility and the speed that your infrastructure can provide with the intelligence of the application, then these processes can be redesigned so that they are truly future-proof or resilient,” he 140

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“ Cloud is the pivot making sure that there is resilience in the supply chain” DR TOM JANOSHALMI

SVP IN CUSTOMER SUCCESS, SAP

SAP

says. “At the same time they can provide the right answers to ethical challenges.”

Recently, SAP conducted an Agile Procurement Insights Research together with Oxford Economics. They discovered that roughly half of the executives interviewed said they do not regularly refresh their risk mitigation plans to address potential disruptions. Such outmoded plans do not reflect current business reality. “We’re seeing the

implications of it now with the global crisis,” he says.

For Janoshalmi what was even more interesting was that only a third of those interviewed felt that either their procurement or supplier risk management capability was highly effective.

To achieve an efficient supply chain you need to keep a good inventory. In the research mentioned above, only half of the executives had real-time or near real-time technologymagazine.com

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“ By 2025, which is not that far away, 60% of human tasks will be automated” DR TOM JANOSHALMI

SVP IN CUSTOMER SUCCESS, SAP

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What Is SAP?

visibility to their inventory levels. This affects management’s ability to pre-empt and respond to any issues.

“The impact on inventory levels is also not monitored real time,” he adds.

“Therefore their ability to respond is negatively influenced or impacted by these missing capabilities.”

Instead of relying on the past, companies need to have supply chain architecture that is future-proofed to the new business reality. Janoshalmi believes that this will be increasingly automated.

“Automation will redefine supply chain architectures,” he says. “By 2025, which is not that far away, 60% of human tasks will be automated.” In addition roughly 90% of large enterprises will generate revenue from data as a service.

Janoshalmi believes that the near future will see innovative partnerships to create more efficient ways of managing order fulfilment. This will focus very much on the individual customer or consumer, capturing what they value and expect. technologymagazine.com

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“This shift is directly impacting supply chain social responsibility and ethical value chains,” he says, with the most successful companies understanding and delivering upon customer expectations.

This will make businesses both more efficient and competitive.

He sees AI as playing an important and positive role in driving this process forwards, allowing humans to focus more on the higher value added cognitive activities.

“60% of the tasks might be fully automated in the near future, but human beings will still be in charge of designing the sustainable supply chains,” he says.

“Technology clearly needs to be an enabler to this change, not an impediment. Human beings can spend more time thinking.”

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It is this which Janoshalmi describes as the Fifth Industrial Revolution, placing the human being at the ethical heart of business.

“There’s no stopping the Fifth Industrial Revolution,” he says. “Technology driven, new efficiencies and new capabilities described the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

And now we are looking at the Fifth, which is how we humanise all of this change. A really significant part of this human centric, industrial revolution is making sure that processes are ethical.”

SAP works with partners to make supply chains more ethical and more transparent. One cooperation is with FRDM, a provider of supply chain mapping technology for companies and governments, established by Janoshalmi’s close business friend Justin Dillon.

SAP

“ There’s no stopping the Fifth Industrial Revolution”

JUSTIN DILLON TITLE: CEO & FOUNDER COMPANY: FRDM INDUSTRY: COMPUTER SOFTWARE LOCATION: UNITED STATES

DR TOM JANOSHALMI

Through its mapping FRDM provides companies with supply chain transparency to mitigate risks, such as human trafficking, forced labour and environmental concerns.

Dillon created FRDM to address the issue of forced and child labour within the supply chain, an issue upon which he feels most strongly. Like his friend, he is driven by a strong sense of a moral purpose, believing that we can drive change more through influencing what people buy more than through charitable activities.

“We believe that we can change the world through the power of our purchases far more than the power of our donations,” says Dillon. “We just need technology to help us align our values with the things that we buy.”

Dillon believes that a key part of managing risk is to ensure that the values of your suppliers more closely align with your own.

“Your supply chain is a business risk. It’s an operational risk, but it’s also a reputational risk. So part of our job is to help uncover and connect all those dots,” he says.

He believes that by meeting these risks head on, and by focusing on the positives within an organisation you can become stronger.

“A lot of my work is to help organisations think differently around what types of problems they’re taking on. Look at the talent, the backstory, the origin story of why

EXECUTIVE BIO

SVP IN CUSTOMER SUCCESS, SAP

Justin is an award-winning entrepreneur, author and Founder/CEO FRDM (pronounced freedom). FRDM is an enterprise software company trusted by Fortune 500 companies to identify, measure and mitigate risks of modern slavery deep in their supply chains. Their mission is protect people and planet by through a global network of values-aligned buyers and sellers.

In 2008 Justin first entered into the world of business and human rights by directing the theatrically released in the film Call + Response, which opened public consciousness to the fact there are more slaves today than ever before in human history. The “rockumentary” featuring celebrities, musicians, journalists and activists was released around the world and became one of the top grossing documentaries of 2008. He then produced and appeared in the CNN documentary Common Dreams, with Grammy and Academy award winner Common.

SAP

“ Your supply chain is a business risk.

It’s an operational risk, but it’s also a reputational risk” DR TOM JANOSHALMI

SVP IN CUSTOMER SUCCESS, SAP

you’re here as an organisation. What kinds of problems can you address in the world?” he says. “By doing so, it makes you stronger.

It makes you more talented, and makes the world a better place.”

Janoshalmi is currently seeking more technology or services partners, like FRDM, to help make supply chains more ethical.

“We need to work with our customers and our future customers, [to persuade them] that they need to invest in building transparent and resilient supply chains,” he says.

Janoshalmi realises that there are major challenges ahead if his dream of a more ethical supply chain is to be realised, but he also believes that there is both an opportunity and obligation to make this happen.

Governments and international organisations, such as the UN, have regulatory control mechanisms already in place, including the public disclosure of the reduction of slavery in supply chains. But ultimately the message for both organisations and consumers is really simple.

“What is coming next is really to buy better,” he says. “If I had to use just two words, then it’s really to buy better.”

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COMMIT TED TO NET -ZERO DATA CENTRES BY 2030

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WRITTEN BY: CATHERINE GRAY PRODUCED BY: LEWIS VAUGHAN technologymagazine.com

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Lex Coors, Chief Data Centre Technology and Development Officer discusses the company's commitment to its sustainability strategy

A

s the interconnection hub for the world’s leading businesses, Interxion provides its clients with sustainable data centres and the right connectivity to interconnect, transact and grow businesses. The company has more than 700 connectivity providers in over 290 data centres across more than 24 countries.

With its significant global footprint, Interxion’s clients can expand their reach geographically. This is because the company’s services provide clients with the proximity needed for latency-sensitive applications, and offers interconnection on a global scale.

Founded in 1998, the company has changed massively over the years and has had to adapt to the changing technological landscape. Lex Coors, Interxion’s Chief Data Centre Technology and Development Officer and Visiting Professor at the University of East London, has been with the company since its infancy in 1999.

Having witnessed first-hand the immense evolution of Interxion, Coors explained how it has changed over the years, he said: “Interxion started by working in minute trading. We then moved into data centres, where we collected as many carriers together with the internet exchanges, creating the first communities of interest with enterprise customers. Then when cloud technologies came, we incorporated those into our operations too.”

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Interxion ZUR3 data centre

Example of an image caption technologymagazine.com

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Emergency Power

Hybrid energy

zwarttechniek.com

Service

When it matters most.

In an increasingly connected world, where datacenters have become an integral part of society’s critical infrastructure, a stable, secure power supply is more important than ever.

Zwart designs, builds and maintains emergency power installations for the world’s most demanding datacenter owners and operators.

Together with it’s engine partner Mitsubishi, Zwart’s installations ensure a trusted back-up solution for our customers throughout Europe and Africa “When it Matters Most”. Over 90 years of experience are applied every day to ensure the highest standards in all aspects of project design, delivery and service.

The Mitsubishi engines are recognised for their reliability and cost-effective operation and are ideally suited for mission critical applications. With over 100 gensets currently installed across multiple Interxion sites throughout Europe and Africa, Interxion can ensure that it delivers the highest levels of availability and uptime to its customers.

As part of a shared commitment to delivering greener solutions, Mitsubishi and Zwart have recently announced that their datacenter emergency power installations can be operated with 100%HVO diesel,

a non-fossil fuel based alternative that reduces CO2 by up to 90%.

Furthermore, Zwart and Mitsubishi are working closely with Professor Lex Coors from Interxion on his vision to the “Road to Zero”, an ambitious and challenging project to eliminate all emissions during non-emergency use by applying innovative maintenance and testing programs and developing custom equipment to ensure the high reliability reputation of Zwart’s solutions is maintained.

Jim Craig, Managing Director of Zwart said, “Only by working together can we deliver on the ambitious targets for climate neutral datacenters in 2030” Lex Coors, Chief Datacenter Technology and Engineering Officer at Interxion, a Digital Realty Company stated “As a board member of the EU Climate Neutral Datacenter Pact I am committed to driving the Road to Zero and I am encouraged by the progress being made by Zwart and Mitsubishi in this respect”

Learn more

BD

info@zwarttechniek.com

INTERXION

LEX COORS

EXECUTIVE BIO

TITLE: CHIEF DATA CENTRE TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING OFFICER

Datasector over the last 10 years by Broadgroup

LOCATION: NETHERLANDS

( 2010 ), and again by DCD (2016) .

Since 2019, Lex is working with the University

Over the past 25 years of his career, he

of East London to investigate the issues around

has built exceptionally strong credentials

sustainability for Datacentres and was recently

in the design of versatile, cost-effective and energy-efficient data centre infrastructure.

During his time with Interxion he has pioneered

appointed as Visiting Professor.

At the EUDCA Lex is the Chair for the EUDCA Policy Committee where he represents the

several new approaches to data centre design

interest of the European Commercial Data

and management, including the improvement

Centre Operator Community both politically and

of power ratio efficiency between server load

commercially. Further Lex is Board Member of the

and transformer load, and the industry’s first ever

European Climate neutral datacentre pact. Lex

modular approach to data centre architecture.

is member of the iMasons Advisory Council. He

Lex received already two times the Personal Judges Award for Outstanding Contribution to the

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studied Mechanical Engineering and Management and Economics in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

INTERXION

Committed to Net Zero data centres by 2030

Now Interxion can provide its customers with a hybrid cloud solution. These cloud technologies have also become increasingly significant with the emergence of the global remote workforce, who are more reliant on the cloud to access information remotely.

The push towards these technologies is increasing as more companies utilise cloud software services to secure and back up their IT infrastructure.

“We’ve changed significantly over the years. Now we embrace a lot of digital technologies to support our operations and have incorporated them into our platforms.

We deal with medium-sized data and once we collect this data, the company and our algorithms can learn from that to help us optimise our operations. Technology has definitely changed the way we measure data, as the algorithms now do it for us,” Coors added.

This evolution lends itself to Interxion’s commitment to its customers. The company

“ We have changed significantly over the years and now we embrace a lot of digital technologies to support our operations” LEX COORS

CHIEF DATA CENTER TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING OFFICER, INTERXION

has needed to adapt as its customers’ needs have changed, as Coors explained: “We have a lot of enterprise customers who require the efficiencies of the colocation services we offer. With the introduction of cloud technologies, we now work together with the large cloud players and some of their most critical applications are in our data centres.

This is because we represent the core of all the networks coming together.” technologymagazine.com

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WE BELIEVE THAT IT’S EVERYONE’S DUTY TO IMPROVE THE FUTURE OF OUR PLANET

This year, Mercury launched Our Planet, Our Duty, our plan for Responsible Business. Our Planet, Our Duty is our promise to help create a more sustainable environment around us.

For more information please visit:

www.mercuryeng.com

INTERXION

Interxion PAR8 data centre

“ We have been able to say that for a few years 100% of our data centres are running on sustainable energy” LEX COORS

CHIEF DATA CENTER TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING OFFICER, INTERXION

Adding to this, the Chief Data Centre Technology and Development Officer explained that as Interxion’s customers have grown and expanded, so has the number of data centres the company has to offer.

Building sustainable data centres for the future The data centre provider is committed to its sustainability targets and in his role, Coors works to ensure that all of Interxion’s colocation services have a minimal impact on the environment.

Explaining why sustainability is so important to the company, Coors said it is so important, he regards it “as a social corporate responsibility.”

To highlight how the company is supporting the global efforts to fight climate change, Coors outlined the work Interxion has been doing to reduce its carbon emission: “We started looking into our sustainability strategy over seven years ago. Initially, we started looking at energy efficiency in 2009 and even before that, we called it our energy overhead. Now, we have been able to say that for a few years, 100% of our data centres are running on sustainable energy.”

Interxion has pioneered energy-saving designs within its data centres to ensure they run on sustainable energy. The company has harnessed everything from arctic winds, underground aquifers and even the Baltic Sea in order to reduce its carbon footprint.

Working with big players in the technology scene has been crucial in supporting technologymagazine.com

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Interxion Amsterdam Data Tower

700

connectivity providers in over

290

data centres across

13

European countries

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Interxion, as it looked to add a sustainability focus to its operations. Coors explained that, despite Trump’s dismissal of sustainability initiatives in the United States, big customers such as Microsoft, AWS, Google and Facebook still maintained their commitment to their own sustainable targets. As a result, these big clients still expected Interxion to provide energy-efficient data centres.

Interxion’s own sustainable ambitions Although Interxion is keen to support its clients’ sustainability targets by providing them with data centres run on renewable energy, the company is ambitious with its own targets. Outlining the company’s ambitions, Coors said: “Our corporate target

“We are passionate about sustainability because you cannot design a data centre well without this understanding” LEX COORS

CHIEF DATA CENTER TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING OFFICER, INTERXION

is a 68% reduction in scope one and reducing to two emissions by 2030. Scope one is the direct emissions, such as diesel usage; and scope two is the indirect emissions.”

He continued: “I think that these targets are so ambitious because we have close to 300-plus data centres around the globe.

We’re committed to this programme and we're driving year-on-year programmes to achieve this.”

Supporting these ambitions is Interxion’s internal function, The Energy Strategy Group. This group has participants from technologymagazine.com

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SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC

The transition to cleaner data centres We spoke with Schneider Electric’s SVP Secure Power Europe, Rob McKernan, to NAME SURNAME discuss JOB TITLE, how the company COMPANY NAME create a new era is helping of sustainable data centres ROB MCKERNAN, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, SECURE POWER EUROPE, SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC

AD

Can you tell me about Schneider Electric?

Schneider Electric is the leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation and the world’s most sustainable corporation in 2021 as ranked

by Corporate Knights. As a business, we enable digital transformation across several key sectors including data centres, infrastructure, and industries. We do this by integrating world-leading processes, renewable energy, and highly efficient technologies with software and services, to drive sustainability throughout the lifecycle.

What is your role and responsibilities?

As the SVP for Secure Power in Europe, my role is to empower our country leaders to support our customers within the data centre, industrial and critical IT spaces. This includes working with our customers to define their infrastructure strategy and the business outcomes they hope to achieve through

any accompanying sustainability or digital transformation initiative. From designing and specifying the technologies, to making them more efficient and reducing their carbon footprint, my role is to connect customers with our experts and empower them to transform their businesses sustainably.

Can you talk me through your company’s own sustainability initiatives?

At Schneider Electric, we have many sustainability initiatives in place. They include the Schneider Electric Sustainability Impact (SSI) – in which we aim to help customers save 800M tonnes of carbon emissions by 2025.

To-date we have helped reduce CO2 by 319 million tonnes, which is a great start.

We are committed to reaching carbon neutrality across all company sites by 2025 and are aiming to achieve net-zero operational emissions by 2030. We also aim to achieve net zero emissions throughout our entire supply chain by 2050 and have committed to using no gases or SF6 by the end of 2025.

Why do you think it is important that data centres become more sustainable?

Our industry has been working to reduce its energy consumption and lower carbon emissions for many years. One might argue that it is an exemplar to other industries.

As large consumers of energy, it has a responsibility to commit towards sustainability and to reducing its environmental impact. New data centres can be designed to be resource efficient, however, it’s paramount that we don’t forget about inefficient legacy facilities. Here, Initiating modernisation or energy efficiency programs and switching to renewables are two key steps that legacy operators can take to become more sustainable.

How is your technology supporting this transition to more climate-conscious companies?

I believe that from a technological perspective, achieving sustainability requires a combination of hardware, software, and digital services. However, it requires far more than just the technologies and any business hoping to reduce its environmental impact should carefully consider its strategy.

At Schneider Electric we’re developing solutions to help operators meet demands for sustainability and resilience. Our Galaxy VL UPS is the industry’s most compact threephase solution, is powered by lithium-ion and offers up to 99% efficiency.

We’re innovating in the design space, using prefabricated technologies to design resourceefficient facilities, and creating edge computing systems that can be deployed sustainably.

Further, our vendor-agnostic EcoStruxure™ IT DCIM software helps end-users to not only measure their energy usage but monitor their mission-critical environments from anywhere to increase the reliability of their sites. Our DCIM software delivers smart analytics with predictive capabilities alongside built-in cybersecurity analysis, physical and environmental security monitoring – a complete solution for today’s operators.

Finally, we’ve created an Energy and Sustainability services bureau, helping customers extend the lifecycle of their infrastructure and reduce their carbon

impact. We also have a business that’s dedicated to helping customers procure renewable energy.

How do new and emerging technologies support this transition to cleaner data centres?

Technologies have a key role to play in future data centres, which must be adaptive, resilient, sustainable, and efficient. However, technology is just one aspect, and a more holistic approach to design and operations is needed. At Schneider Electric, we believe the sector can address this through five steps.

First, operators must adopt sustainable practices from the outset, creating global climate strategies that are transparent and measurable. Secondly, they must maximise the use of renewables to decrease their carbon footprint. Thirdly, by establishing resource efficient designs, operators can take a more repeatable approach to deployment and drive efficiency.

Fourthly, reducing CO2 within the supply chain is crucial, and partnering with businesses that are aligned with the same ambitions can play a key role in addressing scope 3 emissions. Finally, the utilization of circular materials that can be recycled is essential to reduce landfill.

What can we expect from Schneider Electric in the future?

One area we’re particularly excited about is the development of new sustainability metrics specifically for data centre operators. For many years PUE has been a great measure of efficiency, however, the landscape is changing, and as our industry works towards net zero, it’s essential that sustainability metrics evolve to reflect this ambition.

Our mission is to be our customers’ partner for efficiency and sustainability, so we’ll continue our work to build the sustainable and resilient data centres of the future, and help the industry reduce its carbon impact.

Discover more about EcoStruxure™ IT”

A D F

Full insights into your data center, edge or colo infrastructure with DCIM. EcoStruxure™ IT Advisor A vendor-neutral planning, modeling and optimization tool.

se.com

senior management and is dedicated to developing, implementing and governing the overall energy strategies; including: • Intelligent energy buying • Continually improving Interxion’s energy efficiency and Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) • Establishing the value of energy as a core service to its customers.

Collaborating with strategic partners To ensure the success of reducing its ‘scope one’ emissions, Interxion looks to its partners to help provide sustainable products and services to improve its operations. With Mitsubishi, Interxion is looking at different ways to reduce the amount of diesel the company uses in its day-to-day operations.

As a significant polluter, Interxion is keen to reduce its diesel use and as a result, reduce its scope one emissions. The company continues 162

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“ Technology has definitely changed the way we measure data, as the algorithms now do it for us” LEX COORS

CHIEF DATA CENTER TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING OFFICER, INTERXION

to work hard on this with Mitsubishi and its other partners, Schneider and Mercury.

Understanding the importance of partner collaboration is crucial to ensuring the success of Interxion’s sustainable ambitions, as Coors explained: “It’s key that our partners’ sustainability targets align with our own. We have also realised that our partners can’t support our sustainability targets all by themselves, so they need the operators of the data centre to explain the issue we're trying to solve.”

INTERXION

“Our partners listen to what the problem is and then we talk about it, to see if there's a common interest, before we start working on the solution,” he added.

Interxion’s alignment with the European Commission Keen to support the global efforts against climate change, Interxion also works closely with other data centre providers and cloud providers within the Climate-Neutral Data Centre Pact. This collaborative effort between these providers came after the European Commission announced that data centres should be climate neutral by 2030.

This Pact was set up as Interxion was keen that players in the data centre industry would meet these collective goals, ensuring the targets would be drafted by those with knowledge of the industry itself. Coors himself is on the board of directors with five other key players in the European data centre industry.

Expanding on the aims of the association, Coors said: “We spoke about how to become a more sustainable industry and realised we’re all already on the road to reaching these targets set by the European Commission. We formed the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact and defined

INTERXION MEETS THE DEMANDS OF THE DIGITAL ECONOMY WITH TAILORED SOLUTIONS FROM SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC Today’s data centres are fast evolving; they have become the very beating heart of the digital economy. These mission-critical environments are far more than the legacy data storage and processing facilities of the past. They are gateways to emerging new markets and digital platforms from which businesses can expand their reach to connect with every aspect of our digital lives.

Such evolutions require a combination of energy efficient technologies that support demands for both sustainability and resilience, and secure IT platforms capable of supporting an incredible amount of real time data.

To meet the needs of its customers, Interxion, a Digital Realty company, has continued to respond with greater connectivity, more redundancy and power, while continuing to align with today’s environmental and security standards. As Fabrice Coquio, president of Interxion France, notes, “Data centres are the first brick upon which we build the digital economy,” and for nearly two decades Interxion

has been laying those bricks one by one, now operating more than 100 state of the art facilities across Europe, with a commitment to offering customers a complete portfolio of flexible data centre solutions.

For more than 15 years, Interxion has enjoyed a long-standing and successful partnership with Schneider Electric to deliver innovative colocation solutions.

Schneider Electric has supported Interxion throughout the design, construction, and operational stages of its high-density data centre environments; providing flexible architectures that include energy efficient cooling solutions, resilient power protection systems such as its Galaxy UPS, PDU and switchgear, and EcoStruxure™ IT management software to deliver uptime, sustainability and efficiency for its customers, while keeping the environment in mind.

LEARN MORE IN OUR CASE STUDY, HERE.

INTERXION

five pillars to achieve carbon neutrality.”

“The first pillar is clean energy. So by 2025, 75% of all data centres shall be running on clean energy and by 2030, 100% of them will be. Then we need to look at energy efficiency to make sure the data centres are efficient, this is pillar number two. The third pillar looks into reusing energy. We also have the circular economy as the fourth pillar and finally, we look at water usage. These five pillars form the base of the association,” he outlined.

Approved by the European Commission’s Executive Vice President Frans Timmerman, the association sets up its own regulatory framework and is run without external legislation. Embraced by Interxion, the 164

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association is a collaborative space that sets ambitious but achievable sustainable goals for data centre providers.

Including most of the continent's key players, the current signatories of the pact represent 90% of the industry in Europe.

Just this year, the pact presented its first policy paper to the European Commission following its request. The policy paper includes a comprehensive set of 19 recommendations. These recommendations cover public procurement regulations from the procurement and development of renewable energies that can be used by the cloud and data centre industry, to supporting the development of circular

water and energy management, and recycling in the ICT sector.

A signatory himself, Timmerman commented on the pact the day it was created, he said: “Citizens across Europe are using ever more technology to go about their daily lives and they want this technology to help secure a sustainable future for all.

Today’s pledge – from important parts of the data industry – constitutes a promise to society and offers a welcome first step towards achieving our common ambitions for a smart and sustainable future.”

Signatories of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact have agreed to implement measurable energy efficiency targets,

purchase 100% carbon-free energy, prioritise water conservation, reuse and repair servers, and look for ways to recycle heat. This pledge is particularly significant when considering findings from the International Energy Agency. It found that data centres consume approximately 200 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity, or nearly 1% of global electricity demand, contributing to 0.3% of all global CO2 emissions.

Both Interxion and Coors, along with the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, recognise the importance of transforming the industry to reduce the damaging effects it can have on the climate. Expanding on this, Coors said: “We are passionate about sustainability because you cannot design a data centre well without this understanding. If you do not understand sustainability well, you can build a data centre, but it will not meet the targets for the future. That's why this is so important for us.”

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Visualise to monetise WRITTEN BY: JANET BRICE PRODUCED BY: CRAIG KILLINGBACK

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TABLEAU

View data clearly with Tableau’s simple, self-service analytics platform which empowers customers to make gamechanging, data-driven decisions

V

Peter Chizlett

isualise to monetise with Tableau,” is the message from Peter Chizlett, Regional Vice President of Embedded Analytics at Tableau EMEA, who is helping organisations transform the way they use data.

The post-covid business landscape will see the ‘survival of the data fittest’ with those that win adopting both a data transformation and harnessing the monetisation of that data. Tableau is working with organisations to share data clearly using its intuitive selfservice analytics platform which empowers users of any skill level to make game-changing data-driven decisions, solve problems and leverage insights.

“The race is on. Companies need to evolve fast to survive and thrive,” said Chizlett, speaking from his home office near London.

“All organisations, large or small, have data and all of them are doing, or thinking about doing something, with that data externally. So the race is on – it's a form of digital Darwinism.”

Tens of thousands of organisations around the world, such as Charles Schwab, Verizon, Schneider Electric, Southwest Airlines and Netflix, rely on Tableau to help them, and their customers, see and understand data.

Tableau was founded in 2003 in Mountain View, California, and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. In 2019 the company was acquired by Salesforce for US$15.7 billion and continues to scale its mission to help its customers see and understand data – while also focusing on R&D. technologymagazine.com

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“Salesforce realised the analytics platform could give them the edge in their offerings to customers. We're already starting to see the benefits of ownership by Salesforce with Einstein Discovery being added to the Tableau platform and even more horsepower behind innovation and R&D.”

PETER CHIZLETT TITLE: R EGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES, EMEA LOCATION: UNITED KINGDOM INDUSTRY: COMPUTER SOFTWARE

Mission to see and understand data Tableau’s mission is to enable people to see and understand data and make decisions based on these findings.

“If you think about what came before business intelligence tools, it was typically rows and columns of numbers so it was hard to identify anomalies or opportunities,” said Chizlett who cites working with an airline that was mystified why they had an absenteeism problem.

“We worked with the airline who didn't know the problem was with scheduling until they put their data into Tableau. It revealed that the absenteeism was always on a Tuesday because the staff couldn't be rostered again until several days later if they’d phoned in sick on the Tuesday.

Pete Chizlett has had various roles in the technology sector for more than 25 years. Embarking on his career at Hewlett-Packard he quickly moved from internal to field sales roles before starting with the Microsoft Services division in 2008.

Chizlett started leading teams at Microsoft in 2012 where he focused on Business Application sales and went on to lead teams in both Enterprise and Commercial segments.

In April 2019 he joined Tableau to lead sales teams covering Northern EMEA before leading the Embedded Analytics and OEM Solutions Business.

He lives in Binfield with his wife and two children.

2003 EXECUTIVE BIO

Year founded

50,000+ Number of employees

US$15.7bn The amount Salesforce paid for Tableau

86,000+

Organisations around the world, rely on Tableau

TABLEAU

Visualise to monetise

“This is not something they would find in a spreadsheet. They could only see this when the data was visualised – through a heat map or a graph – so that's how we help organisations. In this case it helped improve employee satisfaction by changing rostering policies, and we know employee satisfaction drives revenue and customer loyalty – which is one of many ways of monetising data, albeit indirectly.”

Another example of monetising data is used by a major online retailer in the UK that charges suppliers to access information on what items are best-sellers. “This allows suppliers to tailor their promotions, pricing and supply to all of their retailers,” said Chizlett. “This customer helps external organisations find their own insights and act upon those.”

“ Visualise to monetise with Tableau” PETER CHIZLETT

REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT OF EMBEDDED ANALYTICS, TABLEAU EMEA

Tivian as a customer and partner “At Salesforce and Tableau, our number one value is trust. Together, we use our currency of trust to earn the privilege of being our customers’ guide to success in their strategic transformations,” said Chizlett. “We are only successful if they are successful. When a customer uses our products, internally our customer success experts are brilliant technologymagazine.com

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“ All organisations, large or small, have data, and all of them are doing, or thinking about doing something with that data. So the race is on – it's a form of digital Darwinism” PETER CHIZLETT

REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT OF EMBEDDED ANALYTICS, TABLEAU EMEA

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at helping them deploy and adopt so they get maximum value. When the user is one step away from us, we have to truly partner with our customer to ensure they are successful and their customers are successful too. One company that has been a great customer and partner since 2014 is Tivian who are very open and creative.

“We've recently started working much more proactively together as part of our

Embedded Partnership Programme. This entails closer insights into the Tableau product group for Tivian, but also Tivian feeding back to our product group. They're the ones that are closest to our customers.

This helps us take insights and develop our products to meet customer needs.

“Our Embedded Partner Programme also means we are agreed on business goals, things that Tivian wants to achieve.

We approach those goals together to see technologymagazine.com

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how Tableau and Salesforce can help Tivian be successful in their markets.

“We know that by working with Tivian, we're helping an innovative partner in the world of analytics. When you consider your own product as the gold standard in analytics, as we do, that makes for a pretty good partnership.”

Competitive differentiation Chizlett pointed out that one of the benefits of embedding analytics into either B2B portals, websites or software for customers or governments is creating competitive differentiation.

“As consumers and citizens demand more information, competitive differentiation is an essential trait. If you think back over the last 18 months, the demand for information among citizens in uncertain times was really high and it was all about being engaged, transparent and delivering value. So, not just giving citizens information, it's about giving them insights by which they can make decisions to make their lives better,” he said. “The same applies in business.

“If we look at B2B organisations, it is not just about competitive differentiation, but you also have to be able to expose or share analytics and insights with customers because that is what they are looking for no more than ever.

“For Independent Software Vendors (ISV) it's competitive differentiation again.

You no longer log into an application without expecting to see some insights from the application, otherwise, many of these applications are just information repositories. Unless you get insights out of them, they're sometimes nothing more than a good place to file information. In their own right, information repositories are helpful 174

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“ We know that by working with Tivian, we're helping an innovative partner in the world of analytics. When you consider your own product as the gold standard in analytics, as we do, that makes you a pretty good partnership” PETER CHIZLETT

REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT OF EMBEDDED ANALYTICS, TABLEAU EMEA technologymagazine.com

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DID YOU KNOW...

TIMELINE OF TABLEAU SOFTWARE Tableau was founded by Chris Stolte, Pat Hanrahan and Christian Chabot when the Department of US Defence approached the Department of Computer Science at Stanford University for a project to look at people’s ability to analyse data.

According to Peter Chizlett, Regional Vice President of Embedded Analytics , for Tableau EMEA, Stolte searched the market for tools but was disappointed. “The rest, as they say, is history… Tableau, and VizQL, the underlying engine that drives the platform, was born.

“Over the next 10 years, Stolte, Chabot and Hanrahan built out a multimillion dollar business, which IPO’d in 2013. The reason it was so successful is because there was nothing else really out there that was so

user-friendly, and Tableau has always been innovating to meet the evolving needs of their users.”

In 2019 Tableau was acquired by Salesforce for $15.7 billion which has allowed for more R&D and potential for growth.

Marc Benioff, Chairman and co-CEO, Salesforce said: "We are bringing together the world's #1 CRM with the #1 analytics platform.

“Tableau helps people see and understand data, and Salesforce helps people engage and understand customers.

It's truly the best of both worlds for our customers--bringing together two critical platforms that every customer needs to understand their world.”

TABLEAU

“ Salesforce realised that the analytics platform could give them the edge in their engagement with customers.

We're already starting to see the benefits of ownership by Salesforce with the Einstein Discovery being added to the Tableau platform and more focus on R&D” PETER CHIZLETT

REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT OF EMBEDDED ANALYTICS, TABLEAU EMEA

but delivering insights from that information can be transformative for their customers.”

What is Einstein Discovery?

Powered by machine learning (ML), Einstein Discovery delivers predictions and recommendations within Tableau workflows for smarter decision-making.

“Einstein Discovery is incredibly intuitive and it's helping Tableau deliver analytics to everybody. So analytics as part of this mission will be ubiquitous. It also means that from an embedded standpoint, our customer’s customers can ask questions about the data.”

The platform allows data scientists, analysts, and business users across an organisation to create powerful predictive models without needing to write algorithms.

It is a no-code environment that empowers anyone to quickly and confidently make decisions guided by ethical, transparent AI in Tableau.

It allows users to bring tomorrow into today’s decisions with just a few clicks by embedding custom predictions anywhere people can view or use Tableau. Einstein Discovery insights are integrated into your Tableau workflow, to ensure it does not disrupt analysis.

Future forecast Chizlett said the future of embedded analytics is looking strong with a compound annual growth rate of 14% up until 2027.

TABLEAU

“ At Salesforce and Tableau, our number one value is trust. Together, we use our currency of trust to earn the privilege of being our customers’ guide to success in their strategic transformations. We are only successful if they are successful” PETER CHIZLETT

REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT OF EMBEDDED ANALYTICS, TABLEAU EMEA

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“In uncertain times, people, citizens, customers and businesses are looking for data more and more to give them certainty. The pandemic has meant that many organisations have accelerated their digital transformation but this also means there has to be a data transformation.

“Every single customer has data and that data is growing. Monetising that data doesn't necessarily have to be building new products, but it can be giving yourselves competitive differentiation or business advantage through leveraging that data.

“I think solving problems and curiosity is human nature. We have more than a

million members in the Tableau community who are passionate about seeing and understanding data. If you ask a question of the community around Tableau, you'll get the answer, I wouldn't say it's an Olympic sport yet, but watch out…”

Discover more with Tableau Whitepapers: Power of Data Analytics in Fintech Solutions Data Monetisation

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.HOW TECHNOLOGY. ADDED VALUE .IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN. WRITTEN BY: CATHERINE GRAY 180

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PRODUCED BY: KRIS PALMER

FETIM GROUP

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FRANS J. BEERKENS, DIRECTOR, DISCUSSES HOW FETIM’S IT INFRASTRUCTURE HAS TRANSFORMED OVER THE PAST DECADE

T

he world of international trade is a complex chain of relationships, connected in a global channel of distribution.

Fetim Group has traded internationally for over 100 years, in over 40 countries. Passionately developing products to improve people’s homes, they’re a family-owned business.

As third generation Director, Frans Beerkens, was always fascinated by the IT side of the business and who, as an early adopter of SaaS cloud technology, has ushered in a transformative digital, operational, B2B efficiency over the past decade.

As Beerkens explains: “We have about 30,000 SKU’s in variety of product groups, which include construction materials and flooring, (technical) sanitary accessory, window products, and a whole range of made-2-measure products that get delivered to a large variety of stores and regional distribution partners. The largest customer segment is known as the DIY (do-it-yourself), which include Praxis and Gamma in the Netherlands, Hornbach in Germany and Brico/ LeRoy Merlin in France, to name just a few.

Part of Fetim’s appeal is the complete collections they provide. As Beerkens elaborates: “Often our retailer customers will come to us and request a full-range offering per product category, either in private label or a host of Fetim brands, to implement throughout their retail landscape, often 182

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based on VMI (vendor managed inventory).

This often requires some level of digital integration between partners.”

Fetim sources product ranges based on our customer’s geographical homedecor tastes and trends, and offers fitting branding to match: “We develop a customer profile. Based on these outcomes and local preferences, we present a complete store and range proposition. We propose different brands and labels going from good, better, and best; opposite opening price points and promotions. We create a complete calendar for customers from implementation, range and SKU monitoring and optimisations, overseeing the entire product range and ensuring it is delivered on time. The main job of the retailer is to provide great customer knowledge, a great ‘showroom’ and create foot traffic.

“New products and range innovations often tend to start in the professional markets. Only the successful ones are presented in the DIY segment.” Beerkens said.

Market conditions force Fetim to alter its course In a market that is renowned for changing frequently, Beerkens knew the company had to alter its approach over a decade ago, as he explains: “All over Europe, we used to have a large number of smaller, independent building supply centers and DIY chains. They each served specific markets and had a regional service function

“WE NEED TO GET SHORTER, MORE INTERCONNECTED CHANNELS OF DISTRIBUTION, AND NOT ALWAYS JUST CHEAPER CHANNELS OF DISTRIBUTIONS; JUDGE THE TCO” FRANS J. BEERKENS, DIRECTOR, FETIM GROUP

or served geographical niches. Today, most of those have consolidated into dominant regional chains or larger combined-buyingoffices. This consolidation in retail land was mirrored by a similar trend in manufacturing.

Over the past decades, the wholesalers and distributors ‘in the middle’ got squeezed, unless they offered some measurable value-add in the channel of distribution.

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focus on this value-add. Due to this consolidation trend and the fast upcoming internet changed the role of traditional wholesalers; it had fundamentally changed.”

This trend as well as a growing internationalisation of the markets where Fetim was trading forced the teams to do some serious soul searching and ask itself some tough questions: “What constitutes our value add - why do we exist? We had to find out how we could still operate successfully in our channel of distribution.” said Beerkens.

In addition to the above, the rise of ‘disrupters’ forced us to offer a point of difference to our customers. The growth of internet and ecommerce in home improvement markets, offered more choice of product and visibility of prices. Fetim recognised that these trends created as many opportunities as threats for larger, older corporations like Fetim, whose logistical systems, based on decades of experience,

FETIM GROUP

Frans J.L.W.M. Beerkens TITLE: DIRECTOR COMPANY: FETIM GROUP INDUSTRY: INTERNATIONAL TRADE & DISTRIBUTION LOCATION: AMSTERDAM

EXECUTIVE BIO

Frans J. Beerkens, Fetim Group, the Netherlands.

Frans holds and an MBA from the George Washington University (Washington, DC), and a BA from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.

After his tour in the Royal Netherlands Army, he moved to the USA for his MBA. He started his professional career at Ruesch International, Inc. (W,DC and NYC), a Fin-Tech, global payments company. In 1996, he moved back to the Netherlands, joining the family business. Having held various C-level positions, he is an active board member of the family Holding company, BU manager and GM of its Asian buying office.

“ IN DISTRIBUTION, CENTRALISATION SAVES COSTS, OFFERS IMPROVED FLEXIBILITY AND DRIVES EFFICIENCY” FRANS J. BEERKENS, DIRECTOR, FETIM GROUP

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Ron Eismann, VP and GM for the Infor CPQ team, has been working on the CPQ solution for more than 20 years. Eismann, along with product development team members, continually strives to increase value for Infor customers, staying in-tune to the issues manufacturers face and their ever-shifting priorities and pressures to offer highly customised products while controlling costs.

“Our primary market is manufacturing, but challenges around digital transformation, digital engagement, and interaction with consumers are not unique to this sector. We also see opportunities for CPQ technology to be highly useful in verticals such as automotive, hightech, aerospace and defence, distribution, the services industry, and retail fashion,” Eismann says.

He adds that different industries have similar problems.

They want to better interact with the end consumer; educate the market on the options available, and make sure that they’re able to drive that interest throughout the sales process.

A solution that streamlines complex processes Infor works with the analyst community to validate what they’re seeing in the marketplace. Plus, they have an advisory board of 12 executives from customer organisations that helps guide the direction Infor CPQpre-empting potential trends that are of Infor CPQ; emerging and possible ways the solution can be enhanced, so it remains highly relevant and solves immediate challenges for organisations.

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He goes on to add, “No matter the project length or complexities, CPQ is adaptable to the scope of theelevates experience.

One that’s personalized, customer order. The iterative process means Infor can brand, and accelerates the for sale. begin to get a shorter time-to-value customers, so that they can begin to see the return on our investment sooner.”

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FETIM GROUP

Technology adds value in the supply chain

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FETIM GROUP

should become more agile and flexible to meet the changed customer demands.

As Beerkens explained, “We expanded into our surrounding countries with dedicated offices and logistical operations to serve our customers faster. We started building collections for different product groups that seamlessly connected to these geographically different customers, in order to make optimal use of economies of scale in our channels of distribution, and build international processes as efficiently as possible.”

About a decade ago, Beerkens took a leap into a new world of data possibilities, as he was inspired by Infor’s new management team, lead by Charles Phillips, Soma Somasundaram, Stephan Scholl, Lisa Pope and Kevin Samuelson, and their ‘cloudfirst’ direction. Beerkens said: “Coming from an on-prem, AS400 based, home-built, highly modified platform, we realised that we needed to adapt our IT systems and environment to align with the needs of our changing, more international role. That's

“AS AN ORGANISATION, WE NEED TO BE CREATIVE AND AGILE, YET STRUCTURED AND EFFICIENT IN OUR CORE PROCESSES” FRANS J. BEERKENS, DIRECTOR, FETIM GROUP

where we got together with several different software companies; including Infor, who offered measurable value, because they helped us become more agile, centralise our operations and become geographically independent.”

1919

Year founded

450+ Number of employees

12.8mn+ toilet brushes sold

How the cloud helped with centralisation With the creation of an m² of warehouse space entire enterprise resource planning (ERP) cloud platform, Fetim could Stock keeping centralise its organisation units from its headquarters in Amsterdam. After implementation of Sourcing locations the cloud environment, as Beerkens notes, it “made us much more plant independent, locally. Our offices throughout Europe could now become geographical sales offices and operations were brought back to our HQ in Amsterdam. In distribution, centralisation saves costs, offers improved flexibility and drives efficiency”.

“In our on-prem days, we used to have servers in data centres, bought over different years, each with different sizes and processing speeds. Our systems and application IT professionals spent most of their time on making sure these servers and networks could communicate; they spent most of their time developing solutions ‘around’ MOD’s, etc. Then, with the introduction of Cloud, we moved from data centres to AWS clouds. The amount of data we process every single day keeps growing. In centralising we could let security

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of data be handled by AWS and Infor security experts, monitoring 24/7, while building and interfacing applications on a central core ERP, that allowed for a safer exchange of data,turning that data into information.”

“As an organisation, we need to be creative, agile, yet structured and efficient in our core processes. And that's one of the reasons why, over the last few years, we created one single backbone with edge applications, connected via intelligent middleware, that can act independently on their own edge-platforms, while seamlessly working together on Infor’s M3 Distribution Enterprise core.”

According to Beerkens: “Infor was the first to create so-called ‘micro verticals’.

It was a game-changing moment: micro verticals were enlightening because they showed us that there were people in the distribution industry that knew our business.

We were talking to a software company who understands distribution”.

Beerkens was delighted that Infor were prepared to challenge his thinking, as he explained: “My big drawback on some of the other software vendors was that they could do anything that I wanted. But that's exactly what I didn't want. I want somebody who challenges me. I just wanted somebody who said that they could make us better and grow our organisation based on knowledge and experience they had gained from other leading distribution companies.

“Infor are best-in-class, because in them we found a software company which wasn’t selling us what they had to sell, but what would make us better, going forward. By building the entire infrastructure around the M3 ERP, and offering value-add edge applications, they helped create value in my channel of distribution and, ultimately, for my customers.”

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Fetim added was INFOR-CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote). “Allowing to make quick (B2B) customer quotations for both standard and Made2Measure products is of great benefit to us. It allows us to quote on complex orders efficiently, reduce costs and mistakes” Beerkens added. Next-up is Infor Nexus (Supply-chain, Birst (BI) and Coleman-AI. “Creating one central (soon to be multitenant) ERP with rich edge apps on top of the AWS infrastructure, with Infor ION middleware allowing for seamlessly connectivity to 3rd party apps, this architecture allowed for centralised data management, resulting in lower datamaintenance, fewer mistakes, and an information/data flow between different departments and partners/ stakeholders.”

FETIM GROUP

“ WE WERE LOOKING FOR AN ERP PROVIDER WHO COULD CHALLENGE US, NOT SIMPLY DIGITISE A REPEAT OF THE PAST” FRANS J. BEERKENS, DIRECTOR, FETIM GROUP

$1.82bn

In April 2017, American hosting company GoDaddy acquired 123 Reg from the parent company, HEG.

#1

123 Reg is is the UK's top domain registrar.

$1.82bn

American hosting company GoDaddy acquired 123 Reg from the parent company, HEG.

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“INFOR-CPQ (CONFIGURE, PRICE, QUOTE) IS OF GREAT BENEFIT TO US. IT ALLOWS US TO QUOTE ON COMPLEX ORDERS EFFICIENTLY, REDUCE COSTS AND MISTAKES” FRANS J. BEERKENS, DIRECTOR, FETIM GROUP

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“INFOR MICRO VERTICALS WERE ENLIGHTENING, BECAUSE THEY SHOWED US THAT THERE WERE PEOPLE IN THE INFOR DISTRIBUTION VERTICAL THAT UNDERSTOOD OUR BUSINESS” FRANS J. BEERKENS, DIRECTOR, FETIM GROUP

Not just transition, but transformation One of the other reasons Beerkens chose Infor “is because it's built on an Amazon Web Services foundation. The big advantage of AWS in combination with Infor is that these companies are both developing 24/7, 365 days a year requiring continuous improvements, allowing Fetim to keep up with ever changing demands of global markets. The system has been incredibly stable, fast, secure and adaptive to our needs. They also take care of a lot of very sophisticated security measures and offer AI opportunities. Having Amazon Web Services at the base brings us peace of mind.

They're part of a market that is in transition and they're ahead of that transition.” he said.

On top of our M3 ERP core, several important edge applications have been connected over the years: • Infor CPQ (configure price quote): An edge application for the professional market and offering quotations and made-2-measure solutions has been connected to the M3 ERP • Infor WMS (warehouse management system) will replace our present Dispatcher WMS: Able to store and deliver goods in a multitude of ways, worldwide • IDM (Infor document management): capturing platform-wide created documents, perfect for archiving and managing printed matters

• iPMC (Product Information System) by inRiver: offering all SKU related details and interfacing seamlessly with M3 • SLIM4 (supply chain management): managing our global supply lines to meet the agreed upon service levels with our customers • EDI (electronic data interchange) from Descartes: Talking to our customer through an interface package called ion, that gives us the ability to communicate with the rest of the world.

Using tech for a customer-first philosophy Over the past decades, Beerkens saw a shift in customer behaviour and expectations when it comes to the customer journey: “In the past, when you were looking for home decoration items, you’d go to retailers or interior architects you showed them pictures from magazines and made your choices on what was offered or seen in store. Today, consumers bring a laptop or tablet with a Pinterest board containing lots of different pictures in which you say, ‘this is what I want’.”

Fetim has responded with it’s own innovations, such as their augmented reality (AR) application on f.i. www.solidfloor.com.

“It allows you -the final consumer- to take a photograph of your room of your house. With our AR system, the consumer can put an entire assortment of flooring in that room. technologymagazine.com

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“ THE USE OF A DATA LAKE FOR (UNSTRUCTURED) DATA ACROSS OUR PLATFORM, TO MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN GET MANAGEMENT INFORMATION BASED ON INCREASED INTELLIGENCE, WILL BE A MAJOR STEP FORWARD” FRANS J. BEERKENS, DIRECTOR, FETIM GROUP

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This is a real value add for our flooring retailers and installers”.

From the old distribution companies to the one Fetim is today, has been a massive stepchange for Beerkens. When buying your items in store, you select the item and take it home, or have it delivered. When buying many of our items today, you’re expected to have a full assortment offering online (the customer journey starts at home) and direct your consumer base to the most suitable retailer, who offers added value in their delivery.”

As a result, interfaced and well-connected edge applications are only going to grow in importance to Fetim in serving their retail customers. Given the rich library of available APIs and web services, connecting to its customers becomes less complicated. As Beerkens explains: “Whatever products or services we offer, we need to make sure it's also available in digitised form. Once it's digitised, it's connected, it's visual, and it gives us the ability to monitor it. It gives us the ability to go back and put the data in a data lake and start mining this data (structured or unstructured) with AI.” It’s one thing to have valuable management information and AI, but it must also offer value to our customers, according to Beerkens: “You must also have data integrity so your customers trust your products as well as data and that your information is secure and correct.

Digitalisation has delivered measurable results for us because we're a global organisation active with lots of products in lots of countries. Stimulating channel integration and working together in each channel will benefit all parties and stakeholders. In meeting these demands, Infor is the right partner for us.

It’s an exciting future.

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ANDREW DAY:

TRANSFORMATIONAL

LENDING IN A DIGITAL AGE

WRITTEN BY: JOANNA ENGLAND PRODUCED BY: MICHAEL BANYARD

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PEPPER GLOBAL

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PEPPER GLOBAL

Andrew Day, Chief Data Officer for Pepper Global Financial Services Group, talks technologies, data and emerging market challenges

he world of financial services has shifted, with the past decade particularly having ushered in a raft of new technologies that have transformed the industry globally. Data, the way it is used, and the services companies offer have all undergone massive changes which have been accelerated since the start of the pandemic.

Andrew Day, CDO for Pepper Global, believes the use of data will be key in improving the financial wellbeing of millions of people globally, who have been left behind by traditional financial systems.

A data and analytics leader with a career background that saw him spend many years in the telecommunications industry, Day believes that the key to better customer services, products, and a healthier financial market, is all dependent on how data is used.

In the world of finserve, it’s also a way to bring financial literacy to those who have been sidelined by traditional institutions.

Doing data differently Day believes data and its handling is a cross-industry skill – and that all businesses could benefit massively from the correct handling and analysis of data.

“I think the headline is that a lot of the problems you solve in any industry with data and analytics are transferable from industry to industry. So how you collect, collate and manage data is the first part of the process.

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“ We build innovation projects and experiments that enable us to test the innovations” GROUP CHIEF DATA OFFICER, PEPPER GLOBAL

number one problems in the telco space, for example, is predicting who is going to leave your network and join another person's network. You have exactly the same problem in lending businesses.

Who is likely to prepay their loan, move their loan somewhere else?”

A lot of the problems that any business faces in understanding, predicting, and adapting to customer behaviours are completely consistent.”

Customer behaviour, he says, is key.

And understanding it will result in better business management, regardless of which industry you might be in. “One of the

A company of two halves Pepper Global acts as a lender in multiple countries and a specialist servicer – working with banks, non-banks, fintechs, and funds.

Day’s main role is to work out how the organisation can leverage data it gathers from its 13 globe-wide centres, and use it to deliver better outcomes to customers.

ANDREW DAY

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ANDREW DAY TITLE: GROUP CHIEF DATA OFFICER COMPANY: PEPPER GLOBAL INDUSTRY: FINANCIAL SERVICES LOCATION: LONDON, UK

EXECUTIVE BIO

He describes the task of recognising and managing data as a three-pillared process.

The first pillar is recognising that as a group, or rather in the group function. “We don't have a monopoly on good ideas,” says Day. “One of my roles is to work out how we surface the good stuff that's happening in the various business units around the world.

We work out what’s happening from a data and analytics and tech perspective. We then make sure that's shared across the group so we can replicate that where appropriate.”

The second part of the process involves innovation and experimentation – an area that Day is passionate about. He heads up a team of engineers, data scientists, and technologists, who work with the business

Andrew has responsibility for managing and driving commercial value from Pepper Global’s data and identifying new business opportunities through the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

He has extensive experience in driving transformational change through the exploitation of big data across diverse industries, including telecommunications, media, retail and financial services.

Andrew holds a Bachelor of Science majoring in Geography and Geographic Information Systems with Honours from the University of Salford.

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PEPPER GLOBAL

“ I think the thing with fintech that inspires me is the ability to be customer-focused and data-driven” ANDREW DAY

GROUP CHIEF DATA OFFICER, PEPPER GLOBAL

units to identify applications that could potentially deliver value back to Pepper businesses and their customers.

He explains, “We build innovation projects and experiments that enable us to test the innovations. When we find ones that work, we push them into the business units and the business units then take ownership and deliver those outcomes to the customers.”

The third pillar of the process involves the upstream customers. Day says, “We work with banks and fintechs, delivering analytic solutions for them on a commercial basis. We take the experience we've got in managing our own business using AI, machine learning & data, and provide that as a commercial service to some of our partners.”

By his own admission its broad remit is in a very entrepreneurial business, which Day describes as “very exciting.”

Emerging markets and data patterns In his capacity as CDO, Day is playing a lead role in Pepper Global’s decision to use its expertise to launch cutting-edge financial services in Indonesia – which has one of the highest unbanked populations globally.

According to a recent report by the Jakarta Post an estimated 66% of technologymagazine.com

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“ The fintech world is all about meeting a customer need through technology and underpinning that with data and insights” ANDREW DAY

GROUP CHIEF DATA OFFICER, PEPPER GLOBAL

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Indonesia’s 275 million-strong population is currently unbanked.

Breaking into an emerging market brings with it a massive set of challenges that include lack of technological infrastructure, geographical roadblocks, no financial history and cultural resistance to change. As Day says, “How can you credit check someone with no financial history - or enable people to get into the world of financial services, to build a credit history, and really drive financial inclusion?”

Giving customers alternatives in that part of the market, he says, is a huge opportunity that is massively beneficial for nations and customers alike. “The idea that you can make borrowing accessible, get people onto the financial services ladder, and enable them to build a credit file, is a very exciting prospect.

That then becomes self-fulfilling in many

PEPPER GLOBAL

Title of the video

respects. It's often seen as the way that the middle classes grew up in nations, that notion of becoming increasingly financially inclusive.”

And establishing some sort of profile on customers without a credit history is far from impossible because data can provide key indicators on loan repayment capacity.

Weighing up the challenge “Without credit files and credit bureaus, Day believes the opportunities by far outweigh we're quite often reliant on data that acts the difficulties, even though one of the as an alternative to traditional credit challenges is that as people enter the world of scores,” says Day. borrowing in particular, the commitment that “We've had to learn the hard way in they're taking is quite often misunderstood terms of what data is valuable in those or poorly understood. “Part of our job is to be processes and see that partnering with a responsible lender. Being mindful ecosystems in that respect is a of bringing customers into a lifetime valuable way to progress into journey is incredibly important. emerging markets.”

We do that in a way that suitably “That’s not to say that traditional informs them, and gets them into credit data isn’t important. It's critical Year Pepper a position where they understand where it exists, but either where it Global was founded their commitments, and that we lend is lacking or non-existent, seeking to them in a responsible fashion.” alternative methods is a necessity.”

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It’s an evolving process that is growing and improving as technology and more information is gathered. Indeed, it’s even possible that alternative credit checks could even become more of a reliable indicator of solvency and loan repayment reliability, than old-fashioned financial histories.

“Inevitably, when you're starting with a blank sheet of paper without any borrowers, you have to hedge a little bit. You take some chances. You make some sensible decisions around the data you can get access to, and you create rules around who you should and shouldn't learn to lend to. Off the back of that, you lend some money and see what happens.

It's a classic machine learning challenge.

“As you start to gather data, performance data on loans, then you can start to work out what data genuinely enables you to score well in the broadest sense and make increasingly more reliable decisions.”

Defining useful data sources Deciphering which data is the most useful in assessing customer reliability, is where Day’s former experience in telecommunications comes into its own.

“ Inevitably, when you're starting with a blank sheet of paper without any borrowers, you have to hedge a little bit. You take some chances. You make some sensible decisions around the data you can get access to” ANDREW DAY

GROUP CHIEF DATA OFFICER, PEPPER GLOBAL

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$68.1bn

Total Assets Under Management

$17.5bn

Lending Assets Under Management

1.7m

Customers

$50.5bn

Servicing Assets Under Management

3216+ Employees

*All figures are in USD and correct as of 30 June 2021

$1.82bn

In April 2017, American hosting company GoDaddy acquired 123 Reg from the parent company, HEG.

#1

123 Reg is is the UK's top domain registrar.

$1.82bn

American hosting company GoDaddy acquired 123 Reg from the parent company, HEG.

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The Analytics Automation Playbook for Finance & Accounting

TWITTER FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM YOUTUBE

“Finance technology optimization means extracting more value from accounting and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems while adopting digital technologies to improve finance processes.”

Gartner Top Priorities for Finance Leaders in 2020

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PEPPER GLOBAL

Pepper is concentrating more on long-term values for customers rather than short-term sales. Their aim is to build a relationship with their users, providing them with a range of services that keep them coming back for lifecycle events.

He explains, “Mobile telco data becomes important in some markets and there are a number of people that are building credit scores from mobile phone data. We actually see the world in more than one dimension from a scoring perspective.

The credit score is one thing, but also the ability for us to manage a customer through a life cycle, to think about lifetime value or longevity of loan, the ability to cross and upsell are all part of that scoring process, and so the more data, both specific customer level data that you might get from a mobile phone or from an app, a wallet or whatever, as well as markets data and local market data is valuable.”

And there are highly accurate ways to assess the viability of a customer in terms of loans that are also outside the IoT sphere. Day explains that data on weather patterns in various regions can indicate if and when a loan will be paid. If rainfall is exceptionally high or low, it indicates

“ We look for signals in markets that are not necessarily the traditional signals, and couple of those where we can with customerlevel data, and that's part of the magic sauce” ANDREW DAY

GROUP CHIEF DATA OFFICER, PEPPER GLOBAL

crop volumes will be below par and as a consequence, the local economy will suffer.

Pollution is also an indicator. The higher the air pollution is in an area, the greater indicator of better credit scores. “Why is that? Because air pollution is an indicator of economic activity.

We look for signals in markets that are not necessarily the traditional signals, and couple those where we can with customer-level data, and that's part of the magic sauce,” he explains.

Data harvesting and management As the IoT grows exponentially, and more and more data becomes readily available to companies, insights become razor-sharp.

But so too do the potential pitfalls. Too many times, businesses have fallen foul of regulations, by either selling customer data to third party companies, getting bogged down with data gravity and silos, or even letting sensitive and exploitative information fall into the hands of cybercriminals. Managing the way data is collected, used, stored, and then disposed of, is a task that bears heavy legal and ethical ramifications. technologymagazine.com

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“ There's not a single big lever.

It's about a myriad of applications across the value chain” ANDREW DAY

GROUP CHIEF DATA OFFICER, PEPPER GLOBAL

Day is only too aware of the cost of poor information management, and says though it can be handled effectively, it’s not an easy task. He explains, “I would like to say it's really clean and straightforward. But that's far from the case. Pepper has a standard footprint of technologies.

But like every group company, it’s not helpful or practical to mandate the specific use of these in each of the business units.

They are at liberty to create or choose the technologies that help them deliver the best possible service into the local market. We're there obviously to provide advice, but we certainly aren't the tech and data police.”

Instead, Day’s job is to make sure all units are operating as efficiently as possible. And to do that Pepper uses technologies that include Microsoft Azure and GCP. These are paired with tooling that is core to data management, enabling the data to be shared across the group.

“We use DataRobot, Alteryx, Tableau and Snowflake in some business units,” Day says.

“We also have Power BI widely deployed. So it really is a question of us providing advice on tooling from a group perspective, and letting 210

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the individual business units decide how the technology suits their own situation.

A really good example of this is actually as we enter some of the emerging markets, the availability of some cloud providers isn't there, so we have to think creatively about how we move from cloud to cloud, or from technology to technology.”

Data as a growth enabler Day works with data from a holistic perspective, with the view that it is of use throughout the entire value chain. The end-to-end process is critical, he says, because data answers key questions that emerge throughout the process, such as: 1. How to make the right investment 2. How to manage customer engagement more efficiently 3. How to manage operations 4. How to develop the right products 5. How to understand customer behaviour For Pepper, the deployment of natural language processing (NLP) in their call centres, has been an innovative step in gauging the intentions of the customer, from stressrelated phone calls that could dictate better question patterns, to pick up on potential fraud attempts.

“Amongst other applications, we're using NLP to help manage compliance processes,” Day says, “So, literally every step of the process from thinking about what products you might develop for a marketplace through to managing a customer in the latter stages of them being a borrower is where we see the opportunity to drive value through data.

“I think there's not a single big lever.

It's about a myriad of applications across the value chain rather than one big thing technologymagazine.com

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“ People want to engage through WhatsApp and SMS, email and video calls, and face-to-face so we've had to think about how we re-engineer business processes and customer processes as a result of customer demand” ANDREW DAY

GROUP CHIEF DATA OFFICER, PEPPER GLOBAL

that's going to make a massive difference, although they do vary in scale obviously from application to application.”

Digital transformation While many new fintechs took to digital transformation with ease because they were 212

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built with agile core technologies, other companies with a longer history have not found the task quite such a smooth ride.

But shaking off the old and embracing the new can be an invigorating process if the business culture is welcoming of change.

He explains, “I think businesses that are 20-plus years old have a degree of legacy certainly from a tech perspective. Widespread use of cloud, software as a service, etc., are relatively speaking in technology terms, new to the party. And actually, when we started 20 years ago, smartphones didn't exist.

“So I think it's fair to say that the business has been on a journey. I think a lot of that is

PEPPER GLOBAL

about how we reframe the businesses in a kind of digital, data, and tech savvy way.”

Day says an example of this ‘reframing’ is the way Pepper Savings Bank in Korea created a digital bank alongside the existing bank, largely because trying to create a sea change within the legacy platforms is challenging and innovating on the side was the answer.

“I think it's also fair to say that over the last 20 years, the relationship between lenders, borrowers, and intermediaries, like websites and brokers, has completely changed. They used to be very linear. You want a mortgage, you go to your mortgage advisor or your broker, you apply for the loan that he thinks is right for you, and you do that through paper-based or maybe emailbased transactions. But today, the customer journey is far from linear.

“People want to engage through WhatsApp and SMS, email and video calls, and face-to-face so we've had to think about how we re-engineer business processes and customer processes as a result of customer demand.”

Day says this is a common theme around the way that Pepper approaches its markets because the company prioritises thinking about the customer at the core of the process and product development.

“Ultimately, I think the thing with fintech that inspires me is the ability to be customerfocused and data-driven. The fintech world is all about meeting a customer need through technology and underpinning that with data and insights, and I think how you create enduring customer relationships has historically been very transactional but could be far beyond that. The focus is now on how you build trust by improving the experience and helping customers reach their financial goals, and in turn to come back to you when they need to.

He adds, “I think in the financial services world, a lot of organisations think about that one-time transaction. How do I sell this customer a loan? How do I sell this customer a pension? How do I sell them a product? I might sound like a bit of a broken record, but providing customers with an opportunity to re-engage with you is the thing that I think will set the winners apart from the losers.

“For me, that means the key measure of success probably isn't assets under management or the number of products you've sold, it's lifetime value, and I think that's probably the number one change that customers deserve, and it re-frames the whole financial services conversation.”

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BUILDING A DIGITAL SUPERHIGHWAY WRITTEN BY: CLARISSE D. DA MOTA PRODUCED BY: TOM LIVERMORE

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We speak to pharmaceutical leader MSD (Merck in the US and Canada) about digitising the supply chain and their global blockchain innovation programme

M

SD's origins go all the way back to the 17th century, when Friedrich Jacob Merck purchased a drug store in Germany, which later evolved into a drug manufacturer. Today it is not only one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies but is also one of the world's biggest companies in any sector, ranked 69 on the 2021 Fortune 500 list.

Five years ago, MSD began a digital transformation programme, with the aim of accelerating growth and modernising operating models across the business, including the supply chain.

Paolo Migliari, Executive Director Supply Excellence and Head of Connected Channels Global Blockchain Programme explains that the patient is at the core of the digital project. "Everything we do in terms of digital transformation should be patient-centric.

Whatever we build in our digital portfolio must have the patient at the centre."

MSD has a "plant to patient" programme with four key priorities: leveraging data to enable automation and move towards more advanced analytics; streamlining decisionmaking and ways of collaborating; focusing on growth drivers; and innovating with Blockchain technology to create additional value.

A key goal is to get products to the patients as fast as possible, as well as reducing overall cost and friction. "We are building solutions

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to make the supply chain more secure and of higher quality, by helping other institutions help with patient adherence" Migliari adds. "The aim is to create an ecosystem that will allow usto make this possible."

Within MSD's digital transformation is a digital logistics programme. Fredric Brut, Head of Supply Chain for EMEA and APAC, explains: "Supply chain transparency and real-time visibility of inventory positioning and movement, driven by increased value of freight, time and temperature sensitivity of the product portfolio, and potential for freight diversion, offered an opportunity to engage in more real-time alert track and trace technology.”

In 2015 MSD began to review its technology, and invited TransVoyant on board as a partner to provide IoT capabilities.

TransVoyant provides a consolidated data platform that helps MSD track products through IoT (Internet of Things) monitoring services, that offer real-time visibility and responsiveness in terms of shipment position, temperature, light and other critical aspects of shipping.

"TransVoyant is a key partner for us," Brut says.

"We leverage their digital technology in a cloudbased platform, to drive data integration, return shipment visibility, lane risk assessment and predictive analysis. It's a really great application and service for us to track our products through. and with some 3rd party warehouses”.

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See. Understand.

Improve.

TransVoyant provides real-time transparency and live situational awareness enabling actionable intelligence for end-to-end global supply chains.

� �

P

redicting Supply Chain Behaviour Using Big Data, ML/AI, and Blockchain

Jim Butera, Vice President of Customer Growth, explains how TransVoyant provides real-time actionable intelligence to supply chain professionals TransVoyant’s world-class Continuous Decision Intelligence (CDI) platform tracks over one trillion events per day to provide supply chain professionals with live transparency, real-time situational awareness and predictive insight. The company’s customers are forward-leaning companies with complex global supply chains that need to ensure their high-value/ high-consequence goods are delivered on time and in proper condition. Top tier pharmaceutical, automotive, consumer goods and industrial supply companies are lining up to work with them.

Since 2012, the company has analysed big data streams with its proprietary ML/AI models to help predict arrival times, anticipate delays due to global events, measure lead times, optimise capacity, labour, and inventory. This enables customers to proactively find opportunities to cut costs, improve customer service and anticipate disruptions.

Data-Driven Insight To provide the type of out-of-the-box intelligence in which TransVoyant specialises, you need:

•

Enterprise Data. Orders from ERP, inventory from warehouse management, and shipments from transportation systems.

•

Trading Partners Data. Intelligence that is collected from outside of the four walls of the enterprise but that remains relevant to the company’s industry.

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Risk Events. Natural disasters, epidemics, and geopolitical upheaval: anything that surrounds and could impact a company’s supply chain.

TransVoyant immediately brings two out of three sources to the table: trading partners and risk event data. Fused with its customers’ enterprise data using a private blockchain, applies ML/AI, automation, and customers get actionable supply chain intelligence.

Self-Service Software As TransVoyant continues to evolve and mature, its clients increasingly use its platform to achieve unique, company-specific supply chain insights—all without TransVoyant’s help. “It’s a new paradigm given my 20+ years in the enterprise software space”, Jim says. It has never been easier or more cost-effective for customers to digitally transform their supply chains”.

learn more

MSD

A good example of how real-time information is key in achieving a secure supply chain is how it supported MSD during the Suez Canal blockage in March 2021.

"With just one click we could check where our products were. At the time we had 12 shipments going from Europe to Asia Pacific, and fortunately, they had already passed the canal, but we were able to immediately identify and ensure this."

The use of IoT has provided MSD with several clear benefits to date. "In less than 18 months and to prevent loss of product in transportation we have tracked 7,000 shipments, reduced shipment expenses and inventory discards, optimised the sales when supply is constrained, increase our company reputation from missed customer commitments and made insurance premium cost reductions," Brut explains. The total sales value of benefits is above average, he adds.

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“ WE ARE LOOKING AT HOW WE CAN UTILIZE BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY TO BUILD AN EXTERNAL DIGITAL SUPERHIGHWAY THAT WILL GATHER AND PROVIDE INFORMATION. FOR MSD BLOCKCHAIN IS A GAME-CHANGER” FREDERIC BRUT

HEAD OF SUPPLY CHAIN EMEA & APAC, MSD

MSD: Building a digital superhighway

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To date, all manufacturing sites, including critical CMO Partners, have been enrolled and are utilising the complete digital portfolio, or are engaged with the IoT device use, as the global implementation is finalised.

Next step will be to use digital logistics data as an input source and with a supply chain control tower, reduce resource intensity and mitigate logistics disruption. We want to also facilitate the integration to other data sources and ecosystems to improve collaboration within the logistics networks.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of supply chain visibility. “At the start of the pandemic, due to restrictions imposed in many countries, across the world, we saw massive supply disruption that rippled through the entire chain, causing shortages of different products in many locations. From this experience, many organisations and governments see the importance of supply chain resilience.

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Through digitalisation, and a trusted network ecosystem, organisations can make use of connected devices and leverage the application of digital twins in their supply chain operations. This will allow a bird’s eye view of the end-to-end supply chain, enabling real-time alerts of potential risk events, quicker decision making, and greater flexibility to react to sudden shocks globally, ensuring patients and customers of MSD can continue to rely and trust on a stable supply.

In a post-pandemic world, the behaviour of consumers (and patients) has changed as well, the shift in frequency/channel of purchase will require a corresponding change in supply chains. So digitalising our supply chain will allow for the organisation to better cater to this paradigm shift – for example supply-replenishment, connectivity with e-commerce platforms (direct to consumer model for prescription medicine),” Brut says.

MSD

FREDERIC BRUT TITLE: HEAD OF SUPPLY CHAIN EMEA & APAC INDUSTRY: PHARMACEUTICALS

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: SWITZERLAND Brut joined MSD in 2013, initially as the Head of Global Logistics & Operations for the EMEA region. He has moved into several senior roles while here before becoming Head of Supply Chain for EMEA and APAC in May 2020.

Before MSD, he spent five years as Head of Operations and Supply Chain for Walgreens Boots Alliance, one of the largest pharmacy retail companies in the world.

Brut is Non Executive Board Member at Sitel Group (BPO, Digital transformation) Brut describes himself as an inclusive leader, inquisitive, self-assured, and dedicated to empowering people.

“ SUPPLY CHAIN TRANSPARENCY AND REAL-TIME VISIBILITY OF THE INVENTORY IS KEY” FREDERIC BRUT

HEAD OF SUPPLY CHAIN EMEA & APAC, MSD

Daniel Laverick, VP, Head of Digital and Data Solutions at Zuellig Pharma, tells us about innovations in blockchain technology and working with MSD.

Laverick focuses on developing customerfacing innovations to enable secure ordering and ensuring the pharmaceutical supply chains are visible.

Zuellig Pharma was founded nearly 100 years ago, and has grown to become one of the largest healthcare service provider groups in Asia, valued at US$13 billion.

Key products include the online ordering portal eZRx, and eZVax, a solution that provides governments, local health authorities and the private sector with end-to-end vaccine management.

The latter is primarily used for the COVID-19 vaccine currently, but Laverick says the plan is for this to be used for any vaccine in the future.

Another important service is the eZTracker solution, which uses blockchain-

based technology to drive transparency and visibility in the supply chain for product authentication. eZTracker’s partnership with MSD began in 2020 when eZTracker was deployed in Hong Kong to enhance the traceability of Gardasil®9, MSD’s HPV vaccine.

Laverick explains how eZTracker works: “As the vaccines move through various handover points in the supply chain, the products’ data points are loaded into eZTracker’s secure blockchain ledger, and this ensures it can’t be tampered with.

Users such as healthcare professionals and patients are able to verify the authenticity of the vaccines by scanning a unique data matrix code on the product pack.”

Collaboration between the two companies has grown since then. “We work closely with MSD’s Connected Channel globally, as well as the regional teams, on expanding the use and outreach of eZTracker” Laverick says. “It really is to support the initiative that MSD has, to go from plant to patient and track and trace its product and material movements.”

Zuellig Pharma recently completed a project to explore how blockchain technology can be leveraged further to provide more visibility around inventory and streamline ordering processes. Next, Zuellig Pharma is looking at ways MSD can have a self-operated node to be in control of the data the blockchain contains.

“We have a very strong partnership with MSD” he adds. “We look forward to continuing to build on this, and seeing how we can support digitally enabled end-to-end supply chains, and the vision to track from plant to patient.”

Learn more

MSD

PAOLO MIGLIARI TITLE: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SUPPLY EXCELLENCE INDUSTRY: PHARMACEUTICALS LOCATION: ITALY

EXECUTIVE BIO

Paolo joined MSD in 2019 to set up and lead the Connected Channels blockchain programme and to drive MSD’s engagement in the blockchain sector and PharmaLedger consortium.

Paolo has over 20 years’ experience in pharmaceutical data analytics. He combines the use of technology with a deep knowledge of the pharmaceutical market and its dynamics acquired through consulting activities for several large pharmaceutical companies and many years in business development in companies such as Aegate, CegedimDendrite, IMS Health and Codd & Date.

“ EVERYTHING WE DO IN TERMS OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION SHOULD BE PATIENT-CENTRIC” PAOLO MIGLIARI

EXECUTIVE DIRECTO SUPPLY EXCELLENCE, MSD

MSD

Another key element of MSD's digital journey is the use of blockchain technology.

"Imagine a future where we digitally connect to our external partners," Brut says. "We are looking at how we can utilise blockchain technology to build an external digital superhighway that will gather and provide information, even make decisions based on algorithms built into the blockchain. For MSD, blockchain is a game-changer."

Blockchain is a team effort, Migliari says, and for this purpose, MSD is part of a research and innovation consortium called PharmaLedger where the company has heavily invested to build the collaboration and network with 11 pharmaceutical companies and 17 other entities, including patient representative organisations, research, and academic organisations. It is a three year expedited co-creation effort

between the industry and healthcare stakeholders. The project is sponsored by the pharma industry – EFPIA and the EU Commission with a total EUR 22 million funding.

Industry collaboration is the key success factor in the journey to unleash the power and potential of blockchain technology.

MSD has been championing this challenge with the creation of a Global Blockchain Consensus Board. The forum, which has so far brought together 14 of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world to facilitate progress in blockchain adoption, has no cost, is open to all industry members to join and operates under a legal framework and anti-trust compliance.

"In terms of the ecosystem we have to engage in mindful supply chain partnerships," says Brut. "For instance, MSD is also partnering with wholesalers, distribution partners and clinics in Asia Pacific and Canada to seek rapid customer integration, demonstrate the benefits achieved, and meet the transformation agendas of governments while leveraging the digital twin and blockchain capabilities.”

If we talk about applications on top of blockchain-enabled networks, our goal is expand our business case portfolio and the deployment of solutions under major capability areas, such as product traceability and anti-counterfeiting; eLeaflet; inventory visibility; and auto-order management, Testing on Importation among other possibilities at the supply chain domain.

In clinical trials we explore eRecruitment, eConsent , IoT use in trials and more through the consortium.

Geography is equally important, as it can dictate the partnerships, choice of network, with the most useful applications (i.e. anticounterfeiting in emerging markets and eLeaflet for paperless markets). technologymagazine.com

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1891

YEAR FOUNDED

Biopharmaceutical INDUSTRY

74,000

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

$48bn REVENUE

This can be achieved with technology.

The objective is to have a foundational stack with a modular architecture, to join existing networks vs creating our own, depending on geography and aligned strategies.

Zuellig Pharma supports the physical distribution, warehousing and order fulfilment of MSD products in the Asia Pacific region, through blockchain-based solutions. An example of this is the mobile application used in Hong Kong for MSD’s Gardasil®9, HPV vaccine. It was created to enable healthcare providers and patients 228

December 2021

to verify the provenance on a unit level and report suspicious packs and with that help increase safety in a region challenged by counterfeit medicines.

In APAC, MSD and Zuellig Pharma are co-developing and testing a trusted network to which MSD expect will attract more of its Pharma peers. The partnership with distributors and wholesalers adds enormous value to the traceability of pharmaceutical products, without the partnership of Zuellig Pharma or other distributors the final benefit to the customer and patient would be reduced.

MSD

“WE CALL IT CONNECTED CHANNELS BECAUSE WE NEED TO BE SURE THAT THE ECOSYSTEM WE ARE BUILDING, STARTING FROM THE MANUFACTURER AND ENDING WITH THE PATIENT, IS CONNECTED” PAOLO MIGLIARI

EXECUTIVE DIRECTO SUPPLY EXCELLENCE, MSD

Having a robust, external partner network is part of MSD's Connected Channels programme. "The reason we call it Connected Channels is because we need to be sure that the ecosystem we are building, starting from the manufacturer and ending with the patient, with partners, stakeholders, pharmacies and doctors in the middle, are all able to be connected with each other" Migliari explains.

Connecting these different actors must require little effort - it could be via an app on a smartphone, or a system used to manage a clinics. "It's so patients and healthcare practitioners can really take advantage of what we are building as an added service and can be part of that value creation as well."

Migliari says they are ensuring data will be correctly managed and secure and will also enable patients to take ownership of the data. The architecture must have “privacy by design” as its core concept and data must be self-sovereign for the people using it.

“It's really an environment where all the partners and stakeholders own their own data and understand how this data is used."

Migliari emphasises that it's important for pharmaceutical companies to collaborate with each other. "Pharmaceutical companies absolutely must compete, but we also need to really take advantage of collaboration,

within legal parameters, especially in the case of logistics. All pharmaceutical companies should collaborate to be sure that the genuine product will arrive as fast as possible to the patient."

Collaboration will also help to reduce counterfeit products, another key aim of the aforementioned PharmaLedger. "Once we have all the pharmaceutical companies and supply chain partners on board it will really change our approach and make the environment easier to use and also more secure," Migliari says.

He hopes the concept will become widely adopted. "The idea is great, and this digital ecosystem will be of advantage to everybody as the purpose is to be patientcentric. I believe that is an objective of all pharmaceutical companies."

MSD’s digital innovation journey is the walk of the talk. It started with a good look into its own operations and infrastructure and in finding the right partners to digitalise logistics. Now it continues to evolve towards an outward focus and the creation of a common utility network which the industry can adopt, and customers and patients can benefit from.

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RECKITT

Embedding Quality in a Changing Environment WRITTEN BY: MARK JACKSON PRODUCED BY: TOM LIVERMORE

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We chat with Valerie Sieurin, the Senior Vice President Global Head of Quality at Reckitt, about how she has transformed the company’s Quality systems and Quality culture, as well as its continuing commitment to creating a better future for all

I

t is quite a task to implement systemic cultural change in a multi-billion company, but that is precisely what Valerie Sieurin undertook when she accepted the role of SVP Global Head of Quality at Reckitt.

Based in Slough, Reckitt is one of the world leaders in developing hygiene, health and nutrition products. Its list of world famous brands is endless including; Air Wick, Calgon, Cillit Bang, Clearasil, Dettol, Durex, Enfamil, Finish, Gaviscon, Harpic, Lysol, Mortein, Mucinex, Nurofen, Nutramigen, Strepsils, Vanish, Veet, Woolite and more. The company has a 200-year legacy and currently generates revenues of more than £14 billion, from its operations in 60 countries, where it employs over 43,000 people.

Valerie Sieurin was tasked with embedding a new culture of Quality across Reckitt, leading a global team and building strong internal partnerships to ensure Quality standards are embedded throughout the product life cycle, from marketing to procurement to manufacturing, and distribution to sales.

“Every day we sell more than 20 million products across the world,” explains Valerie.

“My role is to design and implement a Quality strategy to ensure we are providing everywhere and at every moment products technologymagazine.com

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that are safe , trusted and preferred digital transformation in Quality by our consumers, ” she said. which includes implementing a Valerie, who has a master’s new AI system for planning and degree in food science and food scheduling quality control testing Employees processes from her native France, in manufacturing, a new cloud worldwide has previously worked for major solution for consumer relations, companies such as Danone and Cadbury and most recently the launch of an Schweppes. She has worked in a variety enterprise Quality Management system. of roles at local, regional and global levels, All of these transformation projects as well as having lived in three different were made possible thanks to strategic countries. She has undertaken global partnerships such as with partners, roles for close to 15 years, placing her in SmartQC and Veeva Systems. an ideal position to implement a Quality For Valerie however, digitalisation is not transformation within Reckitt. the end game per se, but a means to drive “This gives me quite a wide view of forward Reckitt’s purpose. “We see digital organisations and different markets,” she says. transformation as a way to achieve this Valerie explains how the journey to the relentless pursuit of a cleaner and healthier new culture was driven in parallel with a world,” she explains.

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RECKITT

VALERIE SIEURIN TITLE: SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL HEAD OF QUALITY

Initially Valerie with her team identified those areas where Reckitt could improve its performance in pursuance of its overriding goals, the technology that could help them accomplish this, and the partners that could help drive this technology transformation. “As a Quality professional, you are always looking at what you can improve and combine with the strengths which you want to maintain.

Continuous improvement is part of the DNA of the Quality leader.” she explains. “But, with my team, we did not want small incremental improvement, with the new technologies available we had the ambition to leapfrog.

“We focused on two areas. The first was consumer relations to move from answering complaints to driving advocacy and win consumer preference. The second was

EXECUTIVE BIO

COMPANY: RECKITT As a global leader at Reckitt – a world renowned home of health, hygiene and nutrition brands - Valerie Sieurin is responsible for over 2,000 members of staff working across Quality worldwide. At Reckitt, Quality leaders are increasingly seen as strategic business partners. The disruptive leader is driving a culture change across the organisation, overseeing end-to-end Quality, coaching people to bring their best and driving consumers advocacy in the pursuit of excellence.

Valerie Sieurin is an ambassador for creative solutions and innovation in product, processes and Quality systems. She has initiated a digitisation journey of quality at Reckitt and championed new ideas from everyone to make the Quality team even more agile, connected, embedded and predictive.

She is also extremely passionate about sustainability & inclusion across Reckitt and the community.

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RECKITT

Embedding Quality in a Changing Environment

“ We are here to protect, heal and nurture in the relentless pursuit of a cleaner and healthier world. This is what drives me every day in the decisions I take. It means that we are always looking at better solutions” VALERIE SIEURIN

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL HEAD OF QUALITY, RECKITT

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eliminating repeated failures. Our vision was to make the organisation more predictive in order to avoid such errors, and to support this cultural transformation through technology.”

To enable this transformation, Valerie and her team have built a very strong partnership with the Reckitt IT department.

In order to transform its consumer relations, Reckitt worked closely with its project partners to design a cloud-based system to enable them to connect everywhere with consumers, using all media from emails to social media.

“Now our consumers can contact us from any place and at any time,” she explains. “We can bring insights to the business to improve our products and service and delight our consumers, which ultimately will drive consumer advocacy and increase love for our brands.”

RECKITT

The second cultural to connect all of our Quality transformation concerned Reckitt’s management processes and be Quality processes and systems. more efficient,” she explains.

The aim was to connect all the The transformation began with Products sold across company’s Quality processes improving efficiency in Reckitt’s the world everyday to increase efficiency and, as a Quality Control laboratories, which consequence, revenue. Valerie believes that she refers to as a ‘Lean lab Programme and Quality transformations can directly impact lately renamed as LabEx for Laboratory a company’s business success: reduce time Excellence’. “We quickly identified that to market and improve first time right as two implementing lean methodology wasn't examples. enough, it was a good step to start improving Previously Reckitt had Quality systems a laboratory, but it wasn't enough,” Valerie which were not connected with other says. We needed to enhance our programme systems within the organisation and with technology and that is when the therefore inefficient. This is why Valerie relationship with SmartQC commenced. The and her team decided to partner with end game is to have paperless laboratories Veeva Systems to develop a solution that will be fully integrated to the overall using the latter’s Quality management business systems. When systems are platform QualityOne, which Reckitt is connected, this will improve product release now implementing. “This will enable us times and get products to customers faster.

20mn+

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Cloud Applications that Drive Transparency & Trust Throughout the Product Journey 1000+ Customers • 4500+ Employees • $1.5B+ Revenue • 165+ Countries

Helping companies bring high-quality, safe, and sustainable products to market faster without compromising compliance.

"Agile - Empowering - Strategic" www.industries.veeva.com

Reckitt Embarks on Quality Cloud Transformation with Veeva Why Consumer Goods leader Reckitt is partnering with Veeva Systems to transform its quality processes for greater operational agility Consumer hygiene, health and nutrition leader Reckitt is partnering with Veeva Systems to realize Reckitt’s vision for Quality’s digital transformation.

By adopting Veeva cloud solutions, Reckitt is establishing a modern technology infrastructure that allows people and processes to operate with agility and speed, without compromising quality and compliance.

Reckitt selected Veeva’s QualityOne software to replace disparate legacy systems and streamline activities, data, and documents into a single source of truth. This digital transformation effort improves collaboration throughout the organization, and enables greater transparency and agility.

“We’re taking the opportunity to reduce complexity, because that is the enemy of progress and growth, and simplifying our processes with this intuitive platform. The system is not only user-friendly, but its ease of use allowed our team to re-imagine the process,” said Breda Quinn, Global Transformation Quality Director at Reckitt.

“Veeva is an excellent technology partner for us.

They are agile and empower us to focus on all the right things. They’re driving the strategic thinking and inspire, and motivate us, to think long-term.”

Partner to Industry, Customers: What Sets Veeva Apart from Other Vendors Unlike transactional technology vendors, Veeva takes a partnership approach to its customers’ digital transformation journeys. This includes maintaining deep expertise in industry challenges.

For example, Veeva employs “a unique team of strategists who have joined Veeva directly from industry; they are the voice of our customers” said Veeva strategy leader Ed Van Siclen. “And when we get it right -- the collaboration between our product organization, our customers and the strategy team -- we create magic.”

Additionally, Veeva solutions are appreciating assets that allow customers to keep pace in a rapidly evolving business environment. “As a cloud-based, SaaS technology provider, we deliver software-at-speed,” Van Siclen said. “We add features three times a year and become an appreciating asset for our customers.”

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RECKITT

Streamlining processes within their decision making within laboratories leads to greater a more agile supply chain. efficiency, while improving “Now there are a lot of different Generates revenues of more than business, and maintaining technologies that are available to standards to ensure customer us that we have started piloting confidence in their brands. Valerie and deploying. SmartQC for believes that the introduction of these new example, is a digital twin that enables us technologies and systems will provide the to plan and schedule our testing more Reckitt teams the access to the data in a efficiently. We are also looking at piloting digital format that they need to enhance and implementing SmartQA, which will

£14bn

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“ Now we are able to have our consumers contact us from any place and at any time” VALERIE SIEURIN

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL HEAD OF QUALITY, RECKITT

digitise quality assurance activities and ultimately improve product release times further. In our pharma factories we have hundreds of test methods for our products, so it is complex to manage the lab operation. These new technologies really enable our people to focus on what is important, adding value.”

The transformative process is not one Reckitt could have undertaken on its own.

Valerie places great importance on the role played by their partners.

When working out which companies Reckitt should work with, Valerie always initially asks the question, “what don't we know?”. Then she identifies where Reckitt can collaborate with potential partners and those companies which could join them on their journey of transformation.

For Valerie the transformative process is continuous. As she observes “the technology of today will be obsolete soon,” which she finds “fascinating.”

Consequently, it is vital that companies such as Reckitt are choosing the partners who are innovative, invest in research and could evolve with them in order to improve the quality of both their processes and also their products in order to maintain both efficiency and customer confidence in their brands. “This is why we have partnered with Veeva Systems. This is also why we work with SmartQC,” she says.

However, for Valerie improving efficiency and maintaining brand confidence is only part of a bigger picture. She believes that Reckitt serves a far greater purpose than would appear on any financial balance sheet.

This is what motivates her.

“The reason why we exist is our purpose,” she says. “We are here to protect, heal and nurture in the relentless pursuit of a cleaner and healthier world. This is what drives me technologymagazine.com

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#1 leading digital planning and scheduling solution for QC laboratories Smart-QC is deployed in over 150 labs worldwide and our solutions are used by 10 of the top 15 largest companies in the life science industry. Most cResults’ clients have already witnessed massive levels of improvements within their organizations.

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By cResults the maker of Smart-QC, Smart-QA and FDAAWARE

RECKITT

every day in the decisions I take. We huge objectives and we are all working are always looking at better solutions together on achieving them by 2030,” to fulfill our purpose.” she says.

Operates in As such, Valerie is energised by Reckitt has targeted reducing Reckitt’s sustainability initiatives which greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in its lie at the heart of both the company’s operations by 65% by 2030, as well as Countries ethos and its global impact. To achieve using 100% renewable energy and reducing these the company works closely with local its overall energy usage by 25%. This should communities to forge a brighter future. lead to a 50% reduction in its product “We are engaging together with our carbon footprint in the same timescale, partners with 22 million people through with the ultimate goal of being carbon programmes, partnerships and campaigns,” neutral by 2040. she explains. “Our objective is to have a lasting The company has partnered with impact on people and communities, and also the WWF to preserve and restore 2,100 to deliver the UN’s Sustainable Development kilometres of freshwater across two major Goals in which we are engaged.” river basins in the Amazon and Ganges. In These initiatives are also designed to reduce addition, one of its brands, Air Wick, is also Reckitt’s own carbon footprint. “We have working with WWF to raise awareness of

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“ This is for the good of the people, the consumers, but as well for the planet” VALERIE SIEURIN

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL HEAD OF QUALITY, RECKITT

the importance of nature and how we can all do more to protect and restore it.

Valerie believes that neither Reckitt’s culture of Quality transformation nor its sustainability drive would be possible without the strong and clear leadership provided by the CEO, Laxman Narasimhan and company’s senior management.

“This transformation in Quality is only possible because of the leaders across the world that are engaged in this transformation,” she says. “We are driving innovation in the areas of hygiene, health and nutrition, continuing, improving and working on our sustainability goals in order to have a positive impact in the world.”

The aim behind the current transformation of the company’s Quality processes is to ensure that all of the disparate parts of Reckitt’s global family are connected and working together to achieve its purpose to protect, heal and nurture in the relentless pursuit of a cleaner and healthier world. This requires a state of constant evolution.

“This is for the good of the people, the consumers, but as well for the planet,” Valerie says.

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ADVANCING DIGITAL

TRANSFORMATION

DURING COVID WRITTEN BY: LEILA HAWKINS

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PRODUCED BY: MIKE SADR

NOVANT HEALTH

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Onyeka Nchege, CIO at Novant Health, tells us about the importance of the digital ecosystem to be able to innovate and reach more people with their care

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nyeka Nchege joined Novant Health, a not-forprofit integrated system operating in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, as Chief Information Officer in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Aside from the typical challenges many health systems were experiencing, Nchege explains that it changed the ability of going to markets and engaging with stakeholders. "I always want to be able to shake hands or do elbow bumps because that's how you build trust.

Now I'm having to do that through Zoom, so I have to be very intentional and attentive to show that not only have I done this before but to make sure people understand that I understand what they're talking about."

The pandemic also caused Novant Health to accelerate its digital strategy. "Like most organisations, we saw a tremendous shift in our adoption of telehealth by consumers and providers, so they learned new tools in real time to empower care delivery. In just a matter of weeks, digital health adoption advanced years into the future," he says.

Nchege adds that to sustain the pace of new advances in technology, healthcare organisations must continue to innovate.

"Let's not wait until there's another catalyst that forces us to do something and start to think innovatively. At Novant Health, we were already deploying telehealth in our environment, so we moved it up the timeline to get it done."

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NOVANT HEALTH

“ BY CREATING A STABLE PLATFORM

BY PARTNERING WITH TOP PERFORMING PARTNERS, WE'RE ABLE TO TAKE RISKS WITH LESS PROVEN PARTNERS AND TRULY INNOVATE” ONYEKA NCHEGE

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND CIO, NOVANT HEALTH

Novant Health was formed July 1, 1997 by the merger of Carolina Medicorp of Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Presbyterian Health Services of Charlotte, North Carolina. The organisation’s mission is "to improve the health of communities, one person at a time.” This is also the main driver of the digital strategy. "We are laserfocused on developing and enhancing the capabilities that are needed to thrive in this changing healthcare ecosystem," Nchege says. "We have to constantly be thinking about what we can do to ensure that we are making a difference."

Nchege explains they focus on four outcomes: “Increasing access to care, ensuring there is access everywhere and anywhere, continuing to push the continuum of care and enhancing its quality, ensuring we have world class recruitment and retention, and constantly pushing the envelope." technologymagazine.com

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Novant Health: advancing digital transformation during Covid

The latter point refers to Novant Health's ecosystem of partners. These include startups, corporate partners, researchers, technology vendors, and incubators. "With each one of these there are students. We need to make sure that we continue to push the up-and-coming students today who will become healthcare professionals in the future," he says. "You have to educate people on what we mean by digital transformation," Nchege adds. "To ensure it's successful, and is adopted, you must establish a new perspective that drives meaningful change, and it begins with education.”

"Next you start to establish success criteria and make sure you have the right people in the right seats because not everyone is necessarily geared towards future technologies. Then you need to ensure you have the right technology partners to carry out a digital transformation successfully. The last part is execution."

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Throughout the pandemic, Novant Health has been developing digital healthcare solutions to reach more people in underserved areas. These include video visits for patients to connect with their providers, interactive devices that patients themselves can use to report information back to their healthcare professionals, and non-sequential e-visits.

Through tele ICU, the critical care staff can also monitor the sickest of patients at one of Novant Health's large multi-specialty facilities using critical monitoring devices.

Another innovation has been deploying drones to deliver personal protective equipment (PPE) to team members at Novant Health facilities. "When the pandemic first started, we realised very quickly that people may not be able to get to us for the care they needed. We've been able to effectively manage PPE delivery, even with short supply by utilising drone technology to deliver critical supplies to staff."

NOVANT HEALTH

ONYEKA NCHEGE TITLE: SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND CIO INDUSTRY: HEALTHCARE

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA Onyeka Nchege is senior vice president and chief information officer (CIO) for Novant Health. He has a wealth of experience in implementing technology strategy and driving digital business transformation within various global organisations. Most recently, Onyeka served as the CIO for Toyota Industries Commercial Finance, where he led a transformative journey, guiding the organisation through strategic partnerships and the establishment of an innovative and more collaborative culture.

Onyeka is deeply committed to exploring the ever-expanding role that technology plays in healthcare evolution.

“WE HAVE TO CONSTANTLY BE THINKING ABOUT WHAT WE CAN DO TO ENSURE THAT WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE” ONYEKA NCHEGE

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND CIO, NOVANT HEALTH

Novant Health also deploys Nuance, a deep-learning-based voice recognition tool used in 77% of U.S. hospitals. The company was acquired by Microsoft in April 2021 and has several products aimed at clinicians.

"At its heart, Nuance is a voice recognition company," Nchege says. "We used them initially as a voice to text transcription service to assist with documentation.

That relationship grew to include mobile documentation services with Dragon Medical and radiology documentation.

They are an organisation that has been a tremendous partner to us in helping us move forward and provide the capabilities that we need within our environment."

“ MAKING SURE THAT EVERYONE WHO NEEDS IT GETS NOT JUST ACCESS TO CARE, BUT REMARKABLE CARE. THAT'S THE NOVANT HEALTH WAY” ONYEKA NCHEGE

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND CIO, NOVANT HEALTH

As an organisation, Novant Health needed a fast, reliable application that provided users a secure way to sign documents and agreements. DocuSign was suggested by team members who had witnessed the transformation DocuSign made for other organisations. The relationship with DocuSign has proven to be advantageous in that their partnership helped Novant Health identify overlooked areas where efficiencies could be implemented. technologymagazine.com

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DocuSign is an easy-to-use digital transaction platform which allows users to send, sign, and manage legally binding documents securely in the cloud. There are many benefits to this partnership.

The DocuSign team quickly responds to team member questions, and they have helped us become more innovative with processes that will address the current needs of Novant Health. The utilisation of DocuSign has also been beneficial for our growing number of team members working from home. To add, this application offers a great alternative for patients to sign documents without going into an office, which potentially lessens the exposure of COVID and other viruses.

Novant Health is continuing to evaluate the application’s use in various areas across the organisation. The partnership between Novant Health and DocuSign has been remarkable.

Another very important tool is Hyland, a content management system that stores and manages scanned documents loaded in the electronic medical health records system. "Hyland is the industry leader in document and content management, so it was a no-brainer that we would absolutely go with them. This is crucial to us because it allows us to pull up the relevant documents with ease to deliver timely patient care at all times," Nchege says.

"By having a strong partner ecosystem, we're able to deliver a consistent experience for all our users," Nchege adds. "By creating a stable platform and partnering with top performing partners, we're able to take risks with less proven partners and truly innovate. Having experts like Nuance and Hyland allows us to be able to give a chance to startups that others may not necessarily give a chance to. technologymagazine.com

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“ LET'S NOT WAIT UNTIL THERE'S ANOTHER CATALYST THAT FORCES US TO DO SOMETHING AND START TO THINK INNOVATIVELY” ONYEKA NCHEGE

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND CIO, NOVANT HEALTH

"I also believe that by building a strong partner ecosystem, we can establish ourselves as a differentiator in our field. We have access to cutting edge technology that comes out of the substantial investment our partners pour into R&D that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to do with some of our other startup partners. I see that as a win-win."

For the next few years, Novant Health wants to continue investing in its ecosystem.

"We are all about patients and providing remarkable service," Nchege says. "Increased access to care when and where needed, making sure that we as an organisation continue to push the needle when it comes to enhanced quality of care across the continuum, and making sure that everyone who needs it gets not just access to care but remarkable care. That's the Novant Health way."

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Digitally Transforming the Middle East WRITTEN BY: CATHERINE GRAY PRODUCED BY: BEN MALTBY

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Super App service, Careem, are expanding its operations to support the digital transformation of the Middle East region

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2012

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areem, the Middle East’s most popular multi-service platform service, has developed massively since its founding in July 2012. Now, the company operates in over 100 cities across 13 countries. Aside from its well-known ride hailing services, Careem offers food delivery, grocery shopping, bike sharing, B2B logistics, and other services.

The company is dedicated to supporting the digital transformation of the Middle East region and will achieve this through the expansion of its Super App. Qasim Ahmed, Head of IT Infrastructure at Careem, discussed the company’s goal to boost digitalisation in their region: “Careem started close to 9 years ago with a very simple vision, to simplify the lives of millions of people in our region. Our reasoning behind this was we realised the region was slightly behind in terms of digital transformation and we saw a huge opportunity to fill that gap.”

By filling this gap, Careem believes it will improve the lives of millions and build a lasting organisation that inspires.

As Careem expands, the company hopes it “can help the region leapfrog into digital transformation.”

A large part of achieving this vision involves hiring the right talent, Ahmed explained. Careem needs to “make sure the teams are empowered, and make sure colleagues are very much aligned with technologymagazine.com

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the cultural values, vision, and mission of the business...Day in and day out you have to do a lot of hard work. Things don’t get built overnight, just the way Rome wasn't built overnight, but to be successful there needs to be a lot of teamwork and team contribution,” he continued.

One large part of the challenge Careem faces as a start-up is finding the right people to realise its mission. We love what we do and our aim is to work with owners who have the same drive and passion to create impact and make a difference.

He said: “When you look for talent in the Middle East region, many people come Navigating the challenges with a lot of diverse experience and skillsets. of the start-up world But one challenge is people aren’t sure As a still relatively new company, Careem how to work in a start-up culture. One has has had to navigate the start-up world and to be passionate, excited and have a bit face the challenges that come of craziness as well to work in a along with it in order to become startup. That's where I think the as successful as they are today. challenge comes, the crazy speed Uber acquired “We are called one of the that a start-up runs in is something Careem for biggest tech start-ups in the which, which people in the region region,” said Ahmed. weren’t very familiar with.”

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QASIM AHMED TITLE: HEAD OF IT INFRASTRUCTURE COMPANY: CAREEM

“Careem started around 9 years ago with a very simple vision, to simplify the lives of millions of people in our region” QASIM AHMED

HEAD OF IT INFRASTRUCTURE, CAREEM

EXECUTIVE BIO

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CAREEM

Despite the challenges the company faced, Careem has been able to expand and build a team dedicated to the growth and development of the company.

Lending itself to the success of the company is Uber’s acquisition of Careem in 2020. The acquisition led to its expansion and Ahmed said it was “very exciting for the company and we can’t wait to soar to new heights.”

“Being acquired by Uber will, in fact, help us realise our mission further. We now have the expertise and can join forces together to make a bigger impact and add more value to the region and to our customers,” Ahmed added.

Digitally transforming the region through the Careem platform Driven by its goal to digitally transform the region, Careem is developing its SuperApp to support its customers in the region. Not only do Careem want to support people when looking for a taxi, food delivery, or grocery shopping, but they also want to support other start-ups and organisations in the region thereby helping the region grow even further.

Ahmed explained: “What we want for our millions of existing customers is for the Careem SuperApp to be their go-to place, a one-stop shop for all the services that Careem offers at the moment. We have a huge focus to help the other start-ups and other organisations in our region which lack technology platforms.

“We want to help them quickly reach their customer base and have their products and services available to them. To help them with this, they can use our platform to offer goods and services while targeting their customers,” he continued.

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“There are many exciting opportunities and areas of growth where Careem is working” QASIM AHMED

HEAD OF IT INFRASTRUCTURE, CAREEM

CAREEM

Driving digital transformation in the Middle East

the issues and challenges new companies face. He said: “Especially in the start-up world you do have a vision but there may not be a clear path to get there. You have to deal with a lot of uncertainty.”

This is why the company is keen to support others in the region and as a result, accelerate the digital transformation of the Middle East.

Looking at its own digital strategy and development, Careem has had to navigate its own uncertainty, especially when adopting new technologies and processes.

This is particularly significant for start-ups as processes need revising more regularly to ensure best practices.

Having developed an efficient formula for this in its operations, Ahmed explained “When Careem builds digital processes we make sure it is sustainable, efficient and effective for the business which enables us to grow rather than slow down.” technologymagazine.com

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CAREEM

“There’s a lot of excitement at Careem and a lot of madness and speed”

“For us, it was imperative to offer that kind of great customer experience, hence having a contact centre and customer care was an essential part of our growth that helped us to stay relevant to our customers.

QASIM AHMED It helped us understand their concerns and HEAD OF IT INFRASTRUCTURE, make sure that these things are cascaded CAREEM down to our engineering and product Partnerships for improved teams so that our products and services are growth and development aligned with our customers,” he continued.

Although Careem has been successful By helping Careem build and deliver with its development and expansion, it the customer service it wanted, Genesys has achieved this with the help of its has helped the company improve its partners that provide services to boost operations based on the wants and needs company areas. of its customers.

Recognising the need for the company To support its onboarding process, to understand its customer base more Careem sought a partnership with identity effectively, Careem partnered with provider Okta.

Genesys to streamline its customer “Our partnership with Okta service operations. resulted in a better onboarding “In our region, people like to experience, streamlined processes Careem offers free have interactive discussions,” and quick and agile integration Wi-Fi in all UAE explained Ahmed.

Careem cars with any third-party systems.” technologymagazine.com

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Careem operates in over

100+

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Adopting scalable and reliable technology for success With this expansion comes the introduction of new technologies. As Head of IT Infrastructure Ahmed understands the scope of technology that can support Careem with its growth.

Keen not to choose ones not aligned with the company’s mission and goal, Ahmed explained how Careem is adaptive to avoid limiting itself to what the company can achieve.

“ We are a company born in the cloud and we have a team that is quite passionate about technology”

He explained: “We are a company that was born in the cloud and we have a team who is quite passionate about technology.

However, we don't limit ourselves to a certain technology stack, whether that's open-source or whether that's existing cloud providers.”

He added: “What we look for in the technology is its scalability, reliability and its ability to realise Careem’s vision. That's normally the kind of rationale which we use when looking to adopt new technologies.”

Developing the SuperApp to improve the lives of millions Looking to the future, Careem is focused on developing and perfecting its SuperApp. “We want it to be the SuperApp of the region,” said Ahmed. Once fully developed, Careem’s SuperApp will act as the go-to place for many people looking for products and services in the region.

The development of this SuperApp supports the company’s mission to simplify and digitally transform the lives of people in the Middle East.

Adding to this, Careem is also expanding its mobility services and food delivery services.

“I think COVID made everybody realise that delivery services are a very integral part of the system. That's where we have a lot of focus and emphasis to expand on food delivery. We are also growing in the domain of payments.

Impassioned by the company's planned expansion, Ahmed said: “There are quite a lot of exciting opportunities and a lot of exciting areas of growth where Careem is working.”

QASIM AHMED

HEAD OF IT INFRASTRUCTURE, CAREEM technologymagazine.com

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ORANGE

ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND CO2 CHALLENGES ON THE ROAD TO NET ZERO WRITTEN BY: HARRY MENEAR PRODUCED BY: MARK CAWSTON

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Hervé Suquet, VP Orange’s Energy Group, talks energy efficiency, and how to better serve communities while ensuring the road to Net Zero Carbon

A

s the COVID-19 pandemic wears on, and digital transformation continues to affect both emerging and mature markets, the role of the telecom operator has never been more pivotal to the continued operation of the modern world. At the same time, the seriousness of the climate crisis has never been felt more strongly, as large parts of the planet struggle with rising temperatures and extreme weather.

For telecom operators, the line to walk between underpinning the fabric of the communications age and drawing down on CO2 emissions has never been narrower. At Orange, finding the right way forward lies with Mr Hervé Suquet, the group’s VP of Energy.

“I'm in charge of coordinating and delivering the objectives of Orange in terms of energy efficiency. Here at Orange, energy efficiency is understood in two ways: its cost efficiency and its environmental impact, which is measured in terms of CO2 output,” explains Suquet. “My role sits in the middle of those two metrics, between the finance team and the corporate social responsibility team. We have a joint objective to be more efficient in our energy usage across the whole Orange group.”

Delivering both increased energy efficiencies and dramatic CO2 reductions is a challenging prospect, not least thanks to the sheer scale of Orange’s operations.

Orange is the world’s eighth-largest telecom brand, with subsidiaries operating across 26 countries, and more than 142,000 employees.

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Energy efficient solutions to hit Net Zero by 2040

Across the entire group, Orange served 259 million customers last year, invested $5.4bn into its networks, and has already launched 5G services in Romania, Poland, Spain, France, Luxembourg, and Slovakia. Tackling the company’s ambitious Environmental, Social and Governance goals across the entire organisation is no mean feat.

However, Suquet maintains that “it’s quite simple in principle,” although he admits it’s “sometimes challenging in terms of day-today implementation.”

He continues: “Orange has made the commitment to acting as a trusted partner, to give everyone the key to a responsible digital world. As such, we are very much concerned with our responsibility to the world, especially our responsibility to reduce CO2 emissions, as well as our overall environmental impact.” To meet these goals, Orange’s approach to energy is a critical piece of the puzzle, as laid out in the group’s Engage 2025 strategic plan.

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“ The Engage 2025 roadmap will allow us to play our part in saving the climate” HERVÉ SUQUET

VP, ENERGY GROUP ORANGE

Orange has committed to reducing its CO2 emissions by 30% compared to 2015, and to use 50% renewable energy across its entire organisation by 2025. The group’s current renewable energy mix sits at around 31%.

Suquet explains that achieving these milestones is “a key step towards our long term goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions across the whole Orange group by 2040, 10 years ahead of the objectives set by the rest of the telecom sector.”

ORANGE

HERVE SUQUET TITLE: VP, ENERGY GROUP

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: Hervé Suquet has taken the challenge to drive Orange Group Energy strategy since end of 2020, under a dual goal to master cost evolution while reaching Orange target to be net zero carbon by 2040.

Previously, he was CTIO of Orange Middle East & Africa, where he drove a strategy enabling Orange MEA to sustain a 6% revenue growth while keeping the

Capex stable, and a stable Opex/Revenue ratio, and design and implement major transformation program as IDEAL (Include Digital in Every African’s Life) and TREE (Toward Responsible Energy Efficiency).

Previously he has lengthy experience in Telecom and Information System international assignment, including leading Orange Network & IT Transformation program, and COO of Mobinil (Egypt).

Hervé Suquet is a graduated Engineer from ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE (Paris – 1988), and has a Msc in Telecoms, TELECOM PARISTECH (Paris – 1990).

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REDEFINING POWER SOLUTIONS

REINVENTING TELECOM INFRASTRUCTURE

iptpowertech.com

LEADING T-ESCO GLOBALLY

IPT Powertech: Accelerating Sustainability for the Telecom Industry IPT Powertech Group is a leading fullfledged energy systems integrator, and complete energy-efficient solutions provider; offering the largest portfolio of customized telecom hybrid solutions worldwide with advanced inhouse developments and manufacturing capabilities.

The group stands out as a unique telecom infrastructure solutions provider that combines telecom services expertise with managed services proficiencies and leads the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia with more than 4,000 experts on board.

expertise in conceptualizing, designing, manufacturing, integrating innovative site solutions, and operating networks on a full OPEX model. By implementing a complete energy and site infrastructure solution and service, IPT was able to capitalize on solar energy and maximize utilization of the grid, which lead to reducing the overall diesel consumption of the sites by 84%. The ESCO program made the current green energy ratio of the sites be 46% (Renewable Energy vs. Total Energy).

As the right partners for aligning technological progress with exemplary environmental conduct, IPT Powertech supports Orange’s vision by bringing in its expertise in sustainable innovation for the telecom sector.

Power experts with the largest portfolio of telecom hybrid solutions

IPT Powertech Group developed to become the largest T-ESCO globally through the unique model of coupling innovation in energy savings solutions along with telecom infrastructure services expertise.

A proven track record in radiosites managed services Largest ESCO with more than 10,300 sites

As the leading ESCO provider, IPT Powertech is proud to be a strategic partner for Orange in working towards ensuring a sustainable Telecom sector.

The partnership is longstanding and successful with significant results in terms of efficiency and savings.

Learn more

In alignment with Orange’s Engage 2025 strategic plan, IPT Powertech provided its ESCO

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ORANGE

Orange’s sustainability commitment is endorsed by the SBTi – the Science Based Targets initiative – which Suquet stresses “is very important to us. This roadmap will allow us to play our part in saving the climate.”

Driving sustainable development goals in rural communities In order to drive real, meaningful change across both its own organisation and the markets in which it operates, Orange is engaging wholeheartedly with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) laid out by the United Nations. In order to support a better, cleaner, more inclusive world, the UN has identified 17 SDG objectives, which range from reducing emissions to promoting diversity and inclusion. “We've identified 6 areas that resonate deeply with our purpose and strategy as an organisation,” says Suquet. “These are key areas where we can make the most positive contribution and there are definitive actions we're taking to support the individual goals of inclusion, connectivity, and climate.”

In order to reduce inequalities in terms of access to knowledge and resources, Orange is working tirelessly to share its digital knowledge and experience with digital tools across developing markets. “We are supporting education, especially for women.

We are working hard to provide connectivity to the un-connected by working to broaden the geographical coverage of our network, deploying low cost access connectivity, both in terms of direct connectivity cost and also in terms of affordable 4G onset connectivity,” says Suquet.

Efficiency and technology fighting the climate crisis Orange’s commitment to combating the climate crisis takes several forms, all of which 280

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conspire to drive the company towards achieving its 2040 Net Zero target. “One is energy efficiency, in terms of reaching net zero carbon emissions, not only across Scope 1 and Scope 2, but also across our Scope 3 emissions. We're promoting the recycling and reuse of materials in order to promote a greener environment,” Suquet explains.

One way in which Orange is driving energy efficiency is through the use of cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics. The group is deploying an AI-powered analytics and monitoring tool called Energy Big Data across its networks. This tool, Suquet explains, “allows

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us to understand how energy is being used throughout our networks, and to crossreference if the energy usage is normal, abnormal, or to be improved, so we can take action.”

5G networks – which Orange is continuing to roll out at speed – are another piece of the puzzle. When commercial 5G deployments started to hit the market in 2019, concerns were raised over how higher data capacities, more cell sites, and larger antennas would affect energy consumption. “5G is very important for us – as it is for the whole telecom sector. Since the beginning of our 5G journey, however, Orange has taken

specific steps towards increasing the energy efficiency of our 5G network,” Suquet explains.

“Thanks to the commitment and passion of our team for energy efficiency from day one, it is now standard practice that all Orange 5G equipment has energy saving features built in from day one. Thanks to these measures, transmitting one gigabyte of data on 5G is much, much more efficient than what can be achieved today on a 4G or 3G network.”

He adds that “Another commitment we're making as part of Engage 2025 is to have 100% Orange branded products – in particular routers – to have an eco-design approach.” technologymagazine.com

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Orange and the SDG Orange is engaging heavily with six of the UN’s 17 SDG goals, targeting the areas where the group can make the most impact in a way that aligns with its expertise and ethos.

SDG 9: Industry innovation and infrastructure SDG 10: Reduced inequalities SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production SDG 13: Climate action SDG 16: Peace, justice, and strong institutions SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals

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“Orange has made the commitment to acting as a trusted partner, to give everyone the key to a responsible digital world” HERVÉ SUQUET

VP, ENERGY GROUP ORANGE

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Combating climate change together For an organisation with the scale of Orange, the battle against climate change can’t happen alone or in a vacuum.

“As a responsible actor within the telecommunications sector and beyond, we are committed to reducing our Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions. As of today, most of the focus has been on Scope 1 and Scope 2, but the next step is to really focus on Scope 3, because carbon generation largely occurs in this area,” says Suquet, adding that “We expect our whole ecosystem to work together with us to achieve our SBTi targets.” Working closely with its entire partner ecosystem will, Suquet continues, be key to Orange’s goals of cutting Scope 3 emissions.

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supply chain is so essential, explains Suquet, that it’s fundamentally changing the ways in which Orange approaches its partner relationships. “In the past, we would sign contracts with our partners based only on cost and technical results. More and more, we are also engaging with partners based on metrics like energy efficiency,” he says. “As of today, in any major outsourcing decision, we consider energy and environmental impact, and we expect it to become even more of a key driver in our decision-making process going forward.”

A better future “Energy cost increases and energy usage increases are neither innovative nor sustainable,” reflects Suquet. “If we don't take the necessary steps, energy usage

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across our network is going to be directly proportional to network traffic – and we know which way the amount of traffic is trending.

We have to take action.”

With this challenge in mind, Orange is leveraging both its external ecosystem of partners, and its vast reserves of internal expertise in order to hit the group’s ambitious climate goals. “This must be done, and the good news is that it can be done thanks to company transversal action – combining the efforts and expertise of finance, network, corporate social responsibility teams and more,” Suquet explains. By leveraging the full range of available skills and labour from across the Orange group, he is confident that Orange can achieve the stabilisation of its energy usage, even as trends like the growth

of 5G and network traffic continue. “Once this has been achieved, we will also be able to reduce the amount of CO2 generated by our operations thanks to the right portfolio of energy sources,” he adds. “In the future, we will continue to reinforce our capacity to master energy efficiency and usage. One key challenge we face is ensuring that each business unit across all the countries where we operate our networks has the ability to correctly forecast their energy needs, so as to drive the group's action plan towards becoming more efficient, towards sourcing energy more efficiently, towards reducing cost, and shrinking our CO2 impact.”

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HARMONISING THE REAL AND VIRTUAL WORLDS WRITTEN BY: SCOTT BIRCH

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PRODUCED BY: BEN MALTBY

DASSAULT SYSTÈMES

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DASSAULT SYSTEMS

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Leading executives from Dassault Systèmes EuroNorth on using virtual universes to imagine sustainable innovations to harmonise product, nature and life

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aking the world a better place. That’s something we can all aspire to, but also an aim that drives and inspires Dassault Systèmes – the 3DEXPERIENCE company that creates virtual universes to model, simulate and evaluate designs, actions and impacts. Put simply, this software allows users to experiment – safe in the knowledge that trial and error leads to better outcomes.

“We are a 3D experience company, and we consider ourselves to be a real catalyst for human progress,” says John Kitchingman, Managing Director, EuroNorth for Dassault Systèmes.

“We provide businesses and people with collaborative 3D experience environments to enable sustainable innovations. Our customers have pushed the boundaries of innovation and we do that with over 290,000 customers across 140 different countries.”

Kitchingman says that the COVID-19 pandemic has also accelerated the adoption of virtual design, with teams of people now able to collaborate in ways that are simply not possible with physical prototyping.

The good news is, it’s not just manufacturing giants that are benefitting from Dassault Systèmes’ technology – SMEs and individuals are all reaping the rewards of virtual twins. The company was originally part of Dassault Aviation until emerging as its own entity 40 years ago, so it’s not surprising to hear that that aerospace sector was one of the early adopters. technologymagazine.com

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Dassault Systèmes: Harmonising the real and virtual worlds

“The Boeing 777 programme was the first real virtual twin of an entire product life cycle process – not just the design but the entire product development process,” says Kitchingman. “We now see many other adopters, including the life sciences industry, the FMCG industry, and industrial equipment.”

Kitchingman mentions various use cases in life sciences, boosted by Dassault Systèmes’ acquisition of Medidata in 2019 which enables companies to create virtual clinical trials. He also cites the Living Heart project at Great Ormond Street (a renowned children’s hospital in London) which is allowing cardiovascular researchers to explore treatments. Then there is Interstellar Lab, which is building modules for sustainable living on Earth and in space.

Dassault Systèmes provides a centralised system which fosters sustainability practices, allowing clients to take this into their supply chains, working to the same process methods, and making decisions earlier in the product development process.

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“It's all about enabling decisions to be made earlier – increasing quality, reducing waste and replication of processes,” says Kitchingman. “In many companies, simulation processing in the past and present has been about validating what design has already done. Now the finished design moves into the simulation department process to prove out those ‘what if?’ design questions. The platform enables far swifter interaction across the business. All of our 20,000 people use our technology every day.

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JOHN KITCHINGMAN TITLE: MANAGING DIRECTOR, EURONORTH INDUSTRY: SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS AND SERVICES

“ The next industrial revolution is not just about digitising data – it is about virtualising the entire process” JOHN KITCHINGMAN

MANAGING DIRECTOR, EURONORTH DASSAULT SYSTÈMES

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: UNITED KINGDOM John Kitchingman is Managing Director of the Northern European region. John joined Dassault Systèmes in early 2018, following a successful 15-year career at IBM where he held senior roles covering the Oil & Gas, Automotive, Aerospace & Defence, Electronics and Manufacturing industries. Most recently he was Global Sales Leader for Automotive and Aerospace & Defence, responsible for multi-billion dollars of business across IBM globally, defining and driving a programme that returned these industries to sustainable growth.

Beyond John’s long and substantial credentials working in business transformation enabled by technology around the world, he has dedicated energy to a number of causes close to his heart. He is Chair of the Marie Curie Development Board in the West Midlands, and also recently supported Warwickshire’s 2017 Employability Charter for technology and new skills into education.

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SPREAD OND OR INUM

DASSAULT SYSTÈMES

ALAN PRIOR TITLE: VP OF INDUSTRY SOLUTIONS, EURONORTH INDUSTRY: SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS AND SERVICES LOCATION: UNITED KINGDOM Alan Prior leads the Industry Consulting organisation, supporting all the sales engagement teams for Dassault Systèmes in the EuroNorth region. In a 35-year career, Alan has held a number of senior positions in technical support, technical sales and major account management. He was UK General Manager of the Abaqus company, which was acquired by Dassault Systèmes in 2005 to form the SIMULIA brand, in which he then led the worldwide centre of excellence.

Alan obtained a BSc in Mechanical Engineering, followed by a PhD in Impact Dynamics. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

EXECUTIVE BIO

3DEXPERIENCE R2021X

“The next industrial revolution, industry 4.0, for us is not just about digitising data – it is about virtualising the entire process within which our clients work and want to work.

“Virtual twins” is a process, is the method, and the technology that enables companies of all sizes to access this capability. As we recover from COVID, a lot of our small to medium-sized clients who may in the past have had different bespoke solutions for design, for analytics, for manufacturing, are starting to really adopt a platform approach.”

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“ So it's not just about saving time. You could be saving material, you could be saving cost, you could be getting fundamentally a better product” ALAN PRIOR

VP OF INDUSTRY SOLUTIONS, EURONORTH DASSAULT SYSTÈMES

Better products The 3DEXPERIENCE platform approach has many obvious benefits for businesses, allowing previously siloed stages and departments to work together – finetuning designs, and optimising in a way that previously would have been prohibitively expensive and time consuming.

“The 3DEXPERIENCE is about freeing up collaborative communication and enabling people to innovate faster, to explore more, to be more effective,”

says Alan Prior, VP of Industry Solutions at Dassault Systèmes. “Ultimately, to get better products and services.”

“Essentially we have one source of truth, one source of data. All the stakeholders – the designers, engineers, analysts, marketing – collaborate on that same set of data in that one environment. However, they each see that data through the lens of their own role.”

Prior says while time reductions are significant, there is greater value to be achieved.

“We can see opportunities for clients to use this technology in so many ways: to switch to more sustainable materials, for example,” he says. “We can see opportunities for clients to build in better recycling capability or improved production methods before they get to full-scale prototype production. So it's not just about saving time.

You could be saving material, you could be saving cost, and you could be getting a fundamentally superior product.”

Prior goes on to say he believes there is market pressure on manufacturers to respond to demands from consumers – particularly when it comes to reducing packaging, reducing waste, and using more environmentally friendly materials. technologymagazine.com

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“ Sustainability is about people, about product, and innovation and is also about the business models of the companies we work with” SEVERINE TROUILLET

EDUCATION AND PUBLIC SECTOR DIRECTOR, EURONORTH, DASSAULT SYSTÈMES

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Although automotive and aviation were early adopters of the technology, Prior says what is “great about this job” is the opportunity to work with such a diverse range of clients across multiple industries with significant impact on our world – from nuclear power stations to shampoo bottles, electric cars to semiconductors.

Built for innovation Prior also points out that the 3DEXPERIENCE, while it can improve processes and maximise efficiencies, does not replace human creativity and ideas, and that having a diverse team of creative thinkers is essential.

SEVERINE TROUILLET TITLE: EDUCATION AND PUBLIC SECTOR DIRECTOR, EURONORTH INDUSTRY: SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS AND SERVICES

That is a view echoed by Severine Trouillet, Education and Public Sector Director, EuroNorth, Dassault Systèmes.

Her role is to support those organisations looking to leverage the value of virtual technology to transform and to empower citizens and students.

When it comes to talking about people in 2021, it is impossible to not first address how Dassault Systèmes coped with COVID-19.

“We faced the same challenges as our customers,” says Trouillet. “We wanted to continue to innovate and make sure their business models were suited to a more hybrid world. We used the 3DEXPERIENCE platform internally as a tool to collaborate

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: UNITED KINGDOM Séverine is the Public Sector & Education Director at Dassault Systèmes, Northern Europe, where she leads their external engagement with public and education value networks.

Severine focuses on key challenges related to business sustainability and the workforce of the future to demonstrate the role of virtual technology as a key transformation enabler. Prior to joining Dassault Systèmes, she worked as European Affairs Lead for Walgreens Boots Alliance, as Head of Professionalism for the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK) and Corporate Affairs Senior Manager for Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (Paris, Worldwide). She also worked in Brussels as a European Affairs’ Lead at Interel and Cambre Associates, advising trade bodies and companies (L’Oréal, Xerox, EDF, Bridgestone, etc.) on their EU engagement. She started her career in the public sector, working in the UK local government (Lambeth Council, LACORS) and as a parliamentary assistant in France.

“ The benefits go far beyond what the clients initially may think they are going to use it for” JOHN KITCHINGMAN MANAGING DIRECTOR, EURONORTH DASSAULT SYSTÈMES

with our 20,000 colleagues – it allowed us to share information, communicate, and focus on wellbeing and mental health as a leadership team.”

Trouillet says Dassault Systèmes is looking for creative, flexible people with a passion for technology as a way to solve some of society’s biggest challenges, and a conviction that the company is the place for them to develop and grow.

Purpose and sustainability are key for Trouillet, and for CEO Bernard Charlès, 298

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whose model is to harmonise product, nature, and life.

“As a business, we made a big leap last year when we hired our first Chief Sustainability Officer which really helped accelerate our commitment to sustainability,” says Trouillet.

“We were ranked a few years ago as the most sustainable company in the world by Corporate Knights magazine, but since last year we have really committed to science-based targets and our aim is now to be net-zero by 2040.

DASSAULT SYSTÈMES

“We recently partnered with Accenture to try to understand the potential of sustainability for virtual twin technology and we discovered that there's a lot that can be saved in terms of waste management and energy consumption through virtual twins. For us, sustainability is about business sustainability, so it's about people, product, and innovation – but it is also about the business models of the companies we work with.”

Dassault Systèmes aims to make sure that the workforce of the future, the

entrepreneurs, have the right tools. With that in mind, it has created the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab – a startup accelerator to specifically help young companies which are addressing sustainability challenges. These include super-fast charging points for electric vehicles, affordable ventilators during the COVID crisis, and solar-powered drones.

“The idea is really to ensure that these tools are made available so that we can also open up the expertise within the system,” says Trouillet. “Our colleagues are really encouraged to help startups whenever they can, to make sure these entrepreneurs can flourish and become the companies of the future.”

Back to 2021, and Kitchingman explains how large multinational organisations, like Jaguar Land Rover, are adopting Dassault Systèmes for their engineering capability but also realising how that can permeate other aspects of the business.

“The benefits go far beyond what the clients initially may think they are going to use it for,” he says. “What we have created are unified building materials so nobody else needs to recreate it in any other part of the business, so everyone is using the same platform. I think the biggest challenge is creating that process change in organisations for them to truly benefit from the technology that we provide.”

In many ways, COVID-19 has provided organisations with the opportunity to change, to reshape their businesses, and their entire process. The 3DEXPERIENCE could be the tool to make that change happen in a way that is both smart and sustainable.

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EDUCATING FOR THE DIGITAL AGE

WRITTEN BY: JOHN O'HANLON PRODUCED BY: BEN MALTBY

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HIGHER COLLEGES OF TECHNOLOGY

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HIGHER COLLEGES OF TECHNOLOGY

HCT is showing how technology can transform the traditional campus in the interest of employability: We learn from its visionary President and CEO

H

igher Eduction Professor Abdullatif Al Shamsi, a leading intellectual and educationalist, is the President and CEO of the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), as well as holding the Chair of Engineering. From 2017 he has been the driving force behind the HCT 4.0 Strategic Plan, titled Employability and Beyond and inaugurated by UAE Prime Minister, Vice President, and Dubai's Ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in 2019.

An early initiative under the plan established on-campus Sector Skills Academies to provide students with multiple career pathways, coupled with flexible and agile workforce development programmes.

The plan offered Professional Certification Qualifications (where students gain academic and professional qualifications concurrently) and a Fast-Track degree system for high-achieving students to receive a bachelor's degree in three years.

It pioneered the concept of 'Graduating Companies' – awarding graduate status to start-up companies, not just individuals, with HCT becoming the first higher technical institution to create its own on-campus economic free trade zone. This is one of three core principles of HCT 4.0, together with focusing on technical leadership, and empowering graduates to know that they are employable, and indeed have the potential to be innovators and entrepreneurs so that no Emirati would be left behind.

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Abdullatif Al Shamsi

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The UAE’s Higher Colleges of Technology takes education into the digital age

Radical reforms Prof. Al Shamsi has been developing his educational philosophy in publications for more than a decade, passionately promoting the need to revamp education – to rethink it in the light of present-day realities and emerging technologies like IoT and robotics.

“We are fed up with the traditional ways of delivering instruction. For the present generation the traditional model of classroom teaching has become boring, and it creates the attitude of 'I just want to get my degree and get out of here: after that, I'll think about what work I'm going to do!’ I was drawing attention to the implications of the fourth industrial revolution before that term became current, and I am proud of that and the interest it has attracted.”

He has led the growth of HCT for six years now, and is pleased with the steep rate of progress to date, while anticipating further huge changes in the coming five years. “With 16 separate campuses and 23,000 students, 304

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“ We are fed up with the traditional ways of delivering instruction” ABDULLATIF ALSHAMSI

PRESIDENT & CEO, HIGHER COLLEGES OF TECHNOLOGY

we have a secure place on the global academic scene, but we are more concerned with the applied nature of our programme: to prepare our youth to serve and to be the number one choice for employers in different industry and business sectors. We maintain the academic rigour of our courses to the highest international level while always keeping a clear eye on real-world relevance. We think we have a different educational blend, one that is more demanding.”

Abdullatif Alshamsi TITLE: PRESIDENT & CEO INDUSTRY: EDUCATION

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Prof. Abdullatif Al Shamsi is the current President and CEO, and Professor of Engineering, at Higher Colleges of Technology as per Federal Decree (29) for 2015. He received his Ph.D. from Duke University, USA in 1997 and received his Master and Bachelor degrees from Boston University. Previously, Prof. Al Shamsi was the Managing Director of the Institute of

Applied Technology (IAT) for seven years, where he established Applied Technology High Schools, Fatima College for Health Sciences, and Abu Dhabi Polytechnic.

He started his career at UAE University as associate professor, then he was appointed an Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research. Later, he founded a Universitywide Internship and Work Integrated Learning. Prof. AlShamsi has more than thirty-five research publications in worldclass scientific journals and international conferences. His latest publication was a series of books, The Making of Education, published in Arabic.

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Enabling educators.

Empowering students.

Explore how we accelerate student discovery, learning and innovation with our Digital Education 3D Experience.

EXPLORE THE 3D EXPERIENCE

HIGHER COLLEGES OF TECHNOLOGY

Professor Al Shamsi's campus of tomorrow will be re-engineered on the foundation of HCT 4.0. The pandemic was a paradoxical blessing on his vision. “In some ways Covid-19 brought positive as well as negative outcomes: the pandemic forced universities to accelerate their new models of hybrid learning. Our instructors became more comfortable with online teaching using technological tools, simulations and apps, and engaging with students on-screen.

No need for travelling to meetings – in the academic world, as in the business world, it has brought us the freedom, convenience and flexibility to engage anytime, anyhow,

“ This generation is extremely smart … their brains are digitally rewired in a way that enables them to think outside the box and come up with solutions we have never thought about” ABDULLATIF ALSHAMSI

PRESIDENT & CEO, HIGHER COLLEGES OF TECHNOLOGY

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“ To create the campus of tomorrow we need to convert our campuses to become more of an open lab space for innovation” ABDULLATIF ALSHAMSI

PRESIDENT & CEO, HIGHER COLLEGES OF TECHNOLOGY

anywhere, optimising online resources.

As for the students, they are already more receptive to online working than their elders.

What we have gained through Covid-19 will continue with us for years to come: even when we're going back to campus. I don't 308

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need to bring my students in five days a week when they can perhaps come in for one or two days for hands-on programmes, workshops and labs. The campus will become more of a social place where they can meet and exchange ideas with their peers and their tutors as needed.”

Accelerating ideas His intention is that many of the ideas being exchanged on-campus will lead to innovation, entrepreneurial thinking and start-ups. “This generation is extremely

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smart. They generate thousands of innovative ideas – I think their brains are digitally rewired in a way that enables them to think outside the box and come up with solutions we have never thought about.

They don't need consultants and experts – bring those kids together and they will come up with a project. The next question is how do you convert those student projects to a commercial product or service?

“This is where our journey is taking us.

Developing an idea into a product that can go to the market and compete. That is why

DID YOU KNOW...

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The traditional campus has closed classrooms, sports and club facilities, labs and workshops.

That won't serve tomorrow's students. “The question is, do we need hundreds of classes physically on campus? About 70% of university campuses consist of classrooms within four walls. But all of this information is available online, virtually. To create the campus of tomorrow we need to convert our campuses to become more of an open lab space for innovation, to incubate those ideas, open labs for learning spaces to discuss a project. More importantly, create more of a simulated work environment for students to gain experiential learning. We want to create a networking and social environment here. We want our students to feel excited about coming to the campus, and not just because they have to.

“One big advantage of this opportunity is that it will reduce the footprint of our campus.

Future campuses will accommodate many times more students, lowering the cost of higher education and at the same time making it more exciting for them. Our young people's prospects will be better because they will be more skilled and have better prospects of employment in their chosen field than those from traditional institutions.”

In place of one-size-fits all, lecture-based teaching does (which does not serve the ‘Gen Zs’!) the vision is to offer customised curricula for every student, enabled by technology.

“At HCT today we have 23,000 students, and around 70 different programmes. Not all of these will meet their expectations: some they are excited about, others may be a filler that they have to do to get their degree. So what do we mean by customised curricula? Well instead of 70 programmes we should have 23,000! We can do that. We have big data relating to the students – social media from

December 2021

their high school days and other experiences that reveal their interests and will define for us their interests, what motivates them, where their strengths lie and what excites them. On the other hand, we have access to the needs of employers. With this framework, I can come up, aided by AI, with a study programme specially designed for this student only, and surely that will make him or her more engaged and excited.”

This part of the transformation, he admits, may take a little longer but he believes it can be fulfilled within 20 years. But another initiative, on which personalised learning will depend, is already in place. The days when employers took on people solely on their potential, then trained them to do the job, are gone, he says. “We strongly believe

“ We contracted with McGraw-Hill and gained access to tens of thousands of books and supplemental materials online” ABDULLATIF ALSHAMSI

PRESIDENT & CEO, HIGHER COLLEGES OF TECHNOLOGY

that any job today depends 80% on the skills and competencies the candidate already has, and this is what we must give our students.

Knowledge is easily accessible today, but you need the skills to access the knowledge. It's neither the instructor nor the textbook that's the main source of the knowledge – it is open source. But accessing the knowledge you need requires skills. Four years ago at HCT we shut down our physical library and moved it online, creating an advanced digital library. We contracted with McGraw-Hill and gained access to tens of thousands of books and supplemental materials online. That's a major step forward and a very special partnership. Sadly education has lagged behind other sectors in adopting technology of this type up till now, but this concept will have to be widely adopted.” By

ditching the bureaucratic mindset of face-toface teaching and written exams, HCT can turn out students ready to hit the ground running, and contribute to employers at the speed required by today's employers.

This conversion to a digital, paperless campus customised for its principal stakeholders, the students, is in full spate at HCT and Professor Al-Shamsi is determined to deliver it over the coming five years. It might have taken 50 years, he says, had not the pandemic accelerated the process. Make no mistake, in executing this plan HCT is showing the path to global higher education transformation. “Unless digital change is done, and done quickly, higher education across the globe, like another Kodak, would be put out of business, and a whole generation of students let down.”

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Connectivity that Drives Success Cisco is proud to partner with Higher Colleges of Technology to deliver digitally connected campuses, across 16 locations and serving over 20,000 students.

Cisco connectivity solutions allow students to learn and collaborate on any device, anywhere and anytime, whilst securely connecting students, faculty and peers to collaborate regardless of location.

Find out more from HCT Leaders, Faculty and Students about their digitally connected campus here

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HIGHER COLLEGES OF TECHNOLOGY

we need an ‘InnCuvation’ space – a place where innovation, incubation and venture is under one roof. InnCuvation space activities include workshops, boot camps, proceeding to accelerators, and connecingt with an angel investor to scale their project and build their prototype. Then, as ‘company alumni ' of the programme they can retain their connection with HCT for a further two years.

Because we know that nine out of ten startups will fail, these filtration processes give them support to ensure their businesses can be sustained.”

This is what he means when he says that HCT is no longer just in the business of graduating students, but graduating

“ We are fortunate in the leadership of this country who are willing to invest whatever it takes to support the youth of the UAE” ABDULLATIF ALSHAMSI

PRESIDENT & CEO, HIGHER COLLEGES OF TECHNOLOGY

companies as well. It's a thoroughly thought out, ten-step process. Funding has to be in place, and HCT has its own 'pre-seed funding' resources to cover the initial setting up costs, then connect them with clients to create a revenue stream, then help them to access funding sources within the UAE, of which there are many.

InnCuVation is taking place already, and the rate will only accelerate. The plan is being executed. Within the next ten years Prof. Al Shamsi is aiming to graduate 500 new companies and already this year celebrated the first batch of HCT companies, companies that all focus on high tech industries, leveraging robotics, AI and IoT solutions and involving a variety of app developers. “What do we mean by technical leadership? Well, we have embedded professional certification in disciplines like IT, accountancy and finance, engineering, project management or health and safety within every programme we deliver today, awarded by internationally recognised professional bodies. And we're already seeing the outcomes – in the last year alone technologymagazine.com

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“ Unless digital change is done, and done quickly, higher education across the globe, like another Kodak, would be put out of business, and a whole generation of students let down” ABDULLATIF ALSHAMSI

PRESIDENT & CEO, HIGHER COLLEGES OF TECHNOLOGY

12,000 certifications have been awarded to our students. And that's in addition to their academic qualification – it makes our graduates competitive, not only in the local UAE and Middle East markets, but in the global market.”

These students, graduates, and companies are already showing their potential, with some projects already well established and growing. “I can give you a couple examples from the top of my head. One of our companies has seen an opportunity in recycling old electronic devices – so many devices are thrown away, and our entrepreneurs have put collection points across the UAE. They recycle them and retrieve the materials so they can go into new products, and they have already collected hundreds of tons of this material.

Another of our HCT graduate companies is pioneering 3D printed buildings in this country with a focus on insulation to cut energy consumption here. Some construction is already taking place. There are many more success stories we could point to.” These companies, E-FATE and 3DCP, as can be seen below, have been thought up and developed by students in their early 20s, supported by HCT and helped by experienced mentors.

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Empowering IT teams with next-generation networks WRITTEN BY: CATHERINE GRAY 316

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PRODUCED BY: BEN MALTBY

ARUBA

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ARUBA

In a time of accelerated digital transformation, Dobias van Ingen of Aruba discusses how the company has adapted to meet the needs of its clients

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ith leading expertise in Edge technology, Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, is dedicated to supporting industries as they digitalise. As more and more companies look to Edge and cloud solutions to improve their operations, Aruba aims to facilitate a seamless edge-to-cloud journey.

To do this, the company makes networking equipment such as wireless access points, switches, gateways and controllers for security. Adding to this portfolio of technologies, Aruba also designs and develops software to drive new and innovative connectivity experiences for its customers.

Dobias van Ingen, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Chief Technology Officer and Systems Engineers Senior Director explained how the company is keen to create a digital future for the “next generation” within the industries Aruba supports. He explained: “We achieve this with best-in-class hardware and top of the line security.”

Discussing the company’s merits, van Ingen added: “What is special about Aruba is that we have a very unique culture, which is customer-first customer-last. There is the opportunity to try new things and when people make mistakes, they can just try again. The culture is unbelievable – I've never experienced anything like it.”

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“ What is special about Aruba is that we have a very unique culture. We have a customer-first customer-last culture” DOBIAS VAN INGEN

CTO & SYSTEMS ENGINEERS SENIOR DIRECTOR, ARUBA

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Building strong customer relationships to improve services Undoubtedly, being a technology supplier comes with its challenges, especially in a time where the landscape is rapidly changing, and new innovations are constantly coming into play.

As his role involves unpicking the needs of Aruba’s customers, van Ingen understands how essential it is to ensure the company listens to its audience to ensure its products are always up to speed with the latest developments.

With salespeople working with customers, managed service providers that implement Aruba’s products and technology partners who adapt its products for certain industries, van Ingen works closely with all stakeholders to uncover

ARUBA

DOBIAS VAN INGEN TITLE: CTO & SYSTEMS ENGINEERS SENIOR DIRECTOR COMPANY: ARUBA INDUSTRY: TECHNOLOGY

7,000+ 7

$3bn+

EXECUTIVE BIO

valuable insights: “I can use the information they provide to find a common denominator between all the industries to improve our products more efficiently.”

Doing this also allows for faster issues resolution.

Van Ingen said: “We need to make sure we solve any problems with our products quickly, whether the solution is simple or complex, as it impacts our customers’ businesses. We build Number of employees strong relationships with our partners and end users so we can Aruba serves 7 work together on this. regions worldwide This aligns with our customer-first, customer-last approach.”

Revenue in 2020

Dobias van Ingen is the EMEA Chief Technology Officer and Systems Engineers Senior Director for Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. In this role he is responsible for the complete portfolio of technical solutions that Aruba offers, including wired, wireless and SD-WAN solutions.

Dobias works closely on the development of new and existing networking solutions, ensuring they support organisations in creating new experiences, delivering new revenue streams, and improving operational efficiencies at the Intelligent Edge.

With over two decades of experience in the industry and extensive knowledge in networking technology, Dobias is also a member of several technology industry groups.

Aruba: empowering IT teams with next-generation networks

“ As a company we need to make sure that we build flexibility within our products, adding new functionalities to allow for fast digital adoption, whilst ensuring they are of high quality” DOBIAS VAN INGEN

CTO & SYSTEMS ENGINEERS SENIOR DIRECTOR, ARUBA

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Adapting to the new technology landscape Having recognised a sizable shift toward digitalisation and rapid increase in innovation, particularly in the education, built environment and healthcare industries, Aruba is keen to adapt its products to keep them fit for purpose.

“As a company we need to make sure that we build flexibility within our products, adding new functionalities to allow for fast digital adoption, whilst ensuring they are of high quality,” said van Ingen.

Adding to this, van Ingen explained the company wants to reflect IT’s growing relevance with this flexibility: “If digital transformation continues to accelerate at pace, then IT will become increasingly important. It's not just a back-end function anymore. All of a sudden, IT is part of the

ARUBA

go-to-market and core business of the company. IT needs to provide the same flexibility that the end user expects and that is what Aruba is trying to enable.”

“I think we’ve been successful in doing this and making IT relevant. We have grown massively over the past few years. We empower IT teams to provide flexibility and accelerate digital transformation within their organisations,” he continued.

to ensure its customers receive the best service possible.

Zebra Technologies is a global leader in mobile computing, barcode scanning, RFID, thermal printing, plus location, temperature and motion sensing technologies that elevate the shopping experience, track and manage inventory as well as improve supply chain efficiency and patient care.

Zebra empowers the front In 2015, Hewlett-Packard line in retail/ecommerce, Enterprises acquired Aruba for approximately US$3 manufacturing, transportation billion in an all-cash deal and logistics, healthcare, public sector and other industries to achieve a performance edge Zebra Technologies - delivering industry-tailored, was founded in 1969 and has over 10,000 end-to-end solutions to enable

$3bn

Strategic partnerships for success Dedicated to its “customer-first, customer-last” approach, Aruba has invested in a strategic partnership with Zebra Technologies

1969

channel partners

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Eliminate the guesswork with Aruba Network Design and Zebra Your teams are busy. Multi-tasking and aiding customers. At the edge of the network they depend on their Zebra devices to help them get the job done easier without hassle.

That’s why Aruba is collaborating with Zebra to deliver best-practice integration and deployment, so your devices – and your teams – can work their best. Every day, without interruption.

connect.zebra.com/aruba_us_en

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ARUBA

“I think we’ve been successful in doing this and making IT relevant. We have grown massively over the past few years” DOBIAS VAN INGEN

CTO & SYSTEMS ENGINEERS SENIOR DIRECTOR, ARUBA

every asset and worker to be visible, connected and fully optimised.

The company connects its customers to the data they require. Additionally, Zebra’s services optimise workflows, operations, and decisions in real-time to support digital transformation in business.

This collaboration is essential to Aruba’s operations. Discussing it, van Ingen said: “We have a very strategic relationship with Zebra and we build things together.

Zebra improves our services. They can help our customers with issues we might not be able to, and vice versa. This creates a mutual support experience that benefits our customers.”

And the partnership doesn’t just improve the company’s customer operations, but technologymagazine.com

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ARUBA

by using Zebra’s technology, Aruba can also ensure it has best-in-class products.

Van Ingen explained: “Zebra’s scanners are used in many of the industries we work in – especially healthcare – so it is vital the data

“ We also want to make sure the networks are so flexible that you can keep adding new innovations at the edge of the infrastructure” DOBIAS VAN INGEN

CTO & SYSTEMS ENGINEERS SENIOR DIRECTOR, ARUBA

they provide is accurate. We test our devices with Zebra to ensure they operate perfectly with each other and that the data they produce is correct.”

Meeting the needs of the customers now and in the future Aruba is constantly evolving and adapting to meet the needs of its customers. With this mindset, van Ingen explained how the company plans to expand its services further: “We have so much knowledge in networking.

Now we want to consider how we can improve and adapt our services. We’re looking into self-driving networks, and networks that provide better advice to administrators on security, optimisation and efficiency.”

“We are even investigating a closed-loop approach so if we see a problem, we can automatically fix it. We already have a few of these things in our infrastructure, but the amount of these technological advances we use will definitely accelerate over time,” he continued.

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Despite these ambitious goals for improvement, van Ingen shared that Aruba is committed to ensuring its services maintain the same high standards the company has always strived for. Expanding on this, he explained: “Aruba wants to deliver best-in-class hardware, so quality will continue to be important to us. We also need to make sure that we have networks that are flexible for certain lifestyles and allow for fast upgrades to facilitate different industry needs. When we can do that, we can make it easier for organisations to add this new hardware

at the edge of the infrastructure. That's where the hardware works fastest most of the time.”

By enabling industries to incorporate Edge technologies into their operations, Aruba is facilitating digital growth with significant benefits. Edge computing can futureproof the new digitised workplace, making businesses more agile and putting computing power closer to where people can use it, in order to enable organisations to offer more services at a lower total cost.

To ensure the company remains competitive and successful van Ingen

explained Aruba wants “to build hardware for the future.”

“To do that, we monitor and invest in a lot of standardisation to make sure that we build networks at the right time at the right cost. We also want to ensure the networks are so flexible that you can keep adding new innovations at the edge of the infrastructure,” he concluded.

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NAUTILUS DATA TECHNOLOGIES

WRITTEN BY: LAURA BERRILL PRODUCED BY: LEWIS VAUGHAN

NATURALLY COLD WATER COOLING FOR HIGH-PERFORMANCE SUSTAINABLE DATA CENTRES technologymagazine.com

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Using naturally cold water for cooling global data centres is sustainable, environmentally friendly, and it enables high-performance compute for a greater future use of technology

N

autilus Data Technologies prides itself on its technology that is able to cool data centres with naturally cold water, instead of using water which has been mechanically chilled. Owing to the abundance of naturally cold water in locations across the world, data centres can also be placed in a wide variety of locations globally.

Company CEO, James Connaughton explains: “Our preferred sites for data centres are brownfields because they’re perfect for large industrial watercooling systems. They also help create new jobs, as well as digital infrastructure for those communities which are left behind in terms of digital transformation. And at the same time this means we can be closely located in the environments the sector needs to serve.”

The current issue is that infrastructure needs to support hotter, faster servers and use naturally cold water to cool data centres in a more sustainable way of doing so.

Connaughton added that in order to roll this out, Nautilus works with regional and global partners on the capability to deliver these systems and empower them to work with the company to deliver these systems.

“Our goal is not to keep the technology just close to us, but help build facilities that are successful and find a way to get the entire sector to transform into a much more sustainable method of operations and engagement with the local community,” he stresses.

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Company CEO, James Connaughton

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Focus on sustainability and renewables Connaughton adds that by combining their water-cooling technology with renewable energy sources, that means zero emissions in the sector with an extra 70-80% of cooling efficiency – further driving the value of renewables.

He explains: “Unlike most conventionally chilled data centres, we consume no water, whereas mechanically-chilled systems consume a lot. Conventional systems use drinking water, which uses energy to deliver the drinking water to the data centre. Then the data centre retreats the water. In mechanical chilling, water also evaporates, and a big chunk also ends up in the wastewater system. But if you chill data centres with naturally cold water, you don’t have to do any of that.”

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“ Unlike most conventionally chilled data centres, we consume no water, whereas mechanicallychilled systems consume a lot. Conventional systems use drinking water, which uses energy to deliver the drinking water to the data centre” JAMES CONNAUGHTON

CEO, NAUTILUS DATA TECHNOLOGIES

NAUTILUS DATA TECHNOLOGIES

25+

Number of Staff

Connaughton adds the Nautilus approach also means the removal of refrigerants from the cooling process, which are ozonedepleting substances and states such chemicals are not needed any more. Another advantage to the Nautilus system, he says, is the removal of noise owing to not having big chilling systems running. “All of this is a huge leap forward in terms of environmental benefit,” he states.

Most notable aspects of Nautilus technology One of the reasons the company is unique in its outlook is the fact that it delivered its first data centre project on a barge. And this was because, the company wanted to demonstrate that it not only could cool with water, but that it could also prefabricate an entire data centre and deliver it to anywhere in the world – and they could locate to the water beside the shore, or on land near a water source.

“The computers don’t exactly care, do they?” jokes Connaughton. “So we can find these optimal solutions for rapid deployment into both developed countries, but also to bring digital infrastructure into emerging markets where access to digital transformation is lacking and that is very important to us,” he adds.

Scaling up the benefits Its data centres are prefabricated, as mentioned, and tested and the components

DATA CENTRE WATER CONSUMPTION

DID YOU KNOW...

2013

Year Founded

commissioned, then delivered either on floating platforms or on land. When it comes to land-based centres, Connaughton says all they need is the concrete pad. He added that meant greater density, being able to handle two to 20 times the computational power for the same footprint.

“We are able to plug in quite sizable computing capacity into very small geographies, which in turn enables us to fit into the edge, as edge computing continues to grow. And the edge is core to what we do. It means we can continue to grow these big regional and global hubs that are more remote and repurpose infrastructure in locations where there are massive exchanges and everything in between,” explained Connaughton. He added that the technology’s scalability comes with the ability to have a global supply chain, which is what Nautilus has. “We have been able to identify capable and competitive

Data centres consume water directly for cooling, in some cases 57% sourced from potable water, and indirectly through the water requirements of non-renewable electricity generation.

Although in the USA, data centre water consumption (1.7 billion litres/ day) is small compared to total water consumption (1218 billion litres/day), there are issues of transparency with less than a third of data centre operators measuring water consumption. nature.com

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“ It was very clear Nautilus’ holds the potential to drive an exponential leap forwards in global sustainability. It also became clear that existing data centre operations aren’t sustainable” JAMES CONNAUGHTON

CEO, NAUTILUS DATA TECHNOLOGIES

supporters that can help us deliver the technology in any place on earth. For example, we can pick up the phone to a developer in Indonesia who wants to do a project and be ready to deliver the entire package in partnership with them,” he says.

The challenges and differences in land versus water-based projects Connaughton explains that currently, most mission-critical infrastructure sits at the water’s edge. He offers examples of water treatment facilities, power plants, chemical facilities and major manufacturing facilities.

However, he says, this was a new thing when it comes to data centres.

“We are the simplest plugin to those locations and can tie into, for example, any existing desalination infrastructures, drinking water treatment or wastewater treatment technologymagazine.com

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and repurpose their water. Our data centres are still 100% the same as other data centres, the same electrical systems, same rack, same networking capabilities, and same security, so people can be comfortable that they are getting the full data centre, but with a much better cooling system,” explain Connaughton.

The promise and deliverance of sustainability In order to deliver on sustainability goals, Nautilus suggests more of the sector looks at moving to using water cooling technologies.

This is because there have been issues with water supply all over the world, whereby drinking water is being taken by data centres which is needed for people. But now that is not necessary. Connaughton thinks this transition is starting, but believes it will take two to five years to get everyone on board.

“Covid cost us a year in time to do this but we already have big global hubs and we’re seeing increasingly

“Our data centres are still 100% the same as other data centres, the same electrical systems, same rack, same networking capabilities, same security, so people can be comfortable that they are getting the full data centre, but with a much better cooling system” JAMES CONNAUGHTON

CEO, NAUTILUS DATA TECHNOLOGIES

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JAMES CONNAUGHTON TITLE: CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER INDUSTRY: D ATA CENTRES AND COOLING TECHNOLOGY LOCATION: FLORIDA, UNITED STATES

EXECUTIVE BIO

James Connaughton is a globally distinguished energy, environment and, technology expert, as both corporate leader and White House policymaker. Mr. Connaughton is the CEO of Nautilus Data Technologies, a high-performance, ultra-efficient, and sustainable data centre infrastructure company powered by its proprietary water-cooling system. Before joining Nautilus Data Technologies, he served as Executive Vice President of C3.ai, a leading enterprise AI software provider for accelerating digital transformation.

energy, environment, natural resource, and climate change policies. An avid ocean conservationist, Mr. Connaughton helped establish four of the largest and most ecologically diverse marine resource conservation areas in the world.

Mr. Connaughton is a member of the Advisory Board of the ClearPath Foundation and serves as an Advisor to X (Google’s Moonshot Factory) and Shine Technologies, a medical and commercial isotope company. He is also a member of the Board of Directors at the Resources for the Future and a member of the Advisory Boards at Yale’s Center on Environmental Law and Policy and Columbia’s Global Center on Energy Policy.

From 2009-2013, Mr. Connaughton was Executive Vice President and a member of the Management Committee of Exelon and Constellation Energy, two of America’s cleanest, competitive suppliers of electricity, natural gas, and energy services. In 2001, Mr. Connaughton was unanimously confirmed by the US Senate to serve as Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. He served as President George W. Bush’s senior advisor on energy, environment, and natural resources, and as Director of the White House Office of Environmental Policy. During his eight-year service, Mr. Connaughton worked closely with the President, the Cabinet, and the Congress to develop and implement

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distributed power, smart cities, smart grids and smart transportation already. So this kind of digital transformation and adoption of new technologies such as water cooling will happen very quickly once it’s taken up by everyone. I think that could be within the next ten years,” he said.

Connaughton said the tipping point for the technology’s adoption will come from the customer and compared the uptake to the surge of electric vehicle usage, as well as the rapid leap from standard call and text mobile phones to the full-on smartphones we all use today.

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started to creep in in the 1980s and into the 1990s and then after a few years, boom, smartphones were everywhere almost overnight and everyone had got rid of their perfectly functioning, what were, cell phones,” he recalls.

Partners and collaborations Nautilus lists its main partners as Schneider, Bechtel, USystems, and Vertiv and says it is establishing more global vendor relationships, plus partners for new data centres, skilling them up and training them in how to operate the systems.

Connaughton says: “We like to work with creative and innovative partners

NAUTILUS DATA TECHNOLOGIES

“ I am feeling confident because collectively the leadership team has in the region of 200 years’ experience so they know what they’re doing” JAMES CONNAUGHTON

CEO, NAUTILUS DATA TECHNOLOGIES

who understand what we’re doing and the leap forward benefits of what we do.

We like at the moment to start with local developers and then the bigger players as they implement their own development.

We’ll see what happens in the enterprise and hyperscale world and how much our partners want to build their own offerings versus them leasing from others, but we are looking forward to them integrating what we are doing with what they are doing themselves. Currently we are having good, constructive conversations with many partners and collaborators about that.”

And Connaughton is keen to emphasise that in terms of Nautilus’ management technologymagazine.com

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“Nautilus focuses on supporting the highest level of performance with the lowest environmental impact and the best social and economic benefit, this is the definition of sustainability” JAMES CONNAUGHTON

CEO, NAUTILUS DATA TECHNOLOGIES

structure and team members, they are all made up of previous major data centre suppliers who collectively have built hundreds of data centres across the world.

“They all made the jump over to us and our data centre systems and are some of the most accomplished people in the data centre sector. Hopefully that will tell you something about what we do here and our vision for the future of this technology,” he stated.

The immediate future and planning goals Connaughton describes his business as a “very thoughtful start-up” but added that he didn’t want it to “get ahead of itself.”

He thinks the main aim right now for the business is to raise and maintain visibility, which has been the case with rolling out their first project and has prompted interest in what Nautilus does.

“So right now we are working on fitting out the first facility in Stockton, California and then working on two new locations, one in Maine in the northeast of the US and one in western Ireland, which we think are both good as global hubs for the technology as they are on both sides of the Atlantic.

Then next year we are looking at city centre locations which will have the ability to deliver large-scale infrastructure.”

He added that half of the new locations are in fully developed markets and half in leading emerging markets. “We’re being quite thoughtful of what our customer class is and at the same time geographic diversity so we can create some acceleration in the adoption of the technology. Then it’s a case of firming up the engineering packages we can offer, along with the licensing program,” he goes on: “The idea is then partners can come to us and we already have the engineering , manufacturing and vendor processes and we can provide the licensing and procurement schedules.

We want to make the whole process really easy for the data centre developers, offering a complete package.

“Having the prefabricated modular design enables business to move quickly and provides the highest level of computing, the lowest environmental footprint and the greatest social gain at the same time,” Connaughton concludes.

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DEMOCRATISING DATA STORAGE WRITTEN BY: HARRY MENEAR PRODUCED BY: LEWIS VAUGHAN

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CEPH

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Meet Ceph: the open source data storage solution helping decision makers find the flexibility, reliability, and scale to navigate a changing IT landscape

I

t should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone who hasn’t spent the past decade living under a rock that data has become the backbone, the body, the soul (the metaphor of your choice) of the modern world. Data storage, analysis, recovery, and management are mission critical capabilities for any enterprise - and the core value proposition for more than a few.

The data centre industry is experiencing an explosion of capacity throughout both mature and emerging markets, datasets are growing exponentially like some 1950s sci-fi special effect, and emerging tech trends like 5G, the IoT, artificial intelligence, machine learning, HPC, cold storage, and edge computing all conspire to pour gasoline on an already raging fire. Yet, the more critical that an effective data storage solution becomes to organisations and enterprises of all shapes and sizes, the more apparent it is that the solutions dominating the market today aren’t necessarily the right tools for the job.

“In retrospect especially, but even at the time there was a glaring hole in the market.

There was a clear need: everybody needed storage, it needed to be scalable, and there was no open source option; you had to buy expensive proprietary solutions,” reflects Sage Weil, Principal Ceph architect at Red Hat, and the founder and chief architect of Ceph. “There needed to be an open source alternative that was good, and that's the niche we've tried to fill.”

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CEPH

Title of the video

The Ceph Foundation Since the first prototype of Ceph was launched back in 2007, the community of enterprises, organisations, and users that use it has grown to touch a huge number of spaces, from small businesses to large scale enterprises; from the scientific community to regional telecom carriers.

In November 2018, a cluster of organisations actively involved in the development, support, and commercialisation of Ceph formed the Ceph Foundation, launching the new initiative under the umbrella of the Linux Foundation.

The founding members included Amihan, Canonical, China Mobile, DigitalOcean, Intel, OVH, ProphetStor Data Services, Red Hat, SoftIron, SUSE, Western Digital, XSKY Data Technology, and ZTE.

“I was pretty naive back then. I thought you just built something, open sourced it, and people would just start appearing to develop it, fix bugs, etc. and that's not how it works,” laughs Weil. “We had spent several years trying to add all the features that we thought Ceph had to have before people would be willing to use it,” before the launch of the Foundation in 2018.

“There are a lot of industry stakeholders that are selling or using Ceph as part of their business. So the Ceph Foundation became a way for those organisations to contribute funds that could be managed and spent to further Ceph's development and the community. Prior to the Foundation, it felt a lot more like begging going around asking 'who wants to pay for X or Y',” he adds. technologymagazine.com

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“ Ceph is designed to provide a reliable storage service out of unreliable components” SAGE WEIL

CEPH PRINCIPAL ARCHITECT, RED HAT

“The Ceph Foundation is essential to the Ceph community and our customers because its members are all invested in the development and progression of Ceph,” says Aaron Joue, founder and CEO of Ambedded Technology - which combines Ceph technology with its own line of decentralised Arm servers.

The power of the Foundation, continues Kyle Bader, a Data Foundation Architect at Red Hat, lies in its ability to drive the industry to “deliver on the promise of democratising software defined storage through open source in a way that’s very similar in the way that Linux led to the democratisation of the operating system.”

That democratisation, adds Craig Chadwell, VP of Product at SoftIron, creates the necessary competition (centred around the foundation itself) to push the Ceph commercial ecosystem 348

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to even greater heights. “The Ceph community is very large and robust.

The Ceph Foundation helps to enliven and support that community, which in turn ensures that there will always be other options out there so that we can maintain that no vendor lock-in value proposition,” he explains. “It really forces us to continually challenge ourselves to deliver solutions that are uniquely solving customer problems, because the reality is, if a customer can move away and there's something providing more value out there, they will. It keeps us honest and on our toes.”

Philip Williams, Product Lead at Canonical, reflects that “a funny thing about the open source world is that essentially we’re all competitors, but we're also all working together to make something that is available for free even better.”

CEPH

Meet Ceph: Reliable, scalable, affordable. open source Developed by Weil - in collaboration with data storage researchers at the University of California: Santa Cruz, as well as at researchers from the country’s leading laboratories in Los Alamos and beyond Ceph is a distributed, open source data storage solution that grew to fill that glaring hole in the market Weil and his colleagues saw back in the 2000s.

“Ceph is designed to provide a reliable storage service out of unreliable components.

You take a bunch of individual hard drives that can fail, a bunch of networks that can fail, switches, servers that all individually are very fallible, you put them all together with Ceph and the net result is something that's highly reliable that tolerates any single point of failure - or in many cases many points of failure. It's highly available and highly scalable as well,” Weil explains, adding that Ceph is

also capable of providing object, block, and file storage all in one system on the same hardware.

Ceph’s distributed approach to data storage is hugely fault tolerant. Like a commercial airliner that can continue to fly with all but one engine out of commission, Ceph is robust enough to handle all but the most catastrophic of outages.

As a storage solution, Ceph’s appeal also lies in its open source, software defined design that - in addition to delivering reliability and flexibility at scale - excels at adding up to far more than the sum of any somewhat meagre parts you might happen to have lying around. “Ceph is open source, software defined, and meant to be run on any commodity hardware you want to buy or already have,” Weil says. “It doesn't matter which vendor you're buying your hardware from, whether you're using hard drives or SSDs, what kind of switches are in your network; it's fully software defined,” technologymagazine.com

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CANONICAL THE FULL SPECTRUM OF ENTERPRISE COMPUTE

and therefore a legitimate and long-awaited answer to market demand for alternatives to restrictive, proprietary storage solutions.

“Storage is quite an interesting industry.

It's kind of hidden; people don't really think about storage until it's either too expensive or it's not available and, worst case, all your data has been lost,” says Philip Williams, a Product Leader at Canonical. “So, it's this funny little world that's dominated by a number of very large players. The whole aim of the Ceph Foundation is not just to shepherd the upstream projects and this collaborative development work on Ceph itself, but also to demonstrate to enterprise users that there is this viable alternative to the big players, and that their organisations don't have to be developer centric to make use of Ceph.”

Open source is the core of everything that happens inside Canonical. “All of our work is out in the open; it’s free to use, which I think is super important for storage technology, because you can understand what is actually going on inside the system.

That’s impossible when you’re using closed source or proprietary technologies,” says Philip Williams, Product Leader at Canonical.

“One thing that you see with traditional storage systems from the big players is that their growth is usually around scale up.

They'll have arbitrary limits on the number of disks you can add to a system.”

With datasets inside every organisation growing larger every day, Williams notes that “for people with quite significant amounts of data, public cloud and those traditional proprietary storage options typically aren't cost effective or feasible.”

As a result, Canonical - along with the rest of the Ceph community - is embracing the infinite scalability of Ceph to “demonstrate to enterprise users that there is this viable alternative to the big players, and that their organisations don't have to be developer centric to make use of Ceph.”

Ceph’s open source, software defined nature means that organisations looking to deploy it can “choose any hardware you like, choose any vendor you like - or even no vendor at all - but if you build a Ceph system and you want to switch vendors or run things on your own, you can do that very easily.” technologymagazine.com

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SOFTIRON - DELIVERING 21ST CENTURY INFRASTRUCTURE THE RIGHT WAY At its core, SoftIron asks the question of how to deliver 21st century infrastructure to meet the evolving demands centred around factors like resilience, performance, accessibility, and environmental impact. “We want to meet customers where they are. And we do that through building a set of task specific appliances that solve a variety of problems inside the data centre,” explains SoftIron’s VP of Product, Craig Chadwell. SoftIron’s solutions range from software defined infrastructure solutions that touch the computing and networking spaces to specific solutions for media encoding.

“If you take a holistic view of solving a problem, you can deliver a solution that is resilient, but with performance that’s way beyond what a traditional commodity based solution could provide,” says Chadwell.

SoftIron’s suite of storage solutions are powered by Ceph, but the entire company’s ethos is firmly aligned with the open source community as well. “One of the core premises of SoftIron’s value proposition is this notion of no vendor lock-in. We provide solutions that enable our customers to effectively swap us out if they choose,” Chadwell continues.

“Because of the way Ceph works and because organisations that comply with Ceph’s operating model can have products that work together seamlessly, it means that you can swap out a particular vendor's hardware without ever having to swap out Ceph, which means that everything above the Ceph layer from a service delivery perspective is unaffected by the lower level technology changes.

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“ Everybody needed storage, it needed to be scalable, and there was no open source option; you had to buy expensive enterprise solutions” SAGE WEIL

CEPH PRINCIPAL ARCHITECT, RED HAT

In addition to offering the unparalleled freedom to start from scratch, move freely within its ecosystem, and avoid both the vendor lock in agreements and cumbersome, expensive upgrade cycles that define managed, proprietary storage solutions, Weil adds that the beauty of Ceph is that “Because it's so flexible and built to scale, Ceph doesn't require a lot of foreknowledge about where your organisation's going to be in a couple of years time. You can just expand your hardware footprint in whatever direction you end up growing.”

Large storage systems - the kinds that are increasingly coming to define the cloud and data centre industries - are fundamentally dynamic. They grow and change in new and unexpected directions in response to the market and, with Ceph, organisations can grow and change with as little friction as possible. “You might start out with 10 servers from one vendor, and then five years later you're storing 12 times

CEPH

KEY PARTNERSHIPS SAGE WEIL TITLE: CEPH PRINCIPAL ARCHITECT, RED HAT Sage Weil is the lead architect and co-creator of the Ceph open source distributed storage system. Sage helped design Ceph as part of his PhD research at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Since finishing in 2007, he has continued to refine the system with the goal of providing a stable next generation distributed storage system for Linux. Sage co-founded Inktank in 2012 to bring enterprise-quality open source storage to the enterprise. After Red Hat acquired Inktank in 2014, Sage has worked in Red Hat's Office of the CTO to improve Ceph and help shape Red Hat's overall storage strategy.

PHILIP WILLIAMS TITLE: PRODUCT LEADER, CANONICAL Philip is a Product Leader at Canonical responsible for Ceph and other storage solutions. He has over 15 years experience in the storage industry, having previously been responsible for storage infrastructure and products at a number of leading technology companies.

AARON JOUE TITLE: CEO, AMBEDDED Aaron Joue is the founder of Ambedded Technology. He is responsible for the business strategy and ensures the product development and support satisfy customers' needs. He accumulated experience when he worked for the defense and information technology industry.

His experience spans product design, hardware, software, storage, computing, and Manufacturing.

Aaron founded Ambedded in 2012 to create an innovative platform for software-defined storage to improve energy efficiency, availability, and performance. Before this, he was ever an outstanding engineer, factory manager, and VP of product.

KYLE BADER TITLE: DATA FOUNDATION ARCHITECT, RED HAT Kyle is the Data Foundation Architect covering both OpenShift Data Foundation and Red Hat Ceph Storage products at Red Hat. His focus is at the intersection of open source, distributed storage systems, data engineering, and machine learning.

CRAIG CHADWELL TITLE: VP OF PRODUCT, SOFTIRON Craig has spent over a decade engineering, marketing, and leading product management of cloud and softwaredefined data center solutions. Craig has held positions at Lenovo, NetApp, and High Point University where he gained first-hand buyer and administration experience across the lifecycle of data center operations.

Craig has degrees in computer science, history, political science, and business administration.

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CEPH

as much data and you've been through three different hardware revisions all from different vendors, you've had to migrate data, change policy, and now you're storing a different type of data than you were before - it's all a total mess,” Weil laughs. “Often, your net system is going to be a mixture of all sorts of different stuff, and open source lends itself to solving those problems really well because you have the neutrality to be flexible and adaptable. If you're buying a proprietary solution from a particular vendor, you're going to have to buy more of the X solution that they allow you to interoperate with. You're locked into a particular path.” Ceph, he adds, not only frees organisations from those restrictive, vendor-defined upgrade paths, but opens up a huge, mature ecosystem of enterprises and community members to its user base.

Harnessing the Ceph community When it comes to harnessing the true value of Ceph, its commercial ecosystem and user community are pivotal. From companies like Red Hat that deliver Ceph solutions to Fortune 500 companies, to SoftIron which simplifies the Ceph adoption process through curated, in-house designed

RED HAT - CEPH AT PETABYTE SCALE Kyle Bader, Red Hat’s Data Foundation Architect, comes from an operations background. As such, he’s no stranger to the headaches that can accompany endeavours to be flexible in a large IT environment. “If you have a handful of proprietary appliances, that's probably fine and quite manageable, but at Red Hat we have several customers that are managing north of a hundred petabytes of data,” he explains. The growth in the amount of data being stored and managed, he continues, “is not stopping by any means. So, it becomes challenging once you get to larger scales.”

Red Hat’s business brings the power of open source ecosystems to large scale enterprises, leveraging everything from OpenShift to Kubernetes in order to take its customers’ IT infrastructure to the next level. Engineered for data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, Red Hat’s Ceph Storage delivers software-defined storage on industry-standard hardware to organisations at any scale.

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AMBEDDED - ROBUST AND LOW POWER CEPH APPLIANCE "We think reliability, scalability, and simplicity are keys to our offering to the enterprise storage market," explains Aaron Joue, founder and CEO of Ambedded Technology. " Ambedded integrates Ceph software, the Arm microservers, and its tailorbuilt ceph manager GUI (UVS manager).

With the nature of arm microservers, enterprise storage customers could start deploying ceph from a tiny cluster to a petabyte-scale without an entry barrier.

Also, this ARM-based appliance results in an easy to operate, ultra -robust, minimum failure domain and low-power offering that enables customers to operate their desired cluster in a cost efficient way without complications.

"We had a project in Hong Kong where a customer wanted a very high availability storage system for CCTV applications," Joue continues. "The storage system needed to keep working, even if up to four storage servers failed at the same time. It will be costly by using a traditional storage solution and hard to achieve to keep the cluster running with 4 servers failing at the same time.” However, leveraging the ceph storage and the Ambedded microserver architecture, this HK customer easily achieved their goal even with a relatively small scale cluster.

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hardware that’s tailor made to support its deployment, Ambedded, Canonical, and beyond, the Ceph commercial ecosystem provides support and services that allow companies of any scale, maturity, or specialisation to deploy and benefit from distributed storage - all built on Ceph.

“When it comes to getting started with Ceph, it can be an issue knowing which servers to buy, which hard drives and how many,” Weil acknowledges. “That's where companies in the commercial ecosystem really add a lot of value, not to mention the open source community at large.”

CEPH

you're going to want something with a nice GUI that just works,” Weil notes. “So, over the last three to four years, there's been a huge investment of time and resources in the Ceph community on the usability front.

We've created a whole new, integrated GUI dashboard for Ceph for management.

We've also developed an orchestrator layer for Ceph that can call out to whatever tools you use to deploy it, so that you can do just about anything you need to do from the new GUI. I think we've made huge progress.”

Ceph for everyone Since the dawn of the open-source approach to software design, open source solutions have often garnered “a reputation for being really complicated to use,” Weil admits - adding that he and the Ceph team have spent the past few years painfully aware of that fact. Now, however, “A lot of the stigma surrounding open source in general has gone away in recent years,” he explains, something that perfectly aligns with the latest evolution of Ceph’s General User Interface (GUI).

“These days, if you're a small business and you need 100 terabytes of storage,

Challenges Enterprise storage is full of challenges.

Apart from the obvious spiralling quantity of data being generated, the applications that create and use that data are also increasingly diverse and changing almost daily. Storage, of course, is also not immune to the broader IT skills crisis that enterprises find themselves dealing with every day. Add to that the constant revolving door of mergers and acquisitions in the storage industry and it's hard not to find a storage manager that hasn't been burned by obsoleted or sidelined proprietary solutions that have fallen out of favour. It's little wonder then that a platform like Ceph - able to flex and grow to meet ever changing demands across a huge variety of use cases - and do all that from within a vibrant open source community eliminating the lock-in problem, becomes deeply compelling.

The Ceph decade Looking to the future, the intersection of market trends with Ceph’s constantly developing capabilities (Weil stresses that a sizable portion of the Foundation’s role is keeping up with cutting edge hardware developments to ensure Ceph continues to run smoothly, no matter what you plug it technologymagazine.com

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CEPH USER TESTIMONIALS FUTURE PLC NAME: TOBY JACKSON, TITLE: GLOBAL SRE LEAD “Future PLC has grown in recent years through acquisition of over a dozen media brands and technology companies, bringing a complex and diverse data ecosystem. Future operates services on both cloud and on-premises infrastructure, leveraging technologies that need to balance value and flexibility. Future's technology team has also grown and diversified to meet these demands, requiring their SRE team to provide ever more robust and flexible solutions without compromising on stability or performance. As a content publisher, data is integral to Future's operation, and Ceph was the clear choice to ensure its technology teams had the tools at their disposal to manage data at scale.

Ceph allows Future to deploy storage across its datacenters, trusting that its data is distributed and available while enabling its development teams to self-manage storage requirements from Kubernetes with ease.

Future requires a storage solution that can not only grow in volume, but can handle diversity of locality, performance, distribution and access models; Ceph affords this flexibility under a common platform, reducing deployment complexity and simplifying its operational costs.”

DATACOMM CLOUD BUSINESS NAME: M R. LUK PHIN TIRTOKUNTJORO, TITLE: CTO “We have deployed, run and tested Ceph storage in our development environment for 2 years.

Once confident with the solution, we decided

to build Openstack Cloud using Ceph storage to provide IaaS, PaaS and SaaS to SMEs in Indonesia.

We have considered several storage solutions to work with our OpenStack cloud, including legacy storage and software-defined storage. As our cloud service targets SMEs, we need a solution that is cost-efficient, cloud-native ready, scalable, reliable, resilient, and with good performance.

We found Ceph storage to be a perfect fit after 2+ year trial experience. Furthermore, as we have three data centers located in 3 different sites, the RBD mirroring and simplicity to backup data from one data center to another in the Ceph cluster enhances our belief in choosing Ceph storage.

BLOOMBERG NAME: MATTHEW LEONARD, TITLE: E NGINEERING MANAGER, STORAGE Data is at the heart of Bloomberg’s technologies, which produce and distribute some of the most critical and valuable data in global business.

Maintaining the systems which store and process this data requires a unique mix of commodity hardware, open source software-defined storage, and vendor-agnostic appliance-based storage solutions.

In our diverse storage ecosystem, Bloomberg utilizes Ceph’s enterprise-level scalability and durability to support different applications and varied workloads across our organization. Ceph plays a significant role in Bloomberg's OpenStackpowered private cloud computing infrastructure, as well as underpins Bloomberg’s private S3-based object stores. As Bloomberg works toward contributing back to the Ceph project, we feel it is the right distributed storage technology for us -- both now and into the foreseeable future.

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“ Because it's so flexible and built to scale, Ceph doesn't require a lot of foreknowledge about where your organisation's going to be in a couple of years time. You can just expand your hardware footprint in whatever direction you end up growing”

into), as well as an ever-expanding ecosystem of vendors, users, and developers positions it ideally for a decade of meteoric growth. “Ceph is a pretty mature piece of software at this point,” Weil reflects. “All of the important stuff is there and, in addition to building it out further, we’re starting to add a lot of polish.”

Craig Chadwell, VP of Product at SoftIron, reflects that “open-source infrastructure has rapidly evolved and matured over the last decade and is in all likelihood going to be the way that most organisations deploy their IT footprint going forward.”

“People like to call Ceph the Linux of storage, which I think is appropriate,” adds Weil.

“Nobody thinks about which Unix they should buy because the open source one is the best, everyone's using it, and everyone is constantly improving it. Ceph is moving into that position in the storage space.”

SAGE WEIL

CEPH PRINCIPAL ARCHITECT, RED HAT technologymagazine.com

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