Planetary Transformation in 3, 2, 1 … Blast Off ! We shape our world
#IT 2021
Dear readers, The last two years have brought major changes to how our society operates. Wherever we live on this planet, all of us have had to come to terms with a situation that has no parallel in modern history. For many of us the world shrank down to a desk, computer and high-speed internet connection. At the same time, however, all these changes include one that is definitely positive: a significant reduction in carbon footprint for each of us. And that is a change worth keeping.
As a tech firm we feel a responsibility for the environment we live in and the state we leave it in. We know that technology can be a key part of protecting natural resources. Technology is a tool that can transform our planet and maintain its beauty for our children. How? Read more in the latest issue of #IT magazine and get inspired. The answers lie in your grasp. If you would like to talk business, work with us, meet one of our experts, or perhaps give positive feedback on our content, please write to me.
I hope you enjoy reading this issue! Petr
petr.stros@cleverlance.com
Table of Contents
18 Modern electric cars through the eyes of a software geek
4 Planetary transformation in 3, 2, 1… Blast off!
20
Happy travels
22
Digital path to home ownership
14
Efficiency and bringing profits to clients is just the beginning for IT
#IT 2021
4
Planetary transformation in 3, 2, 1… Blast off!
8
Green business is smart
12 Digitopia 14
Efficiency and bringing profits to clients is just the beginning for IT
18
Modern electric cars through the eyes of a software geek
20
Happy travels
22
Digital path to home ownership
28
AI at work in the service department
30
Time Rules Everything
32
Leave your ID at home. Yourself, too.
36 Paperless 38
Testers: True Detectives
40
The Automatic Testing Machine
42
Shopping with a Handheld Scanner
44 The Cloud & The Environment? Absolutely! 46
I’ll have one DevOps, please!
48
Kolofix: A data-based story
38
Testers: True Detectives
42 Nákup se skenerem v ruce
Cleverlance Enterprise Solutions s.r.o. • Voctářova 2500/20a • 180 00 Praha 8 • Editorial staff Veronika Jandová, Marek Jirsa, Martin Paták, Jiří Voldán • Editor-in-chief Alena Červenková Design Ivana Stránská & Michal Hořava (QUB.digital) • Cover illustration Tomáš Zach • Date issued 4. 11. 2021 • All data valid as of date of publication • We reserve the right to make changes to the listed data or correct printing errors. • business@cleverlance.com • hr@cleverlance.com • www.cleverlance.com • www.create-it.cz
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# C R E AT E I T
It’s like all of humanity comes to a breaking point. One industrial revolution after another have led us to the modern era, yet this has not been without a huge impact on the planet. The warning signals are getting stronger. The consequences for the climate may be catastrophic, yet however dire things may seem, they can still turn around. The current tech revolution could offer hope. The digital transformation of the planet is beginning. That is our only path forward.
PLANETARY TRANSFORMATION IN 3, 2, 1 … BLAST OFF! In his documentary A Life on Our Planet, renowned natural historian and television personality David Attenborough highlights how serious our situation is. Forests aflame, melting glaciers, devastating droughts, extreme weather. The collapse of our entire ecosystem seems unavoidable. Despite this sobering message, we still have a chance, Attenborough argues. It will require a genuine change in thinking and attitude, not only from each of us, but also in how our economy is set up as a whole. Tech firms are currently leading the charge to transform our planet and fundamentally change our approach to business. Digitization and automatization, the foundation on which Industry 4.0 rests, are no longer just buzzwords for social media. Their benefits are twofold, with the first taking center stage during the pandemic: technology allowed companies, schools and society as a whole to continue operating even during lockdown.
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An IT-driven revolution Then we have the second benefit. Through projects conceived by development teams at tech firms, the digital revolution is giving humanity an emergency brake. Clean digital technologies are one of the key factors in environmental sustainability. Human inventiveness, intelligence and creativity have brought our planet to the very edge of sustainability, and those same attributes are what can bring us back again.
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Modern IT improves energy efficiency and use of natural resources, dramatically reduces emissions and prevents biodiversity loss. While we need innovation to survive, the digital transformation of our planet also represents a unique opportunity for the business sector. The numbers speak loud and clear. According to the Environmental Technology Atlas, which Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation & Nuclear Safety has published for the last 12 years, the global Green Tech market will achieve turnover of approximately €4.6 billion euros this year alone. Global turnover in environmental technologies and efficient use of resources is predicted to hit €9.4 billion by 2030, representing an average annual growth of 7.3%. According to the Center for the Future of Work, companies should not think of tech-based environmental initiatives as red (costs), but as green (investment opportunities). The pandemic has encouraged a spike in climate-focused tech startups, and experts estimate that within eight years investment in similar projects and business innovations alone will skyrocket to €3.4 billion worldwide.
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Smart grids These power and communications grids make it possible to regulate electricity production and consumption in real time. They help cut waste and dependence on fossil fuels, promote more efficient energy use, and provide usage data to further optimize energy use.
Environmental sensors / IoT Placed in ecosystems, these sensors guarantee continuous data flow to monitor environmental conditions, detect the impact of human activity on natural resources, and improve response times to fires and other extreme phenomena. They also help improve transport efficiency and shape sustainable urban design, etc. The sensors collect data for years and require very little energy to run.
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The large multinationals that have joined in the European Green Digital Coalition understand that as well. Their goals include a true transformation of the continent and achieving carbon neutrality (net zero). Signatories to the EGDC declaration include the CEOs of companies like Microsoft, IBM, Orange and SAP. Sustainability as a trend On a global scale, Europe is writing the rulebook for digital transformation, with Germany as one of the main players: Germany makes up 3% of the global economy, but 14% of global production in Green Tech. New digitization and automation technologies have the potential to act as catalysts for today’s attempts at sustainability. The possibilities stretch far beyond the established concepts like energy-saving lights and renewable energy sources. The driving force behind real planetary transformation is artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and data analytics. These new technologies allow tech firms to make our world a better place.
Big data, analytics Essential tools for monitoring our planet’s health. Big data and data analytics help us to understand and diagnose entire ecosystems, assess their health, optimize resource allocation and enact protective measures.
Born-digital documents The best document is one that never takes paper form. Born-digital documents also include technologies like blockchain, a specific form of electronic database for monitoring and reporting on supply chain sustainability levels.
Artificial intelligence AI’s importance for environmental sustainability cannot be overstated. Its ability to learn and improve pattern recognition will help us better understand the impact emissions and human activity have on the environment in general. Its primary use, however, lies in modeling optimal scenarios for the changes that must be made.
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Green Business Is Smart
As global IT firms lead the way in alleviating the consequences of climate change, technology acts as their primary tool in lifting the burden on the environment. IT firms are also among the first companies setting their own rules for reducing their carbon footprint. An environmental audit is always the first step.
large corporations to give climate responsibility about 20% of the weight in these decisions, making it a clear competitive advantage. “Corporations are sending signals to the market and their suppliers that this is an important topic not only for society as a whole, but for business as well,” he adds. Another reason for pragmatic firms to get on board involves rising costs, often leading companies to switch to electromobility. In other words, sustainability is a way to cut costs.
Sustainability is a major buzzword for the business sector today. More and more companies are thinking about how their actions affect the environment. Cleverlance is the first Czech tech firm to hold an environmental audit. “Global IT firms are leading the way and setting standards in this arena. Tech firms in the Czech Republic have not been as active in this regard as one might expect,” commented Petr Žákovec, an expert in corporate sustainability who supports companies transitioning to sustainable business models.
Sustainability is important in all areas of society, which applies in this country as well. Polling by the STEM Institute (a private Czech sociological research organization) indicated that 84% of the Czech public agrees that human-caused climate change poses a threat to our future. Nine out of 10 agree that without reducing emissions we will not be able to protect against drought and forest death. Thus it can hardly be argued that we are a nation of climate skeptics. When a company decides to take steps to reduce its carbon emissions, it sends its employees, clients and society in general a message that this company is thinking about the impact its business has on the world. This company wants to listen to its people and, to a certain extent, even have a positive influence on the undecided by investing in worthwhile projects to help improve the environment. “Whatever companies choose to do, it should always be believable and fit in with their corporate culture. It should fit with the kind of people at that company,” recommends Žákovec. It always pays off to first find out what people at the company prefer. “Start getting a feel for people’s mood and expectations. Always try to build support from within,” he continues.
Cleverlance held a carbon audit in compliance with ISO 14064. Audits are essentially a means of measuring how much carbon emissions a company produces. The good thing, according to Žákovec, is that companies can measure and track their emissions over time as well as assessing the impact of any measures taken. This is a strong argument for companies that take a more pragmatic approach as well. “We see that the world is changing. Acting responsibly and trying to reduce your carbon emissions now play a greater role in awarding contracts,” explains Žákovec. These days it is not unusual for
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Offset: Planetary Survival Manual
A program that helps reduce emissions production beyond the level achieved by active measures. Usually involves external compensation for emissions, often through a special offset project such as reforestation – in cooperation with governmental and other public authorities to choose a suitable location. Another option is investing in technologies from companies that absorb emissions directly.
Research conducted by STEM/MARK for Cleverlance in 2021 indicates:
66.5% of respondents have heard the term carbon footprint 32.9% of respondents feel that the company they work for is reducing the impact its business has on the environment 79.1% of respondents consider recycling waste to be the most important aspect of reducing a company’s impact on the environment, while 73.1% consider reducing energy and water consumption to be most important 65.7% of respondents consider reducing exhaust and waste products in manufacturing to be important
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24.6% of respondents were interested in reducing their company’s impact on the environment as a benefit
Typically the first step towards reducing emissions involves choosing an electricity provider that will guarantee the origin of its electricity. “This is of course an interesting phenomenon, because everybody can do it, yet there is not enough energy with guaranteed origin available on the market today, and so energy companies find themselves with a whole new segment of the market,” Žákovec comments, pointing out how efforts to minimize carbon footprints can transform an entire industry in a major (and positive) way. The next step is finding ways to save energy. “Companies based in older buildings should focus on energy efficiency, primarily building insulation and energy-saving technologies.” IT companies have an advantage here, as they usually have their offices in newer buildings with good energy parameters. “That is the case for Cleverlance as well. Its offices in Prague and Brno have excellent energy parameters,” says Žákovec. In non-manufacturing firms the biggest contributor to a company’s carbon footprint is transport and commuting to and from work. “That’s what companies need to focus on. Does every employee have to be in the office every day? The pandemic has shown us that they do not.” Working from home is the new normal; a benefit is becoming standard practice. What’s more, every day spent working from home can reduce the company’s carbon footprint. Low-emission vehicles can represent a compromise solution if employees do need to travel to work. Electric or hybrid cars, public transport, or even bicycles. “Electromobility is a big topic, of course. We don’t have many positive examples in the Czech Republic. The media tends to show us catastrophic scenarios about how it will be impossible to charge all the cars.
In my opinion it’s best for a company to try it out. It’s not the right solution for every company, but it tells a story of searching for effective ways to reduce emissions,” advises Žákovec. “I was pleasantly surprised to see how much support there is at Cleverlance and how many people ride to work on their bikes,” he continues. “That is a valuable example of what we are trying to achieve in companies. Cycling to work is an excellent way to minimize emissions, and it is also great exercise.” Whatever measures it takes, no company can reduce its carbon footprint to zero on its own. “Cleverlance is doing fairly well with its carbon footprint. The measures that can be taken will help reduce it by 40-50%. With what we put in place in 2019 and 2020 we have cut the carbon footprint by a third already,” says Žákovec. Companies that want to cut their emissions to zero have to “offset,” or invest in projects that contribute to reducing emissions directly or invest in renewable resources. That is the way to achieve true carbon neutrality. Žákovec explains that it is good to look at reducing emissions from a business perspective: “Then we see that this is simply a transparent metric that shows the emissions produced and energy used in company operations. Measures taken to reduce these numbers can be seen as attempts to cut company costs. Doing that is pragmatic and responsible.” Remote work should be looked at the same way, he claims. Companies that allow working from home are making a generous concession to their employees and reducing their carbon footprint at the same time. “These topics are related. The mood in society is shifting. We are all part of this change and it is interesting to watch all this happen at Cleverlance.”
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Digi topia Local economy Industrial manufacturing and consumer goods will see major changes, while efforts to create a circular economy that cuts down on wasted resources will intensify. Industrial waste recycling will take on new importance, and thanks to the wide variety of digital services this industry may represent a potential way of earning money for individuals. The knowledge economy (leveraging knowledge to create added value) will become more dominant and lifelong education will become essential with improvements in artificial intelligence and automatization of certain activities or jobs.
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Changes on the job market Leaders expect continued growth in the number of external contractors (the gig economy). However, the increasing number of experts working on different projects for different companies will certainly lead to creating new forms of social programs and taxation methods. A combination of these factors could make the shared economy an attractive business model with perspective for the future. Food production One critical advance will be the option to find details on the origin and conditions of plant and animal products in response to pressure from consumers over how to handle food. Tracking origin will be possible thanks to geolocation using blockchain technologies, already in use today for organic products. We can expect growth in local food production at the expense of large industrial operations. This will involve not only local farmers, but also an expected increase in urban farms using advanced digital technologies. Experiments to this end are already underway. At the same time, however, feeding an ever-growing population will make genetically modified foods a necessity.
A business that promises both profits
# C R E AT E I T
and a strong contribution to sustainable resources. This could be our reality in the near future as modeled by analysts at Gartner. The Gartner project Digitopia 2035 asked business and tech leaders for their predictions as to how society will develop. Many of them focused on possibilities and ways that technology may contribute to a more sustainable future.
Energy From solar panels to wind turbines and the new generation of desalination equipment, technology represents a complete revolution in renewable resources. In some areas these new technologies may lead to a sudden drop in energy prices down to practically zero at peak production. It may also lead to extreme imbalances between places (and times) in which energy is cheap and easily accessible, and those when it is not. According to estimates, differences in prices will be balanced out by digital technologies (appliance management, battery use in households or electric vehicles connected to a distribution grid). The risks? Digital technologies could make computer systems and solutions consume more energy.
L U K Á Š E R B E N ( T H E A U T H O R W O R K S AT K P C - G R O U P, R E P R E S E N T I N G G A R TN ER F O R TH E CZEC H R EP U B LI C, S LOVA K I A A N D R O M A N I A ) S O U R C E : D I G I T O P I A 2 0 3 5 S C E N A R I O : A S U S TA I N A B L E S O C I E T Y – H O W T O I N C R E A S E Y O U R D I G I TA L A M B I T I O N , P U B L I S H E D : D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 0 , A U T H O R S : F R A N K B U Y T E N D I J K , B E T T I N A T R AT Z- R YA N
Weather Learning to adapt to and perhaps have an impact on ongoing climate change is of critical importance. Biotechnologies have the potential to give us new cultivated or GMO varieties of crops that will be more resistant to drought and other extreme weather. It is also possible that some countries will become more willing to influence the weather directly. Technologies like cloud seeding have been known and tested for more than half a century, although today they are deployed either with greater precision using drones or else in much greater scope, as is the case with the Chinese Sky River system. These direct interventions into local weather patterns are not without risk, however, and may be harmful.
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STOR Y
Companies today need technology to succeed in any industry. What does a tech company need to succeed? In IT we talk a lot about solutions, but these days it’s not enough to offer customers a solution that is functional and efficient. For an IT firm to thrive it needs to bring something extra to the table, offer new opportunities. What do you see as the new opportunity for today’s world? Reducing companies’ carbon footprints is an interesting trend. That’s exactly what we offer our clients. What do you enjoy about working at Cleverlance? In the time I’ve been with the company Cleverlance has grown, the ownership structure has changed, but the important things have stayed the same. I still see this as a place that allows me and the people around me to exercise our talents. Of course almost every company would say that, but in our case it’s true. How does that look in practice? The key is that we can all choose something and do that thing absolutely our own way as long as it makes business sense. Any one of us can suggest something that fits in with the company’s overall focus and strategy, and if it has the potential to bring profits or teach us new skills as a company, then we get a chance. A chance to create your own space? Exactly. Anyone can go from regular employee to management or do something creative. I like seeing stories like that around me, and it gives us an incredible dynamic as a company. Is that your story as well? I came to Cleverlance from a small company where everybody did everything, and I needed a change. Then the financial crisis hit and companies started cutting costs practically overnight. IT firms found themselves under huge financial pressure. At that point I came to Cleverlance with an idea for how to successfully operate even under the new market conditions. I got the chance to put it into practice on a small
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“EFFICIENCY & BRINGING PROFITS TO CLIENTS IS JUST THE BEGINNING FOR I.T.” Favorite sport Mountain biking. That’s a hobby I’m still recovering from.
What I’m proud of I can run up to the peak of Lysá in the Beskid mountains in under 60 minutes. There’s a community of people who climb Lysá regularly, like once a week, coping with an elevation gain of 2600 feet each time.
#LIVE IT
Favorite place The Rock of Gibraltar. A tiny harbor at the foot of a rock with a tropical park full of mischievous monkeys. Europe on one side, Africa on the other. It’s an interesting place.
STORY
scale. That idea proved to be a winner, and I gradually took on more and more responsibility. So yes, that is my story. What was the idea about? The greatest asset for every tech firm today is its people. Instead of hastily assembled one-off teams, my colleague Martin Paták and I suggested an organization made up of teams that focus long-term on what they do best. Production is closely connected with HR and marketing. What does that approach offer a company? In the long term it attracts qualified, interesting people to the company, and it helps us keep in contact with customers as well. Since we have these teams that work so well together, we can give clients what they need quickly while constantly trying new things. Recently we have also had the opportunity to get a peek into many different companies in many different countries as part of the Aricoma Group (Cleverlance’s parent company), finding out how application development works in those companies and how they view the IT world. Seeing your own work and organization through someone else’s eyes is always a worthwhile experience. People go on foreign exchanges and internships for that kind of experience. Exactly. It’s so valuable even now. So the freedom to come up with your own ideas at work is important for you personally? Yes, I put great value on that. But for me personally the freedom is always connected to business. How does that look in practice? It’s about the opportunity to develop your talents. Not just for me, but for the people on the teams. Freedom means we have the courage to take risks as a company and do things differently. Take a chance on technologies that don’t bring in profits at
first. It pays off because they have potential. That’s how we started with virtual reality, for instance, back when it sounded like something straight out of science fiction. Now we have a number of VR projects under our belt and we can offer customers competent, experienced people who bring something new to the table that can give them a major competitive advantage in their own business. Being willing to take risks comes with a pretty big load of stress. What is your personal survival guide? It’s not just about the stress. After spending years in IT, packing on a few pounds each year, you find yourself standing at a sort of crossroads. Either you shrug your shoulders and spend the rest of your life that way, or else you start doing something about it. So my survival guide involves sports. Since we are in an analytical atmosphere, it’s a good idea to read up on it as well. I started running, for instance, but it didn’t seem to affect my weight. Eventually I figured out how to set things up to maintain a stable weight and not go hungry. And I started riding my bicycle as well as running. I feel like an affinity for sports goes hand in hand with IT. Would you say that’s an accurate impression? I would say so. A lot of people in this industry are into sports. Without exaggerating too much you could say that IT is full of people who love to play and who mature late, so they keep a youthful outlook on life for longer. It’s also true that sports are simply part of the community, so people tend to get on board. When you’re in IT and spend hours behind a computer, you have to get out and exercise. No company can get by without IT today. We all felt its critical role in business during the pandemic. Do you see that as a responsibility? Definitely! Our work affects the very nature of how our customers operate. We bring them new systems and change their established processes. We have to consider where and how we guide our clients. On the other hand, of course, we have a responsibility for our own people, so we are always trying to achieve sustainability. As we sometimes remind new employees, you have to think logically in business. That’s true for us as well as our clients. How does what you want to do contribute to our goals or theirs? Does it make sense? Recently people have been talking about the role IT can play in environmental change. Yes, absolutely. We can see what an important role IT firms can play and the extent to which our work is helping change the world for the better. We’ve been saying that in IT for years, but now the change is tangible. Technology is going to be the driving force behind the transformation of this planet. I am happy to be here to see it with Cleverlance.
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Modern Electric Cars through the Eyes of a Software Geek
I got to test a variety of brands and types of electric cars for our UX test. I have no experience with electric cars, so I have big expectations for every vehicle I try out. Applications, on the other hand, are definitely in my skillset. Designing them is my bread and butter, in fact. Tech is my hobby as well, so I very much have an idea of what is possible and what a smartphone can bring to automobile manufacturers.
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We put Škoda Enyaq, Volkswagen ID.4, Audi e-tron, Hyundai Ioniq 5, and BMW iX3 on our list for testing. All come with infotainment, connected services, a mobile app and extensive standard equipment. The app pairing process struck me as fairly straightforward, although I don’t see the point in copying the VIN number to activate the vehicle when better options like QR codes exist. The apps are relatively user friendly. I don’t want to comment much on the visual aspect of the apps, but as a tech geek I would have expected more functions, like route planning. The app or car knows how heavy your foot is. It can assess consumption and ought to record the data, plan a route and transfer it to the car along with preferred charging companies and recommended charging stops. Unfortunately, today’s apps – even some navigational apps – do not have these functions, which is a waste of potential. Hyundai planned a trip between two major European cities with 20% battery remaining with no charging stop, while Škoda and Volkswagen sent us almost 10 miles down the highway to a charging station even though there was a better, more efficient one along the way.
TE X T _ M I L A N M ITO Š I N K A / P H OTO _ V ER O N I K A JA N D OVÁ , S H U T TER STO C K
Improving functionality and software issues lets us feel the car has the best there is to offer and that we are doing something for the environment.
The current generation of cars do not plan or think ahead, so they don’t make the trip any easier. When I talk about electric cars with someone unfamiliar with the industry, the number one topic is always range. People usually say the battery doesn’t last long and you have to recharge often. Subjectively I would say that the most important factor in an electric car is the charging speed, but cars are never presented that way. The models currently available have ranges within a few dozen miles of each other, while their ability to charge from 10% to 80% at a fast charging station varies drastically. And that is the biggest factor that influences the overall user experience during the trip. Other details? Audi stands out for its slightly pessimistic (yet precise and high-quality) route planner. The BMW iX3 did not
have a charging planner, but the overall ecosystem was excellent, solid and well thought out. I’m looking forward to the new iX model, as it promises a more sophisticated system. I drove nearly 4000 miles in an electric car during our test and got used to a 5% range to a charging station. I firmly believe that this is a modern, incredible path to a new means of transport. All the vehicles met expectations as to feel, but on a software level there is still room to grow. Improving functionality and software issues lets us feel the car has the best there is to offer and that we are doing something for the environment. A car with smart systems decreases noise, dust and emissions in our cities. Suggested improvements coming soon in Cleverlance’s new series on Facebook – follow us!
#FEEL IT
Infotainment Today’s cars frequently have two displays, while the electric Audi e-tron offers up to five. The displays connect the driver to the car and give real-time feedback on how the car is running. The latest models offer a new dimension with a head-up display that supports extended reality, highlighting vehicles passing by and showing lanes in the driver’s field of vision. Linking the Android Auto or Apple Carplay apps with a smartphone adds a virtual assistant that can play a favorite song, send a text message or plan a route on request. It is not yet possible to control the car this way, but BMW for instance has its own assistant that can control certain functions like opening a window or navigating by voice command. All without taking your hands off the steering wheel or looking at the display. Electric cars and some other new cars that allow remote control even without ignition will permit communication in the future via smartwatches, Apple Homepod, Google Home and Alexa. You’ll just have to say, “Alexa, turn on the air conditioning, we’re leaving in 25 minutes…” Telematics Modern cars regularly save data on driver responses and driving to the cloud. Tesla, for instance, shadows drivers with its own advanced autopilot and assesses the differences in reaction between the algorithm and the driver. This machine learning helps it become a better autopilot, and it also collects important data for expanding the ecosystem further, just like
HAPPY TRAVELS third party apps like Waze and Google. The car’s software is more integrated with its systems, however, so it will probably replace these apps over time. Infrastructure Cars can get information from the surrounding area and road infrastructure as well, such as road signs, traffic lights and the terrain, and adapt the driving or functions accordingly. The Škoda Envaq features adaptive cruise control that can adjust speed based on signage so you don’t have to keep track of the speed limit at all times. Audi and BMW set energy recuperation based on the situation, so they charge the battery when you hit the brakes, coast when the road is clear, or slow down when they see a red light and come to a stop at the crosswalk. In some countries electronic toll booths can back traffic up on the highway leading to hours of delays, while a toll booth that can communicate with cars and collect the toll automatically as they drive through improves traffic flow immensely. Conclusion The time is coming when cars will help us drive, meaning we will be able to handle longer trips and enjoy them more. As a result cars are becoming part of the entertainment for passengers (and to some extent drivers) as their systems take on more autonomy. We still have a long road ahead of us, but even today’s cars offer quite high-tech systems that can make the journey more enjoyable.
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TE X T _ MIL AN MITOŠINK A / PHOTO _ SHUT TERSTOCK
Just along for the ride? Modern cars can do quite a lot. The Tesla S boasts computing power of 10 teraflops, the same as the latest PlayStation 5 or Xbox. Today’s car is a pleasant and comfortable mobile computing center, not a mere means of transport. Especially when it includes driving support technology.
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Digital Path to Home Ownership Paper never enters into the picture, since both sides can see everything they need in the app, explains Jan Čeřovský, head of digital at Modrá Pyramida. His department is developing the MP Home app in cooperation with Cleverlance developers.
Modrá Pyramida (Blue Pyramid) is a financial institution falling under major European banking group Societé Génerale that helps clients save in conjunction with government contributions for purchasing a home. In addition to home loans and mortgages, it also offers other financial services, most of which are available in digital form through an app. Modrá Pyramida has been on the Czech market for nearly 30 years. It is one of the established players in its field, and for many years focused primarily on developing its products. Over time digitization became more and more relevant, with the turning point for Modrá Pyramida in 2015. “That is when Modrá Pyramida started putting together its first big digitization project in response to demand from clients as well as sustainability,” Čeřovský explains. Sustainability is a concept that runs strongly throughout the Societé Génerale group, under which Modrá Pyramida falls. Responsibility towards clients, society as a whole, and the world around is not in conflict with good business sense at all, the bank believes; in fact, it creates new opportunities. Carbon neutrality, which the bank is trying to achieve, is in the details. From digital signature to application The first step was introducing digital signatures. “Up to that point, all communication had to be printed and physically signed. Biometric signatures gave clients the opportunity to sign on a sign pad, meaning contracts could be sent by email and not printed,” comments Čeřovský. Several years later, Modrá Pyramida resolved to take things a step further and
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Modrá Pyramida is close to my heart Kamil Blažek, Information Technology Project Manager
The Client Zone was my first project at Cleverlance – the meeting with the client took place on my very first day of work. That’s part of why this project is close to my heart. For Modrá Pyramida, a conventional paper-based company from the 1990s, it represented new territory and the first step into the digital age. This was an important milestone showing Modrá Pyramida as a modern company that understands its customers. Within the company itself, it proved that the team could handle such a difficult challenge. The app’s primary goal was to let users into the system so they could administer and manage their own products. Up to that point they had always had to pick up the phone or come in person. The idea and support for the MP Home app came from above, from company leadership. I think that’s important and it gives the project a greater chance of success. We have about 10 people on our team, and the same on the client‘s team. Since the project was a success, it has a stable development team. Dozens more people within the company work with that team at some point in the process and have some input. Thanks to support from Modrá Pyramida, MP Home is still growing, developing, and adding new app functions that allow clients to access more and more advantages of the digital world. Our little app baby is all grown up now!
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# LIVE IT
introduced the app MP Home. “Biometric signatures let us send clients an annual statement by email, but most communication still took place via snail mail. We were still printing letters and envelopes with addresses. Today the app provides all the necessary documents in digital form and they’re available at any time,” he continues. In designing its client zone, Modrá Pyramida decided to embrace current trends: no web interface, just an app. That’s when Cleverlance came into the picture. “We chose them as our app developer. We set the parameters internally and Cleverlance does the development for us,” comments Čeřovský. The beginning of a new era Developing the MP Home app represented a huge step for the company. “It was a real revolution. It’s not just about the app itself; we had to change the way we communicated with clients, enter new territory, and open up to them in a way,” he explains. The app also consolidates and integrates about 15 different systems into one. “We had to link them all up to present the data to clients,” Čeřovský explains, adding that this was the biggest integration project Modrá Pyramida had taken on up to that point for digital development.
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The MP Home app brought Modrá Pyramida into the digital age. “We are shifting to more and more computerized processes that used to be done manually,” comments Čeřovský. What does that mean in practice? Clients upload all the documents needed for their loan from their phone to the app. 3/2020
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Mortgages in the Czech Republic are skyrocketing. In March 2020 Czech financial institutions provided €627 million in mortgages, while in the same month a year later the number had risen to €1.26 billion. Source: Czech National Bank
PHOTO _ P OZITIVO
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# LIVE IT
Routine matters used to require an in-person visit, but with the MP Home app clients can take care of everything from the comfort of their own homes.
They don’t have to visit a branch in person at all. The app provides a list of what documents will be needed and when, guiding clients through the whole process. They can read detailed descriptions of each stage, and when the time comes they can sign the contract and draw on the loan all through the app.
His development team originally formed to work on the app for the Modrá Pyramida client zone. “We are working on multiple digitization projects, including some focused on client security. The biggest project we are launching right now is an online quick loan,” he shares. Essentially this means automated loan approvals for renovation or home furnishing up to $20,000 with clearly stated approval parameters. This frees bank employees up to concentrate on more complicated requests that call for an individual approach. “This completes the digital loan process from start to finish,” comments Čeřovský. Working with Cleverlance to develop the digital end of Modrá Pyramida has been a positive experience, he says. “Everything is set up transparently, so when a problem comes up along the way, we can handle it efficiently. For me it’s important that our partners deliver high-quality work and the teams communicate smoothly. This is also important because digitization really is the future of our entire sector.”
“We funnel each stage, from documents to approval and drawdown, into the user interface for our clients. We know that each client has a different story, so we try to give them an intuitive, flexible way of finding out exactly what to do to get what they need.” A new way of releasing funds “Situations often vary when clients need to draw on the line of credit as well. They often need to transfer funds to the building contractor’s account, which they can do through the app. We just added this function recently to make the app even more helpful for our clients. Now you can use the app to draw on funds from the loan or mortgage instead of contacting a banker and filling out a transfer form.” When Jan Čeřovský talks about how the app revolutionized Modrá Pyramida, he is not talking only about moving existing processes to digital form. “This gave us the opportunity to take a closer look at our processes themselves. We did a lot of streamlining to eliminate unnecessary steps – every institution ends up with little things that add up over time and are not really necessary. We purged all these unnecessary steps out of the process.”
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He is not talking only about online loans, either. The company envisions making its products available across the entire market. “In the future we want to be able to help clients when they are still considering buying a new home. We want to create a home buying guide that will take them through the whole process, start to finish. Consolidating real estate ads in one place, price maps, real estate purchase price calculators, financial advice, mortgages and loans. That really brings us full circle to where we started, only in digital form this time,” Čeřovský explains. “And with more sustainability. There’s no need for paper in our business.”
PHOTO _ FLOR AL DECO
800 specialists for your digital transformation
As a major European software house, Cleverlance provides comprehensive IT services and end-to-end solutions. We have over 800 IT specialists who have experience across a wide spectrum of industries and can handle software app requests from concept to analysis, design, development and launch, including project management, security, support or full outsourcing.
AI AT WORK IN THE SERVICE DEPARTMENT
Phase_1 What happened A client discovers a problem and they want it fixed ASAP. So they sign in to the system, enter their service request, and submit it, trying to provide as specific information as possible.
Phase_2 Who can be sent first The AI running in the background of the application evaluates the technicians’ current workloads, analyzes the real speed with which they can finish the job, checks their supplies, and suggests a time slot to the client. TE X T _ A LEN A Č ER V EN KOVÁ / C O LL AG E _ I VA N A STR Á N S K Á
# C R E AT E I T
Phase_3 It’s in my calendar No one wants to – or can afford to – sit around waiting for a service technician to show up, so the client checks their calendar to see if the appointment fits their schedule. It does, so they confirm.
Phase_4 Let me do my thing During the overnight break, the AI verifies what jobs the technicians will have, re-checks their supplies, and reorganizes their schedules based on the results of its own analyses. Global planning takes place during this process.
Phase_5 All fixed! During the day, artificial intelligence responds to emergencies or schedule changes (caused by traffic jams, for example) and tweaks the technicians’ schedules as needed. Technicians who have jobs listed in their programs arrive on site on time and with the spare parts they need, so they finish the repairs in a matter of minutes.
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# C R E AT E I T
Think back to around the year 2000 and what it was like when the cable repair guy was scheduled to make a house call. He’d tell you that he’d show up sometime between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. – which was simply great, especially back in the days when working from home was a rare option. If you were lucky, sometime late in the afternoon he’d call to say he’s held up and his buddy is coming instead. When? Yeah, he’ll call and let you know. Experiences like this were the catalyst for innovation that’s straight out of a sci-fi movie. People@Work demonstrates the subtle charm of artificial intelligence.
Time Rules Everything In a nutshell, People@Work expedites and streamlines the work that service technicians perform in the field in an absolutely fundamental way. The application is based on knowing how long a specific technician will take on a certain job and artificial intelligence assessing this information. Herein lies the heart of the innovation. Using AI, the application makes a realistic calculation of how much time the maintenance job will actually need, scans through the nearest open time slots, and offers these options to customers who then select an appointment that fits their own schedules. “The system holds the slot for the customer and the night before the service call, it reorganizes which technicians will make which calls. The most important thing is that the appointment is always on time,” Product Owner Martin Kuna describes the system’s vision. The fact that your customers can always rely on the service appointments they choose is an exceptional asset. Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence, which automatically optimizes technicians’ workload and monitors their schedule, can advance any maintenance service to a 21st century standard. The entire process is automated and managed by AI and divided into several phases. In phase one, the customer
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TE X T _ A LEN A Č ER V EN KOVÁ / P H OTO _ JA K K A PA N
Artificial intelligence as a good servant
Using AI in planning can significantly reduce how many trips are made, as experience deploying the system at a major telecommunications company in Slovakia has shown.
is assigned to a specific slot and a specific technician. During the overnight break in phase two, the system optimizes the suggested slots, selecting the best (the shortest) routes for each technician while also considering how much inventory they have in their mobile storage units.
constantly running behind. Why? They divvied up their work in the morning, picking and choosing the jobs they wanted to take. They used a simple formula to calculate how long they’d spend on each job: ‘I’ve got four jobs? So I’ll spend two hours on each job,’” Kuna explains.
“Route efficiency tends to be the first casualty in efforts to keep an appointment on time. The previous job runs long and if you don’t want to cancel, the dispatcher sends out whoever is available, even if that means longer travel time,” Kuna explains. Using AI in planning can significantly reduce how many trips are made, as experience deploying the system at a major telecommunications company in Slovakia has shown.“It also depends on the local geography and infrastructure. The number of trips fell by 10% in Slovakia, while this figure was much higher in the neighboring Czech Republic,” Kuna adds, noting that People@Work helped increase service technicians’ efficiency by a whopping 40%. This understandably also has a major influence on carbon footprint reduction.
Wasteful? Too expensive? But without knowing the real amount of time needed for the service call it’s impossible to plan any other way. “The first surpluses appear when the technicians click in the system that the job is finished once they’re done,” Kuna says.
Thanks to artificial intelligence, the road to service technician efficiency is as straight as an arrow. “In the beginning we had a team of more than a thousand technicians. But they were
Two hours suddenly turn into forty minutes. “The number of staff technicians gradually fell to six hundred and finally settled at two hundred. Thanks to these savings, we were able to contract specialists. At the same time, this reduced team can handle a larger volume of work without any stress,” Kuna adds. Fewer trips and greater efficiency translate into considerable savings for the service company and a very positive impact overall. Thanks to AI, optimal route planning significantly reduces the negative impact on the environment. Fewer miles driven, less fuel consumed. It’s a simple equation that adds up by applying skills and technological expertise.
40% is how much technicians’ efficiency grew. This understandably also has a major influence on carbon footprint reduction.
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Leave Your ID at Home. Yourself, too.
It’s a huge issue in today’s digital world – and rightly so. At its very essence, electronic identification (eID) is technology that cuts down on paperwork, significantly reducing the need to travel to various offices and institutions. But few marvels of today’s digital world have had such a fundamental impact on reducing our personal carbon footprints as bank-issued eID, even though it came into existence only a few months ago. A simple idea lies at the heart of this change: make sure we’re able to prove our identity in the digital world. Flawlessly and unequivocally. And banks are the institutions we communicate with most often through various channels: they verify our identity when they open accounts for us, when we access their online banking platforms, and when they provide us with various products. Banks are also subject to strict oversight. The banking eID concept was sparked by a law that prevents money from being laundered through bank accounts and various financial fraud schemes, paving the way for the launch of the entire project in early 2021.
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T E X T _ A L E N A Č E R V E N K O V Á / P H O T O _ R A N TA I M A G E S , S W E E T S T U D I O
# C R E AT E I T
Thi s t ech nol ogi cal It’s cha ng e lik e a im p act lit s t tle he the mag liv i out c s es sid p of ell e w eac tha orl h a d t : and nd mir wit a eve h g pri cul ry vat ove o usl one e b rn m y c usi ent of o n n n us. e off ect But sse i s s c it’s . es, us wit ban ban h ks, ks and ins Mee u t ran ech t y ce our com com pan ban pan i kin es ies g e tha , ID. t p lay a f und ame We confirm it’s you. nta l r Banks must be able to prove to the government that they have ole . identified and “know their customers.” So it was not much of a leap to think that if banks need to vet their clients that thoroughly, perhaps they could perform the same service for third parties – the public sector, various institutions, and also private companies. “Banks are trusted to be able to confirm that a third party is communicating with a specific person. So what this essentially is, is bank-mediated identity verification,” František Antropius, a senior business analyst at Cleverlance, explains. The security requirements for the entire banking eID project are extremely strict. Banks must comply with a full set of rigorous legal standards to indisputably guarantee that their customers are who they say they are. Customer data security is also of fundamental importance to banks: a database breach could any affected bank’s reputation. As a result, the banking sector puts a massive amount of effort towards ensuring that their databases are absolutely bulletproof and impervious to identity fraud. “For banks to be able to provide
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Banking identity
BankID allows individuals and companies to log into services and institutions through their online banking platform. As a verified authority, the bank confirms that the ID data are correct or company really is who they say they are.
this service, they must be dead certain that their database, their information about their clients, is truthful and cannot be misused or circumvented,” Antropius adds. And this was an important task without which the digital revolution could not have happened. “Of course, banks have sophisticated and relatively complex IT systems, and they need to be connected to the national identity authority,“ Antropius explains. This is the hub, the entranceway to all offices and institutions in the public sector. It’s essentially a digital checkpoint where we present our ID and the officer lets us pass based on the data we use to sign in to our online banking platform. But this checkpoint can also be used by others who might want to sign a gas supply or other contract with us. “As a tech company, we’re opening the way for public institutions as well as private companies to get involved in this extraordinary project. This is one of the services that we do as an IT company,” says Antropius.
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78% of users log in to public administration systems via BankID
In addition to communicating with government offices, BankID also makes it possible for users to digitally sign any sort of contract without having to set up a secure file transfer system or certified electronic signature.
57.2 % Aware
Millions verified Interest is skyrocketing. Nearly six million of the country’s 10.5 million people are able to prove their identity through their bank; hundreds of thousands do so in practice. Within just six months of going live, the Czech Ministry of the Interior was receiving more than 1.3 million identity verification requests per month. In effect, banking eID can be used whenever a contract needs to be signed. “One could say that thanks to the banking eID, practically everything is being transferred to digital communication. I don’t have to drive to the bank, I don’t have to drive to some government office, I don’t have to start the car and burn fuel. When you imagine how many miles these verified identity numbers represent, you see it’s a real change,” says Antropius. “I think best thing about it is the fact that banking eID lets you take care of so many things from the comfort of your couch. These days we all have two important values that we try to conserve and not waste: our own time and clean air. The banking eID fits perfectly into this perspective. It’s an efficient method facilitated by technology. That’s what I personally like very much about it,” he adds.
Awareness about BankID in the Czech Republic
42.8 % Unaware
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Do you really need to print this email? Until recently, this sentence could be found at the bottom of most emails. Email was the first tool that reduced the number of documents in the workplace. This was followed by invoices, where are now normally sent only in digital form. Nevertheless, “rubber-stamped” paperwork was long the norm at a number of institutions. “For quite a long time, any purchase-related documents were accepted only on paper. They were then digitized and circulated within the organization in digital form,” says Miloš Lacina, executive director of the ECM unit at Cleverlance. However, this duality forced companies to maintain a double system: one for storing and managing printed documents, and one for the digital versions of the very same documents. “Most companies have got past this phase by now; in recent years we’ve seen that we’ve been increasingly getting away from paper documents,” Lacina adds. As the number of digitized documents has increased, so has the need to verify their authenticity and store them securely. “Worldwide we’ve witnessed efforts to support documents that are created and exist only in digital form; in the European
Union, this issue was enshrined a few years ago in the eIDAS Regulation,” Lacina explains. The electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services (eIDAS) Regulation applies to electronic transactions on the EU’s internal market and aims to ensure user security in actions such as electronic funds transfers and communications with public services – as well as the ability to prove your identity. One country that is strongly supporting this trend is Estonia. “The Estonian prime minister had a dream that one day it would be possible to get married online,” illustrates Lacina. Speed and trust “Generally speaking, the greatest advantage of this type of documentation is simply speed. Every document is accessible to all authorized people at any time. And of course security also plays a role, including procedural security,” Lacina explains, adding that the introduction of customer biometric signatures at a local communications giant rapidly reduced the number of frauds. Reducing the number of documents needed for everyday work is a trend that’s gradually gaining traction among Czech firms. Even though the concept of a “paperless office” has been
In Europe, the Czech Republic is on the lower end of the scale in terms of paper consumption, but consumption is increasing sharply and has tripled since the 1990s.
PAPERLESS Reducing the number of documents needed for everyday work is a trend that’s gradually gaining traction among Czech firms. Even though the concept of a “paperless office” has been around for a long time, progress towards achieving this goal has gathered significant momentum this year primarily due to the banking eID concept.
TE X T _ A LEN A Č ER V EN KOVÁ / P H OTO _ N DA N KO
around for a long time, progress towards achieving this goal has gathered significant momentum this year primarily due to the banking eID concept. “Lower amounts of paper also significantly cut logistics and archive management costs,” Lacina notes. “Another advantage is that through automation and AI, data can be processed further and analyzed at an advanced level.” Companies currently use an average of just 12% of their data, which are often unstructured and spread out across a large number of systems that are unable to work with each other. Finally and importantly, reducing paper consumption is a very efficient way for a company to reduce its carbon footprint. Banking eID as an avenue for business “In the commercial sector, digitized documentation is still battling with the fact that many customers are conservative and prefer paper. For large utilities and wireless providers, it would be ideal if we all used a single digital tool and signature. Because now they need to maintain two processes – both paper and digital,” Lacina explains. “And that’s exactly what banking eID is offering. It’s a trusted instrument that millions have used in the space of a few months.”
# C R E AT E I T
The first paper mill in the Thirteen Colonies was established in 1690. The British Parliament’s approval of the Stamp Act, which levied a colonial tax on paper used for documents, newspapers, and more, ignited the American Revolution.
About 80,000 sheets of letter paper can be produced from a single average-sized spruce tree. That’s the same as about 6,800 copies of a 32-page tabloid newspaper.
Paper mills that make recycled paper produce 54% less waste, use 27% less energy, and emit 47% less greenhouse gases.
If you’d like to replace one spruce tree with recycled paper, you’d need about
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# C R E AT E I T
Testers: True Detectives
Testing is detective work and testers are classic detectives. Imagine the following situation. You’ve got a beautiful-looking app in front of you, it seems really comfortable and offers untold possibilities. But lurking behind this façade of perfection may be (and often are) unexpected links, omissions, and oversights that can turn the app into your worst nightmare. When this doesn’t happen, you’ve got to thank the systematic checking that takes place at every point in the creation of the application. “These days apps are developed piece by piece, in phases. Each piece is checked on a daily basis so that the programmer can correct their code immediately,” explains Michael Čakrt, a QA competence leader at Cleverlance. Apps and software are tested not only through the course of development, but understandably also after they are completed. In addition to the practical impact it has on the quality of development, testing serves as a gateway to the world of technology. The skills needed for testing are analytical thinking, an eye for detail, and attentiveness. “For six years now we’ve organized a testing academy where we teach people how to work with testing tools and look at code through testers’ eyes, to read the code,” Čakrt explains. Some 150 testing experts work in the Cleverlance team, many of whom attended the academy. “One advantage is that the testers are members of numerous project development teams at various clients. So they learn a lot about the current IT world, they see how IT is developing and what’s important,“ Čakrt adds.
It’s an entire world of its own. It’s got its rules, trends, and principles, but most of all –
without it, technical
development would come to a standstill. Seem a little far-fetched? Not at all. Testing is the glue that makes IT work.
TE X T _ A LEN A Č ER V EN KOVÁ / P H OTO _ V ER O N I K A JA N D OVÁ
TECHNOLOGY
The Ten Commandments of a Perfect Tester 1. Be curious 2. Focus 3. Cope with stress 4. Organize your time well 5. Be careful 6. Think while you work 7. Communicate with the team 8. Be interested in your field 9. Learn new things 10. Be proud of your work
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The Automatic Testing Machine No universal testing program exists for automated testing. Every project needs its own unique script which is created based on an extensive expert assessment. Before each new project, an exact calculation must be made of which type of testing is optimal, effective, and more economical. Only after this can automated testing and a testing robot enter the picture.
testing will definitely speed up development. It also provides us with better knowledge of the state of the application at any given moment. But tests, deployment, operations – someone still has to maintain all that. The human dimension is going to stay,” Mertin explains, adding that he thinks automated testing will not fully replace humans. “But it will save time, which they can then spend on actual development.”
“Generally speaking, testing automation speeds up the process, that’s evident. And thanks to automation, several different scenarios can be tested, the scope of the tests can be expanded, and each of them can be performed identically because robots perform scenarios absolutely the same way each and every time,” says Tomáš Mertin, an automated testing system developer at Cleverlance. As a result, testing and code writing are essentially simultaneous, and developers can fix any errors or inaccuracies within a short period of time.
Automated testing frameworks have proven successful in segments where development is constantly underway. Like the banking sector. “We’ve got a big project in which we’re practically building the entire digital banking framework. One phase has to precisely dovetail with the next one. These days agile management is used for things of this size, which makes it all possible,” says Jan Vajsetl from Komerční banka, a major Czech bank.
“In recent months we’ve witnessed an increase in interest in automated testing, it’s a trend, but everyone’s expecting that it will reduce the number of people involved in development. I don’t think that’s going to happen,” says Mertin. “Automated
In the past, large companies like banks used waterfall testing. Testers would receive completed sections while work on development would halt because the developers waited to hear what they needed to fix. If any major intervention was needed, it was followed up with another phase of testing, prolonging the work.
In the past two years, automated testing has been added to conventional, time-tested, and efficient testing methodologies. It’s proven successful wherever development is practically non-stop. The experience with it has been exceptionally good, says Komerční banka’s Jan Vajsejtl.
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# C R E AT E I T
These are cases where automated testing makes a substantial difference. “Our experience is exceptionally good. The automated system my colleagues and I fine -tuned for our own needs allows us to test practically all devices and environments, cell phones, websites, and more,” Vajsejtl says. Although the inside of the system is complicated, its use in practice is surprisingly easy. “I think the main advantage is that it’s essentially very simply written. So just a short, half-day training session is enough to be able to start to use it. You definitely don’t need to know how to program or have some deep technical knowledge,” explains Vajsajtl. “For me it’s a testing success,” he continues. We’ve put the testing framework to practical use and tried it out; my colleagues at Cleverlance and I tailored it to Komerční banka’s needs and augmented it with additional functionality. Given the amount of development we have, it’s a really efficient thing.”
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Shopping with a Handheld Scanner Platforms that get a large number of testers involved in the process are one of the latest concepts in testing. “Sometimes our clients told us wanted to use their own employees in testing or they said they’d do all the testing themselves. So we zeroed in on how we could help clients in similar cases,” explains Application Development Manager Martin Paták. “Around the world, platforms have cropped up which testers can use to participate in projects. These are enormous ecosystems that start by acquiring and training people who are interested in testing and finish by arranging to pay for the work that was done,” he notes. “The crowdtesting platform principle appealed to us, so last year we started working on it.” Thanks to its many years of testing experience, Cleverlance has plenty of available verified testers, allowing the team to focus on developing the core of the platform. However, the platform is also open to absolute beginners who have no testing experience. “Anyone can register, even students. At the beginning they take a test and based on the results, they’re placed in a role that they can perform during testing. They also enter the devices, cell phone, and OS they use. That’s really important so we can put together a diverse team,” Paták adds. He explains that the platform is ideal for clients who want to test a rather simple task, but with a large number of variables. One sector where user experience testing has proven very successful is retail. Like at Globus, a German big-box chain operating 74 superstores in the Czech Republic, Germany, and Russia. During the pandemic, Globus noticed a major shift in its customers’ buying habits.
TE X T _ A LEN A Č ER V EN KOVÁ / P H OTO _ S H U T TER STO C K
TREND
Globus had already developed a scanning application called Scan&Go, which shoppers can download to their phones and use to scan in and pay for the items in their cart. During the pandemic, spending through Scan&Go surged by 80% and shopping the My Globus mobile app quadrupled. “We tested the app through our platform. Testers went to the superstores and evaluated their experience. As a result, we learned that customers are a bit trepidatious when they try to find out information before their first shop, or that they can run into problems redeeming a gift card,” Paták says. “But all the testers agreed that shopping with a scanner saves time and gives them a better overview of prices and the contents of their shopping cart.” Rapid detection of problem areas is one advantage that testing platforms provide; moreover, testing is very realistic – the testers acted as regular shoppers. “Using the new crowdtesting platform, the testers from Cleverlance Testing Platform helped us define our strengths and weaknesses,” Michaela Riganová, a UX designer at Globus, relates. “We were happy that most of the testers enjoyed the service and would use it again.” “Even I had fun shopping this way,” Martin Paták agrees. “Crowdtesting platforms are effective even for large global players operating on several different markets. So in practice, for example, they might need to test access through cell phones that are only sold on the Asian market; customers on the local market don’t have them and it’s essentially impossible to regularly arrange to use all devices to test.”
Before you dash off to the supermarket, you have to make sure you not only have enough money on your account, but also a charged phone. Our shopping habits are changing and the online world is playing an increasingly greater role. What’s also changing is how we test.
“Until recently, the online world was of tangential importance to most companies. Now for many retailers it’s the primary business. This isn’t just a consequence of the pandemic. It’s also related to people’s efforts to be environmentally responsible,” Paták points out. Even large chains that forced their customers to drive out to the edge of town and beyond are trying to be closer to their customers. Automated pick-up points for online sales and small showrooms are cropping up closer to where people live, replacing sprawling superstores. “This change is good news for both customers and the environment. And testing platforms are a way to improve these services for customers,” Paták says.
# C R E AT E I T
These days, data rules everything. But who rules data? Ideally someone who isn’t hiding it in the company basement, but in large data repositories. This helps them access services that save them time, money, and human resources.
THE CLOUD & THE ENVIRONMENT? ABSOLUTELY!
“Moving to the cloud is safe and manageable these days. For many companies, it also means getting rid of quite a lot of responsibility and work,” says Lead DevOps Engineer and Cloud Server Architect Vojtěch Kijenský. He believes that modern cloud centers offer much more than just a place to store data. “The function of the repository is important, of course; it helps companies save money on their own IT. But what’s more, they also get access to services that operate the entire infrastructure. It’s an excellent solution for people who are operating an application.” Hell clouds “Low-impact solutions are used to cool modern data centers. They’re built north of the Arctic Circle, for example, so that natural cooling can be used. Major changes are also taking place in this area; companies are trying to invest back into the planet because it’s an important issue for them,” explains Kijenský. Debate surrounding the cloud been very animated lately, he adds. “Hellish! The cloud tried to look for its rightful place. Initially everyone wanted to have their own cloud, their own data center. But then they learned what maintaining that sort of ecosystem actually involved. Air conditioning, electricity, having everything in duplicate so that all can be quickly switched over in case of an outage ... But their data was still with them, they trusted their own security,”
TE X T _ A LEN A Č ER V EN KOVÁ / C O LL AG E _ I VA N A STR Á N S K Á
describes Kijenský. Then came the next stage, when companies calculated how wasteful it was to have their own repositories. It was a waste of energy, people, and money. “An amazing shift happened – they uploaded their data to someone else’s space who secured the data for a fee.” Based on trust As the client base increased, so did the number of specialized cloud providers who started to add more services. Not only do they not have to build their own hardware; whole platforms, finished solutions, are also part of the cloud package. “Clouds with services are enjoying a massive uptick. Companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are offering such a portfolio of services, few would find it worthwhile to spend the time and energy keeping the data with them.” The pandemic further boosted this trend. “It’s like having a bank account. I too must believe that my money is safer at a bank than at home in the basement. And saving natural resources is the huge bonus on top,” Kijenský adds. “Access to digital and intellectual property has changed. Companies are onboarding new generations that accept new things more quickly. They trust standards and that modern development is secure.”
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I’LL HAVE ONE DEVOPS, PLEASE! # C R E AT E I T
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Development vs. Operations. These two camps rarely speak the same language. They’ve got the same goal, but they definitely have different ways of reaching the finish line. Developers put new software together, whether applications or services, and hand them over for the Operations team to administrate. The Operations team deploys the developers’ work and operates it in a pre-defined environment. Even though cases deployment is automated, areas of friction may still arise. These areas have increased due to the increasing popularity of agile development. Development is accelerating. What developers consider simple, may be an insurmountable problem for infrastructure. What helps? Burying the hatchet and the two camps on common ground. That common ground is the magical abbreviation DevOps, the connection of Development and Operations. “This connection creates new value. DevOps is often the answer to the problems that IT faces in the new millennium. It’s truly a different perspective of how technology arises, operates, and is implemented while maintaining maximum stability and not impacting the end user,” explains Vojtěch Kijenský, the Lead DevOps developer at Cleverlance. New role, new world We can envision DevOps as a new role in the world of technology that aims to help developers in development, integration, and the quick handover to Operations. Script automation is preferred. As a middleman, DevOps brings the two tech camps together. “Releasing new software used to take several hours or even the entire day, and it rarely went off without a hitch.
If a problem arose, we had to start all over. DevOps allows us to work and respond within seconds,” explains Kijenský. “There are clear procedures and rules during the process, narrowing the room for error. Thanks to automation, errors due to carelessness – the human factor – minimized.” We can also imagine DevOps as a cookbook with scripts as individual recipes. “We’ve got the ingredients and the instructions. The cookbook is readable and easy to use. And thanks to this, we in IT can say that we’re really making a better and tastier world,” laughs Kijenský. Clear rules “For developers this means that we offer them an environment in which their code will be processed. Each of them knows which code will be accepted, which rules must be followed. Then come several fully automated steps: the source code is tested to see if it corresponds to the expected level of quality or contains any new bugs, or if the new code violates any rules,” explains Kijenský. “The length of each line is also checked to make sure the code is easy to read. Then the code is automatically compiled and tested as a whole, which is always such a tense moment in development,” he says, adding that this may be followed by integration and functional testing. This means that testers don’t have to spend time waiting for the project to be delivered to the environment. If the project meets all quality and functionality expectations, it moves on to a higher environment that only verifies the delivery method. This is the pre-production phase. “The final phase is to designate the project fit for production deployment. In most cases this is also automated and after the project is designated fit, the scripts take care of the rest.” Change? Didn’t notice According to Kijenský, all this makes it possible to quickly make developers’ work live. “The user doesn’t even notice that a new version is out unless someone points it out. Two versions can also work alongside each other, which we switch out only at the end,” Kijenský says. “When I notice a bug, I can fix it before the end user even has a chance to notice, or I can revert the previous version. In seconds. We’ve got scripts for that, too. That’s what I call modern development.” One major client that correctly discovered the incredible potential of DevOps and where the role of DevOps has already proven successful in application deliveries is the Czech carmaker Škoda Auto, Vojtěch Kijenský explains. “Companies learn this method of development and start to trust it. It’s always best to demonstrate it in practical use and show what added value the company gets from it. Being able to speak with both development and operations – that’s still quite novel expertise,” Kijenský adds. The Volkswagen subsidiary uses the DevOps environment to develop connected car platforms.
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Kolofix A data -based story
Cycling has always been popular in the Czech Republic. Over one in three Czechs enjoy the sport, and that number is only growing. Despite this popularity, however, most people only think about bicycle maintenance when winter is over and it’s time to pull the bikes out again. Suddenly bike repair shops are flooded with customers and booked solid for two months, which can sound like an eternity when the sun is shining right now. But what if someone offered short wait times and a technician who comes to you? That is exactly what Kolofix does. This successful Czech bike repair chain proves how technology and digitization can bring benefits in perhaps unexpected areas. The digitized Kolofix reservation system was created by a development team from Cleverlance. Customers go to the Kolofix website or app and choose the service they need and the branch they prefer. They can either take the bicycle in themselves, have a Kolofix employee come pick it up, or request a technician to come and do the repair offsite. Kolofix’s mobile repair shop can go to customers anywhere. The reservation system gives customers a set time, date and price according to the service price list. The system instantly connects customers with a technician and checks for spare part availability, which significantly cuts down wait times and ensures that customers pay the same price for the same service each time.
STORY
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The reservation app is highly effective and successful in its field. Even the global pandemic has not slowed the extraordinary interest in this fusion of the digital and sports world, and the company is currently planning to expand to Slovakia. Those plans have been put on hold for the moment, however, due to the shortage in bicycle parts currently affecting the entire cycling world.
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