TBTech March Edition

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TBTECH

MARCH 2022

Contents

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Editorial

Meet the team Events

The unspoken challenge of the 5G rollout

Say goodbye to paper The Metaverse

Payment evolution

Twinning – Future of digital twins 5G across the UK

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Cloud expo. Europe

Employee and customer experience Cybersecurity

First party data

G5 and its relationship with IoT 5 book recommendations

A digital revolution

Working life has changed Fighting E-waste

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Leveraging connectivity

Combined network approach The power of the All-In-One

International Women’s Day

Biometric technology Fast ‘n’ Fibre

Security

Transforming the workplace

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Editorial

Editorial

Barcelona is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain, the capital of the autonomous community of Catalonia and the most populous municipally of the country.

This magic place is well known for its football, Modernista architecture, several World Heritages, such as the Sagrada Familia, Casa Millà; and their museums, such as Fundació Joan Miró, Picasso Museum, and Fundació Antoni Tàpies; but also, has been known as the host of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) since 2006.

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Editorial

Global System for Mobile Communications Associations (GSMA) having its headquarters in London and was founded in 1995 is the industry organization that represents the interest of mobile network operations worldwide and organizer of the largest annual exhibition and conference dedicated to the mobile industry since 1987, MWC. This year, they decided to explore the ground-breaking technologies that will shape their industry with the theme “Discover Connectivity Unleashed”, covering the follow points: CloudNet 5G Connect IoT Fintech Tech Horizon Advancing AI

Unsatisfied with delivering one of the most relevant technological events around the world, MWC was awarded by the Guinness World Record as the world’s largest carbon-neutral tradeshow; for this 2022 the show was announced as two to three times larger than 2021, with 1,500 exhibitors, the four years from now (4TFN) platform, the Ministerial Programma, and Industry City make for a busy and vibrant deal-making environment; with 50% of the attendees, Director level or above, from 2000 companies around 182 countries.

The main thoughtful leaders in the industry are gathered in this magnificent event with the intention of creating meaningful connections, learning from the competitors, and sharing their knowledge as well; therefore, there were personalities such as Shuky Sheffer, CEO from Amdocs; Anne Chow, CEO from AT&T Business; Adam Selipsky, Chief Executive Officer Amazon Web Services and more.

Regarding AI, Mark Callender, added that AI is speeding up their improvement, as they are also related to big data and intelligence data; many countries are encouraging start-ups to develop more AI; this is the reason MWC decided to highlight these practices and open the dialogue for multiple opinions, as it can be which is the breach between governments and private companies generate AI.

The largest and most influential digital technology and connectivity events mentioned to be focused in five key areas, starting with the importance of the 5G connectivity, which according to Mark Callender, GSMA, it is connecting virtually everything now (smart cities, retails), and delivering new applications and services, that were not available whilst the 4G.

Moving forward for the IoT and having everything connected by the internet, impacting and transforming the lifestyle of everything very rapidly and this is the future of civilization.

Another key point is the cloud, which has been everywhere, and it has increasingly become a sensitive topic because of security issues.

Nowadays it is essential for any company to understand and implement an adequate cybersecurity architecture, these policies should be considered for governments too that have been accelerated by the pandemic and this event invited experts on this manner to dialogue about the future of cybersecurity, the ethics that are coming with this and more.

Here at tbtech, we encourage all decision-makers and senior executives interested in technology to visit MWC to gain an advantageous technology perspective. Not just because of the quality of the speakers or conferences topics. But because of the meaningful connections and scale of innovations released at MWC before the rest of the world.

There is no doubt that technological innovation is ramping up rapidly, so the more we can learn from experts and multiple points of view, the more prepared we become for the future. www.mwcbarcelona.com/ discover-mwc/themes

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Meet the team

Meet the team

JOE ALLEN

Joe has vast experience and knowledge accumulated and honed as a New Business Development Manager and Relationship Manager. Presently the Director at Belu Media.

Responsible for generating new business opportunities, looking after the growth of the company and strategy, sourcing new ventures and managing the company. Favorite marketing strategy when building a marketing campaign is ‘inbound marketing’ as it delivers on set goals when implemented correctly.

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LUKE CONRAD

Luke is Digital Editor at TBTech and has history working closely with the worlds biggest tech brands to deliver campaigns. Luke is an advocate of tech across business and commercial applications.

PAUL WHITTALL

Paul stops at nothing to innovate and create value for our customers. His mission is help those we work with to win in their markets.

He is passionate about delivering customer success and have had the pleasure of supporting many of the world’s leading technology brands for over 15 years. Pauls’ role is all about designing and developing the right strategy to achieve the best outcomes, and to ensure we are consistently delivering the highest standards of value across the business for all our customers.

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Meet the team

DELIA SALINAS

Delia is the Events Coordinator at TBTech. Her responsibilities include liaising with media partners and placing a spotlight on tech innovators across events.

Analytical and growth-focused Corporative Journalist with handson ability to create optimized and engaging content supporting digital marketing functions. She is passionate about filmmaking, marketing strategies, and Journalism.

WILLIAM MOORE

William’s passion starts and ends with design, timeless aesthetic and creative solutions.

Having worked on numerous creative campagins ranging from German car manifacturers, leading tech companies, property investors as well as local artisans, William’s goal is to create the ultimate brand experience between the client and the consumer.

MATT

Matt is Operations Manager at TBTech, he has spent the last 15 years working with multinational IT companies building campaigns, GTM strategies, leading both Sales and Marketing teams to achieve organisational goals.

With a love of computer science, history, and psychology he is an advocate for change, operational efficiency, and automation.value across the business for all our customers.

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MWC Overview

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Events

Events

29 March 2022

The importance of technology for growing businesses.

In our next webinar, we look at growing your business, and technology as an essential practice within organizations today.

Technology can improve employee engagement, transform customer experiences, and manage suppliers. From small to large businesses, digital transformation is essential for survival, and organizations that do not evolve with the 4IR now are much less likely to prosper.

Join our panel of experts as they discuss the benefits and challenges that come with implementing technology into a business, and how a business can thrive in the long term.

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With the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) becoming more evident, businesses need to implement technologies to improve business operations.

For example, technology can improve employee engagement, transform customer experiences, and manage suppliers. From small to large businesses, digital transformation is essential for survival, and organizations that do not evolve with the 4IR now are much less likely to prosper.

Digitalization is the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities; it is the process of moving to a digital business.

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Events

WHO SHOULD ATTEND? Founders / Owners CTOs CEOs MDs Senior Executives

TOPICS TO BE COVERED Key 4IR factors Advantages and disadvantages of technology Breaking myths Best tactics The future of the technology And more…

AFTER ATTENDING YOU WILL BE ABLE TO Understand your company’s present growth considerations.

Determine the technological elements that have the most influence on your firm.

Think on possibilities that will yield outcomes in the short, medium and long term.

Prioritize external support and resources to help accomplish outcomes.

Learn about some of the tactics of the organic growth.

RELEVANT TBTECH CONTENT DESIGNED FOR YOU Podcasts Articles Whitepapers

Our expert panel will discuss the importance of technology for growing businesses from successful stories, such as:

Microsoft, founded 46 years ago and receiving in 2020 the third-highest global brand valuation. Over the last three decades, the have helped people and organizations use technology to transform how they work, live and play. Over the next decade, they have a generational opportunity to come together to build a better future marked by sustainable economic growth and opportunity for all.

Trenches Law, recognizing the pace and complexity of the electronic communications industry – not least when it comes to Code powers and wayleaves – Trenches law has filled an important gap in the market. Its collegiate is made up of strategic professionals who have lived and breathed the world of fibre, connectivity and technological infrastructure, for most of their careers.

Vapour came to the market with a cloud-first mission, perhaps before UK businesses were ready. But now everyone is talking about digital transformation, Vapor a safe pair of hands, making the complex simple, clever and powerful. And with an eye constantly on the future, there’s far more to come from our HQ. Its technology is exciting, but only people can get excited.

Bournemouth University, is a public university in Bournemouth, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s. BU appeared for the first time in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings in 2015/16: ranked joint 401–500 in the world and 57th among UK universities. The university experienced a brief upward trend in national rankings: in 2016, it rose from 65th to 54th in The Complete University Guide, from 71st to 63rd place in The Guardian University League Table and from 88th to joint 82nd in the Sunday Times Good University Guide.

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Events

Events

26 April 2022

Virtual and augmented reality may have started in the gaming industry; however, it has shifted into the wider business sector in the last few years.

The pandemic sped up this technology as organizations used it for training, work meetings, or better customer service. Virtual and augmented reality applications are expanding every day to new business fields customizable based on your business needs and your imagination.

Industries such as retail, tourism, hospitality, training, architecture, construction, healthcare, marketing, and more can now use this technology to improve their customer’s experience with your company.

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Events

WHO SHOULD ATTEND? Founders / Owners CTOs CEOs MDs Senior Executives

TOPICS TO BE COVERED Key VR, AR and technology factors Advantages and disadvantages of technology Breaking myths Best tactics The future of the technology for businesses And more...

AFTER ATTENDING YOU WILL BE ABLE TO Understand your company’s new reality.

Determine the technological elements that have the most influence on your firm.

Think on possibilities that will yield outcomes in the short, medium, and long term.

Prioritize external support and resources to help accomplish outcomes.

Learn about some of the tactics of the organic growth.

RELEVANT TBTECH CONTENT DESIGNED FOR YOU Podcasts Articles Whitepapers

Matterport is leading the digital transformation of the built world. Their groundbreaking spatial computing platform turns buildings into data making every space more valuable and accessible. Millions of buildings in more than 150 countries have been transformed into immersive Matterport digital twins to improve every part of the building lifecycle from planning, construction, and operations to documentation, appraisal, and marketing.

Extend Robotics aims to extend remote working into the physical domain by extending human capabilities beyond physical presence. They build VR-based immersive human-robot interface software to enable non-robotic experts to intuitively operate commercial robots from remote locations over a network.

They believe this technology will remove people from harsh or hazardous environments, and even break the geological limitation completely for remote physical works.

Cyber Security Associates (CSA) recognizes the importance of technology nowadays with daily cyber attacks, it is important that business executives recognize that hard-earned trust can disappear with a single cyber incident. Cyber Security Associates can help clients understand the cyber threat to their business, strengthen their resilience and build strong security business cases. They can offer a team of Cyber Security Consultants using both UK HMG (ex-Military) and Commercially experienced specialists all holding security clearances offering a large range of services.

BrandLab360 is a collection of courageous innovators and the global pioneers of V-commerce. As one of the earliest adopters of Metaverse style technology, their platform enables companies and corporations of all sizes to elevate their businesses using virtual reality and gamification.

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MWC Overview

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Connectivity

The unspoken challenge of the 5G rollout While the 5G rollout symbolizes a move towards the future, there are still millions of IoT equipment relying on 2G and 3G networks today. With networks set to close as soon as 2023 and other providers saying nothing at all, the industry needs clarity. Sutha Siva, CEO of OV, explores why.

The G stands for generation, so the latest network, for instance, 5G, is the newest phase in mobile networks. When 2G first emerged in 1991, it powered the transfer of data between devices, and decades on, it is still the connection used for millions of Internet of Things (IoT) devices sharing data between people, objects, and places.

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Connectivity

Since the introduction of 4G, and now the much-anticipated rollout of 5G, businesses can access higher speeds and lower latency as well as capacity for more connected devices on one network.

These capabilities facilitate the latest technologies and innovations such as smart cities, smart factories, autonomous vehicles, and much more.

Networks are the foundation of any smart technology – without them, equipment wouldn’t work.

The technicalities 4G and 5G deliver are accelerating innovations and pushing us closer and closer to the ‘future’ of tech. However, amidst the excitement, it is crucial not to forget that millions of equipment used in the field today rely on 2G and 3G connectivity to operate.

NETWORK EVOLUTION As networks rollout 5G, they must decide on the closure of older networks. Though technically there is space for all networks to co-exist, maintaining historic networks is costly and time-consuming. 5G is in its infancy, and the industry is already talking about 6G – keeping 2G and 3G networks running for much longer is simply unrealistic for many operators. Ultimately, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) have to do what is best for their business, customers and networks.

THE 2G AND 3G SUNSET The closure of 2G and 3G networks are inevitable - the market knows this. It’s ‘when’ which isn’t clear.

This is extremely unsettling for buyers and sellers of IoT equipment that depend on the networks.

Towards the end of last year, the UK Government announced that networks would be closing, however, there was little to no clarity on exact dates. Some MNOs have announced the closures as soon as 2023, and others have revealed nothing.

If you have critical equipment that depends on a 2G network, for example, vehicle trackers, medical monitoring equipment, wearable devices that provide an emergency signal, or even smart meters, the lack of assurance is concerning.

What’s more, without clarity, these businesses cannot make informed plans on when to swap out equipment.

THE COST OF INDECISIVENESS Unfortunately, switching networks isn’t as simple as switching SIMs. The component welded into a 2G or 3G device is different from that used in 4G and 5G equipment, meaning that when you change network, you must change your equipment too.

You might think, why is the market not just swapping to 4G and 5G equipment now? Well, when you consider that 4G equipment can be up to three times more expensive than 2G equipment, it’s simply not an option for most.

With the dates of closures unclear, it’s difficult to make such costly decisions that may be unnecessary in the future – cutting short the lifespan of your 2G and 3G equipment for no reason.

However, if you wait, you risk your equipment suddenly going offline, leaving you without until you purchase newer devices.

So, with the emergence of 4G and 5G, the IoT market finds itself in a stalemate. Buyers are unsure which equipment to purchase: 2G/3G or 4G/5G, and sellers are uncertain which equipment to stock.

THE MULTI-NETWORK SIM As the market awaits the much-needed clarity, there is a transitional solution: multi-network SIMs. Today, many pieces of equipment operate with a singlenetwork SIM, meaning that they receive connectivity from one provider. With this setup, if the network shuts down, the equipment will go offline.

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Whereas, with a multi-network SIM, you have access to an ecosystem of network providers. If the network the device is connected to closes, it will switch to another, and so on.

The equipment will only go offline when there are no live networks available in the area. Installing these SIMs buys the market time to consider their plan and wait for further announcements on closures, extending the lifespan of equipment for as long as possible.

2G and 3G network closures aside, multi-network SIMs also offer improved coverage. This is particularly beneficial in nonstationary equipment, for example, wearable emergency devices.

With a single-network SIM, if a device enters a patchy area of coverage, you may lose connection, ultimately putting the user in danger. On the other hand, with a multi-network SIM, the device will automatically change to another network available in the area.

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The unspoken challenge of the 5G rollout

FUTURE-PROOFING DEVICES New generations of networks will continue to happen, so there needs to be a long-term solution too.

An eSIM and iSIM work similarly to multi-network SIMs, able to connect to multiple providers at once, however, crucially, they remove the reliance on swapping out SIMs when you change network generation.

The eSIM is a component embedded into the equipment that connects to any operator.

The iSIM is still in infancy but works similarly, but instead of a component, it uses software.

GIVING A VOICE TO THE CHALLENGE Technologically, the 5G rollout is exciting, however, it shouldn’t overshadow technology in operation today. What good are the latest innovations if the technology that businesses use today become obsolete in an untimely manner?

The market needs clarity on dates from network providers and governments and installing multiSIMs into devices will buy that crucial time the market needs to make an informed decision. Only then, can organizations make a clear plan for the future of their IoT devices.

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Connectivity

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Tech Horizon

Say goodbye to paper We look at the ways in which communication in the workplace is now very much a digital world.

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Tech Horizon

Businesses used to rely on paper documents and filing systems not that long ago, and this caused some serious issues from the organization, storage, and legal perspectives.

The modern way in which we have moved to paperless documents comes with many benefits.

The benefits, other than the obvious reduction of waste for the environment include aspects like time savings, faster turnaround times, better customer experiences, and cost savings.

Following the pandemic, many businesses reported accelerating their adoption of digital management tools and end-to-end workflows, reflecting the ways that these improved their business during a time in which many had no other option.

Interestingly the Forrester State of Systems of Agreement Survey in 2020, commissioned by DocuSign, found businesses still had manual processes in place, with 32% of decision-makers responding that manual agreement processes cause inefficiency. In comparison, the same company produced the Forrester Consulting State of Systems of Agreement Survey 2021, a year later and found that 96% of decision-makers said they would continue to use new technology implemented during the pandemic.

Companies must maximize productivity and collaboration in an all-digital, work-from-anywhere world to ensure that they keep

up with the transforming work of business communication.

Salesforce and Slack lead the way, enabling organizations to build their digital HQ by improving employee collaboration both internally and externally with customers and partners.

Slack now has an integration with DocuSign which aims to accelerate the agreement collaboration process for customers directly within the Slack platform. This system notifies teams on agreement progress and action items, enabling them to work quickly to review, edit, monitor, and execute agreements, without ever leaving their digital HQ. DocuSign has also paired with Salesforce on its billing, CPQ Plus service, and Salesforce field service. Together these allow customers the ability to perform many tasks themselves which otherwise would have delayed companies’ daily workflows if they were done manually.

Another company that would be important to mention is zoom and its well-known video conferencing platform. The zoom digital meetings became a service many businesses became reliant on over the pandemic and its recent partnership with DocuSign saw the creation of the ability to use esignatures on this platform. This removes the need to print out, sign, scan, and send back documents. Instead, streamlining the process and allowing business leaders to sign documents whilst

face-to-face with one another on the video call, increasing that sense of trust and partnership that is often needed in these situations.

Ross Mayfield, Product Lead, Zoom Apps & Integrations stated “Employees don’t want to spend their days toggling between countless apps and emails, especially when working with customers or partners. They want tools that streamline workflows and easily enable them to connect and collaborate,” Mayfield continues by saying, “We’re excited about DocuSign eSignature for Zoom as it allows stakeholders to review agreements together in real-time before signing, helping eliminate communication silos and accelerate the completion of agreements.”

In order for businesses to keep up with the transforming workplace, there is a need to consider the digital tools required and the manner in which these improve efficiency, remove waste and the costs of paper use, and support the hybrid environment that has become so necessary in recent years. Jerome Levadoux, SVP of Sign, DocuSign commented on this subject saying “The past few years have highlighted the need for agility and better productivity tools to meet the evolving needs of customers,”

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MWC

Tech Mahindra Unveils TechMVerse to Drive Commerce in the Metaverse Tech Mahindra, a leading provider of digital transformation, consulting, and business re-engineering services and solutions, today announced the launch of TechMVerse, its Metaverse practice to deliver interactive and immersive experiences in the Metaverse for its customers.

With an aim to transform customer experience and deliver real business outcomes, Tech Mahindra will leverage its world-leading network and infrastructure capabilities along with its foundational technological capabilities including pervasive Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, 5G, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Quantum Computing to build B2B use cases across sectors.

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MWC

In its initial phase, Tech Mahindra will leverage the opportunities presented by the Metaverse through various use cases including DealerVerse metaverse-based car dealership, Middlemist - NFT marketplace, Meta Bank – a virtual bank, and gaming center. It will offer immersive digital and professional experience services around design, content, as well as low code plug and play Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) and Blockchain platforms, while also aligning the metaverse strategy with Tech Mahindra’s digital and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals.

Further, Tech Mahindra has also collaborated with the Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. to offer exclusive Digital Collectibles, starting with a series based on one of the most iconic brands from the latter’s stable. These collectibles will be listed, minted, and offered for sale through Tech Mahindra’s industry-leading NFT Marketplace platform.

CP Gurnani, MD & CEO, Tech Mahindra, said, “Metaverse has the power to disrupt our reality, as well as the future, for good.

At Tech Mahindra, we have always been at the forefront of 5G and our entry into the Metaverse is yet another milestone in our journey of catalyzing future readiness and

disrupting and transforming customer experiences.

The fundamental layers of metaverse are very well integrated within Tech Mahindra and its competencies. From infrastructure to experience, from spatial computing to now commerce, TechMahindra’s platform, the TechMverse would enable a seamless integration between our known expertise in 5G with our skills in AI, AR/VR and blockchain. We would be training workforce of 1000 engineers to ensure they are ready to solve complex business challenges and imagine new worlds for our customers and society.”

Metaverse is a fast-evolving digital environment where individuals can interact with each other in a 3D virtual space. As the global Metaverse revenue opportunity could approach $800 billion in 2024, Tech Mahindra is geared up to harness the power of Metaverse to bring imagination to life and offer futuristic experiences NOW. Network of the future, 5G, will form the backbone to provide enhanced experience to customers in the metaverse universe. At Mobile World Congress (MWC) this year, Tech Mahindra’s showcase, ‘Welcome to Simplicity’ reflects how the technology leader is poised to enable Communication Service Providers (CSPs) to

ride this new technology wave powered by network, engineering, and experience capabilities with a shared realistic immersive simulation of the real world or other possible worlds.

Manish Vyas, President, Communications, Media & Entertainment and CEO, Network Services, said, “Metaverse is a disruptive opportunity to unlock the next frontier of new-age digital immersive experiences. With our foray into the Metaverse, Tech Mahindra is geared to enable limitless opportunities in the virtual world by building scalable services through foundational capabilities and device engineering expertise.”

As part of NXT.NOWTM framework, which aims to enhance ‘Human Centric Experience’, Tech Mahindra focuses on investing in emerging technologies and solutions that enable digital transformation and meet the evolving needs of the customer.

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MWC

Payment evolution

Payment evolution as part of Industry 4.0

By Ralf Gladis, CEO at Computop

By uniting physical and digital technologies, Industry 4.0 promises a transformation in how we lead our lives. It offers both an opportunity and a challenge to industries, and a world of innovation that will benefit consumers.

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In this article, Ralf Gladis, CEO at global payment service provider, Computop looks at the impact of the fourth industrial revolution on the world of payments.

The fourth industrial revolution is well underway and the benefits of the convergence of technologies are widely known. This does not mean, however, that bringing digital and physical systems together to improve operations and become more innovative is easy. On the contrary, the challenges of leveraging the full potential of Industry 4.0 remain a concern, with many global leaders feeling that their organizations are simply unprepared for change.

A 2018 report said that only 15% of C-suite respondents believed their company was prepared to address smart and autonomous technologies.

Whether they are prepared or not, the tidal wave of digital transformation is already forcing change in almost every aspect of our lives, including how we pay for goods. As consumers we have embraced the convenience of contactless and the security benefits of tap-to-pay using smartphones protected by biometric authentication. In the B2B sector too change is afoot and digital innovations are vying with general economic growth to expand the number of non-cash transactions globally. According to a Mastercard estimate the current global business payments market

exceeds $100 trillion The move from people to machines So what does Industry 4.0 mean to business payment processing?

It certainly represents innovation, allowing organizations to digitally connect the various processing points that are part of the payment cycle. It enables automation, and thus improves efficiency. And for many, as the onus moves from people to machines, it also reduces human error and lowers operational risk.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an integral part of this. It enables our personal payment behaviors to embrace contactless transactions, not just on mobile phones, but on smartwatches and key-fobs and by giving voice commands to Alexa or Google Assistant. We’ve all heard about the smart fridge that automatically orders milk when the homeowner is running low, or the smart printer that orders toner from Amazon and automates the payment. These depend on card payment schemes enabled by tokenization, which also ensures that the transactions are secure and not fraudulent.

The IoT is also being put to work in commercial and industrial settings.

At its simplest, this involves the ordering of products and services to replenish depleting inventory in warehouses, factories or even retail stock rooms and allows payment to be automated as part of that process. However, at the other end of the scale

Commerzbank announced a pilot project in 2019, which focused on a ‘cash on ledger’ machine-tomachine payment process. This was between an electric charging point and a Daimler truck system.

Commerzbank issued Euros on a blockchain and provided Daimler Trucks with ‘cash on ledger’ to process the payment.

It demonstrated successfully that both vehicle charging and payment could be performed without any human interaction, and while this has positive implications for improved logistical efficiency, it also opens the floor to a host of other use cases involving machineto-machine communication.

Speeding up payments Much focus has also been on the infrastructure that is enabling real-time payments, which not only speeds up payment processing for businesses, but unlocks shared data which is leading to greater security and efficiency. According to Mastercard, 85% of banks believe that real-time payments are the foundation for growth and new product enhancements.

Faster payments have been a feature of UK banking transactions for a few years, and in the B2B world, customers are now looking for further enhancements that give them even greater control. Justin-time payments, for example, allow businesses to carefully choreograph their cashflow and avoid making late payments. For any company holding stock, such Continue on next page >

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Payment evolution

as a retailer, this model can allow them to reduce their inventory levels because immediate payment receipt would enable immediate shipment of orders.

can order what they need. Add into this real-time pricing, and buyers can research, select and purchase products with a clear view of the cost throughout the process.

LEARNING FROM ECOMMERCE

In its Business Payments 2022 whitepaper, Mastercard asked the question ‘What will the business world of 2022 look like?’. It said we would see full interoperability between interorganizational, clien product delivery and vendor systems and also that fundamental cash cycle functions would communicate and exchange transaction information in real time. But perhaps most importantly it said that payment choices would align with the best interests of both the buyer and the supplier.

Where retailers have embraced digitalization to build a huge global online commerce market, the opportunities for other industries have in the past been less clear.

Industry 4.0 is now shining a light on how sectors such as manufacturing can use eCommerce to grow their customer bases.

Instead of being largely invisible, manufacturers can expose their brands directly to buyers online.

This direct relationship also delivers a wealth of data which, through analytics, can reveal important information that will shape product and service planning for the future.

Manufacturers embracing B2B commerce have found that, in the absence of expert salespeople, a product configurator allows buyers to customize their options so they

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The fourth industrial revolution is taking us all on a fantastic digital journey which is not without its challenges. But if it can balance the interests of consumers, businesses and industries, the effort to get there will be worth it.

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IoT

Twinning – Future of Digital Twins

The business benefits of digital twins.

By James Morris-Manuel, EMEA Managing Director, Matterport

Looking back through history, democratizing access to innovative technologies has unlocked a realm of possibilities for people across the world. For example, gaining access to the internet can change people’s lives, from greater access to employment to staying connected with friends and loved ones.

A similar process is happening at the moment with digital twins - virtual replicas of the real world - and it is now easier than ever before for people to create them for personal use.

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IoT

The benefits of digital twins are set to have a profound impact on a range of industries. They can help real estate agents in the process of buying and selling houses, by providing immersive, dimensionally accurate walkthroughs of properties to prospective buyers.

This gives them a real sense of what it would be like to live there.

Or in the travel and hospitality sector, hotels can better market the rooms they have to offer with digital twins, allowing consumers to check out a hotel before they check in. The potential for the creation of digital twins is seismic - Matterport research has shown that there are over four billion buildings, comprising of 20 billion spaces in the world. But, only one per cent of these spaces are digitized, representing a huge opportunity for innovation moving forward. In short, there is a world of spaces to be digitized and the technology to do it, it’s down to people to grasp the opportunity with both hands.

THE BUSINESS BENEFITS OF DIGITAL TWINS

There are a number of ways that digital twins can improve how a business operates. Opening access via smartphones will make it much easier for consumers across varied industries to produce a digital twin of any building they like.

With a digital twin, the building can be designed, built, operated on, promoted and understood.

This assist users in understanding unforeseen inefficiencies, lessen

the time needed to record existing problems, increase productivity and help customers better plan for the future.

Another benefit comes down to costs. In recent years, digital twins have mainly been constricted to larger companies with significant budgets to afford the equipment and the software needed to capture the space and produce a digital replica. Going forward there will be a transition towards the ability to cheaper, more accessible, and easier to use digital twins culminating in its democratization. Individuals and smaller companies will have access to the benefits as well as larger companies, increasing the use of the technology rapidly.

A significant advantage is how quick the process is to identify and scan a location. Download the app on a smartphone and start scanning the area immediately.

The 3D capture is then made, and professionals can share, embed and post the digital twin to social media. Tags can be added to illustrate any additional information required on locations, objects, or features. Professionals can even add their digital twins to websites such as Google Street View, Realtor.com, Homes.com, and Vrbo to better demonstrate their product, stand out from the competition and gain more value.

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Twinning – Future of Digital Twins

HOW DIGITAL TWINS ARE TRANSFORMING BUSINESSES

With the significant benefits that digital twins can bring, it is worth emphasizing how it will impact individuals who use the technology, across multiple sectors. People across a variety of industries will benefit from the increasing democratization of digital twins as they can be used to measure, document, manage and promote buildings. Homeowners or renters can benefit alike from creating a replica of their property and everything in it for a reduction in their insurance or planning their space, such as trialing which paint color would look best in each of the rooms. Digital twins can also elevate the retail experience. For years retailers have been trying to keep up with consumers who are asking for more innovative, immersive experiences when it comes to feeding their shopping habits. By creating a copy of a shopfloor and allowing customers to virtually walk through and purchase the products they see, retailers are able to bridge the

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gap between brick-and-mortar shopping and eCommerce, and consumers can get the in-person shopping experience from the comfort of their own home.

These benefits also spill into construction and engineering as well. Professionals in the AEC industry can plan and manage their constructions much more easily, efficiently, and productively, as they no longer have to physically visit the site to check in on its progress. Others in the industry can also be brought on board to help with the collaboration process, by sharing the model and annotating it to move it through the approvals process.

A 3D virtual experience can be published online assisting those in facilities management, too.

Facilities managers can gain access to critical building intelligence, including accurate measurements of the structure and dimensions of the equipment within, replacing time-consuming manual measurements and reducing the time it takes to create floor plans.

All of this helps to reduce the cost

of managing a facility’s design and ongoing maintenance.

Digital twins have the power to transform businesses, and now, individuals and companies of all sizes can reap the benefits of the technology. By democratizing access for everyone, digital twins are no longer reserved for organizations with big budgets that can jump on new innovations in a flash. Instead, digital twins are cheaper and easier than ever before to create, save and use in a way that bolsters their operations, and allows them to stand out against the competition.

Businesses that ignore the benefits of digital twins risk being left by the wayside by those who seize the opportunity to provide their customers with a unique, immersive experience.

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5G Connectivity

5G across the UK How 5G can become a reality and the implementation across the UK and Scotland We spoke to Lara Moloney, Head of S5GConnect at The Scotland 5G Centre, about the use and implementation of 5G.

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Lara Moloney has had an extensive career in the smart city sector and was previously a Director and Chief Operating Officer for an independent publishing company -meaning she has experienced all areas of rapid business expansion and implementation.

S5G CONNECT

S5GConnect is Scotland’s gateway for advanced connectivity. Their role is to “lock in a network of partners that will consider how 5G and advanced connectivity can deliver innovation to Scotland’s key sectors.” Explains Moloney.

S5GConnect is focused on supporting the Scottish Government, local authorities, and the business community in understanding the transformational power that 5G can enable and providing the technical knowledge and expertise to support that specific development. Through her role here, Lara can assist local businesses to realize their 5G potential. Much of the methods used for this can be mirrored in other regions to help improve connectivity worldwide.

Funded by the Scottish Government, its work brings together industry partners, entrepreneurs, and a network of SMEs. The organization has begun placing innovation hubs across both urban and rural Scotland.

The first went live in Dumfries,

Scotland, on October 29th last year. More hubs are due to launch this year which will help businesses see the benefits of 5G networks, and these could help provide an environment in which they can prototype, test, and develop.

According to Lara, the next five to eight years will be exciting as the 5G capability rolls out for businesses.

HOW LONG BEFORE WE HAVE COMPLETE COVERAGE?

Many benefits have already been mentioned, like connectivity and speed, but Lara points out that this is just one part; there are also business simulations she says, “Imagine you work in a dangerous or hazardous environment, and you wish to train new staff without putting them at risk” - a few examples of this she gives are firefighters needing to deal with oil and gas. With 5G connectivity, these environments can be simulated and individuals can use this to receive extensive training off-site. Through this, they learn and develop the skills that they need safely.

There is a crucial difference between the public coverage 5G and business coverage; discussing the business 5G coverage, Lara comments that 5G “holds the power to truly transform business operations.” With a proven impact on remote health care and energy manufacturing, agriculture, transport, logistics, and many other businesses.

5G has evolved so much and will help revolutionize the business industry, Lara gave the example of the initial introduction of the App Store on mobiles in 2008 and how that has changed our lives, saying, “look how different, the way we engage with entire industries, You know, you can get on a train, book a taxi or a hotel, do banking… look at social media and how it’s impacted everything.

Now, that’s just in the last 12 years.

So, I anticipate with the further advanced connectivity and the capability, the opportunity for transformation will be enabled by 5G.”

MAIN BENEFITS OF WORKING WITH 5G

This training could also be extended over into the education sector, especially in more rural locations, or training could evolve drastically worldwide.

Lara states, “the simple answer about 5G private networks is that they offer increased security, increased control, and flexibility.”

She continues by saying, “It’s much more scalable, and it will offer paralleled performance with predictable, low levels of latency.

So that means it’s more reliable connectivity and therefore more reliable performance.”

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5G across the UK

5G trials and tests in the last few years showcase how 5G can transform industries and how challenges are met There has been a wide range of very positive work done around 5G, especially in the UK; it can support industries from manufacturing to healthcare. Lara states, “I think identifying routes to support the health and wellbeing of people is key and remote healthcare is a focus for our Dumfries hub. It is also one of the most challenging because of procurement processes, connectivity in hospital environments, and regulation around new technologies in a care setting.”

In Norway, the Nokia Robot activity at Oulu University training hospital shows how connectivity can underpin boring and repetitive activities, freeing up time for care and direct patient engagement.

These test robots could collect and deliver medicines around the hospital, enabled by 5G connectivity, saving hours for the staff. This was coupled with asset trackers being deployed with high accuracy indoor positioning capability so beds and other critical items could easily be located in real-time.

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Moving forward, there are hundreds of examples where this network deployment and use of robots could enable time and cost savings. In manufacturing, construction, logistics – all of these environments can utilize remote tracking and automation technologies. Small productivity gains in a manufacturing setting can very positively impact the profit levels and provide a competitive edge to businesses.

Nokia has been doing some great work with 5G, and their Oulu factory was actually named the 5G factory of the future.

BEYOND 5G, THE 6G FUTURE

There are constant upgrades in this area, and eventually, we will move from 5G to 6G.

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“5G is revolutionizing digital services and enabling communities to embrace digital connectivity, and so too will 6G. 6G communications networks are expected to be commercially available by around 2030, and they will deliver transformative benefits beyond the already remarkable capabilities of 5G.”

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REDUCE THE RISK OF RANSOMWARE INCIDENTS WITH FORTINET When a cyber threat grows in magnitude by 35 times in one year, and continues to become even more prevalent the next, every organization should pay attention. This is exactly what happened with ransomware. Cyber criminals have targeted organizations from many different industry segments, as well as businesses of virtually every size. Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) and other kit-like tools have lowered the entry bar for cyber criminals, enabling even novice attackers to be successful against

scattered security infrastructures. And monetary technologies like bitcoin make it virtually impossible for law enforcement authorities to track ransom payments. With the exponential growth in ransom paid to ransomware groups, the prospect that this will continue—and at a faster rate—in coming years is great. Recognizing the growing threat, banks are stocking up on bitcoin so their customers can quickly pay cyber criminals to unlock hacked data.

To learn more, Download our Whitepaper. https://bit.ly/FortinetTBT

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Preventing ransomware attacks on Industrial networks

Preventing ransomware attacks on Industrial networks Story By- Erin Laurenson We look at how ransomware attacks gain access to industrial organizations and the methods to protect against these with insights from SCADAfence.

Over the last 12 months, 76% of organizations faced ransomware attacks. A recently published report studied organizations around the world and found the following security trends:

76%

of organizations had at least one ransomware attack last year.

36%

of data on average was unrecoverable after ransomware attacks.

51%

of organizations had outages caused by ransomware, and for the second year in a row, cyberattacks caused the most outages.

Since the outbreaks of the Wannacry and NotPetya ransomware attacks in 2017, the SCADAfence cybersecurity research team has witnessed daily occurrences of attacks affecting OT networks that originated on the IT side.

The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) also highlighted this issue for this straightforward reason; It works.

Ransomware Works That’s the simplest way to explain why incidents of ransomware attacks have sharply increased over the last year — with no end in sight. The number of ransomware attacks has jumped by 350 percent since 2018. The average ransom payment increased by more than 100 percent this year, downtime is up by 200 percent, and the average cost per incident is on the rise, according to a recent report from PurpleSec.

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Threat actor groups with names such as Ryuk, Egregor, Conti, Ragnar Locker, and many others are ruthless, well-funded, and willing to target anyone, from COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers to automotive manufacturers, critical infrastructure, governments, and hospitals to get their payday.

In fact, the first ransomwarerelated death happened this past September, when a German

hospital was infected with ransomware and couldn’t treat patients during the Covid-19 outbreak.

As part of SCADAfence’s mission to protect the lives and safety of civilians, it has put together this guide to help industrial organizations prevent ransomware.

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The Ransomware Encryption Process From the previous ransomware attacks researched, it is clear from the minute the attackers get initial access; they can encrypt the entire network in a matter of hours. In other cases, attackers would spend more time assessing which assets they want to encrypt, and they’d make sure they get to key servers such as storage and application servers.

Most of the recent ransomware attacks presented in the news try to terminate antivirus processes to ensure that their encryption process will go uninterrupted.

Recent ransomware variants such as SNAKE, DoppelPaymer,

and LockerGoga even went further by terminating OT-related processes like Siemens SIMATIC WinCC, Beckhoff TwinCAT, Kepware eServer, and the OPC communications protocol. This made sure the industrial process was interrupted, increasing the chances that the victims paid the ransom. These types of ransomware attacks were seen in the recent attacks of Honda and ExecuPharm.

Ransomware generally encrypts Windows and Linux machines; there are still no cases of any PLCs being encrypted. However, many industrial services are run on

Windows / Linux machines - such as historians, HMIs, storage, application servers, management portals, and OPC client/servers.

In many cases, ransomware operations would not stop in the IT network and continue by attacking OT segments.

More encrypted devices mean a higher monetary ransom demand from the attackers. Organizations must be able to monitor & detect threats across the IT/OT boundary to identify risks before reaching process-critical endpoints effectively.

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Cloud Expo

Cloud expo.

Europe

TECH SHOW LONDON 2022 Netskope

TECH SHOW LONDON 2022 Canonical

TECH SHOW LONDON 2022 Appgate

TECH SHOW LONDON 2022 Incepteo

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TECH SHOW LONDON 2022 Veryiv

TECH SHOW LONDON 2022 Dragos

TECH SHOW LONDON 2022 Fujitsu

TECH SHOW LONDON 2022 Mitsubishi

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Employee and customer experience

By Chris Mills, Head of Customer Success EMEA at Slack

How to bolster and optimise employee and customer experience In 2022, bolstering customer and employee experiences should be a priority for every business.

To understand why, we need to examine the transformations work has gone through over the past two years. In March 2020, we saw a mass move to new ways of working that finally banished the myth that remote work meant low productivity or poor collaboration. Instead, armed with the right technology, for knowledge workers, new possibilities were opened up.

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In the months since, there’s been an ongoing question over what comes next. In 2021, hybrid work was the topic on every leader’s lips as it became clear no mass return to the physical office was coming.

For knowledge workers, freedom over where you work will be one of the small silver linings to come from this period of upheaval. And it shouldn’t be taken lightly. The ability to work remotely is great for inclusivity, work-life balance, and access to talent. Put another way, it’s fantastic for individuals and whole organisations.

But it’s time to move the conversation on. With hybrid and digital becoming the default, we can spend less energy thinking about where we work, and more on how we work. It’s time to start thinking about not just tools that keep us connected to each other, but how they impact the bigger picture: employee experience, and by extension, customer experience.

Focusing on experience as a driver of success in 2022 will be the key to creating more satisfying and effective businesses. And, technology, alongside the decision makers implementing it, plays a key role.

Where to start with employee experience for your tech team

What does employee experience mean in practice? According to Jacob Morgan, an expert in workplace trends, a great employee experience means creating an environment that people want to work in, not simply show up to. And as Morgan highlights, technology is key to this.

In the age of the digital office, technology is not just an enabler of hybrid work, it nurtures culture and experience.

Channel-based messaging, for example, can be used to drive day-day work, while also providing a space for teams to cultivate non-work interests.

Meanwhile, specialist integrations and apps can do everything from matching colleagues for spontaneous conversation to automating work processes. Alongside modern staples like video conferencing, this enables smarter, more satisfying ways of working.

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Employee and customer experience

At Starling Bank, the team saw the potential for technology to improve experiences, and ran with it. They built their own multifunction app, called Starbot, to help them automate DevOps processes. The bot enables preapproved tech users to request escalated privileges for an allotted time, meaning that users can get the right access when needed to diagnose an issue or deploy a release. Beyond managing these escalations quickly and efficiently, Startbot can even restart servers when needed.

Starbot saves the team several hours a day and reduces the need for manual escalation of permissions. In short, it gives those busy tech teams time back to focus on the work that really matters.

Starbot is just one inspirational example, but today no business can afford not to explore the potential technology has to

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transform experiences at work for the better.

HOW GREAT EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCES BECOME GREAT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES

Let’s think about work as a river.

At one end you have the source – in this case your business that’s generating a product or a service.

As the river flows out from the source, all kinds of different towns and villages depend on it. These are your customers, and they’re relying on you to keep things flowing.

If you’ve got a tonne of internal barriers to work at the top, near the source, the river is going to become clogged up and run dry by the time it reaches the customers.

Creating a great employee experience is about removing those barriers to work so that

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everyone is engaged and has the tools they need to do a great job.

So that the great experience flows uninhibited to the customers.

Tech teams are the barrierremoving experts. For example, they can help break down the silos between customer teams, enabling them to work as a cohesive whole (a fundamental for great employee and customer experience).

They do this by streamlining the tech suite. And the obvious place to start is with email, the unsecure source of untold miscommunication, untransparent decision making (and frustrated customers) which needs to be relegated to the past. In email’s place, modern collaboration tools can provide transparency and ease of access to information.

They can securely connect across

teams, integrate with apps and even enable connections across company boundaries to help salespeople, for example, to collaborate directly with prospects. Going further, expect tech teams in 2022 to take full advantage of the customizability of collaboration apps, developing their own custom bots, automated workflows or integrations.

With fewer office visits on the cards, this nimble and responsive way of working is essential.

Empowering creative problem solving is about prioritising the work tech experts were hired for.

With the time to focus on this work, their experience and the end customer’s is improved.

EMBRACING THE EXPERIENCE ECONOMY

What most of us want from work can’t be reduced to ‘remote’ or ‘in-office’. What we want is a great experience. We want workplaces that drive us to do brilliant, engaging work which delights customers, partners and colleagues alike. In the year ahead, replacing legacy technology that inhibits those experiences, and giving tech teams the freedom to accelerate digital transformation is vital. In this new experience economy, creating value means empowering everyone with the freedom to focus on the work they love.

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Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity threats to watch in 2022 Part 2

In the first part of this series, we looked at the current state of ransomware and how cybercriminals will continue to utilize the attack method throughout the next year. While ransomware is one of the biggest threats facing organizations, there are new, and often, just as prevalent threats targeting industries across the world.

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In the second part of this series, cyber security experts explain the new attacks targeting organizations and consumers alike.

From cybercriminals using machine learning against themselves to QR codes being used as part of phishing campaigns, we take a look at how these newer threats will be affecting organizations in 2022.

Adversarial AI “In the past two years we have seen an onslaught of ransomware attacks and cyber threats targeting organizations and industries around the world, and there looks to be no sign of it slowing down.

With attackers continuing to advance their skillsets, 2022 will undoubtedly bring more attacks, and ultimately, more sophisticated threats. This includes the use of adversarial AI,” says Brooks Wallace, VP EMEA at Deep Instinct.

He continues, “AI is one of the most advanced and rapidly fastpaced technologies of today.

Most of the use cases we hear about are how organizations are using machine learning (ML), a subset of AI, to defend themselves against hackers. However, AI is now being used by bad actors to target organizations to launch cyberattacks and spread malware.

“Adversarial AI manipulates the analytic and decision-making powers of AI and ML to develop cyberattacks in ways that were previously impossible by using ML tools to attack other ML

tools. It exploits weaknesses in an organization’s network to fool its systems into thinking the incoming attacks are harmless, therefore granting free access and movement virtually undetected.

The result is that malicious data sets are reclassified as benign and vice versa, allowing cybercriminals to send malicious programs into a business environment without the ML-based security solutions flagging them as dangerous.

“It is a highly sophisticated attack method, and cybercriminals are undoubtedly already using stealthily to target organizations.

The ability to stop a hacker before they’ve had a chance to wreak havoc is no longer a pipe dream. It can be done using Deep Learning (DL) techniques, with this highly sophisticated approach creating neural networks which mimic the human brain. It can identify more complex, high-dimensional patterns and be more resilient, unlike traditional machine learning.

This allows it to counteract adversarial AI by outpacing the attacks and resisting attempts to change the model’s labeling.”

QR CODE ATTACKS

There appears to be a rise in new and problematic threats targeting organizations. However, it’s not just organizations that are being affected, consumers are also being targeted. Magni Sigurðsson, Senior Manager of Detection Technologies at Cyren, describes

a rise in QR code attacks targeting consumers due to the pandemic: “QR codes are particularly appealing for cybercriminals who look to use them as part of their phishing campaigns, as they negate the need to include URLs or attachments that might get intercepted when scanned by the email gateway, meaning the attackers are much less likely to be detected.

“These phishing campaigns work on the principle that the victim receives an email which includes a ‘required action’, such as updating or securing an account, or paying an outstanding delivery and therefore subsequently scans the contained QR code. The fraudulent site will then gather any credentials the victim might enter, from usernames and passwords to bank details and social security numbers, and this data will be consequently used by the attackers for malicious purposes.

These types of attacks will only escalate in 2022 as more and more companies start using QR codes for business practice, thereby increasing the surface of legitimate activity for attackers to spoof.

Remember, if the email or text message containing a QR code looks suspicious, it probably is.

Consumers can ensure their credentials are safe by enabling multi-factor authentication and following best practices for password management.

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Cybersecurity threats to watch in 2022

Businesses should evaluate specialized phishing solutions that employ techniques like machine learning to spot malicious QR codes and other evasive phishing techniques.”

WHAT ELSE CAN WE EXPECT?

Dr. Nikolay Gaubitch, Director of Research at Pindrop, continues the discussion of new, innovative tools that are being used by fraudsters.

He looks at the prevalence of deepfakes within the media and how they may be used for malicious purposes: “Deepfakes are not just image and video related, voice synthesis (making a machine sound like somebody) and voice conversion (making a human talker sound like someone else) are growing trends and fraudsters are increasingly taking advantage of innovative tools.

These techniques are not so wellknown to the public because of the limited real-world applications available today, however it is a very

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real threat and a tactic we have already seen fraudsters adopt.”

But it doesn’t stop there. Business processes and operations can have an impact on the security posture of an organization as well. Chad McDonald, CISO at Radiant Logic explains how often, businesses suffer from identity sprawl which leads to security problems due to employees having to remember “a multitude of different logins, credentials, and information for all of the different applications and profiles that they need as part of their day-to-day job.” He continues, “going into 2022 and beyond, organizations will need to address how and where their identity is being held, how it is being used, how it is being protected and, more importantly, how they can make it a reusable source that offers value and benefit to the business.

Organizations need a strong identity management program that presents views of identity data based upon a clearly established need-to-know protocol.”

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First Party data

Now is the time for first-party-data to shine. April Mullen, Director of Brand and Content Marketing at SparkPost, discusses the ongoing concerns and challenges for marketers when it comes to privacy Many might argue that 2021 was a good year for marketers.

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The bounce back for the global economy after the dip of 2020 led to an expansion in marketing activities.

Yet at the same time marketers have been battling with perhaps the most seismic changes to the way they operate since the introduction of GDPR in 2016.

Concerns around consumer privacy, that have been in the shadows for years, finally resulted in two world’s global tech superpowers, Apple and Google, to make changes to the way they operate which will have a significant impact on the day-today processes of marketers.

Apple’s iOS 15 updates, which were rolled out in September 2021, allied with the ongoing industrywide phasing out of third-party cookies mean that it is getting hader and harder for marketers to find information about their customers. These two initiatives are quite possibly the beginnings of a paradigm shift that will continue to drive marketers to rethink data collection and usage practices.

With huge changes on the horizon, marketers are having to adapt the way they collaborate with customers which means making big changes to the way they have been working for years.

A recent report, titled Email in 2022: The trends, behaviors, and benchmarks driving email forward discovered that 82% of marketing

leaders are actively preparing for privacy changes and that 67% of practitioners say they’re concerned with how privacy changes will affect their ability to perform.

But it’s not all bad, and there are ways marketers can get ahead and prepare, whilst giving themselves a new marketing strategy that will see them through for years to come.

APPLE MAKES SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO CUSTOMER PRIVACY

Apple has responded to increased concerns about privacy with a series of changes over the last few years. It was one of the first web browser developers to limit access to third-party cookies and in June last year it announced that Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) would be coming to the company’s Mail app on iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey devices.

MPP’s key initiative is that it prevents senders from using invisible pixels to collect information about the user.

Essentially senders are unable to tell if a person has opened an email, thereby depriving them of one of the key methods of gauging the effectiveness of their communications. MPP also masks the recipient’s IP address, so it can’t be linked to other online activity or used to determine their location.

Here are some impacts that have already been seen, as a result of MPP:

Open rates are inflated Open times are random and unreliable Device information is unavailable User location is approximate George Schlossnagle, Founder and Distinguished Engineer at SparkPost said recently “The privacy landscape has been changing for years as users have been clearer about their displeasure with marketers peeking into their private lives.

This has taken the form of both regulation – CAN-SPAM, GDPR, CCPA – as well as moves by industry leaders to protect user privacy. Apple’s MPP is a significant advance in the latter, and with Apple’s wide reach, it will likely have impacts beyond Apple customers. It will change how the industry looks at email engagement, along with many aspects of email workflow that will impact.”

GOOGLE PUTS AN END TO THIRD-PARTY DATA

Third-party tracking has historically been a staple of the marketing/ advertising world, enabling marketers to collect data so they can serve ad content based on previous behaviour. Until recently, when Google announced it would be ending third-party data access from its web browser. Google web browser has a market share of just under 70%.

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It’s a controversial move that some pundits think will be catastrophic for the adtech industry. It has also sparked a response from German publishers who recently vowed to fight it in the European courts.

What is most likely to happen is that a compromise will emerge before the plug is finally pulled on third-party cookies in 2023. Google has been working on a series of alternatives and recently unveiled a concept called Topics that learns about a person’s interests by logging their moves around the web. The company categorises the sites that the user has visited and segments them into one of 300 topics. Advertisers will then be invited to display ads on one of the three topics that it has allocated based on a user’s browsing history.

What are the next steps for marketers?

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These changes highlight the importance of zero-party and first-party data to marketers. Now is the time for marketers to hone in on these aspects and ensure they have a strategy in place that capitalises on these previously overlooked methods of data collection.

Zero-party data is data that an individual proactively and intentionally shares with a company - the most obvious example is buying intention.

First-party data concerns data that is collected directly from interactions a customer has with a channel - for example visiting a website or responding to an email.

In the ever-changing privacy landscape, getting access to thirdparty and second-party data will become increasingly complex – first-party and zero-party data will become the gold standard.

It is for this reason, that marketers should renew their focus on email and other channels that are powered by zero and first-party data.

First party data

Brands need to know their audiences as well as possible, but far better to work with consumers to create better profiles that drive longer-term loyalty and engagement.

The gateway to first party data Naturally,email has the ability to be the glue between consumers and brands. Everything from promotions, to educational content, to retargeting can all be done using your most precious first-party data asset: email.

In the coming years, as much as 50% of open data will become unreliable and no longer useful as a success metric due to everincreasing consumer privacy measures. It’s time for marketers to focus their attention on first and zero-party data given willingly by consumers.

Email has always been a highly useful tool for marketers looking to build meaningful relationships with their customers. As the tech giants continue on their path towards higher levels of privacy, email and the data it generates will become ever more valuable.

The demise of third-party cookies puts a tailwind behind channels that leverage first-party data – email being the most pervasive channel using first-party data.

We should all be gearing up for more investment in email and SMS because owned data is about to be more valuable than ever.

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5G and its relationship with IoT

We hear from David Beaumonte Arbues, Product Manager (IoT & Embedded Products) at Canonical about 5G and its relationship with IoT

There is no question that 5G will become central to how businesses and societies operate in the future, with the shift being likened to moving from a typewriter to a computer.

With the combination of both 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT), we will see a huge number of business applications brought to life.

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With that said, the future success of the technologies is ultimately co-dependent on each other. A 2022 study from EY said enterprises’ poor understanding of 5G’s relationship to other emerging technologies is the biggest internal challenge, cited by 43% of respondents.

What this tells us is that businesses are now beginning to recognize that there is a critical need to better understand 5G’s relationship to the likes of the IoT, in order to reap its benefits.

THE PROMISES OF 5G ARE FINALLY BEING REALIZED For years now, we’ve been hearing about 5G’s promises, but businesses are now realizing the benefits as the technology has begun to finally materialize.

The global 5G IoT market size was valued at $1.4 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $111.2 billion by 2028, according to Verified Market Research. As the world enters a new age of hyperconnected IoT, there is a growing need for bandwidth to service workloads. After all, smarter products use the network in new and demanding ways. Devices at the edge are no longer minor sensors, but advanced computers in their own right that are used across autonomous vehicles, industrial gateways, self-learning robots,

drones, and everything in between.

For most people, 4G allows us to do everything we want most of the time. Generally, we can answer emails, stream podcasts and speak to colleagues and friends over a cellular network. The power of 5G can be seen within its increased capacity and reduced latency.

5G will be the most reliable means of processing compute workloads and the benchmark for supporting more advanced technologies.

IOT AND 5G CAN ENABLE INNOVATION, TOGETHER

With these capabilities in mind, 5G’s reliability opens up a seemingly infinite number of new use cases for IoT. Data collected at the edge can be understood and acted on in near real-time.

Multigigabit-per-second speeds and one-millisecond latency times will ensure more data than ever can be quickly and easily collected and analyzed, overlaying increased intelligence into every device at the edge.

This will have a large impact across many industries. For example, autonomous vehicles remain one of the most talkedabout examples of this, with data collected from a vast

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of sensors including speed, braking and rain gauges, GPS, and external cameras. With the advent of 5G, this information will become indispensable. As businesses and cities overlay other technologies - such as artificial intelligence and machine learning - onto the real-time data outputs, it will revolutionize how we act and move on a day-to-day basis. Improving traffic flows, identifying manufacturing defects automatically, and supporting passenger safety can all be realized through the harmony of 5G, IoT, and cloud infrastructure.

It is not impossible to imagine other connected devices expanding the future driving experience as well. Examples

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include experimental biometric chips, which allow communication between humans and vehicles, to AR windows that visually transport those traveling long distances to their destination. The power of these technologies could transform the face of many businesses, particularly in the automotive industry.

5G AND IOT CAN PROTECT BUSINESSES THROUGH STRONGER SECURITY

5G capabilities will also enable new types of security services, supporting businesses in this new age of hybrid work. The software can now support ongoing device health checks, particularly when

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coupled with the increased bandwidth of 5G, allowing system and application updates and rollbacks to flow in a timely manner. These functions can future-proof connected devices with a next-generation connection by allowing updates and rollbacks when people are away from the office, 5G is expected to roll out over a radio frequency like previous iterations, but other mediums have been touted in order to bring an extra layer of security to the network. Take Li-Fi, a wireless communication technology that utilizes light to transmit data and position between devices, is starting to gain some attention as an emerging IoT offering. What this means is that it can safely unlock the potential of

IoT. By transmitting data over light instead of radio waves, Li-Fi could ensure the validity and security of the connected office, with IoT devices only able to access the network when in direct contact with the light signal.

The use of Li-Fi shows how 5G can maximize speed and capacity without the added security risks.

Smart offices, for example, could be almost unrecognizable with secure connected devices at their hearts — constantly evolving layouts and concept themes with their connected building application ecosystems all being controlled by real-time data.

It’s no secret that IoT and 5G will be mutually dependent and

reinforcing, and we’re seeing a gold rush as mobile operators look to take advantage and reap the business benefits. Vodafone, for example, recently partnered with Canonical to lay the building blocks for future 5G rollout, and enhance its network’s edge compute capabilities.

Take into account that 5G also supports network slicing - the ability to create multiple virtual networks on top of one platform - and you have a technology that allows for greater interdependence and support for diverse use cases. 5G will create a wealth of opportunities for businesses across the board, but combined with IoT, the use cases are endless.

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Book Recommendations

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Book recommendations

BRICK BY BRICK: HOW LEGO REWROTE THE RULES OF INNOVATION AND CONQUERED THE GLOBAL TOY INDUSTRY

By David Robertson, Bill Breen

Brick by Brick takes you inside the LEGO you’ve never seen.

By following the teams that are inventing some of the world’s best-loved toys, it spotlights the company’s disciplined approach to harnessing creativity and recounts one of the most remarkable business transformations in recent memory. Brick by Brick reveals how LEGO failed to keep pace with the revolutionary changes in kids’ lives and began sliding into irrelevance. When the company’s leaders implemented some of the business world’s most widely espoused prescriptions for boosting innovation, they ironically pushed the iconic toymaker to the brink of bankruptcy. The company’s near-collapse shows that what works in theory can fail spectacularly in the brutally competitive global economy. It took a new LEGO management team - faced with the growing rage

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for electronic toys, few barriers to entry, and ultra-demanding consumers (10-year old boys) - to reinvent the innovation rule book and transform LEGO into one of the world’s most profitable, fastestgrowing companies.

I found this book very interesting; I never realised the journey Lego has gone through. The battles it has faced and how close to going bankrupt it was. This book shows that determination and good leadership, anything is possible.

ZERO NEGATIVITY: THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING

By Ant Middleton There are times when life feels like it has you cornered: financial difficulties, relationship issues, work problems, all of the above.

Every one of us, at one time or another, will have to face up to the challenges that come our way.

And there are two ways of meeting them: negatively, where blame is the answer, where other people are at fault, where you haven’t been treated fairly. Or positively,

where you own the situation, learn and grow from it and become a better person at the end of it.

Letting you into areas of his life he’s never talked about before, in Zero Negativity, Ant will show you how to embrace failure and use it to your advantage, how to see change as the foundation of your future success, how to develop resilience, how to deal with bullies, what it means to be a positive roll model and how to live a life with no regrets.

This book will not tell you who to be, where you should live, or what job you should do. That’s up to you. What this book is for, however, is to give you the tools you need to become the best possible version of yourself, to own who and what you are and to live your life with Zero Negativity.

If you find it hard to always stay positive this book will help, it gives you tools to overcome hard times and challenging tasks. I would recommend this book to anyone who wishes to stay focused and not get dishearten by the knocks of life

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5 Book recommendations

POUR YOUR HEART INTO IT: HOW STARBUCKS BUILT A COMPANY ONE CUP AT A TIME

By Eric Conger, Howard Schultz, et al.

The success of Starbucks is one of the most remarkable business stories in decades.

Since 1987, the coffee merchant has grown from a single retail store on Seattle’s waterfront to a company with more than 1,000 stores nationwide and a new one opening somewhere every business day. According to Fortune magazine, Starbucks “has changed everything...from our tastes to our language to the face of Main Street.”

In Pour Your Heart Into It, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz shares the passion, values, and inspiration that drive this fascinating company. Placing as much importance on employees as on profits, paying as much attention to creativity as to growth, motivated by enduring principles including “Don’t be threatened by people smarter than you”, and “Everything matters”, Starbucks is living proof that a company can lead with its heart, nurture its soul, and still make money.

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It is so interesting to hear how Starbucks started off as a bean roasting company, then grew into the company we all know now. I am a fan of Starbucks, so reading this helped me understand how it got to be so good at what it does and what it takes to get there.

START WITH WHY: HOW GREAT LEADERS INSPIRE EVERYONE TO TAKE ACTION.

By Simon Sinek Why are some people and organisations more inventive, pioneering and successful than others? And why are they able to repeat their success again and again? Because in business it doesn’t matter what you do, it matters why you do it. Steve Jobs, the Wright brothers and Martin Luther King have one thing in common: they started with why.

This book is for anyone who wants to inspire others or to be inspired.

Based on the most-watched TED Talk of all time.

This book really inspired me, it made me think about what it takes to lead a great time, who you have to be and what it will take to be saucerful. It shows that people will follow you, if they know why and believe in your cause.

AWAKEN THE GIANT WITHIN

By Tony Robbins “I know that no matter where you are in your life, you want more!

No matter how well you’re already doing or how challenged you now may be, deep inside you there lies a belief that your experience of life can and will be much greater than it already is. You are destined for your own unique form of greatness.”

Anthony Robbins has already unlocked the personal power inside millions of people worldwide.

Now, in this revolutionary new audio production based on his enormously popular Date with Destiny seminars, Robbins unleashes the sleeping giant that lies within all of us, teaching us to harness our untapped abilities, talents and skills.

The ultimate program for improving the quality of every aspect of your life (personal or business, physical or emotional) Awaken the Giant Within gives you the tools you need to immediately become the master of your own fate. Excellent book if you are looking to get motivated, build action plans and also make changes to your life, career and business.

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5G to unleash a digital revolution that will power industry 4.0

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Enterprises set to deliver a faster, better service with a simpler 5G path from BICS

The number of digitally-enabled products jumped ahead by seven years during the pandemic, and the number of connected things around the world is set to reach 42 billion by 2025, eclipsing the 5.7 billion people predicted to use mobile devices for the same period. The digital revolution across several industries, from manufacturing, to logistics, health care and automotive, is on the horizon and will be fueled by new mobile technologies. Faster, better and universal connectivity is key – to both operational excellence and a better experience for customers.

Private 5G networks and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) signal a new era in connectivity. They allow businesses access to high bandwidth, ultra-low latency and high reliability. This makes high speed operations like smart manufacturing, next generation logistics and self-driving vehicles possible.

Being able to process real-time data quickly and securely will lead to massive improvements in production by transforming processes, supply chains and delivery. The right telecommunications partner will guide enterprises in optimizing their business to stay competitive and reduce costs with the right mobile solution.

WILL 5G AND IOT CONNECTIVITY END COSTLY RECALL IN THE AUTOMOTIVE SECTOR?

Next-generation mobile technologies will play a crucial role in how the automotive industry evolves. It will mean manufacturers can better manage complex supply chains by embedding data into the systems used for buying and delivery decisions. Robotic manufacturing will be taken to a new level by pulling together data across multiple production sites to crowd-source machine learning.

The benefits extend well beyond the production floor. Today, the fall-out from auto recalls causes manufacturers significant reputational damage and cost. On average, a recall costs $500 per vehicle, often involving millions of vehicles.

Embedding IoT connectivity within vehicles will usher in a new age of driver safety and could make costly auto recalls a thing of the past. Thanks to SIM technology, manufacturers can keep constant track of vehicle performance and feed this data into its 5G-enabled private network. By looking at data across all vehicles, manufacturers can identify issues much quicker, notify drivers and correct the defect before more vehicles are produced and sold.

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THE BLURRING OF INDUSTRIES – ENTERPRISES BECOMING MOBILE OPERATORS

Building the level of advanced connectivity to realize Industry 4.0 is complex. It requires not just the radio spectrum and hardware, but essentially turns enterprises into mini-mobile operators.

A global automotive brand, for example, will need to connect all its private networks across its different manufacturing sites to leverage the value of all that data.

Any person, vehicle or device that travels outside of the private network will need to move across public networks to stay connected.

If enterprises go it alone, they will need to go through a very lengthy and cumbersome process of setting up individual roaming agreements with each public operator. This will take years to develop and delay the return on investment in deploying these technologies.

“While the business benefits of 5G and Industrial IoT are clear, many companies simply don’t know where to start. To unleash the true transformative power of these technologies, companies need access to an entire

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telecommunications ecosystem,” comments Matteo Gatta, BICS CEO. “However, this is not their core business and they need a partner to guide them along the way.

BICS is leveraging its leadership in mobile technologies to replicate these services for enterprises.

Together with our partners, we simplify a very complex environment so companies can deploy this technology, effortlessly and securely.”

BICS is a leader in global mobile connectivity and can easily guide enterprises along their journey to deploy and connect their 5G private networks on a global scale and embed international connectivity into their smart devices. Rather than replicating what has taken decades to build, through BICS, enterprises can gain direct access to a global telecommunications ecosystem and knowledge base.

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Working life has changed as we know it

The pandemic has acted as a catalyst for businesses adopting a hybrid working model. This has, however, allowed successful cyberattacks to increase as businesses adapt and transition to the new normal. Andrea Babbs, UK General Manager, VIPRE, emphasises the importance for businesses to have complete all-round security, relying on technology augmented by human intervention.

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Cybercriminals are using increasingly sophisticated means of targeting both individuals and businesses of all shapes and sizes.

Social engineering, ransomware and malware are just some of today’s top IT risks, and that’s without considering any new threats that might be around the corner.

According to VIPRE’s whitepaper, email phishing scams and malware attacks accelerated by 20% during the pandemic.

Hackers took advantage of vulnerable remote workers who are away from the support of their IT teams, and these numbers show no signs of slowing down – especially with hybrid working now becoming the ‘norm.’

However, the biggest threat of all is the humans themselves, with 85% of data breaches involving a user. And now, the risk is only further heightened as working from home brings new security problems, for example, adding distractions that you may not find in an office environment – leading to mistakes being made, such as sharing private information with the wrong person, or working from a personal and unprotected device.

IT tools are not the be-all and end-all of protection against cyber attacks, especially not by themselves. Humans have skills that technology solutions cannot comprehend. Employees can interpret language differently and take into consideration multiple perspectives, whereas not all technology is mature enough to make these decisions. Although these tools play a significant part in keeping threats out, if companies invest more in their human firewall then the two can join forces, providing 360 degree protection. But how can businesses do this successfully?

The key to creating a safe and agile workforce starts with changing the existing mindset, rather than perceiving security training as a compliance tick box. If all employees are trained to be more alert of the risks they pose and understand the role they have in keeping data safe, businesses can reinforce a “security-first approach.”

Businesses need to offer learning that is engaging. By incorporating relevant and real-life scenarios into the security training, the content should resonate with a global audience and reinforce key messages.

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As highlighted, human error is one of the main entry points for cyberattackers, but such risks can be mitigated. When sending an email to the incorrect recipient, or attaching the wrong document, technologies can be put in place to alert the employee to doublecheck their email before clicking send – in turn, helping to prevent these types of inadvertent data breaches without having an impact on employee productivity.

Additionally, visible tools, such as multi-factor authentication, password protection and restricted web browsing can be supported better and used more effectively once the staff are trained. When this final step, an appropriate set of security tools – both those that are visible and invisible to the user - is implemented, with regular user training; then the Next Generation Human Firewall is ‘active’.

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Sustainability

Fighting E-waste

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CIRCULAR COMPUTING LAUNCHES GLOBAL ITAD PROGRAMME TO HELP LEADING ITADS FIGHT AGAINST E-WASTE London, 31 January 2022

Circular Computing, the global leader in remanufactured IT, has launched a global IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) programme with sustainability at its core, helping ITAD thought leaders to provide an essential planet-friendly initiative to reduce e-waste.

The programme is set to accelerate its mission to create a more ethical, sustainable and socially responsible way to buy enterprise IT, Circular Computing’s ITAD programme will assist partners in decarbonising their processes and help them to deliver against a growing sustainability agenda, to help close the loop for sustainable supply to its’ industry leading remanufacturing facility.

Joining the programme will also offer ITAD partners to join in and add value to the conversation around sustainable IT, and have the opportunity to be involved across a truly sustainable business model, from reforestation projects, to offering social value and sustainability commitments, aiding ESG reporting.

Entering an already established industry, the Circular Computing ITAD programme offers a unique opportunity, prioritising

sustainability, establishing a global network of partners and offering their expertise as a strategic sustainability partner, rather than just a manager of e-waste, reverse logistics and data security. The programme has four key aims: Extend the life of IT: Helping more computers to be reused for longer.

Move towards zero e-waste: Preventing useful IT from being prematurely scrapped.

Planting and growing trees: Funding 5 trees for every computer that is bought through the programme helps to deliver the global net zero carbon ambition.

Measure sustainability impact: Providing unique reporting on the sustainable and positive impacts of assets.

With recent reports showing that the sheer scale of electronic waste (e-waste) continues to grow at an alarming rate, Circular Computing’s integration with the ITAD network, will open the opportunity for ITAD’s customers’ e-waste to be effectively re-used to create a new sustainable product - namely, a remanufactured device. This revolutionary process goes beyond refurbishment, extending the life cycle by three years or more, while guaranteeing an ‘equal to or better than new’ quality, as recently highlighted by Circular Computing’s prestigious BSI Kitemark certification.

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All of the remanufactured devices to be sold via the ITAD programme will be carbon neutral, helping businesses to not only meet sustainability targets including the Climate Change Act in the UK but wider Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the carbon zero obligations set via the UN. The launch of this programme is badly needed as UN research reveals 160,000 laptops are disposed of every day in Europe alone - of which 70% could be reused but only 20% are.

Scott Mac Meekin, CEO at Circular Computing said: “We are delighted to be launching a programme that enables the pioneers in ITAD to deliver a more sustainable service while delivering against the increasing demand for sustainable technology. This is all made possible through utilising the benefits of remanufacturing to close the loop in IT disposal, alongside the added sustainability benefits the programme offers.”

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Steve Haskew, Head of Sustainability at Circular Computing added: “By launching our own global ITAD programme, we have the opportunity to impart our sustainability expertise to further help the industry tackle the growing e-waste problem. Our new, sustainable ITAD programme, goes beyond simply allowing enterprises to reap the benefits of carbon neutral hardware, but delivers added environmental and social value too. This expansion of our offering will allow us to reach a greater number of partners through the ITAD network, driving the transition to a circular economy and helping businesses meet the UN SDGs.”

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Leveraging connectivity to solve the frontline communication dilemma

Frontline workers have become more important than ever. We depend on them to deliver essential services. But they have become disconnected from the organizations that employ them. For everyone’s sake, that needs to change.

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Compare the experience of frontline employees with their desk-based counterparts. There has been huge investment in knowledge workers’ experience, from collaborative live chat apps, to cloud-based video communication software.

It’s reasonably quick to support desk-based employees’ needs with standardized procedures and enterprise software. Yet, deskless workers, who represent around 80 per cent of the global workforce, haven’t had anything like the same level of digital connectivity.

Not only are these workers disconnected from their organizations, but poor communication alienates them from colleagues, clients, company values, and physical workplaces.

High turnout rates among frontline workers highlights the strain that these challenges in communication cause, from healthcare to hospitality and retail.

This is a problem that demands urgent attention. Deskless workers are walking away in their millions. We are in the grip of the Great Resignation. Leaders must establish a more connected and meaningful work experience for their deskless employees if they want to attract and retain talent.

Deskless employees need greater digital interaction, connection and recognition, to have a working experience fit for the times we are in.

Disconnection also deprives managers of the insight they need to get the best from their frontline operations. In a challenging period when organizations need the ability to adapt their operations, drive efficiencies and improve end-user experiences.

A NEW KIND OF CONNECTIVITY? THE PROBLEM WITH PAPER CHECKLISTS

According to recent research, 73 percent of frontline employees still use paper checklists. Confronted with outdated processes that have hardly changed in the past two decades, these workers are facing a connectivity crisis. We live in a digital age — employees’ purpose and achievements are intrinsically linked to their ability to communicate their progress and operate effectively. Manual paper tasks may look fine on paper, but they do not quickly transfer to the real world, where there are always additional demands. The immediate needs of customers, visitors and patients, for instance, will always take precedence — frontline work requires this level of personal responsibility. This is why paper reporting is often tacked on to the end of an employee’s shift, with additional unpaid hours being spent on completing checklists; all time that should be better spent, building and maintaining relationships with customers, patients and clients.

Outdated paper checklists prevent meaningful progress, which is vital if organizations want to preserve and appeal to top talent, while simultaneously maintaining operational excellence. By contrast, static checklists aimlessly ask: ‘Have you completed tasks A, B, and C?’, leaving little room for guidance, and no scope for employees’ to communicate their progress, achievements, and ultimately, add value.

This long-established disconnect and polarization demands the implementation of new technologies on the frontline, to free up time for what truly matters — communication, interaction, problem-solving, and engagement.

To give an example of a technology that’s paving the way for change, intelligent operations platforms provide employees with digitalized workspaces and mobile devices, where they can share updates, messages and photos with colleagues and managers with significantly less effort. Whereas paperwork is inflexible, digital processes, such as digital assistants, can be trialled, measured, and adjusted rapidly, enabling colleagues to quickly collaborate on important work, completing tasks more efficiently. Staying late to complete mundane paper tasks is no longer necessary.

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REDUCE EMPLOYEE FATIGUE AND MEET SAFETY STANDARDS WITH GREATER CONNECTIVITY

The other side of this equation is automation. Putting connectivity, in the form of automation, at the fingertips of frontline workers will not only improve safety and compliance standards, but will also free up employees’ time for meaningful interactions, such as customer-focused engagement and communications.

Automated monitoring, for example, is facilitating smarter and safer care home operations, as well as taking away the burden of manual checking routines from employees. Automated monitoring of food temperatures, for instance, not only strengthens food safety standards but also gives staff more time to add value. Likewise, there is a case for 24/7 monitoring of temperature-sensitive medicine storage. Monitoring of other equipment, including freezers, air conditioning and heating systems, doors and windows, encourages greater safety standards while also enabling employees to clear time and focus on customer service and care.

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DEMOCRATIZING COMPANY CULTURE

Another key benefit of increased connectivity for frontline employees involves democratizing company culture. Connecting an entire organization and giving everyone a voice is an essential part of fostering a happy and successful business. Both employees and their managers need to send information outwards, just as much as they need guidance and updates from above. When people, assets and even buildings are unified, it creates new insights for operations, encouraging a continual loop for feedback and improvement. This is how businesses and organizations become more agile and adaptable to change, and why intelligent operations serve to eliminate ‘dark operations’ — the hidden activity of the deskless workforce and their interactions with critical equipment.

CONNECTING THE DISCONNECTED

The pandemic has encouraged greater awareness of the importance of frontline workers.

Yet, what’s crystal clear is that a significant gap still remains between the digital connectivity attention that office-based

employees enjoy, compared to their deskless counterparts.

Businesses and organizations must go further to address this growing polarization by adopting technologies that improve that free up frontline employees’ time for what truly matters — customer engagement and communication.

Static checklists and processes must be replaced by digitized processes to limit disengagement and avoid employees’ feeling undervalued and burnt out. A shift is already underway. But there is more to be done.

ABOUT KIT KYTE

In the age of agility, Kit Kyte is focused on accelerating the transformation of business with the introduction of intelligent operations. Formerly a Captain of the Royal Gurkha Rifles within the British Army, Kit has since built an impressive record as a business leader, focusing on the intersection of data, technology and networks to propel better decision-making.

In 2021, Kit was appointed CEO of Checkit and embarked on a mission to enable more connected, efficient and productive frontline workforces.

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Attaining Production Scale in IoT deployment with a Combined Network Approach A heavily debated topic in the connectivity landscape is which network types and protocols are best suited for supporting mass IoT sensor deployments. IoT production deployments are supported by a meticulously engineered connectivity layer, but an early consideration is determining which network will give you the most effective solution and project outcomes.

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There is no ‘one size fits all’ connectivity approach, which Nick Sacke, Head of IoT and Products at Comms365 outlines. In the below, he outlines the key factors that business must consider and the crucial questions that must be asked ahead of an IoT production rollout, while emphasising the clear need to use a blended strategy for network connectivity.

EVOLUTION OF IOT NETWORKS AND PROTOCOLS

Over time, the potential scale of IoT sensor technology has grown and deployments have evolved in capability. This has led to an increased demand for new wireless network protocols and methods to support the new sensor types, many of which rely on infrequent messaging at long range, and over a wide area, as well as battery power. However, widespread uncertainty and fragmentation in the IoT market, combined with increasing sensor hardware and software innovation, have led to the creation of several network connectivity options, each with their own qualities.

Over the last few years, we’ve seen the growing development of Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN), which is a dominant IoT Network type.

LoRaWAN and Sigfox are earlier entrants to this market, which use free-to-air radio spectrum, and have had time to establish themselves across the world.

Both are now regarded as global network and protocol standards for IoT through establishing trust with users who are confident in the usability, scale and reliability.

One clear industry leader as an IoT Network connectivity option is LoRaWAN, which heavily influences the market with over 40% market share of new connections, which is expected to continue adding market share through 2025.

For new IoT network protocols, NB-IoT and LTE-M – on the cellular side, are still getting up to speed. The GSMA was late in confirming the standards for these IoT procedures, leading to their deployment by Tier 1 carriers sometime after the earlier rollouts of the first LPWAN network connectivity protocols. There has been a clear lack of certainty in UK rollout of the cellular IoT network programmes, despite previous forecasts claiming that the cellular IoT Network variants would dominate the IoT connectivity market, stretching LoRaWAN and Sigfox to their limits. The IoT cellular

LPWAN work has been largely limited to testing in the UK, while production rollouts are dominated by Private Council LoRaWAN installations and innovation programmes on public network variants of both LoRaWAN and Sigfox.

Globally, experts predict that network deployments will be split 50:50 between the freeto-air (unlicensed spectrum) and cellular variants (licensed spectrum) – and the competition between these network standards will continue for some time to come. In particular, once 5G is fully rolled out and there are radio modules at a workable cost point for IoT, 5G protocols will also have an IoT element for the cellular side that will bring increased scale and efficiency in terms of its capability to connect millions of sensors per square kilometre.

IDENTIFYING USE CASE PARAMETERS

Cost of delivery for data is a primary concern for most projects, and is a concern that must be addressed. LoRaWAN and Sigfox are now at a level of maturity where the devices are cost-effective. At the beginning, cellular was a much higher cost,

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but is now starting to reduce in price. However, in terms of usage costs, for NB-IoT and LTE-M, users are still paying by the byte for data on the network, whereas LoRaWAN utilises the free-to-air spectrum facility, and instead, charges are based on device licensing, and in the case of Sigfox, per message.

The choice of network and protocol isn’t straightforward, even though there may be clear differences in terms of cost models. As IoT rollouts become more mainstream, there remain elements within a LoRaWAN environment that may create uneasiness, including the risk of potential collisions on the network and lost messages due to various devices sharing the LoRaWAN spectrum. In order to ensure each message arrives where it is supposed to, the LoRaWAN software in charge of the network has been developed to

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alleviate the risk of this happening by spreading messages across multiple channels, observing message counters, and other techniques.

A key importance is identifying the parameters of the use case and the nature of the deployment.

If a message with telemetry information, such as bin fill levels, only needs to be shared when there is a change, this won’t necessarily create network congestion on a LoRaWAN Network, as the messages aren’t sent at the same time. Consistent monitoring of environmental conditions from multiple sensors in an area may, however, need additional gateway capacity to ensure spreading the sensor message load. But if your use case requires guaranteed delivery of traffic within a particular time period, or a constant stream of

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messages cellular protocols such as NB-IoT and LTE-M may need to be used.

INDUSTRY UPTAKE

A number of sectors are already using certain protocols and gaining traction from this. In particular, there has been mass uptake and interest in LoRaWAN for local governments that see it as a way to scale numerous use cases at once.

Additionally, across the utility monitoring sector, the protocol gaining the advantage is NB-IoT. This is because no gateways are required as signal towers are the enablement point, and it has deep penetration with great signal strength to reach its destination.

But when it comes to monitoring elements deep within buildings, LoRaWAN can be more effective.

With the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, which must be stored at chilled and specific temperatures, this type of intensive monitoring and data collection is critical.

For this example, LoRaWAN can provide an effective protocol and measure the temperature deep inside the building, all the way down to the probe.

When having to measure readings intermittently, on an alert basis, the battery needs to be conserved so the sensors last a long time and will likely be leading towards the unlicensed spectrum. Whereas within a healthcare monitoring scenario, such as in an ambulance or a patient’s home, readings will need to be sent through immediately, so will need to rely on the licensed spectrum, such as LTE-M. FUTURE PROOFING WITH BLENDED CONNECTIVITY

Currently, one protocol that is optimised for every use case or that can cover an entire estate doesn’t exist. Therefore, to overcome such hurdles, the solution is to deploy a hybrid model which blends different connectivity protocols together – from both the unlicensed and licenced spectrums, in order to achieve total estate and use case coverage. A blended approach is scalable, flexible and cost-effective – a perfect solution for those that are looking to reap the benefits of mass-scale IoT but are uncertain as to how and where to proceed.

No business wants to rip and replace the technology after ten years. Instead, the success of an IoT deployment depends on longevity. In particular, LoRaWAN is on a growth trajectory that will provide that longevity. And the soon maturity of 5G will also become another option for IoT projects, with much more efficiency in terms of capability to connect millions of sensors.

With a combined model of different protocols covering each estate, it’s important for a single platform to be used that can bring it all together and be received, read and analysed in one location. NB-IoT, LoRaWAN, LTE-M, Sigfox are all becoming industrystandard protocols that are each received in a different format.

But they can be streamlined into one central hub that intercepts the traffic and converts it into a protocol that the receiving application needs. By working with a partner offering all types of IoT connectivity in a blended solution, projects can be rolled out in the confidence that each protocol has been considered and is supported, to maximise the functionality and practicality of an entire IoT project.

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Innovation

The Power of the All-In-One

How integrated software solutions are changing the game.

Written by Scott Chao, Chief Marketing Officer at Appspace

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The term all-in-one often seems too good to be true. For many of us, the phrase is linked to memories of products that break after two uses.

However when it comes to some technologies, all-in-one represents a whole new realm of possibilities.

Software integration is critical for all businesses, regardless of industry. Technology companies are offering integrated and holistic platforms which can be configured as you see fit. Whether you use this software as a frontline worker, or as a CEO reviewing business performance, these tools offer seamless solutions to our everyday problems and are revolutionizing the way forward.

Implementing a unified platform is truly the best approach to solve issues occurring throughout a business. A system which is multifaceted allows for things like troubleshooting, management, and end-user interaction. Activating an account with these platforms (including ours at Appspace) ideally can be done in just a few clicks.

Configuration is simple and quick, so features which best suit you and the business can be implemented immediately. This means that these platforms can grow and adapt with your business, which in turn reduces time using several different apps and also time spent swapping to new software.

The best of these all-in-one platforms are compatible with

existing hardware and technology infrastructure, meaning that integration is possible regardless of your prior setup. While this sounds simple, it also has real results. For example, Appspace’s single platform was chosen to replace multiple point products across dozens of locations for a global Fortune 150 company. This generated over $2.5m in annual technology savings, leading to more than a 6X ROI.. Not only did it save money, but it also saved time and effort.

While the term connectivity has human connotations, connectivity from a technology perspective can be represented in many different ways, such as dozens of best-of-breed products that are truly unified. Setting up connectivity between multiple, separate apps can be tedious, but has many benefits, which is why many businesses should opt for a unified platform. Firstly, all-in-one platforms allows for much easier data storage and it mitigates data loss. Accurate data is essential, and loss of this can be catastrophic for any business as 67% of enterprises now rely on this data integration to support analytics. All-in-one software offers both local and remote storage of data, meaning backup systems are in place at all times. These solutions make management of this straightforward and simple.

Control of the network is also

made easier by this. As networks are like multifaceted organisms, controlling and maintaining all branches can be a full time job.

Trying to locate a network error can be similar to finding a needle in a haystack, particularly if you aren’t technologically savvy.

Integrated systems allow for overall management of this with software that notifies you when errors occur. Most platforms have a simple overview page that shows you what and where the problem is. Troubleshooting is made simple.

Not only does this save money, but this saves a huge amount of time normally spent locating the issue. Integrating these applications can take days if you do them yourselves, so why not take advantage of the innovative and incredible platforms on the market.

It’s important to note that often, this software requires hardware as well, and this is often underestimated in terms of cost.

In some cases, hardware within a whole company can end up costing more than the software itself. Being able to repurpose and reuse existing hardware within a business is essential. Connectivity between these pieces and software should be configured to suit the current infrastructure.

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In terms of the actual process of software integration, building this from scratch can be lengthy depending on the size of the systems. Automating this process can also be costly, however for many businesses this is essential.

This makes innovative, all-in-one platforms all the more appealing since the integration work has already been taken care of. This also reduces the risk of lost data and the system’s open architecture enables it to work with your existing infrastructure.

From a user’s perspective, all-inone software is efficient, flexible, and less costly. A common example of this is within the normal workplace. Using a platform which has everything means less time is spent jumping between different apps. They can be used from both at home and in the office and workers can customize their experience with the software. This offers them

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the freedom to take initiative and configure according to their working style. It allows for dual channel communication between employers and employees which in turn has been linked to employee retention. Investing a bit of extra time setting this up can save you more time and money in the long run.

The future of all-in one software is a bright one. These platforms are becoming extremely intelligent and are incorporating features such as AI and machine learning.

In the case of our own unified workplace experience platform, this can be through things like suggesting a preferred desk in desk booking services, or by message suggestions. Automatic API updates are also becoming more popular, and many systems can now self-diagnose issues in the network before they even happen.

A large focus of this relies on integrating software and working

together. Additionally, Appspace has now incorporated Beezy’s (a modern intranet provider) services to bring new features to the platform. By bridging the gap between the digital and physical world we create environments in which it is easy for us to thrive and reach our potential.

All-in-one software provides us with the opportunity to do just that, and it’s time we change our perception of the word.

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EV

Breaking the Bias: International Women’s Day 2022 First celebrated in 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, International Women’s Day has now been observed around the world for over 100 years.

It is not only a time to celebrate the social, economic and cultural accomplishments of women, but it is equally important to spend this day reflecting how far we still have to go to achieve gender equality.

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One of the areas where women are still facing significant barriers is the modern day workplace, especially industries such as technology and science. In fact, while women make up 49% of the UK workforce, only 19% of tech workers are women.

This International Women’s Day, Top Business Tech spoke to ten industry leaders to get their insight and advice on what more can be done to welcome and keep women in the workplace.

BARRIERS IN TECH

For women looking to pursue a career in technology, one of the greatest barriers they face, from a very young age, is the conscious and unconscious bias they face in their schooling. Lucy Zhang, Senior Digital Designer at Plutora, explains: “The biggest barriers in technology for women are what we believe they can accomplish, and attitudes surrounding that on an educational level. Most people can agree that the idea that women are better suited for certain types of work is outdated, but this notion still permeates society and is difficult to tackle head-on. It’s important to support STEM activities designed to get girls interested in tech at an early age. Female mentorship, role models, and leaders are also crucial for giving women that voice and sense of belonging in the space.

“The American activist Marian Wright Edelman said, ‘You can’t be what you can’t see.’ Women are self-selecting

out of tech due to a lack of role models in the space. We need access and exposure to tech programmes at an early age, fostering a community where girls can feel comfortable and empowered to pursue a future in tech.”

“We are all being called upon to lead in a new, technologically and globally-inclusive world where issues of inequality are at the forefront – and gender, racial and economic disparities must all be eradicated”, furthers Markeith Allen Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Mission Driven Organisations at Diligent. “The question is, how can we all lead in our individual and collective roles to affect these changes?

Technology tools may be the key, helping to level the playing field and empower everyone.”

OPENING UP INDUSTRIES

Of course, technology is not the only sector that women are struggling to break into. Krishna Desai, senior global marketing manager at Cubic Transportation Systems, highlights, “with this year’s theme being #BreakTheBias, we must turn our attention to the public transportation industry, which has quietly been influenced by widespread bias for much of its existence. It’s a sector that in many ways is still stuck in a past when men took the bus or train to work while women stayed home to tend to their houses and families.

Now, women are getting educations, pursuing careers and using public transportation as much in their

daily lives as anyone else, yet they’re dealing with a system not designed for them.”

Hugh Scantlebury, CEO and Founder of Aqilla, also brings our attention to the finance industry, “the financial industry is notoriously maledominated, and businesses still face considerable challenges recruiting and retaining female talent. The good news is we have seen improvements in recent years. In fact, women now make up 43% of the UK’s financial services workforce. While this is a move in the right direction, the gender gap in leadership roles is more concerning. Only 15.1% of CFOs are women, so businesses and industry bodies need to fully invest in the potential that women have in this profession.”

MAKING ADJUSTMENTS IN THE WORKPLACE

Although there are undoubtedly specific sectors that are specifically failing to recruit and retain women, across the UK almost every workplace could still be doing more towards gender equality.

“There’s no shortage of experienced, capable women across all sectors of business today, and yet time and time again, they are absent from the upper ranks of industries,” details Sarah Schor, Head of Sales, Americas at SumTotal Systems. “I started in Sales in my early 20s, and being the only female on the team, regularly felt the need to go above and beyond to prove myself.

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“Often, especially early in their careers, women feel the need to apologise when no apology is needed. Rather than standing in solidarity with their gut, far too often I hear women say (or read in email) “I’m sorry” followed by their opinion or recommendation.

Rarely – erring on never - do I hear the same from male colleagues. Women in any industry should feel supported in collaborative conversations, strong in their ability to lead, and confident in the absolute value they bring to the table.”

Jen Lawrence, Chief People Officer at Tax Systems, continues, “businesses must begin to take a more pragmatic approach to making the working environment more open to women, who statistically take on three times as much child care as men, often at the expense of full time working roles. If senior leadership roles are only open for full time workers, organisations will be missing out on a huge talent pool of skilled and experienced people, who for whatever reason, only have part-time availability. One way of changing this is through a flexible working policy and creating a company culture that supports part-time working as a norm within senior leadership roles. In fact, research indicated that the preference for flexible working is strong for both men (84%) and women (91%) in the UK.” “When I look back at my career in

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IT industry, I can recall times where women’s ideas and opinions were dismissed only to be received positively when presented by their male counterparts; women openly criticised for “leaving their children” and “putting work first”; men promoted and awarded a higher salary over women despite having less experience and industry knowledge,” reflects Donna Cooper, Director of Global Marketing at WhereScape, an IDERA Software company. “I have to believe that gender bias and inequality can be overcome but we are all responsible for making this happen.”

She adds, “with time and attention the issue of gender bias and inequality can be addressed with us all removing stereotypes from our language, being an advocate and ally to all women, having a flexible attitude toward those responsible for childcare, embracing diversity and above all - being considerate toward the needs and feelings of our fellow human beings.”

SUPPORT THROUGH MENTORSHIP

With a significant lack of female representation in the industries such as tech, finance, and technology, one of the best things we can do to encourage women is to provide models from a young age. Kathy Gormley, Principle Solutions Engineer

at Resistant AI, recommends, “finding a talented and driven network.

Having a solid network and mentors to look up to creates a sense of unity and helps give that extra nudge. I wouldn’t be where I am today without a strong support system of female leaders and peers who pushed me to reset boundaries and be fearless with my career. I hope that I am able to empower a whole new generation of women to #breakthebias and help others make a transformational shift to close the gender gap for future generations.”

“We need strong role models able to bring a diversity of views, opinions, experiences, cultures and solutions to our everyday problems,” agrees Branka Subotic, Principal Data Consultant at Ascent. “We need these role models to be really listened to and their ideas considered and truly accounted for. I have been in situations where the correct things were said, but not really acted on. It is merely paying ‘lip service’ to diversity, with genuine action still missing. This needs to change and I would like to be part of making that happen.

“We need business leaders to live and breathe diversity in the way their organisations are set up and run; in the way they recruit and search for talent.”

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Tech Horizon

How biometric technology can be used for remote proof of life authentication

By Chris Corfield, VP, Banks & Non-Bank Financial Institutions, Crown Agents Bank. Top Business Tech

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The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital financial services, driving organizations to speed up their transformation programs globally.

Most banks, as well as pension providers, are still in the early stages of integrating technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, and as the world continues to battle the longterm effects of COVID-19, the limitations of the current banking landscape have been laid bare.

However, if financial institutions plan to keep up with – or better yet, outperform the competition, they need to adapt to the digital age sooner rather than later.

In order to meet consumer demands and match today’s pace of innovation, it is no longer an option to remain stagnant. For traditional banks and firms that do, they may struggle to remain competitive. In fact, recent survey research from REBA found that nearly 70% of employees across varying sectors surveyed said they would engage more with their pension if they could manage it via an app.

Aside from supporting new levels of efficiency, digital transformation creates an opportunity for institutions to offer enhanced value to the customer, which is extremely relevant in a market where a customer could easily decide to bank elsewhere.

GOING DIGITAL IS THE FUTURE

This represents an increase of nearly 45% in comparison to the first three months of 2020.

Adapting services to modern threats to counteract this, the industry is increasingly looking to digital solutions such as two-factor authentication, facial biometric authentication and voice verification to enhance security and protect the financial information and identity of consumers. For example, Crown Agents Bank recently launched a suite of digital solutions (EMpower Pensions) to address the underlying causes of financial inclusion with the elderly.

This technology is particularly well suited to the banking industry and offers significant advantages for the bank and end-user alike.

Certain forms of identification, such as passwords, are easy to counterfeit, which has led to a surge in identity theft.

EMpower Pensions offers effective, end-to-end pensions management from one easy-to-use interactive platform, including Biometric Facial Authentication proof of life technology that serves as the perfect ancillary service to their core international pension payroll offering.

One way that financial services companies can successfully ride the wave of digital transformation is with biometric technology.

Biometric technology, such as voice recognition, typing cadence and touch ID fingerprint sensors, has been widely popularised by mobile phone providers in recent years. In addition to supporting the provision of low-cost affordable financial services, to those who can’t easily access in-person financial services, biometric technology is easing data privacy and securing concerns.

Data from Action Fraud revealed that savers in the UK alone lost £1.8m to pension fraud in the first three months of 2021.

According to its figures, there was an increase in the reporting of fraudulent activity, with 107 reports of pension scams being received by the organisation in Q1.

By providing access to enhanced digital pension services through an intuitive, secure digital proof of life platform, pension administrators can more efficiently and effectively verify the pensions payments that are being delivered to entitled beneficiaries whilst mitigating fraudulent activity and overpayments. EMpower Pensions also vastly improves the pensioner’s proof of life checking experience because the process is quick, convenient, and secure; all they need to do is log on to the Continue on next page >

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portal, upload an image of their identification and take a live facial photo selfie. With biometrics, they can simply authenticate themselves without having to obtain third-party attestation.

Implementing biometric technology as part of a companywide digital transformation in financial services isn’t without its obstacles and it’s something that is hard to find in the pensions market, which is dominated by expensive, manual paper-based solutions.

But ultimately, businesses will benefit by offering services and solutions fit for the modern consumer. Biometric technology does not just support basic consumer convenience, it provides improved access to vital services during periods where social contact may be restricted (such as a pandemic). By investing in a digital transformation now, financial services companies will make themselves more competitive and adaptable in today’s digital world – and tomorrow.

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IoT

Fast ‘n’ Fibre - is your business being hoodwinked?

By Dominic Norton, Sales Director, Spitfire Network Services Ltd

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These days it is almost a given that if you want to run a successful business (of any size), you need an internet connection that can give you increased data speeds along with reliability and dependable performance.

Organisations generate massive amounts of data, they are much busier in the cloud and an increasingly remote workforce needs to be addressed. Currently, it is not always clear what you are paying for. Which technology is actually “fast” and which is “fibre”?

What is it that your organisation actually needs?

Once upon a time there were leased lines and life was simple.

Businesses enjoyed an alwayson dedicated service along with service level agreements (SLAs) and, importantly, significantly faster bandwidth speeds (compared to the public switched telephone network - PSTN).

However, these leased lines were not cheap and took time to set up.

But now we enjoy broadband services, with the leased line business taking up a more specialised position - the standard broadband services of today are much quicker than their counterpart leased lines from days gone by. The majority of broadband services run over the old copper network (PSTN), which is older than the Queen! Often, the last bit of the network that comes into their site is copper based and is known as the ‘last mile’. Here

is where the marketing games start - services are delivered as ‘fibre’ until the ‘last mile’ is reached but then you get copper which is affected by the distance and quality of the wire, giving business slower inconsistent speeds and poor reliability. Calling such services ‘fibre broadband’ (FTTC) is disingenuous.

WHAT IS FIBRE BROADBAND?

Currently, fibre broadband services are offered as follows: Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) advertised as “fibre broadband”, delivered to the local cabinet in the street as fibre, but over a copper network to the premises.

Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) advertised as “fibre broadband” or “full fibre”, the majority of FTTP in the UK is delivered over GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network).

This is a shared access fibre network Dedicated Fibre, or Fibre Ethernet dedicated fibre to the premises for the exclusive use of that customer In the UK currently, the fastest generally available broadband speed offered to homes and businesses (in standard packages) is 1,000Mbps or a “Gigabit” of speed. But there are now far more broadband users than 20 years ago with more data being carried over networks that are contended - businesses get their “fibre” which Continue on next page >

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has to share connectivity over networks. Also, providers are guilty of throttling capacity which means that Gb capacity is rarely achieved and high levels of demand from other users negatively impacts speed and capacity.

In fact, Gigabit broadband users may only enjoy an average of one tenth or less of the promised capacity that they pay for - not 1Gbps but 100Mbps! And if your organisation is in a building where you might be sharing links with other businesses, this can lead to real deterioration if lots of people are all using the service at the same time. Not really what you expect when paying for Gigabit levels of service. It is worth checking then what type of connection you have? It should indicate what type of data speeds are potentially available to you, or should it…

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THE FALLACY OF FULL-FIBRE

Really, the only way you can be sure to get “full fibre” (when considered in terms of speed and capacity) is to buy a dedicated Fibre Ethernet service. This type of service, available from specialist providers, delivers a dedicated fibre connection to your premises for the exclusive use of your organisation. You don’t have to worry about copper wires or contended networks here. In some ways it’s like the leased lines of the years gone by, although in this case Fibre Ethernet connections are much more scalable, flexible and much cheaper too.

A dedicated Fibre Ethernet solution (like the old leased lines) should also provide your business with all the SLA items that you will need.

For example, guaranteed speeds to support data heavy applications like data analytics, lower latency connectivity for real time voice and video conferencing, no data packet losses on the network, scalable line upgrades in response to business growth…and the list goes on.

There is clearly confusion as a recent research paper from UK service provider G.Network illustrates. They found that 59 per cent of business leaders said they enjoyed “full-fibre” broadband connections, even though they are only currently available to 16 percent of commercial premises.

By researching and understanding all of the options, away from the smoke and mirrors marketing tactics, business owners can make a more informed choice around their connectivity and ultimately get what they are actually paying for.

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Cybersecurity

Security.

A condition for growth

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Robin Martin, Vice President, EMEA at LastPass: The state of business cybersecurity: “LastPass’ latest research revealed that 83% of organisations have suffered security breaches resulting from compromised passwords or identity compromise tactics, such as phishing. This is made possible by inadequate security on home networks, employees accessing corporate data/applications on inadequately protected devices, and poor password hygiene.

Businesses need to make it easy for employees to focus their time and efforts on the things that matter most: cybersecurity education and training, password hygiene, password managers and incorporating SSO or MFA will dramatically reduce the overall risk to the business.”

“When it comes to cybersecurity, prevention is always better than cure. With the average cost of a cyberattack on an SMB standing at around £20k, investing in security makes more than just financial sense. The impact of a breach on day-today operations and long-term reputation can prove fatal. In recognition of this, SMBs will increase spending on cybersecurity by more than $30 billion in the next four years.”

The peace of mind to focus on business growth: “Businesses need to make it easy so employees can focus their time and efforts on the things that really matter. Education of best password hygiene practices and incorporating technology to enforce those practices with password managers, SSO and MFA can provide a robust approach for SMBs.

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Robin Martin, Vice President, EMEA at LastPass: “Single sign-on grants authorised employees or users access to applications with one set of login credentials, based on a users’ identity and permissions rather than memorising multiple, strong passwords.

With SSO, IT admins have visibility into which users have access to each application and can simply authorize or remove user access to an application when required. MFA also makes accounts more secure, for example using an app to generate a code or get a notification on your device helps to prove the person logging into the account is who they say they are. Any unauthorised access gets shut down in real-time.”

Forging new cybersecure cultures: “Furthermore, adopting a password management solution puts the employee in control, helping to drive security awareness and transforming users into one of the strongest defences against potential security threats.

The future of work offers many benefits for businesses, bringing flexibility and agility. Every organisation needs to implement a comprehensive but user-friendly solution so employees can get their jobs done, and focus on priorities such as business growth.”

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Tech Horizon

Transforming the workplace

We look at the ways in which communication has been digitised and why the business world is saying goodbye to paper.

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Businesses used to rely on paper documents and filing systems not that long ago, and this caused some serious issues from the organization, storage, and legal perspectives. The modern way in which we have moved to paperless documents comes with many benefits.

The benefits, other than the obvious reduction of waste for the environment, include aspects like time savings, faster turnaround times, better customer experiences, and cost savings.

Following the pandemic, many businesses reported accelerating their adoption of digital management tools and end-toend workflows, reflecting the ways that these improved their business during a time in which many had no other option.

Interestingly the Forrester State of Systems of Agreement Survey in 2020, commissioned by DocuSign, found businesses still had manual processes in place, with 32% of decision-makers responding that manual agreement processes cause inefficiency. In comparison, the same company produced the Forrester Consulting State of Systems of Agreement Survey 2021, a year later and found that 96% of decision-makers said they would continue to use new technology implemented during the pandemic.

Companies must maximize productivity and collaboration in an all-digital, work-from-anywhere world to ensure that they keep up with the transforming work of business communication.

Salesforce and Slack lead the way, enabling organizations to build their digital HQ by improving employee collaboration both internally and externally with customers and partners.

Slack now has an integration with DocuSign which aims to accelerate the agreement collaboration process for customers directly within the Slack platform.

This system notifies teams on agreement progress and action items, enabling them to work quickly to review, edit, monitor, and execute agreements, without ever leaving their digital HQ. DocuSign has also paired with Salesforce on its billing, CPQ Plus service, and Salesforce field service. Together these allow customers the ability to perform many tasks themselves which otherwise would have delayed companies’ daily workflows if they were done manually.

Another company that would be important to mention is Zoom and its well-known video conferencing platform. The Zoom digital meetings became a service many businesses became reliant on over the pandemic and its

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recent partnership with DocuSign saw the creation of the ability to use esignatures on this platform.

This removes the need to print out, sign, scan, and send back documents. Instead, streamlining the process and allowing business leaders to sign documents whilst face-to-face with one another on the video call, increasing that sense of trust and partnership that is often needed in these situations.

Ross Mayfield, Product Lead, Zoom Apps & Integrations stated “Employees don’t want to spend their days toggling between countless apps and emails, especially when working with customers or partners.

They want tools that streamline workflows and easily enable them to connect and collaborate,” Mayfield continues by saying, “We’re excited about DocuSign eSignature for Zoom as it allows stakeholders to review agreements together in realtime before signing, helping eliminate communication silos and accelerate the completion of agreements.”

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In order for businesses to keep up with the transforming workplace, there is a need to consider the digital tools required and the manner in which these improve efficiency, remove waste and the costs of paper use, and support the hybrid environment that has become so necessary in recent years. Jerome Levadoux, SVP of Sign, DocuSign commented on this subject saying “The past few years have highlighted the need for agility and better productivity tools to meet the evolving needs of customers.”

There is no denying that the way we work has fundamentally changed over the last 2 years.

Employees are now working remotely and flexibly, processes have been digitised and the reliance on physical infrastructure like an office has been reduced.

For many organisations, there is no turning back and they continue to invest in new, innovative, and efficient processes that help them embrace the future of work.

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