the q1 2020 evolving enterprise · sponsored feature 22 – aeris fusion iot network and lte-m...

THEEVOLVING ENTERPRISEDigital Transformation of the Enterprise

Q1 2020Vol. 1 Issue 1

Talking Heads:Focus on outcomes not technology,says Aeris Communications

What is Digital Transformation

and why is it worth $5 trillion?Transforma Insights assesses the Solutions

PLUS: Product & Market News • ‘The Insider’ Column: When Digital Transformation misses • Data Analytics

• Digital Twins • Financial Services • Retail Technology • Events Near You • See more: @TheEE_io www.TheEE.io

Artificial Intelligence revealed3D Body Scans, Moneyball Moments as we

Shift to AI, and Managing Public Concerns

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Contents

In this IssueEditor’s Comment 04Enterprises can learn from DigitalTransformation (DX) failures, as well assuccesses, says the editor, Jeremy Cowan. Product News 05Japan develops AI/human interpretingsystem in 13 languages for financial andgovernment sectors. ‘Android in the cloud’enables enterprises and DSPs to delivermobile applications at scale.

Market News 06Saudi-led funding of US$24mn to fueladvanced analytics. Retailers move publiccloud applications back on-prem. Germanyuses AWS machine learning and analytics forfootball fans. AI system in Belgium to improvecustomer relations and cashflow. Enghousebuys Dialogic’s software biz for $52mn. Analyst Update 08Q&A with Transforma Insights: JeremyCowan talks to the founders of TransformaInsights, the new analyst firm coveringenterprise Digital Transformation (DX).

Talking Heads 10Focus on outcomesnot technologyMohsen Mohseninia of Aeris talks toMatt Hatton about how IoT is criticalto Digital Transformation.

The Insider Column 14- When DigitalTransformation missesWill your legacy mindset compromise yourdigital competitiveness? The Insider’s view.

Digital Transformation 16– What is Digital Transformationand why is it worth $5 trillion?Transforma Insights assesses DX solutionsavailable to enterprises now and in the future. Artificial Intelligence 20– AI: Waiting to be unleashed?AI can unleash plenty of applications toaddress functional tasks for businesses.

SPONSORED FEATURE 22– Aeris Fusion IoT Networkand LTE-M

SPONSORED FEATURE 22– Polystar on sustaining surfaceperformance in the video andgaming age

Artificial Intelligence 26– Your perfect jeans are onlya 3D body scan awayThe Evolving Enterprise reports on real-worldapplications for, and attitudes to, AI.

Data Analytics 28– Cultural shift by enterpriseleaders is vital for businesssurvivalA shift in attitudes to data analytics will beessential for business to compete in the age ofdigital transformation, says MHR analystBernard Marr.

SPONSORED FEATURE 30– Motoring toward theInternet of Things eraASPINA, the new name for a 100-year-oldmanufacturer, is embracing the datarevolution with Software AG’s Cumulocity IoT.

Digital Twins 32– Future-proof your assetswith digital twinningEvery company should have an effective AIstrategy, according to AspenTech’s Ron Beck.What’s yours?

Financial Services 34– Are you meeting the newdigital consumer’s demands?It’s time to transform your financial servicesbusiness to compete in the tech-basedmarketplace, says Emily Nerland of Masergy.

Retail Technologies 36– How retailers can manage ina digital-first marketplaceMark Bennigsen of Columbus UK identifies4 technologies to help you future-proofyour retail business.

What’s On 39Find the best Digital Transformationevents worldwide.

Q1 2020 I THE EVOLVING ENTERPRISE 03

14 The Insider Column

16 Digital Transformation

32 Digital Twins

34 Financial Services

26 Artificial Intelligence

04 24

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Comment

© WeKnow Media Ltd 2020

Ed Finegold,

author, analyst, thought

leader & digital start-up

veteran

Matt Hatton,

founder, Transforma

Insights

Emily Nerland,

channel director,

EMEA, at Masergy

Jim Morrish,

founder, Transforma

Insights

All rights reserved. No part of thispublication may be copied,stored, published or in any wayreproduced without the priorwritten consent of the Publisher.

Contributors in this issue of The Evolving Enterprise

Learn fromDX successes,and failures!

There’s always that moment in launching a newonline and print publication when you wonder; Whatif nobody comes? Not gonna lie, I get this beforeevery title launch. We’ve launched and grown themarket-leading Internet of Things title, www.IoT-Now.com, and now we’ve identified a need forindependent, expertly-written business information

covering Digital Transformation (DX). So, it’s time to unveil TheEvolving Enterprise (www.TheEE.io). There is too little informedmedia coverage and analysis of crucial technologies like ArtificialIntelligence and Data Analytics, something we intend to correct.

Any lingering doubts were dispelled when we learned during thelaunch phase that our old friends from Machina Research, who soldtheir highly successful Internet of Things (IoT) analyst firm to Gartnerin 2016, were following a near-identical path and forming a newanalyst business covering, you guessed it, Digital Transformation. Nosurprise then, we invited the founders of Transforma Insights(www.transformainsights.com), to share their analysis of thisenormous sector that we both aim to serve. So, get yourself a goodcoffee and set aside a few minutes to savour a meeting of high-levelminds as Matt Hatton talks to Mohsen Mohseninia, VP forInternational Market Development at our sponsor, Aeris (page 10)about how IoT is one critical part of Digital Transformation and how youalso need to focus on other disciplines like Artificial Intelligence (AI).

In these pages we show how AI is making a difference to businessesright now. As you’ll see on page 26, they’re doing it in retail, businessstrategy, and healthcare to name just three areas. We’re also starting afascinating series of articles by ‘The Insider’ (page 14), who has spentyears working at the sharp end of DX – sometimes, he says, you haveto learn from your failures. But to avoid failures in the first place,Bernard Marr says a cultural shift by enterprise leaders is now vitalfor businesses to survive in this age of analytics (page 28). And youcan find out how to optimise your business performance on page 32with Digital Twins.

Over the coming months, we’ll all have to face our own enterprisetransformations, but you don’t have to do this alone. In The EvolvingEnterprise you’ll meet the world’s DX experts. To find out more, see usonline at www.TheEE.io . Enjoy this issue and give us your feedbackon Twitter, @TheEE_io.

Jeremy Cowan, editorial director & publisher@TheEE_io @jcIoTnow

The Evolving Enterprise is a digital (and occasional print) title published quarterly.

It’s Free to access online. Register at: www.TheEE.io or follow us on Twitter @TheEE_io

Canonical has launched a platform calledAnbox Cloud that containerises workloadsusing Android™ as a guest operatingsystem. It enables enterprises to distributeapplications from the cloud.

Anbox Cloud allows enterprises and digitalservice providers (DSPs) to deliver mobileapplications at scale, more securely andindependently of a device’s capabilities.Use cases for Anbox Cloud includeenterprise workplace applications, softwaretesting, cloud gaming, and mobile devicevirtualisation.

The ability to offload compute, storage andenergy-intensive applications from devices(x86 and Arm) to the cloud allows end-users to consume advanced workloads bystreaming them directly to their device.Developers can deliver an on-demandapplication experience through a platformthat provides more control overperformance and infrastructure costs, withthe flexibility to scale based on userdemand.

“Driven by emerging 5G networks and edgecomputing, millions of users will benefitfrom access to ultra-rich, on-demandAndroid applications on a platform of theirchoice,” says Stephan Fabel, director ofProduct at Canonical. “Enterprises are nowempowered to deliver high performance,high density computing to any deviceremotely, with reduced power consumptionand in an economical manner.”

Anbox Cloud enables enterprises toaccelerate their digital transformationinitiatives by delivering workplaceapplications directly to employee’s devices,while maintaining the assurance of dataprivacy and compliance.

Enterprises can reduce their internalapplication development costs by providinga single application that can be used acrossdifferent form factors and operatingsystems.

According to Jeff Wittich, SVP of Productsat Ampere, “As the vast library of Androidand Arm-native applications continues togrow, developers need proven systems thatprovide scalable capacity, reliableperformance and deployment flexibility.The combination of Ampere’s Arm-basedservers with a provisioned virtualisationsolution like Canonical’s Anbox Clouddelivers the flexible, high-performance andsecure infrastructure that developers needin order to deliver a better user experiencefor consumers.”

Japan develops AI/human

interpreting system in

13 languages for financial

services and government

‘Android in the cloud’ enables enterprises and

DSPs to deliver mobile applications at scale

Product News

Jeff Wittich, Ampere: Better experience

Konica Minolta’s Business Innovation Centre(BIC) Japan has developed KOTOBAL, amultilingual interpretation service thatassists communication between front deskpersonnel at financial institutions orgovernment offices and foreign nationalsliving in Japan.

The service aims to enable communicationwhere technical terms are often used bycombining machine interpretation resultsdisplayed on a tablet screen with videointerpretation by an operator. KOTOBAL hasbeen developed to be used at the front desk offinancial institutions, government offices,real estate agencies, and dispensingpharmacies by applying the operationalknow-how and technologies of MELON, amultilingual communication assistanceservice for medical institutions that startedin 2016 in Japan.

The number of foreign nationals living inJapan exceeded 2.73 million at the end of2018, a record high, and is expected toincrease by 340,000 by 2024. So, the numberof foreign nationals visiting financialinstitutions and government offices isexpected to rise too.

Communication difficulties due to languagebarriers will only increase the workload offront desk personnel. Meanwhile, financialinstitutions have to monitor and investigatesuspicious transactions to prevent moneylaundering.

KOTOBAL is said to enable quick andaccurate communication betweenindividuals who speak different languagesthrough artificial intelligence (AI)-basedmachine interpretation and videointerpretation by an operator. It can handle 13

languages including English, Chinese(simplified, traditional), Korean, Portuguese,and Spanish as standard. Vietnamese, Thai,Russian, Tagalog, Nepali, Indonesian, Hindi,and French are also available.

KOTOBAL’s machine interpretation uses thespeech translation engine developed by theNational Institute of Information andCommunications Technology (NICT). A user-friendly, quick-response application has beendeveloped using Konica Minolta’s experiencein services for medical institutions.

The chat screen displayed on tablet deviceshas a function to save conversation logs,which can be checked afterwards to helpprevent problems. When in-depthcommunication is required, the user can talkwith an interpretation operator available 24/7through the monitor.


According to the latest Enterprise Cloud IndexReport the vast majority of retailers (87.5%)identified hybrid cloud as the ideal IToperating model. It also showed manyretailers (72%) are planning to move somepublic cloud applications back on-premises. The retail industry findings of the secondannual report have been prepared by VansonBourne for the enterprise cloud computingspecialist, Nutanix. The London, UK-basedcloud company’s report measures retailers’plans for adopting private, hybrid and publicclouds. Retailers apparently recognise that“seamless customer experience is no longer a‘nice-to-have’, it’s a critical factor in winningnew customers and retaining existing ones –and flexible cloud infrastructure is critical todelivering it,” says Nutanix. Other findings of this year’s report include: Retailers focus most on agility: Unlike inthe broader IT industry, where cost is the topdriver, retailers ranked the ability toaccelerate IT deployments (54.3%) as the topfactor in deciding the best cloud environmentfor each application. In order to adapt quicklyto customer trends in an age of multichannelselling across many platforms, retailers areleading the pack in maximising the flexibilityof IT infrastructure to keep pace.

Security is topof mind: Datashowed thatsecurity heavilyshapes retail clouddeployment plans.Nearly two-thirdsof respondents(63.6%) said security has significant influenceon their future cloud deployments, withhybrid cloud specifically identified as themost secure (32%). As data privacy regulationscontinue to tighten and expand, retailers areat the forefront of looking for ways toefficiently manage customer data securely.Hybrid cloud operating models offer thesecurity and flexibility retailers need to stayahead of policy changes. Retail leads in digital apps and IoT clouddeployments: Always innovating to keep pacewith customers’ demands, retailers outpaceaverages in using the public cloud to rundigital applications and Internet of Things(IoT) applications. “Staying relevant to today’s customersmeans having the necessary cloudinfrastructure in place to embraceomnichannel retail experiences,” says GregSmith, VP of Product Marketing, Nutanix.

Seattle, USA-based SeeqCorporation, a specialist inmanufacturing and IndustrialInternet of Things (IIoT) advancedanalytics software, has secured aUS$24 million expansion of itsSeries B funding. This expansion round is led by

Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures(SAEV), the corporate venturesubsidiary of the energy and chemicalscompany, Saudi Aramco. It includes renewedparticipation by Altira Group, ChevronTechnology Ventures, Second AvenuePartners, and other existing investors. Seeq enables engineers and scientists in

process manufacturing organisations torapidly analyse, predict, collaborate, and shareinsights to improve production outcomes.Customers include companies in the oil andgas, pharmaceutical, chemical, energy,mining, food and beverage, and other processindustries. The funding will accelerate Seeq’sexpansion of development, sales, and

marketing resources, and will also increase itspresence in international markets. “Seeq is providing an important

improvement in software for customers inprocess industries to accelerate insights,action, and impact on their production andbusiness outcomes,” comments JamesSledzik, venture executive at SAEV. “We arepleased to be leading the effort enablingSeeq’s continued growth.” Upon final closing, Seeq expects the Series

B expansion to reach approximately $30million, which is in addition to Series Bfunding led by Altira Group.

Germany's Bundesliga has selectedAmazon Web Services (AWS) to delivergreater insight into every live broadcast ofBundesliga games and enable newpersonalised fan experiences. Bundesliga will use AWS artificialintelligence (AI), machine learning (ML),analytics, compute, database, and storageservices to deliver real-time statistics.These statistics will predict future playsand game outcomes, and recommendpersonalised match footage across mobile,online, streaming, and televisionbroadcasts. Using AWS technology, Germany’spremier national football league will buildnew cloud-based services that automateprocesses, increase operational efficiency,and aim to enhance the viewingexperience for the league’s rapidlygrowing global fan base. By developing anew statistics platform on AWS, usingAmazon SageMaker, a fully managedservice to build, train, and deploy MLmodels, Bundesliga will offer fans real-time predictions on when a goal is likelyto be scored, identify potential goal-scoring opportunities, and highlight howteams are positioning and controlling thefield, based on live data streams andhistorical data from over 10,000Bundesliga games. Bundesliga also plans to leverage AWSML services, such as Amazon Personalise,an ML service to create real-time andindividualised recommendations, to offerfans personalised game footage, marketingpromotions, and search results based ontheir favourite teams, players, or matches. Using other AWS ML services, includingAmazon Rekognition, an intelligent imageand video analysis service, Bundesligawill build a cloud-based media archivethat will automatically tag specific frames,from more than 150,000 hours of video.Combined with metadata such as game,jersey, player, team, and venue, the leaguecan easily search historical footage andbring out pivotal plays for in-gamebroadcasts, in more than 200 countries.

Seeq Corp expands Saudi-led Series B funding

with US$24mn to fuel advanced analytics

Three out of four retailers plan to move some public

cloud applications back on-premises

Market News

THE EVOLVING ENTERPRISE I Q1 202006

Germany’s Bundesligato use AWS machinelearning and analyticsto enhance footballfan’s experience

Greg Smith, Nutanix

Reading, UK-basedEnghouse SystemsLtd (TSX:ENGH) hasacquired the USA’sDialogic Group Inc.for approximatelyUS$52.0 million.Based inParsippany, NewJersey, Dialogicpartners withmobile operators,system integrators

and technology developers to deploy itssolutions via its worldwide network of offices. Dialogic specialises in media processingsoftware, with a scalable solution thatsupports real-time video conferencing andcollaboration applications across all devices.Dialogic's infrastructure products offer abest-in-class Session Border Controller andseveral software-based network solutions tocommunication service providers. Thiscombination enables the transformationfrom legacy TDM (time division multiplexing)to next-generation network platforms. Steve Sadler, chairman and CEO ofEnghouse Systems says, "This acquisitionstrengthens our position in the enterprisevideo and unified communications marketsegment by adding rich multi-mediaprocessing applications and capabilities.”

Steve Sadler,Enghouse Systems

RandstadBelgium hasadopted theSidetradeartificialintelligence (AI)platform calledAimie. The

solution is designed to optimise the financialside of its customer relationships and toaccelerate cashflow. Randstad Belgium specialises in human

resources services, flexible work (with theRandstad and Tempo-Team brands), andoutplacement (Risesmart). According to aspokesperson, “by combining the bestfeatures of physical and digital processes, wecan reinvent the future of work.” Over the lastfew years, Randstad Belgium has beenoptimising its processes by puttinginnovative technology at the service of thejob seekers and workers they help. The HR company has been using

Sidetrade’s technology since 2013 to digitaliseand automate its financial processes. Itsfinance department has reported a four-daydrop in days sales outstanding. Today, with enhanced data processing,

artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an ever-greater role in companies, giving clearinformation in real time on the state of thebusiness, and providing support to make the

best decisions. New areas are said to be ripefor intelligent automation, includingpersonalised client relations for finance,automated processing of invoices, andanticipation of client behaviour. "We are going through a revolution, where

our AI technology, using deep learning, andworking in unison with CRM and ERPsystems, rationalises business processes,makes work easier for people, and improvesperformance,” says Jean-Cyril Schütterlé,chief product officer of Sidetrade. To deal with an increase in sales (which

total €1.5 billion) and a corresponding jump inthe number of invoices, Randstad Belgiumhas decided to use Aimie (Sidetrade AI) fordecision-making support. Trained on 313million business-to-business (B2B) paymentexperiences totalling more than €953 billionover the last three years, Aimie frees stafffrom time-consuming collection tasks, andautomatically adjusts workflows according toclient-specific payment behaviour, whileassigning the most complex cases to staffdepending on workload. The actionsrecommended by Aimie are reportedly 53%more effective than conventional decisionsmade by the human mind alone. The solutionalso cuts useless tasks by 51%, allowing staffto focus their expertise on the mostimportant disputes and spend more timedeveloping human relations with clients.

AI system recruited by HR firm

Randstad Belgium to improve

customer relations and cashflow

Enghouse Systems buys

Dialogic's software

business for US$52mn

Market News


Developers are under pressure to producequality software, and to do it quickly. But newresearch from Diffblue suggests thatdevelopers can’t reconcile these conflictingexpectations with manual effort alone. When asked which factors contribute to

poor software quality, 40% of developersattributed it to manual processes, and 40%cited unrealistic schedules. Withoutaddressing these issues, improvement incode quality is unlikely — so for companyexpectations to remain high, organisationswill need to start providing better support fortheir development teams.

Developers want to improve code quality,but don’t have time to do it manually Organisations often set “code coverage”targets for developers to achieve, whichrequires writing unit tests to ensure softwarequality. The study revealed that the averagecode coverage target for organisations is 63%. Most developers agree that unit tests

improve software quality (90%) and speed upcode maintenance (95%), but to meet their

coverage goals, developers spend 35% of theirtime writing tests, and 20% of their time justwriting unit tests. Even so, almost half (48%)of developers agreed that they sometimesfind it difficult to achieve the unit testingcoverage set by their organisations. In addition to code coverage targets,

developers are also under pressure to delivernew production code, which takes 29% oftheir time. According to the study, 42% ofdevelopers agree that they have skippedwriting unit tests in order to speed up newfeature development.

Developers want to introduce moreautomation The research also found that introducingthe right tools, especially tools that automaterepetitive manual tasks, is important todeveloper job satisfaction — and 73% ofdevelopers in the UK report they could bemore satisfied in their jobs. For most, their organisation’s willingness

to adopt new technology, like artificialintelligence (AI), is important to job

satisfaction (84% agree), as is having realistictargets (87%). Both of these can be addressedby providing access to the right tools. Of the developers surveyed by Vanson

Bourne in the US and UK, 82% would ratherspend their time on creative tasks, such asdeveloping new product features, than onrepetitive tasks. When it comes to writing theunit tests necessary to meet internalcoverage targets, 66% agree that unit test set-up is mundane and 39% of developers wishthey didn’t have to write unit tests at all.When asked which tasks developers wouldmost like to see automated, findings bugs(selected by 73%) and software testingincluding writing unit tests (selected by 70%)were the top two responses. Responses for this study were collectedfrom 300 participants (200 in the US and 100in the UK) in an online survey. Allrespondents work in software development,application development and DevOps insub-executive-level roles at companieswith at least 500 employees, across varioussectors.

Developers feel pressured to sacrifice code quality to hit deadlines, new study finds

Jean-Cyril Schütterlé,Sidetrade

Matt Hatton and Jim Morrish, founders of Machina Research, which was acquired by Gartner

in 2016, are back with a new industry analyst firm, Transforma Insights. This time they are

focused on Digital Transformation (DX), which aligns neatly with the launch of this magazine,

The Evolving Enterprise (www.TheEE.io). Here, EE’s editorial director and publisher, Jeremy

Cowan talks to the serial entrepreneurs about the buzz and the business challenges in DX.

JC: There’s a lot of discussion about DigitalTransformation within enterprises at the moment.First of all, how do you define it?

MH: Our view is that it’s mostly a useful umbrellaterm for the use of new technologies to providesome form of competitive differentiation, whichmight be through greater operational efficiency orproduct improvements. We’ve chosen to use theterm at Transforma Insights because it broadlycovers the technologies we think are disruptiveand transformational.

JM: Our coverage focuses on a group oftechnology families, such as artificial intelligence(AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and DistributedLedger, that are commercially available today, andpotentially disruptive to markets andtransformational to organisations. Naturally, thelist will change over time as new things arise andolder technologies become part of the fabric ashas been the case with e-commerce say, orenterprise mobility.

JC: Why is Digital Transformation so importantnow?

JM: We’re going through a process of technology-led change that is unlike what we’ve seen in thepast. Historically, technology has stimulated

organisations to change what they do. This latestwave is changing the nature of thoseorganisations so that they are becomingtechnology companies themselves.

MH: ICT is no longer a support act, it’s now astrategic imperative and part of the fabric of theorganisation. Every enterprise is a technologycompany now. That is qualitatively different fromthe disruption we’ve seen in the past. But it’simportant not to hyperbolise. Will it be astransformational as the agricultural and industrialrevolution where 80% of the population had tochange almost every aspect of their lives,including what they do and where they live?Unlikely.

JC: Which technologies do you think will be thedefining ones for enterprises in the next decade?

MH: There’s not much doubt in my mind that thebig ones are AI and IoT. In many ways this isbecause they cover a multitude of diverse topics inthemselves. Both have their relatively mundaneimplementations, such as spam detection orenvironmental monitoring, but they also haveincredibly rich opportunities.

JM: That’s borne out by the extensive forecastexercise we recently completed looking at how

WITH TRANSFORMA INSIGHTS Q&A


Interview

We’re goingthrough a processof technology-ledchange that isunlike what we’veseen in the past

much organisations are investing in the various technologies (seepages 16-19. Ed). IoT and AI will account for over three-quarters of theUS$5 trillion global spend between now and 2030.

MH: We tend to think that IoT has been around for most of the lastdecade, and that’s partly true with the vanguard of adopters doingreally interesting stuff. Most enterprises have only scratched thesurface. AI is even less mature and organisations are still testing thebounds of what’s possible.

JC: What are the biggest challenges for enterprises looking at DigitalTransformation?

JM: Digital Transformation ultimately comes down to three things:technology, people and process. Those three are inextricably linked.The key for technology success is picking the right ones at the righttime and implementing them in the right way, learning lessons fromother similar deployments. Enterprises need to think very carefullyabout their approach to horizon scanning and innovation. They needto be structured for success. That’s where Transforma Insights comesin. One of the key ways we help our clients is educating them on thetechnology landscape and how they can best use the new toolsavailable. That said, it’s people and processes that generally representthe biggest challenge for most organisations. Often thesetransformational exercises involve dramatic changes to internalorganisational processes and structures.

MH: Thinking about specifics, one of the main questions thatenterprises ask us is how they should organise their innovation ordigital transformation (or whatever they call it) efforts. The answer isrelatively simple. It’s essential to have some kind of central functioncoordinating efforts. Without that it’s chaos. However, it’s equallyimportant to ensure that the central business unit doesn’t succumb tothe usual mistakes of such functions and become removed from thereal-life operations of the business, churning out strategic policieswhich are roundly ignored. Front line business units must beinvolved in the formulation of strategy and testing, for instance byallocating responsibility for identified disruptive technologies to themost relevant unit and allowing further strategic decisions to bemade there.

JM: I’d go even further. For many organisations it’s just too difficult toenact change, so they may have to set up a new division to use thenew technologies. Like HSBC bank did with First Direct, for instance.

JC: You must see a huge number of cutting edge deployments. Tell usabout some of the more innovative thinking you’ve seen during yourresearch?

JM: Well, for me it has to be additive manufacturing in space. It’s oneof those things that isn’t immediately obvious, but just makes sense.Why struggle to fit solar panels for satellites into the restricted cargohold of a launch vehicle, when you can just print them when you getthere? Also, from the additive manufacturing field is generativedesign: applying the principles of evolution and natural selection toalternative component designs to optimise for a combination of price,weight, and strength. Some of the resulting designs are spectacular.

MH: I’m going to have to point to the world of AI. The most interestingthings that are happening are in deep learning and specificallyneural networks, i.e. getting AI to think like a person. Not replicatingthe output, but actually going through the same learning processes asa human.

JC: Finally, how do you see the analyst world at the moment? You’veboth been analysts for many years. How do you see that evolving?

MH: The role is still essential. It’s outsourcing that horizon scanningcapability that Jim referred to earlier. Analysts are better able to keeptheir fingers on the technology pulse than anyone. We do it so ourclients don’t have to, which brings the obvious benefits of scale. Butthe way that clients are supported is changing. At TransformaInsights we’re focusing on providing tools to help our clients makecritical decisions, based on real-world examples.

JM: We think that’s better than saying “the analyst knows everything”and trying to provide supposedly actionable recommendations thatare universally applicable to every organisation. The reality is thatorganisations know themselves better than analysts ever can. Theywant to be told what they don’t know and helped to apply it to theircircumstances, rather than being spoon-fed generic advice.


Interview

www.transformainsights.com

Matt Hatton,founder, Transforma Insights

Jim Morrish,founder, Transforma Insights

Matt Hatton, founding partner at Transforma Insights, speaks to

Mohsen Mohseninia, VP for International Market Development at Aeris

Communications, about how the Internet of Things (IoT) is critical to

Digital Transformation, and how Aeris is focusing its discussions with

customers on how to remove their pain, rather than a focus on an

alphabet soup of technology.

Matt Hatton: For the readers of The EvolvingEnterprise who may not be familiar with you, canyou introduce Aeris Communications and whatyou do?

Mohsen Mohseninia: Our core role is to take ourclients on a journey from unconnected products toconnected services. Put simply, we help companies,large and small, to win with IoT. There are two mainparts to what we do. First, we provide highly reliableand scalable connectivity for IoT devices throughour Aeris Fusion IoT Network. The other pillar is theAeris Mobility Suite, with which we support carmanufacturers and other organisations inconnecting moving assets such as vehicles, bicyclesand so forth. Both of these capabilities are aimed atproviding our clients with best-in-class capability ina cost-effective way, which helps to reduce theirtime to market with new services.

We have a team of more than 300 people worldwideresponsible for supporting more than 14 milliondevices connected in 190 countries. The team hasmore than a decade experience in the IoT space andwe have won numerous awards for our products andservices.

MH: In our latest forecasts, we found that more thanhalf of the value of what is termed ‘DigitalTransformation’ was dependent on your core focusarea of IoT, making connecting things a critical partof most organisations’ digital transformation

initiatives. Does that resonate with you and what doyou think are the critical factors that an enterpriseshould be thinking about when undertaking theirdigital transformation initiatives?

MM: We work with organisations of all sizes, allaround the world, all of whom are looking at how touse new technologies to get a competitive edge. Formost of those organisations, the starting point isconnecting some sort of remote asset. So yes, IoTfeatures prominently and early in their digitaltransformation journey. What’s particularlychallenging for many of the clients is that they areventuring into a completely new world with IoT,which often is well outside of their comfort zone.Decision making is particularly challenging giventhe accelerating pace of technology change.

The key thing for organisations looking toimplement IoT is to find trusted partners that willprovide the most capability with the least pain.Specifically, this involves finding an organisation towork with that gives as much functionality aspossible, no lock-ins, and no barriers to scaling. It'salso important not to lose sight of the time scalesinvolved. Organisations are committing totechnology programmes that will be with them fordecades. With that in mind, they need partners whohave a proven track record in delivering. Aeris hasbeen doing this for more than a decade, supportingconnected devices running critical applicationsworldwide.

Focus on outcomes not technology, says Aeris Communications


Talking Heads

SPONSORED INTERVIEW

“Ventic is our newjoint venture withVolkswagen, one

of the world’slargest car

manufacturers. Itwill develop and

operate aconnected vehicle

platform forVolkswagen.”

MH: Is it vital to put yourself in thecustomers’ shoes? Most of them are along way from being experts on IoT orconnectivity. They just need someonewho understands their issues andsolves them.

MM: For our clients, factors such astime-to-market and availability aremuch more important than, say, whichtechnology is being used, or whichcarrier. It’s easy to obsess aboutconnectivity technologies, such as 5G,in a constantly evolving landscape.But the thing that matters most to theclients is that their application isconnected in as reliable and cost-effective a way as possible.

It’s critical that we at AerisCommunications never lose sight ofthe need to create network solutionsthat work for our clients. One way inwhich we do that is to break down thewalls between application andconnectivity. Because we manage bothelements, we’re able to useconnectivity features such as SIMprovisioning, data consumptiontracking and troubleshooting moreeffectively to deliver the real outcomesthat the client needs. For instance,we’re able to analyse networkbehaviour to determine if there is anunderlying issue with the application.By thinking holistically about theconnectivity and the applicationtogether, and running our own corenetwork, we can reduce operationalcosts by 30%. Also, field updates are50% quicker, thus helping our clientsbeat the competition to market.


Talking Heads

Mohsen Mohseninia,VP for International MarketDevelopment at AerisCommunications

What we do is provide an extra layer of value ontop of IoT connectivity. In recent years, it hasbecome common to hear about connectivitybeing described as commoditised, with pricebeing the only differentiator. There are pile-it-high, sell-it-cheap providers of connectivitythat are nominally cheaper, but the reality isthat the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) can besignificantly compromised by buyingconnectivity off the shelf. When you considertime-to-market, fault resolution, networkfuture-proofing and all those other issues, thecheapest option usually isn’t the cheapestoption.

MH: Your main product suite for connectivity isthe Fusion IoT Network. Can you elaborate onwhat it provides?

MM: The Aeris Fusion IoT Network has beendesigned from the bottom up with a network tosupport IoT devices, which makes it much moreeffective and resilient than retrofitting into anexisting system. It’s deeply integrated intocarrier networks, which gives us better visibilityfor troubleshooting and management. It’s alsomuch easier for our clients to work with,providing a single pane-of-glass managementfor multiple carriers and access technologies,and a single portal for billing, support, APIs,VPNs and more.

To get a bit technical, the Aeris Fusion IoTNetwork is an intelligent solution forconnecting IoT devices across all of the relevantmobile technologies, 2G, 3G, LTE, LTE-M and NB-IoT. We’re also 5G-ready, which we think makesus stand out from the crowd. However, theimportant thing for our clients isn’t thetechnical specifications, it’s what we’re able todo for them. The big advantage for our clients isthat they don’t need to think abouttechnologies. We will deal with issues such astechnology sunsetting, as well as shifting tomore efficient technologies as they becomeavailable.

To give one great example, 2G and 3G networktechnologies, upon which IoT has depended foryears, are being switched off around the world.Some countries already have done so, othersare in the process of doing so but with littleconsistency of approach, and in many otherplaces, the technologies will persist for years tocome. This patchwork of networks causes quitea headache for anyone making a connecteddevice, particularly if the device will need to

operate in multiple countries and for manyyears – which technologies should they use?

The bottom line is that businesses should notneed to care. All they want is to ensure thattheir solution is future-proof and as costeffective as possible. That’s where Aeris as apartner comes in.

MH: Clearly, the important thing for you is theclient impact, rather than the technology. Canyou share some of the benefits that yourapproach brings?

MM: Happy to do that. With the Fusion IoTNetwork, devices connect more reliably,operational efficiency is improved, IoTprogrammes work better and fault resolution isfaster. The top line figure is that ourconnectivity solutions deliver up to 30% savingson connectivity costs.

To dive in to one specific area quickly, by virtueof our operating model, in which we work withmultiple carriers, we are able to provide bettercoverage for our clients, which provides abenefit that can be passed on to our clients. Forinstance, in the U.S., by working with multiplecarriers, we reduce connectivity issues by morethan 10%, and with a lower batteryconsumption, which is critical for some of ourclients’ applications.

MH: It’s hard to discuss IoT without bringing upthe topic of security. This must featureprominently, of course?

MM: Yes, naturally, and it’s one other thing thatour clients don’t want to have to worry about. Inthe same way that we take a holistic view of theapplication and connectivity, security also is anintegral part of what we do, rather than beingbolted on at the end. Within Fusion IoTNetwork, we have a number of integratedfeatures. For example, we have createdConnectionLock™ which is implemented at thenetwork layer, giving an additional level ofsecurity by preventing access to unauthorisedendpoints and acting as a firewall. Thisprovides an additional layer of security forclients wherever in the world their devicesmight be deployed.

MH: You recently made some announcementsabout the Aeris Mobility Suite and particularlya new initiative called Ventic. Can you tell me alittle more about those?


Talking Heads

Matt Hatton,founding partner atTransforma Insights

“The Aeris FusionIoT Network has

been designedfrom the bottom up

with a network tosupport IoT

devices, whichmakes it much

more effective andresilient than

retrofitting into anexisting system.”

MM: Aeris Mobility Suite is our applicationplatform for what we call the Internet ofMoving Things. It provides a set of modulartools to allow automotive manufacturersand similar organisations, such asinsurance companies, for usage-basedinsurance and car sharing schemeproviders to easily roll out connectedvehicle services. We have more than adecade’s experience in supporting carmanufacturers in their connected carjourney and we count a number of majormanufacturers amongst our clients.

Because of our heritage in connectingvehicles, the client can have a tried andtested solution from an experiencedprovider delivered quickly; we can have aworking system delivered to new clients inless than six months and new applicationsin the market in 90 days. Again, the keyquestions for clients should be; have youdone this before, can we rely on you to do itright and will it be quick to market?

With Aeris, the answer is yes, yes and yes.

Ventic is our new joint venture withVolkswagen, one of the world’s largest carmanufacturers. It will develop and operate aconnected vehicle platform for Volkswagen.We’re delighted with the launch of the newJV, not least because it’s a great opportunityto prove Aeris’s capabilities with one of theworld’s biggest companies.

MH: You’re no strangers to working with thebiggest corporations on the planet, by thesound of it.

MM: Absolutely right. In fact, this isn’t evenour first joint venture with a giant partner.Back in 2016, we announced a tie-up withSoftbank, one of the biggest corporations inJapan. That’s in addition to havingnumerous household names, such as Boschand Mitsubishi, as clients. Aeris has aproven track record working with bigcompanies. But I should stress that our

clients come in all shapes and sizes. Many ofthe most progressive-thinking companiesin adopting IoT are smaller ones.

MH: The team here at Transforma Insightsmade its name covering IoT but for the lastfew years it feels like the most cutting-edgethings have related to adjacent technologyfields, like artificial intelligence andmachine learning, data exchanges,distributed ledger and so forth. Are we allDigital Transformation (for want of a betterterm) companies now?

MM: I think there’s a lot of truth in that.Aeris now is in an enviable position interms of putting in place the technicalinfrastructure to support connectivity andthen build on that during 2020 with newfunctionality. In particular, we have turnedour attention to machine learning andartificial intelligence as ways to increaseoperational efficiency.

We’re very keen to avoid the scenario ofbeing a technology company that advocatesits clients adopt new technologies whilebeing a laggard itself. We’re particularlyexcited to explore what artificialintelligence and machine learning cando for us.

MH: One of the interesting trends we’repredicting for 2020 is the greaterintegration of webscale cloud providerswithin the connectivity space. Is thatsomething you are seeing too?

MM: That’s just one way that the IoT spaceis changing. It’s impossible to stand still andwe are exploring lots of new avenues ofchange at the moment. For instance, we areworking with a lot of new partners,including hardware makers and cloudmajor players, to develop the capabilities toimprove time-to-market and efficiency. It’simportant for us that we’re cloud-agnosticthough, with no lock-in to a particularprovider.


Talking Heads

“IoT features prominently and early intheir digital transformation journey”

The trend across enterprises is overwhelmingly toward digital transformation. It’s

considered critical to growth if not to survival. But digital programs do miss,

sometimes badly. So says, Ed Finegold, author, analyst, thought leader & digital

start-up veteran. Despite grandiose executive visions touted boldly in keynote

addresses, folks with boots on the ground know all too well that vision and

implementation often diverge.

In this new series we explore some of the practical reasons digital initiatives fall

short, providing real-world examples of digital initiatives that look great on paper

but are not viable as implemented. The aim of these articles is to offer takeaways

for how to avoid late game misses at the start (or restart) of a digital initiative.

Carrying legacy process, technology and thinking forward in the course of digital transformationwill make it difficult, if not impossible, for new digital products to compete. Executives espouseincreasingly grandiose visions of what their digital transformation efforts will deliver, but thesevisions are frequently compromised as they trickle down to implementation.

It is not easy to abandon what’s made an enterprise successful for years or decades. As legacyelements creep in, they can undermine transformation efforts. Projects may hit every milestoneand go live, yet what is delivered is so compromised at a detail level by legacy that it is not digitalenough to compete.

Brilliant CIOFour years ago, I had the privilege of working one-on-one with a Fortune 100 CIO on an earlydigital initiative that aimed to transform his company’s mobility channel. It was a superblearning experience as this CIO not only foresaw but could articulate at a detailed level thepressures that his and his customer’s businesses would face as a result of digital disruption.

I led strategy for a small digital start-up at the time, which had just come off a smashing successpowering Sprint’s “Cut Your Bill in Half” customer acquisition campaign. Though our solutionaligned well with the CIO’s forward-looking plan, circumstances at the start-up (which laterfailed) killed the acquisition deal and prevented our team from seeing this amazing opportunitythrough.

Legacy compromiseThree years later, I took a chance on a new start-up venture, building a value-added reseller (VAR)business with a focus on mobility. Leveraging lessons learned from my time with the CIO, wejoined his company’s partner program in order to gain access to vast resources, skilled people

and world-class products.

We invested early money – the most expensive kind – in a ready-made e-commerceplatform accessible only through this partner program. Our intent was to provide

digital pop-up stores to clients who could in turn open them to their customers or

Will your legacy mindset compromiseyour digital competitiveness?

THE INSIDERWhen Digital Transformation misses

Ed Finegold,author, analyst, thought leader& digital start-up veteran

Opinion


members for discounted pricing on a variety of usefulproducts. While the concept was powerful, it soonbecame clear that the e-commerce platform was toocompromised by the large company’s legacy to obeyrules fundamental to digital success.

On paper, the platform was designed to enable a fullyfunctional e-commerce storefront on any website witha simple integration. On initial assessment, the boxesall seem checked. The platform was pre-integrated witha robust product catalogue; automated payment andshipping; pricing controls; custom bundling; couponcodes; and more. The concept was truly digital andaligned with the vision the CIO had described yearsbefore.

As we dug into our implementation, however, we wererepeatedly hamstrung because the platform proved tobe a digitalised version of many legacy processes. Forexample, basic user experience tenets were violated.The store would require customers to “call foravailability” when a product was out of stock, with noability to filter out such products or change the call toaction; the developers explained this was a legacycompromise.

Similarly, many products required the visitor to requesta price quote. While this approach is typical in a legacy,business-to-business (B2B) setting, it doesn’t fly in adigital setting. Imagine this as an employee or memberstore; if it can’t beat Amazon on both price and userexperience, it’s not much of a perk. Had the platformbeen offered with a common, digital approach – a 30-day free trial – we would have sorted these limitationsout much more quickly.

Not mobile first?The storefront also failed to work smoothly on a mobiledevice. Resizing the display would create content

presentation problems that sullied the shoppingexperience. A list of other legacy-derived issuesemerged as well including: limited payment options;costly shipping with added handling fees; and a lack ofintegrated shipment tracking and notification. Theseare staples in the digital world. Lacking thesecapabilities while adding incremental costsundermines one’s ability to compete in the digitalmarket, especially against marketplaces like Amazonand eBay.

Legacy processes also impacted the administrator’sexperience negatively. For example, orders would notflow through automatically; they had to be reviewedmanually and then submitted to the provider. Bundleswere difficult to create because the managementconsole did not provide price and margin visibility. Ahalf dozen offline workarounds had to be created tofacilitate price and margin analysis; to test pricingmodels; and to ensure products were not offered belowcost.

The reasons why these problems persist can besummed up in one word: legacy – legacy cataloguerules; legacy shipping processes and fees; and legacyfulfilment processes.

As powerful as the concept was, in practice it restrainedsmall, innovative partners with an appetite for risk fromcompeting in the digital economy’s brutal jungle. Thedigital economy will not forgive legacy compromises,nor will agile partners who could break new ground indigital transformation, but only if they are unshackledfrom legacy compromises.

Opinion


www.silverwolfpro.com

Follow The Evolving Enterprise on Twitter @TheEE_io

We were repeatedly hamstrung becausethe platform proved to be a digitalised

version of many legacy processes

Read The Insidercolumn everymonth at:www.TheEE.io

A spectrum of transformationDX exists on a continuum of technology-driven changewithin enterprise, as illustrated in Figure 1 above. Modernisation is characterised as the incrementalapplication of new technologies in already existingenvironments, for instance deployment of new types ofsoftware container, or leveraging cloud infrastructureor software defined networks. It does not radicallychange business processes or value propositions, buttechniques to achieve the same results are upgraded.

The first tier of transformation is Computerisation,which concerns rendering information from theanalogue world to digital. Examples include analoguesensor readings, or even scanning physicaldocuments. This is about using digital formats, but notnecessarily changing associated processes.

Next is Digitalisation, which involves reengineeringthose corporate processes to use digitised information, forinstance allowing employees worldwide to access andact upon the digital data mentioned above.

True DX involves new business propositions, or theoverhaul of operational processes in such a radical waythat it gives a competitive advantage. This is oftenclosely focused on end user needs rather than being a

simple iterative evolution of the existing products andservices. At a macro scale, there is Digital Disruption,which is DX at an industry level. Technological changewithin the industry alters the market dynamics,radically affecting some organisations, for instanceKodak being overtaken by the advent of digitalphotography.

What is Digital Transformation?DX is a useful umbrella term for a diverse set oftechnologies that can be applied in specific ways toeffect a change in the way that an enterprise operates.Companies, despite the headlines, do not really enact a‘digital transformation’. In reality, it is shorthand for theadoption of specific technologies to implementparticular capabilities which it has identified asvaluable for competitive differentiation, cost reduction,compliance or some other relevant business issue. Thisis likewise the case for most of the various technologyhot topics, such as IoT or AI: the headline typicallybelies a narrow implementation aimed at solving avery specific need within the organisation.

The key enabler and driver of DX is the emergence ofnew disruptive technologies or the use of existingtechnologies in disruptive ways. It’s worth noting thateven older technologies can become disruptive incertain circumstances, most notably where the price toimplement them falls below a certain threshold, orthey become significantly more user-friendly. Oneexample is in publishing, which historically wasowned by large publishing houses, but decreasing costsand the arrival of new enabling platforms have allowedit to become much more democratised with the likes ofprint-on-demand services from Amazon.

Digital Transformation (DX) has been hitting the headlines in the tech world recently. If

reports are to be believed, every large corporation is going through a technology-driven

change that will transform every aspect of how it does business. The truth is rather more

complicated. Report by Transforma Insights.

IT has started to become, and will continue to be, increasingly strategically important to every sector: The core products of the organisation are

being changed by new technology in meaningful ways. Think of how the internet changed retail. This type of fundamental technology-based

change is coming to almost all industries and it will radically shake up how they do business. It is also stimulating a lot of spending, with the

latest Transforma Insights forecasts estimating that enterprises will invest US$5 trillion in DX technologies by 2030.

Figure 1.

Digital Transformation Spectrum

Modernisationof infrastructure

What is Digital Transformationand why is it worth $5 trillion?


DX Report

Computerisationof information

Digitisationof processes

DigitalTransformationof a business

DigitalDisruptionof a market

Transforma Insights considers Digital Transformationto comprise 12 families of new technologies, each ofwhich incorporates numerous concepts that can beapplied by organisations to improve their prospects.See table below. Collectively, they bridge the gapbetween the real and the virtual world and involve thehanding over of autonomy from human to machine.

In some cases, the activity concerns sensing real worldprocesses. IoT, for instance, is at its most basic levelabout a network of sensors converting the real worldinto data which can then be applied to other processesor fed back into actions. The same is true oftechnologies such as Augmented Reality / VirtualReality (AR/VR), which we include in the category ofHuman-Machine Interface (HMI), which senses humanbehaviour and blends it with data from the virtualworld. Much of the latest generation of ProductLifecycle Management (PLM) is also concerned withtaking real world data about the performance ofproducts, and feeding it back in the form of, forinstance, Digital Twins.

Other technology groups work in reverse, translatingthe virtual world into the real world. Clearly, this is the

case with 3D Printing, for instance. AutonomousRobotic Systems such as drone fleets can also beconsidered in this way.

The third category is those technologies that exist onlyin the virtual domain but convert processes previouslyundertaken by humans into those performed bymachines. Artificial Intelligence, in all its diversity, isessentially intended to do this. Also, Robotic ProcessAutomation (RPA) takes manual human activityperformed in the virtual world and replicates it toremove or reduce the need for human intervention.

There are a further set of technologies such asgraphene, quantum computing and nanobots, whichwe categorise as ‘Future Technologies’ that are notreally being commercialised today but offer interestingopportunities in future.

A vast array of use casesThe next dimension to consider in DX is that of usecases. Transforma Insights has identified 76 categoriesof use case spanning business efficiency (for instanceprocess automation, churn management and workflowoptimisation), new data-centric business models


DX Report

The authors are Matt Hattonand Jim Morrish, co-foundersof Transforma Insights, theanalyst firm specialising indigital transformation. Theirtrack record includes thefounding of MachinaResearch, which focused onthe Internet of Things (IoT)and was successfully sold in2016 to Gartner.

(including chatbots, dataexchanges and video imageprocessing), and thoseassociated with connectedthings (such as smart grid, assettracking and AR/VR), asillustrated in the chart onpage 17.

These use cases involve theapplication of one or more of thetechnologies discussed earlierto effect some change withinthe organisation’s processes.Many are simple automationprojects, for instance relating tothe processing of invoices.These tend to be relatively easyto implement, requiring a simplecalculation of return-on-investment and a well boundedIT project. These are the low-hanging fruit of DX. At the otherend of the spectrum are thoseuse cases that arefundamentally transformationalto the organisation.

One example is that of x-as-a-service (XaaS), which involvesthe organisation switching fromselling a product to providing itas a service. This is increasinglycommon for industrialequipment manufacturers.While it might seemstraightforward, the reality isthat making such a change hassignificant implications foralmost every facet of theorganisation including sales,customer care, finance andoperations.

People and process trump technologyThis brings us on to the thirdand final leg of the DX stool:People. The adoption of newtechnologies and theimplementation through newuses cases often requiressubstantial organisationalchange. This includes newskills, new processes, culturechanges and partnerships. All ofthis can be challenging toimplement.


DX Report

Technology Family

Internet of Things(IoT)

Hyper-connectivity

Human MachineInterface (HMI)

Artificial Intelligence(AI)

Distributed Ledger(DL)

Data Sharing

Next-GenerationProduct LifecycleManagement (PLM)

Robotic ProcessAutomation (RPA)

Edge Computing

Autonomous RoboticSystems (ARS)

3D Printing & AdditiveManufacturing

Future Technologies

Description

The Internet of Things (IoT) describes a diverse range oftechnologies used to connect various devices for the purpose ofmonitoring and controlling those devices and exchanging data.In our definition it includes Operational Technology (OT), simplemachine-to-machine (M2M) data gathering, Industry 4.0 usecases, and many similar use cases.

Hyperconnectivity describes an environment of ubiquitousconnectivity, often with specialised functionality adapted to thedemands of a particular application. This includes all cellulartechnologies up to and including 5G, LPWA technologies such asLTE-NB1 and LoRa, short range technologies including the802.15.4 family and fibre-optic communications.

Human-Machine Interface (HMI) covers all mechanisms bywhich humans interact with machines. This includes direct userinterfaces such as screens and AR/VR as well as verbal andmotion.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) relates to the creation of intelligentsystems that can imitate (and potentially exceed) humanintelligence. It includes all of the progressive developmentstowards Artificial General Intelligence and Superintelligence,including machine learning and deep learning.

Distributed Ledgers are distributed databases potentially withpermanent immutable records, the control, validation andauthentication of whose data records is handled via consensus-based systems. Includes Blockchain.

Data Sharing comprises the infrastructure and frameworks fororganisations to handle the exchange of complex, critical,valuable or near-real-time data within and betweenorganisations. It includes data storage, analysis, exchange,validation, rating, and trading, amongst other things.

Product Lifecycle Management involves managing thedevelopment of a product from concept to ultimate redundancyand disposal. It includes all aspects of development, includingcomputer aided design, as well as various techniques associatedwith managing the operational phase of the devices includingDigital Twin. It also includes monetisation techniques that applythrough the full product lifecycle. In the context of DigitalTransformation we are really interested in next-generation PLMactivities such as AR and ERP integration, Digital Twin and xaaS.

Robotic Process Automation takes business processes andstreamlines and automates them through intelligent agents.This category also includes lesser business process automationactivities that handle the automation of regular business tasks.

Edge Computing refers to a few concepts associated withdevices or network elements that are located near the edge of anetwork. It typically refers to locating compute power away fromthe core network, either on the end devices itself where the datais created, or somewhere nearby. In considering Edge Computingwe also give consideration to Cloud, Fog, On-Premises andHybrid solutions.

Autonomous Robotic Systems consist of distributed physicalmachines, such as drones and autonomous vehicles, that areable to operate autonomously and potentially collectively.

3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing relates to productionfacilities capable of producing either previously‘unmanufacturable’ components or customised products,including in unique materials and potentially using generativedesign techniques.

Future Technologies is our umbrella term for a diverse set of newand emerging technologies that have yet to be trulycommercialised, but which might potentially have a significantimpact in the medium term. Leading examples includeGraphene, and Quantum Computing.

Key vendors

Amazon, Bosch,IBM, Microsoft,PTC, SAP,Siemens

AT&T, ChinaMobile, DeutscheTelekom,QualcommSemtech,Verizon,Vodafone

Microsoft, PTC,Scope AR,Toshiba,Wakingapp

Facebook, Google,IBM, Microsoft,DataRobot,H2O.ai, Dataiku

Bosch.io,Hyperledger,IOTA, IBM,Microsoft

Chordant,Hitachi, KPN,Telia, Terbine,T-Systems

Dassault 3DS,Hexagon, PTC,Siemens

AutomationAnywhere, BluePrism, UiPath

Bosch.io, Cisco,Cloudera, HPE,Huawei, Nokia

ABB, Da Vinci,Delair, DJI, Intel,Kuka, Omrom

Autodesk,Carbon, Stratasys

Google, IBM, XGSciences

Investment*2020-30(US$ billion)

2,698

242

211

1,096

92

185

84

78

87

127

100

n/a

Table 1: Digital Transformation Technologies [Source: Transforma Insights, 2020]

*Investment relates to enterprise investments in Digital Transformation software and services.

Few would counter the view that the people and process changesimplicit in DX are the hardest things to effect. While every project isdifferent, there are some common approaches that will help to ensuresuccess:

• Prioritise. You cannot undertake every conceivable project. Oftenthe low-hanging fruit of process automation bring the best returnsbefore more fundamental overhauls of the organisation should beconsidered. But such short-term initiatives should be consistent withlong term objectives.

• Set clear objectives for the project. Do not try to implement a hazygrand concept of ‘Digital Transformation’, rather specific projectsaimed at achieving a well-defined set of objectives. Projects must becouched in terms of improving efficiency, or some other similarimpact, rather than ‘deploying AI’, for instance.

• Involve the C-suite. DX projects that are led by a C-level executiveare much more likely to succeed. DX projects are usually more thanjust IT projects and must involve input from all aspects of theorganisation.

• Run commercial and IT considerations in parallel. Every ITdecision must be supported by an assessment of commercial valueand the two need to be considered together. For instance, using AI forfault prediction of a particular component may prove a less effectiveor more expensive approach than simply replacing it with a morerobust alternative component.

• Have a structured change management process. Many DX projectswill be transformational to the activities of the organisation. Considerevery facet and include these in a formal change managementprogramme. This might involve dedicated teams across theorganisation.

• Bring the workforce with you. Many projects involve substantialchange to how the organisation operates, which results in anxiety inthe workforce. Seek feedback from the team, particularly those thatare customer-facing. Clearly signpost the change process. Redefineindividual workers’ objectives and communicate those early.Demonstrate the value of the change to the workers affected.

Enterprises will invest US$5 trillion in DX between 2020 and 2030In January 2020 Transforma Insights published its DigitalTransformation Investment forecast which looks at the investmentby enterprises in the various technologies that sit under the DXumbrella. Overall investment in DX software and service will amountto US$5 trillion between 2020 and 2030. Of that, IoT will account forthe lion’s share (54%), with AI representing 22% of spend. There arethree major geographical poles: North America (accounting for 35% ofglobal investment), followed by Europe (24%) and China (18%). Japanaccounts for 10%.

Over the forecast period, annual spend will grow from US$94 billion toUS$961 billion, a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 26%. Thefastest growth technologies will be 3D Printing & AdditiveManufacturing (50% CAGR) and Autonomous Robotic Systems (49%).

Manufacturing (accounting for 37% of all global spend between 2020and 2030) is easily the biggest sector, followed by Retail (15%) andUtilities (15%). Primary and secondary industries includingAgriculture, Mining, Manufacturing and Utilities will all invest greaterthan 60% of their total DX software and services spend in IoT. Theservice sectors, in contrast, are much more focused on ArtificialIntelligence, with Real Estate, ICT, Professional Services andEducation all spending over 70% on AI.


DX Report

Share of vertical sector investment in Digital Transformation 2020-30 split by technology(Source: Transforma Insights, 2020)

The goal of Artificial General Intelligence is elusive and even Deep Learning is challenging,

but AI unleashes plenty of applications to address functional tasks, says Matt Hatton.

There are dozens of different ways to categorise AI.One of the most common is the Artificial Intelligence /Machine Learning / Deep Learning triumvirate whichlooks at the broad approaches taken. ArtificialIntelligence (AI) is generally accepted to be theumbrella term for several types of activities, all aimedat mimicking human intelligence.

The most commonly discussed sub-set is MachineLearning (ML) which is specifically about applyingcomplex algorithms and statistical techniques toexisting data to make decisions or predictions. Animportant subset of ML, where much of the latestthinking is focused, is Deep Learning (DL), which usesa combination of very large data sets and NeuralNetworks, which seek to imitate the behaviour of thehuman mind, for instance through the use ofreinforcement learning.

Another alternative looks at the type of intelligencethat is being developed. Artificial General Intelligence,for instance, is attempting to create the capability toperform a range of tasks based on independentdecision-making. Artificial Narrow Intelligence, incontrast, seeks to perform a specific task, oftenextraordinarily well. The concepts of ‘Strong’ and‘Weak’ AI are somewhat analogous.

A third useful categorisation looks at the methods, inthe form of specific techniques, for applying AI, in theform of Supervised, Unsupervised and Reinforcementlearning and the associated algorithms.

Most AI implementations until now have focused onMachine Learning, and specifically supervised ML;signposting for a machine the activity that needs to beperformed and indicating the best ways that it mightbe achieved. This is the simplest to implement, themost easily understandable and the easiest to validate. It is unsurprising that most of the success stories in AI todate have focused on the automation of time-consumingyet relatively simple tasks. These promise the quickestreturn on investment. Good examples include legaldocument analysis or medical image analysis.

One form of applied AI which has focused squarely onthese supervised approaches that remove manual tasksis Robotic Process Automation (RPA) which takes IT-based tasks that were previously handled manually by ahuman, observes them being performed and replicatesthem through intelligent agents. For instance, RPAvendor UiPath has been working with Heritage Bank inAustralia since 2017 automating around 80 diversebusiness processes. These include back-office andcustomer-facing processes across customer care,operations and compliance, amongst other things.

In one case, UiPath was able to provide Heritage Bankwith a bot to extract and present transaction recordsfor the police investigating financial crimes. It was alsoable to automate 40-50% of the data mining involved inapproving people for loans, a figure that is set to rise to90%. With an hour’s effort required per loan application,reducing that by 90% presents a demonstrable saving.Heritage Bank has plans to work with UiPath on otherautomatable tasks including document validation andcustomer care. Heritage Bank reports 98% accuracy inits most recent automation tasks.

AI: Waiting to be unleashed?


Artificial Intelligence

Figure 1: ArtificialIntelligence, Machine

Learning & Deep Learning

Figure 2: Machine LearningTechniques

Mimicking ofhuman

intelligence bycomputers

Expert Systems Simple If-then(-else)

Supervised ML(Learn from labelled

data)

Classification (eg. Naïve Bayes,Random Forest, Support Vector)

Regression (eg. LinearRegression, Logistic Regression)

Unsupervised ML(Structure unlabelled

data)

Clustering (eg. K-means,Hierarchical Clustering)

Association (eg. Apriori, FP-Growth)

Reinforcement ML(Reward maximisation)

Learns from repeated real-worldinteractions.Examples: Markov DecisionProcess, Monte Carlo Analysis,Brute Force

Dee

p (N

N)

Lear

nin

g(L

earn

s fr

om la

rge

trai

nin

g se

t)

Based on NeuralNetworks (NN).

Self-teaching.

Can be supervised,unsupervised orreinforcement.

Examples:Recurrent NeuralNetworks,ConvolutionalNeural Networks

Businessrules

includingIFTTT

Self-trainingsoftware

Applicationof neuralnetworks

Applicationof statisticaltechniques

Deep Learning

Machine Learning


Learn toimprove with

experience

[Source: Transforma Insights, 2020]

[Source: Transforma Insights, 2020]

Deep LearningThe most interesting cutting-edge developments lie inDeep Learning (DL). The principle with DL is that thealgorithms are presented with large volumes of dataand then asked to make their own decisions about howto categorise or react to what they see, perhaps in orderto achieve a particular goal. Probably the mostprominent area of exploration for DL is in autonomousvehicles. The parameters under which the AI mustfunction are potentially diverse. Therefore, trainingthat imitates humans and makes use of large amountsof data is highly appropriate.

Big potential risksWhile AI offers great opportunities there are also somebig potential risks. The first and most pressingchallenge relates to ‘AI bias’. There have beennumerous headline-grabbing examples, includingDavid Heinemeier Hansson’s campaign about thedisparity in credit limits between him and his wife ontheir Apple Credit Cards, the Tay bot that was shutdown for parroting bigoted views, and the HRdepartment which was rejecting perfectly goodapplications for no apparent good reason.

To tackle the AI bias issue specifically, TransformaInsights advocates the implementation of a robustoversight layer with responsibility for objective settingand critical review to ensure that the AI is not onlydoing what it’s tasked to do, but also doing what’s right.

The challenge is partly one of maturity. The use of AI isimmature and will naturally become more refined overtime, but it isn’t clear that AI companies have theopportunity to learn on the job.

AI already receives enough negative PR over how itwill remove the jobs of millions of workers. While itmight be a net benefit to society, that is precious littlecomfort to those directly affected. We are likely to seecontinued push-back against AI which may also createsome challenges. The concept of the ‘adversarial patch’is an interesting one to look out for: something createdspecifically with the intention of fooling an AI.

The final risk is more fundamental, concerningdiminishing returns on investment. The last decade,particularly with the development of deep learning, hasbeen a good one for AI. However, the history of AI isone of boom and bust with two ‘AI winters’ so far. Thereis a strong possibility that the benefits stimulated bydeep learning will soon be all but exhausted and wemight face a third AI winter in the 2020s.

Much of the stimulation for the last decade’s successhas come from the availability of unprecedented cloudcompute capability. There is no apparent trigger for thenext breakthrough which might lead to ArtificialGeneral Intelligence, although that doesn’t necessarilymean it won’t appear. Perhaps the sheer scale of DeepLearning investments will trigger progress to AGI.However, the most likely scenario is continuedincremental progress of existing deep learningcapabilities.

Advances are being made in hardware, largeinvestments made in sweating data assets, and moreAI platforms are coming on stream, which helps todemocratise the use of AI amongst more organisations.The 2020s will be an AI decade, but Artificial GeneralIntelligence remains elusive for now.


Analysis

The author is MattHatton, co-founder ofDX analystsTransforma Insights.

InformationTheory 1950s

Turing Test, theoryand prototyping

Turning Paper‘Can machines think?’

1950

First AI Winter1970s

Expert Systems 1980sExpert systems

appear capable ofhuman-like decision-

making

Second AI WinterMid 80s-Mid 90s

Deep Learning 2010sSpecialist patter

recognition throughneural networks

The Causality Trap2020s

Understanding why?

Breakthough on AGI

Incremental progress

Third AI Winter2020z

LTE-M is poised to dominate the Internet of Things (IoT) for years to come, replacing GSM and

CDMA protocols. One reason is the cost ― to date, cellular technologies have not been

optimised for IoT deployments, leading to higher hardware and operational costs.

LTE-M is a bi-directional, standards-based protocol within the samespectrum as LTE. It provides carrier-grade security, long battery life,and low-cost modules. Another strength is that LTE-M does not needa new infrastructure as it can piggyback on existing LTE networks. Assuch, a carrier can update software on its network to enable LTE-M,with savings that can be passed directly to the customer.

LTE-M is a much simpler technology than standard LTE and it offersunique capabilities that significantly extend battery life. For most IoTdevices, operating in a low throughput LTE-M environment is not anissue as they are only sending small amounts of data on anintermittent schedule. However, there can be issues when sendinglarge amounts of data (for example, an OTA firmware update) whilebandwidth constrained.

The resulting network congestion can lead to high failure rates,thereby prolonging the time-to-update as well as increasing costs.With the Fusion IoT Network connectivity-aware APIs, these issuescan be avoided, ensuring that the update campaign is conductedefficiently and quickly, with complete information about theunderlying network status.

LTE-M is today’s standard, meeting security and power conservationlevels suited for deployments in multiple business sectors. With low-cost modules, extended battery life, better signal penetration, and theability to use existing infrastructure, LTE-M has the potential toimprove all IoT business models.

Launching New IoT ProgrammesGet to market faster using the best connectivity network for yourneeds. Investing and planning a large-scale project can be dauntingas enterprises have high expectations for their IoT business. That’swhy it’s vital to make smart investment choices about infrastructurenow, in advance, to ensure future viability and success.Aeris connectivity solutions are designed from the ground upexclusively for the rigours of IoT, not retrofitted from an existingconsumer system. Aeris provides a single portal for managing everydevice — one login for billing, support, APIs, VPN, and more. Andeverything is backed by our top-rated customer support teamsdedicated to your success.

Transitioning to New TechnologiesGain optimal efficiencies and new functionality with the latest IoTnetworks, such as LTE-M. Whether you are dealing with a technologysunset, wanting to lower hardware and battery costs, or just trying toreduce overall operating costs, the Aeris Fusion IoT Network providesthe pathway to higher functionality with greater cost savings. It is adynamic and flexible connectivity solution that adapts to a rapidlychanging environment. And it comes with the highest level ofsupport in the industry.

Whether you’re new to IoT ora veteran of the industry, Aeris

can help you get connected.

Replacing 2G/3G TechnologiesThere are many reasons companies switch technologies: Sunsettingof older technologies, controlling costs, or simply improving your IoTdeployment. Businesses will need to look past the protocols andtechnologies of today and deploy a solution that’s future-proof ―dynamic, flexible, and adaptable. Adopt next-gen connectivitytechnologies (LTE, LTE-M, NB-IoT) to improve cost and functionality ofany IoT business model. That’s the Aeris Fusion IoT Network.

Improving Your IoT DeploymentWith the Aeris Fusion IoT Network, you stay ahead of the competitionwith industry-leading, cost-effective, and flexible cellular IoT solutions.Expanding to new coverage areas is made simple by managingmultiple networks through Fusion’s unified dashboard. All in all,customers save 60% in connectivity costs, reduce over-the-air (OTA)update charges by 50%, and achieve 30% faster problem resolution.

With the Distribution Channel Package, customers simplify acomplex, business-critical function by creating an organised andsecure environment for managing IoT solutions. The delegated billingand reporting capabilities result in a reduction of operational costs forOEMs. The Aeris Fusion IoT Network lets you do all this and more.

Aeris Fusion IoT Network + LTE-M


Internet of Things

SPONSORED FEATURE

Data and Device SecurityAny device that is connected to the internet is at risk of beinghijacked. That’s the standard assumption. Businesses deploying IoTsolutions are responsible for protecting data and devices, as well asany corporate proprietary data. In the context of IoT, privacy andsecurity protocols need to ensure that access is limited only toappropriate and authorised personnel. To that end, the Aeris FusionIoT Network provides in-depth data and device security, including:

ConnectionLock™ConnectionLock prevents access to unauthorised endpoints or IPaddresses, creating an additional layer of security for IoT devices. Ifthe SIM card is stolen from the device, Aeris ConnectionLock ensuresthat the SIM card can connect to no other IP address or URL.• Connect, send, receive only to/from preselected IP addresses or endpoints.• ConnectionLock acts as an additional firewall within the Aeris Fusion IoT Network.• Aeris SIM cards cannot connect to other devices, thereby reducing security risks.• Our solution is implemented at the network level, without added complexity or work for the customer.

Connectivity-Aware OTA APIsOver-the-air (OTA) updates can be deployed to thousands of IoTdevices at once rather than requiring each device in the field to bemanually modified. OTA updates eliminate the need to sendtechnicians into the field, save owners time and money, and make IoTdeployments vastly more scalable.

The ability to make changes to many devices remotely is important,especially for operators of large-scale IoT deployments whereupdating devices manually would be a nearly impossible • Up to 50% reduction in time-to-completion for OTA campaigns.• Up to 50% reduction in OTA failure rates and data costs.• Scale for large deployments with ease.• Significantly reduce manual operations.

Visibility and Control The Aeris Fusion IoT Network provides robust IoT lifecyclemanagement, bound together with heightened customer support.Device traffic management provides customers with the ability toanalyse performance and cost drivers and, when combined with alertsmanagement, allows for a wide range of pre-defined or option-drivensystem alerts and reports, thereby ensuring optimum performance. Additional Aeris Fusion IoT Network functionalities include:

AerPort / APIs The Aeris AerPort™ dashboard provides a single portal for managingglobal deployments, including end-to-end device lifecyclemanagement, billing status, connectivity analytics, and access tocustomer support. Aeris also offers a rich set of REST APIs, enablingeasy integration into other management frameworks.

IoT Analytics By identifying devices with connectivity issues, analysing usageactivity, and focusing on outliers or devices behaving abnormally, youcan reduce equipment outages and downtime, resulting in decreasedbusiness expenditures. The Fusion IoT Network Analytics capabilitiesfind insights, issues, and potential security vulnerabilities before you do.

IoT Billing The Fusion IoT Network’s robust billing functionality enables a highlevel of flexibility in enabling new business models, includingdelegated billing to distribution partners and diverse rollover andpooling policies.

Whether you’re new to IoT or a veteran of the industry, Aeris can helpyou get connected.

Visit www.aeris.com or follow us on Twitter@AerisM2M to learn how we can inspire you to createnew business models and to participate in therevolution of the Internet of Things.


Internet of Things

How can MNOs ensure consistent quality and experiences for the ever-

growing number of video and gaming users, across hybrid networks?

2020 is set to be a busy year for mobile networkoperators (MNOs). Not only do many have tocontend with investments in 5G, many are alsofocused on the opportunities and challengespresented by the growth of mobile video andgaming. A clear understanding of these challengesis essential so that MNOs can capitalise on theopportunities.

“Demand for mobile video isexpected to exceed 75% of allmobile data by 2025”

The growth of demand for mobile video is well-known – it already accounts for more than 60% ofall mobile data, according to the latest edition ofEricsson’s Mobility Report (October 2019). This isexpected to exceed 75% by 2025. While some of thistraffic is related to MNO video packages, much isfrom providers such as Netflix and YouTube.Customer expectations have also surged – theability to stream video in real-time and to deliver ahigh-quality viewing experience are now criticalfactors in differentiating MNO offers.

Gaming has also become anincreasingly important elementof the mix, as mobile has becomethe preferred interface for many.

That’s because mobile devices provide a convenientmeans to access games and are cheaper thantraditional gaming consoles. Analysts at NewZoosuggest that more than 2.4 billion people playedmobile games in 2019.

This growth translates to revenue. NewZoo alsoestimates that mobile now provides the largestcontribution to overall global gaming revenue,

delivering 47% of the $134.9 billion generated in2018, up more than 12% from the previous year. WithMicrosoft and Google launching streamingplatforms for games and lower cost smartphonesbecoming increasingly available, this growth is set tocontinue. Investment firm Wedbush reckons thatmobile has the potential to triple the size of theoverall global gaming market by 2030.

All of which means that MNOs must ensurethat they can deliver the best experience totheir mobile subscribers for both video and gamingapplications, regardless of whether they providethem directly or simply enable access via theirnetworks.

5G complicates the situation. On the one hand,faster data rates and reduced latency promise anenhanced user experience. On the other, few if anyMNOs can deliver nationwide 5G coverage yet. Thismeans that users are likely to move between 5Gcells and existing LTE infrastructure, which willchange the performance obtained. Think about theneeds of passengers on a train or in a car, forexample. The experience they obtain from videoand gaming services will likely change, due todifferent connectivity conditions, demand fromother users, latency, and more.

Factors that negatively impact user experience willsignificantly undermine efforts to capitalise on thisgrowth. Sadly, users won’t really care about this –they’ll expect a great experience regardless. So,MNOs have a problem. They need to be able todeliver the most consistent experience to video andgaming users, whenever and wherever they try toaccess such services – and to maintain thisexperience as they move from one location toanother – from 5G to LTE and back again.

To deliver a better, more consistent experience,regardless of the underlying network, MNOs need,

Sustaining Service Performancein the Video and Gaming Age


DX article

Author: Inna Ott,

Director of Marketing at

Polystar

SPONSORED FEATURE

first, to be able to understand service performancefrom the perspective of the customer and, second,to be able to take proactive steps to maintain andprotect this. They need to be able to achieve thisboth for individual users, as well as for the completesubscriber base. How can MNOs accomplish this?The answer lies in advanced analytics.

MNOs need to be able to obtain analytics insightsinto service performance, which must extend tovideo and gaming services. In turn, such insightscan be used to construct KPIs that reflect therequired experience levels they need to deliver foreach service. For video, relevant indicators includedata such as resolution, video and audio bitrates,while latency is particularly important forinteractive gaming.

“The necessary analytics information can be obtained by monitoring service streams andsessions through the use of passiveprobes and processing engines thatcan extract relevant performanceand service information”

With the right solution, quality indicators, statisticalinformation, such as average play time or sessionduration, as well as the transitions betweendifferent bitrates can be obtained – creating acomprehensive overview of individual andaudience behaviour and how services areexperienced.

Monitoring video and gaming streams also requiresthe ability to examine encrypted content. This isnecessary because new, encrypted transportprotocols, such as QUICTM (“Quick UDP InternetConnections”), as well as existing solutions, such asSSL, are typically used to support video and gamingsessions. By understanding the performancedemands of individual sessions, MNOs can providebetter services – predicting degradations,

understanding demand for specific applications andcontent, and so on. Cumulatively, this data builds areal-time and historic picture of both individual andoverall service performance levels.

Not only is this application-specific data nowmandatory, MNOs also need to correlateperformance across different network interfaces,ranging from UMTS to LTE and now to 5G NSA and,ultimately, to 5G SA. This requires the ability tomonitor across all interfaces, as well as to extractthe rich information contained in specific packets.Such information can be used to understanddemand in specific locations and to predict futureconsumption patterns. It can also guide futureinvestments, directing capacity to where it isactually needed.

Mobile video and gaming will dominate futurenetwork traffic. Users have an almost insatiabledemand for content – and will expect to be able toobtain a consistent, high-quality experience. MNOsprovide infrastructure critical to obtaining theseexperiences, so must take action to deliver, even ifother stakeholders provide the content and gamesusers enjoy.

“The deployment of advanced analytics solutions for both videoand gaming traffic is now essential,so that MNOs can understandperformance, troubleshooteffectively, and take thenecessary steps to satisfy futuredemands – while also drivinginvestments for coverage rollout”

Without the ability to access such analyticsinformation, MNOs will be unable to capitalise onsurging consumer demand, undermining their rolein the ecosystem while losing subscribers to rivalsthat are able to deliver.


DX article

Meet Polystar at MWC,Hall 6, Stand 6G31

MNOs need to be able to obtain analytics

insights into service performance, which must

extend to video and gaming services

Artificial Intelligence is not simply the stuff of science fiction. It is

here now and public attitudes to it are warming. A Swiss company

has launched an online 3D Virtual Dressing Room using smartphone

body scanning technology that creates a 3D body model in seconds.

The app calculates a comprehensive list of up to 45 body measurements.

Meepl’s smartphone-enabled 3D Virtual DressingRoom (VDR) solution is designed for e-commercesites, transforming the online shopping experience,providing a customer-centric solution to theproblems of garment sizing and fit, and preventingunnecessary order returns – a big issue for retailbusinesses.

Product fit is an ongoing concern for onlineclothing shoppers, with 21% of consumers said to beavoiding online clothing purchases because theydo not know how items will fit – in size, suitabilityor look. This barrier is also leading shoppers toorder multiple sizes with the intention of returningone or more items.

The meepl Virtual Dressing Room solution allowscustomers to virtually try-on clothes using a 3Dbody avatar. This much is not new, but thetechnology behind meepl uses an ArtificialIntelligence (AI) engine to simulate 3D garmentmodels - in real-time - on to 3D body avatars. Thishelps to represent gender, fit, size and shaperealistically.

With just two pictures, taken from a smartphoneapp, online shoppers can create a personalisedmeepl in seconds. Meepl then calculates acomprehensive list of body measurements, as ifyou were measured by a professional tailor.

Ferdinand Metzler, CEO of meepl says, “Theaddition of this experience to the online shoppingjourney will help to tackle the need forunnecessary returns, and improve the purchasesuccess rates.”

Over the next few months, meepl will be adding aBody Scanning solution and Size Recommendationtool. These will give online shoppers a morepersonalised shopping experience, with the goal ofincreasing satisfaction rates and bringing furthervalue to the customer.

‘Moneyball moment’ as MicroStrategy partners with DataRobot to ease the way to AI-driven insights

To make it easier for businesses to integrateartificial intelligence (AI) into their most popularapplications and core processes, MicroStrategy® Inc.(Nasdaq: MSTR), a worldwide provider of enterpriseanalytics and mobility software, has formed a newtechnology partnership with DataRobot, a specialistin enterprise artificial intelligence (AI).

Using HyperIntelligence cards to deliver AI-driveninsights and recommendations injects trusted andpredictive analytics directly into popular businessapplications on both web and mobile. Theseinclude Google’s G Suite, Microsoft Office 365, andSaaS applications such as Salesforce, Workday, andConfluence. According to the partners, this revealsinsights to users instantly, without interruptingtheir existing workflows.

MicroStrategy 2019, in combination withDataRobot’s Enterprise AI platform, aims to speeddecision-making and enhance employeeproductivity with AI-driven insights andrecommendations, delivered into the tools, apps,and devices that people rely on every day.

Your perfect jeansare only a 3Dbody scan away



In addition, withMicroStrategy’s open-sourcepackages for Python and R,data scientists can useDataRobot to automaticallytrain, optimise, and deploymachine learning models ontrusted data, securely and atenterprise scale. WithDataRobot and MicroStrategy,data scientists can reportedlyobtain quicker time-to-value,solve complex problems, anddeliver AI-driven insights tobusiness users across multipleform factors.

Marge Breya, senior executive vice president and CMOat MicroStrategy Incorporated says, “This is a‘Moneyball’ moment for organisations looking tosuccessfully shift to AI to better serve their customersand boost the bottom line. Actionable insights intocomplex business problems can now be gleaned inseconds, as well as correlations that would take aperson weeks or months to pinpoint. Our technologypartnership with DataRobot delivers a powerful, game-changing solution that fully leverages enterprise dataassets and enables people on-the-go to act on it,unlocking new sources of growth and opportunities tomove forward in today’s AI-driven era.”

“Organisations want to extract value from theirenterprise data, yet often struggle with adopting AI in away that drives measurable business impact due tolack of technical skill or dedicated data scienceresources,” comments Seann Gardiner, EVP of BusinessDevelopment at DataRobot. “Through our technologypartnership, organisations can now leverage best-of-breed technology to develop thoughtful applicationsthat integrate predictive and prescriptive modellingacross all areas of the business.”

‘Generation AI’ study by IEEE shows millennial parents’ trust in AI for their kids’ health

The world's largest technical professional organisationdedicated to advancing technology for humanity, the IEEE,recently unveiled "Generation AI 2019: Third AnnualStudy of Millennial Parents and Generation Alpha Kids."

It may be a bit of a mouthful, but the survey shows theconfidence that millennial parents in the U.S., U.K.,India, China and Brazil with Generation Alpha children(nine years-old or younger) often have in using AI andemerging technologies for the health and wellness oftheir children.

Born 2010-2025, Generation Alpha is growing up withAI benefiting their health and wellness, and technologyinfiltrating nearly every aspect of their lives.(See: https://transmitter.ieee.org/health-2019).

3D-printed heart surgeryOthers might hesitate, but most millennialparents would allow a 3D-printed heart tobe implanted in their children. Humandonor organ availability can mean thedifference between life and death. Butresearchers are using 3D printingtechnologies to develop organs,including hearts that use human cells,collagen and biological molecules.

A majority of parents (U.S.: 52%; U.K.:60%; Brazil: 75%; India: 92%; China: 94%)would be ready to allow a properlytested/fully functional 3D-printedheart to be implanted in their child ifneeded in the future.

AI-powered virtual nurse? There are limits and regionalvariations, however. Though telehealth,AI and remote monitoring tools arehelping nursing expand care beyond in-person bedside monitoring creating apractically virtual nurse, a majority ofmillennial parents in the U.S. (67%) andU.K. (57%) would not be comfortableleaving their child in the care of an AI-powered virtual nurse during a hospital stay.

Conversely, a majority of millennial parents in China(88%), India (83%) and Brazil (61%) would be verycomfortable leaving their child at the hospital in thecare of an AI-powered virtual nurse.

AI appeals in later life care A preference is growing among millennial parents forusing AI to live independently during their golden yearsrather than relying on their Generation Alpha children.

The most dramatic growth in preference for AI to liveindependently in their golden years is among Brazilianparents, which leapt to 82% in 2019, from 61% in 2018. Asimilar trend is seen in India, where 90% of millennialparents in 2019 prefer to rely on AI as compared to 79%in 2018. China’s millennial parents continue to have thehighest preference for AI support as they age - 93% in2019 vs. 94% in 2018.

"Generation AI 2019: Third Annual Study of

Millennial Parents of Generation Alpha Kids"

surveyed 2,000 parents, aged 23–38 years-old,

with at least one child nine years old or younger

- 400 each in the United States, United Kingdom,

India, China and Brazil. The surveys were

conducted October 2 - 9, 2019.

https://transmitter.ieee.org/ai



Marge Breyasenior executive vice

president and CMO

MicroStrategy

Incorporated

A cultural shift in attitudes to

analytics will be essential for

businesses to compete in the age of

digital transformation. So says a

recent research* report undertaken

by Censuswide on behalf of MHR

Analytics (www.mhranalytics.com).

A quarter of the 500 professionals surveyedfor MHR Analytics said resistance fromsenior management was preventing theircompany from adopting analytics,suggesting that many could be left behindas their forward-thinking competitorsadvance.

A further 23% said their company’straditional reliance on manual spreadsheetswas holding them back from takingadvantage of widely available technology.

The survey of finance and technologyprofessionals working in large UKorganisations was conducted by MHRAnalytics and Censuswide to understandthe barriers some companies face inprogressing their analytics capabilities, andtheir technological aspirations for thecoming decade.

Analytics white paper breaksdown barriersTo help break down these barriers, artificialintelligence (AI) specialist, Bernard Marr(www.mhranalytics.com/resources/influencers/bernard-marr/) and MHR Analytics havejointly released a guide entitled “Advancingwith Analytics: Spreadsheets to AI”. Itincludes practical tips and examples from arange of organisations that have managedto move away from error-pronespreadsheets and adopt more sophisticatedanalytics, and even artificial intelligence.

Cultural shift by enterpriseleaders is vital for businesssurvival in age of analytics

Bernard Marr

Data Analytics


“For me, the examples in the guide demonstrate howthe data maturity journey is about taking manageablesteps, rather than huge leaps,” said Marr.

“From better planning and decision-making, tosmoother operations and automated processes, dataanalytics fuels business improvements. Yet, for theaverage business, adopting advanced analyticstechniques like AI is never going to be an overnightshift,” he said.

“Adopting more advanced analytics can seem like amammoth, unachievable task. That’s why I prefer tothink of analytics as a journey, with analyticstechniques gradually becoming more advanced as youprogress further along the road.”

“A business advances on this journey one stage at atime, gradually meeting more and more business needsthrough data analytics.”

“Progressing to planning analytics – stage three of thedata maturity journey – tends to be a key milestone formost businesses, since this is the stage that bridges thegap between basic reporting and more exciting,forward-looking technologies. Therefore, I have placedmore emphasis on planning analytics in the guide thanthe other four phases,” he added.

Skills shortageOther barriers to advancing analytics revealed in theMHR Analytics survey included a perceived lack ofskills within organisations, siloed working practicesand concerns about data quality, data protection andsecurity.

In addition to Marr’s Spreadsheets to AI guide, MHRAnalytics has also provided a data maturity quiz to helporganisations find out where they are on the datajourney and receive free tailored advice about how toprogress with analytics to remain competitive.

MHR Analytics is a specialist provider of businessintelligence, analytics and financial performance

management. The team enables businesses tocapitalise on the data available to them, to identifyopportunities and prepare for the future – whateverstage of the data journey they are on.

With an end-to end-suite of quality solutions from IBM,SAP, Tagetik and Microsoft, MHR Analytics supportscustomers to go beyond intuition and act based on realevidence.

The growing business has been established for 10 yearsand has a presence in eight countries and more than 20different private and public sectors, with a proven trackrecord of over 750 successful implementations.Customers include Admiral Group, RotherhamMetropolitan Borough Council, Edinburgh NapierUniversity and Loughborough University.

Bernard Marr regularly contributes to the WorldEconomic Forum and is a strategic business andtechnology advisor to businesses and companiesaround the globe.

*The survey of 500 UK finance and technology professionals

employed by large UK companies was conducted by

Censuswide on behalf of MHR Analytics in August 2019.


“Progressing to planninganalytics tends to be a keymilestone for most businesses.”

www.mhranalytics.com

A 100-year-old manufacturer, ASPINA, embraces the data revolution

Making the industrial world turn For more than a century, ASPINA has been at the forefront of industrialinnovation. Yukinori Kaneko, its Japanese founder, revolutionised theworld of silk spinning back when yarn was considered hi-tech.

Since it turned to motors in the 1960s, its engineering know-how hashelped makers of industrial equipment, automotive components, andmedical technologies continually push new boundaries. ShinanoKenshi, its long-time corporate brand, means “swordsmaster of goods”— a reflection of its constant evolution, diversification, and embracingof new technologies.

Under the new corporate brand, ASPINA, it continues to aspire to findnew ways to grow together with customers, while remaining focusedon the future of new technologies. ASPINA innovation technologiesare embedded in everything impacting and simplifying human livesfrom respiratory devices to automotive comfort systems, to robotics —developing the core motor application to a higher-level completesystem solution.

Today, giving its customers the best means more than just deliveringtop-of-the-line components. It also means ensuring its devices are

ready to seize the opportunities of the Internet of Things (IoT) era —and enable its customers to build smart products that make the mostof big data.

Back in 2017, ASPINA unveiled a new business development unit,based in California, which sought to look beyond the company’s coremechanical products and investigate ways to increasingly packagehardware and software together. Management soon began looking fora partner to power this intelligent transformation. Cumulocity IoT,Software AG’s industry-leading, open IoT platform, turned out to bejust what they needed.

Toward an IoT-enabled prototype The Cumulocity IoT platform wasn’t an obvious choice at first.ASPINA had its own software engineers in-house and wasconsidering building a homegrown IoT solution. It then looked intoCumulocity IoT along with three other external platforms.

Cumulocity IoT won the day because it offered the best mix ofessential features. It had the power to provide lightning-fast visibilityover remote assets, yet its architecture was strikingly simple. It wasalso cost-competitive and offered edge computation — which meantthat data would be closer to IT managers’ fingertips.

Motoring toward theInternet of Things era

Case Study

THE EVOLVING ENTERPRISE I Q1 202030 SPONSORED FEATURE

Cumulocity IoT also came with the promise ofsupport from Software AG’s IoT Center ofExcellence — a perk that proved its value rightafter a deal was signed in 2018. That’s whenASPINA’s business development unit beganbuilding a sample smart device to test itsnewfound capabilities. After three months, it hada product; a dashboard-connected prototypeindustrial blower.

ASPINA then took it on the road to present it totarget customers and its own teams in Germany,Japan, and China. According to Marcel Azary,ASPINA’s Senior Vice President for BusinessDevelopment, Software AG’s support in thisprocess was critical.

“At the beginning, we definitely needed somehand-holding,” he said. “They were supportive andmost importantly they were patient. Overall, thechemistry with Software AG has been fabulous.”

The sensors that could save lives The prototyping process led ASPINA to severalinsights. Most important was the need to targetcustomers whose future products would live ordie through connectivity. Many of these werecompanies developing IoT-enabled medicaldevices, offering real-time diagnostics that cansave and improve patients’ lives.

Today, ASPINA is in advanced stages ofdiscussion with three companies over what ithopes will soon become commercialised smartproducts — including a wearable blood pressuremonitor that creates models to predict when apatient is about to undergo heart failure.

ASPINA’s appeal, Azary said, is that its bread andbutter (motors) are at the core of many wearabledevices. And the most accurate data comes fromsensors embedded in motors, rather than thosethat might be added during later stages of assembly.

“We’re introducing connectivity to the most basicstage of the design,” he said. “By building ourmotors with sensors in them already, andoffering them with Cumulocity IoT’s top-notchanalytics, we’ve created a solution that we thinkwill be hard to beat.”

As ASPINA works toward bringing these newproducts to market, it’s already testing additionalSoftware AG solutions that could further fuel itsemergence as an industrial analyticspowerhouse. At the top of the list is TrendMiner,the high-performance analytics engine for datacaptured in time series. With TrendMiner, Azaryexplained, process engineers and operators caneasily build models based on data as it’s beingstreamed — without the need of an expert datascientist.

Azary called this a “jewel,” noting it is especiallyappealing for new applications, where data is toofresh to manually search for trends. He admitted,however, that is for the future.

For now, ASPINA is embarking on its newfoundIoT adventure one step at a time. “WithCumulocity IoT, we are changing our way ofthinking,” Azary said, noting the company’s newemphasis on connectivity lines up perfectly withthe launch of early 5G networks. “We’re sitting ona platform that’s about to take off.”

New challenges for ASPINA • Shift toward diversification in new products and markets • Need for customer solutions that integrate hardware and software • Pressure to understand the coming IoT and 5G eras

Software AG solutions • Cumulocity IoT Platform

Key benefits • Facilitated the design of intelligent, life-saving medical devices • Enabled game-changing pivot into industrial analytics • Expanded versatility of ASPINA’s offerings • Created new business opportunities

ASPINA is a global precision manufacturer that designs, develops, and supplies motors and othertop-quality components to business customers across a range of industries. Headquartered inUeda, Japan, it was established in 1918 as a silk yarn manufacturer.

In September 2019, Shinano Kenshi migrated its corporate brand to ASPINA to strive for evengreater contributions on a global scale. Following its mission statement, “Shaping the hopes fortomorrow and providing comfort to the world’s people,” the company focuses on how it can helpbetter the lives of people through its technology. With a team of 5,000 employees across Asia,North America, and Europe its 2018 sales reached over US$400 million.

Customer profile

Case Study


“Thanks to our Cumulocity IoT partnership, we’re no longer justthe manufacturers of products. We’re building systems thatcreate the perfect world of hardware and software together.And it’s positioning us to thrive in the coming 5G era.” — Marcel Azary | Senior Vice President for Business Development, ASPINA

“The debate has ended. Not implementing artificial intelligence (AI) is no

longer an option. Every company should have an effective AI strategy, not

least because as the pace of innovation accelerates, such an approach will

present them with new opportunities to transform their business.

The growing ability of businesses to employ streamsof business and operational data to drive machineintelligence and access insights is driving AI’smomentum. Currently, companies typically only use asmall amount of the data they have collected. Thisprovides huge potential for implementing digital

twins (virtual copies of a company’s assets andprocesses,) which can unlock the potential value fromall that data.

In 1984, “Neuromancer”, a scientific fiction novel byWilliam Gibson, captured the imagination of readers –

Future-proof your assetswith digital twinning

Ron Beck,Director of

AspenTech

Digital Twins


Based on models and real-time data,the digital twin is an evolving digitalprofile of behaviour of a physicalobject or process that optimisesbusiness performance

as a prelude to the world of AI. Gibson envisioned the massivevalue and power that digital twins can bring and how they canchange the world. More than three decades later, this vision ismaterialising in the enterprise world. Virtual copies of physicallocations and activities provide an insightful way for companiesto harness the true value of data, as AI helps humans access thismassive world of multi-dimensional data. The power of AI and theinterconnected industrial world to unlock critical insights viadata mining and by leveraging domain expertise helps technologyinnovators create turnkey solutions for digital twins.

No longer dreamtime…The reality is here with advanced technology available ondemand. The golden question now is where to invest, as digitaltwins transform asset-intensive businesses, especially those inenergy and chemical sectors. In today’s volatile, uncertain,complex and ambiguous (VUCA) marketplace, the deployment ofdigital twins can help companies achieve sustainability andoperational excellence.

Digital twinning technology provides a valuable model of thephysical asset to help explore ‘what-if’ scenarios safely andprovide forecasting capabilities and advice on degradation, assetfailure events and more. This can be achieved using self-learningsystems as well as by capturing the knowledge of experts. Digitaltwins also function as business models to optimise variousbusiness scenarios.

Based on models and real-time data, the digital twin is anevolving digital profile of behaviour of a physical object or processthat optimises business performance. This provides importantinsights into system performance which, in turn, leads to actionsin the physical world.

The digital twin takes advantage of asset data to stay updated andis increasingly made more intelligent by AI agents. First, thedigital twin ensures that the process plant is modelled vigorouslyusing engineering models, enhanced via AI techniques withembedded cost and risk models.

Second, the operational digital twin ensures that plant operationsare modelled and viewed virtually as planning, scheduling, controland utility models. Areas covered include planning and scheduling,demand models, distribution models, energy demand and supply,as well as control and optimisation. We expect autonomouslyoptimised production to be available soon in refining.

Third, the operational integrity digital twin provides tactical andstrategic decision guidance around prescriptive maintenance and

real-time decision-making to maximise uptime, adjustproduction, minimise environmental impact and productionlosses, and prioritise safety. The digital twin also covers assetcondition and sustainability. And can feed back to engineering toimprove weak points in the asset.

Overall, companies need a future-proof digital referencearchitecture to structure the implementation of digital twinssupporting collaboration and integration across businessfunctions.

Powered by business valueScaling up digital twins can deliver significant value for theenterprise. Unit level models, for example, can generate very highvalue returns for digital twins – involving process, assetcondition, control and optimisation online models. Energy andutility models, refinery and bulk chemical planning, specialitychemical scheduling, debottlenecking and de-risking andemissions present high-value opportunities for plants to adoptdigital twin models. A new but important area, enterprise-levelvisualisation tied to actionable work flows, allows rapid analysisof available enterprise profit opportunity options and effectivelypresents insights and operational status at the executive level.

Examples of success with digital twins include:

• YPFB Andina, a Bolivian upstream company, has increased yield by millions of dollars via an asset-wide digital twin model.• A major US-based international refiner adopted machine learning digital twins to improve uptime and margins, saving tens of million dollars in avoided equipment degradation.• Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) implemented an integrated digital twin and achieved 90% reduction in sulfur emissions and derived economic value from recovered sulfur for sale – all within six months.• A polymer producer implemented a multivariate analysis-based digital twin approach which manages a wide range of specialty chemical applications, where product quality is key and often problematic.

Companies are progressing with new, advanced technology – butit is also necessary to be strategic and have a roadmap to getahead. As businesses invest in digital twins, it is critical toobserve at a high level how this technology will help themovertake the competition. Beyond technology, companies shouldalso take note of their organisational change and evolution.Organisational adaption, enthusiasm and readiness must bemanaged regularly, as business value creation is a key driver oftechnology.”

Opinion


It’s time to transform your financial services business into a

competitor for the modern, technology-based marketplace.

The financial services industry, like many others, isgoing through a metamorphosis. It is transitioning fromcomplete in-house IT operations to leveraging managedservice providers (MSPs) to future-proof a business’infrastructure. Emily Nerland, channel director, EMEA atMasergy reports.

While millennials and tech-savvy consumers expecteverything to be available instantly, businesses requiremore flexibility and security thanks to the recentproclivity of hacking; requiring higher bandwidths foroperation as well as a higher standard of resilience toensure greater protection against vulnerabilities thatcould bring established financial institutions to a halt.

What are the IT and comms trends inthis sector?Over half of businesses are investing in technologyintended to develop their customer services*. Sincemajor banks have had half a decade to develop theirapps that allow customers to see their accounts, applyfor new services or alter existing ones and all at the ‘tapof a button’, always accessible services have become anexpected feature and show no signs of waning.

Recently, digital-only banks have found a niche bytaking advantage of much lower running costs and theability to have thousands of clients running transactionsthrough a small office without the need for customerfacing staff and can therefore pass those savings on tocustomers. This presents new challenges for theestablished players around how to offer the same level ofcustomer service whilst also providing a competitiveservice, compared to these new disruptors.

Digital transformation and operational improvementsare the two next largest directives* for investment,proving across the industry that businesses are realisingthat investing in managed service providers, and theirrecent advances in networking technologies such as SD-WAN, can instigate changes throughout a business andtransform them into competitors for the modern,technology-based marketplace.

Moreover, there is a proliferation of cloud-based SaaSproducts (like Office 365 or Dropbox) and a secure,network foundation is necessary to deliver these. Byemploying a Software-Defined Wide Area Network, (SD-WAN), businesses maximise the bandwidth of their

Are you meeting thedemands of the newdigital consumer?

Financial Services


* A DigitalTransformation white paper is at: http://bit.ly/2TAbSfo

network as data is directed through the mosteffective transport method (private, public,wireless, etc.).

Elevating customer experienceFaster networks also allow for quicker EPOS /E-commerce transactions, real-time updatingof records with minimal latency and moreefficient CRM systems, as employees aren’thindered by bottlenecks when loading data.

Scaling the businessBy their nature, cloud-systems operating inlarge data centres, manage the heavycomputational tasks and send the end-product to an employee’s terminal. Therefore,there is no need for expensive servers andpowerful desktop machines when openingnew sites, the cloud takes that strain away.All that’s required is a robust internetconnection and a device to receive the data.This gives businesses more flexibility toscale, as and when required, and couldnegate the need for an in-house technicalteam.

Providing added resilienceCloud networks provide an extra layer ofsecurity given that data is usually encryptedeither end-to-end or via multi-site firewalls,to ensure data is not accessed en route.Having the data off site and managed by aservice provider increases resiliency, as evenif a host device is compromised the data isstill safe at the source. However, no networkis impenetrable, and data can still be affectedby human error like ‘phishing attacks’.

How is the purchasing behaviourof this vertical changing?Given that hiring strong, technically ablestaff is becoming more challenging,businesses are starting to purchase moreSaaS products to leverage provenapplications and reduce staffing costs byeliminating in-house development.Therefore, identifying where to investrequires strong collaboration between ITmanagers and CIO/CTOs in order todetermine where resources can maximiseReturn on Investment (ROI). Theseconversations should be focused on elevatingcustomer experience, scaling the businessand providing added resilience to networks.Every business has its own unique sellingpoints and leveraging those in your digitalstrategy is still vital to a successfulimplementation. Allowing a trusted MSP toeffectively supervise your infrastructure canhelp businesses leverage proven technologythat benefits operations and customerexperience and ultimately meet the demands

of the 21st Century digital consumer.

Big Data is another massive growth area.Businesses are translating vast amounts ofcustomer and market data into actionableinformation, in order to drive productdevelopment. Requiring super-fast datacentres to ‘crunch the numbers’, theseanalytics can give businesses a clearperception of customer behaviour andspending, which has the potential to guidethe next wave of product development,differentiating businesses from theircompetition. However, the insights that BigData can provide are only as useful as theway the data is manipulated and understood,thus finding a specialist that can helptranslate what may be terabytes of data intoviable perceptions is essential.

Which products and services are selling well?Many managed service providers presentother benefits based around their core cloudinfrastructure. Cloud computing will increasean institution’s flexibility as data can beviewed through a web-based portal, from anyinternet-connected device. Therefore,managers can access reports and analyticsat a time to suit them. Cloud platforms areeasily scalable too, so acquisitions and newoffices can hit the ground running withoutthe need for massive hardware installations.

It may not be feasible to switch to a cloud-only strategy but there are ways to leverageSD-WAN to better compete via a Hybrid WAN.By offloading some of the infrastructure tothe cloud you reduce bandwidthrequirements for expensive MPLS lines andinstead, can route data traffic through themost efficient path whilst keeping vital dataon-site. SD-WAN systems present businesseswith a cost-saving tool, which will free upresources that could be repurposed forcustomer retention, amongst other optionsand offers the opportunity of fully migratingto the cloud in the future, once operationalconcerns are ironed out.

What are the considerations for partners wanting to enter and succeed in this vertical?Whether you’re an established business or anew disruptor in the market, the focus mustbe ‘how are you meeting the demands of thenew digital consumer?’ Internet use is onlyincreasing, so ensuring your networkincreases efficiency and maximises growthin the future is certainly a factor to bear inmind. Thus, utilising the expertise ofManaged Service Providers is vital as it

allows managers and decision makers toremain as hands-off as possible, so that theycan focus on the business’ currentoperations.

Security is a major consideration too, for boththose new to the industry as well asseasoned businesses. Increasingly complexregulatory requirements are proving hard forfinanciers to handle in-house as thosetalented security experts are few and farbetween. The continual threat that hackerspresent to consumer trust in a business, aswell as the financial implications if valuableinformation or assets are stolen, arepresenting challenges to the industry.Outsourcing the responsibility toexperienced MSPs provides a level ofexpertise that would be hard to findinternally and ensures staff are notdistracted by technical issues.

MSPs can provide a level of responsibility, butthis does not mean that businesses can washtheir hands of discussions around networksecurity and future infrastructure. Decisionmakers must be continually assessing risksand consumer behaviour to decide whereassets and investment should be positionedto maximise their possible return.

Hacking shows no signs of stopping andtherefore, businesses in the coming yearswill only further realise the need for a securenetwork that enables reliable transactions,cloud services, access to mobile apps and thecapability for future growth.

The author is

Emily Nerland,

channel director, EMEA, at

Masergy (www.masergy.com).

Financial Services


Retailers operate in a digital-first marketplace and that means not just

using technology but being alert to the fast-changing buying patterns of

digital consumers and organisations. Here Mark Bennigsen, service

delivery director at Columbus UK, identifies the four technologies that

will enable ‘digitally mature’ retailers to not only cope with accelerated

changes in the industry but future-proof their business in this digital

ecosystem. He warns that those failing to adapt risk joining the growing

list of established brands that have fallen by the wayside.

Let me define ‘digitally mature’ retailers. They have asolid commerce platform that enables new andexisting customers to easily find products on thedevice of their choice – and it ensures that promiseson delivery, pricing and availability can beconsistently met. But the advantages of this type ofplatform are huge for business intelligence. It allows abusiness to collect insightful customer data, process it

faster and adapt to meet evolving customer demands.Here are the four technologies that are essential forretailers to plot their commerce journey and stayahead of the digital curve going into the next decade.

1. Product Information Management (PIM)An effective PIM system has the potential to savebusinesses time, money and energy. PIM enables

How ‘digitally mature’retailers can stand the test ofa digital-first marketplace

Retail Technologies


businesses to collect all information and material used formarketing in a single location and keep customers’ needs top ofmind at all times. A PIM system makes a retailer think from theperspective of the customer – considering the type of informationcustomers need during their purchasing journey. This type ofsolution can then be used to not just gather the data but use it toenrich product information to create and deliver a compellingproduct experience.

PIM implementations support multiple content types spanningtextual materials, product images, videos and more. With the rightinformation in the right place, businesses can improve theirproduct content and category managers can ensure that accurate,timely and high-quality product data is available across all saleschannels.

2. Content Management Systems (CMS)It is essential to create personalised web content that reinforcesand improves brand messaging and engagement. An advancedCMS does just this by allowing an organisation to quickly manageand update web content to best align its brand to match buyingbehaviours.

The journey towards complete personalisation starts withattracting customers via increased SEO (search engineoptimisation) efficiency and engaging them through effectiveseasonal and trending content curation. This converts toincreased customer relevancy and personalisation – analyticsbeing a key factor in optimising the journey – which leads ontothe creation of content-rich emails that target specific customers.

In this way, CMS helps retailers work more intelligently –delivering a comprehensive customer journey and experiencefrom landing pages through to payment and checkout, while alsoenhancing product and catalogue management.

3. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)According to Gartner, 81% of purchases will be based on customerexperience by 2020, so ensuring that experience is right isessential to future success in the digital marketplace. ModernCRM systems enable retailers to effectively engage with

customers throughout their entire lifecycle – from marketing andsales to customer service and advocacy. An effective CRMsolution supports the automation of manual tasks, but moreimportantly it allows businesses to better understand theircustomer base and provides the opportunity to engage with them.

As the market evolves and new technologies continue to beembraced, businesses must assess how they are interweavingdigital tools with sales, marketing and customer service, and aCRM solution will be a key component for any retailer on theircommerce journey.

4. Artificial Intelligence (AI)Retailers can use AI to help them digitally transform and providetheir customers with the best experience possible. AI is key tocreating a highly personalised customer journey by usingcustomer history to predict future needs and purchases. Powerful,connected algorithms lead to intelligent content suggestions,product recommendations and customer profiling which all helpto accelerate business growth. These algorithms can ensurecustomers are provided with relevant content, while businessdashboards can be used to monitor and direct algorithms toensure their effectiveness. In this way AI can also provide anintelligent solution to basket abandonment, as well as a personaltouch when it comes to chatbot interactions.

The way consumers interact with brands is changing as the retailmarket keenly adopts emerging technologies, and businessesmust take advantage of AI to drive product innovation andenhance their processes to advance in this digital world.

Sink or swim in today’s digital marketplaceOperating a commerce platform made up of these fourtechnologies will help businesses secure their futures in today’sdigital marketplace. Businesses must redefine their marketproposition and harness valuable insights generated fromemerging technologies to shape their future brand messaging.Those who can adapt their operations to meet ever-changingcustomer demands and market trends will benefit from increasedsales from existing customers, and consistently attract newcustomers to grow their customer base.

The author is Mark Bennigsen,

service delivery director of

Columbus UK.

Retail Technologies


Digital Transformation Events 2020

What’s On

IoT Evolution Expohttps://www.smartiotlondon.com/11-14 FebruaryFort Lauderdale, Florida USA

The Smart City Eventhttps://www.thesmartcityevent.com/east/11-14 FebruaryFort Lauderdale, Florida USA

The Industrial IoT Conferencehttps://www.iiotevent.com/east/11-14 FebruaryFort Lauderdale, Florida USA

MWC Barcelona 2020https://www.mwcbarcelona.com24-27 FebruaryBarcelona, Spain

Smart IoT London | Excelhttps://www.smartiotlondon.com/11-12 MarchLondon, UK

IoT Tech Expo Global 2020 https://www.iottechexpo.com/global17 - 18 MarchLondon, UK

5G MENAhttps://tmt.knect365.com/5g-mena/29 – 31 MarchJumeirah St, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

FutureNet World, Londonhttps://www.futurenetworld.net/24 - 25 MarchLondon, UK

Hannover Messe, Germanyhttps://www.hannovermesse.de/home20 - 24 AprilHannover, Germany

Internet of Things Worldhttps://tmt.knect365.com/iot-world/6 - 9 AprilSan Jose, California, USA

Mobile 360 Security for 5Ghttps://www.mobile360series.com/29 - 30 AprilThe Hague, Netherlands

MVNOs World Congresshttps://tmt.knect365.com/mvnos-world-congress/27 - 30 AprilBerlin, Germany

5G Latin Americahttps://tmt.knect365.com/5g-latin-america/27 - 29 AprilRio de Janeiro, Brazil

Smart Transportation & Mobilityhttps://tmt.knect365.com/smart-transportation-mobility/MayLondon, UK

Big 5G Eventhttps://tmt.knect365.com/big-5g-event/18-20 MayIrving, Texas, USA

Digital Healthcare & EHI Livehttps://www.digitalhealthcareshow.com/24 - 25 JuneLondon, UK

MWC Shanghai 2020https://www.mwcshanghai.com/30 June - 2 JulyShanghai, China

IoT World Europe Summithttps://tmt.knect365.com/iot-world-europe/10 - 11 JuneLondon, UK

AR&VR Worldhttps://tmt.knect365.com/ar-vr-world/10 - 11 JuneLondon, UK

Blockchain for Businesshttps://tmt.knect365.com/blockchain-business-summit/10 - 11 JuneLondon, UK

Cloud & DevOps Worldhttps://tmt.knect365.com/cloud-devops-world/10 - 11 JuneLondon, UK

Digital Transformation World inCopenhagenhttps://dtw.tmforum.org/16 - 18 JuneCopenhagen, Denmark

Mobile 360 Latin Americahttps://www.mobile360series.com/2 - 4 JuneMexico City, Mexico

Mobile 360 MENAhttps://www.mobile360series.com/9 - 10 JuneCairo, Egypt

5G Worldhttps://tmt.knect365.com/5gworldevent/9- 11 JuneLondon, UK

IoT Tech Expo Europehttps://www.iottechexpo.com/europe1 – 2 JulyAmsterdam, Netherlands

Digital Transformation North America https://dtaw.tmforum.org/21 - 25 SeptemberDallas, Texas, USA

The AI Summit Singaporehttps://tmt.knect365.com/ai-summit-singapore/22 - 23 SeptemberSingapore, Asia


Global Advisors on AI, IoT and Digital Transformation

For more information about Transforma Insights productsand services, visit us at transformainsights.com

Transforma Insights is the leading research firm focusedon the world of Digital Transformation (DX) led byseasoned technology industry analysts including formerfounders of Machina Research Matt Hatton and JimMorrish. We provide advice, recommendations and decisionsupport tools for organisations seeking to understand hownew technologies and new business models will disruptmarkets in which they operate and necessitate internaltransformation. For technology vendors we provide bestpractice, market sizing and peer benchmarking.

Matt HattonFoundingPartner

Jim MorrishFoundingPartner

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