1. technology and computing

Services,
Technology and
Consulting Newsletter
April 2015
Welcome to Latitude Executive Consulting’s newsletter, rounding up news in
the first quarter of 2015 within the Services, Technology and Consulting
sectors. The material has been sourced from a range of media and business
contacts/partners.
great start to 2015.
The organisations covered in this
issue are:
1. BT
2. SunZu
3. Capgemini
4. Deloitte
5. Infosys
6. IBM
7. PA Consulting
8. Cognizant
1.
BT
In Milan, BT has announced the opening of a new concept store. It gives
retailers a vision of how creative use of technology can radically transform the
in-store shopping experience. Designed as a real shop branded 'Alexander
Black', it showcases more than 40 innovative technologies that create a
personalised experience for customers who do their shopping in 'bricks and
mortar' stores.
The Alexander Black shop also demonstrates how the in-store experience can
be seamlessly integrated with the brand's online, mobile and customer service
channels to create an intelligent and consistent experience across all
channels. The Milan shop, opening six months after the launch of the first
Alexander Black store in New York, contains live, real time demonstrations of
BT solutions that show how technologies such as RFID, NFC (Near Field
Communications), BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy), beacons and Wi-Fi can
transform the in-store shopping experience, e.g.
o
improve individual customer engagement and the overall in-store
experience
o
improve the retailer's in-store operations and support their omnichannel
strategy
o provide shop floor staff with real-time visibility of inventory across all
E channels and global supply chain
x
oa enable shop floor staff to quickly access customer and product information
om provide innovative ways to verify product authenticity and identify
p counterfeited goods
l
oe make all those solutions accessible through managed mobile devices
o provide in-store security with innovative video surveillance and anti-theft
o systems, and help manage the flows of cash.
f
“Bricks and mortar stores are challenged by the very deep changes in
customer expectations created by the rise of online shopping,” said Hubertus
a
von Roenne, Vice President, Global Industry Practices, BT Global Services.
“Successful retailers absolutely need to orchestrate new technology in a
b
u
l
l
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e
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d
l
creative way and blend the digital and physical worlds so that their customers
have the same amazing experience regardless of the place or time of their
shopping.”
“From interactive displays to digital screens where the content is personalised
by relevant criteria, such as individual shopping history and demographics,
there is a huge range of new ways to engage and delight the customers.
Being able to integrate these multiple experiences to provide a consistent,
joined up brand experience across all channels has become a key priority for
retailers,” added von Roenne.
2.
SunZu
SunZu is a recently launched competitor to LinkedIn. It puts business first,
and with free sign-up, SunZu grows brands' sales funnels by combining
Artificial Intelligence with Human Intelligence to filter and match members'
profiles together so they can focus on developing business opportunities,
instead of egos.
“The whole principle behind SunZu is to help entrepreneurs and small
businesses grow. We were in beta mode for 18 months and emerged from
this on 1st March 2015 – indeed, we have attracted over 55,000 new
members in just six months. They have been crying out for a network that
cuts through the nonsense that has drastically diluted the value of social
media,” said Lyndon Wood, serial entrepreneur and founder of SunZu. Also
the founder of constructaquote.com, a UK business insurance company that
he founded when 19 years of age and which has sales in excess of $60
million, he was recently featured in Forbes magazine discussing how “he will
build his $1B business”.
He added: “There is huge potential for brands to benefit on SunZu – from
referrals or collaborating in private Teams, to content publishing or
engagement. We also don't do anything with member data – it remains their
data. Instead, we put business first by helping members find people, build
teams and create customers. The power of SunZu comes from the business
community – the more you use it, the more you engage, the more you share,
the more you collaborate, the more you invite others to join, then the greater
your ability to conduct business there.”
Doing away with the need to spend a lot of precious time trying to be heard
and striving for relatively intangible brand awareness, SunZu delivers
significantly more Return on Time for businesses. SunZu will inform
members of sales opportunities based on engagement patterns and its
intelligent algorithms to help brands conduct business without needing to
play any games.
Intelligent algorithms match members with the right people for their business
as soon as they start filling in their profile. All members are connected as
soon as they sign up and can ramp up collaboration and productivity by
building various private Teams comprised of staff, colleagues, peers,
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customers, prospects, providers and suppliers in which you can even
securely share documents to work on.
The SunZu BizCard is the starting point for all new members – it is a digital
business card that includes multiple options for social network profiles and
pages, traditional contact details, and a personal profile summary in which
you can embed a video.
The SunZu platform's smart algorithms use the content within the BizCard to
help match your “Know How” and “Why I Am Here” with other members
looking for your expertise or services, and vice versa. Additionally, you can
quickly upload your credentials, case studies and examples of projects
successfully completed within the Portfolio section, displayed on the profile
as a carousel.
The BizCard sets itself apart from the usual text-heavy approach to profiles
by also showcasing your Products & Services. Each one acts like an
intelligent advert – it displays what you do, clicking on it provides more
context and contact info, and they are each heavily optimised for search
engines meaning that your product or service will be ranked higher as well
as accurately indexed.
3.
Capgemini
A global report “Fixing the Cracks: Reinventing Loyalty Programs for the
Digital Age” by Capgemini Consulting, has revealed that loyalty programmes
have not evolved with the digital age and are failing to engage consumers.
The report lifts the lid on why active participation rates in loyalty programmes
are often low and why 89% of social media opinions on loyalty programmes
are negative.
Capgemini researched the loyalty programmes of 160 global companies
across 7 sectors including Retail, Banking, Consumer Products, Telecom,
Airlines, Hotel Chains and Consumer Electronics. In addition, Capgemini
also conducted a scan of 40,000 consumer conversations on social media to
gauge customer sentiment towards loyalty programmes.
The research revealed that most loyalty programmes follow a basic
transactional philosophy where rewards are based on purchase. Only a
small minority of programmes recognise and reward consumers for
engaging and interacting with the brand in other meaningful ways.
Furthermore, most loyalty programmes lack personalisation and fail to offer
cross-channel redemption services. The negative social media sentiment on
loyalty programmes stemmed mainly from the lack of reward relevance, rigid
reward structures, user experience issues with online channels, and poor
customer service quality levels.
Key findings of the study reveal that loyalty programmes are not evolving at
the same pace as the digital age, for example: just 11% of loyalty
programmes offer personalised rewards based on a customer’s purchase
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history or location data; 79% of loyalty programmes use the mobile channel,
and yet only 24% allow redemption through it.
4.
Deloitte
Across industries and geographies, business strategy is being transformed
by the rapidly changing technology landscape, according to Deloitte’s 6th
Annual Tech Trends Report, released recently. As technology and business
become ever more intertwined, the report, “The Fusion of Business and IT”,
outlines the top macro technology developments that will disrupt businesses
in the next 18-24 months.
This year’s theme is inspired by a fundamental transformation in the way
business C-suite leaders and Chief Information Officers (‘CIOs’) collaborate
to harness disruptive change, chart business strategy, and pursue
opportunities. Whether it is a manufacturer looking at printing replacement
parts on demand, or finding ways in the health care industry to harness
artificial intelligence to improve cancer diagnosis and treatments, the
confluence of business, technology and science is being seen and felt
across all markets and industries.
Kevin Walsh, head of technology consulting at Deloitte UK, explains: “As
technology evolves faster than ever before, it is increasingly critical to the
success of enterprises. Our report looks at the remarkable rate of IT change
in business and provides an insider’s view of both what is happening today,
and what will occur in the coming months across different industries,
geographies and company sizes. Our report encourages executives to be
the catalyst of change for emerging technology, to explore the risks and
embrace the opportunities it has to offer.”
The trends include the following. Ambient Computing: As the Internet of
Things (‘IoT’) is maturing from its awkward adolescent phase, ‘ambient
computing’ is the backdrop of sensors, devices, intelligence and agents that
can put the concept to work. For example, getting a vending machine to
trigger an order replenishment from the supply chain, through embedded
sensors tracking stock levels. Practical applications in UK industries include
those within healthcare and life sciences (remote monitoring patient care in
the community), within transport (accident response sensors on the
roadside), and within energy (smart metering in homes).
IT Worker of the Future: the scarcity of technical talent on multiple fronts is a
significant concern across many industries. Having access to the right
number of people, with the exact skills, who can cope with the very latest
innovations, whilst maintaining legacy systems, will require business leaders
to access a new type of employee. The IT worker of the future will have
habits, incentives and skills that are inherently different from those in play
today. Design lies at the heart of this new generation, and requires new skill
sets such as graphic designers, user experience engineers and behavioural
psychologists.
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CIO - as Chief Integration Officer. In a world that is being reconfigured by
technology, CIOs should be at the centre of this change. As technology
transforms existing business models and gives rise to new ones; the role of
the CIO is evolving rapidly, with integration at the core of its responsibility.
CIOs must view their responsibilities through an enterprise-wide lens to
ensure that critical domains like digital, analytics and the cloud do not
negatively affect other departments. In this shifting landscape of
opportunities and challenges, CIOs can be not only the connective tissue,
but the driving force for intersecting, IT-heavy initiatives.
Dimensional Marketing. Marketing has evolved significantly in the last halfdecade. The evolution of digitally-connected customers lies at the core,
reflecting the dramatic change in the dynamic between relationships and
transactions. A new vision for marketing is being formed as Chief Marketing
Officers (‘CMOs’) and CIOs invest in technology for marketing automation,
next-generation omnichannel approaches, content development, customer
analytics, and commerce initiatives. This modern era for marketing is likely
to bring new challenges in the dimensions of customer engagement,
connectivity, data and insight. Other trends include amplified intelligence
(use of artificial intelligence to amplify workers’ abilities), API economy (soft
components being reused, shared and monetised), software-defined
everything (the entire infrastructure and operating environment being
virtualised and automated), and core renaissance (modernising systems to
pay down technical debt, re-platforming solutions and embracing innovative
new services).
5.
Infosys
Infosys has announced that it has been honoured with the coveted Daimler
Supplier Award 2014 at the Mercedes-Benz Center in Stuttgart, Germany at
a ceremony attended by 450 representatives of the major suppliers and
about 200 representatives of Daimler management.
Infosys received the prestigious Daimler Supplier Award in the Outstanding
Quality category, for professionalism in the provision of IT Data Center
Services. The award was presented by Wilfried Porth, Member of the Board
of Management of Daimler AG, Human Resources and Director of Labor
Relations and Mercedes-Benz Vans and Wendelin Wolbert, Head of
International Procurement Services.
Infosys has been working with Daimler for over 12 years with its cars, trucks
and financial services business units across the globe. As a trusted partner
for Daimler, Infosys has been delivering on key projects such as consulting
for key business functions along with application development & support for
both SAP-based and custom technology platforms.
Last year, Infosys successfully completed a large & complex transition
program to take over support operations of Daimler’s European Data Centre
based in Stuttgart. Infosys has efficiently managed the operations since
then. The additional responsibility of running the infrastructure operations of
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one of the key regional sales and manufacturing units has reinforced the
trust that Daimler puts on Infosys.
Daimler AG honors outstanding performance of its direct and indirect
supplier community annually with the Daimler Supplier Award. While working
with suppliers, Daimler follows its cooperation model called the Daimler
Supplier Network. This model is based on the principles of performance and
partnership. Performance is measured in terms of quality, cost, delivery
reliability and innovative strength. The partnership is based on trust and
open communication.
Sanjay Jalona, Executive Vice President and Global Head− High-Tech &
Manufacturing and Engineering Services, commented:
“Throughout our long-standing relationship, we have focused on reliably
delivering value through initiatives that transform the operations of Daimler
and bring innovative solutions to their problems. This is the first time in many
years that an IT partner has been presented with a Daimler Best Supplier
Award. It is testament to the maturity of our automotive business as well as
our growing presence in Germany.”
6.
IBM
IBM has announced that it has signed a multi-million dollar agreement with
Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) to move its Asia Pacific customer planning and
relationship management systems to the IBM Cloud. Hosting the workloads
in IBM’s two SoftLayer cloud centers in Australia will provide CCA with a
more agile environment to quickly respond to customer needs and will
deliver significant annual savings to CCA.
The news builds on the five-year multi-million dollar cloud agreement that
CCA signed with IBM last year to manage its mission-critical SAP
infrastructure in IBM’s Sydney cloud center.
Demand for CCA’s beverage goods is seasonal, impacted daily by several
factors including when the weather is hot or when major events are taking
place. These fluctuations make it costly for CCA to own and manage its own
IT infrastructure. To continue to support these workloads in-house CCA
would need to make capital infrastructure investments designed for the
highest potential demand.
The IBM Cloud provides the flexibility for CCA to provision capacity to match
customer demand, in a secure and reliable environment.
“As we continue our transition to cloud we are backed by IBM, a partner we
work with and trust. Our business requires the highest levels of Customer
Service 24/7. We must have our products on shelves at any hour of the day
or night that our consumers wish to purchase them. We have large
transaction volumes which vary significantly depending on factors like
location, day, season and what’s on,” said Barry Simpson, Group CIO at
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Coca-Cola Amatil. “The move to SoftLayer provides us with a game
changing level of flexibility, resiliency and reliability essential to service our
customer needs. This consumption based model also removes the need for
large expenditure on IT infrastructure.”
Over the next six months CCA will transition workloads to the IBM Cloud to
run production, testing and development environments. These workloads
span the organization and are essential for CCA’s customer relations
management, planning, forecasting and reporting.
"With CCA extending its relationship with IBM, they will be able to more
quickly respond to changing market dynamics," said IBM General Manger of
Cloud Services James Comfort. "And with the opening of the second IBM
Cloud center in Australia, organizations like CCA can now manage their data
on-shore, with unmatched resiliency, security and scale.”
7.
PA Consulting
The BAR Technical Innovation Group (TIG) will bring together British
industry to contribute to this unique technical and sporting challenge. PA
Consulting Group (PA) has joined BAR in their challenge, bringing extensive
experience in developing and implementing a wide range of advanced
technologies, complementing BAR’s design and engineering expertise.
The task of the TIG is to find advanced technologies, and develop them to
provide a race winning edge to the team. The TIG will complement the
existing design team with an external, world-class, multidisciplinary research
and development group. It will allow the team to rapidly develop, prove and
put new technologies into the field. The TIG will provide technological insight
and manage innovative projects in areas such as human factors, sensing
and telemetry, communications and mechanical efficiency.
BAR has a core of technical, design and engineering knowledge – but the
broad sweep of modern scientific and technological advancement means
that there will always be other opportunities.
The TIG will be governed by a steering group that will be chaired by PA’s Dr.
Phil White. There will be representatives from each of the TIG member
companies, while BAR’s Technical Director, Andy Claughton will represent
the BAR team. The Steering Group will initiate and guide with PA embedded
at the BAR design centre, supporting the main design team through the
management and leadership of the TIG projects for the duration of the
America’s Cup campaign.
Seventy years ago, PA used highly innovative techniques to increase new
aircraft production. Today, PA is a world leading innovation, technology and
consulting company that makes the difference for clients and communities
worldwide. From saving babies’ lives through remote monitoring of foetal
heartbeats, to ground breaking detection of improvised explosive devices,
PA is perfectly suited to help BAR make this ambition a reality.
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Alan Middleton, PA Consulting Group’s Chief Executive Officer says: “The
UK is a world leader in engineering and technological innovation. As an
innovation, consulting and technology company itself, PA is proud to be
contributing its insight and expertise to the challenge, working closely with
the Ben Ainslie Racing team and other contributing companies.”
BAR’s Team Principal and Skipper Ben Ainslie commented: “We don’t
underestimate the challenge ahead of us, the America’s Cup is the oldest
trophy in international sport, and over 162 years and 34 contests Britain has
never won it. We are a first time challenger, and only one challenger has
ever won it at the first attempt. So we are going to make a lot of history when
we bring the Cup home, but we realise that we need all the help that we can
get. That’s why we have developed the Technology Innovation Group and
why we are delighted to have PA Consulting Group on board.”
8.
Cognizant
Cognizant has announced that it has been named a “Leader” in “The
Forrester Wave™: B2C Global Service Providers, Q1 2015,” (February
2015) by Forrester Research Inc. The report evaluated companies across a
range of strategy, customer experience design, technology, and managed
services capabilities.
“Cognizant is augmenting its legacy development and software integration
experience with a set of omnichannel strategy and emerging digital
customer experience capabilities,” stated the report. “The firm excels in
program management and Agile development, as well as business functions
such as social analytics, mobile development, and omnichannel fulfillment
strategy.”
The report added, “Cognizant has demonstrated experience in leveraging
data to improve performance and customer engagement. It offers services in
a broad set of industries such as retail, manufacturing, and financial
services, and has experience implementing top tier commerce platforms. Its
customers told us that the firm differentiates itself with its program
management initiatives and actively leads discussions with clients about the
future of specific technologies and markets.”
The report evaluated 10 global commerce service providers on 77 criteria in
three categories—current offering, strategy, and market presence—to help
eBusiness and channel strategy professionals choose the best business
partners to help them accelerate digital transformation and meet the rapidly
changing expectations of customers.
“The complexity of commerce technology projects continues to increase,
and the impact of these technologies on customer experience is rapidly
rising,” the report noted. “The stakes are getting even higher for today’s
eBusiness leaders, and increasingly these leaders are seeking commerce
partners that can not only implement commerce technology flawlessly, but
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can also help define, develop, deploy, and, in some cases, operate the
client’s digital business and strategy.”
“Rapid shifts in technology, customer demands, and competitive landscape
have turned the spotlight on customer-focused digitalization, e-commerce
re-platforming, and omnichannel transformation,” said Srinivasan
Veeraraghavachary, Cognizant Executive Vice President, Products and
Resources.”
The above information has been sourced from a range of media publications and
statements made in public company announcements. Latitude Executive Consulting
acknowledges all copyright and trade names. The information does not represent Latitude
Executive Consulting’s view or opinions. Copyright, Latitude Executive Consulting, 2015.
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Introducing Latitude Executive Consulting
Latitude Executive Consulting, founded in 2003, has a wealth of experience in
hiring senior leadership and commercial profiles spanning every major sector
and geography. Our teams of experienced, market-specific Consultants and
multi-lingual Researchers ensure the successful delivery of assignments
globally.
Our expertise has created an exacting and contemporary recruitment service
that is thorough yet agile. We have the flexibility to source people expediently,
enabling our clients to hire the best possible talent in the shortest practical
timescales.
Through the utilisation of market leading technology, processes and
infrastructure we engage in a combination of methodologies to maintain,
update and grow a community of function and sector specific contacts. Through
constant communication with this network we are kept appraised of all market
developments and are able to track individuals throughout their careers.
Our approach applies the highest standards of professionalism through a
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Contact
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