A Look at Telecoms Through MENA

There is more to developing a successful global 4G network than the likes of WiMax or LTE fighting to be the predominate network provider. For 4G to be successful several other areas need to be synergized effectively. In fact, media and entertainment, IT, sustainability and electronics all have a profound effect on the development of a thriving 4G network.

The convergence of media and entertainment, IT, sustainability and electronics across 4G networks, as well as the outcome of a WiMAX and LTE showdown will be discussed this week at the NG Telecoms MENA Summit held in Dubai. With the IDC providing a unique insight to industry trends during the three days at the Jumeirah The Meydan, companies like Eltek Valere, Nokia Siemens Network, and PeerAp will be focusing on sustainability, service oriented and value added services, and benefits and characteristics of convergence.

Derek McManus, the CTO for O2 UK, explained that there is “[…] exponential demand on mobile data networks. […] watching a YouTube video on a Smartphone can use the same capacity on the network as sending 500,000 text messages simultaneously.”

The Middle East alone has seen a 137 percent increase in traffic during 2009. Video file sharing and Internet video consume 75 percent of all traffic and is expected to grow to 91 percent by 2013. This is even more important when considering the increase of mobile data traffic, which now accounts for 64 percent of streaming.

Having the appropriate services and app stores that work on shortcuts for mobile devices are the most effective way to provide the consumer with the needs they require and is a major talking point for PeerApp.

As the intricacies of a 4G network are ironed out, it is important for providers not to overlook the environmental impact. Telecom networks are a large part of the global usage with consumption of more than 160 billion kWh/year. This accounts for an additional 200-million tons of CO2 emissions at an annual cost of over $20 billion.

The global telecoms industry is using only one percent of the world’s energy, but with individual operators expecting increases in consumption of over 25 percent, the industry will see similar increasing needs. Eltek Valere believes there are two main ways to combat these issues, one with high efficiency power conversation for networks with reliable AC Mains Grid and Hybrid & Alternative energy solutions with no or unreliable AC Mains.

3.5G has proven a success, but with 4G networks boasting quicker download times and speedier online access, it was only a matter of time before networks made the switch. The key now, is to ensure the 4G network is ready for that switch. This is what was discussed at the NG Telecoms MENA Summit in Dubai.

Is Attitude over Aptitude a Viable Employment Practice

The HR landscape is always changing; the approach of hiring staff with the right attitude is quickly becoming a growing trend.
This is a theory that is endorsed by Jonathan Levy, Attorney and President of Fair Measures, a management training firm: "Why do we often hire the wrong people? We don´t get the right information in the interview. We find out about their abilities, their aptitude, but not about their attitude. As a result, they may be able to adequately go through the motions of their jobs. But that´s all they do - go through the motions. They don´t have their hearts in it."
And this theory of hiring for attitude over aptitude isn’t just a fad sweeping across the HR landscape. David Fairhurst, Chief People Officer of McDonald's Restaurants Northern Europe, was voted HR magazine's most influential practitioner for the third year in a row in 2010 and maintains that attitude, not aptitude is the best practice to improve a company’s bottom line.
In an exclusive interview with MeetTheBoss.tv in June, Fairhurst outlined how trends of hiring for intangibles like teamwork, dependability, flexibility, leadership and attitude are more important than hiring for aptitude alone.
"I think the best advice is to rip up job descriptions. I'll probably get struck off my profession for saying that, but the reality is people who have the [wrong] attitude will work against progress, so to me the first thing you do is no different to that that I do in a store level around the country at McDonald's, and that is to hire for attitude. Forget the qualifications, even forget some of the experience; look at the attitude.
"So for me it's about building a team for the attitude. Hire the people who want to progress," he told MeetTheBoss.tv.
The NG Human Resources Summit, at the Boulders Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona, (hosted by GDS International) is designed specifically to enable Chief HR Officers to engage and interact as they meet demands of transformation and prepare for the impact their role will have on the overall success of an organization's sustainability and bottom line. CHROs, EVPs and SVPs of HR, and other top human resource executives will be present to explore critical issues essential to organizational effectiveness and relevant employment in order to compete on a global scale.
Those in attendance will be...

The NG HR Summit will bring together CHROs who are currently investing in innovative solutions, like employing for attitude over aptitude, and other pivotal HR issues that will positively impact their bottom line.
Like David Fairhurst, CHROs will only respond and commit to those solution providers who can link tangible cost benefits with the solutions they provide. The HR Summit will provide this vital means of communication and provide and ideal framework for new business relationships to flourish.

Cloud Committee Concludes

Leading names within the telecoms industry met last week in Latin America to discuss the future of the Cloud, and its effects for the continent.
Representatives from ¬¬¬¬Cable Vision – Federico Juarez Valdez, CIO, Telefonica Media Networks SA - Pedro Luis Planas, CTO LA, Grupo GTD - Cristian Eyzaguirre, CIO, Telefonica Media Networks Latin America - Javier Izquierdo, COO and COFETEL (Federal Telecommunications Commission) - Rodrigo Gutierrez Sandez, CIO – General Coordinator of Organisation and IT among others met in Mexico to discuss the advantages of moving to the cloud and how best to implement change at the NGT LA summit, an event hosted by GDS International.

The Information & Communications Technology (ICT) market will have a strong transformation over the next 10 years. Fixed and mobile network improvements, new infrastructure and application delivery models, along with more intelligent devices will change the way that consumers and businesses use technology, and ultimately the way they do business. It is still extremely important for service providers to set a roadmap for users to follow in order for them to be well prepared and to be successful in the current market transformation.
North America has already looked to the cloud to clean their data, reducing costs and implementing flexibility, but companies in Latin America are seemingly lagging behind; now these companies are seeing for themselves the opportunities for the taking.

Moving to the Cloud is a paradigm change, and much of the Telco and MSP market is fully aware of this. The issue is how to mature the approach to migrate from physical assets to virtualization, which stalls after a certain point, and then to an elastic infrastructure that can scale up and down on demand.

“To eLeading names within the telecoms industry met last week in Latin America to discuss the future of the Cloud, and its effects for the continent.
Representatives from ¬¬¬¬Cable Vision – Federico Juarez Valdez, CIO, Telefonica Media Networks SA - Pedro Luis Planas, CTO LA, Grupo GTD - Cristian Eyzaguirre, CIO, Telefonica Media Networks Latin America - Javier Izquierdo, COO and COFETEL (Federal Telecommunications Commission) - Rodrigo Gutierrez Sandez, CIO – General Coordinator of Organisation and IT among others met in Mexico to discuss the advantages of moving to the cloud and how best to implement change at the NGT LA summit, an event hosted by GDS International.
The Information & Communications Technology (ICT) market will have a strong transformation over the next 10 years. Fixed and mobile network improvements, new infrastructure and application delivery models, along with more intelligent devices will change the way that consumers and businesses use technology, and ultimately the way they do business. It is still extremely important for service providers to set a roadmap for users to follow in order for them to be well prepared and to be successful in the current market transformation.
North America has already looked to the cloud to clean their data, reducing costs and implementing flexibility, but companies in Latin America are seemingly lagging behind; now these companies are seeing for themselves the opportunities for the taking.

Moving to the Cloud is a paradigm change, and much of the Telco and MSP market is fully aware of this. The issue is how to mature the approach to migrate from physical assets to virtualization, which stalls after a certain point, and then to an elastic infrastructure that can scale up and down on demand.

“To effectively implement these solutions, it is necessary to understand the real-time network and applications performance, risk, and quality of business service that impact user satisfaction and productivity. This understanding must bridge across all physical, virtual, and cloud environments, from the mainframe to distributed platforms.” Kenneth Arredondo – SVP and GM Latin America, CA
The NGT LA Committee believe that by maximizing telecommunication companies' Cloud Computing services, capabilities and flexibility will be increased, time-to-market can be vastly reduced, and operational risks and costs can more easily be controlled. The committee hope that by implementing this they will see greater opportunities for offering new services and improving profit margins.

At this stage cloud computing is still relatively new. IT companies, for the most part, must implement their cloud solutions alone, but with meetings such as the NGT LA summit more and more cloud aggregators and integrators will begin to emerge.
ffectively implement these solutions, it is necessary to understand the real-time network and applications performance, risk, and quality of business service that impact user satisfaction and productivity. This understanding must bridge across all physical, virtual, and cloud environments, from the mainframe to distributed platforms.” Kenneth Arredondo – SVP and GM Latin America, CA
The NGT LA Committee believe that by maximizing telecommunication companies' Cloud Computing services, capabilities and flexibility will be increased, time-to-market can be vastly reduced, and operational risks and costs can more easily be controlled. The committee hope that by implementing this they will see greater opportunities for offering new services and improving profit margins.

At this stage cloud computing is still relatively new. IT companies, for the most part, must implement their cloud solutions alone, but with meetings such as the NGT LA summit more and more cloud aggregators and integrators will begin to emerge.

The Evolution of 4G

With Apple resisting the move to a 4G network until 2011 at least, other top service providers like Google Android have been able to fill the 4G-less void, yet Apple’s resistance raises several questions about the validity and future of 4G, and the relevant infrastructure that needs to be in place to utilize it fully.

With or without Apple, 4G is coming. And with it integrated users will be able to capitalize on faster speeds, which will mean rapid video and data-download connections, and a wide range of new pricing plans aimed at all segments of the rapidly expanding mobile-data market.

"We need to get people away from the alphabet soup they don't care about, and just provide a better experience," Chief commercial officer Mike Sievert of Clearwire said. "There really is a massive consumer demand [for 4G services]. The question is now, how do you stay ahead of that tidal wave of demand?"

But all this change won’t come lightly, and the future of rapid downloads and streaming needs to grow and improve to meet a heavier demand from the user. In fact, where ‘heavy-users’ were once the exception, they are now treated as the norm, as Smartphone use increases month-on-month.

"There's a new normal being created," said Matt Carter, president of Sprint's 4G operations, who noted in an interview that Sprint has seen data use "explode" on the company's 4G network. "Today we call that person a ‘heavy user,'" Carter said. "But that amount of network use is becoming the new normal."

To discuss these changes, and the future of ubiquitous broadband, experts from across the globe will be meeting at the NG Telecoms Summit (hosted by GDS International) in North America.

Those in attendance will be representatives from Windstream - Jack Norris, SVP Service Delivery and Operations, AT&T – Joe Weinman, SVP Business Developments & Strategy, Comcast - Victor Perez, VP Engineering & Operations, FiberNet - David Armentrout, President and COO and Integra Telecom - Rod Smith, SVP and CIO among others.
Other topics will be discussed from successful and profitable Metro Ethernet Access Networks which are rapidly becoming the transport of choice of new services and on the path to becoming the dominating transport protocol with the carrier/service provider network.

“It's going to be a 4G world – ubiquitous broadband everywhere (LTE/WiMax, FTTX, femtocells) plus ubiquitous cloud services providing service applications, computing horsepower and storage. This will make today's iPhone/ app stores look like clunky prototypes. What kind of business models might exist; how will money flow round? Who will pay for what? What kind of market and business transformation will this unleash? Who will play where in the value chain? What are the implications for today's communications service providers and how can they avoid being relegated to the sidelines as bit-pipe providers? Transformation to a low cost operating model isn't enough to ensure survival – it's merely an entry ticket to the new digital economy – the real value will be created by continuous innovation and becoming highly customer centric.”

It is clear however, that iPhone, along with all Smartphone providers will all make the jump to 4G, whether it is in 2011 or 2012, and companies will be more inclined to do so when there is better infrastructure in place to support and outstrip strong 3G networks.

A change of Culture for Healthcare

Today the management of culture within healthcare is becoming more and more important. It is now viewed as a necessary part of the health system reform. In the United Kingdom, the National Health Service (NHS) reforms are based on the premise that any major cultural transformation of an organization must be secured alongside structural and procedural change, this in turn will deliver improvements in both quality and performance.

Culture change can be seen as a lever for performance improvements. The industry is well aware of the limitations of a mangeralist perspective. A new Committee of healthcare specialists believe that culture change within the industry must be targeted in one of two ways. Their first objective is to ‘do what you do better’. The Next Generation Healthcare Committee will meet at the NGH Summit in Miami.

“Many commercial organizations maintain a competitive edge by pursuing a policy of cultural continuity’, they capitalize on the lessons, working practices and traditions that have worked for their company in the past, for this to work they focus on the growth or reproduction and repetition”

The second option is to look towards qualitative growth, this is a more appropriate option in a situation where the existing culture has become stale and a complete overhaul is required. This is also the position that the US healthcare system has found itself in.

“Second order change is often invoked in response to a growing crisis or deficiency in the existing culture, which cannot be addressed adequately by a change in culture but rather demands a fundamental change of culture. If politicians and management gurus are to be believed, health systems in many countries stand perennially on the threshold of such fundamental change.”

After seeing high profile reports in the US which have documented gross medical errors, policy thinking is embracing the notion of culture change as a key element of health system redesign. Jeff Rose – VP Clinical Excellence, Informatics, Ascension Health wishes to address the committee on the principles published as A Leadership Framework for Culture Change in Health Care. He believes it is key to outline the core elements, or ‘5 C's' of culture change needed to move the US towards the adoption of new tools and processes in healthcare that enhance care quality and provider adoption in the interest of high reliability environments. It gives a simple and readily recalled set of principles by which the traditions and resistance of many healthcare organizations can be both led and managed by caregivers and executives so that expenditures on technology, information and evidence availability, collaborative processes and principles of high reliability human factors can speed our mutual journey to highest quality lowest cost medical practices in our rapidly changing world of technology, incentives and regulations.

Jeff Rose will be joined by representatives from Cleveland Clinic - Martin Harris, Chairman of IT Division and CIO, Catholic Health East - Mike McCoy, CMIO, MedStar Health - Gerard Burns, CMIO, Sentara Healthcare - David Levin, CMIO and VP Medical Informatics and Ascension Health - Jeffrey Rose, VP Clinical Excellence, Informatics.

Appeals for culture change in health systems have been a long time coming it is now key to draw upon a belief that culture is related to organizational performance. Are organizational cultures capable of being shaped by external manipulation? If so, what strategies are available to managers wishing to encourage an appropriate organizational culture?

Avoiding Disaster for Energy Independence

Latin Americas’ goal for energy independence is tied to its offshore oil and gas reserves. Experts from the illustrious O&G LA 20 committee believe that the offshore sector will become even more important in the future as the industry shifts to deeper waters.

A spokesperson for the committee set to meet in Rio de Janeiro, early next year chaired by Juan Carlos Zepeda, President CNH, Tomas Vargas, Vice President BPZ and Guimar Vaca Coca, MD Americas Petrogas stated this week “There is an apparent need to expand on the offshore services available. Whether it’s deploying workers on and off rigs, improving offshore safety, or making sure subsea construction is done as efficient as possible, marine servicing has expanded thoroughly throughout the Americas.”

But rapid expansion in offshore developments comes with tremendous risk. The recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico highlighted how susceptible deep-water drilling has become, and how difficult a leak is to suppress at such depths. But oil extractors are left with no choice but to drill to such depths, as the global demand for crude increases, whilst shallow wells become exhausted.

Drilling deeper – to lengths greater than a mile – requires technically demanding drilling and complex equipment and seriously reduces the room for error. And as those who witnessed the spread of crude throughout the Gulf of Mexico, it also makes stemming the flow and repairing crippled riser pipes and underwater wells that much more challenging.

The catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico bares stark comparisons with the Lusi mud volcano in Indonesia, which many commentators have suggested was triggered by deep exploratory drilling in an environment with little-to-no room for error. In the Lusi case, those drilling failed to seal the well, which eventually led to the blow-out of catastrophic proportions. Like the Gulf of Mexico spill, both deep drilling adventures have caused a catastrophic impact on the environment.

With demand increasing, and supply dwindling, simple math dictates that more catastrophic spills and blow-outs are likely on the horizon. More drilling will take place in environmental hot-spots and difficult areas, where accidents like the Gulf of Mexico spill - major, hard to stem leaks - are likely to happen with more frequency. Safety regulations should be evolving to adjust to this new reality, resulting in better legislation for equipment like blow-out valves and shut-off triggers, and the necessary equipment in place to tackle a sprung leak.

And it is with this in mind, Latin America must tread carefully whilst securing energy independence. It will be imperative for those attending the O&G LA 20 in Rio de Janeiro to outline the safest practices whilst expanding its energy quotas.

Manufacturing Safety Raises Concern

Last week Pharmaceutical heads met as a result of a drugs recall after a pill mix up of breast cancer pills. The drug, Fresenius Kabi’s Anastrozole, was made by the German company’s subsidiary in India. The ingredient mix up led to the voluntary recall of 7,192 bottles, each containing 30 tablets.

The mishap raises the question: Is there enough regulation to protect patients? As a new generation of bio pharmaceuticals go under trial in India those in attendance at the NGP EU summit were concerned that as demand increases, manufacturing practices may suffer, therefore higher regulations might be necessary to keep track of the manufacturing processes.

Biopharmaceuticals are made using living systems such as micro-organisms, plants or animal cells and if any mistakes or alterations like contamination of ingredients occur during the manufacturing process they are likely to lead to serious side-effects. India’s Drugs and Cosmetic Rules (DCR) don’t differentiate between synthetic and biopharmaceutical drugs. These concerns have been raised in the past; two years ago the FDA blacklisted the import and sale of 31 synthetic medicines that were manufactured in India. The FDA found “multiple, serious deficiencies” in the manufacturing processes.

“With every passing year, the pressure is building within pharma companies to go leaner and leaner across the value chain, from streamlining drug discovery, to more time efficient drug development to smarter clinical trial design and execution to leaner and leaner manufacturing. As the cost and time outlays necessary to bring a drug to market are forced to shrink due to many different factors.”

Giles Snare - Head of Life Sciences, Bioquell & Richard Lucas - Biopharmaceutical Process Specialist, Bioquell faced public and industry concerns head on. Given recent global instances of process contamination and the resulting serious consequences both commercially and regarding product risk, there is increasing focus from pharma and increased pressure from regulators being brought to bear on the maintenance of product integrity.

Contamination control is the primary focus within the industry at the moment, it is a complex process and an analysis of the potential points of weakness in modern pharma and biopharmaceutical environments will be key.

Joining Giles Snare were representatives from Pfizer, Simon Orchard – VP Biotech Operating, Sanofi Pasteaur, Pierre Fournier – VP Global Manufacturing Technology, Astra Zeneca, Eva Iden – Head of UK operations and head of Global Projects, Genzyme, Maarten Bas – Director Quality Systems EU and Johnson & Johnson, Johan Van Den Bosch, Senior Director External Manufacturing.
Unfortunately, changes to international standards and legislation move cautiously but efforts to streamline global pharmaceutical regulations are stepping up. Mandated by the increasingly global nature of drug manufacturing, harmonization can only help the industry improve efficiency, but its ultimate goal is to ensure that every human on the planet has access to the medicines they need and the committee has made it their goal to accomplish this.

Double Dip Fears lead

With anaemic growth and talks of a possible double dip recession the illustrious FST 20 (which consists of the 20 leading figure heads in North American Finance) were called to congress in California this week to discuss how the Financial Community can unify to avoid a repeat of 2008.

The FST 20 meeting was held at Half Moon Bay and was chaired by Laurie Smith, CTO of Morgan Stanley. Notable attendees included Charles Abonnel, MD of BNP Paribas, Mats Anderson CTO of NASDAQ and Bill Chenevish, Vice Chairman Ops for US BANCORP.

“In a previous FST 20 session earlier this year, we explored the key themes impacting financial services including risk management, innovation, relationship management, and restoring trust and confidence. At that time, the backdrop was an economic recovery which was just on the horizon. While there have been a few positive signs since that time, the horizon now is in fact anything but clear,” said a spokesman for the FST Committee.

Government officials have seen a series of macroeconomic errors and believe that growth is more fragile than predicted by data specialists. It has also been reported by the committee that productivity and government debt is healthy and although the pace of recovery has slowed it has by no means stopped.

In order to adapt and compete, the financial industry needs to continue to embrace strategies around streamlining processes, cost cutting, and improving customer service. IT is a central component to all these strategies and its role has become more important than ever to ensure success.

One topic concerned traditional RDBMS technologies that have failed to solve the challenges presented by the growing volumes of complex financial instruments since the crash discussions concerned the new class of applications for derivatives, threat analysis, and compliance.

“Traditional relational database technology has solved many of the problems of the past few decades. But a new class of problems has arrived – problems requiring new technology for 21st-century issues.” David Kellogg – CEO, MarkLogic

Such a cohesive response from the industry will no doubt help to stable the ship; they clearly fear the embarrassment of further bailouts.

Reacting to the Reform

Last week the leading names in Healthcare Finance met in Miami to discuss the causes and effects of the new healthcare reform.

Since the Reform proposal back in the spring there have been endless and conflicting statements outlining the potential pitfalls of the proposal, and the effect it will have on the American healthcare system. However those in attendance last week only deal with the facts and how they will implement a variety of systems to deal with the changes.

The government believes that by insuring everyone, the cost of healthcare-per-person will decrease significantly; at the moment those who can afford their insurance usually cover the costs of those who cannot. The problem has now been faced head-on and the CFO Healthcare committee believe that without the reform the problem would have continued to deteriorate.

The meeting began by discussing the critical strategies in preparing the healthcare for the decade ahead, Marc Holland – CEO and MD for Systems Research Services outlined the need for capital budgeting, the new healthcare reform legislation, and strategic IT decision making. Bill Donato – Executive Director Supply Chain Management and Carol Harding – Senior Director Supplychain management at the Cleveland Clinic also discussed how to compete within the ‘Age of Reform.’

“The Healthcare Supply Chain, from manufacturer to provider and ultimately the patient, can no longer be ignored or counted on to contribute small incremental savings through price over price and/or inventory reductions.”

The Cleveland Clinic itself has already committed to spending $100 Million in costs for strategic initiatives to continue over the next two years to excel clinically while driving operational excellence. They understand that in an era of declining revenues and spiralling costs, engineering supply chains and implementing new systems is the only way to keep up with the competition.

“In order to reduce the organizations cost basis the Supply Chain must be reengineered utilizing business practices that industry has been using for the last decade to respond to their provider customer's financial concerns. Expanding service lines, streamlining operations and reducing waste and errors will be critical to success.”

Also joining the committee were representatives from Catholic Health East, Jenny Barnett – Corporate CFO, Baylor Health Care System, Michael Taylor – SVO Operations, BJC Healthcare, John Katsianis – CFO North Region and Spectrum Health Systems, Jeff Lemon – President.

The new reform will inevitably cost more money. It would be almost impossible to provide an equal service to everyone at the current price. To cover more people, costs must be controlled and some cuts will be necessary. The Affordable Care Act will save Medicare an estimated $8 billion in the next two years and almost $418 billion by 2019. Affordable care will drive down the costs for everyone, and save the Medicare system, from fraud and inefficiency. The Congressional Budget Office found that health insurance reform will reduce the deficit by over $100 billion in this decade and by more than $1 trillion over the following 10 years. It is up to the industry to carry this out now the government has settled on a decision.

CIO’s Conclude Cloud

Recent reports have shown that companies are shying away from the public cloud due to security concerns, but how accurate are the results and what, if any, are the alternatives?

A committee of CIOs met in Singapore last week. The committee compromised of C-Level executives from the leading companies across Asia to highlight its continual growth of APAC and better understand how to utilize the increasing opportunities to encourage new technology projects, greater business collaboration and maintain growth.
Among the attendees was Alex Siow the head of business Excellence System Technology & CIO at Starhub and Avery Palos CIO Asia at General Electric and Kevin Noonan Research Director at Ovum opened discussions.

“As information technology leaders in Asia, we have the difficult job of representing not only our business interest in the region; but also acting as the bridge head for communications with our multinational parent organizations. Communicating and adapting bilateral needs between our local markets and global corporations is a critical skill for CIO's to master. Leaning in favor too far in one direction or the other can risk your reputation and make it difficult to accomplish your goals. By carefully balancing between the two worlds you can position yourself in the organization to be a key player for future growth and understanding.”

APAC has been facing difficult challenges as it grows and develops and doubts over the political and governmental structure of the region have been raised. To overcome this, incredible drive and enthusiasm to succeed has been seen by large enterprises and APAC can confidently compete with the US and Europe within the telecoms sector.

The cloud offers fantastic opportunity to transform business but discussing the right implications and techniques are vital for a cloud which works throughout the region and offers the same opportunities for all industries. The cloud really will be the next big thing in IT.

“We are at the beginning of the largest and most beneficial wave of change ever to hit the IT industry. This new wave, known as cloud computing, is a new approach to IT that reduces IT complexity, lowers IT costs, improves quality of service, and enables greater IT and business agility.” Tim Posney – Regional CTO APAC, ING Investment Management

Cloud computing is set to deliver these benefits by leveraging the efficient pooling of an on demand, self managed, virtual IT infrastructure that can be delivered and consumed as a service. It’s commonly accepted that the cloud is the future of data storage but as cloud security is called into question the CIO Committee announced that investing in the private cloud is preferable. The private cloud enables businesses to capture all the benefits of the cloud without losing control of your IT and without increasing your risk.

“Cloud computing is a transformative technology. It is built differently from traditional IT, enabling dynamic pools of virtualized resources. It is operated differently, enabling end-to-end service delivery. And it is consumed differently, making it convenient for IT organizations and for those they support. To unleash its full potential, companies need to recognize that cloud computing is a better investment strategy for IT, and one that can enable them to achieve faster and higher returns on their IT investments.” Harmeen Mehta – MD and CIO Global Markets APAC, Bank of America

Organizations such as GE - Avery Palos, CIO Asia, StarHub - Alex Siow, Head Business Excellence and Systems Technology, Bharti Airtel - Rupinder Goel, CIO, ING Investment Management - Tim Posney, CTO APAC and Pfizer - Sirsij Peshin, CIO / VP Business Technology all agreed at the CIO Asia Summit that they must cautiously prepare for growth while evolving their methods of technology implementation. In 2010-2011, CIOs will actively strategize their accelerated IT spending to balance cost and risk while pursuing significant growth. Really a Private Cloud is the only option.

4G or Not 4G, Apple Saying No

Despite rumours to the contrary, iPhone users won’t be able to get use a 4G network at any point in the next 14 months.

This flies in the face of earlier reports that Apple would be aligning with Verizon to enable Apple to utilise the 4G network. "At some point our business interests are going to align," Verizon Communications Inc. President Lowell McAdam said, referring to Apple. "I fully expect it, but I don't have anything to say [yet]."

With users expecting a shift transfer as early as January 2011, the news will come as a slight shock, although maybe not that much of a shock: iPhone waited for the 3G network to mature before they moved across in 2007. iPhone’s apparent stagnation could encourage competitors to drive forward and make further headway into the 4G smartphone sweepstakes; 4G-enabled Android phones already utilise Sprint’s WiMAX network, and dual-mode LTE-enabled Android phones will start to emerge for use on Verizon’s new network in the first half of next year.

iPhone are standing back on the new 4G, possibly because “Apple simply doesn’t want to be the guinea pig on new LTE networks that aren’t ready for primetime,” according to TechCrunch’s Steve Cheney. iPhone did the same in 2007 when they “waited to support 3G for one entire cycle, opting to release the original iPhone on AT&T’s mature 2.5G EDGE network, despite wide availability of 3G by early 2007.”

Other networks however are looking to cease the opportunity before Apple get involved. Oporators are pushing technology so that the infrastructure can meet demand, telecom communications companies are all vying for the right 4G network solutions. These will be discussed at a closed-door NG Telecoms Summit in North America, where representatives from AT&T and Comcast (among others) will have the opportunity to tackle infrastructure concerns and how to juggle software that requires a heftier bandwidth.

iPhone are clearly weary of jumping in with 4G, when they can “make a unified model that works across 3G networks on all carriers, and innovate with incredible new features like NFC which mirror what they accomplished with FaceTime on iPhone 4,” according to Cheney.

It is clear however, that iPhone, along with all smartphone providers will all make the jump to 4G, whether it is in 2011 or 2012, and companies will be more inclined to do so when there is better infrastructure in place to support and outstrip strong 3G networks.

U.S. Gas prices rise by 8 cents in two weeks

Lord Digby famously quoted that “Demand for oil is going to increase because of the massive expansion of the Chinese and Indian economies,” and he could not have been more accurate with his prediction. Such global demand for a finite fossil fuel is being felt across the US this week as gas prices have grown exponentially by $0.8 in two weeks bringing costs to $2.77 per gallon. But with the recent BP disaster within the Gulf of Mexico, the county knows firsthand the dangers of trying to relieve demand by mining in more obscure places.

To combat this issue, O&G20 committee the world leading authority on Oil and Gas technology solutions have selected to meet at this years Next Generation Oil and Gas summit in Austin Texas this November.

Greg Smith Head of US business for Repsol and Ronald Cramer Senior adviser from Shell are amongst the attendees of this locked down meeting. Petrobas (one of the most active deepwater companies in the world) are expected to announce investments in new fields within PreSalt regions of Brazil.

The announcement of the meeting has been anticipated by the US Oil and Gas industry for some time as potential exports to India and China are moving to the untapped coasts of east Africa and the Middle East.

Sesto Elemento, a new philosophy for the future of supercars?

Lamborghini is heading to the Motor Show in Paris next month with an ace up its sleeve. It is unveiling a lightweight beast; a monster road car whose weight-to-power ratio will, according to Lamborghini’s President and CEO, change the way Lamborghini produce cars forever.

The prototype in question: The Sesto Elemento (sixth element), which will be the lightest Lamborghini supercar (aside from the bespoke Miura JOTA), and will push Lamborghini into a new direction of motor-engineering, critically focusing on a lighter carbon-fibre frame to lessen the need for a bigger, heavier, gas-guzzling engine. “We are very focused on the future of our cars, and we think the power-to-weight ratio is the key element for the future,” Lamborghini’s President and CEO Stephan Winkelmann expressed in an exclusive interview with MeetTheBoss.TV.
“We are going to show [in Paris] a technological demonstrator [which] is about power-to-weight ratio. [The car can be summed up] with just four numbers. It has a V10 engine, 5.2-litre capacity with 570 horsepower, and it [weighs] less than 999 kilograms,” Winkelmann said.

The Sesto Elemento is significantly lighter than Lamborghini’s newest road-going car, the Gallardo LP 570-4 Blancpain Edition, which has a dry weight of 1340 kilograms despite boasting racing modifications like a racing spoiler and an engine cover optimised for maximum ventilation. The Gallardo LP 570-4 can hit 0 to 62 miles-per-hour in 3.4 seconds; an impressive feat completely overshadowed by the Sesto Elemento, which has “an acceleration from zero to 62 in just 2.5 seconds,” according to Winkelmann.

The key is power-to-weight. Both cars have 5.2-litre, V10 engines and both have horsepower in the 560-70 range. However the Sesto Elemento weighs 300 kilograms less, which means its power-to-weight ratio is an awesome 1.75 kilos-per-horsepower, as opposed to 2.38 kilos-per-horsepower for the Gallardo LP 570-4.
The weight and speed are more impressive when the Sesto Elemento is compared to other competitors. Ferrari’s new 599 GTO, which is billed as Ferrari’s fastest ever road-going car, tops out at 670 horsepower and weighs 1495kg, which represents a power-to-weight ratio of 2.23 kilos-per-horsepower, and ensures a 0 to 62 acceleration time of 3.35 seconds.

For Winkelmann, the lightweight body highlights the direction that Lamborghini is moving in. “The design is outstanding; it is completely made out of carbon fibre. This is what we see as the future of all new models. The new models of Lamborghini [that] come out will all have Sesto Elemento as part of their heritage.”
And as Winkelmann explained to MeetTheBoss.TV, with its unveiling in Paris, the Sesto Elemento will highlight how reducing weight is as important as adding horsepower. “It is more than a concept car because it is showing the future of Lamborghini, not [with] a single car, but [with] the technology. It is very important to our company to show the world that there is a limit to the increase of power. [So] we are looking into a decrease of weight [without compromising] driving pleasure and driving experience.”

Visit MeetTheBoss.tv for the exclusive interview.

West Africa to Benefit from GOM

Exploration and drilling for new deepwater oil sources is an industry that has received large amounts of attention from the public. The new perception of how difficult and dangerous deepwater drilling is, has lead to a number of changes when looking at the priority of distributions of funds. West Africa in particular is currently seeing the benefit of incidents like the Gulf of Mexico becoming so public.

When the upstream industry sees companies like JX Holdings all but running from the Gulf of Mexico region and Chinese National companies devoting investments to the West African region, executives have realized the need to come together and discuss the need to focus on safety when developing new deepwater drilling projects. The NG Oil and Gas Summit 2010 held in Ghana last week has become a leading venue for developing these topics more specifically.

The gathering saw executives like Dorothy Bassey, the Deputy Director for HSE at the Department of Petroleum Resources of Nigeria attending. Executives like Yassin Darwish the HSE manager of Danagas Egypt were discussing the fact that “China has had a major impact in the region regarding financial resources, but have lagged behind with low quality equipment and unskilled people.” Because “emergency preparedness and crisis management for deepwater exploration are the hot issues after the GOM incident” Yassin feels that funding can be redirected to focus on safer equipment, solutions and employee standards.

As standards begin to increase so do the types of solutions available to provide ease of exploration and increased safety. Companies like Boots & Cotts were in attendance from the risk management side providing strong focus around blowout contingency plans, while Expro was able to deliver high-end electro-hydraulic subsea completion systems from an exploration standpoint having been able to provide custom built systems from the new Takoradi base.

With China revealing recently that it is on track to have invested over US$100 billion into Africa as a whole while and additional 1600 private companies are increasing their presence in Africa it is no wonder distribution of fund is such a hotly contested issue.

The past has seen a frictional relationship between effective deepwater exploration and safety standards, and while spills have gone hand in hand with riskier projects, the GOM incident seems to have a wider reach for lessons learned when looking at the global upstream industry. The development and direct action of these key issues, when looking at feasible deepwater exploration and safety standards are highly discussed areas that have seen some dramatic adaptations to new projects in Africa, a highly unregulated industry. Private and public companies are looking to utilize these new areas to avoid the same mistakes experience by BP.

Potential Growth, Potential Risk

The Next Generation Mining committee has been formed to capitalize on the investment opportunities across Latin America and met in Sao Paulo to discuss the distribution of funds within technology, HR, health and safety, exploration and supply chain funds.

Mining in Latin America has seen unprecedented growth in 2010. New projects across Argentina, Chile and Peru are attracting a modern gold rush from far reaching investment companies whose decision makers are deliberating on the most effective way to manage such gluttony of investment. How will investment be distributed? And how will they manage the environmental impact of such a raw development?

In 2006 the announcement of $4.5 billion of investment into Argentina alone was announced and the benefits of these ‘big money’ deals began to pay dividends. Increased demand and the lower cost of supply have created an opportunistic market in Latin America. Chile still retains un-capitalized gold, silver and copper resources, and has seen over $10 billion of investment over the last couple of years alone. Exploration across the continent is set to reveal more opportunities throughout 2010.

South America has become increasingly attractive as its geological potential is still largely untapped. This is especially true in Argentina where 75 percent of the mining area is still unexplored (according to latest research).

“For businesses, mining is on the verge of an exciting change threshold with volatile markets and emerging new technologies, increased customer demand, a dynamic workforce and a fascinating balance of a business model that modern mining makes something different, and more specialized with the use of collaborative tools. Mining companies will have to take actions which are increasingly critical for the business. They can either innovate or stagnate.” Yvan Garcia – CIO, Minera Chinalco Peru

The greatest investment seems to be coming from commercial giants such as china where their growing economy and demand for raw materials has pushed investment. They are willing to pay over the odds for the right product. The NGM Committee is well aware that if the demand is prevalent then investment into the best supply methods will unlock the potential already expected from the region.
The meeting was held because of the risks involved with increased investment into such a marginalized region. Indigenous communities and environmentalists have aired their concerns and it is up to governments and industry leaders to create a sustainable balance between the two.
“The most important change is in the optimization of end-to-end processes of the supply chain, where the goal is not just to push the [natural substances] to global markets, but to respond nimbly to the long-term relationships increasingly sophisticated customer and market dynamics.” Yvan Garcia – CIO, Minera Chinalco Peru

Representatives such as Chinalco - Yvan Garcia, CIO, Goldcorp - Paul Farrow, VP Safety & Health, Agnico-Eagle (AEM) - Marco Camez, Superintendent of Information Systems, Rio Novo Gold - Julio Carvalho, President and Amazon Mining LTDA - Cristiano Veloso, President and CEO were in attendance at the NGM LA summit and are committed to the future of Latin American Mining. Can a sustainable future be achieved when growth is almost guaranteed?

Chile Earthquake Shocks Telecom Industry to up its Game

As telecommunication companies across Latin America attempt to increase product and service offerings, few regions are seeing the execution of these plans more pronounced than through the restructuring of Chiles’ communications infrastructure.

This has allowed for a significant buzz around the NGT Latin America Summit 2010 due to the convergence of Chief Technology Officers from the likes of Telefonica and Global Crossing. Other topics of discussion develop how competitors to Telefonica and America Movil are able to provide services when broadband infrastructures are dated and hinder the development of applications customers will require.

A feel good story is brewing as well. Chile has had the most strenuous year the region has seen, but has also given themselves a great position for growth and prosperity as the New Year approaches. The ability for Chile to hop and skip up to a modern communication infrastructure has allowed for a fresh market to be developed leaving an opening for more Telecom companies and suppliers to fill the void.

The benefit is also seen through the use of top tier technologies and eco friendly solutions. Not only will Chile see a powerfully modern city but their rugged rural communities will see the benefit and have the capabilities for strong mobile and broadband internet services, not to mention the effect this has on an education system.

With Mexico hosting the NGT LA 2010 executives are also focusing on how best to develop all regions in Latin America and provide state of the art mobile services that can juggle the requirements of a streaming population. This is why leading executives like Gustavio Marambio the CTO of Telefonica Chile, Israel Madiedo the CTO of Cablevision and Antonio Casucci the SVP voice Services at Global Crossing Latin America are meeting at the Fairmont Mayakoba in Mexico.

The closed door meeting of competitors and colleagues to inform themselves on what the most viable technologies available are, and to look at the future growth of Latin America, is a bold step that justifies the growth the region is currently experiencing.

The Health of US Healthcare

With Healthcare reform driving national attention to record levels of uninsured patients, the role of the CFO is becoming more difficult and crucial to the success of a hospital or healthcare service center. Due to the public eye scrutinizing this level of a corporation, CFOs across the healthcare industry are meeting in Miami for the CFO Healthcare Summit 2010 this October. The driving focus from attendees is to understand the right revenue cycle implementation and what is the most cost effective Supply Chain Management (SCM) procedures that can give their respective organizations a competitive edge.

Raising issues of this caliber needs to be relevant for a private insurance environment as well as an increasingly socialized medical environment. For this reason representation from private institutions like Catholic Health East or the Baylor Health Care System, as well as leadership from uniquely positioned public systems like Cleveland Clinic or the NYU Langone Medical Center will be present at the Fairmont Turnberry.

One of the unifying topics, Revenue Cycle Solutions, stands as a key talking point due to the need for financial departments to lower the number of days a payment stays in the receivables account. What was seen as the back end for dropping a bill has the ability of becoming a more comprehensive service between the patients calling in to determining eligibility.

PNC Bank is taking the time to explain that revenue cycle management is a great solution for developing this area but they also take a relationship component and add it to the model. What PNC are looking to propose is unity across both the insurance side as well as the healthcare provider side. This could allow healthcare institutions to receive quicker confirmations on eligibility from the insurance side as well as having sufficient processing systems internally.

Looking at revenue cycle management solutions is great, but what interested executives like Janice Ridling,VP of Revenue Cycle at Baptist Health System, is developing questions of efficiently training staff about the increased capabilities these solutions can provide and how internal policies regarding patient financial responsibility can streamline the process.

Financial departments in healthcare institutions need to juggle more than one system on a daily basis and another focus area that looks at saving money through Supply Chain Management. Steve Huckabee the Corporate Vice President of Supply Chain Management at Kettering Health Network has deployed targeted tactics as a way to enhance the network's position for increasing revenue and growing market share.

Those tactics include creating a sourcing environment allowing physicians product choices while achieving cost savings; creating a research environment for physician-scientists to engage in the science side of healthcare to complement their expertise; and creating a full continuum-of-care model that is an alternative source of revenue which engenders a strong referral relationship.

Healthcare in the US is constantly in a state of movement, but there are certain undeniable constants in the market place that hold true whether or not new policies are adopted. For this reason revenue cycle management and supply chain management solutions are at the forefront of the topics being discussed in Miami. Standing as a testament to the health of the healthcare industry is the ability for competitors and colleagues alike to openly discuss the mutual obstacles that occur on a yearly basis, so the market itself can maintain stability whether change takes place or not.

Acer tablet takes chunk out of Apple’s iPad

There is a war waiting to happen, reputations to be trumped, brands to be tarnished and consumers to be rewarded....with some choice!

After a six month monopoly, there looks like there’s going to be some proper competition for the supposedly all conquering iPad; the tablet PC which has completely monopolised the hand held tablet market. Like most people, we love Apple, we love the iPad; the way it looks; the way it feels. However, we haven’t had the chance to fall in love with anything else... until now. The majority of the red-blooded public like change, and with competition growing there’s no harm in a bit of window shopping.

So after the heralded release of Apple’s iPad in April, Acer and several other manufacturers are circling the tablet PC landscape like rapid predators, ready to unleash their own bespoke interpretations.

Even before iPad’s launch, head of Acer’s IT products division Jim Wong confirmed that the company would be expanding its portfolio to include a tablet PC, in line with similar launches from HP, Toshiba and Sony. The iPad may stand alone on the market now, but it needs to be wary; it has a bullseye on its 10 inch touchscreen (speaking figuratively of course, although don’t count out a bullseye app).

Acer may seem combative, but that attitude comes with the territory. Acer is among the top three biggest PC manufacturers in the world, and stepping up is an important move to maintain a dominant market position.

Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci has been vocal in promoting the new Acer tablet, unveiling various
models throughout Q2 and Q3, including a five inch, seven inch and nine inch prototype. Originally
Acer announced a seven inch model, which would be a direct competitor to the iPad (although
slightly smaller), running Google Android OS. “We are not convinced that 10 inches is the right size
for this type of device: it becomes too close to a netbook in size, and why should it not be a
netbook with full PC capability?" Lanci told APC in relation to the size of the iPad screen.

For functionality and aesthetics the new Acer tablet will sport a QWERTY keypad and embedded
3G, which will likely get it mentioned under the same breath as the Kindle. Either way, Lanci
believes the release of the Acer tablet will take a huge bite out of Apple’s market share, from their
current 100 percent position to something closer to 25 percent. Like the iPad, the as yet unnamed
Acer device will make primary use of “books, music and videos, browsing the Internet, email and
chatting.”

“I think people [are] start[ing] to recognize Acer as one of the first companies to come up with new
innovation or new implementation in terms of technology,” Lanci told MeetTheBoss.TV last week.
“The tablet [is] a big opportunity [for Acer].”

So ring the bell, let the slugfest commence, let the noses be bloodied and may the best tablet win.
To watch the full interview click here at MeetTheBoss.tv

A Unified Approach for Telecoms

The average telephone handset has evolved, and as a result thousands of start-up companies are profiting out of the Telecom sector’s advances, supplying the various add-ons which inevitably accompany any new wave of technology.

Such innovations were used by the operators to supplement the pricey voice packages. However, the operators are now finding themselves in the hands of the ever-creative software/hardware companies and a changing consumer culture. iPhone appstore was the first to take fiscal advantage from operators’ customers, creating a financial redistribution within the Telecom industry.

With the telecom giants left to maintain the costly infrastructure that supports this ever growing new-media industry, the outlook for today’s communication service providers is set to get worse in a new 4G world where broadband is everywhere; LTE, WiMax, FTTX and cloud services to name a few.. The NGT APAC Summit committee is only too aware of this and believes that they must act now to prepare for the future. How can telecom giants sustain increasing costs and avoid being relegated to the sidelines as bit-pipe providers?

To answer this question visionaries from companies such as Skype - Dan Neary, VP and GM Asia Pacific, Telenor - Sanjay Vaghasia, CTO, Vodafone - Durgadas Misha, Head of IT Outsourcing, Deutsche Telekom - Neil Millner, Head of Network & IT Procurement, and Virgin Mobile - Carl Ambrose, CIO, have joined a closed door meeting at the NGT APAC summit in Singapore to provide a unified investment strategy and Long Term Evolution (LTE) across the existing 3G networks. Such increased download speeds will allow the telecom industry to capitalize on the change in consumer habits and provide wider service offerings.

‘Such a meeting has been a long time coming, large operators have been losing revenue as the communication market has diversified, network optimization should lend to them finding new revenue streams as the level of service can expand’ – NGT Summit Director Asia Pacific.

A lack of focus has brought about inefficiencies related to roaming issues for users, and limited development efforts for each technology, the world is soon to be "unified" under LTE and at that point the industry can expect much greater economies of scale for both hardware makers and services providers, the NGT APAC committee are sure to take advantage of this.

CIO’s Goal Not Green

This week leading CIOs from the US have met in Miami to tackle the day-to-day issues they face in the constantly volatile, evolving world of big business.

Recently CIOs have been dealing with an array of challenges. It seems that the ‘green issue’ has been dropping down the CIOs list of priorities with spending caps hampering any green ambitions, due in part to the evolving nature of the CIO role. At last it seems that the CEO is becoming aware of the cost savings that can be involved in turning to the CIO. At the CIO US summit (hosted by GDS International) business leaders from companies such as Dr Pepper Snapple Group INC, Adecco Group NA, JP Morgan Chase and DHL Express US agreed that by aligning the correct goals with broader cost cutting initiatives money could be saved.

The attendees wanted to discuss sustaining transformation within their company. They believe that to succeed in today’s fast-evolving and increasingly complex global environment technology strategy must be driven by business innovation and new service solutions.

“Today’s CIO needs to manage complex IT transformations or major shifts in strategy and explain how those directly benefit the business.” Christine Kincaid – SVP Security Global Strategy, Citigroup

Christine went on to discuss how keeping strategic business compliance, privacy and security on a roadmap can further complicate a company’s plan, resulting in higher costs in delivery complexity as you layer the requirements from inside your IT organization and outside sources such as legal, regulatory oversight groups and shareholders. Executives are having to take a hard look at their IT spends as the economy continues to squeeze business and consumers alike.

It is evident that the job of a CIO is to navigate their way through opinion experts, industry hype and an avalanche of white paper reports without falling victim to unnecessary risks, all the while having to explain and justify spending their budget, as well as the direct results of that spend.

It is now the job of the CIO to speak out they must understand the language of business and step out of the shadow of the back office in order to change business direction. This ‘new’ CIO understands that if a company refuses to transform they will lose out to competition in an economy where technological advancement is a given. Business now depends on technology and in many cases the CIO is now in the position to take a leadership role ensuring they internalize the processes for success.

Cloud or Not to Cloud – that is the question

The IT world is locked in an ongoing debate over the usefulness of Cloud Computing; those who believe it directly affects ROI, and those who waver in its importance and believe there is no sure way to keep data safe within the Cloud. To help fuel and resolve the debate, the European Financial industry is assembling in the Netherlands for the FST Summit Europe between the 21 – 24 September.

This committee of CIO’s, CISO’s, Heads of Architecture and Compliance have highlighted cloud computing as a major talking point and are specifically interested in the pitfalls as well as the benefits to determine if this is a viable solution for cost saving initiatives. With representation from major financial institutions like Credit Suisse, Rabobank International, UBS Allianz and Deutsche Bank the need to look at solutions that save on a tight IT budget can be used when providing effective security, data storage and infrastructures.

Markus Shulz, the Global Compliance Officer at Zurich Financial Services explained on Thursday that in a post-financial crises, regulation is expected to increase, specifically in a short term environment, but will likely have long-term effects. While there are many facets to the implications of an increasingly regulated financial environment, this concept does set the stage as to whether cloud computing would survive the obstacles of a strongly regulated industry.

Another consequence of Markus Shulz’s regulated environment is that Senior Management are scrutinized more than other levels of leadership, and these are the budget holders and implementers of cost effective technologies solutions and infrastructures. These are the IT professionals that will be able to determine whether the cloud computing market has matured enough to handle the needs they face when providing kpi’s to the C-level directors.

From a security standpoint the cloud computing technologies need to prove that all aspects of its environment are safe from hackers and prying eyes. The major decisions facing successful implementation of cloud technologies is whether to use a solution providers cloud or bring the cloud inside and oversee the process internally. Vmware and McAfee were locking horns on this issue.

Vmware has taken the standpoint that a hybrid cloud that enables enterprises to hand the transfer of flow between internal data and private clouds and is the most viable option. On the other hand, McAfee is boasting of its ability to provide stronger imbedded security options for private cloud development based on its recent acquisition of Intel. The argument relies on IT departments running the cloud exclusively internally whilst understanding that most public clouds cannot provide the security and infrastructure required of a versatile enterprise.

While the end of this gathering will provide clarity as to the arguments associated with the numerous potential outcomes for implementation of cloud computing, the undeniable consensus is that cloud computing is going to be with us for a number of years. One thing that stands as a testament to the financial industry is that it is able to work in every industry and translate problems and obstacles into bridges toward success.

What Makes Multi-Channel Development Successful

The ability to decrease a consumers’ time between entering an establishment and purchasing an item has become increasingly difficult as consumers become more intelligent. For retailers to contend with this savvy consumer, they must provide every need a consumer might have interest in, but which technologies will achieve this at the lowest cost, are areas that any serious retail companies needs to consider to maintain market share.

Due to these questions being relevant across all companies in the market place, competitors and colleagues assembled in Bremen at the end of last week to attend the NG Retail Europe Summit to understand the idiosyncrasies that create successful implementation, and why the long-term relationships are most beneficial.

With top level executives from companies like Adidas, ASOS, Bilka and eBay gathering for two days, only the most relevant and industry trending concepts were discussed. Included in the most important issues were how retailers could achieve profitable multi-channel retailing, effective integration of supply chain and inventory integration, cross-channel loyalty management, social media integration, promotion, pricing, assortment and organizational strategies.

SAP has been able to provide strong statistics as to why integration is the kingpin when growth of cross-channel shopping is expected to grow from 20 percent to 38 percent of total sales by 2012. This has everything to do with consumers utilizing every possible venue for searching and purchasing products that fill their retail needs.

SAP was able to argue that the cost effectiveness and ease of use solutions can provide the upper hand to retailers interested in mastering the diversity of multi-channel control. Adidas’s Marc van der Heijden, VP Global IT had already aligned multi-channel integration as its key focus area to capitalize in this growing field.

While technologies to provide consumers with their every need is crucial to multi-channeling, niche retailers and fashion houses like Guess are finding ways to capitalize in a smarter consumer. Intel was specifically interested in providing consumer trend projection solutions to the likes of Jorgen Kluwer, COO of Bilka.

The growing consensus throughout the two days in Bremen’s Park Hotel was the need to maintain effective communication lines between departments and cost effective implementation of technologies. To weather a trailing economic storm the ability to deal with mistakes or problems quickly can be achieved with open communication between branches of an institution; this concept has generated industry wide acknowledgment through the implementation multi-channel growth, which leads to revenue increases when integration is introduced properly and integration is effective with open communication.

It is extremely refreshing to see colleagues and competitors discuss the benefits of an industry in conjunction or over the needs of the company and it will be for this reason European retail market will survive and see growth in the next three to five years.

Harnessing the Power of Online Shopping

The reality is that online sales are becoming too popular for retailers now to treat as a separate entity from other retail channels. The key for retailers, and a major talking point at NG Retail EU Summit currently in process, is trying to achieve truly seamless cross-channel alignment.

This is especially relevant in the week that H&M has launched and made public their online store. The arrival of H&M online comes soon after Zara and GAP opened virtual retail to the UK.

Previously cross-channeling has presented numerous challenges, such as difficulties adapting older systems designed for store-based retailing to online sales as well as issues around managing order information, inventory levels and customer data across multiple channels.

The recession and current economic dip has meant that retailers have moved to lower inventory levels, which has made cross-channeling even more difficult, but has also allowed executives in the industry to rally around topics that can see upward movement industry wide. Executives attending NG Retail EU Summit like IKEA - Paolo Cinelli, CIO, Puma - Markus Birkel, Head of IT, Tesco - Harm Van Weezel, IT Director are all working for developing the increase in the retail sector prior to the Christmas shopping season.

Just because cross-channeling has been more difficult, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. It has meant that new IT solutions have been created that can link order management and inventory systems, and provide enterprise-wide, real-time information to those that need it. In addition, supply chain fulfillment systems are optimizing key processes such as shipping. These increasingly aligned cross-channel supply chains can help retailers improve margins while maximizing their inventory investment and continuing to meet customer service requirements.

If done right, then cross-channeling and can provide a wealth of advantages for businesses. These include:

Increased revenues by using multiple cross-channel capabilities to effectively capture lost sales opportunities.

Cross-sell and up-sell opportunities during customer in-store pickup.

Improved overall customer satisfaction by offering more services in-store and online.
Better customer contact, communications and marketing through improved service options, enhanced personalization and business intelligence.

In short, with lower order and fulfillment costs, companies can improve merchandising and inventory management; streamline fulfillment processes through distributed fulfillment capabilities, implement intelligent order routing and lower costly store-to-store transfers.

Organizing the Chaos in HR

Recent reports show that unemployment within the United States has improved very little over the last quarter. Figures show that unemployment is hovering around 14.9 million, which equates to an unemployment rate of just under 10 percent. The large number is indicative of the current global economic climate which has shrunk working opportunities and left 1 in ten of the working population out of work.

A common fault by many companies is to organize change when implementing a new strategy even though today’s volatile economy leaves little room for error. The NG HR committee feels there are clear reasons for these struggles; for most companies a change in management means altering organizational structures and processes. They rarely ask staff about how willing they are to make changes, which, the majority of the time, they are not.

“[CEOs and managers] must realize that by nature people are wary of change. They must be careful about making difficult decisions and pace the changes. When implementing a new structure there is a need for a gradual process to shape the system.”

John McGuire – Center for Creative Leadership, who is currently in attendance at the NG HR US Summit, spoke on ‘transforming your leadership culture’. He believes that too many changes with management initiatives can prove detrimental to morale.
“Our work with clients around the world has shown that there is a hierarchy of organizational cultures. Each advancing culture is more capable of dealing with the kind of complexity and ambiguity that typify our world today. But if an organization's current leaders have not developed the right beliefs and practices - in other words, the right culture - to work across divisional boundaries, they'll rarely change successfully. When they get it right, however, every dollar invested in leadership development yields results and organizational impact that far exceeds expectations,” He said.

John was also joined by Hard Rock International - Kim Creighton, VP HR, Madison Square Garden - Dwight Tierney, SVP HR and Administration, Time Warner Inc – Maggie Ruby Lynch, SVP Worldwide Recruitment and Virgin Atlantic Airways LTD, Frances Fiorillo, SVP People. Although talks are still in progress at the NG HR US summit it seems that all are in agreement although change is on the horizon it will be managing it that proves who will be successful and who will be creating organized chaos.

Twisting the tradition of Armani

Boateng brings the structure back to London Fashion Week


From Friday 17 September to Wednesday 22 September, Somerset House in England’s capital will host the bi-annual London Fashion Week, an opportunity for top designers from every corner of the globe to display their Autumn/Winter collections on runway shows, and impress buyers with their latest trends.

Amongst notable designers like Paul Smith, House of Holland, Mulberry and Adidas by Stella McCartney is Ozwald Boateng, a London-born designer and brand who will headline menswear on 22 September. Boateng made the decision to go full throttle into fashion at the tender age of 18; by 1995 he had opened his first boutique on Saville Row.

Boateng adds a contemporary, colourful twist to traditional tailoring, and has seen his threads fit snugly on the powerful shoulders of politicians and celebrities like Barack Obama, Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins and Jamie Foxx.

In an exclusive interview with MeetTheBoss.TV, Boateng outlines his approach, and how admiring and totally spinning traditional direction from household brands like Georgio Armani accelerated his brand to where it is today. Boateng conceived colour, skinny ties and slim cut jackets long before they become fashionable. “It’s funny because what is now the trend in menswear is what it always was for me in the beginning.”

“I looked at all the top designers at that time and said what was very clear is that I had to bring something very unique to the business. So I thought, ‘Well, if [Georgio] Armani’s taken the structure out, I’ll put the structure back in.’”
Now Boateng has spent a quarter of a decade in the business, “which makes me sound like I'm 102.” Despite the time-frame, the brand has seen its peaks and troughs - Boateng has been registered bankrupt – but, as he tells MeetTheBoss.TV, building a top, luxury brand in five years just isn’t realistic. “For a luxury brand, its 25 years, and I think I’ve done it really quickly. I now know exactly what works for the brand.”

Boateng is also appearing in a biopic feature-length documentary called A Man’s Story, which premiere’s at the Toronto Film Festival this month.
Back at HQ, he has relocated his flagship store to a prominent location at 30 Savile Row. Boateng is restless: “I now really want to open stores globally,” he says. The world had better be ready.

To watch the interview in full visit www.meettheboss.tv:

A Method wholly prescribed to

Why episodic marketing and means big business for big brands

In the world of marketing, executives are facing greater challenges than ever before. Increased competition, media fragmentation and changes in consumer behavior and attitudes are all impacting the way marketers approach advertising.

Marketers are now combining traditional advertising with new marketing methods so they can reach consumers and create a new level of consumer awareness.

Episodic marketing therefore allows executives to use new exciting ways to get consumers involved with a brand. Analysts say that episodic marketing gives marketers a more focused and tighter connection to consumers and can therefore be executed in a more cohesive way.

Over at Method – the environmentally friendly, non-toxic cleaning products company – the idea of creating an episodic brand is something the organization has been privy to for some time.

In fact, according to a recent study of global brands that have driven the most brand ROI in the last seven years, Method was ranked eleventh out of 25,000. Method’s Co-Founder and current Chief-Brand Architect Eric Ryan, says that Method is a “Belief Brand” – one that sells a philosophy and a culture – and admits that he stays ahead by being episodic.

“It’s like a great television show,” explains Ryan in an exclusive interview with executive business channel MeetTheBoss.tv. “You always have new episodes. And if a show is really great, you have a narrative that just allows you to keep come up with fantastic shows,” he says, before jokingly noting The Love Boat as a (probably bad) example.

Ryan goes on to explain that great brands work in the same way. He believes that successful brands have the ability to constantly develop new stories and new narratives, which essentially act as episodes to keep consumers constantly engaged. “We [The consumer] always over-reference Apple,” Ryan offers by way of example. “We always look with anticipation to what Apple will do next, and those are just nothing more than episodes. “

In order for a brand to be episodic, however, and in order to be able to constantly develop new stories, Ryan believes you to have a very rich philosophy and an idea. “If you’re a brand that is built off of one single attribute, it can become difficult to continually come up with these new stories,” he warns.


To find out more about how Method are continuing to build on their creating a belief brand and staying ahead of the curve to create and dynamic episodes, head to MeetTheBoss.tv

iStrategy 2010 Sold Out in Chicago: Paradigm shift in Social Media significance

We all know that time is money and understand that Social Media Marketing is a real-time, targeted way of communicating with an engaged and active demographic, one that gives as much feedback to the company in question as it provides to the demographic; hence its usefulness and transcendent ability.

Most companies, both on the business and consumer sides know and try to practice this, however success has not been equally quick for all enterprises. One of the reasons may be the lack of training within today's companies. The iStrategy Chicago conference, taking place at the the Hotel Allegro this week, packages this expertise in a way that all marketing and managerial professionals can utilize, no matter the company size, budget, or experience.

For a company, a single tweet, blog post or YouTube video can spread in a matter of hours, naturally finding its way into the attention of potential customers and clients. Even the most traditional CEOs are accepting the power of the tweet.
The event is sold out, adding a further confirmation stamp to the popularity and importance of social media to all businesses. Amongst the brands confirmed are representatives from Disney, Sony, Ebay, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Pfizer, Cisco, Universal, Linkedin and Novartis eager to see the B2B and B2C capabilities of the right social media marketing package. They will be working with the leading social media experts from companies such as Adidas, Cisco, MTV, HSBC, Roche and Vodafone, amongst many others.

The success of these companies is obvious; their brands are synonymous within their relevant sectors; yet to be successful in an ever changing environment like social media, flagship companies understand the need to be flexible, adaptable and sympathetic to differing trends and movements, which is where iStrategy Chicago comes in.

Despite the simplicity of a social idea, the impact is incomparable; creating brand awareness money can't buy. Their relationship with iStrategy Chicago 2010 means that the power of social media marketing is now available to all, from the minds of some of the sectors best innovators and architects.

Although iStrategy Chicago 2010 is Sold Out, you can still get a piece of the action by registering todat at Fora.tv to watch the debates through a live online stream.

Apple Join the Battle for Social Domination

Social media is about people accessing information anywhere and anytime and it’s a fast evolving market. Apple have now announced they are jumping on the social media wagon, no surprise when we measure the success it has had for those companies who are utilizing the benefits of a well formed social marketing campaign.

The announcement at yesterdays Apple event saw the CEO Steve Jobs unveil ‘Ping’ a social media application which would allow users to follow their favourite artists and friends, something which Spotify have been offering since is revolutionary rise as a music provider and sites such as LastFM and Myspace already allow its users to access. iTunes already has over 160 million users and as the new ping will be an add on it will already find itself playing with the big boys.

The problem faced by many is how they make themselves noticed when marketing via the social Platform, how well is your company navigating the multi-layered sectors of this engaging form of marketing and is it responding fast enough to this dynamic, changing environment?

If you think you’ve achieved your social media marketing goals by having a Facebook and Twitter account then think again, the sold out iStrategy Chicago 2010 will be bringing together leading speakers in social media marketing, from representatives such as Mike Murphy, VP Global Sales, Facebook, and B. Bonin Bough, Global Director of Social Media, PepsiCo on creating value through digital assets and how to lead the market online.

Connectivity has become crucial to big business. The global recession impacted the advertising budgets of many global businesses. Companies need to look for new and innovative ways to survive and promote their products. Social media provides a whole new way of collaboration and communication allowing businesses to reach millions of people, anytime and anywhere.

Social media allows a two way conversation between a company and its clients, creating stronger customer engagement and increasing brand awareness. Products can be adapted as needs change and this typically translates to higher customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Secondly, brands benefit because they are gaining real-time information about their customers, whether mining conversations and looking to gain customer insight, or actively soliciting direct input through polls, surveys or one-to-one questions.

Conferences such iStrategy Chicago 2010 and its attendees such as Facebook and Pepsico are the first to truly take advantage of the new online buzz, with millions now logging on how can we compete with these social giants to success.

The iStrategy Chicago event is sold out, but you can still have exclusive access through Fora.tv click here for more information