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Sergej Berendsen: Digitalization Through Facts And People

In today’s fast-paced business landscape, digitalization is no longer a choice – it’s an indispensable necessity.

For independent IT consulting firm, Metri, digitalization has always been championed by the company with hard facts as its base foundation. Sergej Berendsen, the General Manager of Metri, shares with Management Events on pursuing  agility and digital transformation for business success.

 

Providing The Right Value

Decades after the arrival of the digital era, some companies are still researching and debating on digitally revamping their businesses. But for Metri, digital innovation is part and parcel of the company’s culture.

“Metri is highly digitized,” Berendsen states, “and has been a data-driven company from its incubation.”

As a provider of IT solutions, Metri’s mission is to utilize the effective combination of facts and people to come up with the right digital strategy that will create the desired efficiency, agility and value for their customers.

Berendsen explains that through IT solutions and fact-based principles, Metri helps clients to “further their digital strategy with IT benchmarking, IT sourcing, and data intelligence for application, portfolio and change management.”

 

Business Digitalization

Various industries have embraced disruptive innovations and digital transformation into their business strategy. However, the evolution is not just limited to large, global enterprises as even SMEs and startups are adopting new-generation IT strategies.

“Many of our customers can’t live without IT and their digital footprint is growing rapidly,” Berendsen remarks.

 

“Digital-first business models are more the norm than ever before.”

 

In fact, according to statistics compiled by FinancesOnline, “70% of organizations have a digital transformation strategy or are working on one.” This is further reiterated by IDC’s prediction that more than 50% of IT spending by companies will be focused on digital innovation by 2024.

But what do businesses need to ensure a sound and solid IT strategy?

For Metri, data is of utmost importance. Performance analysis, organizational structure, key figures, benchmark data – all these are necessary in order to improve agility and define IT improvements and optimum potentials for the company.

 

“Agility without facts and insights is like navigating in the dark.“

 

Berendsen further explains that, “More and more clients recognize the need for factual governance in an agile business world.”

The economic cost of implementing a digital strategy is also an underlying factor to consider, which is why Metri offers its IT benchmarking service, such as market price assessment of IT services and IT service cost study.

One example Berendsen cites is on the cost effectiveness of cloud technology. “Cloud is a great opportunity, but cost will quickly go out of control without proper cloud economics.”

 

Embracing Agility

To drive digitalization, a company must first become truly agile, which is the ability to respond rapidly to change. With new technologies continuously emerging, businesses need to establish change into the organization’s culture and routine to take full advantage of innovational opportunities.

 

“Agile will provide the greatest opportunity as a business game-changer.“

 

As observed by Berendsen, “Agile offers the ability to respond to the needs of the client, and as an enabler to embrace new technology and platforms.”

But many businesses are apprehensive about the transition into digitalization due to fear of making the first move or of failing in their transformation strategy.

On this matter, Berendsen comments that, “An agile, forward- and customer-facing, and learning-focused mindset is universal. However, in a digital world, one can fail faster, so one must (re-)act faster. Failure should be incorporated into the culture as a change to do better.”

 

Towards Customer Experience

The end goal of digital transformation for many organizations is usually to push ahead of the competition and to advance their operations. But few businesses realize that boosting the digitalization of their systems and processes can improve the services they provide to their clients.

By being agile and continuously integrating digital innovations into their organization, businesses can improve efficiency and communication, increase personalization, alleviate pain points, and provide more value. From robotics and automation to machine learning and cloud computing, having the right technologies and digital capabilities can lead to the delivery of unmatched customer satisfaction.

“Digital delivers nothing extra without proper use,” Berendsen states.

 

“The question businesses should ask is: What great customer experience can be delivered or achieved if you add digital into the equation?“

 

The push for enhanced customer experience can clearly be seen in Metri, where customer satisfaction is a top priority, and helping companies to get the best returns from their IT investment is the company’s core motive.

 

Leading The Change

Organizational culture change is a concerning factor for businesses launching digital initiatives. As the business landscape progresses towards digital transformation, many organizations have or are facing resistance to the transition from their workforce and even the management.

It’s critical, then, for leaders to design a comprehensive and well-planned digital strategy that focuses on specific areas that need to be updated, and to set realistic goals and expectations of the digital shift. Communication to the workforce is also key to building confidence and motivating them to take up the challenge.

 

“Focus on client and market needs, and define clear goals that are translated into KPIs and actionable plans.“

 

Berendsen also advises business leaders to,“keep discipline up in moving towards the goals, and build and measure team effectiveness. Remove impediments quickly and embrace failure.”

Aside from employee resistance, lack of management support is also a deterrent to innovation, and companies must seek to continuously improve their “leadership’s ability to change and improve themselves.”

“Too often, senior leadership will talk the talk, but doesn’t walk the walk,” Berendsen comments. “Change from below is often too slow and gets bogged down in the middle layer.”

He further advises, “Senior leadership can pave the way but they need to change as well.”

 

Beyond Digitalization 2020

It’s a common misconception that digital transformation is purely about upgrading technology. In truth, real digitalization is about organizational agility and adaptability. It’s about building digital intelligence and capabilities, and having a solid change management framework.

To keep pace with the changes, companies must be disruptive in their own right by efficiently harnessing data, people and technology for a successful and sustainable digital transformation.

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Creating A Winning Momentum When Leading A Team Remotely

Sometimes, for various reasons, your team might need to work remotely; they may be scattered in multiple locations, travel a lot, or in exceptional situations such as now with the COVID-19. And working remotely requires a special sort of mindset. Especially with sales, having the right momentum and winning culture is essential to keep up as a leader if you want your team to win and stay focused together.

With the unexpected situation that COVID-19 has brought upon, many leaders and managers lack clear guidance on how to ready their team to remain effective and driven during a global pandemic event. To maintain that winning momentum, managers need to take steps that can maximize the effectiveness of remote work during these extreme situations.

Some best practices from us at Management Events – We have collected some actionable tips for you to get things going or boosted!

Tip #1: Prepping Your Weekly Rhythm

How you start and end your team’s week will dictate how your momentum goes throughout, so it’s best to set the rhythm right. Start Monday with a big sales team meeting to get everyone on the same page and then end the week with a wrap-up on Friday so the whole team will be aware of each other’s progress.

Tip #2: Kickstarting A Productive Monday

Monday meetings should be the time for your sales team to set their forecast and targets, share any general news, and give updates on any on-going projects and deals. It’s also a good time to touch base with team members and see how they are doing.

Tip #3: Setting up 1-2-1 (Virtual) Meetings

Keeping the entire team’s winning spirit high should be a major focus for managers and team leads but you should not overlook 1-2-1 meetings with each team member. Set a time for individual 1-2-1  virtual meetings for each member on dedicated time and pre-agreed agenda. Use this time to cover any important topics or catch up on individual progress. It’s a good idea to have a pre-list of topics to discuss or decide before having your virtual meeting.

Tip #4: Celebrating Your Team Wins

Just because your sales team is working remotely, it doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate your team’s winnings and milestones. If you’re using digital channels such as Slack or Teams, create a “deal-in” channel where people can post successful big deals and any moments that can be celebrated as a win by the team.

Tip #5: Making A Channel For Everyone

Working remotely, you miss out on the ability to socialize and bond with team members to improve teamwork. Thankfully, with digital channels such as Slack or Teams, you can create channels also for non-formal teams; to share news, fun stuff, or free-time activities. This will keep the camaraderie high between team members and encourages effective communication.

Tip #6: Encouraging Competition Within The Teams

Competitions (friendly or otherwise) can be a great way to motivate your teams, even they are working remotely. Meeting bookings, offer creations, first target–think what would trigger your team to work harder and achieve the desired outcome for the week.

Tip #7: Wrapping Up On Friday

Conduct a sales team wrap-up on Friday to close out the week with a big meeting so that everyone is aware of each other’s progress, successes, milestones, and on-going projects. If your sales team misses the forecast, discuss what happened and why, wrap it up, and start the following week with a clean sheet.

Tip #8: Welcoming The Weekend With A Message

After a week of hard work from the teams, send everyone a Friday greetings email to end the week. It can be something as simple as a short, written note from the team lead or manager to thank everyone, highlight any milestones, and to wish everyone a good weekend. This puts the team members in a good mood and stays energized for another week of productive remote work.

Bonus Tip: Keeping Up Productivity Through Digital Dashboards

Productivity dashboards offer a great way for leads and managers to encourage team members in achieving weekly goals and target forecasts. Asana and Trello are some of the more popular platforms that you can use to keep your team’s productivity on point. Of course, you can also your own custom dashboard to mark your team’s weekly progress.

Every team will probably have their own best practices (and some that did not work in remote work), still, it’s useful to assess the methods and routines now and then to see if it’s still allowing your team to keep your winning momentum going. Involve the team in the planning–what they wish to implement, how they can benefit from it or if they feel it’s not needed. Alter their suggestions if necessary and then take it into practice.

Before you know it, your team will be in the winning momentum, even if they are working remotely!

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Decision-Making In Times Of Crisis

As a leader, how can you give clarity and make good decisions when the unexpected hits your organization?

The best way is to take one step at a time. First, take stock of the situation by talking with your team, advisors, and colleagues. If you’re the CEO, discuss with the board as well. Then it’s time for thinking, considering options and planning scenarios.

So how do you consider the angles and make the best decision possible?

Being Resilient

The two key factors of resilience, and bouncing forward from an unexpected situation, are flexible thoughts and social flexibility.

Having flexible thoughts means moving away from the usual ‘this is how it has always been done’ methods, and challenging your thinking to solutions which might even feel impossible. The latter key factor, social flexibility, stands for seeking advice with genuine intention to consider the inputs received, not to strengthen one’s own beliefs.

At the end of the day, decisions are needed to steer your team forward. Indecisiveness, especially during a crisis, drains and defuses energy for everyone involved.

Steps To Making Decisions During A Crisis

  • Talk with your team – Be honest about your concerns and insecurities, but present at least a couple of options that you have considered. Do they agree? Would they add something totally different? Why? Take time for these discussions.
  • Reach out to your network – The world is now full of leaders who are contemplating on various decisions for their organization. Peer support and acting as sounding boards to one another can be more valuable than ever.
  • Keep daily notes – Keep track of team meetings, discussions and the development of key items. You might start to find patterns or problem-solving sequences from the earlier meetings you had.
  • Don’t be afraid to alter – If the situation changes, you can always come back from a decision. It’s not a mistake to pull back from one if the outlook or future shifts, especially if a possibly bigger risk may occur when sticking to a decision.
  • Prioritize yourself – Your organization needs your leadership and presence. Sleep, exercise, plug off to relax your thoughts – quality decision-making suffers quickly when we are sleep-deprived, stressed and anxious. You’ll be doing your people a huge favor by making sure you appear on the morning video conference with a smile and greeting them with confidence.

Getting used to short-term planning with long-term recovery and success in mind is a new situation for many.

Keeping a diary of these weeks and months can benefit you largely in the future. New routines, practices, and in the best case, innovations will come out from this massive learning opportunity that all leaders of the world are currently facing.

Let’s do our best to capture the good outcomes of this situation while we fight the crisis!

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Digitalization Disruption For Consulting 4.0

As the world undergoes waves of digital transformations, Wouter Aten, a Business Unit Manager for BAS Consultancy, talks to Management Events about the strategic development of the company during this era of innovative technologies.

In our interview, Aten provides deep insights into the shifts brought by digitalization upon the financial consulting industry and its customers, and discusses how BAS Consultancy is leading the change into Consulting 4.0.

 

1. Digital technology has disrupted various industries across the world, causing a shift even in the consulting landscape. How has digitalization changed your business and services?

 

When BAS Consultancy started out as a traditional staffing agency 21 years ago, the need for secondment, or a temporary transfer of a worker to another employment, mainly existed during moments when extra support was needed.

Such instances include peak loads, heavy backlogs, new projects, lack of specific knowledge, reorganizations, mergers, and any other reason which could cause discontinuity of the finance department.

While these situations are still the main reasons for organizations to hire personnel through secondment, the offer of secondment and its accessibility has changed drastically over time, mainly due to the digitalization of the world around us.

Social media, such as LinkedIn, and online job boards make it easier for customers to get in contact with multiple suppliers, and to perform a quick and effective benchmark before making the decision to hire a secondment from a staffing agency.

To efficiently deal with the fast-moving environment, BAS Consultancy has made the change from offering general finance services to providing specialized finance services. By doing so, we aim to deliver our service from a more expert position and deliver more value to our customers.

 

2. Digital transformation has also changed the requirements of customers in many organizations. How do you think digitalization has changed your customers?

 

Before digitalization took its prominent place in business and society, the ratio between operational and analytical employees at most of our clients’ businesses used to be evenly balanced. However, an increasing number of operational tasks are now automated and/or digitalized.

Through these changes, we also noticed a shift in the needs of our customers – when hiring temporary staff nowadays, our clients are looking for more analytical-experienced candidates, instead of candidates with experience on modern techniques. By hiring staff with this expertise, our clients enable themselves to take the first step into digitalization or create awareness on the many possibilities that digitalization has to offer for their company.

Aside from the changing needs in hiring temps, our customers are also showing increased interest in new technologies, such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA). In many cases, this interest rises after a customer discovers that a competitor is already using a similar technology.

The effects of implementing technologies like RPA on, for example, the accounts receivable/payable processes can be significant. Depending on the quantity of the incoming and outgoing invoices, RPA implementation can bring numerous advantages to these processes, such as error reduction, better efficiency, higher productivity, better accuracy, and lower costs.

 

3. Digital transformation has often been accredited with increasing customer experience. What is the role of digital capabilities in delivering great customer experience?

 

Digitalization can enhance the customer experience of organizations in various ways.

Communications, for example, will experience a boost by being more precise and easily accessible.This, in turn, will impact the convenience for customers by getting them the service they need quicker and more effectively.

Next to that, digital transformation also enables organizations to setup self-service options, which allow customers to be in complete control of their service requests. By implementing feedback options and utilizing the feedback, organizations are able to engage better with their customers and continuously improve their services to deliver on expectations.

 

4. Among all the technology-related trends, which do you expect to be the biggest game-changer, and what does it mean to your business?

 

When it comes to digitalization, all technology-related trends can be seen as a big game-changer.

As for what it means to our business – BAS Consultancy acts as a business partner in the setup and execution of digitalization programs, with a specific focus on finance and talent management. Our consultants are highly educated and able to advise organizations in their digital ambitions from a technical point of view.

Next to that, BAS Consultancy can deliver secondment services to facilitate an environment that enables the organizations to make changes without causing disruption, and in doing so, enabling them to maintain their talent.

 

5. As with every emerging trend, digital transformation has its own pros and cons. What do you see as the greatest opportunities and threats of digitalization?

 

The greatest opportunity of digitalization for our clients is the increase of revenues while reducing costs. Based on a research by McKinsey that was released in November 2018, companies working within the field of financial services could add up to 45% to their annual net revenue by executing a digital transformation. From the addition, 15% comes from enhanced product uptake while the remaining 30% is from reduced operational costs.

Meanwhile, the greatest threat can be found in the so-called ‘Digital Divide’. By taking big steps in digitalization, some companies are already far ahead of their competitors. While this will most likely add value in the short-term, it might be a downfall in the long run.

Digitalization is affected by various factors – income, education, geographic location, and politics. These factors may lead to a situation wherein digitalization leads to bankruptcy for the companies that do not have the power and/or capacity  to make the same high-paced changes as their competitors.

On the other hand, it could lead to a situation wherein companies that have made big changes are forced to take a step back in their digitalization program. This situation might be inevitable to ensure not to lose the connection with clients and/or partners who might not yet be on the same digital level and to be able to guarantee the delivery of services as promised.

Another digital divide can occur when a digitalization program does not pay enough attention to talent management. Talent management strategies should evolve alongside the digital transformation of organizations to ensure that minimal disruption occurs within the organization.

 

6. In your opinion, how has digitalization changed talent/competency needs?

 

Before digitalization became a trend, organizations mainly focused on attracting talent with the right technical skills or specific educational background. Digitalization has changed this focus, whereby soft skills are being seen as the main point of focus.

This is a logical development as digital transformations require teams and employees to be able to tackle new tasks, perform interdisciplinary work, and work together with other departments.

There are a few soft skills we can highlight, which are crucial to have aboard:

 

  • Critical thinking – This skill helps to define and solve new problems that might pop-up during the transformation. Good interpretation of data is key with this soft skill, along with the ability to reason and draw conclusions.
  • Complex communication – Clear communication of complex changes is a crucial element. By mastering (complex) communication, employees will be able to explain the upcoming changes in a way that creates trust and ease in the transformation.
  • Flexibility and adaptation – Due to the uncertainties of digital transformation, your team needs to be flexible and adaptable to changing situations so you can focus more on realizing organizational changes, instead of managing change.
  • Productivity and accountability – For successful change, productivity and accountability need to be high within the team. By investing in the right people, you can build a team that thrives and helps move the company forward faster.

 

7. What are the biggest issues hindering companies from fully digitizing themselves or fully exploiting digital opportunities? What do you think should be done?

 

It takes big changes for an organization to become fully digitized. To get to this point, significant investments have to be made without a guaranteed or immediate effect on the ROI. This causes many organizations to sit back and wait to see how it works out for other organizations before they make the ‘leap of faith’.

To have more certainty when investing in digitalization, organizations must make strategic decisions on what element to invest in first. Many organizations start off their digitalization by focusing on organizational elements that have a lot of customer interaction, such as marketing and distribution.

This is a logical way of thinking, but this might not be the focus that will bring your organization direct results or the results you are looking for through digitalization. Drill down the organizational elements that you want to digitalize, research which of these items will add the most value to your organization, product or service, and start from there.

Additionally, governments and regulators can play a big role in encouraging and stimulating digitalization. By providing a general set of rules that reflects the values and preferences of the society, they can limit or even take away potential negative consequences that might hold organizations back from taking the step.

This, however, involves effort and change from the governments and regulators. Their current regulatory frameworks might be lacking agility to keep up with the continuously evolving technologies, and might be the first element they will have to re-evaluate before the world can become fully digitized.

 

8. As a Business Unit Manager for BAS Consultancy, what do you think it takes for a leader to lead the digital transformation? What important issues should a business leader concentrate on?

 

  • Expertise

To be able to execute a digital transformation, a good combination of talent and technology is needed. To create such a workforce, it is crucial to make sure the team is digitally literate and that training is provided to ensure that the right skills are present. If the expertise is not available internally, this might be the perfect moment to reach out to a business partner, such as BAS Consultancy, to obtain the skills that are needed.

 

  • Strategy

When executing a digital transformation, a solid strategy is the key to success. The digital strategy should focus on the technology used to improve business performance and the impact it has on the organization. Next to that, the strategy should set out the direction the organization will take as well as a tactical plan to achieve the intended changes.

 

  • People and Culture

Digital transformation is built on change, and brings a lot of uncertainty and discomfort to employees. While it might feel like a big threat to most employees, not changing might be the biggest threat to them in reality.

It is impossible for a leader to take away all the concerns of their employees, but a leader is able to lighten their worries through transparency and consistency. As the leader during a digital transformation, empower your employees through engagement, and give them a clear picture of what they are working towards and what’s in it for them. 

 

  • Analytics

Information is becoming an asset for many organizations, and a good interpretation of your organization’s and/or customers’ data can have a significant impact on the way you are able to act on your customers’ needs. But where do you start? Nowadays, there is more data to collect than ever before, but if you fail to analyze the right data, it could lead to a disaster.

Before starting your digital transformation, make sure that the systems you are using now are future-proof and capable of executing the analysis you need to keep improving. Good analytics lead to better decision making, which is highly valuable to get the most out of the transformation.

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Making Remote Teamwork Fun – Is It Possible?

work_from_home

The short answer: Absolutely!

 

However, for companies who are used to a socially active environment, working remotely might get challenging after the adjusting-to-the-new-environment period is over. And many factors can affect productivity and the winning momentum of a team when working from home.

One of those important factors is to figure out how to keep up the social and informal aspects–how to enable and encourage the “coffee machine talks” and other social contacts when teams go virtual.

For Management Events, we’ve implemented homeworking initiatives and discovered a few findings from the last weeks that our teams have put in place:

 

  1. Check-in with teams every day – Each team has morning check-in and afternoon check-out where everyone dials in with video on to see each other and discuss plans for the day and on findings, learnings, and outcomes. Having a routine to see your colleagues again brings structure and care when working from home.
  2. Morning check-in can start with “Let me show my crib” – a view at each team member’s home office, how it is set up, and sharing a routine from the day – many innovations can come out of a suddenly new situation!
  3. Walking to work – team members who live in the surroundings of and easy access to nature, and are remote enough from other people–often go out for a 30-minute walk, the plans for the day are discussed while getting a good dose of fresh air.
  4. Have Team Lunch on Zoom or Teams – sharing what was made for lunch, sharing easy and delicious recipes to cook from their home office. With Zoom or Teams, you can still socialize with team members by discussing how to keep healthy and enjoy the lunch break together.
  5. Virtual Friday Bar – Wrap up the week over a drink from your home office, your balcony, sofa or even your garden – sharing weekend plans, saying thank you for the week and winding off from the office hustle. This can be just a 15-minutes chat to end the week together with a positive note!

 

Consider also establishing a virtual coffee machine or “lounge” in Zoom or Teams – a space where anyone from the office can pop by for a cup of coffee, chat about work or non-work related things and take a break from the routines. Sharing experiences of the new situation is important for all, to cope with the lack of seeing one another for some while.

And finally, make room to celebrate each small and big success during these times, share the good news actively and encourage people to congratulate each other in any of the channels and methods they see fits best! Virtual cards, flowers, and hugs will surely make the colleagues’ day!

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Kan technologie HR menselijker maken?

Tasper_HR_Technology_More_Human

In een tijdperk waarin technologie in alle aspecten van ons leven is doorgedrongen blijkt het binnen HR toch nog moeilijk om de volledige potentie van technologie te benutten. Vanuit de core HR systemen worden er steeds meer processen geautomatiseerd en soms zijn er zelfs hele moderne toepassingen, maar het blijft toch wat behelpen.

Het lijkt dat HR last blijft houden van een erfenis vanuit de tijd dat HR personeelszaken heette en vooral gericht was op de administratieve functies met betrekking tot het personeel.

Hoe kunnen we voorbij procesautomatisering denken? En is het mogelijk de medewerker centraal te stellen in de toepassing van technologie binnen het HR domein?

De effectiviteit van technologie wordt voor een groot deel bepaald door de intelligentie (kunstmatig of niet), gebruikte data en de gebruikerservaring of userexperience van de toepassing. Wanneer we de juiste mix vinden van die drie elementen kunnen we de beschikbare technologie echt gaan benutten.

Het voordeel is dat we binnen HR beschikken over veel data, misschien niet in elk bedrijf even veel en vaak minder dan we zouden willen. Maar toch, veel data. We weten heel veel van de medewerker en van zijn of haar tijd binnen onze organisatie. Als we dit combineren met een slimme manier om met die data om te gaan, kunnen we inschatten wat er bij de medewerker speelt. Zijn we vervolgens ook nog in staat om de medewerker te vragen wat zijn probleem of vraag is op een manier die aansluit bij hoe we inmiddels gewend zijn te communiceren dan begint het ergens op te lijken. 

Vaak ligt achter een specifieke vraag van een medewerker een aantal procedures verscholen. In plaats van de medewerker te wijzen op de te volgen procedures, of nog erger, de medewerker zelf te laten bedenken welke procedures er van toepassing zijn kunnen we de medewerker helpen het probleem op te lossen.

Stel, een medewerker wil parttime werken. We weten dat de medewerker een leaseauto heeft, een opleiding volgt etc. Op de vraag ‘wat betekent het als ik parttime ga werken.’ Kan vervolgens vrij makkelijk op basis van data, arbeidsvoorwaardelijke en andere regelingen bepaald worden wat de effecten zijn voor de medewerker. Bijvoorbeeld een hogere eigen bijdrage voor de auto, het effect op bedrijfstijd die aan de studie besteed mag worden en de effecten op de verschillende arbeidsvoorwaarden. En dit alles zonder dat er verschillende gesprekken gevoerd moeten worden met verschillende HR medewerkers die voor deze onderdelen verantwoordelijk zijn. Op basis van deze kennis kan HR in gesprek gaan met de medewerker om te kijken naar zijn of haar wensen en meedenken over alternatieven. Misschien ligt achter de vraag om parttime werken wel een ander vraag, misschien is het maar tijdelijk en misschien kan het worden opgelost door verlof bij te kopen.

Zo kunnen we verschillende events in de employee journey bedenken die we kunnen herkennen en ondersteunen door middel van technologie en vervolgens in een volwassen en gelijkwaardig gesprek kunnen afhandelen. Dit geeft niet alleen een geweldige employee experience voor de medewerker, maar ook voor de HR medewerker die tenslotte ook liever problemen oplost dan procedures uitvoert. Door op deze manier te denken vanuit de medewerker, zijn we echt in staat om HR menselijker te maken door gebruik te maken van technologie.

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SURVIVAL OF THE SMARTEST / CYBERCRIME EN VEILIGHEID

BCT_survival_of_the_smartest

Als kennisgedreven organisatie werkend voor kennisintensieve bedrijven, ligt onze focus doorgaans op de technologie. We faciliteren organisaties om vanuit data de juiste informatie boven te krijgen.

Vervolgens interpreteert de professional de informatie, waardoor deze transformeert in waardevolle kennis en relevante know-how. Daarvoor is het belangrijk dat de breinkracht van de professional adequaat, betrouwbaar en fit blijft. Het brein is immers de transformator van informatie naar kennis.

Om als organisatie mee te gaan in het snel veranderende IT-landschap, hebben we het brein dus hard nodig. We spreken niet langer meer over survival of the fittest, maar over survival of the smartest. Vanuit onze corebusiness dragen wij zorg voor de IT-kant van dit verhaal, maar we zijn van mening dat de andere component, het brein, minstens zo belangrijk is.

We vertellen dan ook graag het verhaal van de technologie en koppelen dit aan het brein middels een achttal trendpapers. Van intelligente devices tot big data, managed services, cloud en nog veel meer – alles komt aan bod.

We wensen u veel leesplezier!

Cybercrime…

Het is een onderwerp waar de gemiddelde persoon het Spaans benauwd van krijgt. We kunnen ons allemaal het worstcasescenario voorstellen, weten dat hacks en phishing aan de orde van de dag zijn. En toch laten we met z’n allen de achterdeur openstaan – zowel zakelijk als privé.

Het is niet voor niets dat volgens het CBS afgelopen jaar ruim 1.2 miljoen Nederlanders slachtoffer zijn geweest van cybercrime. Willen we dit digitale gevaar het hoofd bieden, dan is bewustzijn een must.

Bewustzijn rondom de technologische kant: hoe ontwerp je veilige software? Moet je daarvoor naar de cloud? Is blockchain de oplossing? Maar ook de humane kant: wat kunnen wij hier als mens mee en wat gebeurt er in ons brein als het aankomt op veiligheid? Dit trendpaper behandelt de belangrijkste facetten rondom de technologietrend cybercrime en exploreert de bijbehorende state of mind.

CYBERCRIME EN VEILIGHEID

Een kleine inventarisatie in IT-land leert ons dat er onder de noemer veiligheid een drietal sub-trends hangen. De eerste betreft de Algemene Verordening Gegevensbescherming (AVG) die geldt sinds 25 mei 2018 en een grote impact heeft op het organiseren van informatiebeheer.

Privacy is waar het hier om draait. Een ander domein gaat over archiefwetgeving: hoe wordt informatie bewaard? Tot slot spelen dataveiligheid en datazekerheid een grote rol. Deze trends zijn niet allemaal even eenvoudig te waarborgen en dat wordt pijnlijk duidelijk uit de regelmatige berichtgeving over bedrijven die last hebben van cybercrime. Het laat zien dat beveiliging nog te vaak een ondergeschoven kindje is.

De eeuwige ratrace tussen aanval en verdediging

Dat beveiliging niet de aandacht krijgt die het verdient, betekent niet dat er geen bewustzijn bestaat rondom het onderwerp. Iedere organisatie is ervan op de hoogte dat het cyberdomein voor criminelen dé ingang is naar gevoelige bedrijfsgegevens.

Zo werden er in 2018 welgeteld 20.881 datalekken gemeld aan de Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens. In 2017 waren dat er nog 10.009. Gedegen beveiligingsmiddelen hebben voor de IT-afdeling daarom de hoogste prioriteit. Helaas is het niet zo eenvoudig als het bouwen van een hoge muur. De mens is ontzettend vindingrijk en laat zich niet zomaar tegenhouden. Dit vertaalt zich in de wereld van cybersecurity naar steeds complexere aanvallen, die op hun beurt vragen om een steeds complexere verdediging. Daarnaast is het ontzettend lastig om aanvallen tijdig te signaleren en de benodigde maatregelen te treffen. Hierdoor wordt in veel gevallen pas gehandeld als de problemen al bestaan.

Het inregelen van cybersecurity draait daarom ofwel om het voorkomen ofwel om het beperken van de impact van aanvallen. Het is een continu proces, een voortdurende ratrace tussen aanval en verdediging.

Beveiliging first

Gelukkig zit er ook een positieve kant aan het kat-en-muisspel tussen aanval en verdediging. Binnen software-ontwikkeling is nu namelijk een veel grotere focus op beveiliging. Deze focus was er in het verleden uiteraard ook, maar vormde toen nog een separaat onderdeel in de ontwikkeling van software.

Nu is het vrijwel ondenkbaar om niet uit te gaan van het zogenaamde security by design, wat betekent dat de software vanaf de basis is ontworpen om veilig te zijn. Hetzelfde geldt voor privacy by design. Deze principes vormen de grondbeginselen van goede software.

Ook de opkomst van nieuwe technologieën zoals mobiele technologie en de cloud, heeft eraan bijgedragen dat beveiliging steeds meer een randvoorwaarde vormt in het ontwerpen van software. Nu informatie altijd en overal beschikbaar is voor iedereen, praten we niet meer alleen over een veilige IT-omgeving met een firewall en beheerder.

Organisaties komen in aanraking met hele andere beveiligingsoverwegingen en kunnen het zich niet meer permitteren hun data op één plek achter één firewall weg te zetten. Het antwoord daarop in de markt is blockchain, oftewel het versnipperd opslaan van informatie.

Het inzetten van blockchain gaat echter niet met één druk op de knop. Ook in dit geval moet software vanaf de basis gebouwd zijn om hiermee te kunnen dealen. Beveiliging first dus.

Kennisborgen in het organisatiegeheugen

Wanneer de basis is gelegd en bewustzijn rondom het belang van ‘beveiliging first’ bestaat, is de vraag wat je als organisatie op technisch vlak kunt doen. Informatie veilig en compliant opslaan is stap één, zeker in het geval van informatie waarover de organisatie zich moet kunnen verantwoorden. Ervoor zorgen dat alleen de juiste personen toegang hebben tot de juiste informatie is stap twee.

Om dit te realiseren is het verstandig gebruik te maken van bewezen informatiemanagementtechnologieën die garant staan voor informatieveiligheid. Hiermee ben je al een heel eind, maar wil je écht inzetten op veiligheid dan is het belangrijk de organisatieprocessen zo in te richten dat je er lering uit kunt trekken.

Wanneer er zich een veiligheidsbreuk voordoet, bestaat er dan een geheugen waarin je terug kunt kijken om te zien hoe er eerder gehandeld is? De mens heeft de neiging vervelende ervaringen snel te vergeten. Des te belangrijker is het om hier als organisatie streng op te zijn en alle kennis goed te borgen.

Zet die extra stap en zorg niet alleen dat informatie veilig is opgeslagen, maar haal er ook waarde uit. Met andere woorden: zorg voor verantwoord, duurzaam en veilig informatiemanagement waardoor informatie direct en in de juiste context beschikbaar is op een transparant, compliant en toekomstgericht platform.

Zo kun je de regie blijven voeren over je professie en de kansen benutten die de digitale wereld biedt.

HET BREIN & VEILIGHEID

Wat gebeurt er in ons brein als het gaat om (digitale) veiligheid? We maken een kleine uitstap. Om te begrijpen hoe ons brein handelt als het gaat om veiligheid vallen we terug op het “drie-enige brein” model van Paul MacLean.

Dit model, dat MacLean ontwikkelde in de jaren 60, is gebaseerd op de verdeling van het menselijke brein in drie afzonderlijke regio’s: het reptielenbrein, het limbisch systeem en de neocortex. MacLean suggereert dat deze regio’s hiërarchisch zijn georganiseerd, gebaseerd op een evolutionaire kijk op de ontwikkeling van het brein.

Hoewel dit model een sterk vereenvoudigde opvatting van de werking van het brein is, biedt het een gemakkelijk te begrijpen benadering van de hiërarchie van breinfuncties.

Het reptielenbrein is, zoals de naam doet vermoeden, het deel van ons brein dat afstamt van de reptielen. Dit brein is verantwoordelijk voor onze basis overlevingsinstincten zoals de hartslag, ademhaling en lichaamstemperatuur.

Functies die onder dit deel van de hersenen vallen hebben voorrang op andere hersen activiteit. Wanneer we ons in een levensbedreigende situatie bevinden, zal het reptielenbrein als eerste reageren. Hier houden onze oerdriften zich namelijk ook schuil. Als we in gevaar zijn en snel moeten reageren wordt het reptielenbrein actief en bereidt het ons voor op actie door stofjes in het hele lichaam vrij te laten komen. Dit onderdeel van ons brein kent geen emotie en handelt puur reflexmatig.

In een later stadium van de evolutie heeft het limbisch systeem zich ontwikkeld, waarin emoties een grote rol spelen. Dit is het reactieve deel van het brein dat de ‘vecht, vlucht, of verstijf’ reactie initieert. Belangrijk hierin zijn de hippocampus, de amygdala en de hypothalamus die samen een snel, onderbewust evaluatie- en reactiesysteem vormen dat is ontworpen om ons veilig te houden.

De amygdala fungeert hierin als een vroegtijdig waarschuwingssysteem dat het motto ‘safety first’ hanteert. Het zorgt ervoor dat we eerst onszelf in veiligheid brengen, alvorens de neocortex (het uitvoerende brein) te raadplegen.

De amygdala evalueert dus heel snel, zij het niet altijd nauwkeurig, en zet inkomende informatie van de thalamus snel door naar de hypothalamus die een reactie initieert. De hippocampus speelt ook een belangrijke rol bij het vastleggen van gebeurtenissen en bij het verplaatsen hiervan van het korte- naar het langetermijngeheugen.

Tot slot is er de neocortex, het uitvoerende deel van ons brein dat verantwoordelijk is voor alle ‘intelligente’ activiteiten zoals taal, abstract denken, verbeelding en creativiteit.

Het herbergt ook veel van ons geheugen – niet alleen situaties die we meemaken, maar ook alle herinneringen die essentieel zijn om te kunnen praten, schrijven, wandelen en talloze andere activiteiten. In de neocortex bevindt zich de prefrontale cortex, dat trager reageert op binnenkomende informatie dan het limbische systeem, maar veel geavanceerder is in de verwerking ervan.

Complex denken op technisch, emotioneel, sociaal en logisch vlak vindt hier plaats. Maar is er sprake van een waargenomen dreiging, dan kan de prefrontale cortex ‘gekaapt’ worden door het limbische systeem en ‘offline’ gaan om ons veilig te houden.

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Skincity: Med hjälp av Bitlog har vi blivit mer än 70% mer effektiva

bitlog_skincity

En av de stora utmaningarna för e-handlare idag är att skapa en effektiv och lönsam lagerhantering som är anpassad efter företagets storlek. Bitlog har sedan 2006 levererat innovativa mjukvaror för lager och distribution där målet är att skapa system som gör att de tidskrävande rutinerna i lagerhanteringen försvinner. Med gedigen erfarenhet och kunskap tar de sig an några av Sverige snabbast växande e-handlare och hjälper de att bli mer effektiva och lönsamma i sitt arbete. Ylva Pagmén, Chief Operating Officer på Skincity berättar:

– Vi hade behov av att hitta en leverantör med ett genuint intresse av att hitta lösningar och arbetssätt som passade vår verksamhet och som vi kunde arbeta med under vår tillväxtresta.

Skincity, Sveriges största hudvårdsklinik online, hade utmaningar med effektiviteten vid bland annat orderplock. Logistikavdelningen bestod av hudterapeuter som tack vare stor produktkunskap lyckades plocka rätt produkter men i takt med att de växte uppstod nya behov i orderplocksprocessen. Bitlog hjälpte Skincity att automatisera logistikflödet genom sina lösningar.

– Tidigare plockade vi en produkt åt gången, men efter att ha fått hjälp att automatisera processen kan vi nu plocka tolv ordrar på samma gång, något som ökat vår effektivitet kraftigt, säger Ylva Pagmén.

Enligt Bitlogs grundare Fred Boström handlar det om att ha väl integrerade system mellan e-handel, affärssystem och lagersystem för att skapa ett effektivt arbetsflöde. Att automatisera delar av lagret innebär ofta stora effektivitetsvinster när den mänskliga faktorn stängs ute från flödet. Dels genom att ordern direkt når lagret på ett automatiserat sätt och dels genom att hantera eventuella avvikelser som kan uppstå, så som förseningar eller saldobrist som i sin tur kommuniceras till kunden.

– Vårt samarbete med Bitlog har förändrat vårt arbetssätt mycket. Framförallt i plock- och packprocessen där vi blivit mer än 70% mer effektiva, förklarar Ylva Pagmén. Redan efter en månads samarbete märkte vi av resultaten och blev snabbt 50% mer effektiva. Även kvaliteten i form av kontroll på lagersaldo och lägre felplocksfrekvens har blivit bättre. Vi har tillsammans tagit fram en fantastiskt bra plattform för oss att stå på, en plattform som gör det möjligt för oss att fortsätta växa, sammanfattar Ylva.

Bitlog faktaruta

Bitlog har sedan 2006 levererat moderna lösningar för smart lagerhantering. Företaget grundades av Fred Boström som tidigare arbetet på andra företag med stora utmaningar inom lager- och distributionsområdet.

Besök www.bitlog.se för att läsa mer

 
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Mensch und Marke am Scheideweg – eine Frage des Vertrauens

Das Ringen um Aufmerksamkeit beim Kunden wird zunehmend härter: online, offline und mobil. Globaler Wettbewerb und zunehmende Vergleichbarkeit sorgen für schwindende Markenloyalität, die Konkurrenz scheint oft nur einen Klick entfernt. Hinzu kommt, dass Konsumenten heute zwischen verschiedenen Geräten wechseln und auf unterschiedlichsten Kanälen mit Marken interagieren. Die klassische Customer Journey wird seit Jahren komplexer, ein ehemals präzises Bild möglicher Interessenten verschwimmt zusehends mit der steigenden Anzahl an Touchpoints, die Unternehmen heute bieten (müssen).

Christoph Kull

Wer in diesen Zeiten nun einfach die eigene „Lautstärke“ erhöht, um noch Gehör zu finden, trägt meiner Meinung nach zum kollektiven Dilemma bei, in dem wir uns befinden. Ein erhöhtes Grundrauschen ist kontraproduktiv, ressourcenintensiv auf Unternehmensseite und für Konsumenten wird es bestenfalls unübersichtlicher, oftmals leider anstrengender. Wirklich zum Kunden durchdringen kann heute nur, wer konsequent auf Relevanz statt auf Marktschreier-Mentalität setzt. Voraussetzung dafür ist jedoch ein präzises Bild der (potentiellen) Kunden, um diese hochpersonalisierte Ansprache und individuelle Relevanz erfolgreich anbieten zu können. Das funktioniert nur über Daten und an dieser Stelle kommt Vertrauen ins Spiel.

Vertrauen ist der Schlüssel jeder erfolgreichen (Kunden-)Beziehung

Was zeichnet eine gute Beziehung zwischen Mensch und Marke aus? Zum einen sicherlich eine gute Erreichbarkeit im Bedarfsfall und eine hohe Konsistenz in Aussage und Markenauftritt über alle Kanäle. Zum anderen aber – und da unterscheidet sich die Kundenbeziehung nicht sonderlich von der zwischenmenschlichen – entscheidet das Vertrauen über die Qualität der jeweiligen Beziehung. Wer die Datenschutzgrundverordnung (DSGVO), die jüngste Rechtsprechung des EuGH zur Opt-in Pflicht für Trackingtools oder den fortschreitenden Standard populärer Browser, Drittanbieter-Cookies automatisch zu blocken nun verantwortlich für schwindenden Kundenkontakt macht, sollte sich fragen, welche Art von Beziehung das eigene Unternehmen bislang zu seinen Kunden unterhält. Ich bin überzeugt, dass wir an einem Punkt angekommen sind, an dem Marken das Verhältnis zu ihren Kunden überdenken und neu definieren sollten.

Für echte Beziehungen gibt es keinen Shortcut: Vertrauen wird langsam aufgebaut und ist ein hohes Gut, mit dem wir behutsam umgehen müssen. In keinem Fall erscheint es mehr ratsam, dies in die Hände Dritter zu legen. Anders gesagt: Marken sollten es zu einer ihrer ureigenen Kompetenzen machen, das Vertrauen ihrer Kunden zu gewinnen und zu pflegen. Dafür sind Transparenz und Wahlfreiheit gefragt: In einer neuen Beziehung lernen wir unseren Partner schließlich auch Schritt für Schritt besser kennen. Manches erzählt man gleich beim ersten Treffen, persönlichere Details geben wir erst preis, wenn wir dem Anderen vertrauen. Gleiches gilt auch für die Beziehung zwischen Marke und Kunde: Vertrauen und ein klar ersichtlicher Mehrwert, dass auf Basis von besseren Daten auch das Kundenerlebnis viel besser wird, sind entscheidend, um eine echte, langfristige Beziehung zu etablieren und authentisch mit den eigenen Kunden kommunizieren zu können. Der Weg zu diesem neuen Verhältnis führt meiner Meinung nach zwangsläufig über die eigene Datenwirtschaft. First Party Data ist der ehrliche unverstellte Blick auf die Qualität meiner Kundenbeziehungen. Das zeigt auch unsere im vergangenen Herbst veröffentlichte Studie „Across the Ages“: Für ein besseres Kundenerlebnis würde die Mehrheit der Konsumenten ihre Daten durchaus mit einer Marke teilen – sofern sie dieser vertrauen.

Je größer das Vertrauen im Laufe der Beziehung wird, desto eher sind Kunden bereit, weitere Daten mit einer Marke zu teilen – diese können sich mit dem Einlösen Ihres Versprechens von passgenaueren Informationen und Angeboten revanchieren. Das wiederum steigert die Kundenzufriedenheit und damit auch ihre Loyalität. Wer in diese Form von Beziehung investiert, hebt sich von der Konkurrenz ab und investiert in die eigene Wettbewerbsfähigkeit.

Autor: Christoph Kull

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Master your true leadership in retail

The retail industry is currently evolving to keep up with Industry 4.0 and John Brahim, CEO & AI Business Architect at Maistering BV believes that digital innovation will be even more at the heart of the fast-changing sector. Brahim shares his knowledge and insights in this article on the path to master leadership in retail. While talking about Master Collections, a brand-new orchestration platform, he shares five practical guidelines on incorporating digital innovation and applied AI. Good reading for those who aim to co-shape the future of retail.

Innovation Transforms Consumers, Enterprises, and Leadership Alike

As the retail industry undergoes a massive transformation with the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a new type of leadership will play a crucial role in leading the charge towards digital transformation of the retail sector. Brahim outlines the steps that retail leaders might take to reinvent themselves and shape Retail 4.0, a lesser-known twin of Industry 4.0.

“Retail is shaking on its foundations as applied AI will infuse the current digital innovation wave. Like now, the sector will be driven by consumers that demand digital era shopping and delivery experience allowing them to combine ease, ratio, and emotion fitting to their style and choices. However, the way these preferences will be expressed, perceived and translated across the channels, will become much, much more sophisticated.”

Brahim continues, “This forces retail leaders into numerous, never-ending transformation journeys. Maistering’s sole mission is to augment retail leaders and their teams. Master Collections, our platform is an unparalleled set of AI-based collaborative services to orchestrate magical business journeys. Master Collections require limited set-up effort and allow retail leaders to reinvent their play in a natural way, both the big picture and the day-to-day work one step at a time. But I don’t want to emphasize the platform, as innovation is always about leadership: it takes a visionary leader to adopt a visionary approach.”

As it is with all emerging technologies and innovation, organizations and businesses must be prepared for change. Legacy thinking often slows down or even impede change, however, Brahim points out there are established ways to facilitate innovation in mature organizations.

“Innovation is always a mix of technology, new paradigms, new instruments with behavioral change – mental and emotional. First tip: acknowledge that innovative change is now at the core of your job and lead by example by embracing AI in how you orchestrate and collaborate.”

Any new method, process, product or service introduction that comes out from innovation typically results in change – change in people, ways of working and unlearning and learning. Brahim believes that it is essential for leaders to build the right team, inspire them with the right focus on impact and empower them with the ability to intelligently move ahead.

Of course, to ensure a successful innovation process, the onus will be on leaders to be effective in their role to lead both employees and partners towards sustainable business growth.

“Since innovation comes from everywhere, leaders should have the ability to tap into the employee base, get ideas, and suggestions, nurture them and develop solutions to implement them – thus ensuring a successful innovation process. As this is a collaborative world, this is equally true for partners. Since most change is people-related, it is imperative to keep a good eye on the emotions, motivate people and ensure that the team is on board and along with you on the journey. Second tip: assure that you use the new generation collaborative tools to help your team and your partners undertake these crucial journeys.”

Integrating Digitalization and Partnership To Push Innovation

“It is an illusion to think that one can lead to an era of digital innovation without embracing digital behavior and AI augmentation. Leaders need not be technologists themselves but indeed must become hands-on in using AI in everything they do. Key is to act holistic, really focus on transformation journeys from early intention to final touch down and impact. Third tip: leverage AI in all facets of your job: exploring, aspiring, plotting, inspiring, disrupting, mobilizing, executing.”

Brahim understands that a leader has many business journeys running in parallel and has to bring insights at their fingertips, frame them from multiple lenses to translate them into actions that will lead towards profitability and customer delight. All of these can be aided by AI-technologies that exist today.

And Maistering understood this as their platform, Master Collections, addresses this topic by providing leaders the ability to run magical business journeys with essence, beauty, and impact.

“Innovation today is now more than ever a collaborative process. It is about undertaking experimental journeys with customers and partners in ways that are joyful, fast, rich, and impactful,” notes Brahim.

“Master Collections has an entire atelier of management techniques to shape transformational journeys. Some leaders are biased towards purpose, most are centered on action, some are too content-based, many have difficulty with the emotional side of change. No wonder so many digital initiatives fail. Fourth tip: teach yourself how to look at magical journeys from different angles, also the ones that do not come to you naturally.”

But how to drive AI-based innovation with a legacy systems landscape? 

Brahim acknowledges that legacy systems often do not really help business leaders “to be on their toes – listen to customers, their buying choices, their experience of the service they get; and to partners and stakeholders to leverage this information in real-time and respond quickly to the changing dynamics of their business.”

Still, he doesn’t plead for wall-to-wall implementation of new systems. “Too often, enterprises lose themselves in costly re-engineering of their systems landscape, only to discover that they end up with a new generation of legacy. IT efforts should definitively focus much more on collaborative data harmonization in the sector. Fifth tip: pay more attention to emerging external content services and leverage legacy systems better by combining them with new generation orchestration services.”

Dealing With Your Strong and Weak Points When It Comes To The A.I. Revolution

Understanding both their AI and behavioral change is a necessity for businesses to lead in retail 4.0. True, new players often have an advantage in the first part of the equation. So, Brahim believes that established leaders should learn from new leaders to leverage AI-based innovation. He recommends established leaders to:

“Relentless drive towards digital experiences and willingness to bet on AI as it will change everything. Then again: established leaders know how to mobilize people. The combination will fuel journeys that combine speed, sophistication, and common-sense feasibility.”

Of course, in the retail industry, innovation can come from different areas of technology. The reason Brahim has strong convictions that Artificial Intelligence will take center stage is based on how it will impact the shopping experience.

“The real revolution is still to come.AI will completely change the connection between consumers, retailers, producers, and the products & services: with conversational interfaces, cognitive abilities, virtual experiences, and proactive personal suggestions and conditions.”

In addition, AI will also lead to new levels of digitalization and automation of production and distribution. For businesses to lead in Retail 4.0, they need to start implementing AI as a core part of their strategy.

Ultimately, Brahim is confident that the retail sector will not suffer, but benefit from AI-driven innovation and that “business leaders adopting AI technologies; new ways of working, will orchestrate magical journeys that allow them to master their true of retail leadership.”