Innovation

Nation
Helping to optimize your
business operations

2017
Summer

SUPPLY CHAIN TRANSFORMATION

FOR THE DIGITAL AGE
REIMAGINING THE SUPPLY CHAIN IN THE ERA
OF INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION
Raman Katyal / 8

THE AUTOMATION NATION

Lee Beardmore / 34

ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION IN INSURANCE

Indivar Khosla / 50
2 ·
INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017
In a world where customer expectations are witnessing seemingly exponential growth, the case for
a compelling customer experience has evolved from a nice-to-have to an absolute necessity. Digital
technology is transforming the way we interact with our customers, creating a more demanding
customer that is happy to take his or her business elsewhere if the product is not delivered on time,
not as described and not supplied at the right price.

In the supply chain space, businesses are starting to embark on digital transformation to take advantage
of the opportunities of new technologies – with successful digital transformation initiatives centering on
reimagining the customer experience, operational processes and business operating models. With this
in mind, the Summer 2017 issue of Innovation Nation focuses on how Capgemini’s Digital Supply Chain
is creating competitive advantage and enhanced business outcomes for our clients by putting their
customers at the heart of our solution – leveraging intelligent automation to transform their supply chains.

Raman Katyal, who heads our supply chain team, shares his point of view on how intelligent automation
can reimagine the traditional supply chain – fusing the physical with the digital to drive transformation of
our clients’ industries and their supply chains – through a connected, digital ecosystem that aligns the
functions of our clients’ organizations to present a single, consistent face to the customer.

In our Technology Talk section, we start with the results of Capgemini-commissioned research on
UK office workers’ optimism about the impact automation technologies will have on the workplace
of the future. This is followed by a reaction to this research by Lee Beardmore – Chief Technology
Officer at Business Services – who discusses the reasons why companies are not taking advantage of
automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence.

Our Sector Focus section brings you a series of articles and points of view around adopting
a standardized approach to Data Management, as well as a joint Capgemini-ACORD perspective on
how Robotic Process Automation is providing opportunities across the value chain in the insurance
industry. We also put the spotlight on our Omsk delivery center in Russia, with an interview with Vera
Sushko, Omsk Center Director and Unilever Engagement Manager, about the decision behind opening
a new delivery center in southwestern Siberia and the added value the center brings to our clients.

And finally, our seasoned panel of Business Services experts share their insights on subjects ranging
from robotics in HR, how to handle communications in a crisis and tips on how business can handle
end-customer operations in order to be remain competitive.

The late sixth century BC Chinese general, military strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu once said: “The
line between disorder and order lies in logistics.” I really hope the insight and thinking behind our focus
on how intelligent automation is transforming the traditional supply chain – creating an “Amazon-like”
approach to customer experience – is something you find as fascinating and exciting as I do!

As always, most of the articles in this edition of Innovation Nation are available on our website and we
welcome you to share your opinion and views online.

Aruna Jayanthi
Head of Business Services

3
 01
Reimagining the Supply Chain in the Era
of Intelligent Automation
Raman Katyal /8
Should Supply Chains Be Automated?
Raman Katyal /18
Focus on Digital New Perspectives on Supply Chain Management
Mike Meech /22
Supply Chain E2open and Capgemini – Enabling Companies
to be Supply Chain Winners
Shawn Lane /25

02
Automation Will Have a Positive Impact
on the Workplace /31
The Automation Nation
Lee Beardmore /34
Machine Learning – Tackling Data Volume
and Unpredictability Technology
Andrew Anderson /38
Talk

03
A look at some of the innovations and
achievements from across our global
delivery centers /42
Center Spotlight – Omsk /43
On-track to Omsk – Interview with Vera Sushko,
Centers of Omsk Center Director and Unilever Engagement
Manager, Business Services /45
Excellence

4 ·
INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017
 04
Robotic Process Automation in Insurance
Indivar Khosla /50
Financial Services Data Management –
Time to Standardize
Pankaj Ratna /57
Sector Adopting a Standardized Approach to
Reference Data Management
Focus Pankaj Ratna /59

05
Introducing the Digital Contract Lawyer
Agnieszka Chmiel /65
I Am Your Customer – Understand Me, Keep
Me Happy and Surprise Me!
Magda Matell /67
Do You "Do" Robotics in HR? Expert
Anjali Pendlebury-Green /70
The Democratization of Analytics Insights
Divya Kumar /72
Contract Lifecycle Management: The Dinosaur
and the Robot – Make Friends not War
Craig Conte /75
Handling Communications in a Crisis Event
Bobby Abedeen /77

06
Building the Next Generation Business
Transformation Team
Carole Murphy /81
Serge Kampf – Destiny of a Visionary Founder
Who Thirsts for Freedom /83
Capgemini
Community

5
.01

FOCUS ON DIGITAL
SUPPLY CHAIN
REIMAGINING THE
SUPPLY CHAIN IN
THE ERA OF
INTELLIGENT
AUTOMATION
Raman Katyal
Head of Supply Chain, Business Services
 Focus on Digital Supply Chain

Every business on the planet strives to increase

revenue, enhance profitability and delight customers.
In the past, organizations mainly focused on achieving
customer satisfaction with timely product or service
fulfillment. Today, however, most organizations
recognize it’s no longer enough to compete merely on
products and services – instead, it’s about managing
customer experience throughout the buying journey.

We could go as far as to say this is the era of the businesses to improve revenues and profitability, to deliver
experience economy. Most organizations delight their an notable return on investment and assets, and to achieve
customers by meeting their needs, solving their problems a substantial reduction in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
and providing experiences marked by immediacy, vantage Many companies such as Amazon are really leveraging
and customization. their artificial intelligence (AI) tools to enable it, and we
have all seen their growth over last few years.
To my mind, what really matters in this development is
the outcome of customers’ needs. It’s the end result
customers are bothered about. For example, B2B network CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
equipment manufacturers are not only focused on meeting
their immediate obligations on product delivery, but on "Amazon-like" has become an industry standard for
sensing the data usage behind the equipment they provide. customer experience. Look at the convenience of placing
This might be a key driver for network equipment towers orders with one-click checkout, real-time feedback from
to be installed, or it may be that some infrastructure is other buyers, and complete visibility on delivery status.
gradually replaced by small cell technology. In short, the For customers, the service not only meets immediate
manufacturer is selling the promise to deliver the outcome. requirements but creates a need for something of
Similarly, in the chemical industry many companies which they may not even have been aware until it was
promise an improvement in crop yields as an outcome. recommended. For Amazon itself, it opens sales avenues
Consumer packaged goods (CPG) businesses and and creates a phenomenal growth trajectory. To achieve
retailers are embarking on the same path. They are not customer experience at this level you need an entire digital
only focused on meeting their customers’ requirements, ecosystem in the background to make it happen.
but on creating new adjacent needs by predicting their
wishes and selling the promise that they will be fulfilled. A compelling customer experience has evolved from
a nice-to-have to a necessity in many industries.
So, the next wave of evolution and differentiator will be the Customer expectations are growing at much faster pace,
"outcome economy." It not only addresses customer end with individualization and customization, online enabled
needs by selling a promise of outcome; it also senses and transparency and easy access to a multitude of options
creates wish lists that open new sales opportunities for driving increased competition in the business supply chain.

9
In addition, the rapid proliferation of total item variants is The fusion of the physical supply chain and the virtual world
adding significantly to costs. into cyber-physical ecosystems will drive transformation
across industries and their supply chains. Big Data,
The major challenges are segmented into: advanced analytics, robotics and intelligent automation,
cognitive artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things
• Interactions with customers and analysis of (IoT) are creating additional opportunities along the entire
data touch points. industry value chain.
• Sensing the demand and fluctuations well in advance.
• Agile and decisive actions through real-time insight to It’s a case of "adapt or perish" – across industries,
respond to evolving needs. digitization coupled with transformation of the operating
• Collaboration with partners for speed to market. model is changing the rules of the game. Businesses
• Complex processes and technology landscape leading that fail to change will be overtaken by their competition.
to longer lead times. Manufacturing companies are applying advanced analytics
• Transparency and visibility across the value chain. to predict the health of their installed bases and reduce
downtime with data gathered from IoT sensors. They are
To meet today’s supply chain challenges, business are also installing robots to carry out shop floor assembly
embarking on digital transformation. Successful digital activities to improve efficiency and reduce costs. CPG
transformation comes not from implementing new businesses are implementing algorithm-driven sensing
technologies alone but from transforming the organization platforms to predict demand well in advance so as to
to take advantage of the possibilities that new technologies minimize drop orders and optimize inventories. Customer
provide. Major digital transformation initiatives are centered services functions are heavily deploying cognitive and AI
on reimagining the customer experience, operational applications to enhance critical customer interactions.
processes and business operating models.

Challenges and trends being faced by industries

Digital Customer Experience Internet of Things, Cloud Platform

Connected
products,
Competencies to
processes and
Intelligent Automation apply innovation Digital Enterprise Model
partners
Artificial Intelligence, to transform
business
Cognitive, Autonomous
Standardized and
Major automated
Adopt digital operations Robotics Process Automation
to remain challenges
competitive
Digital Manufacturing
Speed to Market,
Focus on agility in Visibility and Insight
core to be decision-mkaing
competitive

Business Process Management Data Lake and Predictive Analytics

10 INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017·

 Focus on Digital Supply Chain

TRANSFORMING THE SUPPLY CHAIN • Responsiveness – the capacity to make quick and
THROUGH INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION informed decisions to respond to the market in real time.
• Transparency – empowering employees, customers
The pre-digital economy was designed principally for and partners to interact seamlessly, extending real-time
efficiency, but in the digital economy, agility, scalability, visibility across the value chain
responsiveness and transparency are key. Digital supply
chain transformation is built upon four key pillars: Successful digital transformation comes not from
implementing new technologies alone but from
• Connected ecosystem transforming the organization to take advantage of the
• Intelligent processes possibilities new technologies provide. This journey has
• Cognitive analytics three phases:
• Autonomous fulfillment
• Reimagine – new growth paths, making today’s
This process not only drives optimization of processes business relevant for tomorrow.
and operations – it opens channels to new innovative • Reengineer – achieve more with less to deliver better
business models. Here’s a little more on those key things business outcomes.
it brings to the business: • Run & refresh – navigate change and orchestrate
new, innovative ways of working.
• Agility – redesigning the operating model to make it
modular, flexible and boundless to adapt to the evolving By way of example, here’s our own approach here
market landscape. at Capgemini:
• Scalability – the capacity to reinforce speed to market
from product inception to commercialization.

REIMAGINE RUN & REFRESH

REENGINEER

New growth paths, making today’s Achieve more with less to deliver Navigate change and orchestrate
business relevant for tomorrow better business outcomes new, innovative ways of working

• Accelerated Solution Environment • Digital Enterprise Model • Sector and Domain Expertise
ASSETS

• Applied Innovation Exchange • CG IP and Partner tools (Apps Hub) • Physical and Virtual Delivery Network
• Design Thinking • Supply Chain Transformation office • Analyst and Advisors recognitions

• Benchmarking and transformation plan • Sector best practices orchestration

IMPACT

• Agile Operating Model

• Digital Enterprise and Experiences • Intelligent Automation • Anytime, anywhere services
• Organisational Alignment • Supply Chain Transformation office • Proven methodologies and execution

11
How should CXOs themselves approach this challenge? Collaborative cloud-based platforms – now that
There are endless tools, technologies and applications supply chains have moved in many cases from being
available, but what matters is selecting not just the best linear to something more tangled, in order to improve
tech but the one that offers the best and most appropriate time-to-market and fulfill customer demands promptly,
way of working in prevailing circumstances. organizations must collaborate and integrate partners
to arrive at a single version of the truth. The operating
base has to be a collaborative multi-enterprise model. As
THE FOUR KEY PILLARS OF INTELLIGENT organizations grow across geographies and functions,
AUTOMATION IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN different versions of ERP arise, which then blocks an end-
to-end view of the enterprise and creates much more
Connected ecosystem difficult outside boundaries with partners. Collaborative
cloud-based platforms, which are non-invasive and sit
Advances in digital technology have changed the buying on top of multiple ERPs with standard connectors, can
behavior of customers in both B2B and B2C, giving them bring an enterprise, partners and customers under one
access to an array of channels to research, compare and roof to deliver real-time end-to-end "run" visibility for
customize the products and services they seek. In turn, this prompt decision making. These platforms can create
channel proliferation creates unparalleled opportunities for customer-oriented networks, from point-of-sale (POS)
businesses to engage meaningfully with customers and through to the enterprise, within which manufacturing
provide differentiated experiences. units and distribution centers can plan for demand by
engaging with suppliers for fulfillment. For instance, some
To leverage customer interactions and drive revenue CPG companies can allow customers to custom-mix their
growth, companies have invested heavily in omnichannel own drinks at vending machines, disrupting the traditional
platforms; but they need to go a stage further, converging distribution model while also capturing valuable customer
views across channels to create a single view of the insights for future products.
customer, a single version of the truth, which enables
them to respond with a similarly unified experience. This Connected field services – regardless of whether
connected ecosystem requires a synchronized operating it’s B2C or B2B, customer relationships and experience
model in which all the company’s functions are aligned depend not only on product but also on service, and that’s
to present a single face to the customer, as well as one where the aftermarket plays a critical role. Connected
consistent way of doing business. In B2B markets, field services are key differentiators in providing prompt
companies are providing one single checkout portal to services and minimizing downtime. Digital platforms today
configure the products and services and to order, amend, enable real-time connectivity and collaboration between
track and pay in a seamless way. End-to-end integration customer service representatives, field technicians,
across the value chain enables real-time visibility, suppliers and logistics providers, delivering manifold
prioritizing and the ability to revise services ordered. improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of the
service value chain. Companies that can put together all
Digitization can break down barriers, so the supply chain these pieces in a connected and fully transparent system
can become a completely integrated ecosystem that will gain a huge advantage by creating tangible value in
is fully transparent to all the players involved, from the the areas of customer service, flexibility, efficiency and
suppliers of materials and parts to the transporters of those reduced costs.
supplies and finished goods, and finally to the customers
demanding fulfillment. The digital supply "network" will Blockchain – as discussed, the supply chain is no longer
offer a new degree of resiliency and responsiveness, linear: it’s a network ecosystem that can be overly complex
enabling first-mover companies to beat the competition and hinder visibility and transparency. Blockchain,
in the effort to provide customers with the most efficient though, which is new to the supply chain, will be able
and transparent service delivery. to resolve challenges around visibility, transparency,
and accountability among partners. Compliance with

12 ·
INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017
 Focus on Digital Supply Chain

stringent regulations around product quality, safety and Intelligent processes

environmental impacts, have created huge obligations
for organizations. Blockchain will be able to provide In the last few decades we have seen an evolution in
a comprehensive solution by tracking and traceability of automation from task automation to the automation of data
goods and services at each step, thereby facilitating trust. center operations to process level automation. Organizations
are striving to do more with less to lower costs by improving
Already complex supply chain pathways are often efficiency, effectiveness, accuracy and minimizing resource
further hindered in efficiency by redundant systems and deployment across their supply chain processes.
processes, reducing accessibility and transparency.
Blockchain makes use of an open-permission ledger Robotic Process Automation (RPA) – most
system to create an ecosystem in which information flows organizations across CPG, high tech manufacturing,
openly. This helps reduce assumed risks while minimizing healthcare and the chemical industry are embarking on
total costs and driving agility and adaptability. RPA for process automation, particularly in areas that are
high-volume, repetitive and rule-based, such as orders
The Internet of Things (IoT) – the digital supply chain and claim processing, invoice creation, and reports and
is where the physical meets the virtual. We see this in dashboards. RPA software bots can monitor inventory,
particular in IoT and in the sensors, servers, data lakes, generate notifications and reorder products when levels
analytics engines, insight and visualization tools that go below a set threshold. It frees up time and resources
inhabit this world. This environment creates meaningful to work on high-value exception-based requirements. RPA
data but in vast quantities, analysis of which necessitates is quite effective in lowering service costs by improving
cognitive computing. We’ll be turning to this area shortly. productivity by 40–60%, although results can vary in
relation to the nature of the processes involved and their
maturity levels.

ARTEFACT CONTROL CENTRAL AUDITING DATABASE

Review and approval of new or changed All activities of the robots are logged centrally
Integration layer with

artefacts by certified experts for at appropriate granularity level

central components

compliance and security

ARTEFACT DEPLOYMENT REPORTS & DASHBOARDS

Automated deployment of
Business relevant automation insight
approved artefacts to robots
(real time reporting) based on robots logs.
from a central repository
technology layer
RPA/AI

RPA Tools Unstructured Client specific Industry specific

Data Processing technologies technologies

Artefact 1 Artefact 2 Artefact N

artefact layer
Automation

Process specific automation artefacts based on RPA/AI technologies

13
Processes gain in complexity as a result of multiple not only perpetuating waste but automating it too. It’s
handshakes, a proliferation of intermediate steps, and imperative that processes are first transformed to become
fragmentation across regions and markets. Automating lean, standardized and harmonized. Reading from "E" to
processes without first addressing this issue would mean "R," the methodology below illustrates a useful approach:

OPTIMIZE
ERPs/ Workflows and
existing IT landscape

STANDARDIZE AUTOMATE
Rethink the basics to limit customization S A Automate standardized process using
best of breed tools

ELIMINATE ROBOTICS
Expunge wasteful activities impacting E R Robotizing repetitive and rule-based
time, cost and effort transactions

Self-learning algorithm-based demand sensing Organizations have to start deploying self-learning

– organizations are frequently surprised by volatility in algorithm-based demand sensing using real-time demand
demand, with fast-changing customer requirements, signals. It synthesises multiple data sources such as
changing minds and an abundance of alternatives. As points-of-sale (POS), social media interactions, economic
forecast errors have cascading impacts on planning, indicators and weather conditions, and analyses masses
inventories and fulfillment, it is critical to sense true demand of data to deliver insights. Demand sensing provides
– which is often quite different from the forecast calculated a step-change in forecasting added value and in reducing
by analyzing historical information using quantitative and extreme error.
qualitative methods.

Demand sensing reconciles all demand signals

DEMAND PLANNING
• Forecasts

Operational
Forecast Distribution
FULFILLMENT Requirements
• Orders Planning
• Shipments Days 1-X

DOWNSTREAM DATA
• POS (scanner)
• Retailer forecast
• Channel inventory
• Warehouse withdrawais
• Other (weather, etc.) TOUCHLESS EVERY ITEM EVERY DAY

14 INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017 ·

 Focus on Digital Supply Chain

The use of real-time signals in demand prediction is • Obtain real-time data and insight to make prompt and
a game changer because it creates forecasts in sync with informed decisions to delight customers.
current market conditions instead of relying on historical
shipments and well-meaning but often biased input from Predictive analysis is a game-changer. Cognitive
sales and marketing. As a result, short-term forecast error computing with its ability to analyze more variables is
is typically cut by around 30–40% compared to traditional able to make predictions with greater forecast accuracy.
demand planning. One of the advantages of automated Cognitive technology allows computers to interpret deeper
algorithms is that they are free of human bias and have reasoning behind data correlations and use advanced
no concept of gaming the system. algorithms to interpret text in order to derive insights and
sentiment from unstructured data. Better predictions can
help eliminate things like the dreaded bullwhip effect.
Cognitive analytics
Retail POS data can contain a wealth of insights into
Data is the principal driver behind the smart connected consumer preferences and demand. Data is generated
supply chain. Assimilation and analysis of both structured through diverse channels including OTC (over the
and unstructured data across diverse sources can provide counter), web browsing, e-commerce and product
critical insights and information. evaluation through social media platforms such as
Facebook. Cognitive computing enables organizations
Every activity in the supply chain network is generating to analyze data patterns, and find correlations promptly
a tsunami of data, mainly across stakeholders and partners to predict consumer demand and personalize services.
external to the organization. All this information from Manufacturing companies are installing sensors in their
connected products and services has the potential to drive installed base to enable tracking and traceability, to assess
operational excellence and new operating models. But the the health of assets, and also, through cognitive analysis,
key challenge lies in the nature of that information. 80% of to predict potential failure and carry out preventive
the data generated is unstructured. It’s sometimes known maintenance, which in its turn improves return on
as "dark data" – examples are images and videos that can’t investment (ROI). Logistics providers have started making
be analyzed by conventional IT methods because they use of smart containers embedded with GPS tracking
can’t understand natural language or recognize objects and sensors which generate location data in controlled
or patterns in images. conditions so as to trace movement and protect products.
This is also improving container utilization and availability
Data is a treasure trove, but organizations that fall behind in leading to better return on assets (ROA).
deploying cognitive analytics are obliged to survive on the
interpretation of just 20% of their data, which will not able Organizations have to deploy a comprehensive approach
to provide sufficient insight into current market trends and to cognitive analytics covering data collection, aggregation
fast-evolving customer buying behaviors. As a result they and analysis to handle the barrage of data with variety,
will not able to transform their operating model, reducing velocity and volume, to convert into insight at speed,
their ability to compete. to scale and visualize for fact-based decision-making
and to solve persistent problems. Companies need
To thrive in today’s digital world, the key differentiator is to transform their supply chains by investing in these
predictability. Organizations need to: cognitive technologies, using talented data scientists to
create a customer-centric operating model that extends
• Predict demand well in advance to plan inventory from new product design right through to fulfillment.
and fulfillment.
• Predict the health of an installed base and avoid Companies are embarking on digital transformation to
downtime. achieve the next level of operational excellence, leveraging
• Sense consumer choices to bring new products quickly emerging technologies such as advanced robotics,
to market. advanced analytics, artificial intelligence and machine

15
 REVENUE GROWTH
Smart products – customer preferences
COGNITIVE TECHNOLOGIES Smart Services – growing needs

HIGHER RETURN ON ASSETS

Predictive assets management
Autonomous vehicles
PROFITABLE
GROWTH CUSTOMER OUTCOME
Unstructured data Customized experiences
across channels Enhanced product yields

PROFITABILITY
Lower working capital
Virtualization

SELF-LEARNING

learning. To create sustainable value they are adapting Capgemini’s Intelligent Supply Chain
to new business models such as smart factories, smart
products, smart supply chains and connected field services. At Capgemini’s Business Services, we orchestrate services
and transform our clients’ supply chains, leveraging
intelligent automation to create a fully integrated-sector
Autonomous fulfillment specific solution powered by technology, talent, process
transformation and visualization. Our Digital Supply
The future of the supply chain will be self-orchestrated. Chain is a broad, deep and comprehensive service
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) and GPS are not new that brings together business process management –
in this context, but artificial intelligence will change things from "plan to deliver" – with best-in-class cloud-based
significantly. For example, Amazon has already deployed solutions such as analytics and insights, benchmarking
thousands of robots at its fulfillment warehouses for pick- and maturity assessments, digital transformation and
pack-ship activities, and Amazon drones are in pilot runs change management.
for last-mile deliveries to customers. Self-driven trucks
are already being tested in different parts of world, and This includes an end-to-end collaborative platform
many logistics providers are planning to include them in for real-time visibility across all supply chain functions
their transportation fleets. for enhanced efficiency and effectiveness, algorithm-
based demand sensing to improve forecast accuracy
The last mile is the most complex part of supply chain, and optimize working capital, RPA to improve order
and here we’re seeing autonomous deliveries are poised management process efficiency, and cognitive analytics
to make the process more efficient, effective, safe and to gather data into one place, deliver insights at the point
eco-friendly. Containers leveraging IoT and GPS-combined of action and generate differentiated business value.
technology have significantly improved container utilization
and lead-times.
In conclusion – the importance of strategy
Autonomous trucks and vehicles are trending a new age
of mobility. In coming years, they will change the game Intelligent automation makes it possible to create an
for logistics and in both B2B and B2C markets. While ecosystem for holistic automation to drive value for
autonomous vehicles will improve efficiency, they will also business. Since there is so much noise about automation
improve safety by minimizing crashes and accidents due and digitization, companies tend to deploy technologies
to human errors and fatigue. These vehicles are navigated randomly. This can generate point benefits but will not
using embedded radar systems, cameras and sensors deliver enterprise-wide added value.
emitting vast data, which is processed and analyzed by
an AI-powered system. The key is to focus not just on automation technologies
but to make them part of a comprehensive and strategic
approach to the delivery of services.

16 ·
INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017
Focus on Digital Supply Chain
SHOULD SUPPLY
CHAINS BE
AUTOMATED?
Raman Katyal
Head of Supply Chain, Business Services

·
 Focus on Digital Supply Chain

A recent Capgemini survey of over 1,000 UK office workers

found that nearly half of UK office workers are optimistic
about the impact automation technologies can have.

QUESTIONS OBSTACLES

Respondents to the survey, conducted on our behalf In my experience, the biggest obstacles to automation
by Opinium, an independent research company, had envisaged by those with supply chain responsibilities
a general idea of the benefits that might accrue but were are largely matters of perception. Decision makers are
less clear as to how these technologies can be applied concerned about the implementation costs, they are
to their area. What’s more, our survey found that fewer unsure of the security implications, they doubt they
than 20% of those surveyed felt their organizations were have the requisite in-house skills and experience, and,
currently benefiting from automation. Which prompted as our survey shows, they are unclear as to what the
two questions for me: benefits of implementation might be. In a nutshell, they
are apprehensive of taking on such an ambitious project
• One, is this low level of adoption specific to the UK? all at once, as it may jeopardize the operation of their
• And two, how can automation be applied to the whole supply chain. In contrast, they want a step-by-step
supply chain? approach in adopting automation.

ANSWERS ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE…

The first question is easily addressed, and the answer is I could spend the next few paragraphs advising supply chain
no. Capgemini serves multinational enterprises across the executives of the perils of this mind-set and of the inertia
globe, and our sense is that in other parts of Europe, in it generates, but by nature I’m a more positive person. I’d
the US and elsewhere – not just in the UK – while levels of rather talk instead of the opportunity automation represents:
understanding about the reasons for adopting automation,
artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are relatively • Greater visibility – for instance, web-enabled sensors
high, understanding of how to adopt these technologies installed throughout the supply chain improve not only
within specific industry sectors is still low, and companies traceability but process knowledge. People know
are looking to partners to help them. where things are, what’s happening and how well
things are working.
The second question needs more consideration, because • Lower costs – greater efficiency means lower
supply chain is clearly a focus for automation. Indeed, overheads.
when asked where they thought automation benefits were • Improved accuracy – greater knowledge delivers
mostly likely to be found, our survey respondents showed not only more accurate forecasts but greater
distinct differences. Around half (47%) of the total pool responsiveness. Organizations can respond more
saw potential applications in supply chain. flexibly to changing market conditions.

19
• Time to focus on more valuable tasks – greater Working on the POC with an experienced external services
insight into daily operations, better process control, provider will not allay not only these misgivings but also any
more efficient order management and fulfilment and doubts about on-board expertise: the services provider
more besides – all these improvements reduce the will work alongside the in-house team to make things
demands made on time and resources, enabling people happen, sharing knowledge while at the same time freeing
to focus on other areas including… up internal resources to address other projects – the next
• Improved innovation – when supply chain phase of the rollout, perhaps.
operations are transparent and streamlined end-to-
end, there’s more room for organizations to think For one of our global CPG clients, for example, we started
about how to introduce exciting new approaches to with demand planning in one country and delivered
product and service fulfilment that will delight and a POC for three months, demonstrating that by leveraging
enthuse their customers. Capgemini patented tools we could make substantial
improvements in their forecast accuracy. We formulized
There’s also an opportunity in those current low adoption this approach and expanded it to other regions, which
levels. Organizations implementing an automated approach has led to us now managing global demand planning for
to their supply chains before their peers have first-mover the client.
advantage and are likely not just to see the benefits
outlined above but to see gains in cost-competitiveness
and also in market share. They’ll be ahead of the game. COMPREHENSIVE BENEFITS

A POC is a good start, but it won’t deliver all the benefits

… CONQUER THE NEGATIVE of supply chain automation. These can only be realized
when digital transformation is fully implemented across
Of course, to realize these advantages people first need to the enterprise. For instance, a POC might streamline
overcome those negative perceptions I mentioned earlier: activity in one business area or geography – but
a comprehensive implementation that makes possible
• Misgivings about implementation costs. full visibility of processes end-to-end will provide efficiency
• Lack of awareness of the benefits. improvements on an entirely different scale. To my mind
• Concerns about security. there are few better examples than this of a case where
• Lack of sufficient in-house skills and expertise. the whole is so much greater than the sum of its parts.
• A lack of a digital ecosystem.
• The right operating models. One of the main positives from our survey was that
people do see the benefits of automation and, despite
All these concerns are a product of fear of the unknown misgivings and gaps in their knowledge, are beginning to
– but I’m not recommending organizations should simply warm to its possibilities. However, with all the noise around
ignore that fear and march blindly in. Instead, I’d suggest robotic process automation (RPA), AI, cognitive analytics
a proof of concept (POC) approach. Automating part of and the digital customer experience, companies often
the supply chain will enable the enterprise to gauge both deploy technologies randomly, generating benefits without
costs and returns. The benefits of AI can be seen and delivering enterprise-wide added value. My advice is, don’t
better understood, and rigorous cloud-based security do it. It’s too big a thing to get wrong. The supply chain
measures will become both tangible and reassuring. may once have been merely tactical, but it isn’t any more.
It’s more than that. It’s core to the customer experience
and hence to the brand identity of the enterprise.

20 ·
INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017
 Focus on Digital Supply Chain

And as I mention in my recently published Point of

View entitled "Reimagining the Supply Chain in the Era
of Intelligent Automation," the key is to focus not just
on automation technologies but to make them part of
a comprehensive and strategic approach to the delivery
of services.

And that’s why your approach to supply chain automation

needs to be planned, considered, tested, comprehensive
and above all, strategic.

21
NEW
PERSPECTIVES
ON SUPPLY CHAIN
MANAGEMENT
Mike Meech
New Logo Sales Director, Business Services
 Focus on Digital Supply Chain

In the film Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams plays an

English teacher, John Keating. Early in the film he asks his
class to stand on their desks. It will enable them to see
things differently, he says.

Recently I’ve had much the same experience. I’ve been Here’s the first. Have you heard that line: "to a person who
in business process outsourcing (BPO) for many years. only has a hammer, every problem looks like a nail?" Well,
It’s familiar territory for me. But a few months ago I joined some service providers seem to me to be rather like this.
the team at Capgemini, and the move has enabled me to The methodology they bring to supply chain platforms
see this known landscape from a new perspective – and can be pretty generic: it’s not necessarily tailored to the
in particular to re-assess its application to the supply supply chain function or seen as distinct from procurement,
chain and procurement environments on which I focus. which has its own demands. Nor is their offer tailored to the
circumstances of their individual clients, let alone to providing
a point of view on how BPO supply chain can assist with the
SIMILARITIES shift to Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing,
smart maintenance and Intelligent Automation.
Let’s start with the things that don’t change. Multi-national
client organizations may have different cultures and Others, by contrast, take time to understand this industry
operate in different markets, but they all have customers shift and the character of the organization for which they’re
to serve and stakeholders to satisfy, and they all strive working. They’re also well versed in this area of global
to meet these expectations as satisfactorily and cost- business: they’ve recognized the supply chain’s shift to
effectively as possible. BPO at an early stage, they’ve invested in it, and they’ve
worked with major clients to develop an offer that meets its
Their supply chain operations play a substantial part in specific requirements. Most importantly they are delivering
this, and as a result BPO service providers all aim to assist tangible outcomes that not only make a difference to the
in the delivery of customer-driven value networks, and bottom line but also to the top line.
they work closely with their clients to make them happen.
Here’s another difference. If the first can be summarized
as "one-type-or-nothing," this one is "one-size-or-
DIFFERENCES nothing." Some service providers are uncomfortable
offering anything other than a full-scale, enterprise-wide
I’ve seen a number of such service providers in action implementation.
(not just those in the various places I’ve worked) and I’ve
also heard first-hand from global businesses who have
experience of other such providers, so I’ve been able
to pool this knowledge and gain a pretty good sense of
where differences can lie.

23
In one way I can understand this. Supply chain BPO is supply chain discipline. They can see, too, when a provider
an area in which the benefits of implementation at scale is prepared to take time to tailor its offer to circumstances
significantly exceed the sum of separate executions at and perhaps also to start small.
a lower level. Here at Capgemini we see clients achieve
not only substantial enhancements to customer service When organizations see these things, they grow to trust
delivery, but sizeable and measurable improvements in in the provider’s ability to perform, to bring flexibility to
efficiency and profitability. These positive changes aren’t the business and to deliver tangible, revenue-affecting
always immediate but they are dependable in scope and results. They see that improvements in efficiency unlock
sustainable over the long term. They are the result of what cash that can be used to extend the model and create
at Capgemini we call digital supply chain transformation, further improvements in customer service.
built on the four key pillars of the connected ecosystem,
intelligent processes, cognitive analytics and autonomous We’re in the midst of great change right now. The supply
fulfilment. (Raman Katyal, our head of supply chain, has chain is evolving. We’re seeing it move to center-stage
written a paper about this, which you can read here.) in the organization – which is where, perhaps, it ought
always to have been.
But although I understand the sentiment behind the "one-
size-or-nothing" approach I don’t entirely subscribe to it. And from up here on my metaphorical desk, I can see it’s
I’m a believer in the proof-of-concept (POC) approach the more insightful, more experienced service providers
where the service provider works hard with organizations that are helping to make it happen.
to identify an area of the business that can act as
a microcosm for the model as a whole, so clients can
see it in action and gain confidence in its usefulness and
wider applicability.
We’re seeing the supply
RESULTS chain moving to center-
stage in the organization –
The fresh perspective my fairly recent move has given
me has brought new focus to the differences I’ve noted which is where, perhaps, it
here. I’ve also seen the result of these differences. Major
organizations are astute: they can see when, as I’ve ought always to have been.
described, a provider understands the specifics of the

24 ·
INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017
E2OPEN AND
CAPGEMINI –
ENABLING
COMPANIES TO
BE SUPPLY CHAIN
WINNERS
Shawn Lane
SVP Sales and Marketing, E2open
 Focus on Digital Supply Chain

Shawn Lane, SVP Sales and Marketing at

E2open, shares insights on how to better manage
supply chain operations and offers advice for
supply chain leaders in disrupted markets.

Innovation Nation: Let’s start with a bit of How did the partnership with Capgemini
background. Could you please tell us about come about and what challenge does the
how E2open fits into the supply chain space? joint offering address?

Shawn Lane: Yes, that’s good place to start. E2open is an E2open has been around for 17 years and we’ve known
end-to-end supply chain company. We provide software Capgemini from the beginning. We saw them investing
solutions around supply chain planning, execution, heavily in the supply chain area and providing creative
collaboration and connectivity. Our E2net is the largest solutions. In particular, their managed business services
direct materials network in the world, managing about caught our eye because our clients were increasingly not
$250 billion dollars worth of spend from some of the largest only asking for software solutions to solve their problems,
companies in the world. but they also wanted to outsource the work. They wanted
someone who could plan and manage their supply chain
In terms of where we fit into the supply chain market, if using our software, either because they didn’t have the
you go back to the old days, companies had two choices: skills and capabilities, they didn’t consider it a core
they could go to an ERP provider and get a monolithic competency or they needed to drive productivity gains.
solution that integrated well but probably didn’t provide
the level of business value they were looking for because it We saw Capgemini as a logical partner in that space
was broad but not very deep; or they could go to different because they had a lot of experience in doing this with
niche providers and buy separate software packages from other companies, so in this respect, the partnership is
different software vendors, but had the responsibility of very synergistic. We also saw a level of depth around
integrating them together – so they got the business value, process understanding, redesign, change management
but the expense, cost and effort to maintain a multitude and strategy. We felt Capgemini could go into large
of suppliers was problematic. E2open sits in the middle companies, recommend the transformation and follow it
– we give you an integrated solution, but from a company all the way through, giving us the opportunity to remain
that is 100% focused on software-as-a-service (SaaS) good at what we do – which is being a software provider
supply chain, enabling you get the best value at the most and a network.
reasonable cost.

Finally, we focus on not just better operations of a single Which industry sectors are moving quickest
company, but collaboration between companies. Today, in adopting this type of solution?
competition isn’t company vs. company, it’s supply chain
vs. supply chain. Seamless coordination between all the Consumer packaged goods (CPG) is the biggest one.
companies in a supply chain is an absolute necessity to Activist investors and the rise of Amazon.com are forcing
be able to deliver reliably and consistently. companies to change the way they behave. Companies
are terrified, and they know they need to perform better.

26
They know that they need to have higher customer Could you talk about some of the
performance at lower cost and they’re struggling to figure new developments you’re currently
out where to get those productivity improvements – which working on at E2open?
is where we come in. We enable you to take non-core
areas of your business such as supply chain planning A lot of the work we’re currently doing is in artificial
and demand forecasting, and let Capgemini provide the intelligence (AI). We’ve been providing AI-based products
service using E2open tools to do it cheaper, better, faster for about 15 years, but they have largely focused on
and with better outcomes. This allows companies to invest the demand side within specific industries. We’re now
more in improving their products, services, stores or other working to apply AI to the supply side, to make better
aspects of their core business. decisions around the make, move and pack of materials
and extending them across other industries.
The need for dramatic productivity improvements applies
to almost every industry. In the pharmaceutical industry, for We’re also working on making the experience more
example, there’s a rush to become efficient, so they can seamless. Historically, companies bought multiple
price more effectively. In the US, the government is forcing niche software products for different processes such
providers to reduce costs, but they’re unable to reduce as forecasting, inventory planning, supply planning
the amount they spend on research and development, and procurement. Users would log in and out between
making it a perfect fit in having Capgemini provide the applications and it required extensive IT investment to
business planning functions using E2open tools. integrate the disparate products. The lines are now blurring
and when your supply chain is run in the cloud, it won’t
It also extends to high tech, where margins are shrinking matter what product you’re in – what matters is that you
and the success or failure of a company is largely have access to the information you need. So were trying
dependent on the availability of the supply of chips and to make the process seamless and cohesive across
glass for screens and a number of other constrained functional groups to allow better collaboration.
materials. The right way to manage that is to outsource
the planning and let the company focus on designing
and marketing better products. It really applies to all And finally, what advice do you
industries but I’d say the CPG, pharmaceutical and high have for supply chain leaders?
tech industries are the really hot ones right now because
they have particular market pressures. Act now! The worst decision you can make is to do
nothing. It’s important for companies to act right now
because the lifeblood of these companies is at stake. More
Can you share any client examples and more companies are going bankrupt because they
where the solution has been applied? are failing to be efficient and productive in their markets.
And there’s a lot of trepidation in the market right now –
Yes. E2open is one of the best kept secrets behind the private equity effect in CPG, the regulatory effect in
hundreds of Fortune 500 companies. Procter & Gamble pharmaceutical, and the market depression in high tech.
uses E2open to forecast its entire global business. Dell
runs their procurement, manufacturing and distribution But if companies can step back, what they realize is that
on E2open. Boeing manages the production of the 787 during times of change there are tremendous amounts of
Dreamliner on E2open. Most of our clients have seen opportunities. Investing in change, new techniques and
paybacks in a year or less, with inventory reductions that approaches is best done in times of transition. Coming
amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. out of these difficult markets, there will be winners and
there will be losers – and Capgemini and E2open work
with companies to enable them to be winners.

27 ·
INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017
 One Place in the
Cloud to Run Your
Supply Chain

LEARN MORE AT E2OPEN.COM

.02

TECHNOLOGY
TALK
AUTOMATION WILL
HAVE A POSITIVE
IMPACT ON THE
WORKPLACE
 Technology Talk

Capgemini research shows that nearly half of UK

office workers are optimistic about the impact
automation technologies will have on the workplace
of the future. However, the cost of implementation
and lack of infrastructure are big barriers to adoption
for UK businesses, and more education and training
needed to ensure the UK is ready for automation.

Capgemini commissioned independent research company "It’s really heartening to see the optimism for automation
Opinium to survey over 1,000 UK office workers to technologies among the UK’s office workers –
explore their attitudes and expectations of cutting-edge particularly when nearly half have given serious thought
technologies including automation, robotics, and artificial to implementation in their own workplace," says Lee
intelligence (AI), including machine learning. It found that Beardmore, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
40% of respondents believe machine learning will have of Capgemini’s Business Services. "At present our survey
a potentially positive impact in the workplace along with estimates that around 13% of businesses in the UK are
robotics (32%). Only 10% of respondents felt automation benefiting from automation, but there’s still a lot that
would have a negative impact. haven’t seen anything yet. We certainly expect this figure
to rise in the near future as more and more businesses
realize the transformational power of technologies such
OPPORTUNITY FOR AN as AI, robotics and automation. All of these technologies
AUTOMATED WORKPLACE represent an opportunity for growth for businesses in
every industry sector."
Nearly half of respondents (47%) revealed they have given
serious thought to how automation technologies can
support their department with its day-to-day processes; BARRIERS TO A MORE
this rises to 85% among those office workers who are AUTOMATED FUTURE
responsible for finances. In addition, business owners
and directors, who were also part of the research sample, Although there is much optimism surrounding the benefits
believe that as much as 40% of business tasks in their of automation technologies, office workers also noted
organization could be automated in the next three to five a number of challenges to their organization’s adoption,
years. Tasks such as invoicing (41%), managing expense with an average of just under a third of respondents saying
claims (28%) reporting (28%) and administration tasks that implementation costs were the main barrier across
(28%) were all highlighted as having the potential for all the technologies. Interestingly, Cybersecurity is most
automation in the near future. commonly seen as an obstacle to taking up AI (17%),
while there is least awareness of the potential benefits of
As a result of increasing the use of these technologies robotics (18%) and machine learning (17%). Time needed
in the workplace, office workers are starting to see the to implement, as well as skills and expertise needed, were
benefits these could have, including freeing up staff time also in the top five reasons cited as barriers.
to do higher value, core business tasks (27%), lowering
costs (25%) and improving the accuracy of results (21%).

32
One of the biggest problems businesses will have to
overcome is a lack of infrastructure. More than seven Our survey estimates that
in 10 office workers (73%) were either not sure or knew
their businesses didn’t have the infrastructure in place
around 13% of businesses
to adopt AI. Respondents had the most confidence in in the UK are benefiting
automation, but 60% still admitted they didn’t or might not
have everything in place to adopt the technology. from automation.
"I would urge all businesses to not only start thinking about
the potential value of automation technologies, but to also
start looking at the skills and expertise they need within their
organization for future implementation, to stay competitive
in the years to come," continues Lee. "That’s why we are
continuing to help in the drive to educate and support
businesses when it comes to key technologies such as AI,
robotics, and automation. By doing so Capgemini aims to
boost the prospects of individual businesses and UK PLC’s
productivity on the whole."

33 ·
INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017
THE
AUTOMATION
NATION
Lee Beardmore
Chief Technology Officer, Business Services
 Technology Talk

A recent survey shows UK businesses understand the

benefits of automation. So what’s stopping them?

In a recent survey on automation (see "Automation Will it can be difficult to know what’s best suited for individual
Have a Positive Impact on the Workplace" on page 31), UK circumstances. If you’re interested in the detail of how
businesses said they believe as many as 40% of business to apply automation then take a look at our Automation
tasks in their organizations could be automated in the Drive Suite.
next three to five years.
And then there’s the question of financing the transition.
Their employees welcome this potential development. Our Just under a third of respondents to our survey said that
survey showed that nearly half of UK office workers are implementation costs were the main barrier across all
optimistic about the impact automation technologies will the technologies.
have on the workplace of the future. The same proportion
said they have given serious thought to how automation I believe there are some understandable misconceptions
technologies can support their department with its day- here – understandable because for many this is as yet
to-day processes – and among those people who are uncharted territory. There’s a fear factor – should we
responsible for finances, that figure rose to 85%. adopt? How should we do it? What benefits will we see?

Not surprisingly, most respondents saw the most potential To answer these questions, companies need proof-of-
in areas such as invoicing, managing expense claims, value solutions. They need to start small. As time passes
reporting and administration tasks, with key benefits and data grows and populates the model, they’ll start to
including freeing up staff time to do higher value, core see the benefits that can be achieved. It doesn’t need to
business tasks, lowering costs and improving the accuracy be a huge up-front investment. There’s a great deal of
of results. free open-source software out there to help companies
explore the potential. The key is to start small with a pilot
to see what works and then scale once they’re better able
AND YET… to manage the cost profile and the benefits.

So far, so good. But the same survey found fewer than 20%
of those surveyed are currently benefiting from automation. A QUESTION OF SKILLS
And this isn’t just a UK phenomenon, in my experience,
business leaders in other countries such as the US, the But there’s another disincentive to adopting digital
Nordics, and other parts of Europe are also hesitating. automation, and it’s pertinent to the question of technology
I raised earlier – the need for appropriate skills. Many
So what’s preventing companies from taking advantage? organizations may be aware of the potential benefits
of automation, but they lack knowledge not just of the
One issue is the question of technology. Many businesses technology, but also of the knowledge and experience
are struggling with uncertainties about how to select, necessary to implement it. They’re concerned that if they
implement, and manage automation in their organizations. adopt automation and lack the skills to apply it correctly,
Dividing lines between robotic process automation (RPA), if they attempt to impose it on inefficient processes, and
artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning can blur, and if they don’t have the right skills to effectively scale and

35
manage, they may not realize the full potential. Worse can focus on more demanding tasks, so our availability
still, they may create even bigger issues for the business. as a resource gives client organizations flexibility they
What’s more, they think: "And it’s not just the technology wouldn’t otherwise have. Internal and external teams can
that’s an investment. Those skills we need – well, they work together just as humans and bots do.
cost money, too."

The good news is not just that proof-of-concept (POC)

implementations needn’t be expensive, but that acquiring Many organizations may be
the requisite expertise can also be achieved cost-
effectively. Many major vendors and service providers
aware of the potential benefits
such as Capgemini are willing to assist with POC trials and
of automation, but they lack
can bring with them knowledge of the appropriateness
of a solution to the task in hand – whether that solution the knowledge and experience
be based on RPA, AI or machine learning, separately or
in combination. necessary to implement it.
The knowledge of these advisors can make an invaluable
contribution to building the internal automation team – an THE TIME HAS COME
"automation hit-team," if you will. The right service providers
know what constitutes best practice and how it can best The potential benefits of automation are too great to
be tailored to individual circumstances. They know how allow doubts about technology, cost and skills to stand
to reduce risk of failure. They know how to ramp up and in their way – especially when those doubts can be so
both implement and manage at scale. effectively overcome.

In addition, service providers bring a flexible resource It’s time for business to take the next step. It’s time
pool. Skills are there when demand peaks but once the to automate.
in-house team grows in size, knowledge and confidence,
our role can diminish. Just as the technology itself means
in-house teams can be freed of low-level activities so they

·
MACCHINE LEA
RNING ENABLES OR
GANISATIONS LIKE YOURS
TO SEE BETTER
NUMBERS

74 %
reduction
85 %

reduction in manual
86
reduction in invoice
%

in transaction costs effort to process processing time

for claims handling correspondence

Celaton inSTREAM™ is an enterprise-class software platform that applies artificial

intelligence and machine learning to streamline processing of the plethora of information
that flows into organisations every day from customers, suppliers and employees by post,
paper,fax, email, attachments, social media, and lots of other electronic data streams.

Unique to inSTREAM is its ability to learn through the natural consequence of processing
and monitoring the actions and decisions of humans in the process. It’s machine learning,
but to our customers it’s the best knowledge worker they ever hired and it means better
customer service, better compliance and better financial performance.

www.celaton.com
MACHINE LEARNING
– TACKLING DATA
VOLUME AND
UNPREDICTABILITY
Andrew Anderson
CEO, Celaton
 Technology Talk

According to a recent study, we create a staggering 2.5

quintillion bytes of data every day. Many organizations
are reliant on data to run their business, including
everything from order management and cash flow to HR
and customer services. Yet the sheer amount of data that
organizations receive on a daily basis from staff, suppliers
and customers from a wide variety of channels can be
overwhelming and if left unprocessed damaging to an
organization’s financial performance and reputation.

In addition, the amount of data received is subject to information to other business systems or robots for further
surges created by factors out of the organization’s hands processing. Software that learns through the natural
such as "acts of God." For example, for train operating consequence of processing and monitoring the actions
companies a disruption on the rail network may cause an of humans in the loop can achieve greater productivity
influx of compensation claims and in the same respect per person with continuous optimization. The greater the
a sudden flash flood may cause an influx of claims for volume of data the faster it learns.
insurance companies. These surges are unpredictable
and as such difficult to plan for. Organizations are either Taking it a step further, when machine learning technologies
forced to put additional strains on existing staff to process are applied as part of a business process transformation
this incoming data, often resulting in delays to the customer program, that’s when the real value is realized. For example,
or supplier or employing last minute temporary staff, at Capgemini’s Automation Drive Suite includes the Virtual
an inflated cost to the business. So, the question is how Delivery Center which uses Celaton’s machine learning
do organizations plan for and effectively manage these coupled with autonomous robots to deliver straight-
surges in data? through machine-to-machine processing without human
intervention, unless there are exceptions to be handled.
Unfortunately, there is no way to predict surges 100% This delivers significant benefits in both productivity and
of the time, so organizations need to have an effective accuracy in finance and accounting processes.
system in place that can cope with any incoming data
volumes – to be able to scale on demand. More and more Applying machine learning technologies to optimize
organizations are turning to machine learning technologies business processes means that organizations can
like Celaton’s inSTREAM™ to achieve this. continue to deliver great customer service, without delays,
without additional staff, regardless of increase in volumes
Technology with machine learning capabilities can not or unpredictable surges.
only handle the plethora of incoming data regardless of
volume or document type but also learn to understand
the meaning and intent of the content. This allows it to
recognize and extract key data, enrich it via other sources
of information, and then process and deliver accurate

39
.03

CENTERS OF
EXCELLENCE
 Centers of Excellence

KRAKOW, KATOWICE
“CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE” Our Polish delivery centers are actively adapting to the new
economic and technological landscape, moving from data to

– A LOOK AT SOME OF THE knowledge, where all of our employees are now knowledge workers.
Capgemini’s operations in Poland is the key hub for transformation
services, predominantly focusing on Intelligent Automation.
NANHAI
Our Nanhai Delivery Center has successfully

INNOVATIONS AND delivered go-live of an end-to-end

"Ship-to-Cash" transformational outsourcing
project for a US logistics services company,

ACHIEVEMENTS FROM with strong focus on customer interaction

across the APAC region.

ACROSS OUR GLOBAL

DELIVERY CENTERS.
EL PASO
Our El Paso Delivery Center continues to honor Capgemini’s firm
commitment for information security by successfully completing
the external audit and extending its certification with the Electronic
Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC).

SARASOTA
Our Sarasota Delivery Center will grow more than 140% during
the second half of 2017, significantly contributing to increasing
Capgemini’s footprint within insurance for Business Services in
North America.

GUATEMALA CITY
In an effort to drive green initiatives for one of our largest
consumer product and retail clients, our Guatemala team
BANGALORE CHENNAI
was able to identify and eliminate printing waste to deliver CAMPINAS Our Bangalore Delivery Center added two
new marquee accounts to its client portfolio, Our Chennai Deivery Center has begun
a more eco-friendly process that saves 2 million sheets of Our Campinas Delivery Center automated the delivery of Finance, Procurement and
delivering finance transformation and setting
paper per year and €25,000. business process performance reporting for Data Management services for one of
up new shared services operations.
a large CPRD company that removed all Australia’s leading utilities providers.
human intervention, improving accuracy and
speed while reducing costs by 75% TRICHY
A recent "Innovation Week" encouraged our
Trichy Delivery Center team members to
showcase innovative ideas in an effort to
learn and apply innovation to deliver more
BPOpen© 2015. Capgemini. All rights reserved.
value to our clients.

42 INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017·

Center Spotlight – Omsk

LOCATION
Omsk, Russia

LANGUAGES
Russian, English,
Ukrainian

# FTEs
Capacity of 158

43 ·
INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017
 Centers of Excellence

WHY OMSK?
Our Omsk center is located in the main and the only
• A workforce population of over 755,800 people with
economic center in the region. There’s only one
an average age of 39 years.
other big city – Novosibirsk – within a radius of 1,000
kilometers from Omsk. The geographical location of
• A total of 15 universities that have economic and HR
Omsk is in the middle of Russia allows us to serve faculties graduating over 4,500 graduates each year.
all 11 time zones. Omsk also boasts:
• A favorable average time to fill vacancies: specialist –
• Consistent education and workforce migration from three weeks, manager – four to six weeks.
Kazakhstan to the Omsk region of up to 6,000 people
each year.

• Well-connected to Moscow with seven flights daily –

and to other major Russian cities, with 15 flights daily.

CLIENTS
SERVED
SERVICES Unilever, Syngenta

The Omsk center’s portfolio of

services include:
• F&A –Procure-to-Pay (P2P), Travel & Expenses,
Credit-to-Cash (C2C), Record-to-Analyze
(R2A), tax, legal contracts, service desk.
• HRO – workforce administration, reward,
payroll, recruitment, tax, service desk.
• CD operation – CD reporting, CD motivation,
CD rebate process, CD legal doc flow.
• Master Data – employee, customer, vendor,
pricing, system access management.

44
ON-TRACK
TO OMSK
Vera Sushko
Omsk Center Director and Unilever Engagement Manager,
Business Services
 Centers of Excellence

Vera Sushko, Omsk Center Director and Unilever

Engagement Manager for Capgemini’s Business Services,
talks to Innovation Nation about how the Omsk Delivery
Center builds on our 10-year relationship with Unilever
while opening up the business services market for
large Russian companies.

Innovation Nation: Capgemini recently What is the profile of companies that

opened a new delivery center in Omsk is best suited to serve?
Omsk, Russia – what prompted this
decision and what added value does Being in the heart of Russia, we tend to look at global
this location bring to our clients? companies that already have a developed Russian
business in portfolio. This includes large Russian federal
Vera Sushko: The Omsk Delivery Center continues to companies that have their own in-house shared service
build on our 10-year relationship with Unilever to bring centers and might be ready to move it to third-party
about Finance and Accounting (F&A) and HRO process provider – Gazprom, Sibur, Lukoil and Severstal, just to
transformation and increased productivity. Omsk is give a few examples.
responsible for delivering F&A and HRO services for
Unilever Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. We provide a full
scope of F&A services, including procure-to-pay (P2P), Could you give some examples of
order-to-cash (O2C) and record-to-analyze (R2A), as well innovation or outcomes already delivered?
as HR operations such as Work Force Administration,
Payroll, Employee Service Desk and Recruitment. We We have finished standardization alignment towards the
also provide support for customer development and Unilever Global Model across all process. We carried out
Procurement processes. a major redesign of the P2P process and centralization
of help desk, including query tool implementation. We
The Russian market has huge potential for the development have also started Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
of business services, collaborating not only with global implementation for our clients in areas such as Master
companies, but also with big local Russian companies. Data Management pricing activities, Travel & Expanses
Capgemini’s Russian-based Business Services business posting and SAP report collection.
unit is able to provide services with deep knowledge
of local legislation and effective support for document
workflow. In addition, our Omsk Business Services
Centre enables our clients to avoid the influence of foreign
exchange volatility in deals due to operating with contracts
in the local currency.

46
How are you developing the knowledge
and skillsets of your teams? The Russian market has huge
At Omsk, we run a range of different programs aimed to
potential for the development
cover the needs of our people who work within different of business services,
areas of the business and who might be at different places
in their careers. This includes an on-boarding program collaborating not only with
for new joiners that covers both business culture as well
as functional knowledge and skills, professional external global companies, but also with
and internal training that enable our people to upgrade
their knowledge and be in line with legislation changes,
big local Russian companies.
and leadership programs for different position levels that
enable our people to improve their personal effectiveness
and accelerate their leadership skills and competencies.
We also provide a full set of process documentation,
including maps, DTPs and procedures.

What’s next for the Omsk delivery center?

Being a relatively new center, our main focus is to

consolidate our ability to maintain successful and efficient
delivery of F&A and HRO services to our existing clients.
But looking to the future, we are looking at providing
F&A and HRO services for other clients in Russia and
Ukraine, as well as expanding the scope of our services
across the region towards transformation projects such
as designing new target operating models and building
transformation roadmaps.

·
.04

SECTOR
FOCUS
ROBOTIC PROCESS
AUTOMATION IN
INSURANCE
Indivar Khosla
Global Head, FS-Business Services
 Sector Focus

An ACORD-Capgemini perspective

A NEW ERA IN INSURANCE

Insurers have been accustomed to the current market with digitization vary, there are a number of common
realities of relatively low premium growth, rising loss costs barriers face including:
and ever increasing customer expectations. Over the
years, carriers have focused on adapting the business to • Accumulated legacy systems characterized by
address the challenges posed by these conditions. Senior outdated technologies and a complex infrastructure
management, business unit and IT leaders have directed of siloed applications and supporting data, systems
investments primary towards performance improvement and architecture.
initiatives including cost take-out. However, the industry • Complex business models, particularly in the area of
is now facing an inflection point where current market underwriting and claims, where multiple variations of
conditions, the growth of emerging technologies, and similar processes, modified to support unique lines of
the rise of a digitally-empowered consumer is driving business, co-exist across the value chain.
an outcomes-focused operations and technology (O&T) • Lack of vision, C-suite support, and talent to implement
agenda. The result is a new insurance technology "era," and manage a digitized process environment.
where CIOs and COOs are increasingly working together • Impact of organizational silos including multiple,
to attract, retain and develop customers while maintaining complex balance sheets and a lack of transparency
their focus on maintaining and transforming the current and collaboration across the enterprise.
business and IT infrastructure. • Marketplace disruption including emerging competitors
and shifting compliance and governance requirements.
The cornerstone of this new "era" is digitization, which
not only involves the conversion of paper and hard- In order to address these issues, O&T professionals and
copy information into digital formats, but also includes business leaders among insurers, agents, brokers and
the deployment of capabilities that support digitized reinsurers are increasingly turning to Robotic Process
processes including big data and analytics, internet, Automation or RPA, the use of software combined with
and mobile technologies. The end result for insurers is artificial intelligence and cognitive computing to mimic the
a digitized business model that will support improved activities of humans conducting highly repetitive tasks.
decision-making, enhanced customer relationships and Current spending on RPA technologies among banking,
expanded automation across the value chain. financial services and insurance firms (BFSI) is estimated
between $50 million and $100 million and is forecasted
Unfortunately, not all insurers have the culture or capacity to grow between 30% and 60% annually, potentially
to embrace this change and the fundamentally different surpassing $1 billion in the next five years.2 This is being
operational models that are now appearing on the horizon. driven by the need for strategic flexibility, operational
A recent ACORD study of digitization in the insurance adaptability, and process efficiency.
industry, suggests that only about 40% of carriers have
truly digitized the value chain while more than 10% are
not leveraging digital technologies within their current
business processes.1 While the reasons insurers struggle

1 ACORD Insurance Digital Maturity Study, 2016

2 ACORD Research, 2017. Analysis of RPA spending estimates and forecasts in the BFSI segment.

51
UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF ROBOTIC RPA applications have evolved from the early days of
PROCESS AUTOMATION "screen scraping," where applications collected data from
one application to be shared with another. Today, most
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a software RPA systems are rules-based, which enable them to work
application that combines user interface recognition well with complex processes governed by a specific set
technologies with workflow execution tools. RPA software of repetitive rules, such as completing an invoice. Finding
is programmed to follow predetermined actions within success with these systems, some insurers have begun
specified applications that replicate and therefore to implement more sophisticated, knowledge-based
replace the human interaction required to complete the RPA solutions. These systems are able to handle a wider
required activities within a business process. These variety of tasks and can operate outside a limited set of
activities including moving or populating data between rules. A typical example of knowledge-based automation
locations, performing calculations, initiating actions and would be in the customer service function, searching for
activating downstream activities. RPA systems can be information across systems and answering customer
either attended, where an automation assists users and emails. As artificial intelligence and cognitive computing
then returns control or unattended, where an automation advance, RPA solutions will eventually evolve into more
selects input from a queue and processes it end-to-end value-adding initiatives.
without human intervention. Regardless of the level of
human interaction, RPA solutions typically consist of five What is particularly revolutionary about RPA software is
key elements: that it does not necessarily require companies to make
changes to their strategic processes or existing back
• Non-intrusive business system integration. office technologies. Even if companies are separated
• Data aggregation that pulls information from multiple geographically or have various technological systems
back-end systems. implemented, RPA is able to connect systems. Therefore,
• Business rule execution based on defined logic and RPA may function as a low cost, low risk solution for
self-learning. process optimization with near-term payback.
• Work item and exception queuing.
• Activity monitoring.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR INSURANCE
Despite the value potential RPA solutions can bring to the
Rules-based RA business, not all processes are candidates for automation.
Advances in artificial intelligence and cognitive computing
are providing new opportunities to extend automation to
HIGH processes requiring a high degree of decision making or
Knowledge-based RA
involving a wide potential for exceptions. However, today’s
RPA solutions are typically best suited for processes with
Processing complexity

the following characteristics:

AI/Cognitive • Require access to multiple systems.

• Prone to human error.
• Comprise unambiguous rules.
Structured, • Require limited human intervention.
electronic
• Require limited exception handling.
LOW Input type
Structured, Unstructured, Unstructured, • Manages high volumes of transactions.
electronic patterned free form
• Highly repetitive or subject to significant peaks
in workload.

52 INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017 ·

 Sector Focus

Characteristics of processes that can Across the insurance value chain – including sales,
be automated using RPA underwriting, policy issuance, policy servicing and
claims processing – there a number of manual and
HIGH
repetitive tasks that would benefit from automation.
These include menial sub-processes where RPA could
be applied to allow human employees to focus on
Volume

the more complex, value-added activities. Within the

Processes
that are underwriting function, for example, the collection of
typical policyholder records, prior-year claims documents, and
automation
targets Processes that can now other underwriting data can be easily handled by RPA
be automated using RPA
LOW applications, improving the underwriter’s productivity
LOW Complexity of Process HIGH
and freeing up additional capacity to handle more
HIGH cases. This will not only lower costs, but also provide
revenue growth opportunities by increasing the
capacity to write more business.
Value of Work

Processes that can now

be automated using RPA A review of the insurance business models highlights
several key areas where RPA could have a meaningful
impact. These include not only core insurance
LOW processes, but also non-core, back office functions
4 Minutes Activity Duration 30 Minutes such as finance and accounting, procurement and HR.

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Strategic & Enterprise Planning Stakeholder & External Relations Management Enterprise Effectiveness Management

Sales Contract Administration Customer Service Claims

Claims Marketing Channel Management

FINANCE

Financial Planning Financial Management Billing & Payment General Accounting

ENTERPRISE SERVICES

Financial Management HR Management Facilities Management Procurement Project Management Information Technology

Sales Channel Management General Accounting

• Quote Generation • Producer Payments • Journal Entry Processing
• Application Processing • Reconciliations
Financial Planning
• Underwriting Risk Assessment • Closing
• Budgeting
Contract Administration • Forecasting Risk Management
• Contract Issuance • Audit Management
Sample Use Cases

Financial Management
• Endorsements
• Treasure HR Management
• Policy Renewal
• Cash Management • Payroll
Customer Service • Reporting • Data Processing
• Customer Contact Mgmt. • Benefits Administration
Billing & Payment
• Incident Management
• Billing Procurement
• Update Customer File
• Collections • Low-/no-touch procurement
Claims • Accounts Receivable • Purchase Order Administration
• First Notice of Loss • Invoice Processing
• Claims Review and Audit
• Fraud Management

53
IMPLEMENTATION CONSIDERATIONS may be deployed, resulting in yet an additional 20–25%
reduction in the amount of manual processing.
Before launching an RPA project, a number of
considerations must be taken into account to ensure that Second, in addition to the RPA software and process
the full benefits of RPA are realized. improvement activities, a number of supporting
components are required to successfully implement and
First, experience shows that RPA delivers the greatest manage RPA-enabled processes.
level of efficiency when applied to processes that have
already been optimized and where any non-value activities • RPA will be running critical client processes and will
have been removed. Simply jumping straight into robotics require close monitoring and preventative maintenance.
exposes the organization to the risk of magnifying what RPA coordinators will need to stay in close contact
already is a bad process. Eliminate, Standardize, Optimize, with the application owners and process owners to
Automate and Robotics (ESOAR), is one approach that can anticipate any needed changes to the automation
be used to prepare a process for the implementation of RPA. based on product introductions or application changes.
• RPA involves transaction handovers between both
The first stage of this approach involves eliminating any humans and automated processes as well as between
unnecessary steps while optimizing the remaining actions one or more automated processes without any human
in the process. The improved process is now ready for the interaction. As a result, workflow tools which monitors
application of automation, first through the implementation and tracks transactions and ensures nothing falls
of traditional straight through processing (STP) applications through the cracks will be required.
that has the potential to automate between 25–40% of the • RPA provides granular data on each and every
manual steps within a process. RPA can then be deployed transaction. Data management is required to generate
utilizing analytics and monitoring for an additional 10–15%. and leverage operational intelligence and insights. Unlike
For some processes, RPA leveraging cognitive computing traditional sampling techniques, this data is 100%

RISING TRANSACTION VOLUMES

IN NON-CORE AREAS AND
PRESSURE ON PROFITABILITY

1 Value Stream • Identify volume drivers and sources of

• Eliminate effort eliminate them at their roots
D Org
n

Le
ig

an
es

• Deflect • Reduce time spent in handling

end-to-end work
e
at
R rc
So
ig in

m
ht g
u

to

2 Process
Au

Optimization • Optimize large technology platform in use

• Error-proof to eliminate tasks that are needed on
• Improve account of sub-optimal design of platform OPPORTUNITIES'
• Filter/Detect CATEGORIZATION

3 Process Long term

Automation • Automate standardized process landscape
• Standardize throughnon-invasive tools
• Replicate • Deploy technology solutions to tackle
• Enhance time-consuming, manual processes

4 Robotics • Robotize repetitive/rule-managed work Quick Medium-

• Attended work • Enterprise-level scalability, resilience wins long term
• Unattended work • Strong controls, real-time dashboards
Low impact

54 ·
INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017
 Sector Focus

auditable, quality compliant and provides an operational software, human training is replaced by programming
picture unavailable through traditional approaches. which can be conducted across tens, hundreds or
• Once RPA reaches industrial scale (50 or more robots) thousands of RPA applications at the same time. Insurance
the need for a continuous focus on driving value firms have reported productivity gains of up to 50% within
using smart scheduling of robots becomes critical. those processes where RPA has been implemented.
This can be achieved through attendant automation,
autonomous automation based on triggers or using Operational efficiency, particularly in the area of service
one robot for multiple processes. delivery, is another key benefit. Reductions in cycle-
times of nearly 80% are not uncommon among those
processes where RPA has been implemented. In addition,
BENEFITS RPA ensures a level of accuracy, security and continuity
that is higher than when the same processes are handled
As with traditional automation solutions, one of the most by humans. This is particularly important in the insurance
obvious benefits of RPA involves the reduction in labor industry where customers are increasingly demanding
cost associated with manual processing. When compared consistent and transparent levels of service. An additional,
to their human counterparts, RPA can cost as little as and somewhat overlooked, benefit to RPA involves
one-fifth of an on-shore full-time employee (FTE) and regulatory compliance. When properly coded and applied
one-third that of an offshore FTE. RPA applications also to the appropriate process, RPA applications can ensure
have the potential to reduce error rates by 20% and free 100% compliance with stated regulations.
employees from tedious tasks, enabling them to focus
on more value-added initiatives. Finally, RPA has demonstrated significant cost optimization
savings over both on-shore and offshore delivery options.
Overall, the benefits achievable through RPA fall into one The lower costs achieved through the reduction in FTEs
of three categories. From a productivity perspective, RPA and other "run the business" expenses, often translates
applications can run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, vastly into RPA investment recovery periods of as little as six
reducing the need for downtime. Since RPA consists of to nine months.

Case Study Case Study

Leading Global Insurer Global Insurance Brokerage Firm

Business Process – Policy Renewal Business Process – Robotics Center

Process Activities of Excellence Activities

• General Liability and Financial Lines • Identify business processes for automation
• Non-Standardized process between three different • Establish and demonstrate RPA capabilities within
locations worldwide the context of the business
• Process involved more than 25 applications and • Illustrate expected benefits and obtain business
numerous documents, forms and emails user acceptance on automated results
• Part of the process involved an offshore Business
Services provider

Benefits Benefits

• 50% reduction of FTEs • 70% reduction in cycle time of targeted processes

• 30–40% increase in efficiency • Reductions in error rates
• Elimination of overtime, including peak cycles • Ease of scalability to extend RPA
• Increased customer satisfaction due to faster • Reduced operational cost
response times
• Increase in quality and accuracy output

Source: Capgemini Source: Capgemini

55
 CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

The success of RPA depends on many factors including

identifying and prioritizing the most appropriate processes
to automate and deciding on the extent to which RPA
will be leveraged across the organization. In reviewing
multiple RPA projects across the insurance industry,
there is a core set of best practices that underpin the
most successful implementations:

• The application of Lean Process Optimization before

any application of Robotic Process Automation.
• Business Ownership of the solution is essential. Business
criticality and component-based architecture should be
used to drive prioritization of RPA candidate processes.
• Implementation of a Center of Excellence (CoE) including
guidelines for assessment, design, development, and
deployment of robots.
• Creation of a central RPA command center to proactively
monitor progress, benefit realization, capacity, and
interdependencies.
• Establishment of a dedicated, regional RPA project
execution and maintenance team coordinated through
the command center.
• Formation of a shared asset library across geographies
and functional areas.
• Alignment of RPA deployment architecture across
geographies and business units.

The success of RPA depends

on factors such as identifying
and prioritizing the most
appropriate processes to
automate and the extent to
which RPA will be leveraged
across the organization.

56 ·
INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017
FINANCIAL
SERVICES DATA
MANAGEMENT –
TIME TO
STANDARDIZE
Pankaj Ratna
Head of Product Strategy and Transformation,
Business Services
 Sector Focus

Who puts all their eggs in one basket? Very few of us.
Major financial services organizations are a case in
point. They’re competitive bodies, and to ensure the
data services they use are of best-of-breed and suitable
for their own specific needs, they employ offerings from
several different commercial vendors.

But upsides often have downsides, and in this case major improvements in data cleansing and validation, data
the problem is a lack of homogeneity. A survey recently sourcing and distribution, and management of identifiers
conducted by A-Team Group for Capgemini found and classifications.
senior-level data management executives at financial
institutions across North America and Europe complain
that each vendor’s service is effectively bespoke and that Planning a route
consequently they are obliged to adopt the standards –
data definitions, identifiers, data models and more – used But of course, it’s one thing to picture the benefits of
by each of their suppliers. a destination, and another thing altogether to chart a path
to it. Our view at Capgemini is that it may be some years
Respondents said the lack of standards and of collaboration before we see any real industry-wide change.
among providers mean process standardization is
impossible. As a result, they said, they are obliged to In the meantime, organizations are going to need to tackle
allocate significant sums to integrate disparate data the issue on their own. Obstacles will include internal
sources, even where coverage is essentially the same. The organizational and political issues in the form of business
survey found this effort is duplicated across the industry as and data silos and legacy technologies. To overcome
organizations attempt to integrate the same data sources them they are each going to have to adopt a sequential
to address the same internal data integration needs. approach, requesting the development of standard feeds
from each of their providers in turn and bringing them
In short, it’s cumbersome, costly and time-consuming, together in a holistic model. There are no shortcuts, and
and it dilutes the benefits accrued from each of those to make it possible they’ll need to assign responsibility
best-of-breed offerings. So it’s small wonder that 87% of and a budget.
the survey’s respondents said they envisaged significant
benefits in having a standardized approach to data The goal is uniformity, and it’s a task with which seasoned
management. Such an approach, they said, would result global service providers can help. They have broad
in improved data quality, leading in turn to cost reductions experience; they have a fund of knowledge of the prevailing
from streamlined operational processes and reduced standards; they can apply best-practice approaches from
exceptions and reconciliations. implementations in other sectors and geographies; and
they can develop function-rich models that are fit for
Standardization would also improve data lineage, which is purpose in each organization’s specific circumstances.
emerging as the new "must-have" for regulatory reporting; At Capgemini, we’re already working with CTOs at banks
it would streamline new product implementations; and it and other finance houses to help bring about the change
would allow them to gain more control over data attributes. that is so clearly needed.
Finally, the survey respondents said they expected to see

58
ADOPTING
A STANDARDIZED
APPROACH TO
REFERENCE DATA
MANAGEMENT
Pankaj Ratna
Head of Product Strategy and Transformation,
Business Services

·
 Sector Focus

Major financial services organizations operate in a highly

competitive market. The data services they use need to
be leading-edge and productive in their own individual
contexts, and so they tend to employ best-of-breed
offerings from several different commercial vendors.

THE CHALLENGES

The problem, though, is a lack of homogeneity. In a survey, They are also consuming substantial financial resources in
recently conducted by A-Team Group for Capgemini as the form of long-term operating costs: each organization
part of this report, we found senior-level data management finds itself integrating the same multiple and mission-
executives at financial institutions across North America critical data sources, but within their own individual areas
and Europe complaining that each vendor’s service is and with their own granularity of coverage, administrative
effectively bespoke and that consequently they are obliged processes and commercial models.
to adopt the standards – data definitions, identifiers, data
models and more – used by each of their suppliers. Furthermore, survey respondents said, there is a lack of
tools and services that can make it easier to implement
Reference data management, they felt, is characterized new services and gain from the use of standards where
by duplication of effort on an industrial scale that they exist.
consumes time, effort and money for little in terms of
unique business benefit.
Data quality and consistency
These circumstances create significant and specific
challenges: The financial data managers responding to our survey point
to a lack of standardization in their industry’s approach to
data management and say there is a need for a collective
Resources approach to address wasted effort. Without collaboration
among providers of reference and other data services,
Managing inconsistent reference data duplicates effort on they feel, process standardization is impossible.
an industrial scale throughout the banking and financial
industry. In the face of declining margins and increased It’s not just about inconsistency, though. There are
regulatory compliance, organizations are confronted also data quality issues. According to the EDM Council,
with tough choices about an operating infrastructure that the downstream impact of bad data can be significant.
supports evolving business models, new products and Statistics indicate that up to 30% of financial trades fail
fresh markets. They also face the challenge of increasing due to financial instrument data (FID) issues, and over
the quality of Financial Instrument Data (FID) on complex 50% of institutions report they lack the agility to manage
legacy infrastructure. In short, in tackling the issue they are this type of data.
consuming time and effort for little, if any, business benefit.

60
These challenges are accentuated by unrelenting considerable improvements in efficiency – especially when
regulatory pressure. New change management programs (subject to permissions) people across the organization
are needed to comply with regulations such as Dodd- are able to see and share data that previously may have
Frank, FATCA, and AML, and meet BCBS 239, Basel III been unavailable to them.
and MiFID II requirements.

Obstacles to compliance and to achieving other benefits, Supplier buy-in

respondents tell us, include internal organizational and
political issues in the form of business and data silos and Here’s another recommended step. To achieve
legacy technologies. standardization organizations may need to develop
a phased approach, requesting the development of
standard feeds from each of their providers in turn and
Industry view bringing them together in a comprehensive model. Key

“The financial industry has no common to the success of such initiatives, respondents felt, will be
language, and this lack of standardization brings greater transparency from service providers around their
a big burden to the industry.” data coverage roadmaps and client-onboarding strategies.
Cooperating and planning in this way, they argued, will
“All vendors should use the same definitions and improve data quality and hence simplify reconciliations
IDs and deliver in standardized formats.”
and reduce exceptions, thereby streamlining operations
[Standardization should involve] “setting in general and reducing costs.
generally accepted guidelines in regards to
how data domains (parties, securities, prices,
etc.) are created or supported, as well as to Regulatory compliance
how these are governed. The goal is to enforce
a level of consistency or uniformity to certain Respondents to the A-Team Group survey agreed that
practices or operations within the selected a standardized approach to data management could
environment.” also improve data lineage, which is fast becoming a de
“Now standardization is ad hoc, [but] facto requirement for regulatory reporting, streamlining
standardization will be driven by regulatory new product set-ups and allowing firms to gain more
requirements.” control over data attributes. In addition, it can deliver
major improvements in data cleansing and validation, data
All quotes sourced from respondents to the A-Team sourcing and distribution, and management of identifiers
Group survey and classifications.

THE APPROACH Applicability

There are several factors of which organizations should be A standardized approach won’t be appropriate for every
mindful when faced with these challenges. For instance: process. Certain functions will require continued manual
intervention; but areas in which most benefit may be
gained from standardization include all the main data
Digital business model management tasks, as well as data distribution and wider
data infrastructures, where the opportunity exists to reduce
To address inconsistencies in internal infrastructure, footprint and operational overhead. Survey respondents
thought needs to be given to creating a holistic digital also agreed that a standardized "Data-as-a-Service"-type
business model. A uniform technology platform coupled model in the form of shared services or mutualized data
with enterprise-wide consistency on processes can deliver management platforms is appropriate here.

61 ·
INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017
 Sector Focus

There are no shortcuts to any of this, and to get there • Enhanced agility – easier scalability through offshore
organizations will need to assign responsibilities and resourcing and rapid speed of implementation and
allocate budgets. Yes, there will be costs – but they should transition
rather be seen as an investment, because the net benefit • Increased accuracy – almost 100% accurate and
will be so much greater than the outlay. up-to-date reference data, leveraging automation to
reduce manual processing
• Reduced risk – lower global risk exposure by
MOVING FORWARD standardizing data to provide additional data
parameters to quantitative research analysts for
Recommending an approach, even including specific steps models that support Value at Risk (VaR), potential credit
such as those above, can only take organizations so far. exposure and large exposure calculations

Each bank or financial institution will be highly familiar

with its own specific issues and will also be aware it’s not SUMMING UP
alone in facing the challenge of disparate reference data.
But it won’t have any detailed experience other than its It was clear from the in-depth discussions conducted
own. Nor will it have any in-depth knowledge of steps as part of this review that there is an appetite in every
others have taken and the extent to which those steps major international financial market for an end to long-
have been successful. term inconsistencies in reference data.

This is why it’s worth seeking the external perspective To achieve this there should be a collective effort from
of service providers who are not just familiar with institutions, their data suppliers, regulatory bodies, services
a generic approach to the standardization of data providers and other stakeholders to standardize data
management, but who also have real, hard experience management and to support this move with enterprise-
of design, implementation and management in individual wide digital business models as well as rigorous and
circumstances – preferably at comparable international consistent best business practice.
business levels.
It’s felt most firms should gain from a standardized, shared-
Such providers can apply their breadth of knowledge and services model in about three years. Some, however, are
experience to new and specific environments, analyzing already seeing the benefits of a standardized approach
the scale of the issue and the outcomes expected before to data management. Capgemini has itself been active
developing a pragmatic approach to reference data with major institutions worldwide to help bring about the
management suitable to cases and needs. change that is so clearly needed.

This paper draws on discussions with 40 industry

A case in point practitioners, including heads of data management at sell-
side and buy-side financial institutions in the UK, mainland
For instance, Capgemini offers Integrated Data Management Europe and North America.
services to help financial services organizations better
manage and remediate their legacy data infrastructure while To find out more about the Capgemini IDMS platform visit:
improving data quality to address regulatory requirements. www.capgemini.com/business-services integrated-data
Their work with leading companies across the globe have -management-services-idms
delivered outcomes such as:
A-Team Group provides news and analysis, white papers,
• Cost reduction – up to 50% savings in the cost of webinars, events and more through our two online
reference data management, including elimination of communities. For information visit: a-teamgroup.com
large upfront licenses and efficient and timely data
distribution to all relevant systems

62
.05

EXPERT
INSIGHTS
INTRODUCING
THE DIGITAL
CONTRACT
LAWYER
Agnieszka Chmiel
Senior Manger, Head of Contract Support Services,
Business Services
 Expert Insights

From small law firms to big corporations, many

organizations are struggling to manage their contracts
in a digital way. Agnieszka Chmiel talks about what it
actually means for today’s contract lawyer to be “digital.”

Everything today is digital. Since the invention of the and the lawyers will get involved should any disputes
internet, life has changed completely. You can shop online, or potential litigations arise. But having the evidence
work online, learn online and even date online! However, easily available with an audit trail will make a lawyer’s life
legal services are still very traditional. And I am not talking easier. Many companies struggle with the management
just about individual lawyers. From small law firms to of contractual obligations, including how to avoid the
big corporations, many organizations are struggling to unnecessary cost and how to keep evidence in order
manage their contracts in a digital way. to have it easily available should a client dispute the
end result. The same applies to clients who want to
So what does it mean for today’s contract lawyer to make sure they get the most out of their contracts.
be "digital"?
• Stop using email – all contracts have to be drafted,
• Put the pen down – let’s start with the simple things. negotiated, and signed off. Lawyers still like to use
Digital lawyers must have all their contracts in one Microsoft Word to draft and redline contracts. The
database and they must be easily available and exchange of documents is very traditional; as a result,
searchable. Interactive, real-time dashboards with documents are sent back and forth, resulting in lost
contractual data are the key to getting the most value time, energy, and content changes.
out of your contracts. This will become the basis for
legal teams to negotiate the best contracts based Believe me, there are great tools out there for interactive,
on the knowledge gathered in the database. Digital real-time contract drafting and negotiations. It makes the
lawyers can search through the contracts library on drafting and reviewing process easy when each party sees
their tablet using key terms and contract metadata. the changes real time and has the opportunity to chat
They can also draft and review contracts on iPads! and exchange comments. The tool tracks all the changes,
Paper is so 20th century. proposes alternative terms or clauses from the clause
library, highlights open negotiation points, and compares
• Use a tool – there are, of course, multiple tools positions. A truly digital, almost paperless and touchless
available on the market to help lawyers manage tool allows lawyers to use their brains and knowledge in
contracts throughout the lifecycle. The key is to a more productive way.
choose the right tool for a specific need, whether
it’s small procurement contracts or big multi-year IT Embracing digital takes time, but this is the future! Digital
agreements. Most in-house lawyers have little time lawyers are already embracing the opportunity to drive
for obligation management, and to be honest, it would the digitalization of contracting. Are you ready?
be a waste of their skills. Today, tools can do it for you

66
I AM YOUR
CUSTOMER –
UNDERSTAND
ME, KEEP ME
HAPPY AND
SURPRISE ME!
Magda Matell
Senior Manager, Transformation & Innovation Lead,
Business Services
 Expert Insights

“The digital customer experience really matters!” Magda

Matell gives a few tips on how business can handle end-
customer operations in order to be remain competitive.

Over the past few months, I’ve spoken with various business. However, one minor detail is often forgotten:
Fortune 500 companies about the future of digital how do our internal processes affect the end customer? To
customer operations and the focus on client centricity. be able to answer this, businesses should ask themselves
While these companies represent different industries and a few questions:
have different business models, there are a few common
themes that everyone agrees should be leveraged when • "Do we make the end user’s life easier or do we bother
handling end-customer operations: them with our internal processes?"
• "How do we motivate employees in terms of customer
priorities?"
KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER • "Are customer needs and customer service part of
employee development plans?"
Keeping tight partnerships with your key customers is • "Are teams incentivized to deliver an outstanding
crucial. But before you reach this level, you should know customer experience?"
your customers and understand their needs, which
includes their strategic initiatives and the role that your This is the key difference of taking a truly client-centric
business plays in achieving key objectives. This is the approach. I always explain it as a combination of a)
measure of how relevant your business is to your client. motivated people focused on customer needs and
We frequently observe businesses establishing offices understanding, b) client-centric processes that keep the
close to their business partners. I truly believe that physical customers happy, and c) technology to constantly surprise
proximity is important as it fosters stronger connections. clients. If we prioritize the end-user experience, not only
Investing time in building relationships not only brings will we end up designing more efficient processes, but
you closer to your client’s business and enables you to we will also please customers, employees, and partners.
better understand their needs, but it also may pay off in
additional growth. The best outcome is to have your client We are all customers of one company or another. What
partners recommend you to other clients. is it that makes us want to buy from company X versus
company Z? Taking this perspective may result in a better
solution for your business. Look at your internal KPIs. As
THE DIGITAL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE a customer, do I really care how many cases are handled
(DCX) REALLY MATTERS per day or do I prefer to have my case solved? Businesses
that focus on the average time per call and the number of
Over the past few years, we’ve seen the growing calls handled per XYZ agents are not taking a customer
importance of DCX. The voice of the end customer has view. This definitely does not add value to me as your
never been so important, whether you are an industrial end customer!
manufacturer, a freight carrier, or an insurer. Companies
feel that they have to fit into a digital agenda and frequently When considering long term, think innovation, think
need help and guidance on how to get there. Over the past investment, and think like a startup. Investing in new
few years, the industry has developed some best practices solutions and people may help you win new businesses
to deliver efficient processes that provide value to the and transform your traditional business with new business

68
lines. Working like a startup and promoting co-creation RESOLVE COMPLAINTS QUICKLY AND
models with your business partners may result in more WITH STYLE
sustainable relationships and growth.
the complaints process is a critical part of the value
chain: the one process that should be streamlined and
LET YOUR CUSTOMERS SPEAK automated to the furthest extent possible. Tools like
self-service portals, virtual agents, and FAQs should be
What strikes me is that the voice of the customer does your best friends! Maintaining manual and complicated
not necessarily come from the end customer. We often processes not only extends the resolution time but also
assume what is best for the end customer; however, we makes us focus on the wrong priorities. If you add the
do not always understand the situation. Once we start costs of the complaints resolution with the actual revenue
measuring and truly "hearing" our customers, we may loss on credits raised for fixing the defaults, you may end
end up with a different outcome. up wasting more energy ironing out defaults rather than
building the perfect waste elimination process.
I frequently hear my business partners express concerns
over new practices such as enabling self-service to end And if you are in a situation where you deliver a perfect order
customers because they’re afraid that they may get more fulfillment, you may then conclude that your customer is
complaints or that the end customers won’t be interested always right! Why? Because the best complaint resolution
in using such an option. Is it really the end customer process is NO COMPLAINTS!
who lacks interest? Businesses should not make such
assumptions about the end customer (or even themselves), As a customer, I want to have a great DCX each time, every
but rather take a different view. As a customer, I just might time, irrespective of the communication channel. I want
want to be able to check and track a delivery or be able to be able to follow up on my case anytime, anywhere!
to submit a claim online.

SIZE OF THE PRIZE

TAKE CARE OF ALL YOUR CUSTOMERS
what is the value of providing an amazing customer
sometimes, instead of focusing on "good" customers, experience? I have seen many attempts of quantifying
business processes are built around pleasing the biggest the additional revenue for providing great customer service.
complainers while neglecting the true revenue generators. One way to respond to this is to show how many customers
It is not only about making the customers happy but also buy from your business based on the recommendation of
about truly understanding their (changing) business needs. other customers. If your business is digitally present and
takes customer experience seriously, the numbers should
Alter your perspective: some customers may want be available. Businesses that are obsessed with delivering
personalized service but others may not want to be a positive customer experience will grow faster than the
bothered. In the end, all customers want to get through the ones that focus on internal efficiency. If you want to keep
process as easily as possible, but the way we address their your customers and grow your business, put yourself in
individual needs may require more personalized contact, the customer’s shoes.
self-service portals, automation, etc.
I strongly believe that in order to be competitive businesses,
you need to follow a simple magic formula: I am your
customer. Understand me, keep me happy, and surprise me!

69 ·
INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017
DO YOU “DO”
ROBOTICS IN HR?
Anjali Pendlebury-Green
Head of Digital Employee Operations,
Business Services
 Expert Insights

Pro(cess)bots, Chatbots and ThinkBots –

Anjali Pendlebury-Green discusses how three
automation trends are disrupting HR.

"Do you ‘do’ Robotics in HR?" I have lost count of how many
times in a week I am asked this question by HR leaders. I find
that it is a strange dynamic that many still believe that HR is
"special" and therefore robotics in HR should be "new" or
even disruptive. To me, this smells of a traditional HR leader
that is led by technology trends rather than someone sitting
in the driving seat crafting the organizational interaction or
experience that they should drive.

So for my friends in HR who wonder if we "do" robotics

in HR, here are three key automation trends to consider:

• Pro(cess)bots – that are faster, more efficient and

reduce errors. They work in the back office and
undertake repetitive tasks empowering HR teams to
focus on the less mundane and critical tasks of business
partnering and candidate/employee engagement.
• Chatbots – to power the employee helpdesk. These
are critical to helping employees look for answers in
their natural language while reducing the number of
queries that actually convert into calls or emails. They
look and feel like you are chatting to a human. Chatbots
are essential when you implement new HR systems
like Workday or SuccessFactors which push the
responsibility of people transactions to the thousands
of managers out there.
• ThinkBots – that use Artificial intelligence will truly
disrupt HR where the processing technology is already
leaps and bounds ahead of Finance or Supply chain
functions. The application of this in HR is about
12 months away due to the complexity of human
interaction. But it will get there.

So to answer the question – do we "do" Robotics in HR

… doesn’t everyone?

71
THE
DEMOCRATIZATION
OF ANALYTICS
Divya Kumar
Director of Analytics and Research,
Business Services
 Expert Insights

As newer analytical needs continue to emerge, the

definition of analytics has changed. While this has created
new opportunities, it has also shifted the focus from
technology back to talent. Divya Kumar looks at how the
analytics landscape continues to develop.

There was a time when analytics meant implementing changed and traditional systems found themselves
a huge Business Intelligence (BI) system, spending a lot struggling to keep pace with business user requirements.
of money and landing up with a project that would run into Not only did this development create new opportunities,
several years. Naturally, a wide chasm emerged between but it also shifted the focus from technology back to talent.
the "haves" and "have-nots."
Let’s look at these changes in the analytics landscape
You either had a system where all your data was cleanly more closely.
(or not so cleanly!) pulled from various source systems
into a common data warehouse from where charts and • Changing data – the term "big data" comes from
information were used for decisions; or, you had "analysis" the exploding volume, variety, and velocity of data.
(rather than "analytics") happening in different parts of the Traditional systems struggled with this, giving way to
enterprise with each unit pulling its own data from its own new entrants such as Hadoop which have a drastically
source system and making it work for its particular needs. different approach to the way they store and process
data. This has opened up more flexible options for
Interestingly, the reason for not investing in analytics was those who did not go the BI route.
not always the lack of funds but rather the lack of a strong
business case for such a huge expenditure since the ROI • Changing analytical needs – both external and
was rarely clear. Further, such systems were always owned internal factors have pushed analytics from being an
by IT rather than the business, which made the business "information provider" to being a prescriptive decision
case even more obscure. enabler and a predictive indicator, helping companies
stay ahead of the curve. What the businesses need is
As the years progressed, while the overall ROI remained not trends but simulations and complex data crunching
unclear, BI systems started to provide uniform global views to give them options in a way that meets specific
of data, and standard information began to be accessible objectives and enables them to act very quickly based
to diverse parts of the organization. The technology kept on real-time data.
getting better and the gap between the haves and have-
nots continued to widen with every upgrade. • Changing technology – in order to get to the
prescriptive or predictive element, or to obtain even
Then something very surprising happened – there basic visibility, it is no longer essential to go whole hog
came a tipping point. The curve hit a peak and started on having a data warehouse. Flexible options from
a downward spiral. Analytics started becoming more newer technology players and targeted modules from
democratized than ever before. The nature of data and large, established players now enable easy data upload,
technology changed; but more significantly, as newer consolidation, and consumption – be it for visibility,
analytical needs emerged, the very definition of analytics post-mortem analysis, or more advanced analytics.

73
• Cloud adoption – the move from on-premise systems While the above changes have significantly narrowed the
to the cloud has greatly increased affordability. Without aforementioned gap, it doesn’t mean that the quality of
compromising on data security, companies can analytical information available to all has reached the same
scale up or down based on their needs. The now level. The final and perhaps most critical differentiator
commonly accepted "pay-as-you-consume" model is talent. The key to successful analytics is defining the
helps experimentation and projects to take on their problem statement or objective, knowing which analytical
own life without becoming cumbersome. technique or technology to apply to which objective,
applying it effectively, interpreting the results of the
• Platform-based analytics – there are now analytics analysis, and converting these recommendations into
platforms targeted at very specific use cases. These actions that make an impact.
are industry focused (e.g. consumer products or
financial services) or function focused (e.g. sales or Business users now have an abundance of choice and
supply chain) and are more flexible. Being mostly analytics is more accessible to all than ever before,
cloud-hosted, their implementation can be as small requiring far less time, effort, or money. If you haven't
or large as the user requires. invested much in analytics in the past, now is the time to
grab the opportunity and level the playing field.
• Integration of analytics with ERPs and operational
platforms – this is the real game changer for analytics.
ERPs are themselves undergoing a radical change.
Increasingly, all new operational platforms are being
launched with analytics modules built into the If you haven't invested much in
configuration. While most of these now focus on the
visibility and descriptive phase, their roadmap is sure
analytics in the past, now is the
to include prescriptive and predictive elements. Some time to grab the opportunity and
examples of analytics built into platforms include:
level the playing field.
–– SAP S/4HANA for finance operations comes with
prepackaged analytics and connectors to plug into
many other analytical or visualization tools.

–– Salesforce has many features built into its CRM that

can provide standardized or customized analytics
to the user.

–– The increasingly popular Workday tool for HR

operations includes most metrics.

• Open source software – for companies where

cost is the primary factor, the open source wave has
unleashed a variety of options. All you need is a bunch
of very talented analysts and they can do wonders with
free software such as the very popular "R".

74 ·
INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017
CONTRACT
LIFECYCLE
MANAGEMENT:
THE DINOSAUR
AND THE ROBOT –
MAKE FRIENDS
NOT WAR
Craig Conte
Head of Contract Compliance and Optimization,
Business Services
 Expert Insights

“If the robots are going to take over, what will we

do with the dinosaurs?” While the next generation
of commercial managers will have to be able to
operate in a highly digital and automated environment,
argues Craig Conte, the dinosaurs can also add
value and make the system more intelligent.

I’ve been writing about contract management, legal the associated activities – without paper, perhaps even
process outsourcing (LPO) and digital for quite a while without people given the projected direction of blockchain
now. But the reality is that when it comes to a company’s and smart contracting. So if the robots are going to take
contract lifecycle management (CLM), the teams doing over, what will we do with the dinosaurs? They are big
contract lifecycle management are not super NextGen, and powerful, so it would foolish to just bet exclusively on
virtual, cloud, automated, robotic, hyper-digital, six-sigma, the robot in the short term. Besides, there is the delicate
touchless, integrated, agile … insert next buzzword here little of matter of "change management," poor varieties
participants. And that’s okay. There are a lot of really smart of which have killed many a project.
people out there who have done this for years who, dare
I say it, may never be "digital." Again, that’s okay. Therefore, we need to look at building a system in
a practical way:
But while it is okay today, it won’t be tomorrow. The next
generation of professionals pursuing careers in contract • Put the robots where they can win and take big leaps
or commercial management, legal, procurement or vendor that create speed, accuracy, savings and absolute rule-
management will have to be able to operate in a highly based consistency.
digital and automated environment. Feel free to disagree • Allow the dinosaurs some room to maneuver, add their
with me if you think companies can survive with more value and make the system more intelligent.
"old-school" lawyers or commercial managers.
This all may sound very theoretical, but the point here is
The future is digital and the present filled with either tech- to get you all on board with my premise … and allow me
adopters or the last of a dying breed – dinosaurs. And to talk about robots and dinosaurs. Seriously, it’s time for
I use the term "dinosaur" in the most polite way possible. CLM to invest in technology, but companies should also
I could very well have named this blog "Robots vs. the allow the dinosaur room to graze. Given some time, they
Printing Press," but I doubt there are many Johannes just might evolve.
Gutenberg or William Caxton fans still out there.

Now let’s get to the point. We are in a time where technology

is pushing CLM to the next level. The next generation (or Technology is pushing CLM to
perhaps this one) will be doing contracting – and all of
the next level.

76
HANDLING
COMMUNICATIONS
IN A CRISIS EVENT
Bobby Abedeen
Sales Director, Business Services
 Expert Insights

Bobby Abedeen shares his insights in how to effectively

manage customer interactions and communications in
unplanned event, outage or crisis.

British Airways11 dominated this year’s Spring Bank • Once invoked keep a continuous monitoring and
Holiday weekend news in the UK: engagement process active – the right technology
will do this automatically.
£500 million wiped off share value, estimated £150 million
compensation, damage to brand reputation, extremely • Keep your customers and staff informed proactively
unhappy customers. All down to a global IT power outage. across all channels!

We all know that things go wrong, so it’s important to • Provide the customer with links to claim forms and
plan for disruption and "crisis," and crucially to test the relevant online information – don't leave them in limbo.
process and systems involved while adopting a continuous
learning program. British Airways will of course recover • Once the situation is resolved communicate this out
and maintain its brand integrity, but let’s run through and offer feedback to learn what could have been
some quick tips around the customer experience and improved from the customer experience perspective.
communications, as many reports cited the fact that
customers were relying on third party updates via Twitter There are a number of solutions that can help with an
rather than official updates: unplanned event, outage or crisis. Odigo, for example,
provides omnichannel communications, strategy, and
• Think through a range of worst-case scenarios with applications that enable organizations to effectively
the broader business. manage customer interactions in such situations.

• Plan, discuss and agree on a crisis communications

strategy covering people, process and technology –
ensure your systems and people are able to leverage We all know that things go
data and information in real-time to provide help
and assistance.
wrong, so it’s important to plan
for disruption and "crisis,"
• Execute the strategy and undertake a training program
across the business. while adopting a continuous
• Test this process regularly and ensure that each team
learning program.
member knows how to invoke it including on-spec or
follow-on actions.

1 www.bbc.com/news/uk-40069865

78
.06

CAPGEMINI
COMMUNITY
BUILDING THE
NEXT GENERATION
BUSINESS
TRANSFORMATION
TEAM
Carole Murphy
Head of Business Transformation Services, Business Services
 Capgemini Community

Over the past several years, I’ve had the privilege of

working with some of the best and brightest minds in the
business services industry. Together we have not only
witnessed, but also played an active role in driving change
in the market through process innovation and technology
advancements – and we’re just getting started.

Capgemini’s Business Transformation Services team is Justyna Piwowarczyk also joined us from Poland in
working with the latest technologies including AI, robotics, 2002 in a junior level role as a process associate and is
and cognitive computing to enhance our BPO portfolio now a VP in charge of our PMO practice. She has just
of solutions. received another promotion to become Center Director
Europe for all of our delivery operations in Poland.
We are rapidly expanding and we have a number
of opportunities for professionals with business David Lumley, an Australian native, started with Capgemini
transformation, automation and robotics expertise who Consulting in the UK and has since run engagements for
want to help us set the pace for bringing intelligent a range of clients including an assignment in Brazil where
automation to finance. he had an opportunity to launch a successful BPO offering
for the local market. David is now a VP and back in the
This is a great opportunity to not only be at the forefront UK running our finance transformation team.
of the next generation of business transformation, but
to join an organization that offers exciting career paths. Filomina Gogel began her tenure with Capgemini in 2014
Capgemini’s Business Transformation Services team is an as a Vice President running customer service operations.
excellent example of a group of individuals who have joined She is now leading our customer optimization team leading
at different times with the right variety of backgrounds and the way in determining how our market leading Odigo
have taken the opportunity to build their careers with us. product can help transform Customer Experience.
We empowered them so they can empower you!
Ravi Bansal joined Capgemini in March 2015 to lead the
Adam Bujak a Polish native, came on board in 2007 in finance transformation team in India. He has drawn from
Germany to support operations and is now a VP running his "Big 4" firm experience to take the lead in working with
our automation practice. During this time he led a global our clients to drive transformation globally and to explore
continuous improvement practice across five continents how automation will change the way they work.
and had international assignments in India and Germany
driving technology development and delivery excellence.

82
SERGE KAMPF –
DESTINY OF
A VISIONARY
FOUNDER WHO
THIRSTS FOR
FREEDOM
 Capgemini Community

On October 1, Capgemini will celebrate its 50th

anniversary! This is an opportunity to tell our story –
the story of men and women driven by a passion for
technology and clients. But it’s also an opportunity to tell
the story of the founder of a Group that became a world
leader in its field. Serge Kampf was not only a daring
and visionary entrepreneur, he also had a deep moral
conviction and strong belief in values. These values were
reminiscent of another one of his passions – rugby.

"I was torn between three careers: tram driver, fighter pilot It all started in Grenoble
and journalist." In the end, he became an entrepreneur.
Over the span of a few decades, Serge Kampf transformed Serge Kampf was born in Grenoble in 1934, the only son
a young startup of six people working out of a two-room of a career soldier who was killed in Alsace in 1945. His
office in Grenoble, France, into a global leader. father, with whom he unfortunately had little time, had
once run a successful local business.
In many ways, Serge Kampf is an exception among the
leaders of large IT services companies. Not a graduate of Did Capgemini’s founder inherit his father’s enterprising
a French Grande École like most of his counterparts, he spirit, passion for client relations, and keen attention to
proved himself an unparalleled creator and entrepreneur detail? These three defining qualities certainly went on
driven by an insatiable desire for performance. An organizer to shape the future of Capgemini. During his years at
by nature and a rigorous manager, he understood earlier boarding school, where his mother often had to leave
and better than others that technology is nothing without him on weekends, he developed another highly valuable
the people behind it. Over the course of nearly 50 years, he habit: working on Saturdays and Sundays.
applied himself with persistence to develop this visionary
idea, never becoming distracted by the latest trends and
fads. A lover of words, he considered it an honor to
personally write the Letter from the President that opened
up the Group’s Annual Report each year. Aware of the
His work in telecom
importance of branding, he designed Capgemini’s logo administration bored him. then
in 1967, the famous Ace of Spades in which all Group
employees still see themselves today. one of his acquaintances told
him of a whole new sector that
was just emerging and in need
of people: IT.

84
 At a crossroads Sogeti sees the light of day

In the mid-1950s, after receiving his high school diploma "I started my own business to be free and to be my own
and enjoying a few months of carefree living, Serge Kampf boss," he often used to say. This is what pushed him to
successfully passed the entry exams for French Telecom create Sogeti, an IT services company, on October 1,
administration. He then completed a double honors degree 1967. The business was not the first on the market.
in Law and Economics. He learned three major lessons Many competitors already existed, some of which were
from this coursework: the Law taught him rigor, Economics quite large. And yet little Sogeti, which later became
imparted openness to the world, and Telecommunications the Capgemini Group, was the first French IT services
gave him technical knowledge. These lessons affected company and the first European company of its kind, later
him deeply. making its mark as one of the world’s industry leaders.

He then became a Telecom Inspector assigned to an

underground telephone exchange, monitoring long “Napoléon Kampf”
distance communications between France and North
Africa. He quickly grew tired of the mission. Then one of Serge Kampf’s groundbreaking vision, his ability to
his acquaintances told him about a new sector that was anticipate market demands and his global ambitions
just emerging and in need of people: IT. account for much of this success. But his abilities to
facilitate and federate were also key. He was able to lead
Visionary and full of determination, Serge Kampf applied people while motivating them around common values.
to the two IT powerhouses at the time, the French firm Bull "Napoléon Kampf" and "Charlemagne Kamp" are some
and IBM. Both companies made him offers, but he went of the nicknames the English- speaking press would call
with Bull, which offered him a position in his hometown. Serge Kampf, a rare entrepreneur set apart by his strategic
It was the summer of 1960 and, believe it or not, Serge skills, speed of execution, charisma and discretion.
Kampf had never really seen a computer in his life. He Dividing his time between Grenoble and Paris, he was
spent six years at Bull, first as a commercial engineer, a private man – a "countryman" as some would say – who
then as branch manager, and finally as regional manager. was rarely seen at mundane events, only occasionally
He got to know the IT profession, quickly becoming the attending the social gatherings of other CEOs.
best salesman in the company. He resigned in 1967. At
33, he was annoyed by what he thought were mistakes
of his general management, who had removed material Succession
he had just sold to clients from the company catalogue.
Serge Kampf found himself at a crossroads. Serge Kampf fully dedicated himself to the company he
created up until 2012, the year in which he announced his
departure from Capgemini’s presidency. He recommended
to the Board of Directors that Paul Hermelin, who joined
the Group in 1993 and had served as its CEO since 2002,
"I started my own business to should succeed him as Chairman and CEO. Serge Kampf

be free" – Serge Kampf remained deeply involved in the Group’s life and strategic
direction as Vice- President of the Board of Directors until
his death at age 81 in Grenoble – the place where it had
all begun 49 years ago.

85 ·
INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017
 Capgemini Community

VISION & AUDACITY charge, but also periodically reviewing decisions and
circumstances, which should be addressed with caution
"When I created Sogeti in October 1967, you couldn’t find and clear-sightedness."
even 10 people who would support me, but at least 100 to
discourage me, saying, ‘It's too late – the market is already The entrepreneur never stopped being bold. In 1973,
cornered,’" recounted Serge Kampf. When he launched he led the first takeover France had ever witnessed
Sogeti, the competition was already strong. in the industry. He would often recreate the Group’s
organizational structure from scratch to adapt to a new
Serge Kampf brought with him something new to the IT environment. He orchestrated multiple acquisitions in
services industry: a rare entrepreneurial spirit, the desire Europe and the United States, doubling the size of the
to build, grow and become a champion. He also brought company by merging with Ernst & Young Consulting. The
groundbreaking ideas that would shape Capgemini’s Group then boldly expanded into India and Brazil. Serge
journey and ultimately make it a world leader. Kampf’s audacity is what made Capgemini what it is today:
a world leader present in around 40 countries and counting
"He is not only an exquisite technician, but also a visionary," more than 100 different nationalities.
wrote Gabriel Farkas in 1977, editor of the former French
newspaper France Soir, highlighting the entrepreneur’s
true uniqueness – his unshakable outlook. In the early ETHICS & VALUES
1970s, he became the first to link IT and organizational
consulting, "two seemingly incompatible activities, which Serge Kampf had created his company to be free, and
we believe on the contrary are very complementary," he did everything to maintain this freedom. He saw
he argued. He was also the first in Europe to embrace independence from political, financial, and industrial
outsourcing, a concept that would later spread among powers, particularly that of computer manufacturers, as
all the Group’s competitors. "a necessary condition in the consulting business" and
one of the Group’s core values. "Some might even call it
an obsession," he added.
Client culture
Only once in its history, and for good reason, Capgemini
Serge Kampf envisioned a strategy that seemed unusual took the risk of surrendering its financial independence.
at the time: meeting clients’ diverse needs by offering In 1991, Daimler Benz was offered a capital investment
them the full range of IT services. The client was of utmost opportunity in the Group. But the merger didn’t go through
importance to this approach. "We have always placed the and the partners went their separate ways in 1997.
client at the heart of our business. Our core principle is to Capgemini was far too attached to its freedom ¬another
take the time to listen," said Serge Kampf. Thanks to its one of the Group’s core values.
truly unique decentralized structure, the Group was able
to maintain close bonds with its customers. This client
focus represented a clear departure from the engineering The seven values, or the spirit of capgemini
norms at the time where the project was king.
Serge Kampf imparted his sense of ethics, which were
defined in the Group’s seven key values:
More and more daring…
• Honesty (integrity and complete refusal of any
Serge Kampf built the Capgemini Group by striking unfair practices).
a fine balance between being bold and being rational. • Boldness (the desire to take risks with caution and
He selected boldness as one of the Group’s key values, clear-sightedness).
and defined it as "the desire to take risks and to take • Trust (the willingness to empower employees).

86
• Freedom (independence of spirit and respect At the heart of his passion for the oval ball were rugby’s
for others). core values. Serge Kampf loved reminding people how
• Solidarity (teamwork, friendship and loyalty). much the sport’s values were linked to those guiding
• Modesty (simplicity, discretion, common sense). Capgemini since 1967. He pointed out this connection
• Fun (working together to see a project through to in two main ways. The first was that he saw rugby as
the end). a team sport where solidarity is a must – a sport, he said,
"in which you can’t accomplish anything without the rest
These values represent the spirit of Capgemini. For of your teammates, where the player who scores a try
50 years, they have defined ways of being, working, doesn’t think he’s king of the world because he knows
and behaving for all employees. Serge Kampf carefully it’s the result of teamwork, a shared drive and a common
ensured that these values were respected at all times. strategy." The other connection was that he thought of
They are Capgemini’s DNA, always inspiring and leading rugby as a combative sport. "One of the essential values
the Group forward. "These values safeguard our shared to the company’s success is this fighting spirit – the desire
sense of adventure when difficult times call everything to battle it out, engage, take risks and to win!" he said.
into question," Serge Kampf emphasized. Today,
Capgemini is recognized worldwide for its exemplary
practices. In 2016 and for the fifth year running, the BENEFACTOR OF FRENCH CLUBS
company received the American title of One of the
World’s Most Ethical Companies. So many values from rugby resonate throughout the
Group’s history: solidarity, synergy, teamwork, personal
Through it all, Serge Kampf never lost sight of the relationships, competitive spirit, and a whole lot of daring.
importance of people. He saw the men and women We are also reminded of the importance Serge Kampf
of Capgemini as the Group’s most precious asset. His placed on modesty – backed by his own undeniable sense
deepest pride was "bringing together people from very of decency – that led him to attend some matches as if he
different backgrounds, showing them respect, and were a regular supporter. He was sometimes embarrassed
connecting them to our values and projects." This love by the recognition, such as when Biarritz Olympique
for people inspired him to establish Capgemini University named one of their stands after him, or when rugby fans
in 1991, and then to provide it with a real campus, which would come thank him for helping save their club. In his
opened in Les Fontaines, Chantilly (France) in 2003. For own discrete way, Serge Kampf offered financial help to
him, Les Fontaines was more than just a meeting place numerous French clubs such as those in Biarritz, Grenoble
for talented people. He considered it a genuine melting and Bourgoin. This is how he earned the nicknames "Top
pot for shared culture and values. 14 Benefactor" and "Grand Treasurer" of rugby.

THE LOVE OF RUGBY

Serge Kampf loved rugby, a sport he played briefly in his "Rugby is a team sport in
youth. He also gave generously to the sport and offered
both his time and his friendship.
which you can’t accomplish
anything without the rest of your
As a young regional manager at Bull in the early 1960s, he
got permission from management to invite his best clients teammates" – Serge Kampf
to big rugby tournaments. He also invited close friends to
join him, at his own expense, in attending rugby matches
all over the world.

87 ·
INNOVATION NATION SUMMER 2017
 Capgemini Community

A sponsor of the French Barbarians, he never stopped

working to develop ex- rugby players professionally, some
of whom later made their way to Capgemini. Strong links
were forged between the Group he founded and the
rugby world. Official sponsor of the Rugby World Cup
in France in 2007, Capgemini has also partnered with
Biarritz Olympique since 1992. Sogeti has supported the
Grenoble rugby club since 2002.

Read more about 50 years of Capgemini at

http://capgemini50.com/en/
FOR MORE DETAILS CONTACT:
Capgemini's Business Services
businessservices.global@capgemini.com

About Capgemini
With more than 190,000 people, Capgemini is present in over 40 countries
and celebrates its 50th Anniversary year in 2017. A global leader in
consulting, technology and outsourcing services, the Group reported 2016
global revenues of EUR 12.5 billion. Together with its clients, Capgemini
creates and delivers business, technology and digital solutions that fit their
needs, enabling them to achieve innovation and competitiveness. A deeply
multicultural organization, Capgemini has developed its own way of working,
the Collaborative Business ExperienceTM, and draws on Rightshore®,
its worldwide delivery model.

Learn more about us at

www.capgemini.com/business-services

EDGE 2045.2017.03

The information contained in this document is proprietary. ©2017 Capgemini. All rights reserved.
Rightshore® is a trademark belonging to Capgemini.