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TO LEAD & INNOVATE...Practice at London Business School, led a discussion about the practicalities...
Transcript of TO LEAD & INNOVATE...Practice at London Business School, led a discussion about the practicalities...
TO LEAD & INNOVATE
CONTENTSTHE PURPOSE 2
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DAY 4
THOUGHTS FROM THE SUMMIT’S GUEST SPEAKERS 8
THE CONTEXT OF THE SUMMIT 19
SETTING OURSELVES THE CHALLENGE 26
Real innovation happens at the intersection of
diversity. Something new is bound to happen when
people from different parts of the world, from different
industries and from different points of view come
together. That is the purpose of the Networked Enterprise
Institute CEO Summit.
www.tatacommunications.com/NEI2015 #NEI15
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THEPURPOSE
Thirty-five business leaders from all corners of the globe gathered at the summit
from both the developed markets and those that threaten the status quo of our
global economy. They lead businesses involved in the full gamut of commercial
endeavour – finance, manufacturing, energy, distribution, food production and
technology. In a conference driven by practitioners and academics recognised
worldwide as leaders in their field, they were challenged to engage, interact
and participate.
Our theme for this year’s summit was ‘Race-fit to lead and innovate’.
We recognised that a corporation will grow in today’s hyper-dynamic market
when it is mentally and physically fit to take on that challenge. The same is
true for those organisations’ leaders.
Growth will come from change, from disruption. Being ‘race-fit’ will give us
the courage to break the corporate mould and to disrupt.
There can be no doubt that every delegate at the summit – including myself
– came there to learn and I believe we are now better equipped to challenge
ourselves, our organisations and the people on whom we depend.
I was delighted and proud to host this meeting.
Vinod Kumar, MD & Group CEO,
Tata Communications
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Curiosity, the willingness to learn and the need to disrupt the status quo to achieve
growth, were consistent threads of the summit themed ‘Race-fit to lead and innovate’.
Over the course of the summit, we explored every nook and cranny of this topic.
It was clear from start to finish that everyone in the room wanted to learn. No one came
with the attitude that they had heard all this before. This open mind, this willingness to
learn was the foundation of a conference that scored nine out of ten with the delegates.
At the intersection of diversity and curiosity, magic happens. And so it proved.
In one session, we were tasked to destroy our businesses. Or rather we were asked
to form syndicates and create a business plan for a company that would disrupt the
organisation led by one of the syndicate members.
These radical – yet eminently realistic – plans created new enterprises to deliver: a new
model for third world agri-finance; a new low-cost medical self-diagnosis platform; an
inclusive, interactive multi-sport broadcast channel; a service for personal transport that
has all the convenience of owning a car – but without doing so; and of course, a new,
ubiquitous, high-performance global communications platform!
‘Curiosity’ was the word large, front and centre
in the word-cloud created when we asked delegates,
“what is the most important attribute of a leader?”
REAL INNOVATIONHAPPENS AT THE
INTERSECTION OF DIVERSITY
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The outpouring of innovation came at the
start of the conference’s second day and
set the tone for the positive and engaging
interaction with the line-up of speakers.
Dr Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management
Practice at London Business School, led a
discussion about the practicalities of
building an organisation that delivers
excellence at a time of tectonic shifts in the
global workforce. Using hard data derived
from rigorous academic research, she gave
practical insight into how CEOs must both
guard against and leverage the huge
changes in demographics, talent and culture.
“In the next five years the entire world
will be connected,” said Jack Hidary so
reminding the conference of its key context.
While people will innovate, the technology
of the internet, the internet of things and
the cloud enable the impact of the
innovation to scale at amazing speed.
A delegate joined the discussion and
quipped, “As Einstein once said, innovation
is 1% inspiration and 99% transformation,”
adding that Einstein may well have changed
the balance of that formula had he been
alive to see how technology enables the
transformation process today. “Hit a button
In her presentation, she shared research
showing a fundamental shift in the nature
of the workforce. Traditionally there were
three layers – (1) high skill, high creative,
essentially leveraging the unique attributes of
the human mind (2) medium skilled, process
management and (3) low skilled, repetitive
leveraging the unique aspects of human
dexterity. The research argues that
technology is rapidly squeezing out the
middle layer – and doing so faster than at any
similar moment in human history – such as
the nineteenth century’s industrial revolution.
Serial entrepreneur and X-Prize board
member Jack Hidary, had the delegates get
their hands on the new wearable technology
that has the potential to impact most, if not
all enterprises. He showed how the devices
that we have become riveted to – our smart
phones among them – need not be the
social barrier between people that they have
become. Technology has a solution for itself!
For example, you need not keep checking
your email: when the one email you have
been waiting for arrives, you’ll feel a specific
vibration from a piece of designer jewellery
you’re wearing.
and it’s there in an hour,” said Hidary,
illustrating how the retail industry continues
to evolve and how the original disruptors
such as Amazon are being put under
pressure by a new wave of just-in-time
remote shopping service providers.
A delegate from the healthcare industry
added, “Innovation in healthcare is driven
by a combination of clinical advances and
imaginative use of information technology.
And most of the innovation is coming from
the IT space”.
While disruption transforms business models, it always leads to massive waves of growth.
“ To disrupt you have to listen to what organisations and customers want to see in their markets; help them understand the trends that are taking place in other industries.”
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Bestselling business author Scott Anthony turned things around by
giving delegates some early warning signs of the disruption that will
hit their businesses. He then went on to deliver a practical model for
enabling innovation in their own organisations.
Getting feedback from the room using an iPad-based polling system,
we agreed with Scott that innovation was easier said than done.
When asked to say which of five barriers to successful innovation
was the most difficult to overcome, only six per cent said it was (a)
setting a strategy for innovation. The remaining votes were evenly
split between (b) building structures, (c) allocating resources to
the new and different, (d) balancing sustaining today with creating
tomorrow and (e) ensuring an encouraging culture.
“Make sure you have some aliens in your network,” urged Anthony.
He was talking about the innovation process and the need for
leaders to be counter-intuitive when building teams. “You don’t have
to be a computational biologist or a grad from Harvard Business
School to have the best ideas,” said one delegate*. Diversity of
people was a constant theme of the conference. Indeed, when
delegates were asked which of ‘diverse, connected and permitted’
was the most important attribute of an innovative employee-base,
‘diverse’ came out on top.
Mark Thompson, drawing on his experiences working with the likes
of Steve Jobs and Richard Branson, talked about the stamina
needed of leaders when sustaining innovation. Nirmalya Kumar, head
of strategy at the Tata Group, summarised the essence of Mark’s talk
when speaking about the 140 year evolution of the Tata organisation.
“Innovation is not just an activity you do from time to time,” he said.
“It is something that is in our DNA. Innovation defines our existence”.
* The NEI summits are guided by “Chatham House Rules”. Under such rules, remarks can be attributed to the platform speakers but not to the individual delegates. These rules enable a free and frank exchange of ideas and views.
The vast majority of the decisions we take and the
way we behave are governed by a desire not to lose. The brave make decisions that
will help them win.
“ When looking for a hard return from your innovation investment, it’s worth remembering that no one set out specifically to create Twitter.”
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On the other side of the coin, speakers and
delegates identified that it was people’s
reluctance to change that barred innovation
– not a lack of budget or technology. “So
many good ideas do not survive the valley
of death where colleagues say, ‘That will
never work here’ or ‘We’ve tried that before
and it failed,’” said another delegate. “You
have to be strong and persistent and make
sure you are not alone – then you can make
a difference,” he added.
Mark Thompson used real stories from the
entrepreneurs he worked with to illustrate
how courageous leaders need to be if they
are to successfully and persistently disrupt
the market. “Successful people are never
done,” he said. “The vast majority of the
decisions we take and the way we behave
are governed by a desire not to lose. The
brave make decisions that will help them
win,” he said.
A final poll revealed that most had a
different view from their corporate PR
departments as to what attributes best
enable a corporation to innovate. Typically
annual reports open their innovation section
extolling the size of the R&D budget but
only six per cent thought that is important
for innovation. Innovation and agility often
sit in the same sentence, but only nine per
cent of us deemed ‘agility’ the key attribute.
In fact, the majority (44 per cent) said the
key attribute for successful innovation is
‘attitude to risk’ with ’leadership’ pipped
into second place at 41 per cent.
As ex-Formula One™ driver David Coulthard
dramatically illustrated in his talk on the
opening evening, winning the race is not
without risk and he ably illustrated that
leaders – be they in the cockpit or the pit
lane – are the lynchpins between managing
risk and driving innovation.
successful Black Eyed Peas (whose songs
have opened many a sales meeting). Now
we all got to know him as a software
engineer passionate about educating
young people. And particularly young
people from his hometown ghetto where
not everyone can achieve the ‘default
aspiration’ of being a mega-successful
music, basketball or football star.
He also spoke with informed passion about
how the music ‘industry’ must find new ways
to sustain its fortunes which had been
forever based on the sales of hardware. He
had some smart ideas of how that could be
achieved with collaboration between the
fashion, wearables and broadcast industries
– which were well represented in the room.
The Networked Enterprise Institute provides
a rich platform for this symbiotic relationship
between networked technology and
disruptive business ideas.
Tata Communications is a disruptive player
in our industry and we believe passionately
that we will achieve our ambitions in
partnership with people who think the same
way we do, be they from established
businesses or start-ups. There were many
excitable conversations going on between
delegates and the Tata leadership team
during the breaks from the plenary session.
“When looking for a hard return from your
innovation investment,” remarked Scott
Anthony, “it’s worth remembering that
no one set out specifically to create Twitter.”
You have to be strong and persistent and make sure you are not alone – then you can make a difference.
The curiosity of the delegates was well
and truly aroused that same evening when
guest speaker Will.I.Am, spoke.
Some knew him from TV talent shows and
some as the lead singer for the immensely
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RACE-FIT TO LEAD AND INNOVATE
Some thoughts from the summit’s guest speakers
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USING TECHNOLOGY TO POSITIVELY DISRUPT JACK HIDARY
“ So while the current medical situation is reactive, we’ll be transforming healthcare to a proactive system.”
Jack is the entrepreneur and philanthropist who continues to make a significant impact on the global technology industry. He is a founder of the Clinton Global Initiative and member of the advisory board of Google X Labs. Jack proved an energetic and inspirational facilitator and catalyst for the meetings.
What happens when you have a mobile internet where everyone’s connected? E-commerce, payments, healthcare, education – each one of these areas will be completely transformed.
Today, across the world, there are more
than two billion Smartphones. But that’s
likely to rise to more than four to five billion
Smartphones within five years. This will
radically change our planet. It will radically
change the human species.
When we think about healthcare today and
the challenge of healthcare, with billions of
people without access to proper medical
care, to quick diagnoses, to accurate lab
tests. What happens when you have the
ability to have a lab on a chip, right there in
the field without medical personnel being
there? You can take a blood sample and
other kinds of samples, and analyse them
right on the spot – for Cholera, for Ebola,
for other kinds of diseases. This will be real
within two or three years. These devices will
be networked up so that governments and
health bodies will know right away that an
Ebola outbreak is about to happen.
And more than that, predictive analytics,
driven by machine learning, will be
employed to predict where outbreaks
may occur. So while the current medical
situation is reactive, we’ll be transforming
healthcare to a proactive system.
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Education’s another area that will
face radical innovation. The traditional
approach of ‘K through 12’ followed
by university education will have to be
completely re-thought. And that’s a good
thing because there are a billion-plus
people out there without access to proper
education – without access to traditional
text books. They will now leapfrog into
the new era of accessing online – mainly
via mobile phones – a sound education
backed up with innovative and effective
tool sets.
“Thesekindsoftechnologiesradicallychangehowwethinkaboutthefutureandhowwethinkabouttrainingtheworkforceofthefuture.SowhenyouasaCEOthinkaboutinnovation,youmustnowthinkaboutitinthecontextofthesemassive,non-linearinnovations–thesemassivenon-lineartransformations–thatwillchangethecontextinwhichweoperate.”
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RE-INVENTING LEADERSHIP WITH A RE-INVENTED WORKFORCE DR LYNDA GRATTON
“ What we’re going to see in high-skilled jobs is high levels of augmentation, where individuals and A.I. or robotics work closely together.”
The Times / Harvard Business Review rates Lynda as one of the top 15 business thinkers in the world. As Professor of Management Practice at London Business School, there is little Lynda does not know about the interface between people and organisations.
The first one was about connectivity. Of course we know that five billion people are going to be connected with each other. But what does that mean in reality?
At the CEO Summit I talked about the
future of work. It’s been a fascinating
conversation. Here are some of the really
interesting questions we discussed.
One of the interesting insights about
connectivity is that, in fact, the world is still
forming itself into clusters. The ‘innovation’
clusters in San Francisco, in Munich, in
Japan are today’s magnets for talent. But
what role does the connected diaspora play
in actually magnetising talent and can we
expect new clusters to be forming, in let’s
say, Africa or Australia?
We also talked about how jobs will evolve
and what the new jobs are going to be.
The ‘hollowing out of work’ is a profound
phenomenon. Medium-skilled jobs are
disappearing – disappearing to robotics
and artificial intelligence. What’s left are
low-skilled jobs and high-skilled jobs.
Anything that’s routine – even if it’s high-
skilled or highly analytical – can be replaced
by robotics (think about a surgeon, for
example) or by artificial intelligence (think
about being a lawyer). So what we’re going
to see in those high-skilled jobs is high
levels of augmentation, where individuals
and A.I or robotics work closely together.
We had a long debate about generalism
vs. specialism. What would you tell your
children? Should they be a generalist
learning little about lots or should they be
specialising in a specific skill? My view is
that the future is about specialism. But a
number of the CEOs argued otherwise and
talked about how in the start-ups they’ve
been involved in, generalist skills seem to
be much more important.
CEO Summit 2015
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A fascinating truth emerged from our discussion
about demography. While many of us might live
until we’re 100, most of our children definitely
will live to that age. What does that mean for
their lives? My research with my economist friend
Andrew Scott, shows that if you live to 100 and
you save 15% of your salary and you want to
retire on 50% of it, you have to work until you’re
80. Few corporations and fewer governments
are really prepared for this. So we had a long
conversation about how to help organisations
and individuals think about these long, long lives.
I believe the relationship between home and
work will change. We’ve built organisations on
the basis of traditional partnerships where the
man worked and the woman looked after the
family. Those traditional partnerships are now a
very small percentage of how people are actually
living their lives and our research shows that the
percentage will become even smaller.
So we talked about how to build
companies that really allow people to
manage work and life without being too
stressed about it.
I then focused on the people networks that
are going to be important in the future. Both
the ones that build expertise and the ones
that build diversity. These networks bring new
ideas together and are crucial for innovation.
And thirdly, in terms of networks, I talked
about the role of regenerative communities
and the need to let people spend time to
build life-long friendships.
Finally I talked about what all this means for
leaders. My view is that leadership is really a
journey which has both an inner component –
how do you build authenticity in yourself – and
also an external component – how do you really
learn about the world you live in and particularly
some of the big challenges that the world faces.
It was a fantastic conference and I was
delighted to have been a part of it.
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CREATING A PLACE FOR INNOVATION AND GROWTH SCOTT D. ANTHONY
“ While disruption transforms business models, it always leads to massive waves of growth.”
Scott is the Managing Partner of Innosight. Scott has advised senior leaders in companies such as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, General Electric and Cisco Systems on topics of growth and innovation. Scott is one of Harvard Business Review’s most prolific contributors and a bestselling author of business books.
In spite of all this, the disruptions that CEOs face today are in fact the greatest growth opportunities they will ever see. Because while disruption transforms business models, it always leads to massive waves of growth.
The world is changing faster than it ever
has before. That statement arguably could
have been said any year since the scientific
revolution. Yet something feels different
today. The pace and scale of change makes
it so hard for leaders to grab hold of.
That their organisation is built, designed
and optimised to execute yesterday’s
business model and not to invent
tomorrow’s, is the fundamental challenge
that a leader faces today.
How do we find the balance? How do
we make sure we continue to operate
with excellence while also inventing,
discovering, twisting, turning and moving
in the new directions that are required
for long-term success?
This is not an easy task.
A starting point is to recognise that a
systematic problem requires a system-
level solution. This isn’t doing one thing.
This is coming up with a cohesive set
of interventions to immerse innovation
so deeply within the culture of your
organisation that it disappears and
you don’t need to think about it at all.
How do you get started? I suggest you
do three things…
First, pick a few problems worth solving.
Pick those big strategic opportunity
areas that have the potential to create
tomorrow’s growth businesses.
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Second, create capacity for innovation. I am
willing to bet that your organisation has much
more capacity than you realise. However it’s
constrained in what I call the ‘Zombie project
– the walking undead’ – the project that, if you
are honest about it, will not materially move the
growth needle. Put the zombies down and all
of a sudden you have so much more capacity
for innovation.
Finally, inject curiosity into the day to day
routines and rituals in your organisation. If
there’s one characteristic that every innovative
organisation has, it’s curiosity. Make every day
more curious. Run an experiment – sometimes
for no other reason than to just try it
and see what happens. Go out and
spend time trying to understand customers,
not as facts and figures on spreadsheets
but as living, breathing human-beings.
Demonstrate that your organisation truly
loves learning even if it doesn’t directly
lead to commercial results.
It’s never been a tougher time to be a CEO but it’s never been a more exciting time either because the opportunities are there for the taking. Good luck.
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CONTENTS THE CHALLENGEGUEST SPEAKERSHIGHLIGHTSTHE PURPOSE THE CONTEXT
STAYING THE COURSE
MARK THOMPSONMark is a respected Silicon Valley senior executive coach.
Over the years, we’ve found the DNA of success that is built to last, is formed of four fundamental disciplines of growth leadership.
I was asked to talk about something that’s
very personal to me, something that I’ve
been dealing with for the last 30 years. And
that’s the fact that most companies you
would hope to be built to last, actually are
not able to make it for the long-haul
because of the conflicts and the chaos
that they face in the marketplace.
That first discipline has everything to do
with disruption but of a very special type.
It’s disruption of the way we engage with
our customers. It’s disruption of the way
that we engage with our employees.
A deep relationship with those customers
and employees allows them to achieve
higher levels of productivity and to
contribute in entirely new and innovative
ways for those customers.
The second area has to do with
extraordinary execution. With all the
creativity and disruption going on in the
marketplace, it’s fundamentally important
to be producing at a higher level of quality
than ever before, even with pressure on
pricing and competition and chaos in
the marketplace.
“ With all the creativity and disruption going on in the marketplace, it’s fundamentally important to be producing at a higher level of quality than ever before.”
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The third area is paranoia. Now I’m not
talking about the kind of paranoia that
makes you put your head in the closet,
I’m talking about paranoia that leads
you, in a productive way, to anticipate
the competition – and to anticipate the
competition in a fundamentally new way.
And finally fanatical partnership. The value
chain throughout the entire organisation
– from the time you originate a service
to the time you deliver to the customer –
must be based on partnership.
Each partnership must be driven by a shared outcome – a shared interest – a shared obligation to deliver the very best for customers.
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INNOVATING WITH
FORMULA 1™David Coulthard (or DC as he is known around the track)
opened the conference proceedings by drawing an analogy between business leadership and leadership in F1™
– where both share an environment dominated by speed, fierce competition and innovation.
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From 1996 to 2008 David drove for Williams
Renault, McLaren and Red Bull Racing
amassing a total of 13 outright victories, 62
podiums and 535 championship points to
become the highest scoring British driver of
all time. He first drove professionally in 1989
and competed in Touring Car competitions
until 2012. Today, amongst a range of
business interests, David is a commentator
for the BBC’s TV coverage of Formula 1™.
He is also a judge on the panel for the Tata
Communications F1™ Connectivity Innovation
Prize (FCIP). Featuring a grand prize of USD
$50,000 and VIP trips to 2015 Abu Dhabi
Grand Prix – the challenge is for the
brightest minds around the world harnessing
their ingenuity, technical know-how and
passion for F1 to spur innovation in the sport
through technology challenges.
A first challenge for the FCIP 2015 was
announced at the time of the summit which
coincided with the build-up to the British
Grand Prix at Silverstone. The British GP
was won by Lewis Hamilton, driver for the
Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team,
to which Tata Communications is the Official
Managed Connectivity Supplier.
In relation to the announcement of the
details of the first challenge, Lewis Hamilton
said, “Technology shapes our lives and drives
us forward and I know the F1 Connectivity
Innovation Prize will deliver some amazing
and innovative thinking again. I’m really
looking forward to seeing the ideas that
come out of the competition and to helping
judge the entries.”
Tata Communications is the official
Technology Supplier to Formula 1 and
provides Formula One Management with
world-class connectivity to all 19 Formula 1
race locations over its global network, the
largest in the world. It also provides hosting
and content delivery services to
Formula1.com, which is accessed by tens of
millions of fans around the globe. This
collaboration positions Tata Communications
with category-exclusive designations such as
Official Connectivity Provider of Formula 1
and Official Web Hosting and Content
Delivery Network Provider of Formula1.com.
As the Official Managed Connectivity
Supplier for the Mercedes AMG Petronas
Formula One Team, Tata Communications
also supports the data transmission over
its global networks to keep drivers Lewis
Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at the leading
edge of the championship.
Further earlier in 2015, Tata Communications
has also been chosen by Formula One
Management as the official provider of
broadcast feeds for the GP2, GP3 and
Porsche Supercup Series. Tata
Communications provides a fully diverse
end to end fibre and satellite solution to
broadcasters from across the globe
during the race.
In the cockpit or the pit lane – are the lynchpins between managing risk and driving innovation.
THE CONTEXT
The Networked Enterprise Institute is set in the context of technology. Its impact on business strategy and the
exponential pace of change it drives into the global economy is why, Tata Communications, created the NEI.
In this series of short articles, leaders from Tata Communications products and technology teams
explore key areas where innovation is set to have a big impact on business.
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For most, harking back to the 1960s evokes
images of flower power, tie dye, PVC clothes
and the Troggs. These are all relics of a
bygone era. In comparison, cloud computing
and software as a service, both dreamt up
in the 60s, have stood the test of time and
have gone on to change the face of
enterprise IT forever.
The rise of technologies such as the cloud,
mobility, the internet of things and 4G mobile
networks have had a momentous impact in
the past decade and will continue to do so for
the foreseeable future. Business IT workloads
are on the move, first across the data centre
from dedicated hardware to virtualised
computing and storage stacks, then out to
third party private cloud providers.
While all of this has been going on, what
has happened to the enterprise network?
Well, in all honesty, not a lot. Yes,
transmission speeds have increased, but
little has happened in terms of networking
technologies and architectures. While
software defined networking (SDN) has
revolutionised the data centre, we are
some way off SDN delivering on its
promise to provide service providers
and their customers with genuine,
seamless interoperability.
When it comes to enterprise networking,
the philosophy has always been to keep the
internet – broad in reach, but fundamentally
insecure – separate from the self-contained
and private ‘enterprise grade’ WAN. KIERON MCCANN Director of Product Marketing for Network Services, Tata Communications
NETWORK INNOVATION TO STAND THE TEST OF TIME
For more about IZO™
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However, the internet has become an
indispensable business tool and we are all
becoming dependent on applications and
services from the public cloud. Nevertheless,
people who work for large companies are
complaining that their applications don’t
perform as well as they could on existing
WANs, suffering slow response and
prolonged faults. As a result, enterprise
network managers are patching together
solutions using both the public internet
and their private networks.
Managers have tried to cope with
today’s highly dynamic application and
user landscape by building up this patchwork
of connectivity over time.
But traffic ends up routed through
bottlenecks and gateways, on and off
the internet in unpredictable ways.
The result is users’ experience of
applications varies widely depending
on the time of day, what they are doing
and where they are in the world.
So why shouldn’t we embrace the cloud
and properly integrate the internet into the
network? This switch will not take place
overnight, with billions of dollars already
invested in traditional network architectures,
but is the essential next step in the evolution
of the enterprise network. And the evidence
is that we are now at the inflexion point from
which the process will start.
There are many tools that help enterprises
make the most of the cloud. For example,
they allow enterprises to manage the right
mixture of services across a hybrid IT
environment that encompasses in-house,
private and public clouds.
At Tata Communications, we think a much
more open-minded approach is required;
an approach that blends public and private
networking to deliver what employees and
the business need – improved performance,
greater responsiveness and reduced costs.
This thinking drove our innovative
development of IZO™, the world’s first
enterprise-grade internet WAN service,
which guarantees performance across
the internet.
27% of event attendees agreed that allocating resources to the new and different was the biggest barrier to innovation.
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With Will.I.Am taking centre stage at the
summit and talking about monetising
artistic talent, it is worth considering that
whatever innovation comes to light, there
is always risk in our connected world.
Take last year’s cyber-attack on Sony
Pictures as an example. It was a unique
phenomenon of our time. Not only has it
gone some way to tarnishing the careers
of some A-list actors, it has subsequently
led to the studio pulling its latest
blockbuster ‘The Interview’ for fear of
further backlash from cyber criminals.
The reason I say this case is unique is
because it defied the very nature of hacking
as we know it. Rather than breach the
system, steal the most valuable data, cover
their tracks and run – these cyber criminals,
allegedly working on behalf of North Korea
in protest against the politically sensitive
content in Sony Pictures’ latest hit, used their
successful hack to publicly humiliate the
entertainment giant.
They have done so by leaking personal
emails sent between household names and
high profile employees containing an array of
damaging content. For what Sony Pictures
may have presumed is a fairly minor part of
its IT network, the breach of its email system
and ensuing leak has had measurable
financial implications – forcing the studio
to pull its biggest film of this quarter.
JOHN HAYDUK President, Product Management and Service Development, Tata Communications
ALL-STAR REPUTATIONS DESTROYED BY A CLICK
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THE PURPOSE HIGHLIGHTS GUEST SPEAKERS THE CHALLENGETHE CONTEXTCONTENTS
Email is just one of the methods of
communication we use every day – it’s
arguably the most fundamental channel
we use to talk to colleagues, customers,
suppliers and personal contacts. Although
it’s difficult to imagine why cyber criminals
would want to see your emails, this case
hammers home the importance of
protecting company networks at every
level to avoid both theft of critical data
and, just as crucially, corporate humiliation.
The network is the enterprises’ strategic
operational platform, the driver of innovative
business models and the enabler for the
diversity critical to innovation.
Yet all too often network security is little
more than an afterthought for businesses.
It’s easy to understand how investing in
security doesn’t have the same appeal as
migrating services to the cloud, a leading-
edge communications suite or high-speed
broadband – all of which have very tangible
benefits to the business. On the other
hand, they also come with their own specific,
inherent security risks, so security should be
at the forefront of decision makers’ minds
when choosing any IT service.
In fact, given how much publicity this event
has received, coupled with the hack on US
retail chain, Target, companies must realise
that more work and more spend must be
made on security to protect a company’s
digital assets. Given what potentially can
be lost, these business cases for improved
security will be easier to justify
and implement.
69% of delegates say innovation will drive the long term success of their business.
Find out more about network security
24 The Networked Enterprise Institute | CEO Summit 2015
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“If you want to improve the performance
of the horse and cart, then people will
say you need a faster horse,” said Scott
Anthony at the NEI Summit. He was
illustrating how often the market may
not be able to see the oncoming
innovation – in this case the automobile.
Drawing a more recent and pertinent
parallel, market research company
Infonetics released its latest report
that shows stale growth among video-
conferencing hardware. What’s more,
Enterprise Networking Planet dubbed
the market as going ‘flat’.
Yet with industry and commerce
globalising more and more each day,
does this mean we are all heading
back to the airport for meetings?
A deeper dive into the report revealed
a shift in trends from the sale of hardware
to software. It’s not that video calls are
disappearing altogether – it’s that people
no longer make these calls from dedicated
video-conferencing hardware, confined to
a conference room or the executive suite.
The main reason for this shift is, of course,
the proliferation of powerful hand held
devices capable of connecting to video-
conferencing and other communication
tools without restriction.
ANTHONY BARTOLO President of Mobility and Collaboration Enablement, Tata Communications
WHEN THE HORSE IN FRONT BECOMES A CAR
25 The Networked Enterprise Institute | CEO Summit 2015
THE PURPOSE HIGHLIGHTS GUEST SPEAKERS THE CHALLENGETHE CONTEXTCONTENTS
Business people no longer congregate in a
physical meeting room equipped with the
hardware to make a video call. They are
treating their mobile devices as movable
communication hubs with which to
collaborate with colleagues via whichever
medium is most suitable – from instant
messaging to texts and email through
to voice and video calls.
Having to be in a fixed place at a fixed time
for a call is less desirable as more people work
remotely or hold meetings whilst out on the
road, as many of us did at the summit.
In our personal and professional lives, we
increasingly demand this convenience, but
equally expect seamlessness. After all, no
matter how quick a method may be, we
won’t use it if we risk experiencing problems
joining calls or dropping off the line halfway
through an important meeting.
This is why Tata Communications is
expanding its unified communications (UC)
portfolio, with the launch of three new UC
solutions to provide businesses with
connectivity, collaboration and productivity
anywhere, anytime and from any device.
Across voice, video, chat and presence, we’re
working to deliver seamless and ubiquitous
applications and services from the cloud,
anywhere in the world, which are accessible
through a rich set of APIs and software
development kits.
As businesses grow and expand
domestically and internationally, they
need a sophisticated way to manage their
communications and collaboration – meeting
the demands of employees that want to
connect instantly, wherever they may be.
By equipping these organisations with
choice through a breadth of solutions and
in-built interoperability, businesses and their
employees can fully realise the potential of
a connected world, freeing themselves
from the confines of the traditional static
conference room.
Business people no longer congregate in a physical meeting room equipped with the hardware to make a video call
Find out more about
unified communications
SETTING OURSELVES THE
CHALLENGE
26 The Networked Enterprise Institute | CEO Summit 2015
THE PURPOSECONTENTS HIGHLIGHTS GUEST SPEAKERS THE CHALLENGETHE CONTEXT
27 The Networked Enterprise Institute | CEO Summit 2015
THE PURPOSE HIGHLIGHTS GUEST SPEAKERS THE CHALLENGETHE CONTEXTCONTENTS
The 2015 summit was about the future – but much of the future we talked about is happening right now. The key questions confronted were, “How to react to the changes happening today?” and “How can I defend against the disruption allaround me now by being the first to disrupt?”
While we might tweak the focus a little for next year’s summit, we will explore similar themes.
After all, that is the purpose of the NEI and that which delivers the greatest value.
But can we afford to wait until next year? Can those NEI members unable to attend the
summit afford to be left out of the conversation?
I think not. And to this end, we are going to keep the conversation going between summits.
This will not only sustain the value we created at Coworth, but help us create an agenda for
next year’s summit that is pertinent and even more fulfilling.
And this is where I would appreciate your help. We are extending the website we created for
the summit so it becomes a living focus for NEI topics. It will be somewhere we can share
ideas, experiences, success stories, hints, tips and tools that will help us all innovate and adapt
to our constantly changing world.
We’ll be in touch as we develop and complete the shape of this site – along with some thoughts
about satellite events (real and virtual) between now and the next summit. Meanwhile, any
ideas you have are welcome. Just drop me a note at [email protected]
Finally, I am extremely grateful to all those that made the 2015 summit an undoubted
success. To those on the stage, to those in the audience and to those behind the scenes
who made it all work so comfortably and seamlessly, I say a sincere “Thank you”.
Vinod Kumar, MD & Group CEO,
Tata Communications
Business people no longer congregate in a physical meeting room equipped with the hardware to make a video call.
www.tatacommunications.com/NEI2015 #NEI15
About Tata Communications
Tata Communications Limited (CIN no: L64200MH1986PLC039266) along with its subsidiaries (Tata Communications) is a leading global provider of A New World of Communications™. With a leadership position in emerging markets, Tata Communications leverages its advanced solutions capabilities and domain expertise across its global and pan-India network to deliver managed solutions to multi-national enterprises, service providers and Indian consumers.
The Tata Communications global network includes one of the most advanced and largest submarine cable networks and a Tier-1 IP network with connectivity to over 240 countries and territories across 400 PoPs, as well as nearly 1 million square feet of data centre and collocation space worldwide.
Tata Communications’ depth and breadth of reach in emerging markets includes leadership in Indian enterprise data services and leadership in global international voice. Tata Communications Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.
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