In order to acknowledge the significant contributions in the AI industry, Insights Success has curated a list of “The 10 Most Disruptive AI Solution Providers 2019”, who are propelling artificial intelligence into business mainstream.

1. www.insightssuccess.com
Yva.aiAiding Businesses to Retain
the Best Talent, Build Engaged
Teams and Achieve More
The 10 Most
Disruptive
AI Solution
Providers 2019
May 2019
Gary A. Fowler
CEO, President & Co-Founder
Volume-5 Issue-5

4. t comes as no surprise how Artificial Intelligence has driven digital transformations in almost every sector. The way we
Iwork has fundamentally switched with AI. Be it finance, healthcare, marketing, logistics, defense, education, technical
support or customer service, AI has been redefining every aspect of the business areas. The only change that has occurred
in AI is the pace at which it is evolving.
When we talk about the advancements of AI, we usually become skeptical regarding its nature. Will it create more
opportunities for people or put them out of employment? However, AI has endless possibilities accompanied with the wealth
of opportunities across all sectors.
The existence of AI has been seen in every aspect of human life. The beginning of electric cars, robotization, virtual
assistants, and the emergence of many such occurrences have been possible due to Artificial Intelligence. After witnessing
some revolutionary transformations of our daily tasks, we can say that AI has been established as one of the prominent
disruptive technologies. Days seem to be near, when there will be an exponential increase in the number of commercial AI-
based applications.
Taking into consideration the importance of AI, many companies have started scrutinizing how AI can be applied into their
respective sectors. Some of them are already delivering AI based disruptive solutions that are definitely adding value to the
processes of various businesses. In order to acknowledge the significant contributions in the AI industry, Insights Success has
curated a list of “The 10 Most Disruptive AI Solution Providers 2019”, who are propelling artificial intelligence into
business mainstream.
AI! In the Process of Disrupting Daily
Work Environment
ditor’s DeskE

5. Our cover story features a Menlo Park, CA based company, Yva. In order to ensure steady and successful corporate growth
and high productivity, every company needs to listen to its employees and provide continuous actionable feedback to
employees. Based on this consideration, Yva developed Yva.ai, the AI-driven People Analytics and performance management
system. Yva allows businesses to increase their performance and sell more. Its system uses the power of neural networks to
boost corporate health and performance while ensuring the individual happiness of employees. Yva.ai is an intelligent
“corporate health tracker” that maintains and bolsters the good health of an organization by providing real-time insights and
recommendations to the company managers, employees, and HR.
Further, this edition also includes Solvera Lynx, a company that combines interdisciplinary knowledge in energy,
information, and economy and introduces modern information technology and advanced energy services to the demanding
technical fields of energy, industry, and transport; Guavus, a company that offers cutting-edge AI and analytics solutions for
digital transformation; NGD Systems, a computational storage solution provider that builds an innovative intelligent
platform that allows users to create, manage, and execute applications within the SSD storage solutions via the company’s In-
Situ Processing.
Also, make sure to scroll through the articles written by our editorial team and CXO standpoints of some of the leading
industry experts to have a brief taste of the sector.
Let’s start reading!
Any solution when integrated with AI
could turn into a disruption.
“ “
Hitesh Dhamani

6. 16 32
08
Yva.ai
Aiding Businesses to Retain the Best Talent, Build
Engaged Teams and Achieve More
Cover Story
Articles
Virtual Future
Virtual Assistants:
Aiding Businesses to Retain
the Best Talent, Build
Engaged Teams and Achieve More
AI: Moving Towards
Transformation of Industries
Infrastructure Transformation

7. CONTENTS
20
28
Guavus
Offering Cutting-Edge AI and Analytics
Solutions for Digital Transformation
NGD Systems
Ensuring AI Advancement with
Intelligent Storage
Solvera Lynx
Delivering Comprehensive Solutions for
Energy Management 36
Blockchain:
The Next Opportunity for
Better, Safer, Smarter Cities
24
Maintaining a personal and
professional life balance:
How To Do Your Best
Work When You're Not
Actually Working!
30
Fostering a Risk-based
Company Culture
40
Tech Insider
Expert’s Column
Expert’s Insights

9. sales@insightssuccess.com
April, 2019
Editor-in-Chief
Co-designerSenior Sales Manager Business Development Manager
Marketing Manager
Technical Head
Technical Specialist Digital Marketing Manager
Research Analyst
Database Management Technology Consultant
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Managing Editor
Anish Miller
Executive Editor
Bhushan Kadam
Assistant Editors
Jenny Fernandes
Hitesh Dhamani
Visualizer
David King
Art & Design Director
Amol Kamble
Associate Designer
Sanket Zirpe
Passi D. Peter Collins
John Matthew
Sales Executives
David, Kevin, Mark, Vishnu
Business Development Executives
Steve, Joe, Alan, AnupJacob Smile
Aditya Marry D'Souza
SME-SMO Executive
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Circulation Manager
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Co-designer
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10. Gary A. Fowler
CEO, President & Co-Founder
Yva.ai

11. Aiding Businesses to Retain the Best Talent, Build
Engaged Teams and Achieve More
Yva.ai
Our team consists of PhD's from around
the world and professionals with more than
10 years of experience working in AI, NLP,
semantic and search engine technologies.

13. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is shaping the future of almost every sector.
Be it finance, marketing, technical support or customer service, AI is
redefining every aspect of the business areas. Similarly, employee
satisfaction is another vital aspect of every business as employees are the most
valuable asset any company has. And in order to ensure steady and successful
corporate growth and high productivity, any company needs to listen to its
employees and provide continuous actionable feedback to employees. Based
on this consideration a Menlo Park, CA based company, Yva developed
Yva.ai, the AI-driven People Analytics and performance management system.
Yva allows businesses to increase their performance and sell more. It helps
them understand, motivate, and develop their employees. The company
identifies the successful behaviors and skills, using communication and survey
data. It predicts resignations and offers tools to lower unwanted attrition.
Intelligent Corporate Health Tracker
Yva.ai uses the power of neural networks to boost corporate health and
performance while ensuring the individual happiness of employees. It is an
intelligent “corporate health tracker” that maintains and bolsters the good
health of an organization by providing real-time insights and
recommendations to the company managers, employees, and HR.
Yva is unique in how it combines communication data analytics with short
weekly employee surveys, ensuring constant feedback directly from company
employees while also generating objective and reliable insights from the
digital footprint of these employees. This one-of-a-kind combination of hard
and soft data allows the continuously monitoring the happiness and
productivity of the employees with the unbiased support of artificial
intelligence while enriching the AI-generated results with the personal voices
of the employees.
Proven Leadership
An elite team of Yva.ai is led by its CEO, President and Co-Founder, Gary
A. Fowler. Gary is an award winning marketing guru, serial entrepreneur,
business coach, mentor, TEDX presenter and has a long history globally with
10 startups under his belt as well as a successful IPO (CKSW). His
background has centered on leadership in high tech, services and consulting
companies as well as his own companies in technology, development and
consulting. He is also the Founder of Fowler International, GVA
LaunchGurus, DY Investments, Broadiant, etc. In addition, he has also held
different executive level positions in top tier companies like Hewlett Packard,
Modcomp, and Siemens attaining numerous sales and marketing awards.
Filling the Gap
According to Yva.AI, the annual survey has been the traditional method of
measuring employee engagement and corporate health for years. In times,
when the pace of changes and growth in businesses across industries is
increasing, the annual surveys have become extremely insufficient. Imagine a
scenario where once a year, businesses would encourage the employees of
their company to take long surveys with questions recapping the prior year.
Businesses intend to use this information to plan their business strategy and
the subsequent changes in the organization for the following year.

14. But for one, these annual surveys are incapable of offering real-time
information that reflects the real and true state of their organization. A
lot of things can change over a year. And, while the survey allows
gaining insights into what the employees think, they are retrospective
and cannot offer in-depth information about past issues from the
previous year, and let alone the on-going issues the company might be
experiencing at the given moment. To be realistic, employees can
hardly recall the details from an entire year that has passed. While they
can get lengthy and tedious, annual employee surveys also leave room
for bias and survey fatigue for the employees who are caught up in
their daily workflow and are unwilling to spend extra time answering
questions that seem unimportant and ineffectual. According to Harvard
Business Review, a few ways employees can distort the survey results
include the social desirability bias, when they tend to give answers that
they believe would make them look more desirable in the eyes of the
management. And, when the acquiescence bias tends to state
agreement as a default response to questions, they don’t have enough
information to answer.
So, today of all times when actionable information is valued highly in
the fast-paced business environment; and this is exactly where the
traditional survey method fails to deliver the value companies demand.
Yva.AI developed Yva to fill in this gap between the expectations,
which companies expect and the lack of actionable insights that annual
surveys don’t provide by calibrating personalized employee surveys
with the AI analysis of communication data. Yva generates real-time
dashboards, predictions, and recommendations that allow managers to
make evidence-based decisions on one hand, and ensure employees
receive continuous and actionable feedback on the other. Businesses
can achieve a lot with such powerful information at their disposal. At
the very core, Yva’s core functions can be
broken down into three main categories: the
Resignation Predictor, Organizational Network
Analysis, and Continuous Engagement and
Performance.
Where a Human Eye Fails, AI thrives
Yva believes in a saying that states ‘employees
do not leave their companies; they leave their
bosses’. And in the opinion of the company, yet,
lot of organizations don’t do a good job at
retaining their top performers. Losing a key
employee who is highly integrated within the
company can cost up to twice their annual
salary, as replacing a valuable employee takes
extra months of recruiting, interviewing, and
training of new candidates. Losing employees
isn’t just costly; it’s time- and resource-
consuming, with the potential of hindering
overall company growth and the integrity of the
corporate culture.
When employees make the decision to leave the
company, their communication patterns undergo
slight changes that are undetectable to a human
eye. But where a human eye fails, artificial
intelligence thrives. Yva’s neural network can
catch these minute changes and predict
resignations 12 months in advance with 86%
accuracy, allowing managers and executives to
take action before the employees take the step
to leave the company. The system is trained on
“blind tests” using the historical data of
employees who have previously resigned. By
avoiding unwanted attrition, companies can
save significant resources, continue steady
corporate growth, and ensure uninterrupted
workflow.
Taking it a step further, Yva.ai can also identify
the Toxic Managers and the Opinion Leaders
within the company, revealing the “silent
killers” and the true leaders of the company.
Toxic managers constantly demotivate and
disengage other employees; very often, toxic
managers can become a major contributing
factor to the employees’ decision to leave.
Through objective Organizational Network
Analytics (ONA) based on communication data,
Yva’s AI brain identifies these sources of
toxicity within organizations and allows the

15. leadership to take measures before major
conflicts arise. Following the same logic,
the system recognizes the most integrated,
well-connected and highly communicable
employees who act like communication
hubs, bringing all other employees
together, motivating and engaging them.
They are the real agents of change who
have the potential to successfully lead
corporate transformation.
The system doesn’t just provide actionable
insights to managers and executives; it
also ensures constant feedback for all
employees through real-time dynamic
scanning and 360-degree surveys. A few
times a week, employees in the company
receive an invitation to participate in a
survey and share their feedback about their
co-workers. Based on the anonymized
feedback provided by co-workers, each
employee receives a report that highlights
their strengths and points out the skills that
need further improvement. Through such
evaluations, the employees constantly get
motivating updates and recommendations
on self-growth and self-improvement.
Envisions Becoming Personal Virtual
Assistant
As artificial intelligence solutions get more
integrated into the process of boosting
company growth and health, the future of
successful employee engagement and
corporate success is “continuous sensing.”
Yva.ai is one such AI technology of and
from the future that constantly listens to
the employees, monitors small changes,
and provides real-time insights for
managers and employees to make
evidence-based decisions. The company
aims to become a personal virtual assistant
to each employee or manager in the
company, helping them understand their
performance, measure their impact on the
overall company environment, and make
informed decisions day-to-day to work on
areas that need more improvement.
Yva is not a human; it’s
articial intelligence.

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CORPORATE OFFICE

18. Professional Assistance, Virtual Guidance
Assistants
May 2019|16

19. Nowadays, we all are
becoming more engage and
busy in our day-to-day life
due to professional commitments or
personal life. In such a situation, we
always find ways to make our life
simple and easy. Every human on
this planet feels lazy at certain
situations where he/she wants to
make his/her work or task easier.
Thus, there are various innovations
which are carried out with these
technologies. Those are intensively
working upon such tools which can
execute to minimize human
efficiency and saves time.
According to the well-known French
author Jules Renard, “Laziness is
nothing more than the habit of
resting before you get tired.”
To reduce this, there are some virtual
inventions that create an easy way to
implement our work. One such major
device which is widely used is
known as Virtual Assistant
generally abbreviated as VA or
Virtual Office Assistant. It is a unique
self-employed device which provides
assistance to clients remotely. It is a
highly skilled device that recreates
overall verbal communication
stronger. VA helps its users to access
data and information through voice
assistance with its unique approach
to signify various fundamental
activities.
Hence, VA exclusively synchronizes
human voice instructions to manage
various human actions such as music
playback via voice, emails, to-do
lists, and calendars with verbal
commands. Its invention has created
a reforming approach for doing our
day to day task easier. The qualities
that make virtual assistant a power
tool is its exceptional programming
and strong process execution.
Various Forms of Virtual
Assistants
In the global market, there are many
technology giants that have
introduced their own virtual assistant
(VA) devices are as follows,
Amazon Alexa majorly known as
Alexa is a virtual assistant device
developed by Amazon. It has two
devices which reflect its VA
properties such as Amazon Echo and
Amazon Echo Dot Smart Speakers.
Alexa helps you to check the
weather, latest news, connect to
music and listen to your favorite
song on command as its special
features. Siri by Apple is one of the
unique virtual assistant devices
introduced in 2011. Siri answers all
the questions and updates you with
sports news as well. Siri also uses to
set alarm, timer, and scheduling daily
task manually. With voice request,
Siri can help you to send text or
place call just by voice. Siri is
exclusively available on Apple
devices like iPhone, iPad, Mac,
Apple watches etc.
Cortana is a Microsoft device,
known as its digital assistant who is
designed to learn from your
command and respond to the queries.
It is very similar to Apple and other
VA device which can track tasks,
manage your calendar or follow your
commands etc. Cortana works on
following Microsoft devices,
including Windows phones and
operating systems. Google Assistant
a product by Google which is highly
known for its accessibility. It is easily
available on various devices like
your phone, speaker, watch, TV, or in
your car. It connects smoothly with
any device and gives an active
response. Google Assistant is
available on Google Play Store and
iTunes App store.
Last but not the least; we have Bixby
a smart virtual assistant by Samsung.
It is one of the most featured and
unique virtual assistant device used
globally. It has a unique feature that
represents your music choices and
voice commands to identify
landmarks and other visuals by
taking a photo. Bixby can translate
many foreign languages and
transform them in an easy manner. It
also recommends you about
businesses, restaurants to create
reminders and manage your
schedule. Bixby is exclusively
available on Samsung devices like
Galaxy S series and Note 9.
Role of Virtual Assistants
Followed with its overall
introduction and functionalities, the
core part that highly approachable
about virtual assistant is its features
and roles like,
1. Responsiveness: A virtual
assistant is mainly known for its
extreme responsive nature and
fundamental structure. The ultimate
role of any virtual assistant is to
follow the commands and execute
the process accordingly. In any
organization, the basic role is to
follow the commands and provide
suitable information at the earliest
like, quick response to the e-mails,
requests, and voice commands.
Virtual Future
17|May 2019

20. Planning and Organizing: Finally, planning and
organizing is another topmost virtual assistant feature. It
prominently works to track and analysis top-level view
of daily tasks and helps to create effective plans and
methods to meet business goals.
Promising Future
As we mentioned earlier, how virtual assistant is
important in our day-to-day life or in an organization
process. In businesses, the virtual assistant helps
organizations to grow fast and efficiently. Virtual
Assistants are independent experts, who work for its
users from a remote location. With specific skills, a
virtual assistant can perform multiple tasks at the same
time and work on various projects simultaneously.
Hence, a virtual assistant is becoming one of the major
parts of organizations overall process and structure for
opting better growth and their future endeavors. In
addition, it signifies importance it in our day-to-day lives
and helps us to make our daily task easier.
2. Discretion: Discretion is nothing but the quality of
behaving or speaking in such a way as to avoid causing
offense or revealing confidential information. Hence, the
virtual assistant helps individuals and organization to
avoid conflict between confidential information and
relieving information.
3.Accuracy: Accuracy is very important and essential.
Human make mistakes and it will happen but to avoid
mistakes and false we need perfect and accurate work.
Hence, virtual assistant provides accuracy that plays a
crucial role when commands are given to it for
execution.
4. Multi-tasking: Probably one of the important feature
of virtual assistant it its capability to do multiple jobs at
the same time. A virtual assistant can hold many
commands and actions with respect to multiple users and
keep them moving correctly. It benefits organization with
efficiency, good scheduling, and perfect duty.
How Virtual Assistant aids Organizations
Today, almost every organization is working on its core
competencies to grow rapidly in the market with
effective speed and market response. Hence, they are
building its capabilities with the help of a virtual
assistant which are as follows,
Email Management: A good virtual assistant will
always offer email or inbox management services.
Virtual assistant organizes various email skills such as
managing emails into manageable folders, incoming
emails notifications, prioritizing a list of senders etc.
Better virtual assistant supports organization for superior
productivity.
Marketing Responsibilities: One of the top feature of
virtual assistant, in which it handles various marketing
tasks easily, timely and precisely. There are some of the
respective tasks on which virtual assistant works such as,
website landing page, blog posts, graphic design, and
social media marketing etc. It also helps the organization
more effectively and precisely.
May 2019|18

22. In an interview with Insights Success, Faizel Lakhani,
the CEO of Guavus, provides an update on the
company, discusses how communications service
providers (CSPs) are using Guavus’AI and analytics
solutions, and shares his views on where the AI industry is
headed and specifics on how CSPs can take advantage to
expand their business and provide an improved customer
experience. Below are highlights of the interview we
conducted with Faizel:
Give a brief overview of Guavus, its uniqueness, and its
vision.
Guavus is at the forefront of artificial intelligence (AI)-
based, real-time analytics and machine learning (ML)
innovation – we’re driving digital transformation at all of
the Tier 1 mobile service operators and at 6 of the 7 world’s
largest telecommunications providers. Using our Reflex
solution, customers are able to analyze big data in real-time
and take decisive actions to lower costs, increase
efficiencies and dramatically improve their end-to-end
customer experience – all with the scale and security
required for next-gen 5G and IoT networks.
We were founded on two key values, which still guide us
today. First, we understand that our value lies not simply in
analyzing data to offer a superior interpretation of the
world, but in fact using data to change the world – that is, to
drive decisions which save money, make money or
otherwise help our customers transform how they run their
businesses. Second, our perspective has always been that
service providers’ and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
providers’ major product is the customer experience they
deliver. Therefore, the machine learning and data analytics
lens should always be with the subscriber at the center. As
simple as this sounds, the implications of this perspective
are transformative for our customers who today deal in a
world focused on network elements and aggregate traffic
flows.
Our customers’ success is our success. Deploying our
solutions is only the first step in the process towards
operational efficiencies, OPEX savings, and an improved
Net Promoter Score (NPS). We work hand-in-hand with all
key stakeholders within a customer’s business to best
understand their success criteria, what’s needed to guide
their teams in order to realize the maximum benefit, and
constantly strive to improve the user experience for
advanced analytics. We combine data and computer science
with vast domain expertise to provide a robust yet open
solution that will evolve with our customers’ business
needs, now and in the future.
Describe your company’s AI and analytics solutions and
how they’re addressing the needs of your customers
today.
We offer an AI/ML-based platform called the Guavus
Reflex Analytics Fabric that makes the development,
deployment and operation of AI/ML-based applications
simple and fast. The struggles with using analytics for
transformation are: injesting the data, wrangling the data
into a useful form, applying the analytics on the data to
result in outcomes, and operationalizing the outcomes into
the business. We’ve built a solution that simplifies the first
three and aids in the fourth. We also offer specific CSP
analytics applications for network operations, customer
care, marketing, data monetization, IoT, and security,
including:
Ÿ Live Ops: adaptive analytics to correlate, identify, and
understand subscriber-impacting events in real time and
then recommend steps to repair.
Ÿ Proactive Ops: proactively anticipate events that may
cause network problems, identify which ones will have
the biggest customer impact and take automated actions
as needed.
Ÿ Smart Care: integrates with existing customer care
systems and recommends resolutions through advanced
predictive algorithms and AI.
Ÿ Marketing Insight: dynamic customer segments can be
The
10Solution Providers 2019
Most
AI
May 2019|20

23. ‘‘
Ÿ created based on particular campaigns and targeted
offers presented in real time to increase acceptance rates.
Ÿ Smart Industry IoT: an out-of-the-box solution that
can run at the edge or in a central location to
automatically pinpoint customer behaviors and
preferences, classify asset usage, identify performance
issues and root causes, and take closed-loop actions.
Ÿ Alarm IQ: harnesses the power of AI to eliminate alarm
noise without requiring changes to NOC operator
workflows.
Where do you think AI in telecom is headed and how
can CSPs take advantage of AI and analytics in the
future?
We believe that our CSP customers are at an inflection point
with the adoption of 5G, increasing reliance on network
virtualization and introduction of AI in their operations. The
use of advanced analytics, AI and automation become
critically important as networks densify, network services
diversify, and customer experience becomes one of the
primary metrics tracked by CSPs. In order to be successful
in their digital transformation, CSPs will require:
Ÿ Turnkey use cases: solutions that address specific needs
and can be integrated quickly; most will run on a
broader company platform, but the specific use case is
paramount.
Ÿ Analytics that are real-time and predictive
Ÿ Scale and seamless integration, and must have the
ability to interactively explore their data to increase a
network analytics solution’s usefulness, as well as APIs
and other capability exposures that enable the solution
to feed into automated operations.
Ÿ Future-proofed analytics investments: analytics
solutions that demonstrate they can handle network
slicing, virtualized networks, and new service types.
About the Leader
Faizel joined the company in 2017 after decades of senior
leadership roles in telecommunications as well as enterprise
security and networking companies. Under Faizel’s
leadership, Guavus has achieved double-digit year-on-year
revenue growth, winning new business from leading CSPs
worldwide, and the company has been recognized in the
industry as a leader in the CSP segment for AI and
analytics.
Faizel has played a critical role in the integration and
partnership of Guavus and Thales – a €19 billion
aerospace, defense, transportation and digital identity and
security technology supplier that acquired Guavus in 2017
and is integrating Guavus analytics into its solutions. He
has fostered partnerships as well with Cisco and Gemalto,
and in 2018 led Guavus’ acquisition of SQLstream, a
leading provider of streaming edge analytics – enabling
Guavus to uniquely offer CSPs and IoT customers full
network edge-to-core access to real-time, cloud-enabled
streaming analytics to address their growing big
data needs.
21|May 2019

26. Blockchain:
About the Author:
Passionate and eclectic technology
expert, Gianni Minetti is the President
and CEO, Paradox Engineering SA has
about 25 years of business experience
in information and telecommunication
systems, with peculiar interests in
Internet of Things, smart technologies,
blockchain and cryptography. In 2005
he founded Paradox Engineering as
the vehicle for bringing his unique
technology vision to the market
through pioneer IoT platforms for
Smart Cities and Smart Factories. He
is currently President and CEO of the
Company, which has been part of
MinebeaMitsumi Group since July
2015. Gianni is also chair of the
Southern Alps Chapter of the Crypto
Valley Association, active investor
and advisor to several blockchain
venture projects. He is based in
Ticino, Switzerland.
The Next Opportunity for
Better, Safer, Smarter Cities
Gianni Minati
May 2019|24
Today, about 55% of the
world’s population lives in
urban areas, but this share is
expected to increase to 68% by 2050.
Combined with the overall growth of
global population, this could add
another 2.5 billion people to urban
areas by 2050, with close to 90% of
this increase taking place in Asia and
Africa, as reported by the United
Nations’ 2018 Revision of World
Urbanization Prospects.
Since the world continues to
urbanize, a wiser and far-sighted
management of urban resources is
more and more needed, especially in
low-income and lower-middle-
income countries where the pace of
urbanization is projected to be the
fastest. Smart technologies and smart

27. urban platforms can support City managers in tackling
the increasing demand for energy, infrastructures,
affordable housing, well-connected mobility systems,
healthcare and education, as well as quality of life and
jobs.
To understand how smart technologies work, we should
picture Cities as distributed communication systems,
where urban objects – think of streetlights, meters,
parking lots, waste bins, Wi-Fi hotspots, video
surveillance cameras, etc. – are not dumb, isolated
devices, but smart nodes of a citywide network. With the
Internet of Things (IoT), all these objects are injected
with intelligence and acquire the capability to receive
and transmit data and execute commands, thus enabling
remote monitoring and dynamic, adaptive control
functions.
Acquiring and correlating data from urban assets is a
significant step forward to improve quality of public
services and citizen satisfaction, reduce energy
consumption, optimize costs and simplify processes for
City operators and managers. Even more, it provides
actionable information to feed strategic decisions about
services efficiency and improvements, and take
evidence-based actions where and when needed.
Let’s apply what we’ve just described to a basic service
such as street lighting. By connecting street lamps to a
wireless IoT network, it becomes possible to turn them
on/off and adjust brightness according to daily solar
times and ambient light levels, defining variable patterns
for working and festive days, residential and industrial
districts. Sensors can be integrated to bring lights up
when human or vehicle presence is detected, and on
demand actions can be triggered in real time for single or
grouped lamps – for instance when a car accident or an
emergency requires intense lighting in a specific area.
It is proven that implementing LED lighting and an IoT
remote management and control platform can cut energy
consumption and greenhouse emissions up to 70%.
Tech Insider
25|May 2019

28. waste input and optimize waste truck
routes upon parameters like bin
status, filling levels, etc. This
increases service quality and
efficiency, and generates further
savings on fuel expenses and overall
maintenance costs. Garbage-related
data could also support the
introduction of customized fees for
household and commercial users,
thus rewarding recycling and correct
waste separation.
Coming to public government and
administration, blockchain can be
used to automate and digitalize civil
registries, as well as property, real
estate and business registries,
generating notable cost savings and
increasing quality of service.
Considering citizen participation,
blockchain-based voting platforms
can improve present, analogue
electoral systems by achieving
secure, anonymous and unique
voting in a decentralized manner.
Same platforms can be used to poll
citizens on specific urban initiatives,
making sure contributions from civil
society are recognized in Smart City
planning and development.
Blockchain technology is still in its
early days, but most experts agree it
has a potential for disruption. And
some pioneer experiences – from
Dubai to Tokyo, from New York to
Tallinn – demonstrate that benefits
for Smart Cities can really be
worthwhile.
Moreover, connected lamps can
monitor key operating parameters
and automatically report failures,
generating extra savings on
maintenance costs. Considering LED
technologies last about 50% longer
than traditional light sources, the US
Federal Department of Energy
estimated that if the entire country
converted to LED lighting over the
next 20 years, it would save a total of
USD 120 billion.
Even more interesting developments
are possible with blockchain
technology, which can make Smart
Cities far more secure, transparent,
efficient and resilient. As an original
combination of mature technological
concepts, including peer-to-peer
networks, distributed consensus
algorithms, validity rules, ledger
technologies and cryptography,
blockchain can be successfully
applied in any domain where
stakeholders’ relations are based on
trust and may be entirely
disintermediated. This is particularly
true in Cities, as they rely on
accurate, secure, authentic and
trustworthy information exchanges to
deliver services to people and
businesses.
About energy distribution, for
instance, blockchain-based metering
solutions can accelerate the adoption
of real-time differential pricing
models and encourage users to
participate to power generation by
connecting their renewable energy
microgrids to the main grid. In water
networks, blockchain technologies
enable smart contracts and validated
rules to automate water supply in the
most possible efficient manner,
minimizing leakages and tampering.
Blockchain technology can be
combined with IoT solutions to
provide better waste collection
services: it allows to accurately track
May 2019|26

30. Ensuring AI Advancement with Intelligent Storage
NGD Systems
After the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI),
the rapid change it has brought in every industry
sector is incomparable. The evolution of data
analytics is in every leading technology much like deep
learning, machine learning and blockchain. This has
developed a gap where current hardware, like SSDs, are not
equipped for performing massively parallel computation.
This computation process requires a massive level of data
management which is a mismatch between storage capacity
and the amount of memory that the central processing unit
(CPU) uses to analyze data. NGD Systems, a
Computational Storage Solution provider, has developed
the solution to this problem with the ability to add AI
execution to within their storage products.
NGD Systems build an innovative intelligent platform that
allows users to create, manage, and execute applications
within the SSD storage solutions via the company’s In-Situ
Processing. It delivers Computational Storage products
unify compute and storage in the industry’s highest
available capacity NVMe SSD with the most power
efficient product. These products are also available in the
industry’s smallest form factors for the emerging Edge
markets. This allows users to utilize core platforms in
Storage, HPC, Server, Rack and Power solutions that are
optimal for their SW and HW ecosystem. The creation of a
Computational Storage platform furthers the storage
architect’s ability to scale their Storage and Compute needs
like never before.
Advance Storage Solution
The Computational Storage platform provided by NGD
Systems allows its customers to remove the traditional
storage bottlenecks in modern AI application. The SSDs
from NGD Systems solves the customer’s needs by running
these AI applications at the storage device level. This
unique, patented, and industry-leading solution allows
augmented edge AI with limited architecture or platform
changes while still realizing significant performance and
power gains. The company’s 16TB drives provide 45%
more capacity and 45% power reduction compared to
alternative NVMe drives which means more efficient
resource use! This patented technology is ideal for
hyperscale environments, edge computing, and AI/data
analytic applications.
The NGD Systems’ Patented portfolio provides NAND
Flash Agnostic capabilities, and industry-leading capacity
scale customers need in today’s data deluge. This also
allows for the world’s highest capacity, coupled with low
power consumption in an NVMe Storage device. NGD
Systems’ proprietary QoS technology incorporates patented
algorithms to manage data and performance that maintains
5 9s latency characteristics without complicated system
changes. The Innovative architecture works with any 3D
TLC and is QLC flash ready, even when new Non-Volatile
Memories (NVM) come to market. This is enabled by a
proprietary FW and LDPC error correction engines that
allows for multiple media generations as well as new
memory.
Agile Leadership
Through countless hours of discussions with customers,
Nader Salessi, CEO and Founder of NGD Systems,
determined there was a gap in the storage market. This gap
is not addressed by ’turn-key’ SSD players and was being
grossly ignored. He gathered industry veterans and
colleagues to form NGD Systems to deliver the solution
customers were truly asking for, not what the other players
provided as their idea of what customers wanted. By
listening and delivering on this premise, the Computational
Storage market, driven by NGD Systems, is ready for
significant growth in 2019.
The
10Solution Providers 2019
Most
May 2019|28

31. ‘‘NGD Systems unites
compute and storage for
Edge AI in the highest
capacity and most power
efficient NVMe storage
solution available.
Unique and Upgraded
NGD Systems built their Newport Platform to ensure
customers did not have to re-invent their platforms, add
additional products to an already crowded market or even
force net new rack level hardware buys. By selling an ‘off
the shelf’ compatible NVMe SSD that offers compute
acceleration at the device, the barrier to entry and ease of
deployment are unmatched by other AI point solutions in
the space.
Modern Approach is the Solution
The company believes “Because the market ingests more
data than it really needs, and we cannot get access to the
results of the data mining activities fast enough with current
AI solutions, there is a need to remove data movement
bottlenecks.” By executing compute related applications
inside the storage device (In-Situ Processing), NGD offers
customers a way to remove that bottleneck and achieve near
real-time results in ways never before seen.
Evolving with Time
As technology advancement and equipment needs grow, the
world will continue to drive for more and more data
generation. The need for the tools to manage that data
continues to evolve. With a platform that offers an
unlimited and scalable model to support real-time change in
SW and HW needs, the NGD Systems solution is
positioned to ensure today and tomorrow’s success in
managing that data at scale. The ability to ‘re-purpose’ and
turn the compute resources on and off at the end customer
provide the flexibility that ensure growth and adaptability.
Testimonials
“NGD Systems solution has been able to solve a problem
we identified over 5 years ago in a way that could never
before be accomplished.” Researcher at Microsoft “This
solution provided the exact right path to close our issue
without significant re-design or deployment costs”.
“The ability to realize the need for compute at the Edge,
related to AI or not, cannot be found in another solution.”
Sr. Dir, Server OEM “Their products offered the perfect
balance of capacity, form factor, and power, along with
compute offload, that makes our Edge deployment truly
innovative and leading edge for our customers”.
— Nader Salessi,
CEO Founder
NGD Systems
29|May 2019

32. HOW TO DO YOUR
BEST WORK WHEN
YOU'RE NOT
ACTUALLY WORKING!
In my role as chief evangeliser for OLIO – the
world’s only neighbour-to-neighbour food sharing
app – I speak about our work and journey at a lot of
events. And without fail I’m almost always asked
something along the lines of “How do you juggle
having a family with a start-up?” Whilst this is an
extremely valid question – and it touches on a topic
that’s very close to my heart, it really frustrates me
because I never hear the same question levelled at male
peers. As a result, this seemingly innocuous question is
laden with an enormous amount of gender bias,
generally to the exclusion of men. I would suggest that
if we want to achieve a fulfilled balanced life for all –
male and female – we have to ensure that we’re all
participating in this debate about work/life balance, and
that inclusivity needs to be the starting point.
Another challenge in this area is, funnily enough,
the gender bias experienced by men who choose to
be the “stay at home Dad”! Several years ago my
husband and I decided that given our respective
career paths and motivations in life, it made
sense for me to be the “bread winner” and for
him to look after our two kids and home,
whilst developing property in his remaining
time. This has given me the flexibility to
pursue the opportunities for OLIO with full
vigour, and has been absolutely invaluable in
terms of helping me to achieve a balanced
life. However, sadly, my husband
experiences more than the occasional
disparaging passing comment and has even
been asked “When are you going to get a
proper job?” Thankfully he has no self-
Tessa Clarke
Co-Founder CEO
OLIO
Maintaining a personal and professional life balance
May 2019|30

33. esteem issues, and thinks he has the best job in the world!
But I highly doubt that in this day and age anyone would
ever dare say this to a woman; and so why to a man? If
women are to be truly equal in the workplace – and to
achieve a balanced life, then we need to adjust our
perceptions of what it means to be a male in a modern
society, and accept that this will require men to taking on an
increasingly prominent role in the delivery of childcare –
which is to the benefit of all involved, not least the children!
Gender issues aside, I spend a considerable amount of
mental energy working towards achieving a ‘balanced life’.
I prefer the terminology of a ‘balanced life’ rather than
‘work/life balance’, because when you’re an entrepreneur
(and especially an entrepreneur working from home), the
two can become very mixed! And to suggest that ‘work’
and ‘life’ are the antithesis of one another surely isn’t what
we should aspire to. In the very early days of setting up
OLIO, it was pretty much impossible to lead a balanced life
because we had to achieve so much, in so little time, and
with virtually no resources. As we’ve grown the business
and the team however, both Saasha my Co-Founder and I
have achieved a much more balanced life – which is
important, because the start-up journey is a series of
marathons, not a sprint, and so it’s essential to avoid
burnout. We find that working predominantly from home is
extremely helpful in achieving balance (5-10 hours per
week gained back through not having to commute!), and we
both carve out time during our working days to exercise. In
the early days we used to feel quite guilty about exercising
when we ‘should’ be working, but now we recognise that if
we’re to perform at our best then we need to be mentally
and physically fit and exercise is absolutely critical for this.
Plus, I find that I have many of my best insights and
inspirations for OLIO when working out, so it really is
killing two birds with one stone!
As well as working towards a balanced life for ourselves,
we’ve really baked this into the DNA of the company too.
And this has manifested itself in a couple of important
company policies. The first is our holiday policy – we have
no cap on the number of day’s holiday an employee can
take; however we do have a minimum and insist that
everybody has at least 20 days off. This is because we saw
research from other companies who had adopted a limitless
holidays policy, and it actually showed that the number of
days worked by employees increased, not decreased! We
also think it’s really important for the team to have a
collective break over the Christmas holidays so everyone
can really relax, confident in the knowledge that their email
inbox isn’t rapidly filling up! We also ensure that in every
employee’s induction, we talk about the importance of a
balanced life, and in our line manager training, we stress
that the line manager is responsible for working with their
direct reports to ensure that they are achieving a balanced
life. What this means is that on a day to day basis our team
chat will often show someone walking the dog at mid-day,
someone else with their kids at 3pm and others heading off
to swim or yoga. Each team member is responsible for
ensuring that their work is done, according to whatever
schedule best suits them, and as a result, we have an
incredibly motivated and productive team, the majority of
who say that working for OLIO is the best job they’ve ever
had! If you aren’t already talking about how you can
achieve a balanced life as individuals and as a company,
then I can highly recommend spending some time on it, as
the rewards will be enormous!
Tessa Clarke is the Co-Founder and CEO
of OLIO, a free app tackling the problem
of food waste by connecting neighbours
with each other, and volunteers with
local businesses, so that surplus food can
be shared, not thrown away. Since its
inception in 2016, 850,000 people have
joined OLIO and have together shared
over 1.2 million portions of food.
OLIO also publishes
ZeroWasteWeekly.com, a website and
newsletter that aggregates all the best
zero waste news from around the world.
Prior to founding OLIO, Tessa spent 10
years as a digital Managing Director in
the media, retail and nancial services
sectors, and gained her MBA from
Stanford. Tessa is passionate about the
sharing economy as a solution for a
sustainable world, and is equally
passionate about the importance of
leading a ‘balanced life’.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Expert’s Column
31|May 2019

34. AI
n the recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has
Itransformed various industries and helped to perform
better and achieve success in their respective arena. An
ideal amalgamation of human intelligence and machines has
proven that it can create wonders in the businesses. This
attachment of human intellect with the machine assists
businesses, to automate their day-to-day activities, to
understand customer behaviors, to decrease work
expendituresandtocreateoccurrenceson anindividuallevel.
Therefore, business individuals need to keep a close eye on
the latest developments occurring in AI industry. This
information can be vital as they can utilizeAI in areas where it
cancreateprofit for them.
There are various industries that are already utilizing AI in
their respective business functions and are getting benefited.
Following are some of the leading industries that have utilized
AI asaninstrumenttooptimizetheiroperations:
1. Healthcare
Healthcare sector has shown a positive response to assimilate
AI in its field. That is the reason; Healthcare has received
enormous funding to develop and execute AI. The modern
day machine intelligence is assisting healthcare sector to
examine medical data extracted from X-rays, CT scans and
variousothertests.
Segregation of this information is important as doctors go
through the patient's history to check and diagnose illness.
Healthcare experts are dependent on their years of experience
and prefabricated algorithms to acknowledge the symptoms
of an illness. However, sometimes they overlook and make
mistakes unconsciously. A BBC report titled 'AI Early
Diagnosis Could Save Heart and Cancer Patient' stated that
Moving Towards
Transformation of Industries
May 2019|32

35. nearly 20% of experienced doctors make mistakes while
diagnosing patient's illness. Therefore, this arduous as well as
dauntingtaskis certainlymadeeasierbyAI.
There are famous examples of utilization of AI in healthcare
sector. The Babylon AI doctor app avails speech recognition
to interact with patients cross-examines carefully against its
database and provides necessary treatment. Another
interesting healthcare AI, Molly by Sense.ly -virtual nurse
app- links patients to scientific recommendations and help,
with the assistance of proprietary categorization engine pays
attention to the patients and replies appropriate response to
them. Microsoft's Hanover project utilizes machine
comprehension with natural language processing to forecast
productivecancerdrugcompatibletothepatient.
2.Automobile and Logistics
Automobile industry is witnessing crucial shifts such as
autonomous driving, connectivity, electrification and divided
mobility. It is anticipated that the automobile industry will
experience rise in economic growth by shifting from
conventional to disruptive technologies and unconventional
business models.
On October 14 2015, Tesla announced that it is going to
launch an autopilot car i.e. a car with self-driving capability.
The car is expected to drive itself from coast-to-coast with the
help of autonomous navigation. Other car makers are aiming
to implant AI services like Amazon's Alexa. This will
authorize passengers to self-command car technologies with
thehelpof naturallanguagevoiceorders.
German premium car maker Mercedes-Benz has deployed
voice command personal assistant in CES show 2018 held in
Las Vegas. Its arch business rival BMW followed the
footsteps and decided to adoptAlexa and its assimilation into
its handpicked BMW and mini automobiles. KIA Motors has
also proclaimed that it is thinking about assimilating Google
assistantinitscars.
It is the need of the hour for any business to perform better in
its services and increase profit as much as possible. It is
expected that machine learning (ML) will empower systems
to an extent that they will comprehend the data and utilize it to
increase their performance. This is where AI comes into the
picture. The association between AI and ML can create
wonders inlogistics,wheretimeis aparamountentity.
The logistics sector gathers extensive data from diverse
sources such as websites, smartphones and various telematics
tools. Predictive analytics not only rearranges delivery
schedule but also predicts subsequent orders which gives
logistics sector an advantage to utilize its resources
effectively.
Infrastructure Transformation
33|May 2019

36. Interestingly, AI does not stop there. It assists in semi-
autonomous driver assistance, autonomous fleets for ride
sharing, engine overseer and forecasting maintenance for
automobiles.
Also,AI has been assisting logistics sector to construct supply
chains beforehand with the help of advanced systems. This
computer assistance in automobiles delivers goods in the
efficient manner which is essential for the success of a
logistics company. The forecasting helps logistics to avoid
disastrous calamities such as difficult weather situations,
trafficdelaysandmanyunexpectedoccurrences.
3. MarketingandAdvertising
Marketing sector has changed drastically over the years.
Customers anticipate for a personal experience and it is the
need of the hour for marketing sector to change itself and
adjust accordingly. They are required to leave the
conventional methods of marketing and concentrate on
enhancing their communication, execute demands as well as
aspiration. This adaptation of AI is vital for marketing sector
as reluctance to implement this new technology can lead to
loss of business for thecompany.
AI assists marketers to find and forecast customer attitudes.
This precious information allows marketers to carry out
impactful keywords and communicate with consumers on a
more personal level. Moreover, chatbots also help to execute
this communication in a less expensive, effective and in a
persistentway.
On top of it, AI generates ideas which are subdivided into
many sub ideas. This way the risk of catering a sole idea is
eliminated and various ideas can be catered according to
customers and their preferences. Brands have started to
acclimatize on this useful technology and are focusing on
selected customers. Startups have also begun to applyAI with
the help of AI automated personalization and compelling
videocontent.
4.VirtualAssistant
A Virtual Assistant can help you to handle smart home
devices. This feature will allow you to administer door locks,
lights, appliances and many smart home devices. There are
Virtual Assistants available in the market, which show the
capacity to function as an intercom. A user needs to place
VirtualAssistants in every room to communicate with others.
Amazon Echo's 'Drop In' feature enables users to interact with
eachotherfromdifferentrooms.
Users can also utilize VirtualAssistants to shut down and start
TV sets on compatible television models. In addition, a
Virtual Assistant in the kitchen can also be utilized to handle
kitchenmachines.
Virtual Assistants such as Amazon Echo as well as Google
Home incorporates 'Routines' attributes which allow these
Virtual Assistants to carry out many tasks on a single
command given by the user. This means a user can create a
'Routine' command which will instruct theVirtualAssistant to
startmultipletasks itsupposed toexecute.
Industries are constantly trying to update themselves by
adapting new technologies. AI is transforming industries and
helping them to grow their businesses. It is going to advance
into more sectors. It will help human beings to operate risky
tasks, decode universal issues and take care of various human
tasks. We can definitely anticipate a future where AI will be
thenew normal.
May 2019|34

38. Delivering Comprehensive Solutions for Energy Management
Solvera Lynx
Energy management is no longer an engineering
issue, but a question of infrastructure which is based
on information and communications technologies.
In order to improve operational processes and energy
efficiency, companies need to invest in energy management.
The ultimate success depends on the ability of system and
devices to securely and reliably interconnect via a network,
believes Solvera Lynx and thus, provides innovative and
comprehensive solutions for smart energy management
(EM).
Solvera Lynx combines interdisciplinary knowledge in
energy, information, and economy and introduces modern
information technology and advanced energy services to the
demanding technical fields of energy, industry, and
transport.
Holistic Approach
Solvera Lynx provides a cost-effective package of
integrated software and hardware that guarantees a
complete overview of its customers’ energy consumption.
Implementation of its solutions allows companies to
accomplish primary EM goals including holistic monitoring
of energy efficiency performance and reduction of energy
consumption.
A wide range of business applications can benefit from
Solvera Lynx’s solutions which include Energy Utilities,
Telecom, Oil and Gas, Factories, Building and Facilities,
Industry, Agriculture, Smart City, Transport, and Logistics.
The company has already provided tailor-made solutions
for the projects including smart metering (electricity, gas,
water, air renewable energy), volume monitoring (fuel
tanks/containers), different types of analyses (air quality,
temperature, humidity), tracking/localization, and machine
status monitoring.
Comprehensive Solutions with Multi Benefits
Introduction of new energy management system and usage
of Solvera Lynx’s innovative software (GemaLogic®) and
®
hardware (ComBox.L ) solutions brings the following
benefits to its customers:-
Holistic control over energy use-
Ø Digitalization of energy data
Ø Consolidation of all energy data in one place, no
switching between systems
Ø Establishment of a benchmarking process insights
into energy consumption (energy efficiency KPIs)
Ø Quick identification of areas for improvement
Lower energy consumption by up to 7%-
Ø Reduction of energy consumption through monitoring
and analysis detecting problematic areas that can be
improved with minimal or no capital investment
Ø Transparency of energy saving actions
Ø Detecting leakages
Lower energy costs-
Ø Reduced energy use = reduced energy bill
Ø A tax refund / financial aid in the form EBRD credit or
development schemes
Ø Cutting down on maintenance costs due to reduced
stress on systems
Ø Introduction of energy alerts and shortened reaction
time in the event of a malfunction
Ecology -
Ø Reduced energy consumption
Ø Reduced carbon footprint
Compliance with the latest energy management standards-
Ø Obtaining the ISO50001 certificate - a recognized
The
10Solution Providers 2019
Most
May 2019|36

39. ‘‘By controlling energy use, we
help some of the most
important companies in the
fields of energy,
manufacturing, infrastructure
and transport.
Ø international standard that helps companies to improve
corporate image and credibility among their customers,
clients, and stakeholders
An Ardent Marketer
Solvera Lynx has interdisciplinary team of experts from
various streams. Among that team, one of its core members
is its Sales Director, Klemen Logar. Klemen is an ardent
marketer and passionate about sales and marketing, as it
brings new challenges to him on daily basis. He believes
that every account is different and therefore, thinking out of
the box is crucial for success. This drives him forward to go
an extra mile to help customers grow their business and
profitability.
Klemen carries ability to establish credibility with decision
makers through his consulting approach. This in turn
enables him to assist companies from various fields to
accomplish primary energy management goals.
Staying ahead in the Competition
Solvera Lynx delivers end-to- end solutions for holistic
energy management with advanced software hardware.
The company develops its software and hardware solution
in-house, and thus, it is ready for almost any EM challenge,
which requires custom-made, unique, future-oriented
solutions. It has an interdisciplinary Energy Management
team of experts (IT, ICT, energy management) with 17
year+ experience and professional energy management
certification.
In addition, Solvera Lynx also holds the certifications of
TÜV SÜD, ISO, LoRaWAN, which exemplifies its
qualitative approach. Besides these, the company has the
real experience of working in the hardest industrial
environments which include inhospitable, with high
moisture rate, extreme temperature conditions and far-
spread production areas where LoRaWAN communication
is the only suitable alternative to the classical wired system
or 3G/4G networks.
Satisfied Clienteles
“Solvera Lynx has helped us to join the top 10 % most
energy-efficient cement factories in Europe. Our company
wanted to understand into details the energy flow through
the company and we were looking for a system to handle
energy consumption data automatically. After 16 months of
good operations, we are highly satisfied with our choice”,
Salonit is now able to monitor its energy efficiency
performance. The good thing is that we now have a reliable
picture of energy consumption which is shared throughout
the organization. We plan to reduce our energy consumption
in the long run.”- Magda Gabrijelcic, Energy Manager in
Salonit Anhovo Company
“By using the GemaLogic energy management system here
at BTC d.d., we are able to track the consumption of
different energy sources in all our objects from a single
reading point in a simple and easy-to-use way. The system
is an excellent tool for monitoring the data, setting alarms
and enables us to use energy effectively and cut energy
costs.”- Tomaž Damjan, BTC Company
— Klemen Logar
Sales Director
Solvera Lynx
37|May 2019

42. Fostering a Risk-based
Company Culture
In the see-through economy, the impact that new
technologies like social media can have on a
company’s reputation has empowered customers to
demand transparency and accountability from businesses
and other organizations. A recent study showed 81% of
consumers would switch brands for ethical, social, or
environmental reasons. This shift means PR departments
can no longer control an organization’s image.
It’s essential that everyone, not just risk managers,
assimilate risk awareness into their job descriptions. That
said, there are many factors that contribute to a healthy,
risk-managing culture.
One of those factors is support from below; be it front-line
employees or operational managers. I often stress that
“front-line” employees (who are responsible for everyday
activities) are a vital yet often overlooked resource for risk
identification. A healthy company culture benefits from
bottom-up involvement as well as top-down support.
A risk-based company culture builds value through its
ability to achieve both top-down and bottom-up objectives.
This eliminates any misalignments between leadership’s
goals and the knowledge of front-line employees, which is
the primary cause of wasted resources, missed
opportunities, and compliance problems. Without a
connected approach, information lacks operational context
and is inevitably segmented and looked at in silos, rather
than holistically.
For example, almost every department has some type of
incident management capability, but most incidents are
cross-functional in nature. This makes it difficult to resolve
incidents where one department’s or group’s activities have
upstream or downstream impacts, which are often
unknown. This collateral damage is avoidable through
enterprise risk management and is the way 100% of
scandals waiting to happen are prevented.
Any effective risk-based company culture is set by the
“tone from the top.” Support from leadership teams makes
it easier to engage front-line managers by providing context
on how risks connect to strategic goals, as information
moves across the organization. When information is pushed
back up the chain, new insights from individuals in
governance and operational roles are included. Providing
this context ensures information is actionable, useful and
understandable to everyone, including senior management.
To develop a risk-based company culture, companies
should implement connected information collection and
reporting systems. If you do not have ways to initiate a task
that can be reassigned to the right individuals through pre-
determined workflows,you’re not able to ensure it gets
addressed in the appropriate manner, or measure your
progress against. The goal is to make it easier for different
levels and silos in an organization to also escalate
information appropriately, which encourages collaboration
with fewer meetings.
May 2019|40

43. Steven Minsky
CEO
LogicManager
Expert’s Insights
41|May 2019

44. Efficiency is created when these tasks are “risk-rated;”
meaning prioritized on a common scale across levels and
silos to determine which risks should get attention and
follow-up first.
These connections make it possible for leadership groups to
pull the information they need directly from front-line
employees, and avoid blame for mistakes, negligence, and
missed opportunities call these types of results surprises,
and in business, all surprises are bad. A company’s best bet
is to ensure quality information is delivered to the right
people, at the right time, and with the proper context.
A Risk-Based Approach Adds Value
Many CEOs and board members have expressed concern
that placing so much emphasis on implementing and
sustaining a risk-based culture may increase costs or
existing staff burdens.
In reality, organizations with sustainable, risk-based
cultures (and effective risk management programs) have
been proven to experience a 25% increase in market value
on average, when compared to businesses competitors
without mature ERM programs.
A risk-based company culture shouldn’t stifle anything.
Rather, risk-based concepts like regular risk assessments
should enable innovation as they can better align a
company’s goals to its risk management processes and
overall culture. Regular risk assessments enable innovation
because key risks are identified proactively, allowing them
to be properly mitigated. This results in more streamlined
processes and better use of resources.
There is a simple way to measure a company’s focus on its
risk-based culture. Look up the customer complaints,
budget variances, revenue goal achievement, stock price
fluctuations, customer satisfaction reports, health and safety
records, qualified audit reports, and regulatory inquiries.
Customer satisfaction and investor returns are higher when
a company performs well across these categories and
emphasizes the measurement of its risk culture.
Steven Minsky is the CEO
of LogicManager and
author of the RIMS Risk
Maturity Model. Steven is a
patent author of risk and
process management
technology. He has 30 years
of business and technology
experience. Prior to
LogicManager, he
co-founded RulesPower. He
holds MBA and MA degrees
from the University of
Pennsylvania’s Wharton
School of Business and The
Joseph H. Lauder Institute
of International
Management.
About the Author
May 2019|42