CIOLook presents, Best Performing SCM Companies in 2019, which are enhancing business processes in the fast growing business world with advance SCM services

1. www.ciolook.com
ElemicaA PIONEER IN SUPPLY CHAIN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Rich Katz
President
Drive dynamic interactions
between your business
and partners.
October 2019
Industry Insights
Innovation Management
An Integral Part of the Business
Chalk - Talk
Digital Marketing
Programming the Human Life
Executive Voice
The Significance &
Vitality of a Leader

4. Supplying Everything
Everywhere!
he business landscape is getting large everyday; small
Tbusinesses are moving for global approach whereas
established businesses are competing to strengthen
their consumer base. To transform small to big and big to
large businesses have to monitor every minor and major
change which can affect their process. There are many
factors which affect business process but globalization,
outsourcing, competition, technology advancement and
price pressure are primary one. These factors are forcing
businesses to evaluate their whole process related to every
area but the major one is supply chain. From
manufacturing, distribution, materials, invoicing and
returns have all been significantly impacted by the
increased integration of a global customer. Companies and
supplier base find that current processes and technology
are not competent enough for this new business
environment.
Nowadays, business expansion is became necessity where
a company’s supply chain management system is not
limited by the geographical region of a particular area or
nation but addresses a company’s global operations. The
desire to supply and establish product line is the driving
force that makes a company to expand and start global
operation.
However, to have effective supply chain management is
critical as it has to be low-budget, flexible, and efficient way
of doing business. The starting of process from acquiring
raw materials to the distribution of the finished product
should be in budget. The SCM system should operate in
way that it cash profit not only for the parent company but
for also each trader so that the entire chain works in a
coherent and seamless manner.
EDITOR’S NOTE

5. CIOLook presents you, Best Performing SCM Companies in 2019, which are enhancing business
processes in this fast growing business world with their advance SCM services and optimal
solutions.
The cover is featuring Elemica- It’s Digital Supply Network (DSN) gives clients control over their
global supply chains. The network enables process manufacturers and their trading partners to
connect efficiently and securely; automate their buy, sell, move transactions while managing
product quality; anticipate demand and reduce the risk of uncertainties. It continually enhances
how its network captures customers, buyers, suppliers, and logistics providers data irrespective of
the format it was transmitted. The Elemica network is based on Cloud technologies to help
manufacturers, customers, suppliers, and logistics service providers to connect efficiently and
securely. The innovative network automates their buy, sell, and move transactions for their
products throughout the supply chain while managing product quality.
Also, while flipping the pages, don’t forget to go through the articles and CXOs written by our
in-house editorial team and industry experts respectively.
Enjoy the read....!
“Effective Supply Chain is the Backbone of
Successful Business”.
Rohit Chaturvedi
SCMCompanies in 2019
Best Performing

6. A Pioneer In Supply Chain
Digital Transformation
Elemica
08
Cover Story
Industry Insights
Innovation Management
An Integral Part of the Business
24
Chalk - Talk
Digital Marketing
Programming the Human Life
32
Executive Voice
40
Articles
The Significance &
Vitality of a Leader

7. CONTENTS
4216
Muggie van Staden
Open Source Trends To
Watch For 2019
16
Preksha Kaparwan
The Fuss about AI
42
CHAINSEQUENCE INC.
A Promising Tech Solution
Provider
26
Arviem AG
Impacting Supply-Chains
with Innovative Services
18
NiceLabel
Streamlining Business Process
through Digital Transformation
34
2618 34

9. CONTENT
Senior Editor Alan Swann
Managing Editor Bhushan Ghate
Executive Editors Sourabh More
Alex Spellman
DESIGN
Visualizer Dave Bates
Art & Design Director Kushagra Gupta
Associate Designer Kartik Balapurkar
SALES
Senior Sales Manager Kshitij S.
Customer Success Manager Jack Ryan
Sales Executives John, Kane, Prashant
TECHNICAL
Technical Head Aditya K.
Technical Consultant Victor Collins
November, 2019
k.roy@ciolook.com
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10. A PIONEER IN SUPPLY CHAIN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
“DRIVE DYNAMIC INTERACTIONS BETWEEN
YOUR BUSINESS AND PARTNERS.

11. COVER STORY
Rich Katz
President

12. GO
DIGITAL.
TRANSFORM
‘‘

13. exception-based management to world events and
applies them to supply chains to understand others
or locations impacted.
How do your services differ from the other companies
offerings?
Elemica continually enhances how its network captures
customers, buyers, suppliers, and logistics providers
data irrespective of the format it was transmitted. The
data coming in from disparate sources and different
channels are converted into a unique common
structure. The Elemica DSN then "cleans" this data by
standardizing the format. The network then digitally
links the data using proprietary technology on the
Elemica cloud-based platform. This final aspect of the
data requirement leaves every competitor behind.
This cleansed and now linked data is sent back into our
clients' systems through APIs for logistics, customer
service, and procurement. The data also interoperates
with third-party data, such as weather or risk
information to enrich analytics for more informed
predictions, such as what can happen if a port is closed.
The data is enabled by machine learning capabilities
that ultimately provides holistic decision-making
capabilities and enables customer concentricity to
maximize the value for all supply chain trading
partners.
Unlike our competitors, we also offer the Elemica
Quality Management solution. This aligns Total Quality
Management (TQM) rigor deployed within the
manufacturing process to the extended supply chain. It
improves product and process quality with suppliers,
customers, and logistics providers for supply chain
compliance, track, and trace.
Describe in detail about the work culture and the
values that drive your company.
The Elemica work culture drives innovation into its
solutions by being obsessively attentive and agile to
client and market needs. As a result of culture, our
approach means venturing out where others have not,
encouraging team members to take measured risk, and
instead of punishing mistakes, use them as a learning
experience for all members of the team.
What marketing activities do you implement to reach
out to your potential customers?
Elemica uses public relations, social media, a dynamic
website, and targeted online and offline digital
I
n an interview with CIO Look, Elemica emphasizes
digital transformation of supply chain processes
with more efficient and predictive networks using
their leading Digital Supply Network for Process
Manufacturers. Led by Rich Katz, the President, the
company has achieved many milestones on its way to
success.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
What led to the inception of the company?
Elemica was established in 2000 by the world's largest
chemical companies who wanted a neutral place to
seamlessly unite supply chains and automate the inter-
business processes for the products they were buying,
selling, moving, and managing the quality between one
other.
Describe your company and its cutting-edge solutions
which address all the needs of your customers.
Elemica's Digital Supply Network (DSN) gives clients
control over their global supply chains. The network
enables process manufacturers and their trading
partners to connect efficiently and securely; automate
their buy, sell, move transactions while managing
product quality; anticipate demand and reduce the risk
of uncertainties.
In conjunction with the network, Elemica offers supply
chain solutions that enhance specific objectives:
Ÿ Elemica Buy: Leverages benefits of digital procure-
to-pay process automation to build collaborative
supplier relationships, so products arrive at the right
place at the right time, driving ideal balances of
inventory, and service levels.
Ÿ Elemica Sell: Increases customer satisfaction by
automating the order capture in an omnichannel
approach and providing visibility from customer
order through invoice/payment.
Ÿ Elemica Move: Digitizes the inbound and outbound
shipment processes and data with a network of
carriers, forwarders, terminal operators, warehouse
providers, and logistics service providers for quality
and execution data and management.
Ÿ Elemica Quality: Aligns supply chain quality
objectives with suppliers, customers, and
manufacturing to achieve visibility, higher quality,
improved traceability, and compliance.
Ÿ Elemica See: Provides real-time monitoring and

14. marketing activities to deliver account and role-based
engaging content to potential clients. Elemica also
participates in webinars, conferences, and industry
trade shows.
As per the company, what is the significance of digital
transformation in an organization?
To succeed in the process industry, leaders realize that
the digital transformation of the supply chain is a
journey, not an instantaneous fix. Digital
transformation helps companies achieve operational
excellence and sets them apart from the competition. A
proven Digital Supply Network is part of the digital
transformation journey, providing the tools to connect
partners, automate the inter-business processes,
anticipate and react to risks and markets quicker
through better visibility, and enable the business to
transform and adopt new business models.
What technologies are you leveraging to make your
solutions resourceful?
The Elemica network is based on Cloud technologies to
help manufacturers, customers, suppliers, and logistics
service providers to connect efficiently and securely.
The innovative network automates their buy, sell, and
move transactions for their products throughout the
supply chain while managing product quality.
The network is based on smart contract rules that run a
consistent canonical model that is also completely API-
driven. With this base, rationalization of business
processes is modeled to take advantage of machine
learning and blockchain quite easily. The result is end-
to-end supply chain collaboration based on all parties
speaking the same language.
Elemica integrates with the Internet of Things (IoT),
capturing data from transactions, devices, sensors, and
third-party networks. To derive meaning from the data,
the data is cleaned, then digitally linked using
proprietary technology on Elemica's cloud-based
platform.
Elemica has implemented blockchain with clients to
address specific use cases for the supply chain industry.
The blockchain allows third parties to leverage the
technology to build, host, and use their blockchain
applications, smart contracts, and functions on the
blockchain, which benefits all users of the Elemica
network.
Being the world's leading digital
supply network, what is your contribution
to the digital evolution of the supply chain?
Elemica's Digital Supply Network for the past 20 years
is a core part of the Digital Transformation journey,
providing a technology foundation for improving inter-
business processes and expanding supply chain
relationships. The Digital Supply Network has created
more exceptional opportunities by integrating client's
suppliers, customers, and logistics service providers in
more cost-effective and efficient methods over time,
depending on the level of business activity.
What are your company's future aspirations? What
strategies are you undertaking to achieve those goals?
Elemica plans to continually add functionality to the
network and its supply chain solutions. Next-
generation technologies like blockchain, machine
learning, IoT, and others are being tested, implemented,
and integrated into the network and Elemica offerings.
The company is working on Networks with other
vendors to expand its reach.
Give a detailed description of the featured person's
influence over the company and the industry
Rich Katz has been with Elemica for over 16 years in
roles as President, Chief Technology Officer, Senior
Vice-President of Product Management, and Vice-
President of Research and Development. Rich is
responsible for setting the overall direction of Elemica's
Technology Roadmap, Market Positioning, and
oversees Corporate and Product Marketing.
Elemica accelerates digital
transformation by connecting,
automating, anticipating, and
transforming inter-business
supply chain processes for the
products clients buy, sell, move,
and comply with.

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18. 16
| November2018 |

19. Obsidian Systems is an established
supplier of Open Source software
solutions. The company was started in
1995 as a services provider targeting
businesses and organizations looking to
integrate and leverage off Linux
infrastructure. Obsidian Systems has
expanded its knowledge base in
partnership with subsidiaries Cape Town
based Autumn Leaf and GuruHut.
The expansion of skills is now a
formidable team with Java™ expertise
aligning our Enterprise Open Source
solution for retail,supporting technology
and consulting services across enterprise-
ready open source infrastructure,big data,
collaboration and agile IT strategies for
your business. Obsidian Systems and its
subsidiaries strive to bring three legs to
the South African market: the first being
vendor-certified products,the second
bein g local skills providing consulting,
development and support and the third
being vendor-certified training and
certification. With these three elements,
any organization can trust the enterprise
open source solution provided.
ollowing several mergers and acquisition this
Fyear, 2019 will see open source investments
starting to pay even more dividends. Given how it
has become the driving force behind much of the
world’s cloud-based systems, companies need to keep a
close eye on the open source trends that could impact
their strategies for the months to come.
With deals such as Microsoft and Github as well IBM
and Red Hat, this open source-driven environment will
see organizations in a position to take the best aspects
of these businesses and come up with something truly
great. Thanks to the growth of the Internet of Things
(IoT) and the resultant explosion in data points,
companies understand that they need the resources of
cloud-based systems to extract the most relevant
insights.
The days of relying exclusively on proprietary solutions
to do this are long gone. Open standards have become
part of the approach many organizations take towards
implementing technology innovation. And those that
have not done so yet, will soon follow as they seek to
find relevance in an increasingly digital (and connected)
world.
This will also likely impact the cost of solutions. Using
open standards is resulting in products being developed
faster as data is analyzed in virtually real-time.
Understand what customers want and providing the
customization to do so, have become integral to the
operating environment today. And the secret to this
must be the open source foundation on which this is
built.
Local changes
The imminent arrival of several international data
centers in South Africa (two from Microsoft and one
from Amazon Web Services) will have a significant
positive impact on the local market. This not only shows
those skeptical of the cloud that investments are being
made, but, more importantly, South Africa is viewed as
a platform for growth into the rest of the continent
when it comes to the cloud (and open source).
The evolving landscape is seeing business requirements
also shifting. Next year will see a veritable land rush for
position in the cloud environment. More C-suite
decision-makers are open to going, well, open, and
vendors and service providers are clamoring for market
position.
Providing even more impetus for this is the recent
launch of what many consider to be South Africa’s first
truly digital bank. Focusing on ‘behavioral’ banking, all
its systems are cloud-based highlighting the security,
availability, and redundancy of going this route.
Moreover, it is built on open standards all but giving the
death knell to those who think proprietary is still the
preferred method of doing business.
Next year will be an intriguing one to see where the
cloud and the open standards approach will be heading.
Strap in and enjoy the ride.
t i ian te
Muggie van Staden
17
| November2018 |

20. loud computing and software programs have
Csignificantly improved product tracking, with real-time
updates on the movement of goods globally. It allows
business firms to adjust production schedules and inventory
levels on a real-time basis. Such systems are being used for
diverse management functions like inventory management or
transportation management and they are ensuring the
elimination of blind spots and inefficiencies. One such cloud-
based platform is Arviem AG. The company solves the
challenges of obtaining visible and intelligent trade by offering
real-time end-to-end cargo monitoring services.
Arviem provides visibility and insights into the flow of goods
and finances within the supply chain, enabling supply chain,
logistics, security, and finance professionals to have a real-time,
holistic overview of the movement of their assets. The
company is offering a full, carefree service to customers that
allow them to track all their global shipments, regardless of the
transportation mode or the logistics service provider, on one
single platform.
Below is their story,
Seeing the inefficiencies in global supply chains, the arising
security issues after 9/11 and the lack of visibility and control
supply chain professionals had over the movement of goods
globally, Arviem realized that with the emerging new
technologies it is possible to improve the status quo and bring
transparency into how supply chains operate. The company
aspires to become a ’one-stop-shop’ for services when it comes
to optimizing various aspects of the supply chain, whether it is
Arviem AGImpacting Supply-Chains with Innovative Services
18
| November2018 |

21. Stefan Reidy
CEO &Founder
19
| November2018 |

22. about inventory management, working capital, carbon
footprint, or demurrage and logistics costs.
Arviem offers’ IoT enabled supply chain visibility
services by monitoring the location and condition of
goods in transit in real-time with sophisticated sensor
devices. Besides real-time event notifications and
alerts, supply chain professionals can also rely on
Arviem’s cargo monitoring platform to manage their
goods in transit. While the company’s IoT based
services help clients to digitalize parts of their supply
chain without the need for investigating into new
technologies, hardware or staff, Arviem’s scalable, pay-
per-use service offers a possibility of a quick ROI by
reducing costs and enhancing efficiency. With this
service, customers can monitor their shipments with
ease, reap the benefits of the gathered data while
Arviem takes care of all the rest.
The company sets itself apart from the competition by
being the only provider of supply chain visibility as a
hassle-free service.
It aims at implementing supply chain visibility and cargo
monitoring services as easy as possible. Having the
collected cargo monitoring data in the core of Arviem’s
new service offering, the company has already
developed new services that rely on the data hidden in
supply chains. The company makes sure that the
customer has the right amount of monitoring devices at
the right time and the right location of the shipment,
from the start till the shipment has reached its
destination.
To demonstrate, the company’s carbon footprint
reporting and emissions monitoring solution reveals
where carbon emissions are concentrated in the clients’
supply chain. Clients can leverage the collected data
when making key business decisions with regards to the
supply chain; such as, how to reduce energy use and
how to lower the carbon footprint of logistics
operations. With the aggregated data, supply chain and
logistics managers can develop less intensive supply
models to reduce the energy consumption of the supply
chain and lower the company’s carbon footprint.
20
| November2018 |

23. Stefan Reidy is the CEO and Founder of Arviem, he is a
supply chain enthusiast, and a visionary. Stefan has over
20 years of experience with innovative technologies &
business models in the supply chain, which he gathered
both by working for corporations and in the startup
environment. Before founding Arviem, he was
responsible for IBM’s Secure Trade Lane Solution,
developing innovative solutions to improve security in
international trade. Stefan’s passion and industry
expertise have been important for Arviem’s
development ever since. He often shares his knowledge
with university students professionals periodically at
various events.
Arviem’s goal is to provide visibility and insights into
the flow of goods and finances within the supply chain,
enabling supply chain, logistics, security, and finance
professionals to have a real-time, holistic overview of
the movement of their cargo. By having access to data
and insights, clients are enabled to make educated
decisions to optimize their physical and financial supply
chain, eliminating blind spots and inefficiencies. The
company’s vision is to maximize the value of the
insights it can generate from the collected data and
help their clients to bring their supply chain to the next
level.
We provide traceability from
‘doors closing to doors opening.”
Thanks to Arviem’s services, clients know where their
cargo is located in any given moment, the
environmental conditions it is exposed to and if it’s
security has been breached. If disruptions arise (cargo
experiences shocks, unfavorable temperature or
humidity conditions, an intrusion or door opening or
unexpected transshipment is detected) clients are
noted immediately so they can take corrective action.
Arviem’s monitoring platform provides an overview of
all shipments in an easy to use, visual, user-friendly
management dashboard, making it possible to access
any information of the cargo’s journey at fingertips.
Another innovative service leveraging the power of
cargo monitoring data that Arviem has developed is
focusing on optimizing the working capital
management of organizations. The company enables
the optimization of the financial and physical supply
chains by making goods in transit financeable through
monitoring the location and condition of the cargo in
real-time. The company provides traceability from
’doors closing to doors opening’ serving as an
independent verifier for regulatory purposes as well for
real-risk mitigation.
21
| November2018 |

26. AnIntegralPartoftheBusiness
Innovation
Management
Innovation
Management
nnovation Management plays a crucial role in
Ibusinesses, as it assist an organization to
strengthen its roots and, flourish promptly in the
markets. It mainly involves managing processes
regarding an organization’s innovation procedures,
from initial ideation to execution. It’s a cyclic loop
structure starting with ideation followed by the
auditing, prototype testing and full implementation.
Either it may be decision making or a drafting
innovation strategy, this type of system manages all.
It bestows some fruitful benefits to organization and
allows its employees to bring forward their
ideologies, which can be filtered depending on the
errors while execution. This significantly increases
the quantity and quality of input ideas empowering
specific organization’s objectives and goals.
Moreover, many innovation management tools
enable employees to initiate a germ of an idea, and
share it for gaining varied perceptions from every
aspect of the enterprise. Through such systems,
accumulating ideas from each and every unit of the
organization becomes quite easier. And the source of
idea collection is not just left inhibited with RD and
marketing but to every sector. These ideas could be
stored in a shared repository, allowing respective
employees to gain more transparency within various
business processes.
By maintaining transparency, a business person can
look through the outcomes of all the ideas submitted
into the repository, which increases the participation
of employees in the innovation campaigns.
Moreover, theses database-driven tools assist in
analyzing the effect of an implemented idea for the
benefit of an organization. In an attempt to admire
employee contribution, a company can also present
rewards to the winning ideas.
Idea Management systems a.k.a. Innovation
Management systems basically help companies to
share best practices further capitalizing them
efficiently. It narrows down the bridges between the
different locations of shared ideas and brings them
together under the best practices. Known for the
quick processing analogies, innovation management
systems delivers cost-effective practices that
multiply the bottom-line benefits of the company.
One of the best practices is to implement a cloud-
oriented idea management system, which will allow
access to the database from any region breaking the
geographical and organizational barriers. Even
though the system is self-efficient, it does require
some manual input to carry out repetitive changes in
its complex programming. This carries out the
identification and evaluation of potential ideas from
the pile of innovative ideas.
Outlook on Achieving Innovation Management
It is quite necessary for a company to install and
support innovation culture so that, employees can
AnIntegralPartoftheBusiness
Industry Insights
24
| November2018 |

27. put forth their participation in generating quality
ideas. Also, making employees feel valued boost up
their enthusiasm and confidence in order to take
part in the idea campaigns. Digitalization is the
rolling stone in the market which is single-handedly
creating a change in the traditional method of
business practices. Integrating one such
subcategory—social networking, with idea
campaigns also helps in gaining customer-oriented
perspective of the idea and product. This feedback
through social media platforms, generate a steady
stream of ideas within and outside the organization.
As described earlier, an organization must follow a
cyclic approach for comprehending and processing
innovation management systems. Ideation stands
first in this cyclic structure, which encourages the
generation of unique ideas. Followed to the ideation,
comes the well-managed innovation process in order
to identify and differentiate the viable and authentic
ideas from others. In the end, it is essential to
evaluate the results and come to a conclusion for its
successful implementation.
In addition, engaging with C-suite in discussion over
innovation management will help an organization to
ensure that the shortlisted ideas are as per the
business goals and norms. Organizations must hire
innovation managers with a keen knowledge and
skills to drive innovation and monitor on over-all
management process. Managerial work includes
setting goals and deploying plans, motivating other
staffs, collecting and allocating resources, acquiring
and implementing intelligence, creating and
maintaining relationships, identifying and nurturing
talent, and comprehending the demands of a
disruption.
The way of performing tasks varies from one
manager to other. Every individual work on their
own terms and managerial ethics, and thus reinvents
the methodologies of organization. Processes such
as capital auditing, hiring and promotion, project
management, internal communications, strategic
drafting and knowledge management are the
foundation on which the management is taken into
practice. Such managers mainly focus on
implementing operational inventive ideas for the
business processes such as logistics, consumer’s
requirement, and procurement.
Implicating innovation management for one’s
business could be an issue at an early stage. But with
a complete knowledge and an adequate guidance,
one can easily overcome the issues and establish an
efficient innovation management system. Either an
organization could reach out and outsource their
innovation management to a promising company or
it could in-house the management on their own. Both
ways facilitate with same reimbursements and
determine a unique future approach for the
company.
25
| November2018 |

28. Superior supply chains
continuously improve
processes and evolve
with technology,
resisting stagnation
and eventual failure.
—Bill Mrzlak
President Founder
26
| November2018 |

29. A Promising Tech Solution Provider
Today’s unpredictable global marketplace makes
supply chain systems much more complicated to
quantify and control. For many organizations, this
creates new, uphill challenges in supply vs. demand that
require education and training in the art and science of
best-practice supply chain planning. For business teams
that don't have the necessary in-house resources or in-
depth expertise in supply chain planning,
ChainSequence offers game-changing guidance.
Through facilitated training sessions and on-site
process development engagements, ChainSequence
teams help companies better understand and align all
the moving parts that must work together in order to
achieve and manage a truly functional supply chain
system. In addition, ChainSequence’s Process-to-
System Integration services provide client teams with
the strong support, documentation, and expertise they
will need to best reinforce the planning effort while
maintaining the integrity of the process design.
Below is their story,
Bill Mrzlak, President and Founder was an essential
player in the management consulting arena for many
years, with managing partner roles at two previous
consulting organizations. In 2009, Bill and his long-time
colleague, Mike Morrissette, jettisoned from their
consulting group after 10-plus years and launched
ChainSequence. “I’ve always enjoyed consulting because
of the variety of engagements, industries, locations, and
unique challenges I encounter,” says Mrzlak. “By 2008,
Mike and I felt the risk/reward ratio wasn’t there and
recognized we needed more control over the direction of the
business.” Through ChainSequence, they were able to
develop and deploy a much more nimble and effective
supply chain business model, which is entirely based on
their combined 50-plus years of experience. When
Morrissette unexpectedly passed away several years
later, Bill vowed to carry on the legacy he and Mike had
created. “Mike was a mentor, business colleague, and
friend. His experience and knowledge helped shape
ChainSequence’s philosophy and core values, and I will
always be grateful for his guidance,” he recalls.
ChainSequence addresses its clients’ supply chain and
sales and operations planning (SOP) challenges
through various pragmatic, business process-oriented
solutions. Many companies are quick to look to
technology in order to solve ongoing problems, often
without taking the necessary time to understand what
is causing these issues in the first place. Bill and his
teams stress that technology—as a tool—can certainly
help, but by ignoring or not resolving the underlying
process issues, organizations will only achieve a bad
outcome more quickly.
ChainSequence takes a multi-tiered approach,
beginning with an assessment of a client’s current
environment to understand root-cause issues. Walking
through this process with client team stakeholders, the
team defines targeted solutions that can provide the
highest return in the shortest amount of time. “As the
saying goes, ‘don’t boil the ocean,’” says Mrzlak. “It’s
unrealistic to expect to solve all problems at once.” In many
instances, he maintains, process corrections that are
combined with the introduction of rules and controls
can be the solution. In other environments, building
staff proficiencies through education, and introducing
technology solutions, like ML, AI, and/or data analytics
components can also align business process
improvements with long-term goals. In each
engagement, the hallmark of ChainSequence’s success
CHAINSEQUENCE INC.
27
| November2018 |

30. is its ability to take a surgical approach to evaluate each
client’s problem, and then apply years of insight,
experience, and proven change management guidance
to directly impact positive transformation.
ChainSequence recognizes the influence that
organizational, geographical, and cultural differences
can have on the success or failure to implement change,
and factors this dynamic into its approach. The firm’s
clients learn quickly that ChainSequence consultants
are true partners who are wholly invested in their
success. At the end of many engagements, clients forget
ChainSequence’s consultants are only embedded for a
short time. Mrzlak says the driving philosophy has
always been, “We are jointly defining a solution with you,
and not to you. When our client partner ultimately owns
and embraces the solution, then the likelihood of its success
will be much higher.”
ChainSequence’s professionals have all been on the
front lines of the war on business chaos.
ChainSequence’s successful projects have resulted in
numerous follow-on engagements as business climates
evolve over time. While word-of-mouth has been a
large part of ChainSequence's client activity, its strong
online presence also drives new business and
introduces new markets to its services year over year.
As thought leaders, ChainSequence publishes articles
in international business trade forums, and provides
subject matter expertise at supply chain- and SOP-
related conferences throughout the U.S.
Mrzlak says that every supply chain-driven business
entity should think of its supply chain as the engine that
both supports and drives the organization’s machine. A
company can have a highly successful sales team, but
without a robust, nimble supply chain structure, bad
things will inevitably happen: product demand will be
forecasted poorly; products won’t be built in a timely
manner; and inventory will end up in the wrong
location, with the wrong products, and in the wrong
volumes. Most important, products will not be
delivered to customers when and where they want
them. The inevitable outcome will be huge negative
revenue and bottom-line implications to the
organization.
ChainSequence’s primary service offerings focus on
business processes around supply chain planning and
SOP. However, it’s people first, then process, and
finally the management of change that drives business
process transformation. Technology, which continues to
evolve, is without question a huge enabler in making
those people and process changes a success.
ChainSequence incorporates Artificial Intelligence (AI),
Machine Learning (ML), and the Internet of Things (IoT)
into its process solutions to improve forecast accuracy
and better handle the volatility and irregularities of the
overall supply chain network.
At its inception, ChainSequence focused heavily on the
high-tech sector, specifically in semiconductor
companies. Because growth in this market was
unsustainable due to MA activity and consolidations
of semiconductor companies, the firm began to expand
its services into new markets. It can be difficult to break
into a new industry without having explicitly worked
within it. ChainSequence overcame that obstacle
through its breadth of knowledge in sound, rules-based
foundational supply chain principles. These principles
can be applied to almost any industry, ranging from
electronic goods, clothing, food and agriculture, and
CPG to education and other service-based sectors in
which no physical product is actually being produced.
The theory of constraint-based planning is universal to
solving and balancing an excess of demand with limited
supply, whether that supply is electronic components,
cloth, or people.
As the team successfully increases its reach to
encompass more industry sectors, the firm has also
been partnering with other organizations to expand its
presence in the U.K. and European regions.
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34. with big multinationals. It is imperative business as the
internet has become the unstoppable trend. There are
some baselines which will help the digital marketing
sphere move forward.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Innovation has reached beyond imagination. AI
(Artificial Intelligence) predicts every move of
consumer. By focusing more on personal rather than
professional front, AI truly shines in the arena of
business. AI makes every customer feel important and
produce a next level customer experience by analyzing
the data of customers, helping businesses to gather
their insights and deliver enhanced services. For
instance, Netflix and Amazon help with
recommendations by viewing history of billions of
hours of content streamed. With the help of algorithm,
they look after the entire experience of individual
subscriber. Depending upon their taste, users get
recommendation of other movies. AI will become the
model of digital marketing because of its accurate
ability to analyze consumer behavior and change the
experience of online business.
User Experience
With the increase in internet users, demand for User
Experience has increased. Intelligent algorithm helps to
analyze huge number of data. It is generated from a
single user’s location, demographics and device. User
Experience has gained positive response from the
consumer by making a personalized experience on a
website. It has also increased conversion rates and
G
lobalization has helped enterprises to dive into
open international market. While companies are
heading beyond the boundaries and are settling
overseas, digital marketing on the other hand is helping
the same to make a good consumer impact. With open
and diversified business market, competition has also
reached the peak. Additionally, the start-up firms from
developing countries have also been incentivized from
the expansion of digital marketing. The primary aspects
which are required to lead a company towards success
include marketing and sales. Companies should make
smart digital marketing strategies while keeping
globalization in context in order to get better
opportunities in the market.
Digitally Globalized Future
Digital marketing with its versatile and constant
changing potential has changed the face of traditional
marketing. Making things available at fingertips have
increased the desire to adapt digital marketing over
time. Mobile devices have helped to grow the demand
of digital marketing. Today, traditional marketing is
being replaced with digital marketing. The demand is
increasing day by day as every minute new website link
is generated; everyday new update enters into digital
market with more advance features. To grab the pulse
of the customer, company should understand the needs
and requirements of its customers. With the increasing
internet population, digital marketing will be a business
platform which will help companies to grow globally.
Digital marketing will help the small firms to compete
with big multinationals. It is imperative business as the
Digital MarketingDigital MarketingDigital MarketingDigital Marketing
Programming the Human Life
Chalk - Talk
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35. Digital Advertising
Digital Advertising is a part of the
dynamic “Digital Marketing”
industry. Digital marketing
strategies have been changing
depending upon the fluctuating
consumer behavior, seasonal change
and changing rule of digital
marketing. Digital Advertising
platforms like Google Ads and
Facebook Ads have gained
importance in marketing field. They
have started making use of analytics
to find more suitable consumer for
the company through analyzing its
consumer data, interest of
consumer and demographics.
Email Marketing
It examines the best time and day of
the week to contact the consumer,
content which will show their
involvement, the email subject and
title to generate more click. Thus AI
has become friendly user in
personalizing email content for
every internet users by reducing the
margin of error.
Content Generation and Content
Curating
Words play a vital role in
communication. Good content can
bring more business to a brand.
Every work conducted is based on
the data and information. Likely, AI
generates content on the basis of
the data and information it has.
Using templates and keywords, AI
creates a unique content which
attracts more visitors to the
website. Apart from generating
content, AI also curates it. By
showing relevant content it
increases the traffic on website and
connects with visitors in a better
way. It showcases the relevant
content to the visitors depending
upon the topics they had searched.
ChatBots
Communication has experienced a
huge change. From making phone
calls to simply texting,
communication has evolved
technically, increasing the desire of
the users. Brands on the other
hands are making use of the social
apps to promote business. Thus, AI
has powered the Chatbots with the
ability to answer open questions.
With the help of natural learning
processing and machine learning,
Chatbots find the correct response.
Chatbots ask frequent questions to
the potential buyers and answer it in
simplified way. It also helps the
buyer, a way to search for the
product or service they are looking
for. Chatbots also serve clients 24/7
and retain their data. Customers
may get angry, but Chatbots always
stay calm and friendly. It also
responds to several requests from
different customers at a single time,
thus taking less time.
Gaining Utmost Importance
Having AI in the digital marketing
strategy will give a lot of benefits.
Digital Marketing has provided a
platform to conduct business
globally. Its demand is increasing
day by day. It has also enhanced the
growth of the companies. To
maintain the efficiency and
effectiveness of the company,
marketer has to keep on thinking,
learning, testing and implementing
ideas to stay on the top of
competitive market. Instead of
spending more on digital marketing
strategy, the company needs to
come up with smart planner to bring
more clients. Digital marketing has
helped in improving and maintaining
the quality of performance of a
product. It has made very easy to
segment, target and position the
product for marketing with the help
of huge available database and user
information. With the continuous
advancement of technology,
practice of digital marketing has
improved. Developing perceived
knowledge about a product, digital
marketing helps to achieve the
marketing objectives.
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| November2018 |

36. NiceLabelNiceLabelStreamlining Business Process through
Digital Transformation
D
igitaltransformationistakingoverbusinessesby
storm. Over the course of last few years, the
world has been witnessing a rush of companies
looking to modernize systems and processes in an effort
to keep pace with customer demands, regulatory
requirementsandshrinkingbudgets.
Meet —a leading global developer of labelNiceLabel
design software and label management systems, who
understand the significance of digitization and attained
a successful stature in the cutting-edge competitive
markets. In an interview with , NiceLabelCIO LOOK
emphasizes on leveraging digital transformation to
primarily focus on creating value for its customers and
business partners.
CIO LOOK admire and appreciate the contribution put
forth by such avid leading establishments, and takes
pride to feature NiceLabel in ’Best Performing SCM
Companies, 2019’ edition. We recently spoke to Chris
Walsh, NiceLabel CEO.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
What led to an inception of the company?
NiceLabel was established in 1993 by Slovenian
entrepreneur, Zvone Duplancic, to develop software
solutions for local businesses. After successful
completion of a challenging project for a Japanese
printer manufacturer, NiceLabel recognized the
barcode label printer market was growing quickly and
offered an opportunity for it to meet the demand for
the development of Windows printer drivers and
barcode label design software for these new specialty
printers.
Describe your company and its cutting-edge solutions
which address all the needs of your customers.
NiceLabel is a technology company focused on creating
value for its customers and business partners. The
company employs a very diverse team of 150 people
based in 12 countries. The headquarters is in Slovenia.
Sales and support offices are in the USA, Germany and
China. It’s CEO and several senior managers are based
in the UK. It operates as one virtual global team.
NiceLabel helps companies of all sizes improve the
quality, speed and efficiency of their labeling, while
reducing cost. With the help of our label management
systems, organizations are able to digitally transform
their entire labeling process, from design to printing to
label management. The result is a leaner, more agile
operation that enables companies to respond more
quickly to changing market conditions and
requirements, get products to market faster and
compete more effectively in the sectors where they do
business.
How do your services differ from the other companies’
offerings?
NiceLabel focuses on providing solutions that create
value for end users. NiceLabel technology is strongly
differentiated targeting users focused on creating value
and sustaining competitive advantage through
improved print productivity. With NiceLabel,
companies really can do more, faster, with less and they
can sustain this advantage over time.
NiceLabel’s label management solutions maximize
value for businesses and their partners by giving them a
single, scalable platform to manage all their global
labeling and marking management needs. NiceLabel
technology addresses the needs of the widest range of
end-users and optimizes the performance of the widest
range of printing and marking devices. At the forefront
of market demand, NiceLabel seeks to use its domain
expertise to proactively give customers what they
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| November2018 |

37. Digitally transform your
entire labeling process.
“ “
Chris Walsh
Chief Executive Officer
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| November2018 |

38. need.
What marketing activities do you implement to reach out to
your potential customers?
NiceLabel combines traditional and modern marketing
techniques in order to reach various customer segments. The
company has invested heavily in building a large, well-qualified
marketing team with expertise in product, digital,
communications and vertical marketing. The team is diverse and
works virtually from several international locations.
The marketing team takes an integrated approach aiming to share
domain expertise both within and across vertical markets that can
help end users create value. It uses customer success stories to
illustrate how value can be created. It aims to leverage its channel
and alliance partners to reach more end users.
As per the company, what is the significance of digital
transformation in an organization?
Digital transformation is taking business by storm. Over the last
few years, we have been witnessing a rush of companies looking
to modernize systems and processes in an effort to keep pace
with customer demands, regulatory requirements and shrinking
budgets. We expect the digital transformation trend to continue.
For labeling this means modernizing legacy systems to improve
quality assurance processes, increase speed and drive efficiency.
Digitally transforming labeling offers another
benefit, one that many companies overlook. By
digitizing the labeling process, companies are
able to turn both direct and indirect costs into
visible savings. Going digital also allows
companies to capitalize on otherwise missed
opportunities to speed up time-to-market and
sell more.
NiceLabel not only digitally transforms other
companies’ labeling processes, but also
digitizes its own processes in order to
accommodate rapid growth and provide
innovative products, solutions and services. As
an example, we have made significant
investments in new IT platforms on company
and functional levels to enable faster and more
effective collaboration between our offices on
different continents, our global reseller
partner network and clients from around the
world.
What technologies are you leveraging to
make your solutions resourceful?
As a company we have traditionally been close
to Microsoft. We are a long-time member of
their ISV program and our software is based
on its technology stack, meaning it is
developed in .NET and leverages its database
(SQL Server) and server technologies
(Windows Server, IIS). Our server applications
interface is built in HTML5 and runs across all
browsers and operating systems. Client
applications closely resemble Office
applications to ensure new users get
productive as fast as possible. As our customer
applications are mission critical, we have
invested early and heavily into test driven
development. Today we continuously run an
extensive portfolio of real-life automated tests
on top of maintaining 95% code coverage with
unit tests. This results in NiceLabel being the
most reliable labeling platform in the market.
NiceLabel also pioneered labeling from the
cloud as early as 2012. This head start allowed
us to fully appreciate the value the cloud can
create by digitally transforming compliance
labeling so we doubled down on our cloud
investment and released Label Cloud last year.
Label Cloud runs off Microsoft Azure and is
the only true multi-tenant, cloud-based label
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39. the longer term it sees the opportunity to apply its world class
software development skills to adjacent high growth markets.
Into the Shoes of CEO
Chris Walsh is the CEO of NiceLabel. Before assuming his current
position, he worked with the company on a founder succession
plan over a seven-year period. Chris has over 30 years of
experience as an international leader in both software and
hardware technology businesses. Under Chris’s leadership,
NiceLabel has seen substantial growth in its business both in
Europe and also internationally (the company’s revenue has
trebled both in the USA and EMEA regions; EBITDA increased
significantly over the same period).
Previously Chris was Managing Director of Zebra Technologies
EMEA. Joining the business shortly after start-up, Chris led the
team to $150m in revenue over a 9-year period. The business
grew both organically and through a series of acquisitions and
employed 250 people.
management solution on the market. This
allows us to provision new customers in
minutes rather than hours or days, greatly
reducing the time and IT investment for our
customers.
In most cases our software needs to integrate
with customers’ ERP, Manufacturing Execution
or Warehouse solutions, so we invest in
assuring ease of integration for all of these key
applications. For SAP specifically we have
certified the interface and developed a unique
ABAP package that streamlines the
integration while offering the most benefit to
users.
Our RD team is working closely with
Microsoft and other software solution
providers—from the design phase and through
the complete development process—to assure
the best architecture and seamless integration
with customers’ systems and software
solutions. The team is constantly investing in
education and new technology research to
make sure NiceLabel solutions are future
proof and use the best-in-class technology
available in the market.
What are your company’s future aspirations?
What strategies are you undertaking to
achieve those goals?
NiceLabel is ambitious. The company has
grown rapidly in recent years as it has
extended its product range, geographic
presence and channels. Its core strength as an
applied engineering team, is its ability to
develop and deploy mission critical software
solutions to enterprises globally.
NiceLabel has an impressive list of major
global enterprises as existing customers, but
within its core served market it sees the
opportunity to double its current business.
NiceLabel is disciplined and focused on
organic growth within its target market. It is
investing in a balanced way across its
development and commercial teams to extend
its technology advantage and to increase
global presence. NiceLabel’s core strategy
choice remains differentiation based on
domain expertise and superior technology. In
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| November2018 |

42. The Significance
Vitality of a Leader
O
ne of the greatest things about leadership is
that we all bring something different to the
table but, leadership is not just about having
extra-ordinary skills, like integrity, confidence, team
management, etc. A leader is always admired as a
captain of the ship where he has to put all his efforts to
guide the ship and mentor all his crew members. For
instance, if a company has excellent employees but,
they don’t have a good leader to lead the team of
employees the success rate of the company will not
increase at an ascending rate.
We do believe that some people are born leaders and
learn throughout life to become better. Let’s take
some examples of great leaders such as Abraham
Lincoln, Tim Cook, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos. They all have
given a tremendous contribution to their nation and
the people of the nation, leaders think about their
team-mates and the people behind them selflessly and
always look forward to work in the welfare of their
own. Leaders assist themselves and others to focus at
right things and achieve it more efficiently. They set a
direction, build an inspiring vision, and create
something new. Leadership about mapping out where
you want to go to “win” as a team or an organization
Executive Voice
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| November2018 |

43. and it is dynamic, exciting and
inspiring.
A Leader may possess the following
for good leadership:
1. Creates an inspiring vision of the
future.
2. Motivates and encourage people
to engage with that vision.
3.Manages delivery of the vision.
4.Guides and builds a team, so that
it is more effective at achieving the
vision.
Being a leader, one has a clear
vision and is also familiar with the
obstacles to success. The leader
must have an inspiring personality
and must be trustworthy since all
the employees have a blind trust on
their leader. A leader should have
the capability to inspire people by
different means, like the phrase “If
th
your goal is 10 mile then aim for the
th
11 mile.” Motivation is not just a
word, for that one should have a
clear vision and goal to achieve, and
these all are the responsibility of a
leader to navigate the organization
to the right direction and make it to
the last.
Sometimes it is also difficult to
work under pressure and in a hectic
schedule to provide quality work,
so here a leader will help people to
work with focus, and engage in that
particular task. Motivation is the
inner power or energy that pushes
an individual to work hard at
achieving his or her goals. An
executive must have the right
leadership Ideology to influence
motivation. However, there is no
specific blueprint for motivation.
Without a potent leadership
artifice, it is believed, that the
organizational strategies do not
work. If the leader does not follow
an appropriate leadership strategy,
similarly work team will not be able
to succeed in their goals, Even
though the team has plenty of good
players. The average age of the
employable workforce is reducing
and the senior leaders now look
forward to managing people
belonging to different culture and
backgrounds. Leadership is the
ability of a person to enhance
his/her intellectuality and
persistence. A leader should follow
the thought, “Don’t wait for the
perfect moment, take the moment and
make it perfect”.
Why do leaders fail? Everyone, at
least once in life, has gone through
the leadership task. Some are
capable to balance it with their
everyday normal life and some fail
because of lack of skills, but there
are some who grab the opportunity
and prove themselves as great
leaders.
The entire success of a leader is
based on sharing their success with
others. “Life isn’t about giving up; it is
all about to give and to rise up”. The
word optimism plays a major role in
the life of a leader if a leader is
optimistic towards his/her work
and he/she will carry forward this
attribute to the employees and
make them more diligent about
their work.
Leadership and power are often
mistaken for a synonym. The fact is
that power is a part of the leader’s
toolkit. In other word, power is a
subset of leadership which comes in
different size and shape. Critical
thinking of a leader is all
throughout life one’s inheritance
has been a series of preconceived
notion. These are so ingrained in
the subconscious that one easily
makes assumptions and ironically
don’t even realize that he/she is
making them. Requisition of leaders
is in most aspects of society, from
business to politics to region to
community-based organization.
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| November2018 |

44. The Fuss
about AI
need to start looking at ways to incorporate new
technologies I mean it.
For enterprises there are certain imminent crisis that
demand that they change rapidly and market is not at all as
forgiving as it was a few decades back, someone is
constantly rooting for you to make a mistake.This is
leading enterprise to transform under the integrated
environment of Digital Transformation
Voice Technology has lately become a stable AI process
and would completely change the way we interact with
technology in the future. Visualization will remain at the
heart of it however with conversational technology, we
can expect a shift to more verbal ads, like radio, but more
personalized and actionable, but still to make a decision on
which product to buy you would want to see it visually.
Also search will become more specific and hyperlocal,
where we will be prompted to give verbal feedbacks, that
would amount to popularity of products and places, how it
happens with mobile applications today.
Siri, Cortana, Alexa have brought conversation technology
to people for some time now. They come bundled up with
smart phones and can be used to do basic searches, to look
up certain things, cue up songs etc. Speech technology has
come much further than that. With its advancement we
can now control our oven, tv and other house hold devices,
can search complex data from cloud or can make phone
calls for ourselves. It can change the way we function in
our daily lives, our time with our family, services we
receive and the jobs we do. It can eliminate learning curve
of devices, repeatable chores, and compiling excel sheets.
And it will not happen eventually, it’s happening now.
Developers will innovate to create more audio centric user
interface, there will be discovery period for them to find
out how to minimally prompt user to give inputs and
implement voice modulated visual commands. We can see
I
have been a strong advocate of conversational
technology (VoiceTech/NLP) and AI and have pitched
for it in various conferences, Guest Lectures at leading
business institutes and to corporates and I am often being
asked what will happen to our jobs? So this is true that
Artificial intelligence seems like a big untameable
monsters to most, and everyone is little anxious about
future.
And that could be true sitting in 2010, but past few years
new old research and young progressive companies and
devision of enterprises are willing to make it their sole
purpose that the infuse digital transformation in their
company and provide assistance to others. But, with the
prevailing reputation that comes at a cost of educating
everyone, really everyone.
They see it as a risk and any have burnt their hands trying
to tame novice early stage AI models. But thats fine, thats
how we grow. I believe that we are intellectual beings with
curious minds, why would we want to do repeatable jobs
which machines can do with greater efficiency. We can
delegate these chores and teach the machines to help us
better and imitate human decision making, innovate at
personal level and “Democratise Artificial Intelligence”.
Democratising AI through platforms for like voice
technology - Natural Language processing so the technical
algorithms can stay with specific user base while use of the
AI algorithms can be made as simple as conversing with
machines. Thats a sure shot way to upskilling resources for
example: Team of Analysts can train dashboards and
Business Intelligence tools to map business KPIs and
generate Compelling Business Stories and Insights in
natural language for everyone in the organisation to
benefit from, and then keep building the training over it
through machine learning. We are personally running
trials with Fortune 50 companies on this, so when I say you
42
| November2018 |

45. speech approaching a point where it would
become so reliable that we can just use it,
like how we do it with other humans, and not
even think about it.
I am personally inspired to bring acceptance
for conversational technology globally and I
believe that the real success for this would
not be when big corporations and industries
would be using it but when every small and
medium business and every household
would be using it and help us to get a hold of
our receding grip on reality from visually
attractive and distracting screens on our tv,
on out laptops and our smart phones.
We have seen this kind of a shift with
automated technologies and processes
which has led to reduced laborious work,
efficiency increased and averted accidents.
Smart phones brought technologies closer
to the end user. So, I took side with Artificial
Intelligence and Machine Learning
technologies, that will aid seamlessly while
co-existing in our realities. And impact is not
just on us in our personal capacity but for
businesses too and professionals who spend
endless nights collating data and make
pretty ppts to show to the bosses.
I believe that spreading the word on
changing technological demography is not
our responsibility or our burden. But you
know why I make it my purpose??
Because it is a major step in evolution of
technology and I know we need to harness
it, shape it now, before someone else does it
for you.
Preksha Kaparwan is the Co-founder, CMO, V.UX Designer of Realbox.AI .
The versatile IHM Pusa graduate initially served as the chef but got inclined
towards technology and business analytics and founded RealBox in 2015.
Within three years of its inception, they have raised $300k for Realbox and,
their customers include fortune 50 and big 4 enterprises. As a thought leader
she has been part of TEDTalk talk shows. She was awarded 'The sparks 2018'
by your story for tech services for her exceptional contribution
as a Tech Evangelist.
Preksha Kaparwan
Co-Founder CMO
RealBox Data
Analytics Private Limited
About the Author
Preksha Kaparwan
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| November2018 |