Business Review Europe - April 2016

April 2016 • www.businessrevieweurope.eu
Business Review Europe
speaks to André de Almeida,
Europe Travel Retail Director
at William Grant & Sons
The
growth
of travel
retail
Six ways
to drive IT
INNOVATION
INTERVIEW
Alban Sayag;
founder of the going
out app WINGiT
DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATIONS
for financial services

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W E L C O M E T O T H E A P R I L issue of
Business Review Europe. In this issue, we
profile Alban Sayag, the French entrepreneur
who founded the going out app WINGiT,
talking to him about his plans to launch
across more European cities. And we take
a look at how financial services companies
need to embrace digital transformation. We
also look at how to drive IT innovation within
a business – and the impact this could have
on the wider company.
Our cover story this issue is an interview
with William Grant & Sons, focussing
on its travel retail operations. Other
interviews include debt restructuring
experts Hoist Finance, and Covestro, a
high-tech chemical solutions company.
We do hope you enjoy the issue, please
send any feedback to @BizReviewEurope
Driving growth
Lucy Dixon
Managing Editor EMEA
lucy.dixon@bizclikmedia.com
E D I T O R ’ S C O M M E N T
3

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INTER VIEW
6 April 2016
Alban Sayag;
founder of the going
out app WINGiT
Digital
transformations
for financial
services
Six ways
to drive IT
innovation
16
8
22
TECHNOLOGY
LIST
FEATURES

Company
Profiles
TECHNOLOGY
36 William Grant Sons
52 Hoist Finance
62 Workonline
Communications
(Pty) Ltd
SUPPLY CHAIN
72 Covestro
90 EVO Group
102 Rohde Schwarz
GmbH Co. KG
116 Tata Global
Beverages
62
52
102
Workonline
Communications
(Pty) Ltd
Hoist Finance
Rodhe Schwarz
GmbH Co. KG
116
Tata Global
Beverages
72
36
Covestro
William Grant Sons

Travel app WINGiT aims to be in 100 cities worldwide
end of 2016. French entrepreneur Alban Sayag share
plans for the brand with Business Review Europe
WING i
WRITTEN BY JESS SHANAHAN
8 April 2016
INTER VIEW

1 0 April 2016
THE TRAVEL TECH scene is
growing rapidly with new apps
popping up on a daily basis. This
is a hard market to break into and
even for successful businesses,
launching an app isn’t without its
challenges. We spoke to French
entrepreneur Alban Sayag about
his app WINGiT, which allows users
to find out what’s happening near
them and book tickets straight
through the app, all in real time.
Sayag comes from a business
background and launched his first
start up at 19. He says: “It was
for the first wireless ear piece for
mobile phones. The technology
was very close to what would
become Bluetooth. We had to
close the business after three years
because Bluetooth came on the
market and was instantly huge.
“I then started a consulting
company, developing apps and
websites for other companies. It
was quite successful and I sold
the business to Capgemini, one of
the biggest consulting companies
in the world. I worked for them for
six years, heading up the business
unit and a team of 50 people. I was
just 25 at the time. I then spent
one year on the other side of the
business for an investor Alcatel-
Lucent before I created WINGiT.”
As with most successful apps, the
idea came from a real need for this in
the market. It all started when Sayag
was out with friends and needed
something to do. The internet and
travel apps couldn’t quite deliver
when it came to events that were
happening in the area that evening
and so the idea for WINGiT was born.
INTER VIEW

1 1
The app allows you to improvise
like a local, giving you access to
events and activities shared by local
insiders. Generating this content,
was one of the first challenges
Sayag faced when developing the
app. He says: “If you want content
to be real time and hyper local, you
can either rely on users to generate
content, which is often difficult, or
you can analyse social networks.
“This can also prove challenging
because you find that you can’t
always access the content, as you
don’t subscribe to all the feeds
and pages to get the information
when you need it. That’s where we
started to bring in the technology.”
WINGiT uses a special algorithm
that analyses social networks to
find local events happening now.
It continuously screens billions of
posts and will push relevant ones
to a user’s app based on location
D R E S S I N G U P

1 2 April 2016
and time. Sayag adds: “I can’t say
much about the algorithm, but it’s not
based on specific pages or accounts
- it’s based on conversation.
“We analyse public conversations
on Facebook, Twitter, Meetup and
Instagram, and look for clues to events
such as the name of a place and
further information such as time and
date. When we are sure everything is
correct, we match it with other sources
of content then publish it to the app.
“Once we find the content, that’s
just the first part of the process. We
then go through the inventories of
ticket providers and try to match them
with the event. If we are successful
then users will be able to book
tickets straight from the app.”
The app originally launched in
New York in 2012 but since then it’s
expanded into 15 cities across Europe
too. Expanding into new countries
meant changing the way in which
the app worked. Sayag explains:
“Even if you have many states in the
US, it’s just one country. One thing
you are doing right in New York will
work the same in San Francisco.
It’s completely different in Europe.
It won’t be the same in London as
in Madrid, for example, as each
INTER VIEW

1 3
country has differences in culture.
That’s the challenge in Europe, you
have to adapt to any country when
launching something like this and not
just in the app but your marketing,
communication, everything.”
Monetising the app is a strong focus
for this year as this is how WINGiT
will keep developing. Sayag says:
“We’re just starting to monetise the
app so if you click to buy a ticket and
go through the process, we get a
commission on that. That’s one part
of the monetisation, and we also work
on the B2B side and are giving access
to other businesses who want to offer
this kind of content to their users.
For example, if a magazine wants a
things to do section, they can use
WINGiT’s content on their site or app.”
As well as further monetising
the app in 2016, Sayag is aiming
to expand into more countries
and grow WINGiT’s user base, he
says: “We’re aiming to grow from
20 cities to 100 cities worldwide
and from 300,000 users to one
million users by end of the year.”
WINGiT is also dedicated to
developing the app in users’ best
interests. The company already
runs monthly focus groups to

1 4 April 2016
‘
determine what improvements
need to be made and users are
encouraged to give feedback on
which cities they’d like to see next.
Sayag also speaks about the future
of the app and developments they’re
hoping to make. He says: “We’d like
to learn something this year about
meeting people through the app. You
have a lot of apps that will connect
you with people, like Tinder, but when
it comes to a special event you’re
going to, those apps don’t help so
that’s where we see WINGiT going.”
The travel tech scene is booming
and the next trend we’re likely to see
is the advancement in aggregator
apps that allow you to do more than
one thing at a time. Sayag explains
he is seeing great demand for this in
the industry: “We see a lot of things
coming up relating to aggregators of
content and services. For example,
when you travel you want one
platform to help you do many things.
Finding events is one thing but it
could be booking flights and hotels
too. This all points to aggregating
content and services, becoming
big in the travel tech scene.”
WINGiT uses a specia
algorithm that analys
social networks to fin
local events happeni
now. It continuously
screens billions of po
and will push relevan
ones to a user’s app
on location and time
INTER VIEW

1 5
al
ses
nd
ing
osts
nt
based
e
‘
YOU CAN
FIND OUT
MORE ABOUT
WINGiT HERE

DIGITAL
TRANSFORMWritten by: DREW NICH
TECHNOLOGY

1 7
MATIONS
1 7
HOLSON, CEO, OGILVYONE BUSINESS
Financialservicesneedto
embracedigitaltransformation
EVERYONE HAS JUMPED on the
digital transformation bandwagon over
the past few years – particularly those
in the financial services (FS) sector.
However, whilst there is an appetite
for it, and significant investment
allocated to it, the FS sector in
particular is still struggling to harness
the potential of this vogue approach.
This is particularly true of the B2B
organisations within the sector.
Digital transformation is actually
relatively easy to instil into a
business’ culture, but far too many
organisations – particularly within
FS, are over-complicating it.
The key to success is taking a
step back and getting to grips with

1 8 April 2016
exactly what digital transformation
looks like for your business.
At the core should be the customer
– and their experience of your
business. Indeed, almost every B2B
business looking to implement a
digital transformation strategy is
looking to create a better customer
experience that either moves
customers through the sales process
faster and/or builds the relationship
between the brand and its customers.
B2B organisations understand
this. Indeed, Forrester’s 2015
report revealed that “improving the
experience of our customers” was
the number one priority across the
board for B2B marketers, closely
followed by growing revenues and
reducing costs. The challenge seems
to be implementing the processes
that will drive these changes.
This is unsurprising given the
significantly longer sales cycles within
B2B. The pace of change within
organisations typically matches the
sales cycle, meaning it takes longer
for B2B organisations to implement
transformational change. Therefore
there is a clear need to act now to get
the process of change started.
For me, the best option for any
FS organisation is, quite simply,
to put digital at the heart of the
customer experience. Spanning not
just technology, but people, and
processes too, putting digital at the
core of the customer experience
can realign focus, and help find
a common goal that meets the
ever-changing needs of both the
business and its customers.
Indeed, the FS businesses that
will see the best results from digital
transformation in 2016 and beyond,
will be those that think like a start-up
and behave like an entrepreneur.
This doesn’t mean trying to replicate
what others are doing – it means
investing in a culture that helps their
business excel. It means focusing on
the customer and the experience.
For any FS company looking
to maximise returns from
digital transformation, here
are three pieces of advice:

1.    Focus on online and cross-
channel customer experiences
but don’t ignore traditional
channels – digital transformation
can still have a significant impact
on offline channels too.
2.   Advocate digital transformation
TECHNOLOGY

R O A M I N G F R E E
1 9
and first-class customer
experience from the top level
down – everyone needs to be
responsible for delivering a first-
class experience so don’t make
it one person’s responsibility and
make sure that every ‘new recruit’
is on board. In order to remain
ahead of the digital curve, banks
and financial services must invest
in the right people to develop
and deliver the strategies and
roadmaps that will bring about
transformation. This doesn’t mean

2 0 April 2016
trying to find better versions of the
people who you hired 10 years ago.
It means taking a long hard look at
the new skill sets you need. With
the rapid pace of technological
change, these are skill sets that the
existing team may not understand,
let alone have capabilities in, so it is
pivotal to bring talent in to create a
complete, complimentary team.
3. Take risks and learn continually
– the whole process of digital
transformation requires
organisations to continue to evolve.
The FS sector is one of the most
traditional industries, making it
difficult to be innovative, but this
test and learn mentality is key to
success. Taking the risk now will pay
off much sooner than many think.
Digital transformation has the
potential to have a massive impact
on B2B FS companies because it
helps them to re-align themselves
with their customers and to be
ongoing strategic partners. Customer
expectations are continually evolving
to higher standards, so it is imperative
that B2B organisations work to
exceed those expectations if they are
to shore-up long-term returns.
Digital transformation offers an
unrivalled opportunity for the FS
sector to improve how it engages
with and retains customers in
the 21st century. The brands that
invest in getting on board now
will undoubtedly come of age and
retain their place in the world;
but those that don’t risk holding
themselves back by years.
“Digitaltransformationisactuallyrelatively
easytoinstilintoabusiness’culture,but
fartoomanyorganisations–particularly
withinFS,areover-complicatingit”
TECHNOLOGY

Written by Matthew Weaver
IT Consultancy Director,
Objectivity
Six ways to drive IT innovation
Dare to
dream
LIST

LIST
2 4 April 2016
Great teamwork is essential for
delivering great solutions. Software
suppliers often have many clients
with separate teams, each working
on different assignments. With
everyone concentrating on their
own challenges it can be difficult
to share innovative ideas. While
each client will benefit from a
stable team, it can lead to silos
where creativity on one project
goes unnoticed on another.
Having a way to share experiences
between projects can help to
spread innovation. Consider
‘show and tell’ workshops
where people share ideas and
experiences. Invite a representative
from another team to spend
a little time in yours. Perhaps
they can attend a daily stand up
meeting or a design workshop.
A short video that presents
an overview of your team’s
experiences is an alternative way
to keep everyone updated.
Posting the top 3 challenges
that each team faces is a way
to encourage ideas from people
outside your project. As Tom
DeMarco says: “There is no such
thing as ‘healthy competition’
in a knowledge organisation”.
Sharing information will increase
your ability to innovate across
your entire organisation.
All too often, clients and suppliers are focussed on removing
the risks from every engagement. But there is no change
without risk and no innovation without change.
Innovation is important. It can give you a competitive advantage in
the marketplace. It can also create a working environment that attracts
bright and creative people to your organisation. This article looks at
ways to promote innovation from a software development perspective.
Share everything

2 7
D A R E T O D R E A M
When people are afraid to make
mistakes, they are less inclined
to step out of their comfort
zone. People that don’t stretch
themselves are less likely to
innovate. Creating a culture that
doesn’t penalise mistakes will
promote initiative and give people
the confidence to be creative.
This does not mean that you
should encourage carelessness.
Mistakes will occur from time to
time, especially when people are
trying to find new and novel ways
to solve problems. When this
happens, focus on the process that
led to the mistake rather than
pointing a finger of blame at
someone. When errors do occur,
the objective should be to learn
from the experience and do things
a little better the next time around.
Allow mistakes
2

TOP 10
2 8 April 2016
LIST
3Look at the
bigger picture
Development teams solve
problems. They take big
challenges, break them into
smaller, manageable tasks and do
whatever is necessary to get the
job done. These tasks are often
small enough to finish in one or
two days. Small tasks promote
visibilty; stakeholders can see
progress on a regular basis.
While this is a reasonable
approach, take some time to look
at the bigger picture before splitting
it up. The smaller the work, the
harder it is to innovate. It’s a little
like baking a cake – it’s easy to be
creative when you start but once
you’ve chosen the ingredients,
your options are limited. Get the
team together before you start
coding, line the walls with brown
paper and think about the bigger
picture. Map out the details and
look for areas where you can
innovate. Talk to key stakeholders
and end users to understand their
real needs. Sometimes a small
business compromise can save
a lot of coding. An occasional,
informal discussion can reveal
details that you won’t find in
a specification document.

4 3 1
3 1
Within a software organisation, people are the greatest
asset. The happier they are, the more motivated and
productive they will be; this does not happen by
accident. Pay people a salary and they will turn up
for work. Build a great working environment and give
them the opportunity to improve themselves and they
will excel. Allowing people some time now and again
to do a little research or investigate a new technology
is a good start. The real benefit comes from using
personal develoment to drive social interaction.
When people share, everyone benefits. Short
presentations, interactive workshops, hackathons,
TED style talks - all help to spread valuable
knowledge and build a strong community spirit.
Everyone likes to feel they are giving something back
now and again – there is a sense of achievement
in sharing new discoveries with your colleagues.
The combination of knowledge sharing and
teamwork is a breeding ground for innovation.
Invest in people
and encourage
repayment

TOP 10
3 2 April 20163 2 April 2016
LIST
Challenge your
customers
We all look to our customers for direction and
support. After all, they are the domain experts and
know their business far better than we do. While this
is true, you should not rely on them to be the only
source of creative input. Sometimes it’s easier to find
inspiration when you are on the outside looking in.
People can get so used to doing the same thing
every day that it’s difficult to see how to improve. As
Henry Ford once said: “If I had asked my customers
what they wanted they would have said a faster horse.”
When your customer asks for a new feature, take
time to understand what they are really asking for.
Understanding the specific nature of a requirement
can provide valuable context. Just beware that context
can constrain your ideas as well as crystallise them.
Don’t be afraid to challenge your customers
from time to time. Explore their needs from a wider
perspective, take them for a coffee and chat about
what they are really after. People often describe things
differently when you push the formality aside.

3 5
3 5
It’s good to have guidelines
that describe the way you work.
They provide a map that steers
your people in the same general
direction. They do not, and should
not, replace team support or
the company values that your
senior stakeholders work hard
to promote. Neither should they
define expected behaviour in
exquisite (and frustrating) detail.
The idea is to have a high level
process that people can shape to
fit their preferred way of working.
For example, your process may
mandate that teams works in
short iterations and demonstrate
progress at the end of each
iteration. Each individual team
should choose the length of their
iterations, how they perform
their demos and who attends.
Equally, you may mandate a set
of coding standards to promote
consistent development practises.
Your teams should decide on
the nature of these coding
standards and choose the tools
that help to enforce them.
In this way, different teams
will find their own way of
working without diverging too
far from an agreed approach.
Sharing ideas across teams will
promote creativity and help to
drive continual improvement at
an organisation level. This, in
turn, will generate innovation
for clients as everyone coaches
and educates everyone else.
Define just enough
process, but no more

The growth
of travel retail
Written by Nye longman

WILLIAM GRANT SONS
3 8 April 2016
W
illiam Grant Sons
has been a stalwart
of the premium spirits
landscape for five generations
and, with the dual rise of e-retail
and worldwide travel, the company
has gained a truly world-renowned
reputation for quality and originality.
In recent years this independent,
family-owned company has also
achieved significant growth in its
global travel retail (GTR) business
channel and is looking to capitalise
on this achievement, as Business
Review Europe explores.
The business of distilling
In 1887, the Glenfiddich distillery was
established by William Grant, his
wife and nine children in Dufftown,
Scotland, and since then William
Grant Sons has expanded its
capacity and the number of its
distilleries to support the growth of its
award winning brands. The company
now has a reach covering practically
every territory in the world with the
marketing and distribution of its
various brands executed via a range
of wholly-owned, joint venture, and
third party vendors, spanning Cape
Already a long-established
household name for premium
spirits, William Grant Sons
has extended this presence
to travel destinations across
Europe and beyond

4 0 April 2016
WILLIAM GRANT SONS

T R A V E L R E TA I L
www.williamgrant.com 4 1
Town, Mexico City, and New York,
as well as offices in India, Australia,
Russia, China, and South America.
“William Grant’s as a company is
defined by our history and inspired
by the future and it is
our history of innovation
that is key to the
company’s success,”
says André de Almeida,
William Grant’s Europe
Travel Retail Director;
“Our entrepreneurial
spirit is one of the key
differentiators for the
company - it is actually
one of the reasons
why I work here.
“My role is to bring
our portfolio of core brands
to life in the global travel retail
channel, with a specific focus on
Europe and that can take shape in
different ways. Global travel retail
covers everything from airports,
airlines, ferry and cruise ships,
diplomatic and military shops.”
Managing a whisky business
presents its own unique operational
challenges, as de Almeida explains:
“We have to lay down
stocks and have
planning cycles which
run 20, 30 years ahead
in terms of forecasts
for future demand.
We foster innovation
because whilst we
clearly know what’s
relevant today we
always ask ourselves if
there is something we
can do now that has
the potential to give us
options and flexibility in the future.”
Branding strategy
The image of holidaymakers
stocking up on duty-free alcohol
is certainly a common one, but
TheyearWilliam
GrantSons
wasfounded
1887

WILLIAM GRANT SONS
4 2 April 2016
the realities of travel retail are far more nuanced
– and challenging – to say the least. Not only are
operations subject to fluctuations in traveller numbers
(particularly pertinent in the wake of recent terrorist
attacks) but each outlet also has to cater to the
interests of a truly international customer-base.
De Almeida says: “Penetration levels at airport
retail stores are one such challenge, as the number
of people that are actually going into a store is fairly
low. We try to recognise this crucial factor by offering
reasons for the consumer to enter the store such
as engaging activations and unique propositions
such as differentiated ranges of our products.”
“My objective is to think of ways to build long-
term growth in a sustainable way because what
we don’t want to do is to drive sales only by
activating our brands via heavily discounted price
off promotions, for example, which diminishes the
value perception consumers have of our brands.
“We are always striving to improve the experience
at point of purchase for the consumer. Looking at
how to bring our brands alive in some way, shape
or form in travel retail environment in order to
showcase those premium products we have.”
William Grant and Sons prides itself on its creativity

WILLIAM GRANT SONS
4 4 April 2016
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“ William Grant Sons has the ability to move quickly,
working in collaboration with partners, to be creative and
innovative in our approach which ultimately, of course,
helps to drive our business ” – André de Almeida, Europe Travel Retail Director
and for being able to cater to a
smorgasbord of international
customers, each with different
personal tastes, budgets, and brand
expectations. Being able to achieve
this is not merely a triumph of sales
and marketing prowess – it is an art,
bringing together a symphony of
ideas, underscored by the growing
significance of technology.
De Almeida explains: “Technology
has become more and more
important. Airports for example
are talking about being able
to communicate directly with
consumers from the moment they
decide to travel on their journey all
the way through to their destination.
I think personally e-commerce
will have more of an impact -
we’ve already seen examples of
it in travel retail and just have to
look at the success of Amazon
in the US and UK markets.
“I think what technology will also
play a role in is the engagement
aspect, with increased use of
virtual or augmented reality and
insights generated from anonymous
wi-fi analytics for example. So
from our perspective, we want
to use technology - whether
online or in store - to really
convey what the brand stands
for and create engagement.”
The company has also utilised
experiential marketing in order
to increase the coverage of its

4 6 April 2016
WILLIAM GRANT SONS
portfolio in particularly novel
ways. One such example was the
Hendrick’s Gin Gin Oscillating
Sensory Helmet (G.O.S.H.) activity.
Other more recent examples
include the launch of the House of
Hazelwood whisky and the Grant’s
Elementary range launch exclusive
to the travel retail channel. Shopper
and retail marketing agency, HRG, is
responsible for the majority of William
Grant Sons’s build and installation
of activations in Europe travel retail.
HRG is an example of a partnership
approach with a dedicated account
director, Lucy Tugwell, supporting
the business as well as helping
to develop creative content.
He adds: “William Grant Sons has
the ability to move quickly, working
in collaboration with partners, to
be creative and innovative in our
approach which ultimately, of course,
helps to drive our business ”
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BRINGING BRANDS TO LIFE

Supporting partners
Understandably, William Grant
Sons’ brands need to be carefully
managed; not only to maximise
in-store impact, but also to
ensure that they reach the correct
demographic – an important factor
given the increasing prominence
of high-spend travellers. Agency
staff in store play a prominent role
in representing the company and
its brands to consumers. William
Grant Sons is working to enhance
its presence and impact at point of
purchase in partnership with Sally
Allington at Blackjack Promotions–
a company specialised in serving
the travel retail sector with quality,
brand-conscious personnel
and an experiential specialist.
Almeida adds: “As an example
of partnership approach, we work
with One Red Kite retail and digital
consultancy on an ongoing basis
PLAY VIDEO

William Grant and Sons prides
itself on its creativity and for being
able to cater to a smorgasbord of
international customers, each with
different personal tastes, budgets,
and brand expectations
”
”

5 0 April 2016
WILLIAM GRANT SONS

André de Almeida, Europe Travel Retail Director
and Kevin Brocklebank and the team
have helped us in developing an
app to improve our communication
and performance management
with the agency staff in store
“We are also working with Brett
Goldhawk and team at Ziggurat
Creative Agency because we are
trying to look past just the travel
retail store. We want to be looking
at the moment the consumer
decides to travel, all the way to when
they arrive at their destination
“If our objective is to bring our
brand essence to life, then we
should be looking beyond the
travel retail store and Ziggurat is
helping us to look at following the
consumer through this journey
and identifying alternative ways
to bring the brand to life”
Having gained global prominence for
the quality and innovative approach
to its brands, William Grant Sons
has combined over a century of
experience with the latest trends,
while managing to keep its sights
fixed firmly on the future. Having
been able to leverage travel retail
as a healthy source of revenue, the
company is poised for even more
growth in this area.

Written by Lucy Dixon
Produced by James Pepper
Data-driven
debt collection

5 4 April 2016
HOIST FINANCE
H
oist Finance is a debt
purchaser, specialising
in non-performing debts,
primarily from banks or financial
institutions. It is based in Sweden
and has a presence throughout
Europe, including the UK, Germany,
Poland, France, Italy, Belgium, the
Netherlands and Austria.
Anders Wallin has been CIO since
2012, starting with the goal to update
the company so it could manage its
plans for growth – expansion that
has seen it increase from about
350 to 1,700 employees. “I think it’s
also interesting that we come from
an investment volume of about 50
million euros in 2011 to where we
are now at 450 million euros,” Wallin
adds. Another key task that Wallin
was brought in to achieve was to
support entry onto the Swedish
stock market, and it is now listed on
Nasdaq Stockholm Mid-Cap list.
Wallin is responsible for four
pillars within Hoist Finance: IT-
Service, which manages IT service
operations from an end-to-end
perspective; Business Applications,
which is responsible for system
development, datawarehouse
architecture, and business
applications; Group Analytics and
the central Project Management
Office, which oversees all projects
within Hoist. The organisation
is federated with about 40
group staff and 40 local staff.
Wallin describes Hoist Finance as
‘an information-driven, technology-
based company.’ And both the
data and the tech have been pivotal
Hoist Finance uses a combination of data and
technology to collect debts from millions of customers

S U P P LY C H A I N
www.hoistfinance.com 5 5

5 6 April 2016
in its success. “A lot of things we
are doing are based on analytics,
using big data to understand
how we should address our
customers and how we should
position ourself in our markets.”
Hoist Finance uses technology to
collect and examine vast amounts of
data about its customers, ultimately
meaning that it knows how to
increase the chances that they pay
back their debts. Hoist Finance
advocates the benefits of amicable
settlements which allow customers
to take control of their own situation,
and to take the leap from debt trap
to re-established creditworthiness.
The quantity of data is dealt with
by two data centres that Wallin
set up while streamlining the IT
infrastructure, one in Germany and
one in the UK. He adds: “We also
set up centralised contracts with
selected providers of infrastructure,
because otherwise we would
be facing a problem with lots of
different companies providing
services to us. The changes mean
we can actually close down and
fire up a new office with very, very
little notice, and quickly scale while
keeping profitability intact.”
Hoist Finance holds sensitive
financial information for millions

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system for improved debt recovery results.
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communication strategy and intelligent automation
to maximize business outcomes in your favour.
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5 8 April 2016
HOIST FINANCE
of people and makes use of this
data in various ways. “One way is
to support our investment team
in calculating the actual price or
what they should pay for the next
investment price, that’s important.
Then, of course, we also use
the information to improve our
own processes in our collection
centres to ensure that we’re
working in the most efficient way.
Our Analytics team plays a key
role in creating and sustaining a
lean organisation. It lets us draw
extreme amounts of information
in a smart and high-quality way.
Then the production performance
feeds into our data that we then
use for pricing and you have this
whole process of managing data.
There is a lot of automatic big data
management but a lot of RD
behind it as well,” Wallin explains.
The company is always
considering new ways it can
use its data, says Wallin.
“We look at the possibilities to use
our data in a different way, to see
how we can use the technologies
that are out there to work differently
with our customers or just internally.
That’s part of the normal process
and development that
we have in Business
Applications, Group
Analytics, and utilising
recent technology
developments.”
Keeping the data
secure is another
critical part of Wallin’s
role. He says: “We are
not just, in a traditional way,
building protection around our
information, we’re also working
proactively with information
security and our assets, that’s why
we haven’t outsourced the IT on

Anders Wallin
Chief Information Officer
Anders started his career as a software developer and project
manager, and quickly made partner at an IT consultancy firm. He
later founded a successful consultancy business where he worked
with leading Swedish companies like Scandinavian Airlines, SEB, and
Ericsson. Before coming on board Hoist Finance, he was the CIO of UC,
Sweden’s by far leading business and credit reference agency. Anders
holds an MBA from the prestigious Stockholm School of Economics.

HOIST FINANCE
over a longer period of time with
the customer, which is easier and
fairer for them to manage.” The staff
at Hoist are tasked with finding out
who can pay, who wants to pay
and how much they can pay. Wallin
adds: “We aspire to protect them
from paying more than they can
handle, which would compromise
their ability to stick to the agreed
payment plan.”
Hoist uses technology to analyse
the best ways to communicate
with customers – when they are
available and when will be the best
time to contact them. “To be able to
understand that you need to have
some behavioural patterns and
the systems need to understand
when it’s time to attempt contact.
So, that’s one part that technology
can play.” Speech analytics and
quality management technologies
are also used, so that Hoist can
make sure customers are being
treated well. Wallin says: “We
all benefit from the customers
having a good experience.”
6 0 April 2016
Number of employees at Hoist Finance
1700

Keeping
Written by Nell Walker

6 3
gAfricaconnected
Produced by Danielle Harris

6 4 April 2016
WORKONLINE COMMUNICATIONS (PTY) LTD
S
ince 2006, privately-owned Workonline
Communications has worked tirelessly
to provide Africa with high-quality IP
transit and connectivity services, achieving
acclaim as the Southern African network with
the highest number of directly interconnected
global tier 1 transits. Some of the largest
international telecommunication companies
make use of Workonline’s technologically
advanced services, as its network has
proven stable, resilient, and reliable.
According to Workonline’s Director of Business
Development, Edward Lawrence, the company’s
structure and products are far simpler than they
appear: “We basically provide two services: IP
transit and various forms thereof, and connectivity
or transport services. Within those two categories
we have hundreds of moving parts we use to
design each individual service; we don’t have
a fixed price list; all the services we provide are
tailor-made to the requirements of our clients. We
don’t deviate from what we do, meaning we can
be very flexible within the bounds of what we do,
and deliver the services we focus on at scale.”
Group input
The direction of the company, and each
individual project it undertakes from conception
onwards, is group effort: “We have a very flat
organisational structure designed to maximize
collaboration,” Lawrence says. “Everyone
has the chance to contribute towards the
Founded in South
Africa in 2006,
Workonline
Communications
is a privately
owned global
Network Service
Provider

T E C H N O L O G Y
www.workonline.co.za 6 5
A large degree of growth still needs to take place in places like Kenya.
direction of the company. We achieve this by
increasing interpersonal communication as
much as possible between everyone regardless
of seniority, and working together to agree
on direction to achieve the goals we set for
ourselves and the company as a whole.”
Workonline’s liberal company structure allows
all members of the business to feel a part of its
operations; impressively, it has lost only one
employee since the company began. “We don’t
enforce office hours so everybody can work when
they want. We manage productivity through a
goal-based system,” Lawrence explains. “We try
to bring the passion out of people. If you’re very
good at what you do, the chances are that you’re
Number of
staff working
at Workonline
Communications
20

Workonline is
dedicated to
developing the
network across
Africa, in places
like Kenya and
Zambia, for
example
6 6 April 2016
passionate about it, so how can we enable and
support that passion? By giving our employees
the tools to play with to discover themselves and
what they can achieve, and by supporting them
in any direction they wish to grow in. We actually
implement that, rather than just saying it.”
Prestigious partnerships
As it has grown, the business has forged bi-
lateral partnerships with the largest global
players such as TeliaSonera, NTT, and Level 3
Communications, and according to Lawrence,
“forming these relationships has proven to be
very fruitful for all parties involved. Essentially
the cornerstone of our relationships with our
partners is the technical aspect. Their engineers
feel comfortable and confident in dealing with

– Edward Lawrence, Director
of Business Development
www.
T E C H N O L O G Y
us because of the level of skill that we have on
board and our knowledge of the African market.
Vice versa, we look to them for their knowledge
depending on the markets in which they are
strongest of have the most experience.”
Falling in line with its growth and expectations
from its prestigious client base, Workonline
decided to improve the brand awareness of
the company. To this end, Workonline recently
decided to refresh its logo to show an identity
which reflects its modernity. The basics of the
business remain, but its image has developed
alongside its blossoming reputation.
What sets Workonline apart is the determination
to stay ahead of the curve, Lawrence says: “We’re
often the first to come up with and implement
either technical or commercial models in the sub-
Saharan African market. That’s what attracts the
partnerships that we have in place, and ensures
that they remain in place over the years to come.”
Technology
Workonline is a tech-heavy company with a
very strong engineering team, and it has
the accolades to support its notable
status. Its transport services are
MEF compliant, and one of the
company’s directors, Ben
Maddison, was the first ever
person to achieve 100
percent on the MEF
certification
“The
developments
we’ve made are
about constantly
researching and
putting in place
new and more
efficient ways of
doing things”

8 March 2016
globally. “Out of thousands of engineers around
the world, Ben was the first and the only one
thus far to get full marks,” Lawrence comments.
“We have a very high level of technical skill on
board, which we constantly strive to improve.
The developments we’ve made are about
constantly researching and putting in place
new and more efficient ways of doing things.”
Part of staying ahead is rigorously planning
the future, Lawrence says. “The year is pretty
much mapped out already. We’re looking at
where to build in 2017. The focus is on expansion
of the network into a few new key markets.
We’re investing heavily in the expansion and
‘We have a very
flat organisational
structure designed
to maximize
collaboration.
Everyone has
the chance to
contribute towards
the direction of
the company’
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T E C H N O L O G Y
The new cable
system being
planned between
Brazil and Africa
will present new
opportunities for
the company
uptake of Internet Protocol version 6 – or IPv6
– and we’re somewhere in the top double
digits of IPv6 networks in the world by size.
We’ve tried to encourage uptake by offering a
free 100 Megabits per second of IPv6 transit
to any AfriNIC LIR. We’re very involved in
sponsoring training of the use of IPv6 and
helping networks to make that transition.”
Workonline’s future
As is common in the technological sector, outside
forces have the potential to alter a company’s
plans. An example of this is a new
cable system which is being

We see a huge
amount of
growth potential
in Africa as the
world focuses on
connecting the
next billion people
to the Internet
7 0 April 2016
planned between Brazil and the west coast
of Africa could present new opportunities
for Workonline. “Typically there’s been no
need for us to have infrastructure in North
America because all of the paths between
Africa and North America either go through
Asia-Pac or Europe. The topology of the
global cable system network will change if
this project progresses, and in doing so it
would open up the possibility of us building a
PoP in North America. That’s far from being
confirmed, but it’s a potential development.”
Bandwidth in Africa is commoditising fast,
which has been an advantage to Workonline.
The business was designed around a
foresighted belief that this would occur, and
Lawrence says “we have been fortunate in that
the current trend has played into our hands. A

‘We’re often the
first to come up
with and implement
either technical
or commercial
models in the sub-
Saharan African
market. That’s
what attracts the
partnerships that
we have in place’
T E C H N O L O G Y
couple of the developing market’s currencies
struggling has impacted our clients, but on the
whole the recent economic situations in Africa
haven’t had much impact on us at all. We have
some very good advisers who saw this coming.
We still see a huge amount of growth potential
in Africa as the world focuses on connecting
the next billion people to the internet.”
Regardless of how plans may change,
Workonline will continue to develop the
network across Africa. “While South Africa
is a little more developed than many others,
there are plenty of countries where there
is a lot of work to be done,” Lawrence
concludes. “A lot of growth still needs to
happen in places like Kenya and Zambia.
When I visit them, I can’t help but wonder why
people aren’t seeing the opportunities.”

Implem
solut
Written by N
Produced by Ri

7 3
menting
tions
Nell Walker
ichard Durrant

7 4 April 2016
COVESTRO
P
reviously known as Bayer
MaterialScience, the German-
based chemicals company
rebranded itself as Covestro in
September 2015. 69 percent of the
shares are still in the hands of Bayer,
with the other 31 percent traded in
the MDAX. The company’s focus
is split into three units; one for the
production of polyurethane raw
materials, TDI, MDI and polyols;
the second for a high-tech plastic
named polycarbonate; and the
third for raw materials for coatings,
adhesives, and specialties. The latter
unit supplies over 4,000 products
for different industrial applications,
with all of Covestro’s dealings being
business-to-business.
The company’s vision, according
to CPO Dirk Jan De With and Board
Member Klaus Schäfer, is to make
the world a brighter place. Covestro
wants to contribute to this goal
with products and technologies
that benefit society and reduce the
impact on the environment. “Many
of our materials are within one metre
reach of you,” says Schäfer. “Sofas,
mattresses, sports accessories such
Covestro aims to brighten
up the world with its
innovative high-tech chemical
solutions, extending its
reach to a global scale

www.covestro.com 7 5
Annual Revenue
€12.1billion

as running shoes, skiing equipment,
and everything in between.”
Covestro’s values
Covestro centres the way it
does business on what it calls The
Three Cs: curious, courageous,
and colourful. “Curious very
much refers to the fact that we are
interested in understanding what
happens out there in the world
and beyond our own industry,” De
With explains. “We look for best
practice there and bring it in-house.
We’re curious about understanding
other practices and how we can
improve our performance.
“Courageous is about having the
courage to step up, come up with
refreshing new ideas, challenging
each other within the company and
externally for the better. Colourful is
probably a value you haven’t heard
often, and I think that’s exactly
what sets us apart in the chemical
industry – because it’s not exactly
seen as one of the sexier industries –
but colourful is what we aim for. The
kinds of applications in which our
products end up are the things that
make our lives brighter,” says de With.
Integrated sustainability is also
at the heart of Covestro’s business,
which affects many of its business
decisions from a People, Planet
and Profit perspective: “We are
working on challenges of our time,
including climate change, growing
cities, and ageing populations,”
“Whenasustainabilityassessmenthasbeen
positiveitdoesn’tmeanwestopthere-we
wanttoseehowwecanimprovefurther”

DIRK JAN DE WITH
Chief Procurement Officer
Dirk Jan De With joined Covestro in April 2015 as Chief Procurement Officer being
responsible for the procurement of all materials and services for the company.
Previously he has spent 27 years with Unilever in The Netherlands, Germany, Israel,
Italy and Switzerland and held senior management positions in all areas of the
supply chain. He has been leading the supply chain in Unilever Israel, Planning
Customer Service for Ice Cream Europe and established the Unilever supply hain
Company in Switzerland and implemented SAP across all operations in Europe.
In his most recent role he was leading Ingredients Procurement and implemented
Sustainable Sourcing in line with the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan. During that
period he served as President of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform.
De With has a MSc degree in Mechanical Engineering from Twente University in The
Netherlands and a MBA from the European University, Antwerp/Belgium.

Schäfer says. “For example, we
provide materials for making
cars lighter, saving on fuel, and
also materials to reduce energy
consumption and CO2 emissions.”
“Sustainability is something
embedded in everything we do in
this company,” De With adds. “We
constantly evaluate the chemical
processes we are using and the
energy-saving measures we have
implemented over the years. We’re
always saving energy and, because
of that, are reducing our carbon
footprint and saving money. It’s
a good business approach.”
Covestro is striving to grow into
its assets, leverage its leadership in
the industry, and improve its cost
DR KLAUS SCHÄFER
Chief Industrial Operations Officer
Dr. Klaus Schäfer became Chief Industrial Operations Officer at Covestro in 2015 and is
responsible for production and technology. Previously, Schäfer held the same responsibility in
the Polyurethanes segment, was the Country Representative in China for predecessor company
Bayer MaterialScience, and Managing Director of German site operator Currenta, which provides
services to Covestro at the Dormagen, Krefeld-Uerdingen and Leverkusen sites.
Born in Cologne, Germany, in 1962, Schäfer studied physics at the city’s university. After
obtaining his PhD, he worked for Erdölchemie and BP, before joining the Bayer Group in 2001.
Key Personnel

8 2 April 2016
COVESTRO
www.imperial-international.com
TRANSPORT,
CONTRACT MANUFACTURING,
WAREHOUSING AND DISTRIBUTION
FOR THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

base. It achieves these partially
through a savvy approach to
procurement and by forming a
number of strategic partnerships.
“We’ve set ourselves the
ambition to deliver value for the
company of 1 billion Euros by
2020,” says De With. “We want to
create value in four strategic areas:
cost transformation, reliability –
which is essential in this industry
– sustainability, and innovation.
Innovation is in everything we do; in
our processes and our technology,
but also in partnership with others
to use their capabilities. Delivering
value in a broader sense rather
than just cost savings is what we
really aim for with procurement.”
Partnerships
Covestro picks its suppliers
and partners carefully, ensuring
they also adhere to the company’s
high standards. It has a very large
supplier base including around
100 key suppliers: “We are very
selective in understanding who
the real strategic suppliers are
that can add significant value,”
De With explains. “It’s not just a
procurement job; board members,
marketing, sales, operations and
RD colleagues are involved – we
all talk about our four key strategic
areas. In addressing sustainability
with those suppliers, we don’t
Number of employees at Covestro
15,800

stop at a positive sustainability assessment, but
we want to see how we can improve further.”
Schäfer describes the industry initiative for
supplier sustainability assessments: “We are
a member of Together for Sustainability, an
initiative of the chemical industry with 16 members
now which are all well-known in the chemical
industry, with the objective to accelerate the
implementation of sustainable practices within
the supply chains of the chemical industry.
“There are many assessments along the way,
beginning with a risk assessment. If it’s a smaller
operation in a higher-risk country, we do an
evaluation there or an audit by a third party to
measure them against economic, environmental,
and social standards that we have agreed.”
Covestro highly values the partnerships it works
so hard to forge; the relationship with INEOS, for
example, is one of the company’s most highly-
valued, says De With: “INEOS is a very like-minded
business which operates in one of the same
chemical parks as we do, so there’s a lot that we
do share anyway. It’s a long-standing relationship
and we manage multiple businesses together. It
goes in both directions; we make materials they

8 6 April 2016
Your goals
drive us.
The international logistics company HOYER is a
worldwide market leader in moving liquids by
road, rail and sea. Wherever they may go, HOYER
will get chemicals, foodstuffs, gas and mineral oil
to their destinations safely and efficiently in tank
containers, road tankers, flexitanks and IBCs.
www.hoyer-group.com www.ineosphenol.com
Avenue des Utins 3, Rolle, Switzerland
WE ARE HERE:
WORKING WITH
COVESTRO TO SUPPLY
HIGH-TECH POLYMER
MATERIALS. HELPING
TO MAKE THE WORLD
A BRIGHTER PLACE.

need and they make materials we
need. Or the relationship with Mitsui
that is key for our polycarbonate
business, especially in Asia.
“In terms of logistics we use
companies like Hoyer, which has
a container terminal in Dormagen,
integrated into the chemical park
there, meaning public roads aren’t
required. Hoyer covers the bulk
liquids transport market for us. It was
a pioneer of intermodal transport in
the early 70’s, so we’re benefitting
from the company’s expertise.
“Hoyer is a partner that goes
around the globe with us, and
is starting to work with us in our
logistics in China. Imperial Logistics,
too, has a long history with us. It’s
very important for the supply of
many of our raw materials. Salt, for
example, is a big raw material for us.”
With Covestro’s group of trusted
suppliers behind it, the company is
able to run with optimum efficiency,
allowing its operations to be as
“Westrivefortherightkindofdiversityinthecompany
togetdifferentviews,approaches,andanglesto
problems,andtoreallybecomemuchbetter”

8 8 April 2016
COVESTRO
integrated as possible: “Our task
as industrial operations is to
manage the whole supply chain
from raw materials to production
and our commercial operations
pick it up at the factory gate and
sell it to customers,” Schäfer says.
“Everything that is necessary,
from buying the raw materials
through to production on-site,
building plants, managing safety
health and environmental aspects
and project engineering; these
are tasks that we as an industrial
operation have in this company.”
“Currenta is the chemical park
operator for our production plants
in North-Rhine Westphalia,”
Schäfer adds. “They are providing
the complete infrastructure within
the parks, and for that we are
buying services from site security,
fire brigade, rail connections,
and then the biggest part in
there is the energy supply.”
“I always say it’s basically a
partner you’re married to by
definition,” says De With, “because
you’re dependent on each other
in these chemical parks. It really
requires a strong relationship.”
“Managing things like costs,
reliability, and sustainability
jointly also ensures that
innovation is implemented in all
activities,” Schäfer explains.
Covestro’s unique and multi-
faceted business model has
ensured that it is now a world leader
in material solutions, and De With
thanks the company’s community
of people and skills for that: “We
strive for the right kind of diversity
in the company to get different
views, approaches, and angles to
problems, and to really become
much better. I think that sets us aside
and will do even more in the future.”

Written by Nye Longman Produced by Richard Durrant

9 2 April 2016
EVO GROUP
EVO Group is the UK’s largest multi-channel
distributor of supplies and services for businesses
– formed after a seamless merger in 2014, it is now
working hard to increase customer engagement while
maintaining its commitment to next-day delivery

www.evo-group.co.uk 9 3
A
rising from the merger of
two critically positioned UK
distributors in 2014, what
is now known as the EVO Group
quickly became note-worthy for
its ability to deliver and distribute
to businesses across a range of
channels, in the shortest possible
time. Operations General Manager
Phil Allsop explains how the efforts
of all those involved ensures that the
customer remains the focal-point of
all of the company’s operations and
how he and his teams are looking to
further increase engagement across
all channels.
Operations
EVO Group is an entity greater than
the sum of its parts, an accolade
that is all the more impressive given
the scope, scale and size of its
constituent companies: Vasanta
and office2officeplc (o2o). Listed on
the Sunday Times Top Track 250 -
EVO is a leading office equipment
supplier with revenues last year of
almost £660 million. It has a strong
distribution footing in the UK and
ROI. The Group’s specific wholesale
and direct channels deliver
managed procurement, distribution
and supply chain services,
alongside a strong business
supplies offering.
All told, the Group is made up of
specific channels under the brands
of VOW, VOW Retail, Banner,
bokz, Headroom and Truline,
which together give it a footprint
of over 50,000 customers. These
are serviced by a centralised
distribution network supported by
three main distribution centres, as
well as various localised cross-dock
sites and a fleet of over 320 vehicles.
Allsop explains that the Group is
able to target the market through
a range of different channels: “We
have three core businesses that

9 4 April 2016
EVO GROUP
operate out of EVO Group. We have
a retail section which predominately
covers goods for resale – we will
provide customers with a product
that they will then display for
purchase. We also supply dealer
networks where dealers sell on
to end user, which include offices
and SME enterprises. With the
integration of Office to Office,
we gained the Banner business
which supplies directly into major
accounts.”
Our sales teams are consistently
out there, talking with our customers
and meeting them. I myself spend
a day every two weeks on the
road with the sales teams to help
understand customer needs and
how we can mitigate any potential
challenges.”
He adds: “We have sales teams
operating out of Norwich, Droylsden
in Manchester, Wakefield, and
Lutterworth, while also having sales
teams in Dublin and Belfast.”
Strategy
EVO Group’s unrivalled position in
the UK is maintained by a combined
effort to increase customer
engagement, aggressively expand
sales, and to optimise its operations
in order to guarantee next day
delivery to its customer base. In
order to achieve this, Allsop is
tasked with ensuring that every
aspect of the company’s supply
chain is in-line with these goals.
He explains: “Next day delivery is
a huge responsibility – we are able
to take orders up until 6:30pm each
evening and get those distributed
by the next day. This ensures
there is a balance between the
distribution centres, mainly based
on geography, but also order size.
“We disseminate the orders
into the right warehouse to ensure
that warehouse is fit for purpose.

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www.evo-group.co.uk 9 7
One example of this would be if I
walked across the despatch area
of Lutterworth and saw a pallet of
paper to go to a single customer
- I question who has ordered this.
Whereas in Normanton, there are
several pallets of paper awaiting
despatch.
“Within Lutterworth, we are
shipping out circa 220,000 items a
day through automation and as you
can imagine it’s a hive of activity
between 6:30pm and 11pm.”
While engagement has certainly
become a buzzword for many in the
distribution industry and beyond,
Allsop describes that the EVO
Group has its own culture and is
self-directed for what it wants to
achieve using this clear identity.
He says: “You will only get ideas to
improve your operations from your
teams. I personally put together
a programme that has worked
particularly well around displaying
initiatives and encouraging people
to come forward. They know their
job. They know the shortcuts in that
job - it’s about how do you evolve
those shortcuts into a process that
is then fit for purpose and within the
boundaries of health and safety.
“As a business, we are always
looking to expand. I think our sales
team are particularly dynamic. They
are always looking for opportunities.
Number of Employees at EVO Group
2000

9 8 April 2016
EVO GROUP
Saying that, we are pragmatic in
implementing new ideas and know
what our capacities are within
our network and how best to gain
maximum efficiency.”
The Group also works with
external parties where relevant
to ensure the service delivered to
customers is constantly enhanced.
Phil says: “For instance, we work
with Hazel 4D who is the provider
of packaging to EVO for the last
three years. Their Total Packaging
Management solution means
that they store our stock in their
warehouse for call off. We receive
a daily delivery, and at the end
of the month we are only billed
for the stock that has been used.
“Notonlydoestheemployeesurveysupportacultureofope
withintheorganisation,italsoenablesmanagementtowork
employeestodrivepositive,constructivechangeacrossthe
Furthermore, we are also working with Ha
look at further efficiencies in our pallet ful
He also explains that, while the price of
an item is obviously important to an office
customer, the service and the accompan
service delivery are of equal, if not superi
importance. Leveraging its sophisticated
distribution network in order to fulfil the
needs of customers in this way is how
the company has been able to maintain
its place at the top.
Talent management
Allsop explains that in order to
ensure that the EVO Group is
consistently on track to deliver
its operational strategies; it
needs to have a constantly
motivated and well-trained

enness
kwith
business
azel 4D to
lfilment.”
f
e
nying
ior
d

EVO GROUP
1 0 0 April 2016
The Warehouse Management
Specialist
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info@davantigroup.com
workforce who is willing to go the
extra mile. He says: “As a business,
we aim to attract graduates and
commence with an apprenticeship
programme. I’m a great believer
in apprentices, particularly within
operations, I think they are a
must have for organisations
that operate in logistics.”
“We operate NVQs, as well as
on-site training which we carry out
across the board, from manual
handling all the way through to
the supervisors and warehouse
management systems. As a
company, we also run a number of
internal training and development
programmes. In addition, we have
a very recently launched mentoring
programme within the business,
combined with our internal awards
programme – all supported with
an annual employee survey.”
Not only does the employee
survey support a culture of

www.evo-group.co.uk 1 0 1
openness within the organisation,
it also enables management to
work with employees to drive
positive, constructive change
across the business. Even when
it comes to its contingent labour
force, EVO ensures that its agency
takes the time with temporary
workers to ensure that they are
fully aware of the company’s
operations and work ethic.
Having proved with its
successful merger in 2014,
the EVO Group has gone on
to become an essential part
of the UK’s business supplies
network and a model for
others looking to give true
value to their customers. The
company’s dedicated approach
to its operational strategy and its
supporting talent pool shows that
the Group has firmly cemented
its place in the market and is
well-positioned to be a serious
influencer for years to come.

FUTURE-PROOWritten by Alice Young
Produced by Richard Durrant

1 0 4 April 2016
ROHDE SCHWARZ GMBH CO. KG
R
ohde Schwarz – a globally-
leading electronics group
based in Munich, Germany
– has massively overhauled both
its supply chain and manufacturing
processes. Streamlining its ability
to meet demand by placing
the customer at the heart of its
operations has not only enabled
the company to achieve this goal,
but has also created a completely
new way of providing value for a
range of sectors and markets.
Operations
Rohde Schwarz utilises over
80 years of experience in high
frequency technology to deliver
products and services to a wide
range of sectors, spread across
a variety of markets. These
comprise: wireless communications
tests and measurement,
secure communications, media
operations, radio monitoring and
radiolocation and IT security.
From a products perspective,
Following a massive overhaul
of its manufacturing and supply
chain processes, Rohde
Schwarz is truly prepared for the
fourth industrial revolution

www.rohde-schwarz.com 1 0 5
the company provides universal
test platforms for all wireless
communications and wireless
standards, oscilloscopes, army radio
based SDR (software defined radio)
technology, Ethernet encryption,
TV transmitters and receivers for
radio monitoring. Of the company’s
9,900 global employees, almost
6,000 are stationed in Germany,
which not only greatly reinforces
its position in the country, but the
entirety of its European coverage.
Klaus Buchwald, Vice President
of Corporate Supply Chain
Management at Rohde Schwarz
adds how the sales channel is
set up: “We rely on our own sales
force who are experienced in our
customers’ products because
they are often very complex and
specific. It is really helpful to have
our own sales force to explain
our customer’s product and help
them find the right hardware or
software configuration and explain

1 0 6 April 2016
ROHDE SCHWARZ

how to use it. On top of that, we
established distributor channels for
products that have less complexity
and are more standardised.”
With its sales channels divided
into channel partner and its own
sales force. Rohde Schwarz is
able to serve its more than 93,000
different articles, with 17,000 new
articles every year, to more than
40,000 customers, with a rise of
up to 10 percent year on year
Having the ability to provide a
range of sectors with so many
services has ensured that Rohde
Schwarz is perfectly positioned
to offer after-sales services across
its entire range. Alongside more
traditional offerings such as
warranty extension, online service
management and order tracking,
the company can also offer more
customised solutions. These
include service request handling,
service level agreements and
obsolescence management.
Besides this, the company’s
logistics requirements have
changed dramatically since 2010.
Rohde Schwarz has experienced
a reduction in delivery times and
product lifecycle by 40 percent, a
100 percent increase in make-to-
order, and a 60 percent increase
in the number of assembled
materials. Based on the KANO
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES AT ROHDE SCHWARZ
9,900

1 0 8 April 2016
ROHDE SCHWARZ GMBH CO.KG
model of flexibility, agility and lead
time, the company has been able
to drive customer satisfaction
and differentiation by a decisive
competitive advantage through
supply chain performance.
Markus Fischer, Director of
Supply Chain Management at
the company’s Memmingen plant
explains the change process: “We
started with the vision for one
day turnaround time production
and supply chain with a clear
belief to invest in flexibility instead
of a forecast process and to
reduce logistics costs and cost
of sale to increase EBIT.”
To bring the vision into real life
and into the heart of all employees
working in production and supply
chain, Rohde Schwarz developed
a production system based on the
LEAN philosophy with a three step
approach. Having the end in mind
“The one day plant” turnaround time
was defined as the main driver.
In the first step “transparent
production system” value streams
were identified, lot sizes determined
and the lead times stabilised.
Based on that in the second
step “synchronised production
system” the value streams were
connected with a KANBAN
system and the turnaround times
further minimised. This was the
base for the third step “learning
organisation” where throughput
increased, lot sizes reduced and
the ability to react boosted.
Buchwald explains how the
changes were implemented across
thousands of employees: “We
initiated Change Management
On June 1st, 2013,
KG. In this posit
After earnin
professio
and log
In 1
fo
KLAUS BUCHWALD
VP Corporate Supply Chain Management

, Klaus Buchwald became Vice President Corporate Supply Chain at Rohde Schwarz GmbH Co.
tion, he is responsible for the global end-to-end Supply Chain for all business units.
ng a degree in mechanical engineering followed by a degree in industrial engineering, he started his
onal career as a consultant and project manager for various medium-sized companies in the production
gistics industries at CON MOTO Consulting Group.
1998, he joined Infineon, the global market leader in semiconductor technologies, as Head of Logistics
or the chip card and mobile radio division. In 2005, he switched to Head of Planning and Controlling for
the semiconductor plants in Villach (Austria), Regensburg (Germany) and Kulim (Malaysia). In 2008
Buchwald assumed the position as Plant Manager for the Warstein site (Germany). In the same
year he became Head of Supervisory Board of the plant in Cegléd (Hungary).

ROHDE SCHWARZ
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“Westartedwiththevisionforonedayturnaroundtimeproduction
andsupplychainwithaclearbelieftoinvestinflexibilityinsteadof
aforecastprocessandtoreducelogisticscostandcostofsaleto
increaseEBIT”
– Markus Fischer, Director of Corporate Supply Chain Management, Memmingen plant
trainings for all levels of hierarchy
and initiated a shop floor
management initiative to make sure
this could be communicated on a
daily basis – we are always trying
to support our staff and are doing
as much as we can to help them.”
Manufacturing transformation
Since implementing these
fundamental changes, the
company has been able to focus
substantially on reducing lead
times while increasing volume
flexibility, which has had, amongst
other things, a profound effect
on its ability to exceed the
demands of its customers.
Buchwald explains: “To be really
prepared and to have different
abilities to our competitors, we need
to have all necessary parts before
final assembly. With this concept,
we really try to use the customer
order as the consumption trigger
and then, based on this order, we do
an assembly on what the customer
really needs - our customer then has
the opportunity to choose between
a large variety of hardware and
software based options – and this
combined with stable lead times
whatever high the demand is.”

ROHDE SCHWARZ
Supply chain agility through digitalisation
Adding various layers of value to its manufacturing
processes necessitated the company’s adoption
of an ERP system to manage the increased
complexity of its operations – but technology
extends far deeper than a systems level.
Rohde Schwarz used its SAP system to
dimension and link the established value streams
with KANBAN up to seven level of the value
chain – from final assembly to PCB test and
assembly, PCB production, noncutting and
machining production to cable confection.
Fischer says: “Our company is really technology
driven. We have been working with ERP and
SAP systems. We need to understand what is
happening on the shop floor and value streams.
Of course, you can address SAP and how much
we produce and in what configuration – we
need to ensure that the data on the system
corresponds what is going on in reality.
If we have a better understanding of the
reality we can manage better value streams
and clients. Our whole supply chain needs
technology - we use data, systems and
interfaces. We are also in the process of
1 1 2 April 2016

www.companyurl.com 1 1 3
Rohde Schwarz is in the process of digitalising its
supply chain

1 1 4 April 2016
“Havingrevolutionisedamajorportionofitsbusinessand
supportedthechangeswiththeLEANphilosophy,Rohde
Schwarzisnowpoisedtodominateitsspacewiththe
possibilitiesoftheInternetofThings”
digitalising our supply chain. Because we are
living in a global world, our customers use
systems that we have to connect to ours.
Buchwald concludes: “With the successful
LEAN transformation we reduced and mastered
complexity but, more importantly, we laid the
base for the Internet of Things. We established
the ability to change and increase our resource
efficiency and can bring concepts like
collaborative robotics, digital operation with big
data in production, and new business models for
maintenance via life cycle monitoring into real life.

“Here also the need for protection in
all the big data and digital operation
came into reality and we can actively
show the use cases of our latest
business division’s cybersecurity
work in our own operation.”
Rohde Schwarz has shown
through the diligent way it
approaches its operations,
manufacturing, and supply chain
that it is a company strongly
grounded in the current realities of
modern electronics. The company
does, however, have the foresight
to appreciate the increasing
importance of technology on its
operations for the foreseeable
future. Having revolutionised
a major portion of its business
and supported the changes with
the LEAN philosophy, Rohde
Schwarz is now poised to dominate
its space with the possibilities
of the Internet of Things.
MARKUS FISCHER
Director of Corporate Supply Chain
Management, Memmingen plant

THE RIGHT
BREWWritten by Nell Walker Produced by Richard Durrant

TATA GLOBAL BEVERAGES
1 1 8 April 2016
Simon King, CPO of Tata
Global Beverages – the
global drinks division of
Tata Group – describes
the company’s
procurement and
logistics overhaul, and
the brand explosion

www.tataglobalbeverages.com 1 1 9
T
ata Group, since its inception
in 1868, has become one of
India’s largest multinational
conglomerate holding companies,
ever-developing founder Jamsetji
Tata’s 148-year-old vision. Tata
Global Beverages has been a part
of the group since 1960, and has
seen some of the industry’s most
significant drink innovations within
its company umbrella.
Global Beverages is a tea, coffee,
and water company, which counts
Tata Tea, Tetley, Teapigs, and
Eight O’Clock Coffee as some of
its biggest brands. Around 250
million servings of its products
are consumed every day, with a
strong brand presence in over 40
countries. Simon King, CPO of Tata
Global Beverages, describes the
impact of huge global trademarks
such as these: “Tata Tea is
enormous in India, as is Tetley in
the UK and Canada. We have joint
ventures in the US and in South
Africa. Business in the Middle East
is growing quite rapidly. It’s grown
largely by acquisition over a period
of years, and total revenues are
about $1.5 billion including joint
ventures.”
Each brand within Tata Group
operates independently, and
Global Beverages is currently
undergoing a procurement
transformation headed by King
himself: “Previously, each of the
brands in each of the countries had
looked after their own packaging-
buying under each of the individual
functions within them. We’re now
setting up the global procurement
approach so we can look at how
we deliver improved value to Global
Beverages by working with fewer,
better suppliers. Now we’re only
interacting with suppliers who
are able to support our business
objectives and growth plans, rather

1 2 0 April 2016
than just whoever happened to
have been used historically.”
The company’s procurement
overhaul includes a heavy
focus on putting in place the
right people, the right structure,
and the right approach to
logistics: “What we’ve got
is a regionally-placed
but category-led
matrix structure,” King
explains. “There are
teams placed in each
of our geographies,
and each one has a
head of procurement.
Every other member
of each team will also
take a global lead
in a particular area
of spend; a head of
logistics, a head of marketing, of
packaging, and so on. That way
we can drive a standard strategy
and way of operating across our
business.”
This standardised method
of operation has ensured that
Global Beverages maintains
great communication with both
stakeholder and consumer groups.
It allows the company to
discover and establish
best practice within each
region, and implement
it wherever appropriate.
So how does King
manage a supply chain
of Global Beverages’s
scale?
“Because it wasn’t
attempted before this
overhaul, we hadn’t
been able to test it,” he
explains. “First we had
to look at establishing
exactly what we spend. How
much? On what? With whom?
What are the contractual positions?
We’re in the process of putting in
Staff are employed
by Tata Global
Beverages
3,000

TATA GLOBAL BEVERAGESWILLIAM GRANT SONS
1 2 2 April 2016
5 Sales Offices, supported by
4 Dedicated Production Platforms, based in
3 Production Sites, on
2 Continents, bringing together
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SIMON KING, CPO
place a standard spend analytics
tool across all of the countries, so
they’ll be able to take feeds from all
the ERP systems and feed that into
our own tool.
“So where is the business going
in each category? What do our
stakeholders need from their
suppliers and their supply chains?
We use the knowledge of different
teams to measure how we should
actually be going about sourcing in
that particular area, so that spend
is as effective as possible. Then
we know what is going on in the
broader marketplace. It’s important
to liaise with the teams on what we
should be doing to optimise that
spend and deliver sustainable value
to the business.”
The company has a three year
plan in place at every step of the
supply chain, ensuring its methods
are optimised by 2019: “Quarter

one is about understanding
and updating knowledge of our
processes and the requirements of
the market,” says King. “Quarter
two is about refreshing the
three year plan, quarter
three is about taking
the first year of the
plan, turning it
into the annual
business plan
and getting it
aligned with the
business, and
quarter four is for
focussing on those
initiatives and making
sure we deliver them.”
Global Beverages is in the process
of perfecting the business-wide
ERP systems which will streamline
the company yet further. King is in
the final stages of switching from
outdated Excel spreadsheets
and pivot tables, negotiating with
potential lenders to put the new
spend analysis tool in place.
“We’re also putting a central
contract management tool
in place,” King says,
“because it’s very
difficult to keep on
track when there
are multiple
legal entities
and multiple
geographies
involved, so
this will allow
us to have all our
standard terms and
conditions held on that
system, with the ability to edit as
required.
“All of this is automatic and can be
built into our three year planning
process. There’s no way we can
keep a tab on our contracts without
Tata Global
Beverages products
are consumed daily
250
million
1 2 4 April 2016

1 2 6 April 2016
“ We’re only interacting with suppliers
who are able to support our business
objectives and growth plans ”

a management tool, and much of the Tata Group
is owned by charitable trusts, so we need to
maintain that ethical focus with these new IT
processes.”
Tata’s strong sense of ethics extends
throughout its operations, with a code of conduct
that suppliers and 3,000-strong employee base
alike are expected to adhere to, ensuring only
the best and most dedicated team: “In India
particularly Tata is a hugely powerful brand, and
people are delighted and proud to work within the
group,” says King. “They understand the ethical
element and what it stands for. It’s a huge part
of what impresses people about the business,
and it’s one of the reasons I joined, as well as the
charitable element, the great work Tata does, and
the strength of the brand.
“There isn’t the same level of awareness
globally as there is in India, and I’m doing my
small part to raise that awareness because I think
it’s a genuinely impressive organisation with lots
of fantastic ideals. Lots of businesses talk about
values but it’s not always as embedded as it is for
us. Tata Group lives up to its values.”

Business Review Europe - April 2016

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