↓ Reimagining sustainability with → industrious issue 9

offshore wind turbines 2020

| Sustainable shrimp | A healthy Louisiana | New mobility | Royal Bank of Scotland’s Marge | Howard University |
 Contents Industrious, Issue 9

Click on a headline to jump to that article

Transforming offshore wind turbines for sustainability pg.03

A smart mobility app for Italy’s railway pg.09
In Germany, Moovster wants to transform mobility pg.12
Why aren’t millennials buying life insurance? pg.19
Howard University overhauls its pg.23
network infrastructure
Influencer: Muriel Médard, 5G expert pg.28
The state of Louisiana takes on hepatitis C pg.31
In Ecuador, sustainable shrimp pg.37
Influencer: Riana Lynn, food innovation expert pg.42
Royal Bank of Scotland’s Marge helps pg.45
call center employees
Influencer: Ralph Clark, public safety expert pg.48
Broadridge puts the tech into Fintech pg.50
Big Thinker: Odile Panciatici, Groupe Renault pg.54
Quick takes: innovation in business pg.58

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Chief Content Officer
Magazine editor:
Justine Jablonska
Managing editors:
John Kultgen and Marshall Wright
For more industry stories:
Sebastian Huynh ibm.com/blogs/industries
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Rhea Palicha, Mary Ann Rementilla In an age of exponential tech, we
believe the industrious among
us treat curiosity as a renewable
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Magazine contributors: resource. They are called to legal/copytrade. PMZD8ZQ6
Matt A.V. Chaban, Cynthia Cunniff, apply human determination
Thomas LaMonte, Erik Nelson, and technological innovation to
Karam Singh Sethi make a difference in the global
community. Industrious magazine
explores the stories that bring this
credo to life.
→ Wind turbines in the sea
 A picture worth a

## — ##
02   03
thousand volts
Data visualization uncovers
new dimensions in wind power

words: Thomas LaMonte

photos: Jordan Peek, wind turbine technician, and EDS

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↖ caption caption↖ Offshore
caption caption
caption caption caption
wind turbines
spin atcaption
sunset 03
##
Offshore wind turbines are springing up from the sea

04 — 05
like sprouted plants from the soil in greater numbers
than ever before. Below the ocean’s surface, their critical
cable network extends—as if roots—and connects more
consumers year-over-year with renewable sources of
energy.
The proliferation of wind farms is helping propel
communities into the future of sustainability efforts.
Fourteen percent of the EU’s energy demand was met
with wind power in 2018, according to WindEurope. The
continued production and maintenance of these propeller-
topped marvels are crucial pursuits.
Getting up close with one of these windswept giants,
some reaching offshore heights as tall as 80 meters (262
feet), is just another day in the office for James Fisher
and Sons plc. This UK-based company is a world-leading
marine solutions organization. James Fisher employs
a team of experts at submarine rescue, ship-to-ship
transfers, and integrated engineering solutions. It also
provides solutions and services to maintain the subsea
cables that transmit power from offshore wind farms to
consumers on land.
It’s undeniable: the kinds of jobs in James Fisher’s
repertoire overlook a backdrop of oceanic beauty. But
there’s another thing of beauty worth admiring in this
170-year-old marine engineering company: James Fisher
is teeming with beautiful data.

The art of data science

In 2019, data scientists at James Fisher hypothesized
on the benefits of dredging up its siloed data from a
myriad of sources. With the help of the IBM Data Science
and AI Elite team (DSE), they created visualizations of
model data through a proof-of-concept project. These
data visualizations were built on IBM Watson Studio and
developed through the IBM Garage methodology.
The IBM partnership was about “making sense out of
data,” according to Sean Huff, Chief Digital Officer at James
Fisher. A major challenge was to aggregate data housed
across James Fisher’s many industries.
The data visualizations were accessible via an easy-
to-consume dashboard. Simulated risk assessments of
individual subsea cables were translated in visual terms,
and in near real-time. To optimize maintenance scheduling
of the subsea cables that connect offshore windfarms with
the mainland, predictions were based on the data.
With predictive maintenance, the data visualizations
gave sight to the unseen. Subsea cables lie on the seabed
and are extremely difficult to observe. That means cable
caretakers lack insight into their condition or status.
Users use the dashboard to drill down for live updates
of the health of a cable, account for anomalies, and view
predictions for potential risk to better plan for cable
maintenance and continuity.
When contoured with data, the invisible world beneath
depths is revealed, allowing insight that can’t be achieved

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with human effort alone.

↖ Wind turbine at twilight

in East Anglia
 — 9
Drawing out a competitive advantage

 07
An exciting aspect of data visualization is the role these

06 —9 
techniques can play in solving major business challenges.
For example, James Fisher employs a great number
of highly skilled specialists and experts. The company is
extremely vulnerable to knowledge loss due to retirement.
Data visualization technology helps flatten knowledge
demands to empower non-experts or more easily ramp up
new hires.
Most critically, data visualization provides an
unparalleled degree of insight. According to Ryan
Henderson, Executive Director of EDS HV Group (a James
Fisher company), subsea cables are the umbilical cord
that connect offshore wind with consumers. The ability
to make predictions about these cables remotely, despite
their restrictive location hundreds of meters deep, is an
invaluable asset. Predictive maintenance helps to ensure
renewable wind power has a route back to shore, channels
of great dependence that keep the lights on.
For James Fisher, the vantage point granted through
data visualization and predictive maintenance ensures
interruptions to energy utility services are kept to an
absolute minimum. No small detail: the question of
reliability will mean the difference between confidence in
wind power, or conversely, taking the wind out of the sails
of sustainability efforts.

A renewable future
Together, James Fisher and IBM are surging towards a
renewable tomorrow with the electrifying power of data
visualization. Setting course with this success as their
navigation, James Fisher looks to scale IBM Watson Studio
and apply data visualization to other uncharted waters of
the business.
For James Fisher the future is exciting, because the
promise of data visualization goes beyond business
optimization. It reveals new dimensions in which to
understand business problems and tilts into focus
opportunities on the horizon.
While no prediction is watertight, this much is clear: off
the coast of East Anglia and elsewhere, the winds of change
are blowing.

Industrious
industrious
Read about making data ready
for an AI + multicloud world

↗ Wind turbine at twilight in East Anglia

 Nugo
08 — 09
Can a smart mobility
app propel Italy’s
century-old railway?

words: Matt A.V. Chaban and John Kultgen

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↖ Illuminated railroad tracks in
Como, Italy 09

When Gruppo FS Italiane set out to create a mobility app,
it knew the variety of transportation options had to be as
diverse as the landscape itself.
“It’s the story of Italy,” Danilo Gismondi, the Head of IT
for FS Technology, told Industrious. “In a small area, we
have all the problems of a big country—mountains, sea,
urban, rural, different climates and different cultures.”
Within the first year of its summer 2018 launch, the
Nugo app added more than 200 transportation providers to
its platform. Together, they offer more than a dozen transit
options, including bullet trains, subways, taxis, tour buses
and ferries.
Best of all, the Nugo interface conveniently combines
them all into a single, seamless ticket.
The app is a cornerstone of Gruppo FS’s Extended
Customer Experience project. The century-old, state-run
rail and infrastructure company launched this initiative to
reimagine its relationship with customers and technology.
To Alessandro La Rocca, CEO of FS Technology, even a
short journey has the potential to be optimized.
“One minute you’re on the ferry,” La Rocca said, “the
next it’s a funicular,” a cable-incline rail car that serves
dozens of hilly cities and towns.
The density, diversity and geography of Italy is what
makes state-run Gruppo FS uniquely suited to developing
the country’s premier smart mobility app. And thanks to
↑ Train on coastline in Cinque Terre, Italy
Multimodal travel gains popularity
10 — 11
Keith Dierkx, IBM’s global leader for Rail, Freight
and Logistics, sees Nugo and the Extended Customer
Experience as satisfying travelers’ greatest desire: simple,
straightforward journeys.
“What people care about isn’t so much whether they’re
taking a train, a bus or a plane—what they care about is
getting to their destination, and getting there easily, safely
and at the right price,” Dierkx said. “Through mobile
technology, traditional transportation companies finally
have the capabilities to deliver these seamless, multimodal
trips.”
Nugo evolved from the app’s underlying one-click
ticketing system, which Gruppo FS first developed a
decade ago with IBM to serve Trenitalia.
In 2000, the European Union mandated greater
deregulation of the rail industry. To stay ahead of new
competitors, Gruppo FS put renewed emphasis on
customer service and multimodal integration. This
culminated with PICO, a digital reservations and ticketing
system built on IBM Cloud that more seamlessly integrated
the Gruppo FS network.
PICO proved so versatile, it became the back end for
Nugo. New transit modes such as taxis and sightseeing
buses were integrated into the PICO framework. Then the
Gruppo FS-IBM team created a new interface in the form of
Nugo’s multimodal smart app.
“Our history, traditions and technology combine to give
us a long-term vision for mobility,” Gismondi said.
It’s a vision that continues to evolve.
A mobility platform propelled by AI
The Extended Customer Experience project emphasizes
the company’s 114-year experience traversing Lake Como “Dove vuoi andare?” the need to keep up with customers’ rapidly evolving
to Calabria and everywhere in between, Nugo has a distinct demands. Nugo’s newest features exemplify this
advantage over startup rivals. “Where would you like to go?” consumer-first approach.
There are new tools where customers can transfer trips
Smart mobility moves ahead to a friend or relative via text, email, even social media
The app’s team was even set up independently from direct messages. There will be smarter route choices,
Gruppo FS’s dozens of existing units. such as shorter transfers, for the less mobile, and “more
“We knew that Nugo should be very fresh and very ecological,” La Rocca called it, which encourages walking
young,” La Rocca said. “It doesn’t matter if it was state- and mass transit.
owned or not. All that matters is moving people from here The addition of voice recognition and AI-enabled bots
to there how they want to move.” will allow users to naturally order tickets from virtual
It starts with the first and only thing users see when agents using texts or voice commands.
they open the Nugo app. A single prompt appears: “Dove Nugo proves how Gruppo FS can not just evolve but
vuoi andare?” In the international version: “Where would transform the transportation habits of an entire country.
you like to go?” “I used to drive 20,000 kilometers a year, and last year, it
Say you’re on the isle of Capri and want to have lunch was less than 9,000,” thanks to Nugo, Gismondi said. “I’m
in Naples before heading home to Rome. After answering honestly thinking of giving up my car entirely.”
“dove vuoi andare?” a series of itineraries pop up.
The journey begins with the ferry to Naples harbor, then
a choice: go by bus, taxi or the scenic route, a short walk
to the Funicolare Centrale. Following lunch, it’s the Metro
to Piazza Garibaldi, where a bullet train awaits, as well as
more affordable but slower trains. Once in Rome, a taxi or
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shared bike finishes the last miles.
You select a route from all these choices, and a single
ticket appears that works on every leg of the journey.
↑ A bus and a train car accessible
through Nugo | Image: Gruppo FS
Moovster CEO

12 — 13
Mario Lochmüller
wants to transform
mobility as we know it

words: Justine Jablonska and Arzi Rachman

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12 → Evening traffic jam in Germany
Mario Lochmüller is founder and CEO of Moovster. He spoke

14 — 15
to Industrious at the IAA Conference in Frankfurt, Germany.

What’s Moovster?
Our vision is to solve urban mobility. Moovster is an
open mobility-as-a-service platform. We want to make
mobility more flexible. We want to save people money and
reward them for rethinking their own individual mobility
behavior.
We have issues with traffic in all big cities every single
day. Cities are fighting congestion and have big problems
with air pollution. We want to improve the quality of living
in urban areas.

Did one city spark this idea?

I’ve lived in Munich for 16 years. There’s more traffic
year to year and by now Munich is the second most
congested city in Germany.
Cities are growing. With urbanization, studies tell us that
in 2050, 70 or more percent of people will live in cities.
Too many people in cities own cars and use them on a
daily basis. That won’t work anymore. It’s not sustainable
behavior. In every bigger city, you get stuck in traffic, have
air pollution and face streets packed with parking cars.
We can overcome that with technology, and with great
user experience. For example, we can reward people who
act more sustainably when it comes to mobility. Penalties
won’t solve the problems we face. That’s what I believe,
and what we believe as Moovster.

Do you own a car?

I haven’t owned a car for eight years. I got rid of it
because it was kind of useless.
It’s useful to have some flexibility, especially on the
weekends. But it was standing around: four, six weeks,
sometimes eight weeks, just parked in front of the house. I
decided, “that doesn’t make sense at all.”
You can easily organize a car to go to the mountains on
the weekends, you can rent one on a weekly basis. And it
doesn’t just save you money, it saves the world, it saves
resources.

How has you daily commute changed since you got rid
of your car?
In the mornings I typically take the subway. I can
prepare for the day, answer some emails. In the evenings, I
use car sharing because it’s faster. The roads are empty if I
leave after 8:00 pm.
If I leave earlier to meet friends in the city, I choose
bike sharing, or the new electric scooters, because it’s the
easiest and fastest way through the city.

What’s the status of Moovster?

Moovster is in beta right now. Our plans are to start in
Germany early this year.

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How did Moovster begin?
The foundations for Moovster were laid 3 years ago at BMW.

↑ Rainy traffic jam


“I haven’t owned a car for eight
years. I got rid of it because it was
kind of useless.”
— Mario Lochmüller, Moovster CEO
↑ Traffic jam on the A9 between
Munich and Nuremberg
So you were at BMW at the time?
Yes. I spent 16 years at BMW. The last six years
changed my perspective dramatically. I was looking at the
world, figuring out what new technology trends are driving
industries—not just mobility or automotive.
I learned a lot. We set up a digital business model
innovation unit within BMW. That was also the starting
point of Moovster.
The whole concept of Moovster was combining two
markets: mobility and e-commerce.
And gamification. Everybody loves rewards!
Exactly. We’re doing a platform approach. It’s platform
technology, but also a platform ecosystem, platform
economy.
For that, you need completely new skill sets. You
need strong partners with the capabilities to use the
technologies and create cool user experiences. For that
we went to IBM together with Aperto and IBM iX. We also
used the IBM Garage approach.
To create a great user experience and also use
technologies like AI and Cloud, IBM was a very pragmatic
partner. It allowed us to bring our whole concept together.
I did the first iteration with another design agency. We
got unbelievably good feedback testing within BMW in the
first step. Then we decided to bring it to life and build it
on a scalable level. That’s what I found in this technology
partnership with IBM.
It took us 1.5 years to have a scalable solution, ready
for go-to-market.
What tips do you have for future entrepreneurs?
Having a sponsor who believes in your idea is the most
important thing. I had this within BMW.
Then, of course, you have to convince people to be your
partners.
The most crucial thing is, don’t tell me, show me. Show
people it can work. I’ve heard a lot of times, “that will
never work.”
↑ Busy intersection in Cologne, Germany
16 — 17
I first pitched my idea within BMW. I sent 15 people
emails: Who wants to join a little pilot to be the first users
of Moovster? I explained the concept: the rewards benefit
system, and a mobility budget to spend flexibly on all
different mobility providers.
We got over 300 applications in two days.
So we had to kick off things fast and built the first MVP
in a few weeks.
Your first MVP doesn’t have to be perfect. But it has
to give a first feeling of how it would work. From that we
learned so many things.
What did you learn from the user testing?
We learned users want to get rewarded with all different
kinds of mobility. If they act more sustainably, they want
to get rewarded—by walking to work, or using public
transport instead of car sharing.
We learned to prototype the idea fast. Collect the
feedback, and go to your sponsor and say, these are the
things people would love to have. That’s what I did. All
doors opened. Because people saw that it was working. It
wasn’t just, “we can, we should.”
Just do it. Don’t tell me. Show me.
What’s next for Moovster?
We’re getting the product out into the market, collecting
new user feedback, and coming up with new features.
We realized our users want some social challenges as
well. They ask, can I compete with a friend to be more
sustainable?
For anyone interested: go to getmoovster.com and
register as a test user. Join us and make more out of your
mobility!
We want to tell this story to more cities, because cities
are big stakeholders.
We want to make the world a little better, and life
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a little better, to enrich the quality of life for people
in big cities.
 Why aren’t

18 — 19
millennials buying
life insurance?
Confusing and complicated
policies stymie young consumers

words: Matt A.V. Chaban

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↖ A creative office in Sweden 19
“Millennials are certainly
interested in life insurance.
They just don’t know where
to start, or where the value is.”
—David Kwon, IBM iX
There’s a popular expression these days: “millennials killed
[fill in the blank].” Mortgages, marriages and avocados are
among the many things that have filled that space.
Now, some want to add life insurance to the list. Today,
20- and 30-somethings are taking out smaller and fewer
term-life policies and annuities, according to data and
industry leaders. A popular explanation is millennials’
limited resources and lack of dependents.
Yet a new survey by IBM iX reveals cost is not the only
concern for Millennials when it comes to choosing to buy
life insurance. It’s not even their top concern.
More often, the issues are well within the industry’s
control: the complexity, confusion and inconvenience
surrounding life policies.
“This generation may be worse-off financially than previous
generations, but they’re also a very different kind of consumer,”
said David Kwon, an associate partner for insurance at IBM
iX. “Carriers need to be digital-first and consumer-obsessed,
just like millennials. Millennials are certainly interested in life
insurance—as these numbers show. They just don’t know
where to start, or where the value is.”
↑ Friends sharing food at a pool party in California
Of those interviewed, 46 percent cited confusion
around policy specifics, and even the general need for life
insurance, as the biggest impediment to purchasing it. Cost
was a concern for only 35 percent.
Twenty-three percent blamed hurdles involved in getting
a policy, with all the paperwork and doctor’s appointments
involved. And 28 percent said they could not find the time—
underscoring how much effort is involved. (Percentages
add up to more than 100 because respondents could select
all answers that applied.)
In total, exactly half said they did not have a life policy,
while 39 percent had term life and 13 percent had annuities.
“The biggest roadblock clearly remains building interest
and understanding with the target population,” Yoann
Michaux, an iX partner for insurance, said.
The industry certainly needs younger consumers,
according to industry experts.
In four of the past six years, premiums and deposits
declined in the U.S., according to the Insurance Information
Institute. And 2018, the last year for which data is available,
only saw a slight uptick of 1.3 percent. That same year,
S&P Global Market Intelligence found net income for life
insurers fell 10 percent.
Many in the industry point to declining policies among
20- and 30-somethings as a leading culprit.
While younger adults have historically held fewer term-
life and annuity policies, companies are reporting a notable
drop. According to LIMRA, a finance and insurance research
organization, the ratio of insurance coverage-to-annual
income for those under 35 was 4.0 to 1 in 2004. It rose
slightly to 4.3 in 2010 before falling by a third in 2016, to
2.9. For those in the 45-64 range, their coverage-to-income
either rose slightly or was flat.
When home loans, prescriptions and groceries are now
all available with a few clicks, many life insurers recognize
they need to make simple, more appealing, more digital
products, according to Kwon and Michaux—especially to
woo younger consumers.
The challenge remains figuring out how, particularly in a
highly regulated, risk-averse industry.
The opportunities are considerable, based on the desires
of those surveyed: 70 percent said they’d be likely or
20 — 21
very likely to buy life insurance if they better understood
offerings and benefits, while 67 percent would if the
process were faster or easier.
A number of respondents cited personalized
recommendations to either determine the right coverage or
compare carriers. Others wanted the ability to increase or
decrease coverage more easily over time. Some suggested
gamification and tying rewards to healthier habits.
Some were quite blunt: “Provide plain-English plan
descriptions,” wrote one person.
A few companies—both startups and industry
incumbents—are exploring such options to suit consumer
demands, including algorithms to vet health risks instead
of or in addition to relying on doctors.
But declining policies suggest it’s not yet enough to
reverse current trends.
“This age group has always been a challenge, but they
remain the holy grail,” Kwon said. “Get them early and
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they’re locked in for life.”
HU:
Howard University

22 — 23
transforms its
technology to
propel STEM,
diversity, research

words: Justine Jablonska

photos: Howard University

“We want to use technology to assist

both our administration to make the
right decisions, and to assist students
and faculty.”
—Jonathan Piersol,
Howard University CIO

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↖ Howard University medical students 23
 “All of that data needs to be

24 — 25
integrated, stored, and used to
forecast out into the future.”
—Jonathan Piersol, Howard University CIO

Howard University stretches across 256 acres in

Washington, D.C. and Maryland, with a main campus
in northwest D.C. The university is home to 9,000+
undergraduate, graduate and professional students from
50 U.S. states and territories, plus 66 nations.
Howard is one of the oldest historically black
universities in the U.S. Established March 2, 1867, the
university has a long tradition of academic excellence as
well as social justice and activism.
Today, the university is the top producer of black
students entering U.S. medical schools, and has the largest
number of on-campus black Ph.D.’s in the world. Alumni
include Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winner Toni Morrison,
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and U.S.
Representative Elijah Cummings.
Jonathan Piersol is Howard University’s CIO. A strong
advocate of STEM programs at HBCUs, he believes STEM
plays an essential role in preparing black students for a
world rapidly transforming through technology.
Piersol is leading Howard’s own transformation, the
modernization of the university’s technology infrastructure.
It’s a monumental challenge: reshaping the school’s entire
IT strategy to exponentially propel forward the school’s
academics, research and diversity.
“We want to use technology to assist both our

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administration to make the right decisions, and to assist
students and faculty,” Piersol told Industrious from his
Howard University office.

↑ Howard University campus

 To accomplish that goal, he’s set a 5-year IT strategy,

26 — 27
with network infrastructure transformation as its
foundation.
“It’s a foundational project that allows us to do
important things with the network, and give users an
abundance of IT access,” he said. “It also allows us to
springboard into other pillars of the IT strategic plan and
enable the Howard Forward strategic plan.”
Howard Forward, set forth by the university as a whole,
has five pillars, including increased academic excellence,
increased research and great discoveries, operations
efficiency to deliver better education, increased financial
stability (“we want to do more with less”), and outreach to
communities in DC and the world.
The university’s current infrastructure was grown
organically, which is the case with many organizations
with various departments. Schools and deans have their
own small networks, for example; the Provost and Chief
Operating Officer also have their own.
Piersol is building one contiguous network that
is centrally managed and is flexible enough so that
departments and research units can work independently
while still being in the same network. That one network
allows for security control, an important factor in education.
The new network is shifting to IBM’s hybrid cloud, an
open platform that facilitates flexibility and portability for
applications and data built on multiple components from
public cloud, private clouds, plus on-premise IT.
The IBM project is bringing together all the buildings on
campus, plus the remotes, as one large network. Buildings
are outfitted with between 20 and 50 switches on different
floors that control the connections and computers.
The other part of the project is the integration of
Howard’s business systems: the financial transactions, HR
systems, personnel and student systems.
“With a single IT ecosystem,” Piersol said, “data is
available to the decision-makers who need it.” down paths they haven’t considered? Can we help them “I love to talk to students,” he said. “I need the voice of
His team is also building a data warehouse and a data find success?” the customer. At Howard, the student is the customer.”
lake. The data can also help struggling students, offering Those students are already seeing the results of
“We have lots of information,” he said—from the lock information into what has helped students in similar Piersol’s work. In 2019, students were able to watch their
swipes into buildings to the video captured from public positions in the past. Data can also offer views into what’s homecoming football game for the first time on ESPN.
safety cameras, to information coming in through research working, or not working, with professors and faculty. Additionally, IoT capabilities installed into renowned sickle
channels, from the university’s TV and radio stations. “Here’s the last 50 people who took your exam,” he said, cell research means that that important work can move
“All of that data needs to be integrated, stored, and used “and here are the questions that weren’t understood well. forward at an accelerated pace.
to forecast out into the future,” he said. Sometimes it takes a computer with nothing but time to The school is building up its tech course offerings
Piersol is particularly focused on leveraging data with see that type of information.” and tech reputation. Piersol wants to attract an even
both AI and BI (business intelligence). His goal is to use Piersol acknowledges that while the university—as more diverse student body to focus specifically on
that intelligence in areas like enrollment management. much of higher education—may be a bit behind technology- technology. He also wants students in non-tech fields to
“What students are we recruiting? What are their wise than commercial sectors, he believes that the be tech-literate.
attributes? Which students have excelled and in what technology will help the university leapfrog into the future. “There’s no industry where technology doesn’t enter
areas? This information can help us advise students,” he Piersol’s technology career began when he was in the your life,” he said. “For political science majors, polls are
said. military. He worked as a Marine Corps communications everything. For social sciences and psych majors, data
A student might be considering engineering as a operator, managing mobile radios and antennas. He also is everything. Having an understanding for business
major, for example. Insights from data may show that this studied, and excelled at, accounting and finance. Leading intelligence is huge in everybody’s industry. You have to
student could excel in medicine, opening up a new set of an IT organization the size of Howard University allows him know what’s going on. You have to validate it.”
opportunities. to combine those skills.

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“We want to use the technology to make the best “As CIO, I wear a lot of hats,” he said. He spends as
possible decisions in recruiting,” Piersol said, “and to much time with students as possible, which helps him
advise students in the best way we can. Can we guide them understand how his team can improve user experience.

↑ Jonathan Piersol, Howard University CIO ↑ Howard University graduate students

 What’s most exciting to you

28 — 29
about 5G? Until now, different types of wireless
technologies such as wifi and cellular
were generally developed in a separate
way, requiring users to go back and forth
in ad-hoc, clunky and high touch ways.
The fact that 5G is open to multiple
technologies means that users should be able to,
if the right technological choices are made, use
resources in a blended way, truly deriving the
benefit of available spectrum in their location in
real time. This heterogeneous network use should
also allow for much greater robustness as well as
Muriel
new, strong security guarantees.
The other aspect that’s exciting is the
emphasis on low-delay, generally termed low
Médard

latency, communications. Delay is not the inverse

of throughput—you actually have to give up
throughput for delay. Being able to balance these
two parameters for differentiated services, and
developing the coding technology behind it, opens
up a whole technical field.

Where will 5G have the

biggest impact? If the right choices are made, I believe 5G
should become seamless, adapting service
parameters to the needs of applications,
preferences of users, and availability
of resources. Incorporating different
wireless technologies means that applications
will be able to mix and match the capabilities of
different underlying technologies in a dynamic
and powerful way. Much of 5G is centered around
bringing in new verticals, such as automotive
or industrial networks, and previously stand-
alone technologies, such as satellite services or
sensor networks. Not being limited by monolithic
Massachusetts standards should truly open the way for innovation
Institute of Technology in a way that wireless technologies have not
Cecil H. Green
Professor of Electrical enjoyed until now.
Engineering and
Computer Sciences

industrious
28 ↖ Technicians in Berlin, Germany
 Theeatquae
Ad state ofEquae

30 — 31
##   ##
peritio ritecaepudi
Louisiana takes on
odis eostC
hepatitis Ehendiosam veles as re
nesequi
“If we wantsitiam
peoplequiationsed mos
to be healthy,
dolupienihil
we invelente
have to offer voluptum
them every
opportunity
ipisquia quidelto do
mi,so.”
aliquo
—Meta Smith Davis
maxime volor ratempor min non
porehendi blautet et explicide
archillab ium sanimos alictist
words: Justine Jablonska
facepel igname

words: Writers Name

photos: Name Name

industrious
31
##
BANKING

↖ caption caption caption caption

↖ Louisiana
caption state
caption capitol
caption at sunset
caption

Meta Smith Davis is a mother, grandmother and great-
grandmother. An outspoken advocate and public speaker
on issues of social justice and community health, Davis
works as a program manager for Open Health Care Clinics in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
“If we want people to be healthy, we have to offer them
every opportunity to do so,” Davis said from her Louisiana
office.
Davis was diagnosed with hepatitis C, caused by a virus
that attacks the liver, in the 2000s.
“Hepatitis C is the deadliest infectious disease in the U.S,”
said Dr. Alex Billioux, Assistant Secretary of Health for the
Louisiana Department of Health. “It kills more people than
the next 60 reportable infections combined.”
Most patients have no symptoms. That means the
disease can be challenging to diagnose and treat. But
treatment, through antiviral medications, does work in 98
percent of patients—including Davis.
“I got on the medication for hepatitis C,” Davis said. “I
took it for 12 weeks. Hepatitis C was gone. It’s something I
want everyone to know about.”
Though highly effective in so many patients, the
treatment historically had prohibitively high costs. Dr.
Billioux estimates that more than 50,000 Louisianans have
hepatitis C. In 2017, less than 400 patients were treated.
In 2019, Louisiana became the first state to pioneer a
subscription-based pricing model for unlimited hepatitis C
treatment. In the five-year program, Louisiana established
an agreement with a hepatitis C medication manufacturer
guaranteeing unlimited access to the cure while capping
↑ Bridge and barges in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
the state’s costs for these medications. That means the
state will be able to treat as many patients as possible,
versus paying a per-patient treatment, which is both costly
and limiting.
The state wants to reach those patients quickly because
of the disease’s infectiousness.
“A lot of people don’t even know they’re living with
hepatitis C,” Davis said. “How would you know there’s a
cure, if you don’t think it applies to you?”
To ensure that awareness and diagnosis happen at
earlier, more easily treatable stages, the state is enacting a
new solution in two phases. The first is the IBM Community
Health Platform.
Hepatitis C is a symptom of broader societal issues and
inequalities, so the solution also strives to create economic
and educational opportunities for Louisiana residents.
“Innovation requires risk. It requires boldness,” said Paul
Woods, IBM Client Executive. “How can we come together
and help re-imagine Louisiana as a healthier, safer and
smarter state?”
The IBM Community Health platform
The IBM Community Health platform comprises
two mobile applications, one for members (patients
or individuals at risk for hepatitis C) and the second for
coaches—community health workers like Davis who are
trained to support members on their journey to cure.
The member app is hybrid cloud ready. It’s built on
the IBM Cloud, leverages Red Hat OpenShift, and is being
developed as Open Source software that all IBMers can
contribute to.
↑ Louisiana state capitol park
32 — 33
According to Woods, the solution can be scaled and
replicated in other projects and applied to various use cases
anywhere in the U.S. The code base can be configured
through the backend, and features can be added—even
remotely—to improve the user experience.
Building community
As the solution rolls out, the IBM team is working to stay
fully connected to the community.
“We need the community’s partnership and trust,” Eric
Kane, IBM project team lead, told Industrious from Baton
Rouge.
The technology is just one piece of the puzzle. The most
important focus is the people, both the patients and the
community health workers working to reach them.
Community health workers are trusted patient
advocates because they’re part of the community they
serve. Often, they’re former patients—which gives them
crucial empathy and insights.
“There are a lot of challenges for the folks who live here,”
Davis said.
She’s one of dozens of coaches working with the state of
Louisiana and IBM. Together, they’ve gathered input from
field studies, as well as formal and informal community
meetings with residents, researchers, community leaders,
healthcare providers, government agencies and public
officials.
“How can we engage a population that may be hard to
industrious
reach?” Kane said. “They might have extreme blockers to get
to care—whether income to afford a bus pass or the ability to
take time off work, or doctor’s offices without childcare.”
 — 37
The IBM team runs design thinking workshops to get that

— 35
type of user input and iterative feedback, and make sure it’s

37 
part of the ultimate solution. Fostering relationships at all

34 
levels is a crucial component of the work.
“One day we’re in a federally qualified health center,
meeting with hepatitis C patients, some of whom are
homeless or suffering from challenging conditions,” Kane
said. “Another day we’re with community health workers
who are deeply passionate about their work.”
The team also met with state officials and university
researchers, creating an ecosystem focused on an end-to-
end solution for improving population health.
“We’ve got an opportunity here,” said Woods. “The right
people and the right place at the right time. We’ve got the
technology; we’ve got the motivation. It’s a special time to
be in Louisiana.”
App functionality: the journey to cure
The member app feed features a personalized content
stream, based on where the member is in their journey
to cure. A new member may see content related to
the benefits of having a coach, quick tips on managing
symptoms, or words of encouragement from a community
member.
At the core of the experience, the My Care page guides
members step-by-step, from unknown hepatitis C status
to cure. As members achieve health milestones, such as
getting a coach or being tested, they earn badges and points
that can be redeemed for rewards. Patients can set up
treatment reminders, plus earn points for logging treatment.
The app offers an interactive resource map with testing
locations, mobile care buses, pharmacies, syringe services,
and more.
The app is completely anonymous. Members are not
required to enter any personal details.
Importantly, patients can work towards being a coach.
Members have access to education on a variety of topics
related to overall well-being. The app offers a reward and
incentive structure, and the potential for earning income
gets to the root challenge that many patients face.
Into a hepatitis C-free future
Woods and Dr. Billioux are especially excited about the
possibility of scaling this work.
“This allows us to prepare for the future of scale,” Woods
said. “We talked about potentially opioids, maybe HIV,
syphilis, childhood diabetes and obesity.”
For Dr. Billioux, Louisiana could potentially become a
model for other states facing similar population health
issues.
“This moonshot opportunity allows us to build the
technologies we need to become one of the most innovative
states in the country for healthcare and health,” he said.
For Davis, there’s too much work to do to stop.
“People are counting on us not to quit on them,” she said.
“I’m not going to quit.”

Industrious
industrious
→ Tugboat pushes barges down the Mississippi River
in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
In Ecuador,

36 — 37
sustainable
shrimp
for a
sustainable
future words: Justine Jablonska
photos: Sustainable Shrimp Partnership

industrious
↖ Ecuadorian shrimp | Image: SSP 37
Pamela Nath has just gotten off the phone with a with fewer resources—with a smaller environmental impact.

Manhattan chef when we connect on a snowy New York
morning. The chef's fresh shrimp delivery is being delayed
because of the weather.
That delivery is one tiny part of the 1.5 million pounds of
shrimp exported from Ecuador in 2019. Shrimp are sold by
their quantity per pound; Ecuadorian shrimp average from
20-30 a pound to 50-60 a pound.
“It’s a lot of shrimp,” Nath said.
Nath is the director of the Sustainable Shrimp
Partnership, a sustainability initiative led by Ecuadorian
shrimp producers. SSP’s goal: the highest quality premium
shrimp that meets the highest social and environmental
standards.
The ever-expanding global population, estimated by
the UN to hit 9 billion by 2050, means a growing need for
protein, including seafood—and shrimp.
Around 3 million tons of farmed shrimp are produced
worldwide annually. Shrimps are farmed via aquaculture,
where fresh- and saltwater populations are cultivated
under controlled conditions. Aquaculture uses less land
and fresh water than meat production, according to Nath,
with better feed conversion and ratio, and higher rate of
protein retention. That means more food and more protein
38 — 39
The UN expects aquaculture to contribute to more
than half of global fish consumption by 2025. Aquaculture
methods can vary widely from one farm to the next—let
alone across the globe. Which is why, Nath said, one of
SSP’s founding tenets is a race to the top.
She explains: Farmed shrimp, a commodity market, has
traditionally rewarded those with the lowest prices. Those
low prices can also mean that best farming practices get
sacrificed, which could mean a lower quality product, as
well as higher antibiotics use because of greater risk of
disease.
Ecuador is the world’s second largest shrimp producer,
after India.
“SSP was born because a group of Ecuadorian
enterprises got together a few years ago and said, we
see many regions are looking to lower the cost of shrimp
prices,” Nath said. Their concern was that lower prices
would come at the cost of responsible practices.
The group wanted to highlight that Ecuador was
committed to producing shrimp with sustainable practices.
SSP members are Aquaculture Stewardship Council
certified, with a particular focus on zero antibiotic use,
neutral water impact and full traceability.

“A growing race to the bottom of the shrimp industry

“It’s not just farm to fork.
This is before the farm.”
—Luis Izquierdo, IBM
is harmful to the shrimp, and to the environment,” Nath
said. “It also limits consumer choice and their ability to buy
healthy and sustainable farm shrimp.”
Consumer awareness is critical, said Jose Antonio
Camposano, president of Ecuador’s Aquaculture Chamber.
He works with SSP to educate consumers and retailers
alike on why origin adds to the value of the end product.
“Most consumers, especially in the U.S., don’t really
know where the shrimp they eat comes from,” Camposano
said in a phone interview.
Distributors, supermarkets, importers and wholesalers
too may not know—or want to know—the origin of the
shrimp, especially if it may be associated with bad
practices, or environmental or labor issues.

SSP criteria 1: Zero antibiotics

In the 1990s, white spot disease decimated entire
shrimp farms across Asia. To combat and prevent
disease, much of the global shrimp industry began putting
antibiotics into the water the shrimp were farmed in.
The Ecuadorian shrimp industry took a different tact.
“We helped the animal develop its own resistance,”
Camposano said.
Decades later, the resistance in Ecuadorian shrimp is
natural, a result of the animals’ own genetic capacity to
resist and tolerate disease. Part of that is the shrimp feed
that is crucial to keep the animals’ immune system healthy,
he added.
Antibiotic levels in animal-based food production have

industrious
long been a concern for researchers. Studies show that
even small levels can lead to the development of antibiotic
resistance in humans.

↑ Large shrimp farm in Ecuador ↑ Shrimp farming in Ecuador | Image: SSP

 — 43
SSP criteria 2: Traceability to demonstrate all value to highest environmental and social standards.

— 41
the end consumer “We think everyone deserves a better product,”

43 
For this, SSP turned to IBM. Camposano said.

“We’re working under the IBM Food Trust system,”
Camposano said, “to provide all the information to
consumers so they can better understand how the shrimp
was produced.”
IBM Food Trust was created specifically for the food
ecosystem. It’s a blockchain solution different from
any other blockchain product, IBM Food Trust Business
Development Executive Vanessa Barbery said: “it’s been
created and tailor-made for the industry.”
The clients don’t need knowledge about blockchain to
use it, Barbery said. “We integrate into their data and their
supply chain. For the client, it’s really simple.”
Each shrimp has an identifier, which is leveraged
through blockchain. Anyone can follow the full journey of
the life of the shrimp through the supply chain.
“It stocks at X processor, Y distributor, Z retailer,”
IBM Food Trust Global Sales Leader Luis Izquierdo said.
“There’s one simple version of the truth that can be
followed on the blockchain.”
Sharing that information—that truth—can help drive
trust for the brand. Which can then help drive sales.
“It’s not just farm to fork,” Izquierdo said. “This is
before the farm. What feed goes into the shrimp? What’s
the shrimp larva information? There’s lots of information
that can be shared.”
In their work with SSP, Barbery and Izquierdo see
substantial interest from the farmers in the technology.
“They need it to stand out from the competition,”
Barbery said.
Because their product is premium, its prices may also
be premium. The farmers may struggle with explaining
the price: “it’s because I don’t use antibiotics, and I don’t
use children in my production line,” are all true, but don’t
necessarily add value.
Traceability provides that value.
“Our shrimp has many certifications,” Barbery said.
“But instead of just saying that, we can share the data that
validates that information,” which includes care at every
stage of the production cycle to avoid antibiotic use. That
care also extends to employees and the environment as
well.
40 
That might extend beyond shrimp in the not-so-distant
future. Other Ecuadorian industries—banana, cocoa,
coffee—are looking to SSP, he said, and asking how it’s
done.
“Let’s say you’re a pineapple producer,” Barbery said.
“You’re rainforest certified. You put that badge on your
product. As a consumer, how do I know what you’re saying
is true?”
With technology, the pineapple producer could share
about how they’ve planted 15,000 trees. That information
validates what you’re saying about your product in general,
Barbery said.
“That’s our next goal,” Barbery said. “How do we face
the consumer with transparency, and show them why what
you’re saying is true.”
Do you eat shrimp? What’s your favorite shrimp recipe?
Barbery and Izquierdo both love ceviche. So does
Camposano: “I eat a lot of shrimp. I love Ecuador ceviche.”
Nath describes SSP’s 180-second challenge: “You put
the shrimp in boiling water for 180 seconds. Then you take
it out. You don’t need anything on it.”
That’s right: no sauce, no condiments.
Camposano also loves the 180-second boiled shrimp.
“It’s salty but sweet. The crunch! The texture!” he said.
“You can taste the difference with a shrimp that’s been
taken care of.”

SSP criteria 3: neutral impact on water

Water used to produce the shrimp is the same
quality when it goes out as when it came in. That means
aquaculture farms have effective waste management
strategies in place.

What’s next for SSP and other industries

“Since the launch of SSP, we’ve seen industry
colleagues and countries announcing efforts to improve
their practices,” Camposano said. “That’s very good. We
want to make sure everyone is racing with us.”

Industrious
industrious
SSP has had early success with early adopters, and now
is working to educate the mainstream market that there’s
space for a new category of shrimp produced with the

↗ Ecuadorian shrimp | Image: SSP

 What is the biggest potential

for technology in the food
industry?
42 — 43
In this decade, we have to figure out how
to efficiently feed 9 billion people. With
JourneyAI, more companies will meet
sustainable development goals faster.

Why are micro foods

the future of nutrition? Journey Foods is a bold, machine
And where does learning-powered software platform
technology come in? for food companies. We created micro
foods as the foundational element of our
Riana
research. Off this foundation, we’ve built
enterprise technology that improves product
Lynn

monitoring and development for consumer

packaged goods companies, ingredient suppliers
and manufacturers. With a focus on saving
companies’ money and time, Journey Foods
tools accelerate innovation to improve decision-
making and operations with AI nutrition and
supply chain insights embedded in integrative
software. Journey Foods software enables food
companies to quickly grow from new ideas, or
new improvement, to commercialization by
configuring desired consumer preferences,
generating improved product formulations
through ingredient tagging, receiving automated
compliance and supply chain insights on nutrition
and sustainability indicators, and seamless
Founder and CEO, integrations to global ERP tools.
Journey Foods,
Food Innovation Expert

industrious
42 ↖ Organic fruits and nuts
 Royal Bank of Scotland
Buying a home?

44 — 45
Here’s how
technology can
make it easier.

words: Karam Singh Sethi

industrious
← Greenock, Scotland: Andy and Chris
Scoherty’s new neighborhood 45
“Buying a home is one of the hardest things we’ve ever
done,” said Andy Scoherty. “Mortgages are complicated,
and it’s just hard for us to know if we had all the right
information.”
Scoherty spoke to Industrious from the new home he
purchased recently with partner Chris Scoherty. It’s located
just outside of Greenock, Scotland.
“It’s nice to see so much effort, planning and saving
all come together in the end, especially as first-time
homebuyers,” Scoherty said.
“Effort” is an understatement. To obtain a mortgage,
potential buyers must be pre-approved, research interest
rates, and meet with multiple banks. According to National
Public Radio, “After 10 years of paying for your house, you
could have $121,000 worth of ownership built up — or you
could have only $42,000.” No small difference. If buyers
don’t make the right financial decisions early on, they (and
their families) could be paying for them for many years to
come.
For first-time homebuyers, the amount of information it
takes to make an informed decision can be daunting. The
Scohertys began their homebuying journey in 2018. They
worked with Royal Bank of Scotland, which manages over
748 billion in assets.
Obtaining a bank-issued mortgage is usually one of
the first steps in realizing the dream of home ownership.
For banks, supporting customers during this process has
become increasingly difficult. Regulations, products, and
processes are continuously evolving. Keeping up with the
most up-to-date information can be difficult, even for the
most state-of-the-art banks.
↑ The Royal Bank of Scotland team supporting customers
To help the Scohertys and Wright, Royal Bank of
46 — 47
Scotland needed to access and apply accurate policies
to his unique set of needs throughout the homebuying
process. Customer support teams needed information
ready and available at all times. But this proved nearly
impossible because of how spread apart the bank’s
data systems were. To solve this problem, Royal Bank of
Scotland turned to IBM.
“When we started the project, we quickly realized the
bank’s data was sitting at a whole variety of separate on-
premise solutions,” said IBM Consultant Peter Smith. “We
needed to put it into a single cloud [to enable one single
point of access for employees]. What we’ve developed is
something that’s totally unique to what the bank needed: a
customized AI platform, built with Watson Assistant, for the
mortgage contact center.”
Sitting side-by-side, the Royal Bank of Scotland and
IBM teams co-created an AI-powered, cloud-based
platform that provides mortgage call center employees with
information at their fingertips to support homebuyers.
The platform is called “Marge.” Launched on Valentine’s
Day, she is designed to be smart and approachable.
Intentionally personified as a member of the Royal Bank of
Scotland team, she even has her own, evolving (sometimes
cheeky) personality.
“She does everything for us,” MaryAnn Fleming, Royal
Bank of Scotland Head of Homebuying Services said.
“We’ve identified her as ‘Marge’ because she’s human,
Marge was built directly on the cloud, embedded in the
she’s empathetic. As far as we’re concerned, she’s a
bank’s existing data structures. She has access to new data
colleague. It’s very difficult to consider her as a platform, as
added every minute via content updates and customer
a system with no emotion.”
interactions.
For Royal Bank of Scotland mortgage call center
employees, she is their AI brain.
“Our contact center is key to our overall business,”
said Fleming. “The challenge was being able to provide
customers with the best possible service for their needs.”
The value of change, and variety of products and
knowledge base Royal Bank of Scotland call center
employees had to retain made it challenging for them to
focus on the customer. They’d instead focus on getting the
answer to their next question, according to Fleming.
Today, Royal Bank of Scotland employees can now get
quick support from Marge by typing keywords into a console
while they’re on the phone with a customer. Thanks to the
easily accessible technology, the employees are now able
to support new and existing home buying customers.
Since implementing the tool, the bank has seen a 20
percent improvement in customer feedback across the
board.
As Marge evolves, Royal Bank of Scotland employees will
be empowered to do great work, and the bank will continue
on its journey to becoming a Cognitive Enterprise, IBM’s
vision for the next generation business model.
For the Scohertys, that’s materialized in buying their first
home.
industrious
“For us, the home buying process was made very
simple,” Scoherty said. “They supported us in every step of Read the Building the
our journey.” Cognitive EnterpriseTM
report
↑ Royal Bank of Scotland's MaryAnn Fleming and IBM's Peter Smith discuss their transformation journey
↗ A Royal Bank of Scotland team member finds information through Marge
 How is ShotSpotter using

48 — 49
technology to reduce crime? ShotSpotter is transforming how police
respond to, investigate and ultimately
reduce gun violence by digitizing and
automating the manual, and somewhat
broken, 911 call for service model
introduced in 1970. Gun violence is much
larger and more persistent than what we think of
in terms of homicides. Sadly, it’s reported less than
20 percent of the time in some of our most at-risk
vulnerable communities.
ShotSpotter uses acoustic sensors and machine
learning to detect gunshots from non-gunshots. It
Ralph
can determine the specific location of where a gun
has been fired within 30-45 seconds of trigger pull,
and alert law enforcement. This enables rapid and
Clark

precise law enforcement and EMS response, creating a

deterrent effect that can and does save lives.
Importantly, it disrupts the normalization of violence
that happens when there is no police response.

What is your proudest

accomplishment as CEO? There is so much to be proud of in
this line of work. My LinkedIn tag is
#doingworkthatmatters. The fact that
we have built this incredible ecosystem
of employees, law enforcement agency
customers, and public market investors (we went
public in 2017) all aligned around our collective and
CEO, ShotSpotter strong sense of purpose is powerful.
We help equip law enforcement agencies
to protect and serve our most challenged and
underserved communities. To be able to do that
as a fast-growing and profitable business that is
attractive to public market investors is unique and
compelling. Our company is punching well above
its weight and is leading the way in changing the
conversation around gun violence in a productive,
nonpartisan way, and making a difference as a result.

industrious
48 ↖ Friends listen to a band
on a rooftop
Putting the tech

50 — 51
in Fintech
Broadridge scales up for
the future of finance

words: Erik Nelson

industrious
50 → Wall Street financial district in
New York, New York

Six trillion dollars a day. The leading market share of the
U.S. stock trading and proxy business. Those are the stakes
for Broadridge Financial Solutions. Accuracy and reliability
aren’t a luxury, they’re a necessity. Even the smallest slip
in daily processes could jeopardize not just the company’s
reputation, but the stability of Wall Street.
Broadridge is a Fintech hero at the heart of the financial
services industry, a company that inconspicuously enables
daily trades across global financial markets.
“The financial industry runs through us,” said Mark
Schlesinger, Broadridge’s CIO. “We help companies
transform their business by enriching customer
engagement, optimizing efficiency, navigating risk, and
generating growth.”
To capitalize on the growing need for technology-
driven solutions in the industry, Schlesinger and his team
needed to outsource their existing infrastructure, reduce
internal costs, and increase speed and scalability. For that,
Broadridge needed a partner it could trust every step of the
way.
“We ultimately agreed that IBM was the right solution
for Broadridge,” said Schlesinger, “both from its position
in the market, position in financial services, and ability to
deliver.”
The IBM team dived in headfirst with Broadridge
to develop an aggressive project plan, without risking
business disruption.
“We’re almost like siblings,” said Loyd Simpson, IBM
↑ Wall Street, New York, New York
Global Project Executive. “There’s push and pull, working
together to get the best outcome for the customers.”
That hard work produced an innovative solution. A
private cloud environment with the processing power to
tackle the most demanding trading day and the capacity to
handle a growing customer base. A total transformation.
“It was a real change for us,” said Scott Anderson, Vice
President of IT at Broadridge, “to basically move from
owning our own assets to a true outsourcing relationship
and having IBM manage that for us.”
The challenge was clear: a complete migration of data
and processing to a new flexible and scalable system.
The task was complex but achievable. The real issue was
finding the time.
Weekdays were off-limits, since Broadridge needed to
keep sync with global financial markets. IBM proposed a
novel idea: what about weekends? With IBM iSeries cloud
technology, Broadridge could move to a private cloud
infrastructure much faster than if it had to design a brand-
new system.
The weekend work made the migration possible to
complete in just seven weekends. That brought the project
in just under the four-month deadline.
“We were able to get this done in seven weekends
when it could have taken nine months to a year,” said
Anderson.
Beyond meeting the deadline, Broadridge and its
clients never skipped a beat. The migration happened
52 — 53
seamlessly, and the new platform provides “rock-solid,
day-in and day-out services,” said Schlesinger. That allows
“We’re almost like siblings.
Broadridge to deliver many of its critical, high-volume and There’s push and pull,
client-facing systems with 20-30 percent faster processing.
The new cloud technology enables Broadridge to onboard working together to get
customers much more quickly. It also gives the company
scalability to expand its business to new markets around
the best outcome for the
the world. customers.”
“Internally, we’re calling this Broadridge 3.0, because
it’s really about taking Broadridge to the next level,” said —Loyd Simpson, IBM
Schlesinger. “It’s what we call the ABCDs of InnovationTM,
leveraging next-gen technology: A for AI and robotics, B for
blockchain solutions, C for cloud and D for digital.”
Schlesinger and Broadridge aren’t stopping there.
The transformation was so successful that they quickly
identified the next opportunity to push their business into
the future. As a part of a multi-year, strategic collaboration,
Broadridge will create the Broadridge Private Cloud,
powered by IBM. Broadridge will transition a significant
portion of its global infrastructure to IBM, implementing
Red Hat’s OpenShift platform—the industry’s most
comprehensive Kubernetes platform.
“Accelerating our cloud strategy will enable clients to
leverage an industry-leading, highly flexible and resilient
technology platform,” Schlesinger said, “and allow
industrious
Broadridge to accelerate our product roadmap, providing Read the Broadridge
our clients with faster access to new industry solutions.” Financial Solutions,
Inc. case study
↑ Loyd Simpson, Scott Anderson and Mark Schlesinger
in the Broadridge NYC office
 54 — 55
Groupe Renault’s
Odile Panciatici
tackles global
transformation
“Humanity and people
are so good at doing
impossible things.”
—Odile Panciatici

words: Justine Jablonska

industrious
54 → Odile Panciatici with a Renault Clio
 “The automotive industry is always changing. I’ve

56 — 57
witnessed how fast it moves,” said Odile Panciatici. “Today,
we’re not just talking about cars anymore—but about
mobility.”
Panciatici is the Vice President of Blockchain Projects
at Groupe Renault. She’s been with Renault throughout
her entire career and has led numerous projects, including
heading vehicle engineering—for which she was named
Industry Woman of the Year in 2014.
Panciatici’s love of cars goes back to her childhood; her
father and uncle were passionate automotive enthusiasts.
She excelled at science and math, pursuing a degree in
mechanical engineering. After an internship at Renault,
she was hired as an assembly project manager for the
Renault 19, a family car. She was the only woman in that
department at that time.
Panciatici went on to work on other lines: Captur, Clio 4,
Twingo, Twingo 2, and the first generation of Logan, where
she served as Engineering Vice President.
As head of vehicle engineering, she led a team of 2,500
engineers. She worked on improving the attractiveness of
engineering to women.
In her car design work, she especially loves the
innovation and teamwork needed to make projects happen.
“It’s a fabulous human experience to make big projects
with so many actors,” Panciatici said. “I love the fact that in
the automotive industry you have diverse types of work.”
Renault has changed a lot in terms of strategy,
according to Panciatici. “If we want to understand
the digital world, we need to be digital within our own
company,” she said.
That’s why Renault has significantly invested in
digital transformation, with specific focus on blockchain
technology.
“Everyone is thinking about the supply chain,” she
said. “It’s a very convenient technology in the case of a
wide ecosystem. The automotive industry is an enormous
ecosystem—including manufacturers, dealers, suppliers,
and customers.”
Panciatici sees the potential for operational excellence
“After you enlarge your view, through this technology. And it’s not only in the production And this is what gives her so much purpose: finding Panciatici has a saying she loves: it’s not because things
of cars. All domains of the automotive and mobility ways to collaborate, having people working together. are impossible that we don’t do them. It’s because we
you see how big the future industry will be impacted, she said. Finding the bottlenecks, solving the issues. don’t do them that they are impossible.
Blockchain creates a collective intelligence within that She also acknowledges the importance of smart “Humanity and people are so good at doing impossible
can be.” ecosystem, allowing secure information exchanges with innovation and end-to-end experience. things,” she said. “I’m quite confident. Perhaps too
confidentiality levels set as needed. As head of vehicle engineering, for example, she realized optimistic? But my past confirms that yes, we can.”
—Odile Panciatici Beyond production conformity, blockchain has several that while the company’s focus on technology was driving it Transformation on that truly global scale will, again,
other use cases. With Hyperledger technology, for example, forward, it needed to focus on the customer too. require collaboration and partnerships, between existing
information is shared very quickly throughout the huge “You can have the best high-tech car,” she said. “But if and new partners. Startups, for example, and other
network of dealers of Renault around the world. the customer doesn’t have a good experience, it doesn’t partners she may not yet even know exist.
Panciatici also thinks about use cases for blockchain work.” “We’re changing the way we think,” she said. “The future
with customers. Tasks like maintenance and repair, even The auto industry is quite the same: if you have a siloed will be collaborative.”
how the car was driven: all salient data points that help view of your technology, that’s just one part of the equation.
with transparency and ultimately, car value. “After you enlarge your view, you see how big the future
On a larger scale, she’s examining how to manage can be,” she said.
relations between multiple companies—some of which may Part of Panciatici’s love of the automotive industry

industrious
be competitors—within this vast ecosystem. is that it’s so vast. And while cars themselves may
“How do you succeed in making all these ecosystems change—whether electric, CO2 free, no wheels, flying—the
work collaboratively?” she said. “This is what is interesting.” relationship between people and mobility will go on.

↑ The Dacia Logan, produced jointly by Renault ↑ Aerial view of the Champs-Élysées
and its Romanian subsidiary Dacia in Paris, France
Quick Takes:

## — ##
6 leaders of industry The future is about looking up from our devices
and reconnecting with the world around us.

answer the question:

Technology must accelerate to a point where our
devices demand less of our attention. This will
require a combination of artificial intelligence,
augmented reality and user experiences that
predict our needs and preferences.

—Briana Frank
Director of Product, IBM Cloud  

Data and connectivity enabled

by various technologies make up
Looking ahead into the the very core of future innovation
in business, helping foster new
next decade, what will products, processes, and methods
innovation in business to meet the needs of clients and
mean—and where does solve the challenges of society.
Businesses can no longer afford the
technology come in? cost and complexity of managing
their infrastructures. Thus, they
will continue to leverage cloud
computing while increasing
spending on industry specific
applications and multi-cloud
platforms for speed, agility, and
security. 
—Shadi E. Albouyeh
IBM Cloud Offering Manager; IBM Master Inventor

industrious
58
Learn about the IBM Think
Digital Event Experience

→ Irrigated alfalfa field in eastern Washington state

The sooner a business can adopt the newest
technologies and drive innovation within its
own organization, the sooner it can drive true
value to its users. I believe that businesses
that prioritize a culture of always learning and
always adapting will become the front-runners
over the next decade. This means focusing
on internal education to embrace emerging
technologies such as Containerization, Kubernetes,
and Machine Learning.
—Sai Vennam
Technical Offering Manager, IBM Cloud
Kubernetes Service
Investments in R&D have been
shown to positively correlate not
only with the success of individual
businesses but also with the
welfare of whole societies. We
believe that a tenfold acceleration
of discovery and productivity of
R&D is achievable by combining
the future of computing based
on a convergence of classic
computing, AI, and quantum
with a new discovery workflow.
This workflow will leverage the
compute capabilities to ingest
and build on the collective
knowledge of a field, to augment
that knowledge with targeted
simulations on classical as well as
quantum computers, to create new
designs with generative AI models,
and to automatically produce and
test the new creations. Imagine
how new materials invented in
this way could address the needs
of businesses and society in the
future.
—Dario Gil
Director of IBM Research
← Crops growing in a hilly field
Over the next decade, customers
60 — 61
and employees will continue
to drive innovation within
the marketplace, requiring
organisations to accelerate
product innovation and expand
their services portfolio to meet
ever-changing expectations.
Technology will be the single
biggest enabler for this product
and service innovation. In the
era of AI, machine learning and
quantum, technology will help
breed technology, causing a surge
of innovation and competition
within the marketplace. It will be
the responsibility of companies to
create the right balance of speed,
trust, precision regulation, and
sustainability.
—Varun Bijlani
Managing Partner, IBM Services for Cloud Strategy
Data collected from the edge is incredibly rich
and will drive micro predictions for hyperlocal
places. Those new control points and data sources
are fascinating pieces of the cloud and data
puzzle. Cloud computing now orchestrates those
control points, takes actions such as monitoring
safety systems, and delivers edge insights.
—Vanessa Wilburn
Program Director, Offering Management for IBM Cloud
industrious
“When contoured with
data, the invisible world
beneath depths is
revealed, allowing insight
—from Harvesting data to help feed a growing world

that can’t be achieved

with human effort alone.”
—from A picture worth a thousand volts