Digital native companies are entering every industry. Many of them did not exist 20 years ago, yet today they are among the most significant engines of change in our society. They do not need digital transformation initiatives because they were born digital. Airbnb launched at a time when large hotel brands were dominating the accommodation industry. Everybody was betting against it, but through a combination of a disruptive business model and a focus on experience design, Airbnb has become a household brand and the number one choice for many travelers and holiday-goers.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Moderna, a company that produced vaccines to help us combat the virus, was able to design a vaccine in just two days. Moderna describes itself first as a software company.

These businesses share common themes. They’re resilient, disruptive, and often defy the odds before achieving great success. They’re also digital-native companies, but what does that mean?

What does it mean to be a digital-native company?

All companies, old and new, have come to rely on software. Some companies that have been around for decades might have a large team of software engineers and a software portfolio that dwarfs their digital-native competitors. So, what is it about digital natives that sets them apart?

Tesla wasn’t the first automotive company to write its software. Other automakers developed software too, and at a much larger scale. But Tesla had something these other automotive companies did not – a digital native culture. Companies that are born there tend to have a different approach when it comes to problem-solving and adaptability. Being digitally native is about culture, way of working, and mindset –these elements are hard to replicate for behemoth companies that have been around for decades.

Culture isn’t just about what a company says. It’s about what it does. The “two-pizza team” approach was introduced at Amazon, which meant that every development team should be small enough to be fed with two pizzas. There were limitations in how effective teams could be as they grew, so the intent was to keep them small, agile, and productive. The most important part was that they should own what they do. They needed to be both small and self-sufficient.

This type of approach to productivity is what it means to be a digital native, and for non-digital natives, it can be quite a dramatic adjustment – but it’s not impossible.

Think about products instead of projects

Another key difference between digital natives and non-digital natives is that digital natives think about building products rather than implementing projects. You figure out what your client needs and then create a product that hopefully fills that need with some measure of success. Then you move on to the following product.

On the other hand, projects are more focused on requirements, timelines, and resources. The success of a project isn’t just based on how happy a client is with a product, but on the effectiveness of the overall journey, from planning and budgeting to management and execution. It is difficult for non-digital native companies to think about projects instead of products, but it is possible with the right culture and mindset.

Agility and Flexibility are critical

Digital natives’ success is not built on having an extensive software portfolio ready for every situation. It took Stripe less than 3 years to become a $1 billion dollar company and now they are on track to become a $100 billion company in 10 years. While doing product in highly competitive financial services market, which exist for a very long time.

Conclusion

The best way to develop and grow a digital culture and philosophy is by modeling an organization that’s already a digital native. Capgemini Engineering is ready to assist you in becoming a digital native by sharing our decades-long experience working with startups, including digital native companies.

Headless vs. Traditional

Our Solution

Headless can be achieved in various ways in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM). Our solution, HeadStart2Headless, is capable of supporting the various methodologies based on the specific requirements of the customer. Depending on the existing ecosystem, technology proficiency, and AEM requirements, customers can choose from a system which has the least AEM coupling to a system having the most.

Capgemini’s offering can fast forward the customers in an efficient way to set up and run headless in the least amount of time, thus propelling their businesses to become more agile and flexible in a very short turnaround time.

Key Benefits

Contact with us

To know more about our headless CMS solution, contact: fssbuadobecoe.global@capgemini.com

Behind all the industry buzz around digitization, customer experience transformation and 5G monetization, there’s still a lingering issue at the core of Communication Service Providers’ (CSPs’) everyday business that needs attention: Up to 80% of CSPs’ IT budgets are still being spent on system integration and customization1. 

This leaves limited resources for innovation and actual IT transformation. This also raises larger questions around CSP transformation:

• Why is the right shift of most CSP business models so slow-paced?
• How do CSPs bridge this gap between traditional IT problems and the latest industry and customer demands?
• How do CSPs evolve and collaborate into the new ecosystem involving hyperscale digital natives?
• What are the best ways to capitalize on new technology waves such as 5G, edge computing, and AI?

Over the last few years, there’s been increased focus from the leading CSPs on open API and open digital architecture (ODA), with the ambition that open API and ODA can be the enablers for their transformation into becoming platform-based, end-to-end service providers.

Read on to find out if open APIs are the solution to the problems facing CSPs.

The key challenges facing CSP leaders today

Let’s look at the key challenge CSPs are still facing: the IT estate of most CSPs is too complex and rigid, comprised of monolithic core IT systems and legacy processes and technologies. Laurent Leboucher, Group CTO and SVP, Orange explains this problem succinctly:

“IT legacy in telco environments very often looks like a Pollock painting. It’s hard to identify through hazy building blocks, and there is almost no loose coupling. Data records are very often duplicated several times, and everything seems to be tied to everything else. This is often the result of many years of silo fragmentations and various attempts to fix those fragmentations with technical projects, which created this entropic technical debt.”² CSPs’ current IT environment consists of many different application stacks that have been modified over years. These often either have overlapping and redundant functionalities or have gaps in the end-to-end integration of their customer journeys, which operators address through further developments and customizations. The problem of complex IT systems has been further intensified with the inorganic growth the telecom industry has undergone, thus adding a further level of closed architecture to the mix.

Open APIs and Digital Architecture solve these problems at their source

The use of open APIs and ODA to connect disparate systems not only protects IT budgets; but also goes to the core of how CSPs can address many of their key functions, including:

• Competing with digital counterparts and catching up with the platform utopia world,
• Evolving further from zero-touch provisioning, and zero-touch automation to zero-touch partnering, enabling a marketplace with simplified and automated cross-platform play,
• Taking demand for digital to an omnichannel personalized experience,
• Evolving business models to best mobilize on the 5G wave,
• And ultimately, ensuring solid revenue, returns on investment, and faster time to market.

What to change, what to change to, and how to change

The three famous questions from Eliyahu M. Goldratt provides a useful roadmap. The challenge of a complex legacy and a siloed IT estate has been common among the majority of CSPs, and so is the need to participate in platform-based digital ecosystems. The most important of these, TMF Open API program, was formally launched in 2016. The TMF Open APIs combined with component-based architecture like the ODA are a wise solution for CSPs looking to reduce IT complexity.

The role of Open Digital Architecture

Open APIs are specifically designed for functional integrations and the ODA to address the challenges of deploying, configuring, and operating in a complex application landscape. As open API is considered the de facto standard for telecoms interfaces, ODA is a component-based architecture that can be viewed as the de facto standard for open digital platforms, which provides a consistent way for components to fully interoperate end-to-end across multivendor ecosystems.

TMF Open APIs along with ODA is the futureproof approach designed with an outside-in perspective. It can provide the plug-and-play interoperability of components within their IT systems (and networks), reduce complexity and enable digitization of customer-facing systems and reduce cost of integration as well as time to market for new services digital services. This while also supporting both existing and new digital services and addressing the implementation of B2B2X digital ecosystems, which will be critical for operating and monetizing 5G and edge computing.

A global trend toward APIs

There is a clear trend regarding the use of APIs as many of the world’s largest service providers such as Axiata, Bharti Airtel, BT, China Mobile, China Unicom, NTT Group, Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone have officially adopted TM Forum’s suite of Open APIs for digital service management.  Equally, there is an increased interest from suppliers to adopt open APIs as more than 128 of the world’s leading CSPs and technology ecosystem participants have signed the Open API Manifesto, which publicly demonstrated their endorsement of TM Forum’s suite of Open APIs ³

Like any strategic change, the adoption of open API and ODA does not come without its challenges. The shift to open API and ODA requires a holistic approach to address key concerns around these key areas:

• Shifting to a centralized approach towards integration: CSPs have historically been complex organizations with legacy processes, multi-layered silos and traditional approaches that take a project-specific view on integrations. Shift to Open API and ODA requires a cultural change to a more centralized integration strategy that puts API first, and is based on industry standards, repeatable frameworks, and processes.
• Initial investment and per API cost: Another concern is to prove the return on the investment from initial projects. To justify the initial, spend or per API cost of initial projects. For open API and ODA to create value for the CSP ecosystem, it needs to have a strategic view rather than a tactical project view. A well-defined open API-led integration strategy sets a foundation and builds the repository of integration assets (TMF Open API library in the case of CSPs) which are reusable and generate more business value with every project and create a lower per API cost.
• System API reusability: It may be quick to achieve reusability in UX and process layer the legacy system and system APIs which are not that flexible. However, carriers are now innovating their COTS (commercial off-the-shelf products) as well as networks due to initiatives such as SDN, promoted by the Open Networking Foundation.
• Commercial readiness: There is a gap between what carriers are offering and can provide in their immediate, 1–2-year roadmap, and what the OTT players and third-party providers need. What they need is an open API that allows them to reach as many companies as possible and not all CSPs are ready.

The good news is that CSPs can address most of these challenges by partnering with the right system integrators and suppliers/API aggregators. The right services partner can help assess your existing IT estate and processes, and bring onboard proven governance models, integration design authorities, reusable API libraries, and repeatable model/business case. This can help reduce the initial effort while increasing the adoption. While increasing return on investment and helping (re)introduce best practices and providing the necessary support depending on the existing resource capabilities. Therefore, with increasing CSP interest – the next big enabler for open API adoption is suppliers. Large, suppliers have traditionally relied on locking in their CSP customers, but it is time to realize that industry fragmentation impedes innovation and the ability to compete, including the adoption of Open APIs.

Lasting Benefits

Open API-based integration and open digital architecture enable CSPs’ IT estate to become more agile and resilient, which translates into tangible business benefits:

• Reduction in time, from concept to cash for new services, as well as the total cost of ownership. APIs significantly reduce the effort and capital involved to integrate with internal and third-party systems.
• Expansion ofthe service offering, enabling – in a significantly reduced time frame – the ability to gear up to meet shifting markets.
• Enablement of the CSP business to quickly innovate, partner, and create mix-and-match products and services. The result is speed, convenience, and innovation.

In the end, TMF open API and ODA are among the most critical weapons a CSP needs in its arsenal today. This means the difference between realizing and squandering the opportunity to monetize innovative 5G services. Most importantly, open APIs will help CSPs evolve and establish themselves as end-to-end service providers. To learn more about our Capgemini Digital Telco Connect solution, our reusable assets, and TMF Open API libraries (or just to have a brainstorming on API-led transformation), contact me.

TelcoInsights is a series of posts about the latest trends and opportunities in the telecommunications industry – powered by a community of global industry experts and thought leaders.

My data is bigger than yours: we used to take pride in storing as much data as possible – because we could, prices were low, and future, killer algorithms were waiting. Having more data seemed the landmark of being a true, successful data-powered enterprise.

Turns out this consumes loads of energy and precious natural resources, and it creates a growing heap of unsustainable e-waste. We need to become more aware of what data we really need to store, how many times we duplicate it, and how long we keep it available. Also, although AI may be key to addressing climate challenges, it slurps energy itself too. Think only about how much energy it takes to perform one training cycle for a major AI language transformer model (hint: really, really a lot – say 5 times the lifetime CO2 emission of an average American car). The battle against data waste will therefore be a continuous, delicate balance act – and it only just begun.

And it’s a battle with benefits: many of the measures that already can be taken bring additional value for organizations that want to become data-powered, even to the point that the positive impact on overall data mastery may dwarf the sustainability impact.

Here are five suggestions to get your quest going:

 1. Get the data first

As with any other transformational objective: you should map your current situation first before you can start improving. Battling data waste begins with getting data on what data you actually have. Only then you will be able to assess how much of it really is unsustainable data waste, for example by analyzing how often data is used, by how many people and for what type of purposes. Many data catalog tools (such as Alation, see a separate article in this magazine) are perfectly equipped for this, and increasingly they feature intelligent automation and AI to do the heavy lifting of scanning the data landscape. Having an up-to-date data catalog brings many obvious additional benefits to a data-powered business as well, so every minute of activity in this area is typically well-spent.

2. Map the environmental impact

Once you know what data you have, it is a matter of understanding its real environmental impact. Data is stored in storage systems, as part of an IT infrastructure and a supporting network (in a data center or in the cloud). All these resources consume energy, create e-waste and have a carbon footprint. An increasing number of’ publicly available carbon calculators help to establish the sustainability cost of the elements of the data landscape, not only focusing on Scope 1, but covering the entire ‘supply chain’ of Scope 2 and 3. Once this data is established, it should be routinely added to the metadata management and catalog facilities of the organization – for current and future reference and use. As with every sustainability effort, you want to focus on the data sets that have the most negative impact.

“But it is indeed a balancing act, as the data can be part of a solution or an initiative that delivers societal benefits that far outweigh its sustainability costs.”

3. Get rid of it

Ever saw Hoarders? It’s a reality-TVshow that features compulsive hoarders: people who are addicted to filling their homes with objects,and how that spills out into their lives. You don’t want to be a data hoarder. Just keeping data for the sake of it – or that it might come in hand in some unforeseen way – can provide you with a high sustainability bill. And it simply costs money too,for that matter. So, just as with application rationalization, data should have a managed lifecycle that not only involves creating and using it, but also features clear policies for decommissioning unused, redundant, or simply wasteful data.Organizations sometimes tend to hold on to their established IT assets(including data) for nothing more than emotional, non-rational reasons. Where the cost equation may not be enough to break that spell, sustainability impact might just do fine.

4. Stop at the gates

It’s a well-established practice within Permaculture (see our separate article in this magazine about ‘Permacomputing’ for more): you don’t recycle, reuse, and repurpose as an afterthought, it is an integrated part of your design and approach, right from the start. A lot of wasteful data can be avoided by never ingesting it in the first place. So, no more room for this typical Big Data era mindset of whatever data is available should be stored, because storage in the cloud is cheap and you never know what use it may have. Later. Sometime. Maybe. Instead, think in terms of Small Data, Tiny Data, or simply Smart Data: be much pickier about the data sets you get onboard, the objectives you have for it, and the quality of the data points inside. Select data that is fit for your purposes. Think more upfront, clean so much less later.

5. Do not duplicate

Data architecture is not necessarily a well-established practice within many complex organizations. As a result, data is often unnecessarily copied multiple times from the central data organizations to various business domains, and vice versa. Each instance starts to lead its own life, serving all sorts of different purposes, rapidly adding to a growing pile of potential data waste. And it all tends to be unaligned and unsynchronized. New architectural approaches – notably Data Mesh – appoint the ownership of specific data sets much more explicitly to specific business domains. Data is typically held – and stored – by the business domain and made available in flexible integration ways (such as APIs), so that duplication is unnecessary, even undesirable. Other integration technologies, such as data virtualization, can achieve the same.

Lastly, don’t forget the people. As with everything around data, we can only accomplish so much without involving and empowering people to be and lead the change. Data catalogs and API-first architectures are great tools to drive more sustainable use of data and AI. But if there are no people embracing the direction (a sustainable data vision and strategy) and no ownership of the data (internalizing which data is used, why and how much) – failure is a given. True Data Masters battle data waste by harnessing both: data foundations and data behaviors.

There are many more ways to stop data waste, such as relying more on shared data between multiple ecosystem partners, procuring data and pre-trained algorithms from external providers, limiting the movement of data, and switching to energy-saving storage media. One thing is for sure: even if reducing data waste would not deliver a substantial sustainability impact at first sight, each and every activity suggested adds to a higher level of data mastery. And that – in all cases – is priceless.

INNOVATION TAKEAWAYS

Data has a sustainability cost

With its obvious merits, data has an impact on the environment in terms of its dependency on natural resources and energy and its carbon footprint; hence data waste must be actively addressed.

The quest against data waste

There are many ways to decrease harmful data waste, but they all start with a better understanding of the current data landscape and its environmental impact.

Battle with benefits

Reducing data waste can have an obvious positive environmental impact, but while doing so organizations will see their level of data mastery lifted as well.

Interesting read?

Capgemini’s Innovation publication, Data-powered Innovation Review | Wave 4 features 18 such articles crafted by leading Capgemini and partner experts sharing inspiring examples of it – ranging from digital twins in the industrial metaverse, “humble” AI, serendipity in user experiences, all the way up to permacomputing and the battle against data waste.. In addition, several articles are in collaboration with key technology partners such as  Alation, Cognite, Toucan Toco, DataRobot, and The Open Group to reimagine what’s possible.  Find all previous Waves here.

The Society for Human Resource Management reports that while talent acquisition teams were striving to meet their companies’ hiring numbers last year, “the focus is shifting now to candidate and employee experience.” Forward-thinking organizations are taking employee experience (EX) seriously to attract and retain talent, and many are creating immersive experiences to enhance EX. 

To understand why organizations are focusing on immersive EX, it’s important to grasp that immersive experiences are fundamentally multisensory experiences. They often involve a combination of user interfaces (UIs) such as these:  

• flat UI, in the form of a phone, a tablet, and monitor screens; 
• natural UI that supports voice assistance, hand-gesture controls, and haptic feedback like vibrations; and
• mixed reality UI, which includes augmented and virtual reality interfaces.

These technologies can enhance candidate and employee experiences with benefits that go beyond making an organization more attractive to talent. It’s well known that companies with great EX deliver better customer experiences, because employees are engaged in their mission and empowered to solve customers’ problems.

That, in turn, can lead to more revenue, as per a Forbes Insights and Salesforce report, which found that “companies that have both high EX and CX see almost double the revenue growth compared to those that do not.”

Immersive experiences attract candidates and retain employees 

Immersive employee experiences can take many forms. You might think of someone wearing a headset and virtually learning to build a new machine, but there are other use cases.  

Immersive self-service portals

We often hear from organizations that their employee portal is outdated or hard for employees to use. That can cause daily frustration, especially when you consider how many applications an employee interacts with, such as an email client, a document repository, an employee directory, and so on.  

Employees are accustomed to using text messages, chatbots, or voice assistants to find what they need when they shop or engage socially online, but legacy employee portals don’t provide that level of convenience. An immersive portal can serve each employee personalized content that’s relevant to their role, almost like a social network for the enterprise. It can also allow employees to direct questions to an intelligent assistant, so they don’t have to search multiple systems or send emails. Those customized, convenient features free employees to focus on their roles in growing the business.  

Immersive training experiences

Immersive onboarding and training can benefit all employees by allowing them to experience their new roles in realistic simulations, refine specific skills, and develop new routines before they begin working. Learning new skills in a virtual setting can help new employees prepare for working with complex equipment or in busy settings without slowing down the company’s production processes. A common example is the use of headsets and augmented reality to teach autoworkers how to assemble complicated parts of automobiles without risking damage to costly components during their training.

However, other businesses can improve EX with virtual training, too. For example, baristas need to learn the steps for making dozens of coffee and tea drinks using a variety of machines and to follow safety practices while they work. Learning on the job can slow down other employees, negatively impact their experience, and create delays for customers as well. In a virtual environment, new hires can learn how to perfect their lattes and macchiatos without real spills, burns, or slowdowns.  

Real-time, remote collaboration 

When employees run into problems assembling products or using a piece of equipment, the result is downtime and stress. With AR headsets and video streaming, employees can check in with designers and engineers to walk through a problem and implement a solution much faster compared to waiting for an in-person visit or trying to solve the problem via email or a voice call. The result is more productive employees who are empowered to seek help when they have a problem. 

As metaverse technologies roll out to support richer virtual engagements, employers may be able to host highly realistic immersive meetings and events that spark the same kind of emotional engagement employees would experience at an in-person gathering. That can create a stronger organizational culture and foster more collaboration and creativity even among fully remote teams.

Extended capabilities in the field

Repairing complex equipment can be a challenge, especially in bad weather or remote locations. Here, again, AR headsets and remote access to guidance can help employees diagnose problems and repair them much faster than if they had to page through a manual or search the web for the information they need as they work. That can allow field service employees to bring equipment back online faster, reduce call-backs for further repairs, and help employees be more productive.

All these immersive experiences can be a selling point for candidates because of the convenience and support they offer. For younger candidates especially, immersive technology is also appealing because it’s familiar – members of Gen Z, now in the early stages of their careers, have grown up with screens and immersive experiences at home and at school.  

Planning immersive employee experiences 

Immersive EX isn’t just about the technology. It’s about the entire employee journey – and there are many journeys an employee can have, such as onboarding, taking maternity leave, and earning promotions. Companies can start by mapping one of their employee journeys to find ways to elevate it, using simple design techniques to reduce friction.

It’s important to start small and move quickly, perhaps with onboarding or training, to test out ideas and identify the right technologies to leverage as part of an immersive experience. This limited initial approach enables organizations to get feedback from users and other stakeholders that they can use to refine the experience before formally launching and scaling it. Then, organizations can use that immersive employee experience to get buy-in for additional immersive EX programs. 

As organizations’ immersive employee experiences gain traction, they can become a selling point for talent acquisition and a tool for retaining existing talent. Great immersive EX can also generate word of mouth that attracts talent, as employees share how the immersive technology they work with improves their experiences. By starting small and gradually building useful, supportive experiences, organizations can give themselves an advantage in recruiting and retention.

This article was first published on destinationCRM.com, August 18, 2022

Co-authored by Mike Buob and Alexandre Embry.

THE PROBLEM

An example scenario: what we’re missing

A middle-aged patient is rushed into the emergency department of his local hospital, noncommunicative and alone. His medical files reveal a broken wrist, some dermatology concerns, a bone marrow donation and grief counselling. Each entry a story; together they represent a life. But right now, the lead cardiologist doesn’t need a novel. He needs precise information about the man’s heart – fast – so that he can save his life.

In a perfect world, what data would hospitals like their surgery teams to see the moment they open a patient’s file?

Patient record number + emergency contact

• Allergies
• Current medications
• Health issues [heart condition]

Status of heart condition

• Most recent coronary event
  • Course of action
  • Past coronary events
    • Course of action
  • Doctors’ notes in descending order

A different set of information would be available to his attending nurses. Another would inform his physical therapist. And for the patient, a clear and readable version would help him understand his condition and course of treatment in the language he understands. If you could organize data in the proper usage context, doctors, patients and other healthcare workers would all be able to see at a glance the information most relevant to them, and would use it to inform their decisions.

Of course, patient data is not like any other data. Unrestricted sharing of patients’ intimate health information would be an unforgivable violation – emotionally and financially. And given the immense profit motive involved, the risk of disreputable players getting their hands on patient data is ever present. However, the solution up to now – locking patient data far, far away – is no longer viable. Without the ability to access and manage patient data, vital information from years past gets buried under newer files. Results are lost or forgotten, and tremendous opportunities in everything from AI to patient engagement are missed. In the age of connected health, security is not enough: patient data must also be accessible.

Current data security puts a burden on patients…

Health problems are among the most stressful events in our lives. Healthcare systems have an ethical duty not to add to that stress with overly complex, difficult systems. Not only does this put an emotional strain on patients, it’s often outright unmanageable. What for you and me may be a hassle, for an elderly patient is often impossible, which is one reason why about half of older patients never use their online portals. (The other main reason? Privacy and security issues.) The same goes for a patient who’s in shock, on strong pain medication – the list goes on. Health problems and byzantine systems don’t mix, and we should have no illusions of being patient-centric if patients are struggling to access and understand their own files.

Ironically, some of the solutions in use today are so behind the times that they add a different kind of burden. Fax machines are no longer ubiquitous. For a patient to send or receive data by fax often requires a special trip to a family member’s office or some other public place, creating both a hassle and a security risk. Security measures need to be moving forward to meet the needs of new forms of patient data, such as smart home devices and IoT equipment. Expecting patients to use son-in-law’s secretary’s fax machine is no longer an option.

…and costs doctors valuable time

Doctors face a different kind of pressure – time. Doctors’ time is precious. It takes over a decade to train one doctor, and much more than that to gain expertise. The idea that doctors should be spending any of their limited time searching through files and databases is mind-boggling. But they do. One study in the UK found an average of about 16 minutes per visit are devoted to the patient’s records. (Some of which is necessary. The report cites chart review (33%), documentation (24%), and ordering (17%). ) Assuming doctors do unearth the necessary data, they’re presented with a series of disconnected snapshots of their patients – separate files from various visits and tests from multiple institutions (not always complete), perhaps with many critical findings buried within. Sometimes data is missing altogether. One study found that over 200 million healthcare records were lost, exposed or stolen over the past decade in the US alone. Modern data management technology needs to be more secure, while also providing intelligent access to patient records – turning data from a cost into a source of immense value.

THE SOLUTION

How government can make patient data secure and accessible

The good news is: solutions already exist. Banks are already sharing data securely, because they need to. (You can’t perform a transfer if you don’t share at least some data.) This is the shift that healthcare must take: from a focus solely on data security, towards the science of compliance and enablement.

Individual institutions can’t do much on their own. The change needs to come from the governing bodies that set the security regulations for patient data. In many countries that may be a government body such as the EU, or it could be a private consortium comprising a group of hospitals and other patient care institutions.

Around the world approaches differ. A common choice is the centralized system, where one organ (the government) controls all data and regulations. Germany is currently in the process of rolling out a federated identity management approach to access data – putting the identification process in the hands of intermediaries (hospitals, insurance companies), while giving patients ultimate control of their data. However, for a variety of reasons it has proven unpopular among patients and doctors. In The Netherlands, ambitious legislation is in the works that would put complete data sovereignty in patients’ hands. Three solutions need to be in place to improve patient data security and make it accessible:

Shared APIs

APIs aren’t the only solution to sharing large volumes of patient data (the above-mentioned German system prohibits the use of APIs for all but anonymized data), but they are one of the best. Around the world, Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) has arisen as the gold standard for storing and structuring patient data. APIs can then be used to access this structured data using certain operations (defined as “interactions” by FHIR), thus enabling data to flow within or between institutions. The operating system doesn’t matter, only the recipient. Which leads to the central question: how do you decide which data can be shared, and with whom?

Centralized authorization

The solution is a comprehensive set of rules governing who has access to what. It is neither short, nor simple, but it is achievable. (If banks can do it, so can healthcare institutions.) This authorization engine consists of a set of rules, spliced with special allowances for unique situations and specific people. (For example, HIV status will be classified as among the most private, least sharable data. However, an allowance must be made for doctors certifying blood donations.) Note that authorization (deciding who has authority to do what) is a different process entirely from authentication (verifying an individual’s identity), to which we turn next.

Frictionless authentication

Patients are not going to carry around passwords in their memories. (If they could, the passwords would be too weak.) Biometric identification such as retinal scans, fingerprints and facial recognition are likewise unreliable during many health emergencies. There are, however, some intriguing solutions out there. Many are based on smartphone apps, including Fido2 – an alliance that lets users confirm their identity with common devices, including smartphones.

In Norway, many people carry a Youbikey – an ingenious little device that plugs into a computer’s USB portal and provides strong two-factor identification. Norwegians use their Youbikeys to speed up payment, for banking, and for other activities that require identification. With frictionless authentication, patients and healthcare workers can instantly be provided with exactly the data which is appropriate for them, when and where they need it. The importance of creating a user-friendly interface cannot be overstated. Governments have poured immense resources into their patient data systems, only to watch them flounder due to weak user experience. People today expect the intuitive design of Amazon or iTunes, and they make their judgement within seconds.

The future of connected health

The ability to access and organize patients’ data is the first step for advances in multiple directions. It provides the framework around which predictive and personalized medicine can evolve. It is the foundation for a new generation of connected health. Patterns and connections are waiting to be discovered: in an individual patient’s files, and in the combined data of multiple patients. Artificial intelligence excels at exactly the kind of pattern recognition that could be helping patients find solutions to their ailments, but first it needs access to that data.

Solutions already exist with the power to keep patient data secure and accessible when needed. Ensuring excellent user experience is already a requisite for commercial products. Healthcare systems don’t need to start from scratch; the tools are already here. Capgemini has decades of experience working with complex data systems, data consortiums and digital transformation. We’ve provided change management for partners around the world and helped transform customer engagement. We’re looking at the challenges that healthcare is facing up close, and we see an immense opportunity to apply recent advances in data science and user experience to healthcare. When that happens it will be a true leap forward in patient care.

What could your institution do with intelligent access to patient data? Contact us below to discuss your institution’s data needs, and keep up with the latest on data security, sustainability and more. Find out more about our services in health and social care.

The answers in this article were completely authored by large AI language models. Only the questions were provided by humans.

[“Sabrina]” is                                [“Jill”]                                             [“Kelly”]
 GPT-3 from OpenAI                    Jurassic-1 from AI21                   Cohere from Cohere.
 
None of the responses were edited. We prompted the three different AI models three times for each question and selected the best responses. The humans in the loop were Rajeswaran Viswanathan and Aishwarya Jagtap, Capgemini.

Can you give a summary of your understanding of an inclusive world?

Sabrina / GTP-3 from OpenAI: Inclusive world is a term used to describe a world in which all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability, or religion, have an equal opportunity to enjoy the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities. Inclusive world encompasses many different ideals, including the belief that people should be treated equally regardless of their background or differences. To create an inclusive world, we must work to demolish the hierarchies that exist in society and create an environment in which everyone is included. We must fight for policies that promote diversity and equality, and work to ensure that everyone has access to education, health care, and basic needs. There is still a long way to go before we can truly proclaim an inclusive world, but progress is being made every day. We need to keep working toward a world in which all people can have their voices heard and their dreams fulfilled.

Jill / Jurassic-1 from AI21: Inclusive world is a philosophy that advocates that the world should be inclusive, and that all people should be equal. Inclusive world advocates that all people should have equal rights, and that all people should have equal opportunities.

Kelly: Inclusive world means a world where everyone, regardless of their gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or disability, has the opportunity to reach their full potential.

It’s interesting that you mention “demolish the hierarchies.”

How can AI be used to demolish the hierarchies that exist in society?

Sabrina: There are many ways that artificial intelligence can be used to demolish the hierarchies that exist in society. One way is by using artificial intelligence to create algorithms that identify and critique the implicit and explicit biases that underpin the current social order. AI can also be used to create algorithms that recommend policies that dismantle the hierarchies that exist in society. Finally, AI can be used to monitor and analyze the outcomes of these policies to determine whether they are effective.

Kelly / Cohere: I think AI is used to remove the hierarchies that exist in society. By providing equal access to information, AI can help people to be more aware of their situation and to have a better understanding of the context in which they operate. It can help people to be more critical and to have a more balanced view of the world.

How can AI help in the creation of a more inclusive world?

Sabrina: There is no one answer to this question, as AI can potentially help in a number of ways to create a more inclusive world. For example, AI can be used to help identify individuals who may be at risk of exclusion or discrimination, and AI-powered digital assistants can be used to help people with disabilities access information and services. Additionally, AI can be used to help develop more inclusive policies and practices, as well as to monitor compliance with existing inclusion policies.

Kelly: Inclusion is a key component of the AI strategy of the European Commission and of the European Parliament. In a few weeks’ time, the new AI strategy will be presented to the European Parliament and the Council. The Commission will also launch a wide-ranging consultation on AI, including on the ethical aspects of AI.

Is inclusive world a theoretical perspective or a philosophy for building AI systems?

Sabrina: It is both a theoretical perspective and a philosophy for building AI systems.

Jill: Inclusive World is a philosophy for building AI systems.

Kelly: It is a philosophy for building AI systems. It is a philosophy that is based on a foundation of human- centric principles. It is a philosophy that is rooted in the belief that AI systems should be built with the dignity and respect of human beings in mind.

What should humans do to help AI for creating an inclusive world?

Sabrina: There is no easy answer to this question, but one suggestion is for humans to educate themselves about the issues surrounding AI and its potential impacts, and to engage in open and honest discussions about the potential implications of AI development and implementation. Other actions that may be useful in this regard include encouraging the development of responsible AI policies and practices, and participating in research and advocacy efforts aimed at improving understanding of the potential

implications of AI development and implementation.

Kelly: It is important to have a common vision of the future and to be able to communicate that vision in a way that makes sense to all. We need to be able to explain how AI will affect the world and how we can work together to create a better world. It is important to be able to communicate our vision in a way that is understandable to the public and to politicians. I think that we should also be able to communicate our vision to the AI.

What is your advice for humans for creating an inclusive world?

Sabrina: There are a few things that humans can do to create a more inclusive world:

1. Be aware of your own personal biases and strive to
overcome them.

2. Be an active advocate for inclusion – speak up for others who may not have a voice.

3. Educate yourself and others on the importance of inclusion.

4. Standup against discrimination and bigotry in all forms.

5. Create safe and welcoming spaces for everyone, regardless of their background or identity.

Jill: Humans should create an inclusive world by first accepting that we are all different.

Kelly: I think that we should look at our own behavior and really try to understand what we are doing when we are interacting with other people. We can think about how we can create a more inclusive world by being more inclusive. I think that we can do that by learning to listen to people who are different from us, by learning to understand what they are saying and by trying to understand why they are saying what they are saying.

Interesting read?

Capgemini’s Innovation publication, Data-powered Innovation Review | Wave 4 features 18 such articles crafted by leading Capgemini and partner experts sharing inspiring examples of it – ranging from digital twins in the industrial metaverse, “humble” AI, serendipity in user experiences, all the way up to permacomputing and the battle against data waste.. In addition, several articles are in collaboration with key technology partners such as  Alation, Cognite, Toucan Toco, DataRobot, and The Open Group to reimagine what’s possible.  Find all previous Waves here.

Evolving customer experiences renew marketing activation practices

Reflecting on the experiences of top-tier marketing teams, it is crucial to focus on the customer experience. To get a deeper understanding of the customer needs, all steps and touchpoints should match the brand value. If properly executed and coordinated, a marketing activation program can measure, and be used to strategically plan, to meet the key marketing and business objectives, within deadlines. Thus, providing marketing leaders with a structure to execute their marketing mix, through short-term marketing activation or long-term marketing activation. Where the short term is focused on the now e.g., providing discounts to generate sales, while the long term focuses on creating an emotional connection between the brand and consumer to raise brand equity.

Across different industries, we can see that long-term marketing activation and increasing the customer lifecycle value are especially challenging. Continuously changing consumer demands drive the need for firms to remain relevant to their customers over time. Meaning that the customer experiences need to be daily revised to meet the changing context. One way to do so is to enrich physical touchpoints with digital layers of experience, creating a Phygital customer experience. To deliver a Phygital experience, marketing leaders need to understand how customers experience their brand in both digital and in-store environments, aligning marketing with new fields of play. A great marketing activation program that adapted to the Phygital customer experience is Nike. Nike created the Nikeland Roblox experience for its flagship store in New York City. Pivoting into the future of sales and marketing by offering fully interactive games, showrooms, and unique items for purchase. Nike is hereby generating new income streams (short-term brand activation), as building intimate relationships with their (young-) customer bases (long-term brand activation).

Cultivate engagement through insightful content that speaks to customer needs

Not one customer is the same which requires the segmentation of audiences based on insight generation and data intelligence to realize a frictionless and personalized marketing activation strategy. A flawless distribution and optimization of content based on a real-time understanding of the customer’s needs is what personalized customer activation is about. It’s about showing your customers that you truly understand their needs and can walk a day (or more) in their shoes.

Only purposeful content allows brands to thrive

Personalization alone, however, does not suffice. No, customers want their favourite brands to share their values, convictions, and preoccupations. Thus, to create intimate relationships with their customer base(s), marketing leaders need to empathize with customers on a one-on-one level. Hereby delivering purposeful brands that create societal value and which are put into action internally, externally, and, deep within the supply chain. Meaning that marketing leaders need to transform, or craft, a unified and customer-centric marketing activation program that enables consistent, relevant, and engaging experiences across all channels and touchpoints.

“We currently live in a world that is content rich, yet attention starved. There is an unprecedented and accelerating demand for engaging and personalized content, across more channels, in more formats, and in real-time. This is the content explosion.”

Data is the cornerstone for brand development

Within a customer-centric marketing organization, customer success is at the heart of all strategies, tactics, and initiatives. Customer success, which focuses on the relationship between firm and customer, ensures that customers obtain their looked-for results when dealing with a company’s services, products, or overall brand. It is thus of the highest importance for all (marketing) leaders to have a clear understanding of how to achieve customer success.

The answer? The data that exists within the ecosystem surrounding your firm (e.g., customers, suppliers, distributors, competitors). Through AI-enhanced data collection across digital and physical touchpoints, marketing teams can take better decisions regarding the targeted implementation and strategic orchestration of initiatives in real-time. Resulting in both business and customer benefits, where marketers maximize the efficiency, impact, and ROI of their marketing activation programs. Whereas target customers enjoy an effortless, personalized, and relevant customer journey.

Agile Media investments

Nowadays marketing leaders constantly grapple between delivering hyper-personalized content and their customers’ intensifying desire for their anonymity, and global data regulations. Driven by said regulations, Apple & Google put third-party cookies (and thus, tracking capabilities) to bed. Leaving marketers with an everlasting desire for the good old days; drowsing about how retargeting (customers who’ve visited your website earlier) and lookalike audiences (potential customers that “look-a-like” to existing customers) delivered strong ROI. Thus, drastically impacting the ability of marketers to track, analyze and target users online, and pushing them towards “zero-party” data. As zero-party might suggest, this is where the customer intentionally shares information directly with the brand for value exchange. For example, Lay’s yearly contest asks customers to co-create their favorite flavor of crisps.

So, what can be done to make the new zero-party data practices outshine the old (digital) marketing practices? The answers lie within the center of marketing: building a new relationship with your cross-channel active customers, in which there is mutual benefit around sharing personal data & preferences. Looking at top-performing brands, primarily follow an agile media investment method, which allows them to quickly adapt their campaigns and content placements across channels, websites, and devices. Leading to for example significant marketing investments in the Metaverse – an immersive virtual environment that is quickly taking over the internet and younger generations. Crucially, however, is to prioritize marketing investments by evaluating a channel’s effectiveness in terms of desired customer experiences. Go in light, upscale quickly when successful, or smoothly exit without extreme capital losses.

Measuring performance

Deploying a specific marketing activation initiative depends on knowing when your overall marketing mix, or marketing investment, is “successful”? Marketing leaders struggle with aligning marketing metrics with business metrics, such as content awareness and reaching our favorite strategic measures, instead of customer lifecycle value or ROI. Marketing ROI relies on capturing performance data to attribute profit and revenue growth while measuring the impact of marketing initiatives and giving insights to improve budget allocation. In the evolving market conditions, it is of paramount importance as a marketing leader to set relevant performance KPIs that track your marketing activation’s performance against business goals.

Where to start with Marketing Activation?

Most consumer product companies know their environment is changing daily but knowing changing trends does not suffice. The challenge is to know where the trends are heading before your competitors. Implying the need to understand how to scrutinize data and insights, and how to orchestrate a swift, consistent, and hyper-personalized response through multiple (new-) touchpoints. Bear in mind that short-term brand activations need to be aligned with your overall long-term brand activation strategy to create solid, yet profitable, relationships with your customers.

There are many opportunities to grow your business through marketing activation further. If you are looking for where to start; feel free to get in contact with us or one of our colleagues. Or read more blogs about marketing here

To succeed and grow in a rapidly changing knowledge economy, it’s essential that market leaders equip their workforces with the right knowledge at the right time. This means offering the appropriate content and in-app guidance that enables professionals to effectively utilize the tools and software inherent in their work.

So much of your people’s ability to deliver the results you seek for your business tomorrow depends on the training, knowledge, and resources that you can offer them today. What’s more is that the right training, knowledge, and resources are crucial in attracting and keeping the best talent for your business. Adapting the way in which you train your people according to the evolving workforce and changing employee expectations by delivering digital content in a captivating format is crucial.

So, what’s the key to achieving this? How can you not only maximize your software and applications investments but also provide your employees with everything they need to delight your customers and ultimately grow your business as a renewable enterprise?

The answer lies in sourcing the right SAP enablement partner …

Introducing Capgemini’s Enablement as a Service (EaaS) – An all-inclusive ADM SAP integration and workforce empowerment solution

Capgemini’s Enablement as a Service (EaaS) solution is our training managed service for sustainable workforce enablement. As part of our ADMnext for SAP Solutions offering, EaaS is an all-inclusive ADM SAP integration and empowerment solution that applies a build-to-run approach, which supports your workforce enablement program from go-live to decommissioning by:

• Aligning with your growing business through ensuring an up-to-date digital knowledge database, which follows SAP evolution and releases and combines content to be consumed remotely (eLearning) or directly in the production system (contextual help and GPS or autonomous guidance) 

• Increasing IT efficiency and reducing costs through a self-service for routine user requests that tracks helpdesk solicitations and proposes digital knowledge content to answer recurring “how to” questions 

• Developing a continuous operational efficiency mindset through regular analysis of your SAP utilization and the creation of digital content to support end-user operational effectiveness and improvement.

Driving the development of your future workforce today with the help of SAP Enable Now

Capgemini’s EaaS is underpinned by SAP Enable Now. SAP Enable Now is an Enterprise-wide Adoption and Productivity Platform that can bring your employees the real-time knowledge they need to succeed in any application, while improving their productivity and heightening user adoption across your business.

SAP Enable Now can offer your business – and most importantly, your people – the in-application assistance and enablement content for an intuitive employee user experience. In addition to comprehensive software training and development, today’s employees expect a quick and easy “Google” for answers to their technology questions at work.

However, effectively integrating this solution into your business comes with a host of challenges: Delivering under tight time constraints, maintaining high volumes of content, and continuously meeting employee expectations with user-centric, intuitive experiences.

In addressing these challenges, Capgemini’s EaaS effectively helps you to:

• Onboard newcomers and effectively manage the entire employee training and development lifecycle
• Maintain and grow the proper level of employee knowledge and capability   
• Proactively adhere to the evolution of your workforce expectations from “encyclopedia universalis” to “Google on demand”
• Access and scale digital adoption technologies.

In addition to the above benefits – what really makes Capgemini’s EaaS unique – is that it functions as an all-inclusive service that spans consulting, content delivery, and the ability to foster new technology implementation and the administration of Cloud-enabling technologies. Most importantly, with EaaS, all your access to SAP Enable Now technology is taken care of – along with every instance of Cloud administration, implementation, and user management.

To learn more about Capgemini’s EaaS and our overall ADMnext for SAP Solutions offering – and how you can ensure that you maximize the business value of your workforce and SAP investments, contact me here.