TO LEAD & INNOVATE€¦ · learn was the foundation of a conference that scored nine out of ten with the delegates. At the intersection of diversity and curiosity, magic happens

TO LEAD & INNOVATE

CONTENTSTHE PURPOSE 2

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DAY 4

THOUGHTS FROM THE SUMMIT’S GUEST SPEAKERS 8

THE CONTEXT OF THE SUMMIT 19

SETTING OURSELVES THE CHALLENGE 26

Real innovation happens at the intersection of

diversity. Something new is bound to happen when

people from different parts of the world, from different

industries and from different points of view come

together. That is the purpose of the Networked Enterprise

Institute CEO Summit.

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3 The Networked Enterprise Institute | CEO Summit 2015

THE PURPOSE HIGHLIGHTS GUEST SPEAKERS THE CHALLENGETHE CONTEXTCONTENTS

THEPURPOSE

Thirty-five business leaders from all corners of the globe gathered at the summit

from both the developed markets and those that threaten the status quo of our

global economy. They lead businesses involved in the full gamut of commercial

endeavour – finance, manufacturing, energy, distribution, food production and

technology. In a conference driven by practitioners and academics recognised

worldwide as leaders in their field, they were challenged to engage, interact

and participate.

Our theme for this year’s summit was ‘Race-fit to lead and innovate’.

We recognised that a corporation will grow in today’s hyper-dynamic market

when it is mentally and physically fit to take on that challenge. The same is

true for those organisations’ leaders.

Growth will come from change, from disruption. Being ‘race-fit’ will give us

the courage to break the corporate mould and to disrupt.

There can be no doubt that every delegate at the summit – including myself

– came there to learn and I believe we are now better equipped to challenge

ourselves, our organisations and the people on whom we depend.

I was delighted and proud to host this meeting.

Vinod Kumar, MD & Group CEO,

Tata Communications

www.tatacommunications.com/NEI2015




Curiosity, the willingness to learn and the need to disrupt the status quo to achieve

growth, were consistent threads of the summit themed ‘Race-fit to lead and innovate’.

Over the course of the summit, we explored every nook and cranny of this topic.

It was clear from start to finish that everyone in the room wanted to learn. No one came

with the attitude that they had heard all this before. This open mind, this willingness to

learn was the foundation of a conference that scored nine out of ten with the delegates.

At the intersection of diversity and curiosity, magic happens. And so it proved.

In one session, we were tasked to destroy our businesses. Or rather we were asked

to form syndicates and create a business plan for a company that would disrupt the

organisation led by one of the syndicate members.

These radical – yet eminently realistic – plans created new enterprises to deliver: a new

model for third world agri-finance; a new low-cost medical self-diagnosis platform; an

inclusive, interactive multi-sport broadcast channel; a service for personal transport that

has all the convenience of owning a car – but without doing so; and of course, a new,

ubiquitous, high-performance global communications platform!

‘Curiosity’ was the word large, front and centre

in the word-cloud created when we asked delegates,

“what is the most important attribute of a leader?”

REAL INNOVATIONHAPPENS AT THE

INTERSECTION OF DIVERSITY


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The outpouring of innovation came at the

start of the conference’s second day and

set the tone for the positive and engaging

interaction with the line-up of speakers.

Dr Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management

Practice at London Business School, led a

discussion about the practicalities of

building an organisation that delivers

excellence at a time of tectonic shifts in the

global workforce. Using hard data derived

from rigorous academic research, she gave

practical insight into how CEOs must both

guard against and leverage the huge

changes in demographics, talent and culture.

“In the next five years the entire world

will be connected,” said Jack Hidary so

reminding the conference of its key context.

While people will innovate, the technology

of the internet, the internet of things and

the cloud enable the impact of the

innovation to scale at amazing speed.

A delegate joined the discussion and

quipped, “As Einstein once said, innovation

is 1% inspiration and 99% transformation,”

adding that Einstein may well have changed

the balance of that formula had he been

alive to see how technology enables the

transformation process today. “Hit a button

In her presentation, she shared research

showing a fundamental shift in the nature

of the workforce. Traditionally there were

three layers – (1) high skill, high creative,

essentially leveraging the unique attributes of

the human mind (2) medium skilled, process

management and (3) low skilled, repetitive

leveraging the unique aspects of human

dexterity. The research argues that

technology is rapidly squeezing out the

middle layer – and doing so faster than at any

similar moment in human history – such as

the nineteenth century’s industrial revolution.

Serial entrepreneur and X-Prize board

member Jack Hidary, had the delegates get

their hands on the new wearable technology

that has the potential to impact most, if not

all enterprises. He showed how the devices

that we have become riveted to – our smart

phones among them – need not be the

social barrier between people that they have

become. Technology has a solution for itself!

For example, you need not keep checking

your email: when the one email you have

been waiting for arrives, you’ll feel a specific

vibration from a piece of designer jewellery

you’re wearing.

and it’s there in an hour,” said Hidary,

illustrating how the retail industry continues

to evolve and how the original disruptors

such as Amazon are being put under

pressure by a new wave of just-in-time

remote shopping service providers.

A delegate from the healthcare industry

added, “Innovation in healthcare is driven

by a combination of clinical advances and

imaginative use of information technology.

And most of the innovation is coming from

the IT space”.

While disruption transforms business models, it always leads to massive waves of growth.

“ To disrupt you have to listen to what organisations and customers want to see in their markets; help them understand the trends that are taking place in other industries.”




Bestselling business author Scott Anthony turned things around by

giving delegates some early warning signs of the disruption that will

hit their businesses. He then went on to deliver a practical model for

enabling innovation in their own organisations.

Getting feedback from the room using an iPad-based polling system,

we agreed with Scott that innovation was easier said than done.

When asked to say which of five barriers to successful innovation

was the most difficult to overcome, only six per cent said it was (a)

setting a strategy for innovation. The remaining votes were evenly

split between (b) building structures, (c) allocating resources to

the new and different, (d) balancing sustaining today with creating

tomorrow and (e) ensuring an encouraging culture.

“Make sure you have some aliens in your network,” urged Anthony.

He was talking about the innovation process and the need for

leaders to be counter-intuitive when building teams. “You don’t have

to be a computational biologist or a grad from Harvard Business

School to have the best ideas,” said one delegate*. Diversity of

people was a constant theme of the conference. Indeed, when

delegates were asked which of ‘diverse, connected and permitted’

was the most important attribute of an innovative employee-base,

‘diverse’ came out on top.

Mark Thompson, drawing on his experiences working with the likes

of Steve Jobs and Richard Branson, talked about the stamina

needed of leaders when sustaining innovation. Nirmalya Kumar, head

of strategy at the Tata Group, summarised the essence of Mark’s talk

when speaking about the 140 year evolution of the Tata organisation.

“Innovation is not just an activity you do from time to time,” he said.

“It is something that is in our DNA. Innovation defines our existence”.

* The NEI summits are guided by “Chatham House Rules”. Under such rules, remarks can be attributed to the platform speakers but not to the individual delegates. These rules enable a free and frank exchange of ideas and views.

The vast majority of the decisions we take and the

way we behave are governed by a desire not to lose. The brave make decisions that

will help them win.

“ When looking for a hard return from your innovation investment, it’s worth remembering that no one set out specifically to create Twitter.”




On the other side of the coin, speakers and

delegates identified that it was people’s

reluctance to change that barred innovation

– not a lack of budget or technology. “So

many good ideas do not survive the valley

of death where colleagues say, ‘That will

never work here’ or ‘We’ve tried that before

and it failed,’” said another delegate. “You

have to be strong and persistent and make

sure you are not alone – then you can make

a difference,” he added.

Mark Thompson used real stories from the

entrepreneurs he worked with to illustrate

how courageous leaders need to be if they

are to successfully and persistently disrupt

the market. “Successful people are never

done,” he said. “The vast majority of the

decisions we take and the way we behave

are governed by a desire not to lose. The

brave make decisions that will help them

win,” he said.

A final poll revealed that most had a

different view from their corporate PR

departments as to what attributes best

enable a corporation to innovate. Typically

annual reports open their innovation section

extolling the size of the R&D budget but

only six per cent thought that is important

for innovation. Innovation and agility often

sit in the same sentence, but only nine per

cent of us deemed ‘agility’ the key attribute.

In fact, the majority (44 per cent) said the

key attribute for successful innovation is

‘attitude to risk’ with ’leadership’ pipped

into second place at 41 per cent.

As ex-Formula One™ driver David Coulthard

dramatically illustrated in his talk on the

opening evening, winning the race is not

without risk and he ably illustrated that

leaders – be they in the cockpit or the pit

lane – are the lynchpins between managing

risk and driving innovation.

successful Black Eyed Peas (whose songs

have opened many a sales meeting). Now

we all got to know him as a software

engineer passionate about educating

young people. And particularly young

people from his hometown ghetto where

not everyone can achieve the ‘default

aspiration’ of being a mega-successful

music, basketball or football star.

He also spoke with informed passion about

how the music ‘industry’ must find new ways

to sustain its fortunes which had been

forever based on the sales of hardware. He

had some smart ideas of how that could be

achieved with collaboration between the

fashion, wearables and broadcast industries

– which were well represented in the room.

The Networked Enterprise Institute provides

a rich platform for this symbiotic relationship

between networked technology and

disruptive business ideas.

Tata Communications is a disruptive player

in our industry and we believe passionately

that we will achieve our ambitions in

partnership with people who think the same

way we do, be they from established

businesses or start-ups. There were many

excitable conversations going on between

delegates and the Tata leadership team

during the breaks from the plenary session.

“When looking for a hard return from your

innovation investment,” remarked Scott

Anthony, “it’s worth remembering that

no one set out specifically to create Twitter.”

You have to be strong and persistent and make sure you are not alone – then you can make a difference.

The curiosity of the delegates was well

and truly aroused that same evening when

guest speaker Will.I.Am, spoke.

Some knew him from TV talent shows and

some as the lead singer for the immensely



THE PURPOSECONTENTS HIGHLIGHTS GUEST SPEAKERS THE CHALLENGETHE CONTEXT

RACE-FIT TO LEAD AND INNOVATE

Some thoughts from the summit’s guest speakers




USING TECHNOLOGY TO POSITIVELY DISRUPT JACK HIDARY

“ So while the current medical situation is reactive, we’ll be transforming healthcare to a proactive system.”

Jack is the entrepreneur and philanthropist who continues to make a significant impact on the global technology industry. He is a founder of the Clinton Global Initiative and member of the advisory board of Google X Labs. Jack proved an energetic and inspirational facilitator and catalyst for the meetings.

What happens when you have a mobile internet where everyone’s connected? E-commerce, payments, healthcare, education – each one of these areas will be completely transformed.

Today, across the world, there are more

than two billion Smartphones. But that’s

likely to rise to more than four to five billion

Smartphones within five years. This will

radically change our planet. It will radically

change the human species.

When we think about healthcare today and

the challenge of healthcare, with billions of

people without access to proper medical

care, to quick diagnoses, to accurate lab

tests. What happens when you have the

ability to have a lab on a chip, right there in

the field without medical personnel being

there? You can take a blood sample and

other kinds of samples, and analyse them

right on the spot – for Cholera, for Ebola,

for other kinds of diseases. This will be real

within two or three years. These devices will

be networked up so that governments and

health bodies will know right away that an

Ebola outbreak is about to happen.

And more than that, predictive analytics,

driven by machine learning, will be

employed to predict where outbreaks

may occur. So while the current medical

situation is reactive, we’ll be transforming

healthcare to a proactive system.


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Education’s another area that will

face radical innovation. The traditional

approach of ‘K through 12’ followed

by university education will have to be

completely re-thought. And that’s a good

thing because there are a billion-plus

people out there without access to proper

education – without access to traditional

text books. They will now leapfrog into

the new era of accessing online – mainly

via mobile phones – a sound education

backed up with innovative and effective

tool sets.

“Thesekindsoftechnologiesradicallychangehowwethinkaboutthefutureandhowwethinkabouttrainingtheworkforceofthefuture.SowhenyouasaCEOthinkaboutinnovation,youmustnowthinkaboutitinthecontextofthesemassive,non-linearinnovations–thesemassivenon-lineartransformations–thatwillchangethecontextinwhichweoperate.”




RE-INVENTING LEADERSHIP WITH A RE-INVENTED WORKFORCE DR LYNDA GRATTON

“ What we’re going to see in high-skilled jobs is high levels of augmentation, where individuals and A.I. or robotics work closely together.”

The Times / Harvard Business Review rates Lynda as one of the top 15 business thinkers in the world. As Professor of Management Practice at London Business School, there is little Lynda does not know about the interface between people and organisations.

The first one was about connectivity. Of course we know that five billion people are going to be connected with each other. But what does that mean in reality?

At the CEO Summit I talked about the

future of work. It’s been a fascinating

conversation. Here are some of the really

interesting questions we discussed.

One of the interesting insights about

connectivity is that, in fact, the world is still

forming itself into clusters. The ‘innovation’

clusters in San Francisco, in Munich, in

Japan are today’s magnets for talent. But

what role does the connected diaspora play

in actually magnetising talent and can we

expect new clusters to be forming, in let’s

say, Africa or Australia?

We also talked about how jobs will evolve

and what the new jobs are going to be.

The ‘hollowing out of work’ is a profound

phenomenon. Medium-skilled jobs are

disappearing – disappearing to robotics

and artificial intelligence. What’s left are

low-skilled jobs and high-skilled jobs.

Anything that’s routine – even if it’s high-

skilled or highly analytical – can be replaced

by robotics (think about a surgeon, for

example) or by artificial intelligence (think

about being a lawyer). So what we’re going

to see in those high-skilled jobs is high

levels of augmentation, where individuals

and A.I or robotics work closely together.

We had a long debate about generalism

vs. specialism. What would you tell your

children? Should they be a generalist

learning little about lots or should they be

specialising in a specific skill? My view is

that the future is about specialism. But a

number of the CEOs argued otherwise and

talked about how in the start-ups they’ve

been involved in, generalist skills seem to

be much more important.




CEO Summit 2015



A fascinating truth emerged from our discussion

about demography. While many of us might live

until we’re 100, most of our children definitely

will live to that age. What does that mean for

their lives? My research with my economist friend

Andrew Scott, shows that if you live to 100 and

you save 15% of your salary and you want to

retire on 50% of it, you have to work until you’re

80. Few corporations and fewer governments

are really prepared for this. So we had a long

conversation about how to help organisations

and individuals think about these long, long lives.

I believe the relationship between home and

work will change. We’ve built organisations on

the basis of traditional partnerships where the

man worked and the woman looked after the

family. Those traditional partnerships are now a

very small percentage of how people are actually

living their lives and our research shows that the

percentage will become even smaller.

So we talked about how to build

companies that really allow people to

manage work and life without being too

stressed about it.

I then focused on the people networks that

are going to be important in the future. Both

the ones that build expertise and the ones

that build diversity. These networks bring new

ideas together and are crucial for innovation.

And thirdly, in terms of networks, I talked

about the role of regenerative communities

and the need to let people spend time to

build life-long friendships.

Finally I talked about what all this means for

leaders. My view is that leadership is really a

journey which has both an inner component –

how do you build authenticity in yourself – and

also an external component – how do you really

learn about the world you live in and particularly

some of the big challenges that the world faces.

It was a fantastic conference and I was

delighted to have been a part of it.




CREATING A PLACE FOR INNOVATION AND GROWTH SCOTT D. ANTHONY

“ While disruption transforms business models, it always leads to massive waves of growth.”

Scott is the Managing Partner of Innosight. Scott has advised senior leaders in companies such as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, General Electric and Cisco Systems on topics of growth and innovation. Scott is one of Harvard Business Review’s most prolific contributors and a bestselling author of business books.

In spite of all this, the disruptions that CEOs face today are in fact the greatest growth opportunities they will ever see. Because while disruption transforms business models, it always leads to massive waves of growth.

The world is changing faster than it ever

has before. That statement arguably could

have been said any year since the scientific

revolution. Yet something feels different

today. The pace and scale of change makes

it so hard for leaders to grab hold of.

That their organisation is built, designed

and optimised to execute yesterday’s

business model and not to invent

tomorrow’s, is the fundamental challenge

that a leader faces today.

How do we find the balance? How do

we make sure we continue to operate

with excellence while also inventing,

discovering, twisting, turning and moving

in the new directions that are required

for long-term success?

This is not an easy task.

A starting point is to recognise that a

systematic problem requires a system-

level solution. This isn’t doing one thing.

This is coming up with a cohesive set

of interventions to immerse innovation

so deeply within the culture of your

organisation that it disappears and

you don’t need to think about it at all.

How do you get started? I suggest you

do three things…

First, pick a few problems worth solving.

Pick those big strategic opportunity

areas that have the potential to create

tomorrow’s growth businesses.






Second, create capacity for innovation. I am

willing to bet that your organisation has much

more capacity than you realise. However it’s

constrained in what I call the ‘Zombie project

– the walking undead’ – the project that, if you

are honest about it, will not materially move the

growth needle. Put the zombies down and all

of a sudden you have so much more capacity

for innovation.

Finally, inject curiosity into the day to day

routines and rituals in your organisation. If

there’s one characteristic that every innovative

organisation has, it’s curiosity. Make every day

more curious. Run an experiment – sometimes

for no other reason than to just try it

and see what happens. Go out and

spend time trying to understand customers,

not as facts and figures on spreadsheets

but as living, breathing human-beings.

Demonstrate that your organisation truly

loves learning even if it doesn’t directly

lead to commercial results.

It’s never been a tougher time to be a CEO but it’s never been a more exciting time either because the opportunities are there for the taking. Good luck.





CONTENTS THE CHALLENGEGUEST SPEAKERSHIGHLIGHTSTHE PURPOSE THE CONTEXT

STAYING THE COURSE

MARK THOMPSONMark is a respected Silicon Valley senior executive coach.

Over the years, we’ve found the DNA of success that is built to last, is formed of four fundamental disciplines of growth leadership.

I was asked to talk about something that’s

very personal to me, something that I’ve

been dealing with for the last 30 years. And

that’s the fact that most companies you

would hope to be built to last, actually are

not able to make it for the long-haul

because of the conflicts and the chaos

that they face in the marketplace.

That first discipline has everything to do

with disruption but of a very special type.

It’s disruption of the way we engage with

our customers. It’s disruption of the way

that we engage with our employees.

A deep relationship with those customers

and employees allows them to achieve

higher levels of productivity and to

contribute in entirely new and innovative

ways for those customers.

The second area has to do with

extraordinary execution. With all the

creativity and disruption going on in the

marketplace, it’s fundamentally important

to be producing at a higher level of quality

than ever before, even with pressure on

pricing and competition and chaos in

the marketplace.

“ With all the creativity and disruption going on in the marketplace, it’s fundamentally important to be producing at a higher level of quality than ever before.”






The third area is paranoia. Now I’m not

talking about the kind of paranoia that

makes you put your head in the closet,

I’m talking about paranoia that leads

you, in a productive way, to anticipate

the competition – and to anticipate the

competition in a fundamentally new way.

And finally fanatical partnership. The value

chain throughout the entire organisation

– from the time you originate a service

to the time you deliver to the customer –

must be based on partnership.

Each partnership must be driven by a shared outcome – a shared interest – a shared obligation to deliver the very best for customers.


THE CHALLENGEGUEST SPEAKERSHIGHLIGHTSTHE PURPOSE THE CONTEXTCONTENTS





INNOVATING WITH

FORMULA 1™David Coulthard (or DC as he is known around the track)

opened the conference proceedings by drawing an analogy between business leadership and leadership in F1™

– where both share an environment dominated by speed, fierce competition and innovation.




From 1996 to 2008 David drove for Williams

Renault, McLaren and Red Bull Racing

amassing a total of 13 outright victories, 62

podiums and 535 championship points to

become the highest scoring British driver of

all time. He first drove professionally in 1989

and competed in Touring Car competitions

until 2012. Today, amongst a range of

business interests, David is a commentator

for the BBC’s TV coverage of Formula 1™.

He is also a judge on the panel for the Tata

Communications F1™ Connectivity Innovation

Prize (FCIP). Featuring a grand prize of USD

$50,000 and VIP trips to 2015 Abu Dhabi

Grand Prix – the challenge is for the

brightest minds around the world harnessing

their ingenuity, technical know-how and

passion for F1 to spur innovation in the sport

through technology challenges.

A first challenge for the FCIP 2015 was

announced at the time of the summit which

coincided with the build-up to the British

Grand Prix at Silverstone. The British GP

was won by Lewis Hamilton, driver for the

Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team,

to which Tata Communications is the Official

Managed Connectivity Supplier.

In relation to the announcement of the

details of the first challenge, Lewis Hamilton

said, “Technology shapes our lives and drives

us forward and I know the F1 Connectivity

Innovation Prize will deliver some amazing

and innovative thinking again. I’m really

looking forward to seeing the ideas that

come out of the competition and to helping

judge the entries.”

Tata Communications is the official

Technology Supplier to Formula 1 and

provides Formula One Management with

world-class connectivity to all 19 Formula 1

race locations over its global network, the

largest in the world. It also provides hosting

and content delivery services to

Formula1.com, which is accessed by tens of

millions of fans around the globe. This

collaboration positions Tata Communications

with category-exclusive designations such as

Official Connectivity Provider of Formula 1

and Official Web Hosting and Content

Delivery Network Provider of Formula1.com.

As the Official Managed Connectivity

Supplier for the Mercedes AMG Petronas

Formula One Team, Tata Communications

also supports the data transmission over

its global networks to keep drivers Lewis

Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at the leading

edge of the championship.

Further earlier in 2015, Tata Communications

has also been chosen by Formula One

Management as the official provider of

broadcast feeds for the GP2, GP3 and

Porsche Supercup Series. Tata

Communications provides a fully diverse

end to end fibre and satellite solution to

broadcasters from across the globe

during the race.

In the cockpit or the pit lane – are the lynchpins between managing risk and driving innovation.


THE CONTEXT

The Networked Enterprise Institute is set in the context of technology. Its impact on business strategy and the

exponential pace of change it drives into the global economy is why, Tata Communications, created the NEI.

In this series of short articles, leaders from Tata Communications products and technology teams

explore key areas where innovation is set to have a big impact on business.






For most, harking back to the 1960s evokes

images of flower power, tie dye, PVC clothes

and the Troggs. These are all relics of a

bygone era. In comparison, cloud computing

and software as a service, both dreamt up

in the 60s, have stood the test of time and

have gone on to change the face of

enterprise IT forever.

The rise of technologies such as the cloud,

mobility, the internet of things and 4G mobile

networks have had a momentous impact in

the past decade and will continue to do so for

the foreseeable future. Business IT workloads

are on the move, first across the data centre

from dedicated hardware to virtualised

computing and storage stacks, then out to

third party private cloud providers.

While all of this has been going on, what

has happened to the enterprise network?

Well, in all honesty, not a lot. Yes,

transmission speeds have increased, but

little has happened in terms of networking

technologies and architectures. While

software defined networking (SDN) has

revolutionised the data centre, we are

some way off SDN delivering on its

promise to provide service providers

and their customers with genuine,

seamless interoperability.

When it comes to enterprise networking,

the philosophy has always been to keep the

internet – broad in reach, but fundamentally

insecure – separate from the self-contained

and private ‘enterprise grade’ WAN. KIERON MCCANN Director of Product Marketing for Network Services, Tata Communications

NETWORK INNOVATION TO STAND THE TEST OF TIME


For more about IZO™



However, the internet has become an

indispensable business tool and we are all

becoming dependent on applications and

services from the public cloud. Nevertheless,

people who work for large companies are

complaining that their applications don’t

perform as well as they could on existing

WANs, suffering slow response and

prolonged faults. As a result, enterprise

network managers are patching together

solutions using both the public internet

and their private networks.

Managers have tried to cope with

today’s highly dynamic application and

user landscape by building up this patchwork

of connectivity over time.

But traffic ends up routed through

bottlenecks and gateways, on and off

the internet in unpredictable ways.

The result is users’ experience of

applications varies widely depending

on the time of day, what they are doing

and where they are in the world.

So why shouldn’t we embrace the cloud

and properly integrate the internet into the

network? This switch will not take place

overnight, with billions of dollars already

invested in traditional network architectures,

but is the essential next step in the evolution

of the enterprise network. And the evidence

is that we are now at the inflexion point from

which the process will start.

There are many tools that help enterprises

make the most of the cloud. For example,

they allow enterprises to manage the right

mixture of services across a hybrid IT

environment that encompasses in-house,

private and public clouds.

At Tata Communications, we think a much

more open-minded approach is required;

an approach that blends public and private

networking to deliver what employees and

the business need – improved performance,

greater responsiveness and reduced costs.

This thinking drove our innovative

development of IZO™, the world’s first

enterprise-grade internet WAN service,

which guarantees performance across

the internet.

27% of event attendees agreed that allocating resources to the new and different was the biggest barrier to innovation.

http://www.tatacommunications.com/products-services/enterprises/network-services/izo%E2%84%A2-internet-wan




With Will.I.Am taking centre stage at the

summit and talking about monetising

artistic talent, it is worth considering that

whatever innovation comes to light, there

is always risk in our connected world.

Take last year’s cyber-attack on Sony

Pictures as an example. It was a unique

phenomenon of our time. Not only has it

gone some way to tarnishing the careers

of some A-list actors, it has subsequently

led to the studio pulling its latest

blockbuster ‘The Interview’ for fear of

further backlash from cyber criminals.

The reason I say this case is unique is

because it defied the very nature of hacking

as we know it. Rather than breach the

system, steal the most valuable data, cover

their tracks and run – these cyber criminals,

allegedly working on behalf of North Korea

in protest against the politically sensitive

content in Sony Pictures’ latest hit, used their

successful hack to publicly humiliate the

entertainment giant.

They have done so by leaking personal

emails sent between household names and

high profile employees containing an array of

damaging content. For what Sony Pictures

may have presumed is a fairly minor part of

its IT network, the breach of its email system

and ensuing leak has had measurable

financial implications – forcing the studio

to pull its biggest film of this quarter.

JOHN HAYDUK President, Product Management and Service Development, Tata Communications

ALL-STAR REPUTATIONS DESTROYED BY A CLICK




Email is just one of the methods of

communication we use every day – it’s

arguably the most fundamental channel

we use to talk to colleagues, customers,

suppliers and personal contacts. Although

it’s difficult to imagine why cyber criminals

would want to see your emails, this case

hammers home the importance of

protecting company networks at every

level to avoid both theft of critical data

and, just as crucially, corporate humiliation.

The network is the enterprises’ strategic

operational platform, the driver of innovative

business models and the enabler for the

diversity critical to innovation.

Yet all too often network security is little

more than an afterthought for businesses.

It’s easy to understand how investing in

security doesn’t have the same appeal as

migrating services to the cloud, a leading-

edge communications suite or high-speed

broadband – all of which have very tangible

benefits to the business. On the other

hand, they also come with their own specific,

inherent security risks, so security should be

at the forefront of decision makers’ minds

when choosing any IT service.

In fact, given how much publicity this event

has received, coupled with the hack on US

retail chain, Target, companies must realise

that more work and more spend must be

made on security to protect a company’s

digital assets. Given what potentially can

be lost, these business cases for improved

security will be easier to justify

and implement.

69% of delegates say innovation will drive the long term success of their business.

Find out more about network security


www.tatacommunications.com/products-services/enterprises/managed-security-services



“If you want to improve the performance

of the horse and cart, then people will

say you need a faster horse,” said Scott

Anthony at the NEI Summit. He was

illustrating how often the market may

not be able to see the oncoming

innovation – in this case the automobile.

Drawing a more recent and pertinent

parallel, market research company

Infonetics released its latest report

that shows stale growth among video-

conferencing hardware. What’s more,

Enterprise Networking Planet dubbed

the market as going ‘flat’.

Yet with industry and commerce

globalising more and more each day,

does this mean we are all heading

back to the airport for meetings?

A deeper dive into the report revealed

a shift in trends from the sale of hardware

to software. It’s not that video calls are

disappearing altogether – it’s that people

no longer make these calls from dedicated

video-conferencing hardware, confined to

a conference room or the executive suite.

The main reason for this shift is, of course,

the proliferation of powerful hand held

devices capable of connecting to video-

conferencing and other communication

tools without restriction.

ANTHONY BARTOLO President of Mobility and Collaboration Enablement, Tata Communications

WHEN THE HORSE IN FRONT BECOMES A CAR




Business people no longer congregate in a

physical meeting room equipped with the

hardware to make a video call. They are

treating their mobile devices as movable

communication hubs with which to

collaborate with colleagues via whichever

medium is most suitable – from instant

messaging to texts and email through

to voice and video calls.

Having to be in a fixed place at a fixed time

for a call is less desirable as more people work

remotely or hold meetings whilst out on the

road, as many of us did at the summit.

In our personal and professional lives, we

increasingly demand this convenience, but

equally expect seamlessness. After all, no

matter how quick a method may be, we

won’t use it if we risk experiencing problems

joining calls or dropping off the line halfway

through an important meeting.

This is why Tata Communications is

expanding its unified communications (UC)

portfolio, with the launch of three new UC

solutions to provide businesses with

connectivity, collaboration and productivity

anywhere, anytime and from any device.

Across voice, video, chat and presence, we’re

working to deliver seamless and ubiquitous

applications and services from the cloud,

anywhere in the world, which are accessible

through a rich set of APIs and software

development kits.

As businesses grow and expand

domestically and internationally, they

need a sophisticated way to manage their

communications and collaboration – meeting

the demands of employees that want to

connect instantly, wherever they may be.

By equipping these organisations with

choice through a breadth of solutions and

in-built interoperability, businesses and their

employees can fully realise the potential of

a connected world, freeing themselves

from the confines of the traditional static

conference room.

Business people no longer congregate in a physical meeting room equipped with the hardware to make a video call

Find out more about

unified communications


www.tatacommunications.com/services/enterprise/ucc

SETTING OURSELVES THE

CHALLENGE






The 2015 summit was about the future – but much of the future we talked about is happening right now. The key questions confronted were, “How to react to the changes happening today?” and “How can I defend against the disruption allaround me now by being the first to disrupt?”

While we might tweak the focus a little for next year’s summit, we will explore similar themes.

After all, that is the purpose of the NEI and that which delivers the greatest value.

But can we afford to wait until next year? Can those NEI members unable to attend the

summit afford to be left out of the conversation?

I think not. And to this end, we are going to keep the conversation going between summits.

This will not only sustain the value we created at Coworth, but help us create an agenda for

next year’s summit that is pertinent and even more fulfilling.

And this is where I would appreciate your help. We are extending the website we created for

the summit so it becomes a living focus for NEI topics. It will be somewhere we can share

ideas, experiences, success stories, hints, tips and tools that will help us all innovate and adapt

to our constantly changing world.

We’ll be in touch as we develop and complete the shape of this site – along with some thoughts

about satellite events (real and virtual) between now and the next summit. Meanwhile, any

ideas you have are welcome. Just drop me a note at [email protected]

Finally, I am extremely grateful to all those that made the 2015 summit an undoubted

success. To those on the stage, to those in the audience and to those behind the scenes

who made it all work so comfortably and seamlessly, I say a sincere “Thank you”.

Vinod Kumar, MD & Group CEO,

Tata Communications

Business people no longer congregate in a physical meeting room equipped with the hardware to make a video call.

www.tatacommunications.com/NEI2015 #NEI15


mailto:NEI%40tatacommunications.com?subject=


About Tata Communications

Tata Communications Limited (CIN no: L64200MH1986PLC039266) along with its subsidiaries (Tata Communications) is a leading global provider of A New World of Communications™. With a leadership position in emerging markets, Tata Communications leverages its advanced solutions capabilities and domain expertise across its global and pan-India network to deliver managed solutions to multi-national enterprises, service providers and Indian consumers.

The Tata Communications global network includes one of the most advanced and largest submarine cable networks and a Tier-1 IP network with connectivity to over 240 countries and territories across 400 PoPs, as well as nearly 1 million square feet of data centre and collocation space worldwide.

Tata Communications’ depth and breadth of reach in emerging markets includes leadership in Indian enterprise data services and leadership in global international voice. Tata Communications Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.

www.tatacommunications.com | @tata_commhttp://tatacommunications-newworld.com | www.youtube.com/tatacomms

© 2015 Tata Communications. All rights reserved. TATA COMMUNICATIONS and TATA are trademarks of Tata Sons Limited in certain countries.

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