Charter’s Business Transformation Roadshow: A Practical Approach to Business Transformation

💭 Charter Engage: Know IT Podcast Series – Charter’s Business Transformation Roadshow: A Practical Approach to Business Transformation

This podcast announces Charter’s Business Transformation Roadshow across Canada with a series of “Lunch and Learns” delivering a comprehensive program centred on business transformation, where we help to answer two main questions: 1) “What value does business transformation bring to my organization?” and 2) “Where do I begin?”
 

These “Lunch and Learns” are scheduled in Toronto on October 17th; Regina on October 19th; Calgary on October 20th; Victoria on October 23rd; and Vancouver on October 24th. More details can be found [at https://mailchi.mp/0091c7b44f53/charter-business-transformation-roadshow ]
 
Get to know our special guest, Jason Chun-Tung, Cisco’s IoT RTM – Sales Specialist, as well as Charter’s Roadshow team, comprised of Mark George, the Director – Energy, Resources & Industrial Markets, Ronnie Scott, our Chief Technology Officer, and Wade Crick, our Principal Business Architect as they discuss business transformation in more detail, what this process means to companies, six different business outcomes, the role of technology in enabling transformation, and case study examples.

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Transcript

Charter Engage: Know IT Podcast – 

Charter’s Business Transformation Roadshow: A Practical Approach to Business Transformation 

[Recorded simultaneously in Victoria, BC; Edmonton, AB; Toronto, ON, and Chicago, IL]

September 14th, 2023

Presenters: (in order of appearance)

·       Mark George, Charter, Director – Energy, Resources & Industrial Markets, Moderator

·       Ronnie Scott, Charter, Chief Technology Officer

·       Jason Chung-Tung, Cisco, IoT RTM – Sales Specialist

·       Wade Crick, Charter, Principal Business Architect

[0:06] Mark George, Charter, Director – Energy, Resources & Industrial Markets, Moderator

Welcome to Charter’s ongoing podcast series called “Charter Engage: Know IT.” I’m your Host, Mark George, the Director of Energy, Resources, and Industrial Markets.

Today, we're recording a special edition of our podcast series to announce our upcoming [Business Transformation] Roadshow across Canada. We created a comprehensive program centred on business transformation and plan to answer two main questions: 1) “What value does business transformation bring to my organization?” and 2) “Where do I begin?” 

We’ve scheduled “Lunch and Learns” in Toronto on October 17th; Regina on October 19th; Calgary on October 20th; Victoria on October 23rd; and Vancouver on October 24th. More details can be found on our website [at https://www.charter.ca/upcoming-events ]

[00:57] Now, for over 25 years, Charter has built a very successful business as a reseller of networking, IT, security, and collaboration products and services. Last year, we made the strategic decision to invest in building a much broader systems-integration business. And to do this, Charter will take responsibility for helping customers achieve business outcomes, leveraging best-in-class technology and a comprehensive portfolio of professional services to help you integrate and, as importantly, optimize across both the traditional IT and OT infrastructures. To put these comprehensive solutions together, Charter will partner with third parties to help our clients achieve their digital transformation and business objectives.

[1:46] Today, I'm joined by three guests Jason Chung-Tung, the IoT Sales Executive for Cisco in Canada; Wade Crick, the Principal Business Architect for Charter; and our Chief Technology Officer at Charter, Ronnie Scott. They've helped all of us create the Roadshow program and are here to preview some of the key insights that we're going to share as we go across the country.

[2:11] So just as we get started, let's look at business transformation in more detail. It is the process of reinventing an organization’s strategies operations and culture to adapt to the ever-evolving digital landscape - and is a top-down initiative led by the organization’s senior leaders. This is driven by focusing on business cases and measurable outcomes. 

[2:36] A pivotal aspect of this transformation lies in harnessing the collective strengths of i) digital information technology, ii) operational technology, and iii) Internet of Things (IoT) systems. i) All of these digital solutions provide the foundation for efficient data management, real-time analytics, and seamless communication across the organization. ii) OT systems control and monitor the physical processes ensuring operational efficiency and reliability. iii) And then, by integrating the IoT systems, which connect devices and assets through the Internet, businesses can gather real-world data - enabling informed decision-making and predictive insights.  The convergence of these three pillars enables streamlined operations, enhanced productivity, and the creation of new business models. It helps organizations towards a future where innovation can thrive, customer experiences are enriched, and agility becomes a competitive edge in an increasingly interconnected world.

[3:44] So, Ronnie let's start with you. Help our listeners understand what business transformation means and, maybe, contrast that to other references to digital transformation, and why it's critical that companies transform, both from a business perspective as well as from a digital perspective. 

[4:04] Ronnie Scott, Charter, Chief Technology Officer

Thanks, Mark. I'm really excited to be back on the road again. I'm looking forward to this Roadshow with everybody out and their customer base, and I’m looking forward to seeing you there.

[4:12] The question of business transformation and what it means to companies and the comparison to digital transformation is important because it certainly is fundamental business discussions that we are wanting to have. And, one of the key differences (although both business and digital transformation are highly related, the key difference) is that digital transformation is “How do we apply technology and digital solutions to solving business problems?” whereas, I think business transformation is “Let's think about the broader, more holistic organization – people, process, and technology working together.”

[4:48] Now, of course, I can't do digital transformation without the other two. But, I think, sometimes we can quickly go-to solutioning when we do digital transformation and think about the technology before we think about the broader, holistic “How my organization works.” But the outcomes? The outcomes are about giving you a plan for meeting your business goals, the business objectives, and then being able to apply solutions to achieve those objectives.

[5:13] Mark George, Charter, Director – Energy, Resources & Industrial Markets, Moderator

Jason, you've been integral to the development of our Roadshow and the format that we're going to deliver in our program. From Cisco's perspective, what are the six reasons companies should transform?

[5:27] Jason Chung-Tung, Cisco, IoT RTM – Sales Specialist

Thank you for inviting me to be part of this podcast. I am honoured, also, to be a part of the show and the campaign that Charter’s running on this digital transformation topic. It’s very important to both our organization and I think that it's relevant for our customers.

[5:44] So, at Cisco, we like to start with the end in mind. And as our organizations are embarking on this digital transformation journey, we ask ourselves “Why is it so important?” So, in our mind, it's important because it actually delivers six different business outcomes. They're all related, but they’re all distinct. i) The first one is to increase the productivity of the organization, or the operation, and/ or to increase revenue (to grow revenue.) ii) The second being to reduce costs, or to draw some sort of higher efficiency within the operation - in order to make the operation more profitable. iii) The third one is to improve customer experience. And for that, we've seen over the last 20 years that customer experience is, what is, the stickiness that keeps your customer coming back - the loyalty and the satisfaction, if you will. And this is what drives recurring revenue. iv) The fourth one being the worker experience. In OT environments, especially in operational environments that rely heavily on labour, we see that health and safety is top of mind. And changing that worker experience to improve health and safety within the operational floor is the most important. This is the only thing that will stop operation. If there is injury, or loss of limb(s), or loss of life, these are the only three things that are going to disrupt the operation - is going to make your operation incur some losses and revenue. v) The fifth one is important, also. There's a little bit less emphasis on it, today, but there's a lot of organizations that have found ways to generate or create new revenue streams, new sources of revenue, if you will, based on the surface capacity that they have within their operation. 

[7:32] So with that, I will give you an example of what you may know as, the Airbnb story, or the Uber story. We wouldn't have this market if we hadn't tapped into the operation of both accommodation as well as transportation. It's by knowing and having metrics around the utilization of those assets that, we knew, that there were surface capacities that we could use to monetize. So, we want to use that same concept in all the particles to which we are addressing - whether it be mining, or in gas, transportation, utilities, energy, and manufacturing. 

[8:07] The sixth one (equally as important,) is to achieve environmental, and social, and governance targets. All our customers are very focused on being the best corporate citizen and corporate social responsibility is top-of-mind in any customer's annual report - and we believe that it is a differentiator in the market today. 

[8:28] Ronnie Scott, Charter, Chief Technology Officer

Can I just inject something there because I want to reflect on something Jason said.  You gave us the examples of Uber and Airbnb. And one of the things that strikes me as interesting, here, is that these organizational changes can be so empowering and so disruptive that we're 14- and 15-years down the track since those companies were invented. Local governments [and] federal governments are still scrambling to adapt to how much change that's brought to our world travel and accommodation. So, these changes, they can be wholly transformational - not just for your organization, but every stakeholder wrapped around you. And so, I think it's very, very empowering to be able to plan, to move, to transform your business to something that could have astronomical value to you and everyone around you.

[9:20] Mark George, Charter, Director – Energy, Resources & Industrial Markets, Moderator

So, Wade, Ronnie’s helped our listeners understand what business transformation means; Jason has shared the six compelling reasons why companies should transform; can you help our listeners understand than what is the role of technology in enabling transformation and, ultimately, answer the question “Why does transformation matter to an organization?” 

[9:45] Wade Crick, Charter, Principal Business Architect

Great question, Mark. I guess, starting with the role of technology, Ronnie talked about how information includes people, process, and technology. And, certainly, technology [is] important, but that's not the starting point for transformation. Really, the starting point is understanding business outcomes and work backwards from that - understanding the business priorities, drivers, and outcomes, and how you're going to measure those outcomes with key performance indicators. And that leads to understanding the overall process and how it fits into a value chain that delivers services for the customer, the organization. And then, finally, the technology that's going to enable that. And, of course, every day now there's new technology available to help with transformation.

[10:29] Mark George, Charter, Director – Energy, Resources & Industrial Markets, Moderator

Well, I want to thank each of you for joining us today to help launch this Roadshow and putting together an amazing program. Our Roadshow is called “A Practical Approach to Business Transformation.” It's set up to talk about “What value does it offer my organization?” and “Where do I begin?” Our objective in the session is to demystify business transformation, and provide some thoughts on approaches, that you can take, to build a transformation roadmap. But probably, most importantly, some real-world examples of the benefits of business transformation. We’ll see the good, the bad, and the ugly as part of our presentation material, and share a lot more about our experiences working with customers across Canada. 

So, please go to www.charter.ca  and register today. Just a reminder that all the sessions will be a “Lunch and Learn” format, from 11:30am to 1:30pm. 

And I want to thank Jason, Wade, and Ronnie for the insights you provided to our audience. We hope today's podcast has been valuable and we look forward to seeing you at one of our events next month. Thank you.

Contributors:

Jason Chung-Tung

Cisco, IoT RTM – Sales Specialist

Jason leads the Cisco IoT Routes-To-Market team in Canada. He is responsible for the development and management of a routes-to-market strategy to grow and accelerate the monetization of Cisco Industrial IoT Solutions through Canadian channel partners. One of the key pillars of revenue growth for Cisco IoT, other than the new partnerships with OT-focused partners, is the development of a profitable IoT Practice within our existing Cisco partner ecosystem. A key measure of success will be the ability for Cisco Partners to engage of all key vertical industries, market segments and geography across Canada.

Mark George

Charter, Director – Energy, Resources & Industrial Markets, Moderator 

Mark George is a proven business leader with global experience across multiple industries. He currently serves as the Director – Energy, Resources and Industrial Markets for Charter. Prior to that, he worked for five years as Managing Partner and Founder of EdgeMark Capital and Advisory Services Inc., a capital markets and financial advisory services firm.  Mark’s in-depth energy markets experience developed through leadership roles with Environmental Refueling Systems Inc. and with PricewaterhouseCoopers.  From 2000 to 2010, he served as the Founder and President of the Cielo group of companies, a fully integrated residential and commercial construction and real estate development company in Arizona. [] Mark has an intense interest in emerging technologies, having spent 15 years with Nortel, Bay Networks, DEC, and Honeywell in progressive sales, management, and executive roles throughout the Americas and Asia Pacific. [] Mark proudly serves on the boards of several privately held companies and not-for-profit organizations. 

Ronnie Scott

Charter, Chief Technology Officer           

Ronnie Scott has over 35 years of broad IT experience, including programming, network architecture, as well as senior consultative roles for Financial Services, Internet Service Providers, ILEC Carrier Networks, and large enterprise customers across New Zealand, Australia, and Canada.[] Ronnie is currently the CTO at Charter Telecom Inc, a Value-Added Reseller specializing in IT service delivery. As CTO, Ronnie brings his extensive technological background with a strong Business and Service Delivery lens to Enterprise IT Infrastructure solutions.

Wade Crick

Charter, Principal Business Architect 

As the Principal Business Architect for Charter, Wade is responsible for leading the business architecture practice and enabling digital transformation for Charter and its customers. Wade combines his knowledge of technology, industry, and business trends to accelerate digital innovation for the Energy, Resources, and Industrial Markets. [] Wade has four decades of experience with IT hardware, software, programming, consulting, operations, and design. Prior to joining Charter, he held positions at Cisco, PCL Construction, Bay Networks/Nortel, SHL Systemhouse and Digital Equipment Corporation. A lifelong learner, Wade is a certified Enterprise Architect, Business Architect and recently completed his certification in Industry 4.0: How to Revolutionize your Business. 

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