Ascent – Thought leadership from Atos Promises of a converging world

Promises of a

converging world

How your car will help you drive better

Five jobs your kids will do

Meet the technophile leading Sochi 2014

The end of shopping as we know it

Thought leadership from Atossharing innovation and ideas

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The technology and business landscape has been changing at an unprecedented speed. As one of the world’s leading IT companies, our Business Technologists have the responsibility to think one step ahead, to anticipate coming social, business and technology challenges, and to work with our clients and society at large to reinvent their growth models in the post-crisis economic environment

Winter/Spring 2014

Ascent magazine | Atos 32 Ascent magazine | Atos

Welcome to this new Ascent magazine, which provides a glimpse into the future of our ever-

more connected planet.At Atos, our responsibility is to stay

one step ahead of change – and to help our clients do the same.

Our Ascent program is designed to share with our partners and customers advance innovation and thought leadership on emerging trends in many areas.

Ascent magazine is a collaborative forum, which combines key insights from our Atos business technologists with the views and ideas of outside experts from academia and industry.

This Ascent magazine explores the ‘revolution of a connected universe’ and our core premise is that the current technology revolution is truly disruptive, affecting us all.

The years ahead will see era-defining change in the global technology landscape, further impacting the way we all connect, live and do business.

Thierry Breton, Chairman and CEO, Atos

Foreword

The explosion of data generated by smartphones and social networks is already beginning to blur the divide between once very separate spheres.

Entities once as distinct as enterprise and consumer, government and citizen, and indeed different sovereign nations are starting to come together – to converge – in unprecedented ways.

Our mission in this magazine is to explore this future from a range of perspectives – and to understand what the revolution will mean for the daily life of billions.

Around all of these connected end-users are critical points of interaction where business is required to further power progress.

We want to help you understand how business can benefit from these new technology enablers and navigate the emerging trends.

In particular, we focus on four key trends that we believe will shape the coming years:• The emergence of new business

models offering Economic Sustainability;

• Changes in Demographics with the coming-of-age of ‘digital natives’;

• Increasing Globalization, which together will trigger a new demand for technology; and finally

• Trust, which will become a prerequisite for the greater cooperation required.

But what is certain is that humans will remain at the center of all this technological change.

Each of the stories in this magazine can tell us something about the world that awaits us all.

I hope you will enjoy exploring this future with us.

The explosion of data generated by smartphones and social networks is already beginning to blur the divide between once very separate spheres

Contents

Big Data Cloud Mobility Security Social

What does a cashless world look like? 4

No future without trust

Fake facts: The risks of online reviews

2023

Check out tomorrow’s stores 6

Data protection: The big debate

24

The car gets connected

8Sochi 2014: Lessons from

remotest Russia

Dimitri Chernyshenko:

Gatekeeper to the future

26Meet the man

driving Renault into multi-sided

markets12

Why your 10-year-old won’t be a recruitment

consultant

16

Cloud forecast

32The

office 2.034

The People vs Big Brother: who wins?

2020: When Big Data

gets big

18

14

30

ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY

DEMOGRAPHICS

GLOBALIZATION

TRUST


A highly advanced mobile

environment is not being matched

by consumer willingness

While uptake to m-commerce is

above average, P2P and PoS mobile

payments are lagging behind

Economic sustainability

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THe PHILIPPIneS

While traditional powerhouses like the United States, France, United

Kingdom and Japan lead the way in terms of technological and economic readiness, when it comes to actual consumer adoption, not one country in europe or north america makes

it into the top ten. Instead it is the likes of Kenya, Vietnam and the Philippines that are setting the pace. Of the three categories of mobile payment – peer-to-peer (P2P), point-of-sale (PoS) and m-commerce – it is the last, where transactions are carried out using a mobile device, that is currently enjoying the greatest popularity.

Ascent has re-scaled the leading adopters according to their use of mobile payment — and there are some surprises. Could cash-free really change the face of the earth?

Countries re-scaled according to their use of mobile payment

The world — cashless

1%

38% 7% 5%

1%

4%

8%

11%

6%

5%

6%

4%

4%

22%

1%1%

7%

6%

13%

5%

3%

2%

4%

5%

13%14%7%

2% 4%

3%

This illustration is based on findings from MasterCard’s Mobile Payment Readiness Index (MPRI)

PoS mobile payments are

currently running at twice the

average

Mobile payment solutions are

attractive in an economy where

90 per cent of transactions are

cash-based

Use of mobile payments across

the board is double that in

the UK

A high degree of familiarity and

willingness is already seeing double the average usage of

mobile payments HOnG KOnG

6%

eGyPT

16%

15%

14%

M-commerceBuying and selling of goods and services through wireless handheld devices such as mobile phones.

P2P (Peer-to-peer)an online technology that allows customers to transfer funds from their bank account or credit card to another individual’s account via a mobile phone.

PoS (Point of sale)Mobile point-of-sale systems that enable a smartphone to act as a mini-cash register, capable of processing credit card transactions.



Shopping listSanti Ristol and Guy Lidbetter of the Atos Scientific Community anticipate a radical retail shift as online and offline converge

Traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ retailers today are faced with a simple choice: embrace the mobile internet and use its tools to fight back against online retailers, or die. We are fast approaching a time when people will consider it almost a right to be connected at all times, wherever they are. The successful retailers will be the ones who recognise the potential in this situation and use it to get closer to their customers.

The mobile internet will mean consumers expect more from their shopping experience: more information, more convenience, more care; but the personal data they will be required to share in order to get all that will make it easier for the shopkeeper to give it to them, and to get more back.

The opportunity can be divided into two parts. First, away from the point of sale: anything a store can do to motivate customers to come to the shop, such as sending personalized messages and coupons, positioning themselves by entertainment and leisure outlets, and enhancing their online presence. Second, inside the shop: improving the customer experience, devoting more shelf space to leading items by storing more stock off-site, enabling customers to interact and then facilitating payment at the end.

The possibilities are as boundless as imagination, all leading to a closer relationship between retailer and customer and a better experience all round.

Does anyone enjoy shopping any more? Speak to customers and they’ll say you can’t get decent

service, it’s hard to find what you’re looking for and, when you do, it’s cheaper online. Meanwhile, retailers complain that shoppers are rude, always expect something for nothing and are driving shops out of business by using them as mere showrooms before buying online.

Earlier this year, a specialist food shop in Brisbane, Australia, caused outrage around the world when it started charging $5 just to browse. The owner was fed up with people coming in, getting the benefit of her time and knowledge and then leaving without buying anything. “The $5 thing was never a campaign,” she insisted, “it was just a local thing out of desperation to reclaim my business.”

She claims business has improved as a result, but do retailers need to take such strong and potentially self-harming action to safeguard their livelihood? Or can the Internet be harnessed for the benefit of shop owners and customers alike? Our experts pick out 10 positive changes that

shopkeepers will be able to target their marketing much more effectively, both to attract people into the store and then to capture their business once they’re inside. Customers will be informed by dynamic displays that change according to who’s standing in front of them, and enticed by offers that appeal to their specific tastes and preferences.

4. Know what you’re buyingNot sure whether that cake you’re about to buy suits your dietary requirements? Take your smartphone, scan the label and pull down all the information you need. Similarly, if they haven’t got that hat in the colour you want, just scan the label and find out who has.

Santi Ristol outlines what the new consumer means for your business

Cashless and connected

Introducing Worldline......an Atos subsidiary, global player and the European leader in business and payments transactional services. It provides business enabling IT services

to support customers’ top line growth through an innovative, new and seamless user experience designed for engagement. With an unrivalled 40 years of experience and strong local

links, Worldline is ideally positioned to support businesses of all sizes and contribute to their success in today’s fast growing and constantly evolving market landscape. [ worldline.com ]

5. No more aimless wanderingKeying your shopping list into your smartphone can help ensure you don’t forget anything, but you can go one better. When you check into the store, a mobile app will read your list and give you a plan showing where everything is, mapping out your most efficient route around the shop.

6. Does my butt look big in this?If you’re shopping solo, who do you ask for a second opinion? A pair of augmented reality glasses could offer the honest answer you’re looking for and provide a more immersive shopping experience, even replacing the smartphone altogether.

“Don’t think of it as Big Brother, but Big Mother: the more you explain to your mother, the more she will take care of you”

the convergence of online and offline could make for shoppers and shopkeepers alike.

1. Bespoke customer serviceCustomers will no longer be anonymous. As you enter the shop you will ‘check in’ via your mobile device, sharing information about yourself and gaining access to useful apps, enabling the shop staff to personalise their service and enhance your shopping experience, thereby selling more to regular customers. Don’t think of it as Big Brother, but Big Mother: the more you explain to your mother, the more she will take care of you.

2. No more queuesStanding in line at the checkout while the person at the front of the queue digs in their pockets for cash will be a thing of the past. As you shop you’ll be able to scan each purchase on your smartphone and then make a mobile payment when you’re ready to leave. This improves the customer experience whilst reducing the retailer’s cost of sale and shortening checkout lines.

3. Less annoying marketingAs customers share their personal preferences in return for greater convenience,

7. Ditch those heavy bagsYou love shopping trips but hate having to lug your bags from shop to shop. No problem. Just scan the items you want to buy, choose the delivery option when making your mobile payment and the goods are delivered to your home, leaving you free to continue your shopping spree unburdened.

8. No more lost receiptsHow many different cards do you keep in your wallet and how many times have you wanted to return an item but couldn’t find the receipt? Now your payment processing and loyalty schemes can all be managed from your smart device with records kept in the Cloud, accessible any time, meaning returns and refunds are a formality.

9. Putting the fun backOnline shopping will become a more tactile experience, so you can move through the store as if you’re there. Just drag the goods you want to your basket, making it quicker and more relaxing than it is now to shop online. Gaming techniques will enhance both the shopping and loyalty experience, making it more immersive and enjoyable.

10. More than just a shopDon’t be surprised to find your local pet shop selling pet care insurance, as access to vast amounts of customer data opens up multi-sided markets, with traditional shops becoming platforms between other service industries and consumers, creating a seamless shopping experience.


TV, smartphone, tablet and now car: the latest channel for Internet connectivity offers exciting possibilities for the motorist in terms of safety, performance and convenience, and also creates a vital new revenue opportunity for manufacturers


Cars getconnected

RangEWhen fuel or battery charge drops below a set level, the car will notify you of refuelling/recharging locations up ahead, together with their prices and any special offers.

PREdictivE maintEnancEKeeping a constant watch on the health of the car, your predictive maintenance program will notify you when parts are falling due for replacement, and will source and order those parts or tyres.

contRol cEntRE A clear, simple interface with head-up display, gesture and voice recognition and steering wheel remote control will cause minimal driver disturbance. in caR

EntERtainmEntStream music, videos and games from the Internet or share with and from other vehicles.

mobilE wallEt As well as buying your apps and entertainments, you’ll be able to order anything you need for the car, such as replacement parts or accessories such as head and tail lights.

SEnSoRS As well as sensing the presence of obstacles, the connected car will ‘talk’ to the vehicles around it and will be able to react to their movements faster than a human driver. This networking will also play a key role in the car staying connected on the move.

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5

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1

2

““No technology alone will be able to deliver what is needed for a connected car because as the car moves, the network changes topology continually. So you need to take advantage of whatever opportunities you have to communicate: for example with other connected cars and with connected roadside devices such as traffic lights and speed-cams.” Professor giovanni Pau, Smart Mobility Chair holder at University of Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris


Pull up, turn off, plug inUdo Sebald of the Atos Scientific Community asks whether there is a future for the electric car


There are two main incentives for switching to electric powered vehicles: one is

the environment, the other is cost – and ultimately cost will be the deciding factor. Governments committed to hitting low emissions targets are already issuing legislation and offering subsidies in favour of electric vehicles; and as fuel costs continue to rise, car owners – and fleet operators in particular – are finding that the total cost of ownership (TCO) of electric vehicles is looking increasingly attractive. Mobility and car sharing providers such as DriveNow, Cambio and Multicity now offer electric vehicles and a battery charging infrastructure to their growing client base.

A further incentive for the future is the possibility of using electric vehicles as cells within a ‘smart grid’, helping to maintain

an efficient and agile distribution of energy, and potentially allowing the owners of electric vehicles to have their own energy storage system for increased independence from a central energy supply.

obstacles to overcomeAt present, however, there are three major obstacles that need to be overcome. The first is the cost of batteries – as much as €15,000 for a mid-range car – which currently makes the price of private ownership prohibitively high. The second is the lack of infrastructure. While charging poles are beginning to appear in some cities, there are nowhere near enough to support a significant transition to electric vehicles. And third, while it takes about five minutes to refuel your petrol car, a full recharge of an electric vehicle takes several hours using traditional charging.

Yet we are seeing a genuine commitment

to an electric vehicle future. Governments have taken a very positive attitude, as have owners of highly utilised, short-range fleets, including delivery services FedEx, La Poste in France and the German mail service Deutsche Post DHL, which recently piloted a fleet of electric vehicles in Bonn. Automotive manufacturers and their suppliers are divided: some have much to lose, some much to gain, but they all have electric vehicles or research programmes now in place.

Reducing costsThe question is, will the problems facing the electric vehicle be overcome before another power source comes along to usurp it? I think the answer is yes. Battery technology is developing, with the example of the Fraunhofer Institute for Materials and Radiation Technology in Dresden having recently announced a breakthrough in the lifecycle of lithium-sulphur batteries. These batteries are more powerful and cost-effective than the current lithium-ion ones and could help to bring costs right down. More widespread use will also lead to better economies and more infrastructure suppliers will follow the lead of Tesla Motors in expanding the charging infrastructure (Tesla is aiming to connect every major city in the US and Canada by the end of the year) and developing fast-charging technologies.

There is also evidence of a changing attitude to car ownership: no longer will we want our own pride and joy, sitting in the garage for most of the day, but we’ll hire vehicles as we need them from conveniently placed collection points, fully charged and ready to go.

In the short term, hybrid vehicles represent a good entry point to the benefits of electric vehicles, but by 2030 or 2035, I believe the majority of vehicles on the road will be fully electric and any new fuel source will supply that system.

atos and SamsungConnected vehicles and their integrated display devices will be a key strand in a new strategic partnership between Atos and electronics manufacturer Samsung. The partnership,

announced in June 2013, aims to develop and market advanced IT solutions for B2B markets, including end-to-end retail, digital signage, connected vehicles, end user computing, printing and mobile solutions.

bREakdown In case of a fault, the car will notify your manufacturer’s breakdown service and generate a thorough diagnosis of the problem, which will enable a quick repair.

milEagE Personal use data such as mileage will be a valuable commodity for sale to third parties; for example, insurance companies.

PERfoRmancEEvery driver drives differently. Gathering data on revs, gear-changes, braking etc will help manufacturers to adapt their designs to be most efficient for most people, to lengthen car life and save fuel.

local flavoURThe personality of the connected environment will be important for user experience, with everything down to the accent of the computer voice being tailored to the user.

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“Connected car apps are being designed with the aim of helping you drive better and not disturbing you, but car makers are already working on apps for a time when the motorist doesn’t have to drive.” Pascal Pediroda, Worldline Connected Vehicles Offering Manager, member of Atos Scientific Community

Ascent magazine | Atos 13


12 Ascent magazine | Atos

“It’s obviously at stake,” accepts Gayral. “In the services that we’re ready to sell to our fleet customers, all those issues are already covered. The data is not nominative but it’s sensitive and obviously we’re making sure we follow the rules in each country. We have to be compliant with the regulations in terms of nominative protection, so in the insurance case I mentioned, certainly we’d have to go through a contract between the insurance company and the driver.”

Contact with customersDoes he agree that consumers, especially the young generation, are becoming less reluctant to share personal information?

“That all depends on the added value that the service provides. Let me give you the example of the HD Traffic service, which we’re using daily on Carminat TomTom LIVE and now on R-Link. I think everybody recognises that in order to get extremely precise traffic information in real time, it needs to be fed by information from users. They’re not nominative but you know that somewhere all that information is compiled and stored in order to provide services that are extremely valued by customers.”

There is one further respect in which R-Link is set to give Renault a significant advantage. Thanks to R-Link, Renault can stay close to its customers and gather all the information it needs to ensure it’s their first choice when it comes to after-sales.

“This is the key,” says Gayral. “How do we keep in contact with our customers? Our website has a My Renault link, which enables them to keep connected to us, but R-Link will allow us to go a step further and push specific offers to them for maintenance, accessories or whatever. It is a significant cornerstone in customer relations management – a real opportunity.”

Does he feel Renault has stolen a valuable march over its competitors with the launch of R-Link?

“It’s more important for us to prove it by concrete evidence than to say we are the first,” says Gayral sagely. “Our customer will be the judge. I would say we are now in the middle of the battle.”

“A customer could reduce their premium by selling data about the number of kilometers they drive ”

Getting the green light

The winning app, Evergreen, was developed by a team from the University of Hagenberg in Austria. It calculates the phasing of traffic lights across a city and enables motorists to drive at a speed that, in a perfect scenario, spares them from ever having to stop at a light. Impressing the judges with the clarity and usability of its display, the app will be embedded in Renault’s R-Link development process.

Why did you choose traffic lights?[Rainhard Findling, developer:]We were stumbling around the problem that if you stop at a light you may want to know how long you have to wait there. It’s a routine problem that we all have and we simply wanted this problem to be solved.

What were your key criteria?[RF:] We wanted to give the driver the information, how long they would wait at the lights; and we wanted to save them money on fuel costs and things like brakes because they had to accelerate and decelerate less; and as a side-effect we wanted to make the cities happy by reducing emissions.

What were your biggest challenges?[RF:] We wanted to prove that it works, so we carried out a simulation of cars with the city structure of Linz, the third largest city in Austria, measured the outcome and showed that cars using Evergreen undergo less acceleration and deceleration; therefore, less costs and emissions, and less time at lights.

Why were the judges so impressed with the user interface?[RF:] The screen is perfectly integrated into your car, so you can touch it just as you are used to doing with existing software in cars. It’s very specifically adapted to what you need to see when you’re in the car; you immediately understand what the device wants from you.

How long before it’s implemented?[RF:] That’s really down to cities because they have to know about their own traffic lights so we can get that information into our system. We’re in talks with some cities and will see if there is a need for some place to test our system.

Ascent meets the winner of the Atos 2013 Global IT Challenge for connected cars

There’s a major conundrum facing car manufacturers right now. As the ubiquity of the connected vehicle becomes more and more inevitable, the

challenge is on to find a business case that enables manufacturers to offer customers this convenience at a price they’re prepared to pay. “My bet is that two years, three years from now, none of us will want to buy a car which is not connected,” says Hubert Tardieu, of the Atos Scientific Community. Time is of the essence.

At Renault, they’re not waiting for others to take the lead. In the same spirit of ‘innovation for all’ that saw the French manufacturer pioneer steering wheel mounted controls and in-car navigation, Renault has forged ahead with R-Link, an integrated system that is connected to the Cloud, your smartphone and the vehicle’s own network. With over 50 apps available at launch, its primary aim, according

to François Gayral, Cross Carline VP Marketing, was to extend the availability of Renault’s existing connectivity services, such as the acclaimed Carminat TomTom LIVE built-in navigation system, to as many customers as possible.

But Renault R-Link opens up a whole new world of potential benefits, for Renault, its customers, and also for third parties. And here the business case begins to add up.

Added value“We’re ready to sell services to our fleet customers that will use data from the way their vehicles are used to help them manage their fleets more efficiently,” says Gayral. “We could also sell that data. For example, we’re investigating pay-as-you-drive insurance services, where a customer could reduce their monthly premium by selling data about the number of kilometers they drive.”

What Gayral is describing is the economic principle of the multi-sided market, whereby a business provides added value services to its customers in exchange for personal information, which it can then sell to third parties. For Renault, or any other car manufacturer, the proposition is very exciting: collect enough data from enough connected vehicles and you could generate sufficient revenue to make the business case fly. In this respect, Renault’s policy of installing such innovations democratically across the range is tailor-made for achieving that key requisite of the multi-sided market: a high number of subscribers.

But there are pitfalls. The one thing that will undermine this model, and already has in some instances, is the irresponsible use of consumers’ personal data. How will Renault safeguard consumer trust?

While most car manufacturers continue to ponder the viability of the connected car, Ascent asks Renault’s François Gayral what it was that convinced his company to press ahead with its pioneering R-Link system

Quick CVDate of birth: June 21, 1956Place of birth: Pau, FranceQualifications: Engineering degree from INSA LyonCareer milestones: 34 years in the automotive sector. Started at Valeo heading several customer accounts then joined PPG as PSA WW Account Director. 13 years at Renault. Was Aftersales Director for Renault France and Cross Carline VP Marketing since 2009.Home town: Sceaux, FranceFamily: Married with two children and grandchildrenCar: Renault EspaceFavourite R-Link app: Email with text to speech, Pages Jaunes (YellowPages)

Driving new revenues

Power to the people?

Hypersapien: the evolution of connected man1960sFirst computer networks

Late 2000s Tablets inspire new ways to get connected

Early 1990s W3 brings connectivityto the desktop

Present dayThe connected cartakes the strain out of motoring

Late 1990s Wi-Fi laptop takes connectivity out of the office

Near future The connected TV brings the world into your living room

Early 2000s The smartphone puts connectivity in your pocket

FutureInternet of things does it all for you

The Internet has so far enabled some significant power shifts away from Big Industry and Big Government, but what does the long term hold?

The first two decades of the World Wide Web provided the ordinary man and woman in the street with numerous opportunities for autonomy. Any kid could

become a pop star, any writer a best-selling author. Even cats and dogs got in on the act. Then crowd funding enabled bright new businesses to start up and challenge the status quo.

In 2007 Fulham FC supporter Will Brooks launched MyFootballClub.co.uk. He wanted to give soccer fans the chance to run their own club, even down to picking the team. Over 30,000 people signed up from all around the world, put in £35 each and bought Ebbsfleet United, in the fifth tier of the English leagues. The takeover was covered by broadcasters from more than 50 countries around the world and sparked similar initiatives in Italy and Germany.

“Football chairmen and managers, as a whole, didn’t believe football fans could organise themselves or make rational decisions as a group,” says Brooks. “They thought it would be bedlam.” But it wasn’t. In their first season in charge, MyFootballClub.co.uk took 25,000 fans to Wembley to watch Ebbsfleet United win the FA Trophy.

Average attendance before the takeover had been about 900. Unsurprisingly, the sight of mere fans proving that they could run the game caused considerable unease among football’s traditional elite, but the Internet’s potential to spark a revolution was soon to take on a whole new dimension.

“Before 2011, in Egypt under Hosni Mubarak, anti-assembly laws made it illegal for more than five Egyptians to just be together, period. In that kind of environment, the normal, organic, slow growing demonstration cannot work. But if 500,000 people show up at once, there’s nothing you can do about it. And that’s

Five ways to harness the new people power

Embrace open innovation There’s a great opportunity for large companies to open up their borders and to create fertile ground for working together on innovations with partners or the crowd. You have to become a part of the ecosystem.

Know your customer and keep them interested Gather all the data you can about your customers: the different segments, where they are, how to engage them. Get their attention with experience and with flow, not with traditional advertising.

Try to be authentic and honest The old advertising just won’t wash. Connected customers

can easily spot a fake nowadays. Trust is paramount.

Build social engines Don’t have just one person speaking for you on social media, you need most of your employees to connect with the social experience of the brand in the outside world. What you do internally has to be reflected outside.

Be a network broker Open new doors for customers to engage with one another. Create platforms for people with shared interests to connect; for example, a hospital could connect people with the same ailment so they can share experiences and knowledge.

Jan Krans of the Atos Scientific Community gives his advice to businesses faced with a newly empowered clientele

“The old advertising

just won’t wash”

where Facebook came in.” So speaks Reza Aslan, author, commentator and expert on the Arab Spring. “The force that probably played the greatest role in the Arab Spring was actually Al Jazeera,” he points out, “but without the social networking sites, it would have been impossible to get organised enough to succeed in bringing down these governments.”

But was this the shape of things to come? Were we witnessing a seismic shift in the balance of power between governments and people, businesses and consumers? Or was it all a mere blip, a brief honeymoon period in which the people stole a march, but ultimately signed up to a new way of yielding control? As Aslan points out, the genie is already back in the bottle in the Middle East. “Iran has an entire department of its national security apparatus whose sole function is to remain on social networking sites, try to feed insurrectionist behaviour and to bait people into responding. Once they respond, it’s a very easy step from that computer to a knock on your door.”

So is it already game over for the online empowerment of the people? Not according to Jan Krans of the Atos Scientific Community. For one thing, there are plenty of examples every day of social networking forcing businesses to sit up and listen to their customers.

But there are bigger issues than social networking going on. “People will use their mobile phone not only for social networking but as their lifeline to the world,” predicts Krans. He cites IBM’s Watson computer, which beat two humans to win the American general knowledge game show Jeopardy, as proof that automated knowledge will soon be at the disposal of everyone.

In fields such as healthcare, agriculture and environmental control, people are already finding their own solutions, by

sourcing and sharing information online, from anywhere in the world, forming groups around certain issues and, like a flock of starlings, choosing their direction without the need for government departments or research groups. “Thanks to the mobile Internet, you’ve got more power to challenge the status quo,” says Krans.

He acknowledges that government infiltration and cyber crime will always be present, and that businesses will inevitably try to ‘buy’ the key influencers who drive social opinion, but he believes that people are developing a sharp sense of what is authentic and what is not and that becoming “a more networked society” ultimately means more freedom.

Aslan agrees that we are witnessing a power shift of sorts. He describes it as “breaking the monopoly that the gatekeepers once had over the free flow of news, information and opinion.”

In other words, state controlled news channels can no longer pull the wool over people’s eyes.

Information is out there and the means to access it will soon be in the pocket of one in every two people on Earth.

Left Humans were no match for IBM’s Watson computer

Far left Facebook empowered protesters in 2012’s Arab Spring

Demographics



Demographics


Today’s schools are preparing young people for jobs that don’t yet even exist, as the IT revolution looks set to change the face of the employment market. Here’s a sample of the sort of careers that lie in store...

Five jobs your kidswill do...

Business technologist Tomorrow’s dynamic business environment will require a unique type of professional – one who doesn’t presume to know the answers; a person who really listens and comes up with innovative answers to clients’ business challenges. Business technologists will be more than just techies, or consultants who aren’t truly accountable for delivery. They will consider the entire value chain with the sole purpose of delivering on business strategy. Their role will be to orchestrate ecosystems, providing teams of skilled consultants and industry experts to define and deliver an end-to-end blueprint that meets business objectives.

Digital agriculturalist The demand on food production from a burgeoning global population will force the emphasis onto more efficient, productive forms of farming. Smartphone capability is already enabling farmers in developing countries to group together in digitally connected cooperatives, using their mobility to buy and sell more economically and to share resources. On a global scale, the ability to use mobile technology to micro-manage food production in order to establish an agricultural synergy across the world will be a valuable skill that will help to reduce shortages and gluts and ensure minimum waste and maximum supply.

Personal environment designer The first smart glasses are only months away from commercial release, offering us all the possibility to experience the virtual and physical worlds as one. By the time today’s 10-year-olds are adults, face-mounted second screens will be commonplace with a whole new industry developed around them. A personal environment designer could facilitate a health examination by a consultant on the opposite side of the world; enable remote management of equipment; and visualise imaginary environments as downloadable themes, enabling the customer to experience the world as they would like to see it. We feel like an art deco makeover today…

Social media concierge Individuals, just like organizations, are increasingly using social media to publicize themselves to their peers and clients. But how, in such a time-pressured world, are people to keep their profiles up-to-date and show themselves to be truly at the ‘bleeding edge’? Step forward the social media concierge, who will act as the gatekeeper to your online profile, providing regular, brilliant content to your network in your name.

Medical cyborg specialistA whole new branch of medicine will develop to deal with the rise of implanted technology, as the possibilities of the ‘Internet of things’ encourage more and more of us to have nano sensors and chips embedded in our bodies. This new group of doctors can expect to be in high demand. Where else are people to turn when their stomachs stop talking to their microwaves?

Recruitment consultant

Ironically, while recruitment agencies try to predict the sort of jobs and skills that will be in highest demand in the future, one position that looks unlikely to survive the IT revolution is their own. Social networks like LinkedIn are already beginning to automate the pairing of suitable candidates with suitable jobs, and as our personal data becomes more transparent and starts to include performance measures, it will become quicker and easier for employers to carry out rapid online searches for ideal candidates at the push of a button, without having to engage a recruitment consultant.

...and the one they won’t


Demographics


Snapshots from a day in the life of Big Data in a very near future

In the first 24 hours of a baby’s life, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are produced worldwide. That’s the equivalent of every US citizen tweeting once a minute for 222 years. And if those numbers sound big, get ready to be shocked. By 2020, when our baby is seven, the amount of daily data produced will top 100 quintillion bytes.

Every person going about their day-to-day business

leaves a digital trail behind them, consisting of GPS

data, texts, social media posts, credit card payments

and much more. But that’s nothing compared to the trail we will create

in coming years, as our fridges, cars, microwaves

and even our clothes start transmitting data.

Industrial applications of Big Data will include many of environmental benefit. For instance, the aggregation of meteorological and geographic data will make it possible to analyze the optimum position of wind turbines for maximum energy output.

Companies will use Big Data to deliver a more personalised service

to customers and prevent churn. Imagine being able to carry out detailed

sentiment analysis on 500 million daily customer calls in real time. Now

imagine being able to combine that data with social media records and

transaction information, so that a call centre operator will receive an accurate ‘churn risk indicator’ and information enabling them to tailor their response.

During the 2012 US Presidential elections, both parties used social sentiment analysis tools to track public opinion online. A media agency even managed to correctly predict the results in each of the 50 US states using Twitter data alone. By 2020, politicians will be able to gage in real time how campaign promises and policy decisions are playing with the electorate.

Bigger, cheaper processing power will make it possible to unravel an individual’s DNA sequence for as little as €70, paving the way for ‘anonymized’ mass DNA databases that could be used by medical researchers to detect a vast range of health patterns and so help identify those genetically at risk of certain diseases.

Thanks to the rapid spread of sensors and satellites, and to

the great increase in computing speeds, it will be possible to forecast

weather changes more accurately and in much greater detail. New models will aggregate hundreds

of thousands of atmospheric variables with decades of historical

data, delivering reliable, in-depth forecasts weeks ahead of time.

Security agencies will be able to aggregate input from a much broader field than

before, with many benefits for society. For example, police forces will be able to combine historical crime data with data from social networks, psychological

input and personal location context information from smartphones and

other devices. This will create the possibility to predict crime patterns

and anticipate events.

Big Data 2020

Big

Personal

Sustainable

Fast

Safe

Scientific

Reliable

Emotional

g 100

500

quintillion bytes of data will be produced

per day by the year 2020

million customer calls analysed in

real time

Industrial applications of

Big Data will include many of environmental

benefit

It will be possible to forecast

weather changes more accurately

and in much greater detail


Trust


No future without trustData security concerns pose a real threat to future technological progress. Might we really be cast back into a pre-Internet age? Jose Esteban of the Atos Scientific Community investigates

Security breaches involving some of the world’s most high-profile organizations have seen data protection

making headline news. We want our IT applications to be easily accessible, but we also expect confidentiality and integrity to be the norm.

This places trust at the heart of every relationship. A breakdown in user trust around privacy and data security can have a serious impact on digital progress – with potentially damaging implications for business relationships with colleagues, customers and stakeholders.

Technology is now all pervasive in our lives. We rarely think about how much we trust technology – and when a new platform emerges, we rush to be an early adopter. Yet the rapidly changing ways in which we use IT systems, and the often unmanaged distribution of the data they hold, mean established security approaches can quickly become inadequate.

Take the blurring of the boundary between our personal and professional lives. Not so many years ago, we went to work and used IT equipment that was much better than we could afford personally. Now, many of us have devices with higher specifications than those provided by our employers. Inevitably, we want to manage corporate data using our own superior equipment.

Digital nativesOrganizations are not unhappy with this scenario, because it can reduce costs and boost productivity. However, it means an end to the clearly defined operational borders that previously supported security governance and control. It also demands a greater degree of trust in users to manage their devices responsibly. We are careful with our physical wallets, so

is all in one place. A decade ago, if you lost your phone you were cut off from the people you knew. Now you are not only disconnected, someone else potentially has the means to know everything about you.

In response, the US’s National Institute of Technology has recently revised its ‘Guidelines for Managing the Security of Mobile Devices in the Enterprise’. These bluntly state that in planning IT security, ‘organizations should assume that mobile devices will be acquired by malicious parties’.

The challenge for retaining trust is that even if an unauthorised person gets access to a device, only an authorised person should be able to use the data on it. Separating personal and corporate data will help maintain confidentiality; automated data obsolescence or data wiping when no longer required should be the norm; and advances in identity management such as biometrics and cryptography should be used to protect data in the component sub-systems.

Sustainable businessOnline banking is an area of our lives where trust between individuals and organizations is imperative. Many of us chose our bank in the pre-digital era, and it has kept our trust for many years. Now, for convenience, we are prepared to trust our bank in the online sphere – leaving every bank with the challenge of balancing the need for robust security with consumer demand for convenient access.

A recent survey by transaction security specialist Entersekt found that 85 per cent of US adults with a bank account are at least somewhat concerned about online banking fraud, and 71 per cent would be at least somewhat likely to switch to a different bank if they fell victim to online fraud.

of US adults with a bank account are at least somewhat concerned about online banking fraud

would be at least somewhat likely to switch to a different bank if they fell victim to online fraud. 85% 71%

we must be equally careful with our mobile devices.

Too many people fail to recognise just how much communication power they hold in their hands – and the risks inherent in the devices that are now part of our everyday lives. A mobile phone is no longer just for speaking, or even for browsing; it can now be used to make payments, with direct access to our bank data.

There is a tendency among some user groups to trust technology blindly and fail to think through the potential privacy issues. This is particularly true of ‘digital natives’, those aged under 25 who have always lived with mobile phones and the internet. Young people are willing to make concessions in terms of privacy if they see a benefit for them.

Likewise, people over 50 who had previously been slow to adopt digital technologies have been the highest growth segment for Facebook in recent years. When they find they can speak to their grandson half a world away, the computer is no longer a strange device. They drop their guard; scepticism turns quickly into trust.

Greater risksEach segment brings its issues. Young people don’t realise how much personal data they expose because they have always lived with the technology. Older people are prone to suffer from phishing attempts and scams through lack of caution. Common to all is the greater risk of misuse or unintentional exposure through the increased portability of data from cloud services and on user-owned devices.

Data that previously could only be accessed through a device controlled by an organization can now be accessed by a device that also supports our personal life. Our extended network of contacts, both personal and professional,

“Plan on the assumption that mobile devices will be lost, hacked or stolen”

1.2.

3.4.

5.

Lessons for your business

Breaking down the barriersNew business models rely on organizations collaborating in order to add value. Those which are not ready for that scenario and don’t place trust at the heart of all business interactions risk failure.

Border controlPlan on the assumption that mobile devices will be lost, hacked or stolen. Then develop a security approach that segments data so that even if an unauthorised person gains access to a device, only an authorised person can actually use the data on it.

All in it togetherData security must be an organization-wide responsibility rather than the concern of one department. A central plan rather than ad hoc solutions will build a trusted reputation.

Stuff happensIt’s how you react that’s the most important thing. Too many organizations focus on fire-fighting rather than implementing effective, long-term data security strategies. Trust is a matter of perception – and public disclosures can be very damaging.

Keep the noise down!You can build the most sophisticated data security systems but one of the biggest risks is resolutely old-school: careless talk. On the street, in a lift or on a train, an overheard phone conversation can leak sensitive information.


Trust


proactive strategies. In contrast, a well-managed response to a data security threat may in fact enhance trust. Incidents happen; what matters most is how you deal with them.

Technology now has the power to create communities. We are introducing social networks into companies to facilitate collaboration. We have the means to find others with similar interests and communicate across borders and boundaries. Who would have predicted the growth of open innovation?

We no longer instinctively see people we don’t know as strangers but as potential collaborators, and we are willing to seek the middle ground between blind faith and absolute caution in our digital interactions. What is for certain is that without prioritizing trust, no organization will be able truly to capitalise on digital innovation and achieve sustainable growth.

Each user login is a potential opportunity for a hacker – but also a potential opportunity for a bank to reinforce the confidence of its customers. Secure multi-channel operations will meet the demand for easy access and also enhance user trust.

Information security is a pillar of sustainable business. And confidence in that security is essential if organizations are to capitalise on the potential offered by data sharing, open innovation and the dissolution of physical boundaries. After all, globalization is not going to halt. An organization that cannot show effective data governance will start to lose credibility, trust – and money.

A key feature at the heart of online transactions is the digital certificate, used to identify and assure users and digitally sign software. However, a number of breaches employing fraudulent

certificates have damaged trust. With servers and applications such as web browsers relying on automated digital certificates without the direct involvement of individual users, analysis of some Certificate Authorities revealed surprisingly lax security controls on computer systems and networks.

Proactive strategiesThis highlights the need for data security not only to be part of an organization’s security model, but part of its overall business model. Trust is dependent on perception: you can develop the most stringent security systems but lack of central control and poor communication can have a massive impact on perceived reputation. Too many organizations tend to be reactive when it comes to data security, responding with ad hoc solutions rather than developing long-term

“An organization that cannot show effective data governance will start to lose credibility, trust — and money”

Fake factsHow can businesses build trusted online environments when users are free to operate anonymously and post false or damaging content?

What makes you decide to buy a particular new washing machine, or stay

in a certain hotel?A glowing online review, blog

or post can be hugely influential. Research last year by Nielsen showed that online reviews are the second most trusted source of brand information after word of mouth.

Yet how genuinely trustworthy are these reviews and comments? A recent report by the Guardian newspaper in the UK uncovered a number of recommendation sites carrying reviews written using aliases and false addresses.

“Anonymity has empowered users but it has also been exploited,” says João Baptista, Associate Professor of Information Systems at Warwick Business School. “Higher trust environments are associated with better experiences and more effective exchanges. Improving trustworthiness requires higher levels of competence or professionalism; benevolence – by which I mean having good intentions; integrity; and fairness.”

Self-policingA possible way forward is self-policing, and the Association Française de Normalisation (AFNOR) has published the world’s first voluntary standard defining rules and procedures for review sites on the Internet (see right). Forty-three organizations involved in e-commerce, consumer groups and professional associations worked together over 18 months to produce the standard, known as NF Z74-501.

AFNOR is convinced that there are strong economic benefits for operators to adopt the standard. Indeed, NF Z74-501 could one day become the basis for an international standard, as part of

the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), of which AFNOR is the French member.

“Any online platform needs to consider the risk of losing user trust at the highest level,” says Baptista. “It is not just a feature on a website, it is a management concern that will shape the service and issues emerging from its use, with implications for systems, policy and governance.

“Removing full anonymity and managing identity in services where people exchange information and socialise has become more important. There is a move towards monitoring of comments and establishing identity on several newspaper websites, for example, in order to reduce risk and increase trust.”

Risks to progressBaptista is concerned that online anonymity poses real risks to digital progress: “Trust is hard to engineer from the top, as we saw with the failure of the digital certificates market in the early 2000s. Closed environments tend not to work and legislation is always playing catch up, for example with the belated banning of social media access in courtrooms.”

The challenge, then, is for operators to build user trust actively. It’s a process, he says, that’s the same online as offline: “developing a positive reputation through good track records, certification schemes, recommendations, referrals and so on. Also vital is appropriate use of cues ranging from branding to tone of voice.

“I see opportunities in this area where third parties could provide a framework for digital exchanges, similar to the Apple app store. The role of certification is also likely to increase, as a way of providing more immediate signalling devices.

“Ultimately, though, this is a social issue that can only be tackled through changes in the way we all access these

services – through training, awareness and learning.”

Olivier Gibert Director of Press Relations, AFNORVoluntary standard for Internet review sites

Send message – Report

AFNOR’s NF Z74-501 standard for Internet review

sites was born of a demand in the marketplace

for a self-regulatory approach.

The NF mark is recognised by 85 per cent of

French people. Certification is a voluntary

process, and is a real commitment to a site’s

customers and users in general. Consumers can

trust the methods of sites that operate to the

NF Z74-501 standard. Reviews cannot be posted

anonymously, and authors should be identified

by a username and easily contactable by various

methods determined by the site to verify what

they have written.

We believe many more sites will follow. The

standard conveys confidence and encourages

a more virtuous approach to business. Good

operators will become more valued, poor

operators will marginalize themselves.


Trust

no obvious public interest for distribution of this material. The subject of a post should have a straightforward way of objecting.

In many cases this might best be done shortly after original publication. But the subject might not be aware of the material, or the extent of the damage may only become apparent later. There may also be information which it’s initially in the public interest to disseminate but where that justification falls away over time. It is in such cases that the ‘right to be forgotten’ may have traction.

In the case of long published and widely distributed material, the law should be considering blocking particular types of invasive processing, notably indexing on search engines by name or other obvious personal identifier, rather than seeking to prohibit the information itself.

Emmanuelle, what are the business implications for this kind of legislation?

EB As a service provider, and also as owner of blueKiwi, an Enterprise Social Network, Atos is particularly interested in the concept of the ‘right to be forgotten’. Although the right may seem to be quite revolutionary, it forms part of

the already existing principle of data retention limitation. Indeed, current data protection legislation states that personal data shall not be processed for longer than necessary. In other words, the right to be forgotten is already addressed by such legislation.

It’s important also to establish what level of online invisibility is acceptable. Absolute removal of all traces would be almost impossible due to systems performing multiple back-ups, but I would suggest that if major search engines return no results then someone has effectively been ‘forgotten’ as far as the wider world is concerned.

Although technically challenging, I believe ‘privacy by design’ is what we should aim for. It would require data protection constraints and the ‘right to be forgotten’ to be designed into all systems, throughout their life cycle, rather than being bolted on afterwards or overlooked.

What is clear, and it’s something we all agree on, is that ‘privacy by design’ must be linked to greater awareness of acceptable rules for online engagement, and the need for individuals to think about how best to protect their privacy.

Caughtin the webLike the proverbial elephant, the Internet never forgets. Yet there may be parts of our past that we would prefer to delete from our digital records. What are the legal, moral and practical implications of a ‘right to be forgotten’?

AM As we begin to consider the policy implications of emerging technologies, it’s clear that a range of moral perspectives is needed to promote effective solutions.

One of the problems with social media is that people lack a reference point for the best way to navigate this world, or what kind of morality ought to underpin their behaviour. This is why there are so many high-profile controversies.

Recently we have seen a UK feminist campaigner and an MP who defended her both threatened with rape via Twitter, and tweets sent to prominent female journalists and campaigners in both the UK and USA warning that their homes would be bombed.

Emmanuelle, do you think people lack insight into how to communicate effectively and respectfully online, or do they eventually find their way, morally speaking, by trial and error? Is this a problem of failing to recognise what is public and what is private?

EB Andy, I don’t believe people lack insight as to how to communicate effectively and respectfully online. We are all surprised by the way young people – the so-called ‘Y generation’ –

share private information with a wide range of people, and this trend has been adopted by politicians and personalities.

What people do lack is awareness of the consequences. When a young person posts a picture, what they consider is the immediate effect: they can share a good experience. What they do not realise is that this picture will be available very widely and for an indeterminate length of time. Pictures or posts someone sent when they were 16 will still be accessible when they are 30. This can have a dramatic impact on reputation or employment prospects.

For example, 14 years after getting drunk at a party and posting some silly pictures on Facebook, a young person applies for a job. The employer searches online, finds the images and, disappointed to see such poor behaviour, decides to hire someone else. This example helps to justify a ‘right to be forgotten’, which is currently being proposed by the EU Commission. It’s part of a new draft regulation to revise the EU Directive on Data Protection.

Surveys have consistently shown people of all ages supporting such legislation. Also, out of 6,000 complaints made in 2012 to the French data protection watchdog, La Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés, more than 1,000 concerned the right to be forgotten.

David, do you believe that having this right would encourage people to keep using social networks without the fear of having to deal with the consequences of what they may have said or posted years ago?

DE I’m with Emmanuelle here. People do indeed often behave in a short-sighted fashion when consciously publishing information about themselves to the world, and should have the right to delete the original content which they created.

The more difficult problem arises when the information has been legally reposted by third parties. What should be done here? While there are exceptions to this (especially in the case of children), I think the law’s starting point should be that the original publisher must take responsibility for the natural consequences of worldwide publication. Particular online forums may, however, have good reason to provide for additional user rights and responsibilities through their terms and conditions.

The law’s trickiest problem is what to do about individuals posting information not about themselves but about others. As Andy says, this material can be very intrusive, insulting and even threatening. Moreover, there is often

“14 years after getting drunk at a party and posting some silly pictures on Facebook, a young person applies for a job. The employer searches online, finds the images and decides to hire someone else”

AM

Andy MiahChair of Ethics and

Emerging Technologies and Director of the

Creative Futures Institute at the University of the

West of Scotland

David Erdos Katzenbach Research

Fellow at the University of Oxford Centre for Socio-

Legal Studies

Emmanuelle Bartoli

Chief Legal Counsel for Data Privacy and

Security, Atos

DE EB


Globalization

Connecting SochiIn just seven years, Sochi has developed from a remote collection of Black Sea villages into a high-tech hub that will be the very centre of the world for six weeks this winter when it hosts the most technologically-advanced Olympic and Paralympic Games in history. Ascent looks at what the story can tell us about our converging planet

Alexander Zolotarev was a 25-year-old PhD student when he arrived in Sochi in 2008

with a laptop and a dream: to build a citizen journalism website that would chronicle the extraordinary urban transformation taking place in the city ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

The scale of the challenge became clear within a few hours of arriving. “For a guy from Moscow, it was a huge surprise” he recalls. “There was hardly a single internet café. McDonald’s was practically the only place in town where people could get fast Wi-Fi. I wound up spending most of my time there alongside every geek and hipster within a 50km radius.”

Such was Sochi at this time – a collection of pretty fishing villages strung out along Russia’s Black Sea coast and framed by the imposing Caucausus mountains that separate the area from the rest of humanity.

It’s a description recognized by Marta Sanfeliu, Atos Chief Integrator for the Sochi Games, who first visited the city in early 2010 to scope out the job of establishing the systems infrastructure that will underpin the world’s greatest sporting event.

Crazy dream“My first impressions were of a beautiful place but a ‘small town’ place, which was unusual,” she says. “It felt very isolated. Certainly, there was very little English spoken.”

The prospect of bringing the Olympic and Paralympic Games to this remote community at first seemed like a crazy dream – even to Dimitri Chernyshenko, the local businessman who became CEO of both the Bid and Organizing Committees.

By the time of the IOC Host City election in July 2007, however, Chernyshenko, like many others, was convinced of the potential to stage truly

Left Sochi is separated from the rest of the world by the Caucasus Mountains

innovative, high-tech Games in Sochi. Games that would transform his hometown into a global destination.

From the start, Sochi 2014 has been a project driven by technology – in the image of Chernyshenko himself (see p30).

“IT is an obsession for him,” laughs Alexander Zolotarev. “When he meets someone new, he will often ask them, ‘What’s your religion: Mac or PC?’

“At the same time, we have Vladimir Putin, plus a digitally-conscious Prime Minister in ex-President Dimitri Medvedev, who was known in Russia as ‘The Internet President’, so it’s really a major focus.”

Marta Sanfeliu agrees: “The Russians see these Games as a huge opportunity to develop the technological infrastructure, especially in communications and energy. The mentality here is very tech-oriented nowadays.”

Power cutsMarta and the Games technology team have been based in Sochi since summer 2012. It has been a challenging period as they have sought to complete all the technology and communications works for the Games in parallel with massive construction and road and transport infrastructure development.

“You have to remember they are building every single venue from scratch, she says. Inevitably, the coordination has been difficult, and sometimes the lines get cut. Pretty much every month we would have a couple of days without power or connectivity.”

For local people, such disruption has been a small price to pay for the arrival of state-of-the-art communications technology. In 2010, telecoms start-up Yota brought commercial 4G internet to Sochi, while the local government has led a major program to ‘Wi-Fi’ every park and public area in the city.

“McDonald’s was practically the only place in town where people could get fast Wi-Fi ”


Globalization


active local population, with networks such as VK and Facebook providing a critical platform for dialogue over sensitive issues such as compulsory relocation.

What’s more, social media has been the primary channel for driving public engagement with the Games throughout Russia, and beyond.

Digital benchmarkMarta Sanfeliu, who has worked at every Games since those of Sydney 2000, claims that the levels of public enthusiasm in Sochi are unprecedented: “It’s extraordinary how motivated the people are. You can really feel it.

“There seems to be no opposition at all. It’s also noticeable how many of the people working on the Games are very young.

And they have come from all over Russia to be involved.”

Both Marta and Alexander believe that Sochi 2014 has the potential to be a benchmark in the evolution of the so-called ‘digital Games’.

But while giant strides can be expected in the realm of social media activation (see sidebar), progress in other areas is subject to familiar restrictions.

“The approach to the Cloud is still conservative,” explains Marta. “For a start, a lot of the big technology decisions were taken back in 2010, when the market for Cloud was not as mature.

“But there was also a security issue. The agencies in Russia would not allow data to be stored outside the country – and they would certainly not have been the only government to impose such a ban.”

Nevertheless, Sochi will still see some significant technology firsts, including the deployment of the official Games website over the Cloud. In addition, for the first time ever, Atos business technologists are serving two Primary Data Centers. All Games logistics systems are being centralized off-site, in Moscow, with the Sochi Center used only for results distribution.

It seems the Games, like so much else, are headed in the direction of the Cloud. But what will be the impact on the future of the Olympic and Paralympic Movements?

Might it mean, for example, that we will see many more Host Cities in the image of Sochi? Or conversely, will the levels of connectivity needed to service future Games preclude other remote locations from having the chance to bid?

Marta demurs. “It’s inevitable that we will see Games systems deployed over the Cloud in the future,” she says. “Really, as soon as the market becomes comfortable with the concept.

“But for me the real issue is the impact this will have on the spectator experience – on the way non-ticket-holding spectators all around the world will be able to access and enjoy the event in a way that is actually very close to the live experience. This is the really exciting change that we can expect.”

Global destinationAnd what about the future for Sochi?

Marta believes the city now has the physical and communications infrastructure to compete as a year-round tourism resort in the international marketplace.

For the local technology sector, the future is less clear. “Of course, there has been a big skills challenge here,” explains Marta. “The reality is that 95 per cent of the technology staff are from outside the region. I hope that they will stay.”

The job of ensuring they do – and of securing the wider Sochi skills legacy – lies with institutions such as the Russian International Olympic University. Known by the acronym RIOU, and with a campus right in the heart of the city, the university took its first intake of students in 2013.

Its flagship program is the Master of Sports Administration, which is taught by leading international experts – including Alexander Zolotarev, who today heads up the University’s highly innovative social media research.

Alexander confidently predicts that RIOU will play its part in making Sochi a global centre of excellence in sports education, with social media right at its heart.

But there’s a hint of nostalgia in his voice when he reflects on the changing character of the city. “The people are more like Muscovites now,” he says. “And I’m sure they are fishing less.”

The social impact of this movement has been significant and, in some ways, surprising. Just ask Alexander Zolotarev, who saw his crowd-sourced news website take off, rapidly attracting more than 600 citizen journalists from all sectors of society.

“The people of Sochi have really taken to social networking,” he says. “It’s happened very quickly. The interesting thing is that I always saw social media as the channel for telling this great development story, but in fact social media has become a key part of that story itself.

“On one hand, it’s enabling the city and its people to connect with a wider world, but really the greatest impact has been in strengthening local ties.

“Remember that the geography of Sochi is unusual, stretching from the shore right up to the mountains and for miles along the coast.

“Social media has provided residents with a forum to share their views and to establish connections across those natural boundaries – between the different seaside hubs, between the sea-level and the mountain communities, and between generations too. The joke is always that we should be talking about ‘vertical connections’ here.

“What’s really noticeable is that people have a much stronger sense of ‘Sochi’ now. It’s a more open, cohesive and inclusive place, and there is much greater civic engagement.”

Games organizers too have felt the benefits of a digitally

Meet Zoich (above), the most famous Olympic mascot that never was – and an example of the new-era social marketing on which Sochi 2014 has been defining itself as a Games. The punctilious toad, who mocks the stereotypical Russian bureaucrat, was entered into a crowd-sourced contest to design the official mascot of the 2014 Games. Zoich was a viral sensation, streaking ahead of his rivals in every online poll. He was the talk of Russia, and the nemesis of Games and Government officials, who declared themselves appalled at the prospect of such a character representing the nation.So far, so Social Media 101. Until you discover that, far from the brainchild of some subversive web artist, Zoich was in fact the creation of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, planted in the contest to stimulate Russia’s powerful social networks.

“The organizers have been very clever,” says Alexander Zolotarev, of the Russian International Olympic University, who also points to a grassroots mapping project as further evidence of Sochi’s social edge. The award-winning project encourages the public to tag barrier-free buildings and locations on an online map. It was the first crowd-sourcing initiative of its kind in Russia – at a time when no Google maps existed of the area – and has played an important role in raising awareness of accessibility issues, while also providing a tool for citizens and visitors with a disability.

So what other social media developments can we look forward to in Sochi 2014? “The big networks will use the Games to road-test new models and products for sponsors,” says Alexander. “Personally, I expect Sochi to be the platform for Twitter’s Vine to take off.”

“I always saw social media as the channel for telling this great development story, but in fact it has become a key part of the story itself”

“We will see Games systems deployed over the Cloud in the near future”

SociallySochi

Below The Iceberg Skating Palace, built from scratch for the Games


Globalization


Gatekeeper to the futureDimitri Chernyshenko is the self-confessed technophile at the helm of Sochi 2014

Partners in the revolution

What innovations do we plan in our digital marketing around Sochi 2014? The truth is that, even with fewer than 150 days to go to the Opening Ceremony, it’s really too soon to say. And that’s the major change we’ve witnessed over the past four years.

Of course, we’ve done a lot already – in particular a major mobile engagement around Torchbearer recruitment. But Coke is fully embracing the possibilities of real-time marketing. We’ve introduced our social listening hub, which allows us to manage and build on opportunities as they arise. We’ve entered into a new area of real-time marketing. Let me give you one very small example: when Madrid, Istanbul and Tokyo were competing for the right to host the 2020 Games, we had the idea of producing named Coke cans for each city. Around five days later our Chairman was presenting a ‘Tokyo’ can to Japan’s Prime Minister at their victory party.

That’s what marketing is these days. In an online

environment where people are constantly expressing themselves, it’s crucial that marketers listen and are able to react extremely quickly. And it’s also more important than ever that we are meaningful in what we do. I expect corporate social responsibility to become even more of a focus, as is already the case at Coke.

The real beauty of new digital media is that it allows you to be so much more targeted in your activity and more creative. It’s a trend that is also driving a real blurring of the boundary between broadcasters and partners as both are marketing their brands and creating their own content.

Despite growing globalization, the challenge for marketers is still to develop creative that resonates across cultural divides. What is clear, though, is that it’s no longer possible to have different messages in different markets. The nature of our socially-connected new world is that everything can spread.

“Coke is embracing

real-time marketing”

When Sochi bid for the right to host the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic

Winter Games, it promised an event that would act as ‘a gateway to the future’. The face of that promise was Dimitri Chernyshenko, President and CEO of Sochi 2014; a businessman with a passion for technology, incongruously born and raised in the remote coastal city that will host the next Games. Chernyshenko and Sochi have spent the past seven years delivering on their commitment to innovation, self-consciously forging a brand for the digital generation. Ahead of the Games, Ascent speaks to the biggest tech fiend on the mountain.

Where does your passion for technology come from?Technology is an integral part of the modern world. It makes our lives simpler and at the same time fills it with bright colors.

Considering that I spend a large part of my life at work, as most of us do, I can’t do without the innovative technologies and gadgets here.

But the most important thing for me and the entire Organizing Committee is to stage the most innovative Winter Games in 2014, which will show the world an image of modern Russia and inspire the whole world.

And I promise: we will have something to be proud of! In particular, the Unified Identification System used to gain access to the technological services, as well as the broadcast of the Games in record-breaking high definition – and innovative spider cameras, telescopic cranes and phantom cameras for slow motion pictures. We have what is needed to surprise even the most seasoned viewers!

There is also a wide range of solutions from electronic food vouchers for volunteers to confidential printing services to make lives easier for everyone.

To what extent have the Games been a catalyst to develop technological infrastructure in the Sochi region?Thanks to the Games, a breakthrough has been achieved in the field of telecommunications and the region has seen digital television and a fiber optic network established for the first time.

I’m glad to mention that our Partners are actively involved. For example, Atos provides a technology infrastructure and IT systems that make staging the Games possible. By 2014, Atos will manage a technology system consisting of 900 servers, 1,000 security network devices and 6,500 computers.

Also in the framework of the Games project, Rostelecom will construct thousands of kilometers of fiber optic communication lines. Wi-Fi access will be available at all the venues. Even more, for the first time in Games history, it will be absolutely free of charge.

And that’s not all. Exactly one year before the Sochi Games, Megafon opened its 501st base

“We have what is needed to surprise even the most seasoned viewers”

station in Greater Sochi. With the launch of this station, the quality of voice and mobile Internet services across the Krasnaya Polyana territory increased the capacity of the mobile network by 30 per cent.What role has social media had in driving Sochi’s development?For us, social media is not only a way to transfer information and communicate with our audience but a tool to create a long-lasting legacy of the Games.

Our innovative Accessibility Map project is a case in point. Users have already added over 9,000 venues to the map, which was honored with a Runet Prize last year. The Sochi 2014 Partners have great initiatives as well. So, together with another Partner of the Games, Samsung, we are planning to open a mobile Olympic Hub which will help to make the Games as accessible as possible.

My favorite initiative is the ‘Sochi 2014 Olympic Resort’ game launched on Vkontakte, the most popular social network in Russia. The aim is to familiarize users with the Games venues and sights of Sochi. Already, more than 650,000 people are signed up to play.What do you think will be the long-term impact of social networking on sports sponsorship? The structure of sponsorship deals has changed a lot thanks to opportunities created by digital technology and social networks. Nowadays, sponsorship is not only focused on brand awareness, it is also centered on providing a deeper and more emotional level of engagement with fans. For example, Sochi 2014 Partner Rostelecom already provides internet broadcasting of the Cultural Olympiad events and Megafon opened an entire Internet portal dedicated to sport.What do you think will be the greatest legacy of Sochi’s Games?One striking example of legacy is the resurgence of the volunteer movement in Russia. During volunteer recruitment, our site received more than a million visits and about 200,000 applications. There were eight applications for every place, just like at a prestigious university! Thanks to the work of the 26 Sochi 2014 Volunteer Centers, established at the best educational institutions across the country, thousands of Russians have become involved in volunteer activity. According to research data from the 2012 World Giving Index, Russia landed for the first time in the top ten countries for the number of people involved in volunteering. And this is just the beginning.

‘Things are really changing’ says Thierry Borra, Director of Olympic Games Management at The Coca-Cola Company

Globalization


Ascent asked Atos Scientific Community experts Paul Albada Jelgersma and Jordan Janeczko to give us their predictions for cloud computing over the next five years

Cloud forecast

Mobility and Cloud will become oneVery soon, we will start to understand mobility and Cloud as one and the same. Take your generic smartphone. You probably still think of it in terms of having 32GB or 64GB of storage, but already that device is an entity in the Cloud; is scalable; and can access thousands of applications and share data.

Increasingly, the challenges and opportunities of mobile will become the challenges and opportunities of cloud computing.

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Goodbye to security and privacy fears First of all, there will be the change in technological architecture, where security will shift completely from network and infrastructure to the data and app layers.

Second, there’s going to become an imperative for Governments to enact regulation. We’re already seeing the beginnings of this in the fallout of the US Prism case.

There’s also the impact of mobility. A smartphone tends only to be owned by one person, so it’s a much more trusted relationship.

No more Cloud talk Right now we have this phrase – cloud computing – but in reality, 100 per cent of new IT is cloud computing. Gmail, for example, is a Cloud solution, but nobody ever says so.

All the successful new start-ups are using cloud computing, and with good reason, since the investment costs are so much lower.

The Cloud also enables greater agility in addressing the customer base. The benefits to small businesses, in particular, are obvious.

By 2018, more than 50 per cent of all generic applications – communications, email, document management and so on – will be Cloud-enabled.

A European Cloud This is going to become a reality, principally because of the clear economic rationale, especially in the present climate.

The recent EU report found that the implementation of a European Cloud environment would deliver an impact of €970 billion, equating to 3.8 million new jobs by 2020.

The European Cloud is not about mandatory regulation but rather the best way of creating harmonization between countries

and industries, whose activities right now are very fragmented.

It’s about enabling more projects like the European Space Agency’s Helix Nebula research, where sharing data on the Cloud allows hundreds of decentralized scientists to access and analyse the information.

What is important to understand is that the European Cloud is not some protectionist idea designed just for Europe. The ideas are for people and organizations everywhere to use.

Hybrid domination Of all the Cloud delivery models, the hybrid model will be the dominant one in five years’ time. Not all apps and data are going to be ready for the public Cloud, but they are going to need to be accessible in it, which will make the hybrid model very attractive.

Businesses, the majority of which will be using the Cloud by this time, will also generally opt for the hybrid model. Usually this will be about having the capability to move data from a private Cloud to a public Cloud environment as a contingency. We know that 50 per cent of businesses are already looking at such plans.

A global standard for Cloud messaging Greater machine-to-machine communication – the so-called ‘Internet of things’ – will drive the need for inter-Cloud connectivity, in turn creating a need for globally-defined standards for the way one Cloud communicates with another.

The impact will be the same as with the standardization of network protocol and mobile and telephone systemization.

ascent magazineAscent: Promises of a converging world was produced by Atos

Editor in Chief & Global Head of Talents and Communications, Atos: Marc MeyerMarketing Director for Olympics and Major Events and Ascent – Thought Leadership, Atos: Dorien WamelinkEditorial Director, Atos Scientific Community: Guy Lidbetter

For Seven46 (S46) / Havas Sports & Entertainment (HSE)Editorial: Catherine Inkster, Andrew Shields and Tim Glynne-JonesAccount Director: Augustin PenicaudArt: Mikey Carr and Richard NunnWith thanks to: Nick Varley and Lucien Boyer

Key contributors: Paul Albada Jelgersma (Atos Scientific Community (ASC)), Reza Aslan (Author and Islamic historian), João Baptista (Associate Professor of Information Systems, Warwick Business School), Emmanuelle Bartoli (Atos Legal Advisor), Thierry Borra (Director of Olympic Games Management, The Coca-Cola Company), Will Brooks (Entrepreneur, MyFootballClub.co.uk), Dimitri Chernyshenko (President and CEO, Sochi 2014), David Erdos (Katzenbach Research Fellow, University of Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies), Jose Esteban (ASC), Rainhard Hindling (Student, University of Hagenberg), Francois Gayral (Renault Cross Carline Marketing VP), Olivier Gibert (Director of Press Relations, AFNOR), Jordan Janeczko (ASC), Jan Krans (ASC), Professor Andy Miah (Director of Creative Futures Institute, University of West of Scotland), Professor Giovanni Pau (Smart Mobility Chair holder at University of Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris), Pascal Pediroda (ASC), Santi Ristol (ASC), Marta Sanfeliu (Atos Head of Integration for Sochi 2014), Udo Sebald (ASC), Hubert Tardieu (ASC), Mischa van Oijen (Product Director, blueKiwi), Alexander Zolotarev (Social media researcher, Russian International Olympic University).

Atos, the Atos logo, Atos Consulting, Worldline, Atos Cloud and Atos Worldgrid are registered trademarks of Atos SA. August 2013 © 2013 Atos. Atos SE (Societas europaea) is an international information technology services company with annual 2012 revenue of EUR 8.8 billion and 77,000 employees in 47 countries. Serving a global client base, it delivers IT services in 3 domains, Consulting & Technology Services, Systems Integration and Managed Services & BPO, and transactional services through Worldline. With its deep technology expertise and industry knowledge, it works with clients across the following market sectors: Manufacturing, Retail & Services; Public Sector, Healthcare & Transports; Financial Services; Telco, Media & Utilities. Atos is focused on business technology that powers progress and helps organizations to create their firm of the future. It is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic and Paralympic Games and is quoted on the NYSE Euronext Paris market. Atos operates under the brands Atos, Atos Consulting & Technology Services, Worldline and Atos Worldgrid. For more information, visit: atos.net

Introducing Canopy.......an Atos company powered by EMC and VMware technology, and a one-stop shop that offers Cloud services focussed exclusively on bringing the benefits of Cloud delivery to large public and multinational private sector organizations. The anticipated benefits are substantial: IT cost reduction and capex avoidance through flexible pricing models plus

access to innovative and agile technology that can enable rapid Cloud implementation and faster time to market for products and services. The Canopy offerings are based on open standards so customers can choose their preferred technology and decide whether to run solutions off- or on-premise to best meet their business needs.


And finally...


The officemakeover

Increasingly, office spaces are going to be seen as strategic assets, rather than costs that can

be cut. It’s all about understanding the role of the office in building the social capital that is essential for developing trust among members of a team. Many early adopters of decentralized working models have been undone by failing to understand the crucial importance of maintaining this social link. This is also where social networks have a role in helping to bridge the gap created by introducing new ways of working.

The most important thing for architects of the future will be to build flexibility into office designs. We need to be able to constantly adapt to meet changing needs.

In the physical as well as the virtual space, we should also be looking at how to create the best environment to deliver collaboration – and to spark what I call ‘serendipity’, where experts connect with other experts across generational and geographical boundaries, often leading to very fast and unexpected advances.

Already, the office is often no longer the best place to get online. Most people have access to just as good broadband speeds at home. And it’s generally easier to get things done away from the distractions of the office.

In the future, we’re all going to start seeing the office not as the best place to work, but the best place to socialize about work and to get the best coffee!

And this is important, because no matter how big the global network of

expertise now at your fingertips, cultural differences create barriers. The best way to set up a project is

still to co-locate people and get them to work together – at least in the beginning.

You won’t be in the office 9 to 5, and the office won’t always be the same place, but it will remain as a place to build social capital.

There will be far less room for generalists in a world where global expertise can be accessed through social networks.

The IT helpdesk will be the first thing to go. With the advent of ‘bring your own device’ policies, helpdesks will soon find themselves dealing with more types of device than they can support. In their place, we’ll see virtual communities created for owners of similar devices.

In fact, I predict that, for many companies, this will be the simplest, least threatening way to begin the social experiment.

Tap into the human CloudWhere’s the bar? Make it mobile

Bye-bye bosses

Open the doors

Let freedom reign

Visualize it

Mischa van Oijen, Product Director at blueKiwi, re-designs your workplace in readiness for the enterprise social era, when work life and home life will converge...

As connectivity overtakes computing power, we will certainly see a great reduction in IT equipment.

Even today, you can effectively have the office in your pocket. All you really need to work is a mobile phone with a browser.

The corner office will be a thing of the past as greater collaboration encourages a switch from status-based to activity-based work.

We will be able to say goodbye to large text- based reports and documents that no-one ever reads. Globalization, greater network capacity and changing cultural expectations will see everything become much more visual – and shareable. For example, we’ll have video manuals and visual planning charts and signage.

Forget about elaborate physical security solutions. Access to applications will be simple for everyone. Security will be much more about protecting data, as opposed to devices.

Employees will be happier and more productive, with no more time-wasting email and meetings, and much greater flexibility in the hours and locations of their work.

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Ascent – Thought leadership from Atos Promises of a converging world

Technology

Transcript of Ascent – Thought leadership from Atos Promises of a converging world