Issue No. 31

Contact Magazine Issue No. 31

Chairman's and CEO's note 3

Searching for quality 3

Technological change is shaping tomorrow’s consumer 6

Editorial note 9

Brexit, taxes and gas: hot topics at this year's Krynica Forum 10

European Forum of New Ideas 11

Trako showcases Poland's rail sector opportunities 12

International Oktoberfest 2017 13

Industry 4.0 - digital transformation in Silesian industry 15

Houses of glass – when fiction becomes reality 18

The future of work in Poland 19

Artificial Intelligence and Human Resources 21

Digitisation in Poland: Achievements and Challenges for the Future 22

Recommendations in social media more effective than TV ads 26

There's no escaping automation – this goes for marketing too! 27

Big Data – Big Problem, is there a solution? 30

How modern technology affects the job market 32

The future of HR Management: at the intersection of AI and personal data protection 33

How tech can help with human resources planning 35

If innovation in the tech sector is so simple, why is it so hard? 37

Out-of-the-box solution or custom development ? 39

How much social-commercial-comfort do you generate? 40

Tailored to fit: content management systems and Big Data 42

Table of Contents

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Entrusting personal data to non-EEA entities and new GDPR regulations 44

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Chairman's and CEO's note

By Antoni F. Reczek OBE and Paweł Siwecki

The busiest season of the year is upon us all,and we hope that everyone has had a greatsummer and a chance to relax, weathernotwithstanding!

There was a tremendous response to the previousissue of Contact magazine, which appeared in Julyto commemorate the BPCC's 25th Anniversary.This special, printed edition of Contact Magazine,(if you haven't seen it, please download a .pdfformat version of it here), had a print-run of1,500copies and has been sent to our members,partners and stakeholders.

Ahead of us, later this month, is the second greathighlight of our anniversary year: the Gala Dinner.The event is sold out and we are looking forward tosee all those attending. Tamara Arciuch, the Polishactress is the latest addition to our VIP guest list.Tamara will be our Master of Ceremonies for thenight.

The BPCC been active throughout September,with our staff members attending Krynica forumand EFNI, as well as helping with the organisationof a British trade mission to Europe's biggest railevent this year, Trako, in Gdańsk.

We conducted a major consultation exerciseamong our members on the government'sproposed changes to corporate and personalincome tax in Poland (CIT and PIT). The meetingand emails led to the formulation of a statement bythe BPCC that was addressed to finance minister,Paweł Gruza. We would like to thanks all memberswho actively participated during the consultationprocess, and hope that our voice will be heard loudand clear by the Polish government.

Last month also saw the meeting of theEntrepreneurship

Council (Rada Przedsiębiorczości) with all themajor bilateral/national chambers of commerce inPoland who were invited to join this platform. TheCouncil was initially established in 2003 by 11 ofthe biggest Polish and international businessorganisations representing entrepreneurs,employers, managers and some foreign investorswith the BPCC amongst them. Major issuesaddressed in the dialogue with the government atthat time: public finance, economic growth, foreigninvestments, economic regulations and labourmarket.

The council became dormant in late 2008 and hasbeen reactivated in May 2016, by six Polishorganisations: Business Centre Club (theequivalent of Britain's Institute of Directors),Krajowa Izba Gospodarcza (fulfilling a similar roleto the British Chambers of Commerce),Konfederacja Lewiatan (the Polish CBI), PolskaRada Biznesu (Polish business council),employers' body, Pracodawcy RP, and the tradeassociation, Związek Rzemiosła Polskiego.

During September meeting the EntrepreneurshipCouncil has listed five areas of focus includingPoland in the EU, judicial and taxation systems,media, and dialogue with economic policy makersand regulators. We shall keep all members up todate with the work of Entrepreneurship Counciland BPCC’s involvement.

The next Contact Magazine Online is due to bepublished in December 2017, in the meanwhile,there's plenty to read in this issue, which isfocusing on IT – and in particular its impact on thefuture of the Polish labour market.

Searching for quality

Michał Głowiński, general manager ofHargreaves Lansdown and Łukasz Grzeszczyk,head of IT Practice, Hays Poland talk to MichaelDembinski, about one of the larger ITinvestments into Warsaw from the UK.

Michael Dembinski: Hargreaves Lansdown, a

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UK FTSE 100 company, is opening an IT centre inWarsaw. Why did you choose Poland, and whyWarsaw?

Michał Głowiński: We started a year ago, the ideawas to diversify. From the beginning the goal wasto find top quality people. Fifteen countries aroundthe world were considered, including India,Czechia, Germany, Spain and Holland. In the end,our board agreed that Poland offered the bestlocation for HL Tech, giving us access to the bestquality IT people. We knew that our IT systemsneeded constant attention if we were to maintainour market-leading position – we trusted the peoplein Poland to create a quality IT centre. We will auditthe existing systems, plan new solutions togetherwith our stakeholders, develop and test them, anddeliver a complete package. And then we'llsupport it and develop it further.

Hargreaves Lansdown has always investedheavily in IT systems. Back in the early 1980s, thecompany was already IT driven, with papernotebooks and telephone lists replaced bydatabases on PCs. We've consistently beenimproving our IT capabilities since then, and it isone of the things that helps us retain ourcompetitive edge.

Why Warsaw? It had two airports, there weredirect flights to Bristol and our CIO really liked thistown. He saw an analogy to Canary Wharf 20years ago – cranes everywhere, a sense of energyand growth.

We looked at Gdańsk and Wrocław too. A whileago we used a Polish company from Poznań towrite a small piece of software which the boardreally liked. Poznań seemed a good location too,but didn’t have direct flights to Bristol. With peoplein both locations who have to travel frequentlybetween the two sites, that's an important factor.Besides, if people relocate internally they tend tomove to Warsaw rather than to Poznań.

MD: What is Hays’ role?

MG: We are fully supported by Hays, ourexclusive partner for this recruitment. There aretwo aspects to working together with a specialistcompany on this project.

First the volume. We plan to hire 50 people by theend of this year. We have two floors on theWarsaw Spire ready for up to 200 people. Finding50 people in six months is challenging. We'vemade offers to about 40 people and we've alreadygot about 30 people working here. This is asoftware factory, able to produce a specialisedpiece of engineering. The first software will beprototyped in October. Itcan be difficult to find goodIT specialists on the Warsaw market. You have tooffer more than a good salary and work hard toattract people to come to you. Software specialistswant to work with modern technology and createsolutions instead of constant maintenance. Ourstrategy is for a constant evolution of the softwarewe create.

Secondly, it's about the brand we are building inPoland. We build it by the things we do. People inthe IT world in Poland are all talking amongthemselves about HL Tech, the new player in themarket. . Moreover, our employees treat thiscompany as their own; we trust what they do.Hargreaves Lansdown operates in the UK as acompany which is trusted by investors – ourclients. One of our goals is to make sure they arehappy with the services we provide in HL Tech.Here in Warsaw, we're just half of our IT, but on adaily basis we work as one company. The Warsawoffice is the first branch of Hargreaves Lansdownoutside of the UK – outside of Bristol even, soeveryone's really involved.

ŁG: The story behind this is interesting. Each year,Hays meets some 70 companies from around theworld which are looking at Poland. Some are herefor cost reasons. When we first met HargreavesLansdown's CIO Dave Davis and HR directorHeather Cooper in TriCity, they made it clear to usthat they were looking to set up a technology armfor the firm to support their activity, rather thantrying to cut costs. When

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a company like Hargreaves Lansdown, a leader inits field, tells us that it wants to do something likethis in Poland, it's the kind of assignment thatcomes up just twice a year. This investment isabout people. If you just focus on costs and officespace, but you don't have the proper talent pool,you will not open.

During this time from September to the end of theyear, we have to establish the centre, and preparea strategy – we need key people starting with thegeneral manager, then about 50 people who will bethe core of the organisation. This recruitmentprocess is not extraordinary for us – but the peoplewe're looking for have to be brave, to join what is ineffect a start-up. We have to sell the story thatHargreaves Lansdown wants to build here. Wechose Michał back in April – it's been an amazingtime, we've got a lot of things to do to establishHargreaves Lansdown as HL Tech in Poland. Atthe end of the year we'll have reached a criticalmass which will make the rest of the task easier.Hays knows where to look.

M G : To be frank, this is very much a start-upculture. If you aren't comfortable with that, it's notthe job for you. In five years, this company will beexactly the company that our recruits will havecreated; they will have influenced it, selected thetools and technologies and decided abouteverything. They will have an impact on what theydo. The candidates are buying into this vision, nowwe have to make sure they won’t be disappointed.

MD: Who are the members of your team? Are theyonly young people?

MG: We're looking for experience and personality.At least a few years of work in softwaredevelopment is necessary at this stage. Age isless relevant, I know a 28 year old IT analyst whois the best specialist I’ve ever met and I know atest engineer the same age as my father who caneasily shame me with his bright ideas. The keything is personality – they have to buy the dreamand follow it. This is 80% of success. If someonedoesn’t know the tools, the notations,

we can teach them that. We can’t teach attitude, orthe right level of involvement.

MD: How much are you having to pay people towork for you in Warsaw?

ŁG: Salaries have to be reasonable – good enoughto make people happy, but the business case mustbe met. We're trying to find an answer for how itwill work out, we're trying to prepare for it.

MD: How does Hargreaves Lansdown see theprospect of Brexit?

MG: I am relaxed about it, global society isbecoming more international. HargreavesLansdown made this decision after thereferendum, and the UK economy has remainedvery robust in the aftermath of the Brexit vote.There are many more important risks than Brexit intoday’s world.

MD: Are you finding Poles looking to return toPoland from the UK? Is there a trend here?

ŁG: Not as fast as it could be, there's not a bignumber of people coming back. Yes, we do have adatabase of candidates who are currently livingand working in the UK. But once they've beenthere for 10 or 15 years, you can't tell how they willrespond to the chance of returning to Poland.

HL Tech is a very different story, it's a uniquechance to create something from the verybeginning. Being able to choose tools andtechnologies is an important motivator – anddifferentiator – for candidates, who typically getfive-ten interesting offers a month. One candidatewas invited to 11 different job interviews, whichresulted in him getting 11 job offers. These arepioneering people – motivated by the sum of theirpast experiences and their ambitions. If you'vealready been in a start-up and it failed, you mightnot feel brave enough to take on the responsibilitiesthat HL Tech is offering. This is not to say you're abad candidate, but at this moment in time, we needpeople with an entrepreneurial

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spirit. You have to be a person who likes to makean impact and create something from scratch,using the best methodologies and takingresponsibility. That is what has made HargreavesLansdown so successful.

Spare room start-up to FTSE 100 companyOur journey to become one of the UK's mostsuccessful companies

1981Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown foundHargreaves Lansdown in a spare bedroom

1998We launch our Vantage platform

2007 Hargreaves Lansdown floats on the LondonStock Exchange

2010We move to purpose-built offices in the centre ofBristol

TodayWe're the number 1 investment platform in the UK.We have opened a tech hub in Warsaw. We lookafter £79 billion of investments for over 950,000clients

Technological change is shapingtomorrow’s consumer

Anna Kuprian, head of digital at GraylingPoland, talks to Michael Dembinski about howtechnology is changing the relationshipbetween business and the consumer, and howcorporate reputations can be made or brokenin the online space.

MD: Technology is continually putting newtools into the hands of marketing,communications and PR people. But how doconsumers use technology to make theirchoices, what products and services to spendtheir money on?

AK: When corporate communications respond tothese changes they have to keep in mind howpeople actually use tech. The idea of ‘micro-moments’, as Google calls them, when we use oursmart phones to check real-time,

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intent-driven information about products, brands –this is crucial. The broad deployment ofsmartphones, of which there are now more indeveloped markets than consumers, has to betaken into consideration when designing PRcampaigns. This is the first touch point in thecustomer journey. How can we get to use thosemoments, to be the first to bring information to theconsumer’s mobile devices? That’s the challengein front of every marketing practitioner.

Another thing is constantly-evolving and ever-broadening Google search that changed how weacquire information, with almost 4 million searchesa minute. To address that, Grayling has developedGCore - a tool that checks brand resilience andbrand appearance on Google. We can checkshare-of-voice across different searches,keywords traffic, sources; all of this helps us toprepare a communication strategy. We can delivera comms campaign where we tackle fact-checking, fake news and reinforce crediblesources. Reputation management is somethingthat’s happening all the time either throughpromotion or crisis mitigation. Companies off allkinds have to tackle crisis situations and that’s ourexpertise, that’s what we do on a daily basis.

These days while preparing a communicationstrategy we have to scan many more outlets,websites, forums, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds– this is much more time-consuming, but it givesus a far truer picture of the typical consumerjourney and how it is established. We get tounderstand consumers’ media usage and learnfrom which outlets they gather their information.Using online analytics, keywords, key searches,competitor analysis and social media monitoring,we can build user-tested prototypes of marketingactions. For the first time in the history of PR wecan do all this thanks to online tools and platforms.It is important, as the online sphere never standsstill; in terms of communication, it is ever-changing. What’s relevant today is out-of-datetomorrow.

Which new technologies will shape the future

of marketing and communications?

New technologies that will have an impact onmarketing and communications are appearingconstantly, every PR and marketing professionalhas to be in touch with what’s going on. One trendthat’s appearing is automation - it is affecting everysector, including marketing. Many tools that useartificial intelligence (AI), when it comes to planningand deploying ads, prove to be much moreeffective than traditional online media planning.Many case studies of success in UK prove howcompanies can raise their conversion rates andidentify high-value audiences thanks to AI.

Apple’s iOS 11 is boosting augmented reality (AR)to hundreds of millions of iOS devices this month.How will that affect marketing and PR? Peopletend to think about AR as a technology related tosomething like Google Glass, a wearable device,but the first implementation of AR that will changethe market will happen once there’s a critical massof usage on the smartphone. Once the technologyis mature enough and included on our devices on adaily basis, we’ll see AR taking off. There aremany start-ups working on AR at the moment. Anexample is the Polish firm, Tylko. It offers an appthat allows you to custom-build bookshelves foryour house. Through this multiplatform app, Tylkoshows you how your room will look with different,made-to-measure shelves in place. Once you’rehappy with its appearance, the firm will make theshelves to order. I can see many other AR use-cases for consumer brands in the nearest futureand AR will have its place in comms andmarketing too.

Beacon technology – using short-range radiotransmitters to communicate with consumers – isalso starting to become established. The firstsector to have it implemented was retail, beaconsguide you through shopping malls, help you findsomething you’ve been looking for, steer youtowards relevant promotions, sales. But this won’tbe the only implementation of beacons – it can bereally helpful to many corporate entities – and tothe public sector. Airports and airlines

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are implementing beacon technologies, pointingtravellers towards their boarding gates, telling themwhich documents you should have prepared – thisis already happening. It’s not in Warsaw yet, but itwill be.

Blockchain – distributed ledger technology – canhelp us take control of our data, agreements,registers, we’re at a very early stage in thedevelopment of this technology, a bit like sendinge-mail messages on computers using MS DOS. Iwas recently at the Techfestival in Copenhagen atwhich Shermin Voshmgir, founder of BlockchainHub, gave a talk about the profound implications ofdistributed ledgers across many sectors ofbusiness and for individuals. It’s far more than justcrypto-currencies, but still too early to say howexactly it will affect us all.

Should businesses be proactive or reactivewhen it comes to implementing newtechnologies in their marketing andcommunications? How are companiesresponding? Is it better to be futuristic ortraditional? Is it better to be an early adopter ora fast follower?

Let’s look at the hype-cycle – as defined byGartner Group – it concerns maturing technologiesthat are currently being developed. It goes throughfive stages and businesses should look at each ofthem to investigate possible tech pursuits. Firstly,there’s the technology trigger, with a firstsuccessful use case. Secondly, we reach the peakof inflated expectation with massive mediaattention. Next, there’s the trough of disillusionment– proofs-of-concept fail, many start-ups fail at thismoment. Fourthly, there’s the slope ofenlightenment, a solution is found, business casescan be solved. Finally, the technology matures.The last two stages should be the most beneficialbusiness wise.

At the stage known as the ‘peak of expectation’and earlier many companies don’t yet know how todeploy these new technologies. They don’t knowhow to put it into their business

model and make them benefit their operation. Now,PR, communications, marketing – this is a smallpart of the overall business. So we keep track ofthem, put forward proposals and ideas toimplement, and how to implement – as to thebusiness model, they do it themselves. The hypecycle can help businesses assess emerging techand related investments.

How is technological advance changing theway new generations of consumers see theworld? Are we becoming ‘stuffocated’ withthings? Millennials seem to be more interestedin buying experiences than owningpossessions.

Yes, there’s clearly a switch taking place awayfrom ready-made products towards services.Business models based on products are changing.We are moving from owning a car to using an appthat allows us mobility whenever we want it.Companies see that switch coming, their businessmodels have to adapt to that notion. The youngerthe consumers are, the more online their life is, andthe business model has to catch the consumeronline.

Equipment is expensive, why own it when you onlyneed it for a tiny fraction of the time for which it hasbeen built. Millennials and Generation Zconsumers that are getting to the market andbecoming a significant buying force, have differentneeds and expectations. They are more awaresocially and environmentally and want to knowwho they are buying from. We can educate themabout companies. Consumers can changecompanies’ behaviour and approach to ecology.

Corporate Social Responsibility is becomingcrucial, a must-have rather than a nice-to-have.Consumers are looking at upcycling. Fashionbrands such as Levi’s jeans are encouraging theirbuyers to keep their old jeans, maybe cutting offthe legs and turning them into shorts. Upcyclingcan be implemented in many areas of our life asconsumers, there are growing communities thatrecycle and upcycle as much as possible.

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We seem to be moving away from mass-production to mass-customisation. Do youthink the consumers of tomorrow will wantproducts that reflect their personality, ratherthan something which signals conformity?

Indeed. They will be seeking something that’s notidentical to the mass-market products thateveryone has. Businesses, enabled by technologythat allows them to capture insights aboutindividual consumers, will be able to prepareindividual offers tailor-made for them. The sharingeconomy has been enabled to a far larger scalethan ever before by technology and an onlinesociety. In transportation, Uber and BlaBla Car, inother areas, other sectors – Airbnb, eBay,Gumtree – I see this developing further, deepeninginto a collaborative economy, for services andproducts in the future. Companies that don’tunderstand how technology enables consumerswill struggle to survive.

Editorial note

By Michael Dembinski, chief advisor and DorotaKierbiedź, membership director

The BPCC holds many events across Poland,increasingly on the premises of our membersin the manufacturing sector.

New investors are moving in – shared servicesand IT hubs, industrial and logistics – andeverywhere the same issue is on everyone's lips –what do we need to do to recruit and retain theemployees that we need?

Unemployment in Poland has never been lower.The official claimant rate, according to the centralstatistical office, GUS, is 7.0%. Eurostat gives thenumber of Poles of working age who areeconomically inactive as being 4.7%. Much of thedifference (2.3 percentage points) can be explainedby the grey sector, the cash-in-hand economy. Yetif we look across Poland, we can see widevariations in the GUS figures. In Poznań, it is 1.7%.In the district of Szydłowiec, to the south ofRadom, it is 26.9%. These differences areimportant when it comes to choosing an locationfor a new investment. But if you are already inWarsaw (unemployment 2.4%) or Wrocław (2.5%),the labour market is indeed very tight.

Other than engaging in a salaries arms-race, whatshould employers be taking to stay competitive?This issue of Contact Magazine Online asks towhat extent IT is the answer, and how technologywill shape the future labour market in Poland.

Studies by PwC and various think-tanks acrossthe developed economies suggest that by 2030,over 30% of jobs that exist today could disappear,swept away by artificial intelligence (AI). Machinelearning will automate many white-collar activitiesin areas such as accountancy, finance and law.Big Data, coupled to AI, will lead to the automationof marketing functions, offering businesses greaterreturns on their marketing budgets. Autonomousvehicles will drive themselves around our cities insafety, delivering people and goods to where theyneed to be. In manufacturing industry, IT willensure that robots talk to one another, orderingcomponents from suppliers without

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the need for human intervention. The Internet ofThings (IoT), the backbone of the Industry 4.0concept, will reduce industry's demand for labour.

But on the other hand, Poland, and much of theWestern World, is facing a demographic dip. Withever fewer young people entering the labourmarket, will the automation of work eventuallymatch the lower supply of employees? Or will theskills shortage simply become exacerbated,because those few job-market entrants that thereare are woefully unprepared for the technologicalworld of work that awaits them?

These are issues the BPCC has been discussingwith its members around Poland, looking at theimpact of IT on the labour market, consideringwhat skills will be needed by employers – inmanufacturing industry, in shared services, in ITitself – and what the Polish government needs tobe doing today to ensure that children at schooltoday will be equipped with the right skills andmindset to thrive in an increasingly technologicallabour market. Tech is building smartness into thethings around us. To make things that consumersand businesses will need and want will require newways of thinking; are Poland's schools todaypreparing tomorrow's employees with a 'think big'and 'can-do' attitude?

Articles from Hays, Grayling, Deloitte, Sage, Antal,Tagetic, Pelka PR, Society of Human ResourceManagers and others focus on different aspectsof these questions, offering plenty of freshbusiness insight. And there is an update fromMinistry of Digital Affairs as to how the Polishgovernment is getting on with implementing thedigitisation of the state.

All in all, there's much to read in Contact MagazineOnline that will bring you up to date with what'shappening in the world of Tech and how it'simpacting the Polish economy – and in particularits labour market.

Brexit, taxes and gas: hot topicsat this year's Krynica Forum

By Russell Towlson, trade director, BPCC

Each year, the ski resort of Krynica Zdrój playshost to an economic summit, the EconomicForum, where politicians and business leadersfrom across the CEE region come together todiscuss im-portant economic and politicalmatters.

The first such forum took part in 1992, so, like theBPCC, this event is also celebrating its silverjubilee.

This year I was fortunate enough to attend theKrynica forum for the first time, as guest of BPCCpatron, Sage. I was impressed by the scale of theevent which was well organised and equally wellattended. I took part in a panel discussing thegovernment's proposed tax changes, digitisation oftax returns for SMEs, and corporate income taxwere the key points. Undersecretary of state at theMinistry of Finance, Paweł Gruza, who hasresponsibility for taxes, was also on the panel,making it particularly well-informed.

On the same evening, I attended a dinner hostedby Shell. This was a very cordial affair attended bysenior business figures, a former Polish primeminister, and BPCC board member and chairmanof the Council of British Chambers of Commerce inEurope (COBCOE), David

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Thomas. The discus-sion was lively and light-hearted with more serious exchanges around thepossible opportunities in liquid natural gas, withPiotr Dziwok the country chairman of Shellcompanies in Poland placing his company's flagfirmly in the ground as a major player which is verykeen to increase its involvement in this growingsector where its market share is lower than itshould be.

The following morning I attended a paneldiscussion about the likely impact of Brexit on thefinan-cial markets. Just before the panel, I wastalking to David Thomas who was taking part in it.David confided that he was a little worried that theattendance might be low as a result of the previousnight's traditional parties and indeed at this point,the audience was thin on the ground. Yet the word'Brexit' proved a powerful draw, and audiencenumbers suddenly swelled as the debate start-ed.

Within a few minutes, there wasn't a seat in thehouse. Brexit is a hot topic and everyone I met aKrynica, our conversation eventually turned to the'B' word. To summarise – the general view of themajority of panellists was that London wouldremain a global financial capital after Brexitbecause of its huge strengths and capitalresources and its ability to attract capital.

I enjoyed the Krynica experience immensely andhope to attend again and I would certainly rec-ommend those who have never attended to go atleast once.

European Forum of New Ideas

The annual get-together of Europe's sharpestminds, from business and goverment,organised by employers' confederationLewiatan, took place in Sopot in late Septemberfor the seventh time.

A large number of top people came together todiscuss key issues concerning our continent'sfuture, in the attractive surroundings of Poland'spremier seaside resort.

Among the burning issues was Brexit; president ofthe Confederation of British Industry, PaulDreschler was one of the panellists to talk aboutthe concrete challenges facing business as theBritish government and the EU negotiate terms ofUK withdrawal. Mr Dreschler, also chairman ofBibby Line Group, parent company of BPCCmember Bibby Factors, said that in the nationaldiscussion surrounding Brexit, politics wouldalways end up trumping economic issues. Thepanel also considered the role the media played inthe run-up to the referendum and the future of themillion of so Poles currently living and working inthe UK.

A star speaker at the event, George Friedman,founder of strategic think-tank Stratfor and authorof book The Next 100 Years, talked about theprospects of peace in the continent. In his book, hesees Poland as one of the countries that woulddevelop into a regional power, as Germany andRussia both wane in influence. Although he seeswar as an innate part of the human condition, hesaid that he didn't think that Russia would launchan all-out war against Europe in the near future,rather it would continue behaving aggressively andmeddling in our affairs.

While an A-list of European politicians and formerpresidents and premiers gave their views about thechallenges facing the EU and the instutionalchanges required to meet them, the mostinteresting panels were those that peered into thefuture.

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Tesco organised a fascinating panel – all too shortat 90 minutes – dedicated to the future of food.With speakers representing the cutting edge offood production and the latest industry trends, thechallenges of feeding the malnurished whileimproving the health of the overweight in thedeveloped world were discussed. Technologicalchange is coming to the way we produce, process,deliver and sell food, some of these changes willbe revolutionary. Matt Simister, CEO of Tescoacross Central and Eastern Europe, was on thepanel and talked about the responsibility of retailersto fight food waste. Tesco, was the first among allretailers to publicly state how much food waswasted at its shops. He said that its aim was to cutit as far as possible, working with food banks andcharities – but also with food producers andconsumers (where the most waste occurs) toreduce waste to a minimum. Tesco has stoppedmulti-buy offers ('buy one, get one free') on foodwith short shelf-life, he said. Future trends, such asfunctional foods that have a medicinal element inthem, were also discussed.

Situated at the interface between politics andbusiness, EFNI can become slightly introspectiveat times, but the future-facing discussions lookingfar beyond today's day-to-day issues are without.

Trako showcases Poland's railsector opportunities

Every other year, Gdańsk plays host toEurope's biggest railway industry exhibition,alternating with Berlin's Innotranz.

This September, Trako attracted exhibitors andvisitors from the rail sector from around the world,among them over 20 companies from the UK. WithPoland currently in the middle of a massive, EU-funded rail redevelopment programme, theopportunities for British businesses here aregreater than ever – though so is the competition!

The Department for International Trade (DIT)brought over a trade mission from the

East Midlands to Trako as part of a broader UKpresence at the show. There was also a DITseminar, at which all the British participants couldlearn about the opportunities in Poland – andacross the CEE region – ahead of the exhibition'sofficial opening.

The range of products and services offered by UKbusinesses to the Polish rail sector is broad, frommobile ticketing solutions to piling for gantries, fromrail de-icing chemicals to virtual-reality training forstation staff and steel rails capable of carrying thefastest trains in Europe.

Participants heard about the size and scope of railmodernisation in Poland, where 31 projects – eachworth over 500 million złotys (around £100m) – arecurrently ongoing. A similar process is happeningin Bulgaria and Romania – senior railwayexecutives from both countries set out their plansto bring their rail networks up to the highestEuropean standards.

Before the show, trade mission members from theEast Midlands had the chance to meet thepresident of Gdańsk's tramway operator, GAiT.This meeting, arranged by the BPCC's TradeTeam, was followed by a visit to one of the city'stwo tram depots, currently being expanded. TheBritish firms had the chance to see the state-of-the-art equipment being deployed at the tramshedso that the latest trams can be maintained to thevery highest standards.

All of this is a great opportunity for UK firms, butthey have to be aware of the differences in doingbusiness in Poland. Above all, there is the publicprocurement process, which seems far morecomplicated to first-timers than the way it's done inthe UK. The letter of the law is all-important inPoland; the paperwork has to be in order, andmuch of that is unfamiliar to British firms bidding fortenders here. Fortunately, the BPCC has manymembers in the B2B advisory sector who areexperienced in helping firms win contracts, byknowing exactly what documents are required andwhat formalities need to be addressed.

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Public procurement is slowly becoming moresophisticated in Poland, with an appreciation thatfactors other than lowest price are important. Thenotion that total cost of ownership over a 20 or 30-year period is more important than the cheapestprice is beginning to sink in. However, Poland stillhas a culture of appealing against lost tenders; aBritish firm may win the tender, but the lawyers ofthe losing firms will pore over the documentslooking for any technicality on which they can try tounseat the winning bid.

At the end of the exhibition there was a banquet atwhich UK rail minister, Paul Maynard and DavidReed, the new deputy head of mission at theBritish embassy in Poland were joined by VIPsfrom the Polish government and railway industryas well as potential clients for British business tonetwork over cocktails and canapes. This mixerwas very well attended and gave British exhibitorsthe chance to cement relations made at theexhibition stands with a more informal chat in arelaxed atmosphere.

Finally, a farewell dinner was held at the HiltonHotel in Gdańsk for all the British exhibitors andtrade mission members. The BPCC hopes thatthis years' Trako will result in export wins for theUK

International Oktoberfest 2017

13th edition of Wroclaw’s InternationalOktoberfest sustained its famed grandeur andattrac-tiveness as undoubtedly one of thebiggest and most prestigious business eventsin Lower Silesia.

This year International Oktoberfest has drawn fromthe best experience of previous oc-casionsstrengthened by a modern approach combiningwide and colourful exhibitions of characteristicBavarian and Polish food with cultural elements ofeach of the countries repre-sented by theChambers.

The meeting was honoured by the presence of HM

Ambassador Jonathan Knott and the Ambassadorof Ireland Gerard Keown as well as consulsgeneral, diplomatic corps and representatives oflocal authorities. Among the guests there werenumerous representatives of member companiesand guests of IO Sponsors. Well known TVcelebrity and reporter Piotr Kraśko very efficientlyand professionally managed the conduct of thisprestigious event.

The main attractions of the evening couldn’t lackit’s most traditional elements - Tapping-of-the-Barrel alongside with lively and folklore music played the Bavarian State Orchestra MusikkapelleNiederwangen, existing since 1823. This joyfullmanifestation of beer festiwal enthusiasm wasslightly tuned down by nostalgic Anglosaxon notesduring a performance of Sam Alty, a young singerfrom New Zealand.

In this unusual atmosphere, the visitors couldenjoy the delicious taste of both global beers and ofthose from local kraft breweries, together withoriginal Wrocław sweet cider Meli Me-lum.

International Oktoberfest is a luxurious networkingevent, which allows for an effective inte-gration oftop and mid-level managers of companies affiliatedin the international chambers, their customers and business partners. Guests leaving WroclawArsenal kept not only the good memories andimpressions but also valuable contacts.

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Industry 4.0 - digitaltransformation in Silesianindustry

The BPCC organised a conference at theSilesian Marshal's Office on 13 September tolook at the implications of the coming fourthindustrial revolution for businesses across theprovince.

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The aim was to discuss the latest challenges thatautomation, robotics and the Internet of Things(IoT) create, and how business should prepare forthese. The event also focused on the cooperationneeded between business, local authorities andeducation, as well as the role of business supportorganisations such as clusters and science parks.

The event was formally opened by KazimierzKarolczak, member of the board of the SilesianVoivodship, and also therecently appointedchairman of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Area.He explained the importance of sustainabledevelopment based on the competitiveness oflocal businesses. The Silesian Voividship is thesecond-most powerful region of Poland, generationover 12% of national GDP. Key sectors, he said,are energy, automotive, logistics and pharma. Inrecent years, the province has also become hometo a large number of IT and high-tech firms.

Linking business and higher education is seen asan important part of maintaining the region'scompetitiveness. Janusz Michałek, chairman ofthe Katowice Special Economic Zone, MarekPawełczyk, pro-rector of the Silesian TechnicalUniversity and Dariusz Laska from the Universityof Silesia, were present, representing Pro-Silesia,the association bringing together the mostimportant institutions for the region.

The first presentation, from Andrzej Kwaśniewskifrom the Marshal's Office, set out in detail thevarious forms of financial support for SMEsengaging in R&D activity. Michael Dembinski, theBPCC's chief advisor, spoke next, defining theFourth Industrial Revolution, placing it in thecontext of the demographics of Poland's labourmarket (see graph below).

The large number of Poles in their early 30s form ademographic peak, after which there is a drop inthe numbers, with each successive age cohortbeing on average 17,500 smaller than the previousone. There are around 700,000 34 year-olds, butonly 350,000 14 year-olds, so if employers areworried today, the labour market will only gettighter over the next seven years, he said. At thesame time, an early demographic peak (those bornin the late 1950s) are approaching retirement age.However, it is foreseen by various think-tanks thatby 2030, between 30% and 45% of all jobs willdisappear, due to robotics and AI. Newtechnologies - robotics, artificial intelligence, IoTand distributed ledger will automate whole swathesof routine work in accounts, supply chain anddatabase management. What skills shoulldemployees possess to remain valuable in theworld of Industry 4.0? How should the Polish staterespond with an education policy to fit the needs oftomorrow's labour market? These questions wouldbe answered in the remaining part of the event.

Michał Kreczmar, a director at PwC, outlined thefuture of digitisation in industry, showing how itimpacts the value chain, products, services andbusiness models will impact companies, theiremployees, their clients and suppliers. He gavecase studies from Bosch Siemens, Waymo andBoeing as well as Polish businesses. He definedthe biggest two barriers to implementing Industry4.0 solutions as finance and infrastructure. MrKreczmar also talked about Digital InnovationHubs as a model for supporting business inmatters of improving their competitiveness andimplementing digital solutions.

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The situation on the Silesian labour market and theavailability of skills currently required fromcandidates were discussed by Karolina Szyndler,business manager from Hays. Currentlyunemployment across the province is 5.6%; thereare 2,818,424, of working age, of whom 492,359are employed in manufacturing industry. The mostsought-after candidates are technical graduates,engineers, IT specialists with a few yearsexperience, in particular those with good 'soft skills'- able to work in groups, good at communication,risk-taking and decision making, with high levels ofempathy and emotional intelligence.

After a networking coffee break, Luk Palmen,chairman of the board of InnoCo from Gliwicespoke on behalf of the Silesia Automotive &Advanced Manufacturing Cluster, located in theKatowice Special Economic Zone. It currentlybrings together 60 firms, three business supportinstitutions and eight scientific institutions. Hediscussed the cluster's role in facilitating a forumwhereby competing companies could discussissues concerning innovation, exchanging bestpractice and visions for developing a strong centreof competence.

Next, on behalf of Pro Silesia, Marek Pawełczyk,vice-rector for science and development of theSilesian University of Technology and DariuszLaska, vice-chancellor for development andindustrial cooperation of the University of Silesia inKatowice discussed the processes of moderneducation and scientific research. In particular,they talked about the challenges of fitting these tothe needs of Industry 4.0, and how this was beingimplemented by the two best-known universities inSilesia. At present, a law to create a body that willmanage the Polish Industry 4.0 platform is beingprepared. This platform will act as an umbrella forall competence centres of Industry 4.0 locatedacross Poland. Similar initiatives already work wellin Germany, the Netherlands and in Slovenia. TheSilesian University of Technology together with theKatowice Special Economic Zone have developedthe concept of the Silesian Competence Centre ofIndustry 4.0 and have forwarded this

on to the Ministry of Development. The decision toestablish a Polish Industry 4.0 Platform is nowanticipated. Mr Pawełczyk also presented theconcept of a dual-study programme (thecombination of work and study) in automation andmachine building that is conducted in cooperationwith automotive companies in Silesia.

The University of Silesia in Katowice has 12faculties, 25,000 students and nearly 250,000graduates. Mr Laska discussed the creation ofnew faculties set up to educate young people forevolving technological needs, and training coursesthat raise professional qualifications (including softskills). He also mentioned the concept of theimplementation doctorates (PhDs earned byimplementing techologies into commercial life,rather than just writing theses). He also coveredthe activities of the university's Career Bureau, andthe grants for innovative student projects such asisolation and characteristics of wild strains of yeastthat may be used in the brewing and cosmeticssectors.

Paweł Szulc, chief technologist at BodycotePolska talked about the Practical aspects ofimplementing Industry 4.0. Bodycote is a leadingprovider of heat treatment and specialist thermalprocessing services with seven production sites inPoland, including Zabrze and Gliwice in Silesia. MrSzulc discussed implementation of SupervisoryControl And Data Acquisition (SCADA), a systemused to monitor and control equipment inproduction sites. Its principal functions includegathering the current data, their visualisation, theprocess control and data archiving.

The last substantive part of the conference was apanel discussion with the participation of allspeakers, moderated by Michael Dembinski. Theconference ended up with a networking meeting.

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Houses of glass – when fictionbecomes reality

By Stanisław Dąbek, consultant and member ofthe Intellectual Property, Technology andCommunications practice team at Dentons

Stefan Żeromski wrote a pivotal novel aboutethnic Poles from Siberia returning to theirancestral homeland after the RussianRevolution, in the belief there were fantastical'houses of glass' in Poland.1

The houses symbolised prosperity, developmentand technological progress. Alas, the mainprotagonist soon discovers to his chagrin that thehouses of glass are just a chimera – a made-upstory told him by his dying father. Today, in

2017, the glass metaphor is taking on a wildlymore positive twist.

Two years ago saw the roll-out of acomprehensive programme of building next-generation networks to provide modern telecomsservices for Polish flats or houses, basedoverwhelmingly on glass and plastic fibre optics. Agood revolution!

This November will see the beginnings of a secondroll-out. Telecoms operators are set to receivesubsidies worth 1 billion zlotys2 (c. €235m) todevelop the next generation network. Following thelast two competitions, the telecoms are alreadycommitted to building networks covering well overtwo million households (about six million Poles). Togive you some idea of the scale of the investment,that’s like hooking up the whole of Scotland to theinternet and then some.

The major players on the Polish telecoms market,Orange, Netia, Vectra and Inea took part in theprevious competitions. The new feature theybrought to the local market was without doubtNokia's successful debut in terms of its alliancewith the Infracapital investment fund (obtainingfunding of over 500m złotys).

The Polish government will have to nimbly side-step a number of legal barriers before launchingthe third competition, which seeks to make thefibre optic dream a reality for all Poles, everydayinternet users, city dwellers and rural areas alike.Challenges are likely to come from two sources:on the one hand from EU regulations on state aidand, on the other, from local regulations concerningthe investment process and the provision oftelecom services.

The basic principle of granting state aid to developbroadband networks is to ensure effectivewholesale access to networks created using EUfunds. Overseeing the implementation of the rulesin Poland is the regulator – the President of UKE(the office of electronic communication). He hasdecided to publish ‘reference offers’, an

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important guideline for specifying accessconditions – in particular the price conditions.Consultations are already under way as regardsthe conditions for wholesale access applicable tonetworks rolled out under the second and thirdcompetition for the construction and expansion ofthe broadband networks. A key challenge for theregulator will be to gauge the level of chargescorrectly and to define appropriate wholesaleaccess products for wireless networks (if they takepart in subsequent competitions).

Of particular importance for the telecom firms arethe eligibility rules for expenditure funded byEurope, as they determine which outlays may besupported by the state, and which may not. Justmaybe, the Ministry of Economic Development willdecide to extend the scope of eligible expenditurein the third competition to cover expenditure relatedto the entire investment process. At present,certain costs, such as the purchase of telecomsequipment for the end user and spending related tothe preparation of technical documentation, cannotbe co-financed from the funds of Measure 1.1. ofthe Digital Poland Operational Programme.

It will be extremely difficult for the telecoms firmsthemselves to overcome the legal barriers relatedto the investment process, although in recentyears there have been positive changes in theregulations concerning wired broadband networks(though the opposite can be said for wirelessnetworks). On the other hand, great uncertainty stillsurrounds the updating of the Urban andConstruction Code. The Ministry of Infrastructureand Construction has decided to start work onlegislation to overhaul the Urban and ConstructionCode, which will hopefully speed up theconstruction process for modern fibre opticnetworks.

The challenge for the Ministry of Digitisation will beto construct competition conditions in such amanner as to include the participation of telecomsoperators, who have thus far not committed toapplying for the competition – it seems there is stillsome untapped potential among mobile operators

to deliver major investments. That said, this groupof telecoms operators has been carrying outintensive work related to the implementation ofinvestment commitments under the 800 and 2,600Mhz bandwidth auctions completed in 2015. Allwill become clearer soon, as the competitiondocumentation should be done and dusted withinthe next month and it will then be possible toassess how the telecoms market will react to thenew rules.

Houses of glass. Almost every household inPoland should soon be connected to the internet.The phantasmagoria of a century ago is nearlywithin the reach of all. Not through building newglass-and-concrete Class A office buildings incentral Warsaw, but by providing ultra-fastbroadband in the areas that have been bypasseduntil now by the telecoms market.

1. “First Spring”, 1925, Warsaw.

2. PLN 1 090 000 000

The future of work in Poland

By Andrew Blatiak, director, Leadership andManagement Institute, and Michael Dembinski,chief advisor, BPCC

Five global changes will influence the future ofwork in Poland: demographics; technology;globalisation; new models of work and theincreasing divide between the educationalcurriculum and business needs.

Demographics

Poland's competitive advantage was based on alarge number of young people entering the labourmarket soon after the transformation to a marketeconomy but this has been fading as thedemographic peak grows older. The largest agecohort in Poland is currently aged 34 (born in 1983)there are nearly 700,000 of them. The smallestgroup is currently aged 14 (born in 2003), there

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are only 350,000 of them. This means that eachyear on average, some 17,500 fewer young peopleenter the labour force. For the next five to tenyears, employers will need to make do with ashrinking number of school-leavers and universitygraduates.

Employers are increasingly reaching out abroad forrecruits, either from Ukraine, or (for firms withstrong employer brands), from the UK. Poland hasthe opportunity to welcome back over a millionexperienced, courageous workers who couldmake a difference to the economy. However,those returning may be discouraged if theprevailing management style is still autocratic.

Technology

Technological advances are automating manyroutine tasks formerly performed by semi-skilledworkers (those with a high-school diploma but nota degree). Technology forces many mid-skilledworkers to take low-wage jobs, resulting in apolarisation of the job market into high- and low-skilled. The number of overqualified applicants andemployees in low-skilled jobs will increase. Acrossmuch of Europe, nearly half of school leavers goon to tertiary education. Yet it's far from the casethat nearly half of all jobs are graduate-level. Theremaining jobs may not be challenging or engagingto employees with middle- or higher education,potentially leading to decreased employeeengagement, retention and productivity. In addition,productivity has increased substantially over thepast few decades while workers’ wages havefallen in relative terms, creating

an additional squeeze on wages which could soonbe evident in Poland.

Technology has made it possible for employees towork from any location and has made theirphysical presence in the office less important. Therapid growth of technology has eroded physicalbarriers to working and has enabled people inpreviously isolated countries to participate in globalbusiness, thus allowing work to be performed farfrom its original source.

Globalisation

A threat as well as an opportunity for Poland. Newforeign investments moving into Poland are nowdriven by the quality of the people rather than cost-cutting. But globalisation has made the world acompetitive place. Capital will seek cost-effectivesolutions to business problems, which affect localmarkets. Foreign investors moving to Poland canafford to pay the highest salaries to the best talent,which has a knock-on effect for local employerswho have to strive harder to keep their staff.

New models of work

Telecommuting will increase in Poland and morejobs will be conducted virtually with remoteworkers. The talent pool available to Polishemployers will grow as people in many differentcountries abroad become available to work.However, HR managers will encounter greaterchallenges in managing remote workers,evaluating productivity and fostering feelings ofconnection to the organisation. The internet hasfacilitated a new way of working – crowdsourcing.New websites such as Gigwalk, Mechanical Turkand TopCoder have created global onlinemarketplaces where workers and those withproject work can connect and transact business.Employees can work for one company and, whenwork is slow, work for another company. Thispractice avoids lay-offs. Crowdsourcing isoutsourcing from the crowd; it allows anorganisation to leverage the collective talent of thecrowd to get work done, often in more efficient

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and cost-effective ways than the traditionalemployment model. By using 'reputation scores'similar to sellers on eBay, these platforms willallow companies in Poland to quickly evaluatetalent outside their own workforce.

Reshaping the curriculum

Educational authorities in Poland (and the rest ofthe world) are struggling to adapt school anduniversity curriculums to meet the needs of themodern economy. Though the percentage ofyoung people with college degrees is growing inPoland (as it is across Europe) companies stillreport challenges in finding candidates with theright combination of technical and soft skills. Manyhigh-school and college graduates will not beprepared for the workplace. Filling positions thatrequire STEM (science, technology, engineeringand maths) skills could be challenging. Whatshould the government's policy response to theseneeds be?

A workshop on how HR managers can prepare forsome of these changes will be held on Wednesday8 November at the BPCC.

Reference: SHRM Foundation. (2014). Thechanging nature of work and the worker.

Artificial Intelligence and HumanResources

by Aleksandra Kujawa, business unit manager,Antal IT Services

From time to time, strong trends emerge on thehuman resources market that everyone finds asrevolution.

The world's first HR department was set up morethan 120 years ago in the National Cash RegisterCompany. A few years later, the first search andselection tests were introduced. As the Internet erabegan in the 1990s, candidates

could forget about paper CV and the recruitmentworld begun to run.

Nowadays, more and more companies are basedaround developing and selling ICT solutions.According to Eurostat, one out of every fivecompanies across the EU hires someone with ICTcompetencies, and there are more than eightmillion people already employed in the sector, withthe most working in the UK and Germany.However, this is still not enough and the EU lacksmillions of specialists. Can some of them bereplaced with AI solutions?

AI is also often called machine intelligence ormachine learning. That means highly developedcognitive functions based on the massive datacollected, processed and transformed into actionsthat can learn from its own performance andimprove. The best-known applications at themoment are autonomous cars, human speechrecognition such as Apple’s Siri and Amazon’sAlexa, or Cogito advising you on emotions, to helpyour business improve its customer experience.Amazing!

The first phase of AI is happening; solutions arebeing developed for e-commerce, continuallyimproving customer service, making our life easierand helping us buy new things as effortlessly aspossible. Next will come a time when we can use itto improve our skills, helping children learn suchhard competences like programming form thescratch, using a friendly robot. Schools and trainingcentres are already using virtual reality, so you canreach the peak of Mount Everest or exploreunderwater volcanoes without moving from yourchair. Companies are working intensively ondeveloping smart e-books that will adjust toindividual’s learning approach, and systems thatwill learn every student's aptitudes, advising themcontinuously on improvement and providing themwith ready learning solutions. On top of the fargreater effectiveness this offers, it's also muchmore fun than another pen-and-paperquestionnaire determining who you want be in thefuture.

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If local economies are to have a ready supply ofwell-skilled specialists adjusted to the market'sneeds, the HR industry could also improve a lotfrom AI solution. Right now, in common use wecan find chatbots, mostly based on Facebook’sMessenger solution, that give real-time answers,helping HR departments and recruitmentcompanies. That’s really useful and time saving,especially when it comes to answering employees’standard questions or during talent acquisitionwhile processing the first selection. But that’s justthe beginning. In future, HR management will beable to offer a personal virtual advisor to everyemployee. By learning and analysing, it can assistyou on onboarding new staff, developing theirskills, improving the structure of the working day,providing a business-news package and evenalerting when it’s time for holidays as you startlooking to increase effectiveness. It can alsoprovide feedback about your performance andengagement to your boss and acceleratepromotion! How often we discover that have hadamazing people working in organisations... and weonly notice them after they leave the job.

The recruitment process could also benefit from AIsolutions that are still on the development phase.Most of us have changed the job several timesacross our career; however, some of us work oncontracts or change it every couple of months.What if there existed a solution that will find youonline whenever a great opportunity appears?Instead of waiting days for the recruiter to call, avelvety (though virtual) voice will guide you as tohow you should tweak your CV for this job, tell youabout its requirements, verify your skills, andadvise you how much you should earn. Then eachtime you have a question or would like to check therecruitment status, the answer will be within asecond.

AI will never substitute human beings. It can,however, be useful, especially in areas wheremachine learning and development performsproperly. Instead of fighting with the technologiesthat may substitute human competences, weshould focus on gaining new skills,

retraining and concentrating on those areas wherehumans will be needed most.

Digitisation in Poland:Achievements and Challenges forthe Future

by Krzysztof Szubert, Secretary of State and theGovernment Plenipotentiary for Digital SingleMarket

The dynamic technological progress that we'vebeen witnessing for several years now has anenormous impact on the functioning of moderneconomies and societies.

The dynamic technological progress that we'vebeen witnessing for several years now has anenormous impact on the functioning of moderneconomies and societies.

High-tech digital solutions, such as cloudcomputing, big data or the Internet of Things areincreasingly used widely in the production chain.The development of telecoms – and especially ofthe fifth-generation mobile network (5G) – offersnew possibilities in interpersonal communication.Because the process of digitisation is going at amesmerising rate, the majority of countries includeit in their economic policy and consider it a keyfactor of their growth. To face global competitionfrom Asia or the US, Europe is also making aconsolidated effort so that it can become the leaderof digital transformation. Harmonisation andunification of policies and legislation in that domainshould contribute to achieving that goal. As aresult, the scope of legislative and non-legislativemeasures taken within the EU is constantlyexpanding. Activity in this field is stimulated by theEuropean Commission and the member statesthemselves, which put digital issues important forthe EU economy on the European agenda.

Digitisation is continuously

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moving forward. The mission of the Ministry ofDigital Affairs is to keep up with those changes,react swiftly, adopting measures which will benefitcitizens, and to come up with new solutions. Wewant digitisation to be the support that Polandneeds to make its civilisational leap, placing ourcountry among the leaders of highly developedcountries with regard to access to state-of-the-artsolutions from the ICT domain. We're hoping ourdigitisation activities will contribute to people livingbetter lives. That's why we resolutely implementthe tasks we set ourselves in strategic documents,which we adopted soon after our Ministry wasformed. We believe that digitisation is not just aboutbuying hardware and software, but that it’s abouttransforming the state. This requires us to act atthe national and international level. Only a modernand efficient public administration, and a statethat's creating favourable conditions for thedevelopment of digital skills and innovation will letus face the global challenges of technologicaltransformation and allow us to fully benefit from it.

For this purpose, we've significantly reorganisedthe Ministry and adopted a project and goal-oriented approach. We're cooperating with manyvaluable ICT experts, whose experience in thebusiness sector gives a modern face to the Polishadministration.

Some examples of the Ministry’s successfulactivities at the national level include the possibilityto apply for the 500+ benefit via online banking,check penalty points online (since April 2017,almost 300,000 citizens have used that service), orcreate, via online banking, a safe profile (ProfilZaufany) – a tool that makes it possible to certifyone’s identity on the internet. The number of peoplethat have used the last service has exceeded onemillion. Nevertheless, we continue to work onintroducing new measures to make the life of citizens and businesses easier. The number of e-services offered by the Ministry has reached 580.

One of the key initiatives we are working on is aproject aiming at upgrading citizens’ digital skills,so that they can benefit

from technological progress and use it not only forentertainment, but also in their professional life. It'scalled the National Education Network(Ogólnopolska Sieć Edukacyjna, OSE). The goalis to connect all schools in Poland to high-speedinternet (with bandwidth of at least 100 Mb/s). Thefirst 1,500 schools will be connected by the end of2018, and all 19,500 of them by 2020. Theimplementation of the OSE will result in acivilisational change in children’s education,transitioning from analogue (books) to digital. It willalso make it possible to give equal educationalopportunities to all pupils in Poland, especially tothose living in less-populated areas and studying inschools with a small number of pupils. For thosechildren, access to modern sources and streamsof knowledge is vital to make the most of theirpotential.

Another important project of our Ministry ismDocuments. This e-service will allow a citzien toprove their identity or – at next stages – certify theirrights with a mobile phone. The project willultimately cover documents like the ID card,driving license or student ID. mDocuments will bean optional solution, complementary to thedocuments’ paper form. Those wishing to continueusing traditional documents will still have thepossibility to do so. This project is part of a biggerprogramme to build a system of digital identity –eID. In the long term, digital identity will speed upadministrative procedures, as well as ensuregreater accessibility of public administration’s andcommercial services.

The efficacy of our efforts is proven by Poland’sgradual rise in digital sector rankings. In the DESI2017 ranking (Digital Economy and Society Index),thanks to progress in human resources, Internetuse, and connectivity we have advanced to 23rdplace. And in the most recent OECD rankingOpen, Useful, Reusable Government Data (OURData Index), published in Government at a Glance2017, we're in 20th place, eight places higher thanin 2015. This was possible thanks to legislativechanges made last year: the act on reusing public-sector information came into

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force in June 2016. Last September, the Council ofMinisters adopted the Opening Public DataProgramme, implementing OECDrecommendations set out in Open Data Review ofPoland, and to the European Commission’sassessment Open Data Maturity.

We also have new challenges ahead of us. Wewant the Polish administration to be modern,efficient, and citizen-friendly. To do that, we'reworking on creating the gov.pl portal – the oneplace citizens will be able to reach the publicadministration, where they will have access toinformation on the entire governmentadministration and to the continuously expandingoffer of digital services.

We're also strengthening our activity in theinternational arena, in particular by being involvedin the creation of the Digital Single Market. TheDigital Single Market Strategy (DSM) is the maindocument of the European Commission outliningthe EU’s planned activities in the digital domain.The strategy’s objective is to eliminate the existingbarriers which hinder Europe’s digital development.The creation of a digital single market is supposedto help European businesses expand their activityon a global scale, and provide consumers with alarger selection of products and services of higherquality and lower prices. The DSM is a market witha huge potential for economic growth and ofexceptional value. According to the estimates ofthe European Commission, it encompasses morethan 500 million people, and can bring profitsexceeding €415 billion a year.

The wide range of issues covered by the DSMrequires a coordinated and coherent representationof Poland’s interests in foreign relations. That'swhy I was appointed the GovernmentPlenipotentiary for the Digital Single Market. Asplenipotentiary, one of my main tasks is to draw uplegal or organisational solutions for implementingthe principles of the DSM. Right now, I am workingon a mechanism of cooperation between ministriesand state institutions involved in projects coveredby the DSM strategy – the

Ministries of Development, Culture and NationalHeritage, Justice, Infrastructure and Construction,Science and Higher Education, Foreign Affairs, aswell as the National Broadcasting Council. On 12September 2017, I took part in a session of theCouncil of Ministers to present Poland’sinternational activity in the digital domain, and toencourage further collaboration and informationexchange between ministries to make ourinternational voice stronger.

Consolidation of the state administration’s efforts inthe domain of international cooperation is all themore necessary in view of the mid-term review ofthe DSM Strategy’s published last May. In thereview, the European Commission took stock of itsachievements, showed the current state of affairsand announced the next course of action. It is clearthat significant efforts will go towards supportingEurope's data economy. The goal is to ensure freemovement of non-personal data within the EU,which is of great importance with the ever-growingrelationship between trade and data flow, as wellas the future development of technologies basedon transfer of data. The European Commissionestimates that in 2020, the European data marketwill be worth from €361 billion up to €739 billion(2.3%-4% of the EU’s GDP).1 Poland, with itsqualified personnel and appropriate infrastructurehas huge potential in this regard, and thus isparticularly interested in adopting regulationsensuring the free flow of data. In December 2016,Poland together with 13 EU member states fromthe Like-Minded Group adopted a joint position onthe free movement of data. We urged theCommission to present a legislative proposaleliminating unnecessary requirements relative tothe data localisation. I'd like to emphasise theimportant role played in the Like-Minded Group bythe UK. We hope for further constructive andfriendly cooperation with our British partners onother digital topics raised by the group. Last May, agroup of 15 EU member states led by Poland sentanother letter to the European Commission,demanding quick action for establishing the EU’sposition on the free movement of data in tradeagreements.

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Poland is prepared for a fact-based discussion onthe validity of removing unnecessary barriers in themovement of data. The Ministry of Digital Affairshas ordered a scientific analysis, whichcomprehensively shows measurable benefitsstemming from the development of economybased on the free movement of data. The analysiswas published on 3 October.

Another important point of the European digitalagenda is the development of the 5G network. Thefirst steps for harmonisation among EU MemberStates in that domain were taken last July during asummit of telecoms and competitivenessministers. A declaration was signed confirming thewill of the EU countries to make Europe the leadingglobal market of the 5G network’s development.This needs a transparent, predictable and future-oriented regulatory framework, allowinginvestments in a competitive market. Ministersalso agreed that the 5G network is crucial forensuring further digital development, benefitingconsumers and businesses across all sectors ofeconomy. It will also help boost Europe’scompetitiveness. Poland is adopting measures thatwill allow us to become one of the 5G technologyleaders. Even though final standards for 5Gnetworks and devices are still being defined, ourcountry is already preparing to implement the 5Gnetwork. Adequate frequency resources are thekey problem. We're working to ensure adequateresources for the 5G network on the internationaland the national level, also by solving legal issues.At the end of June, together with telecomsoperators, chambers of commerce, providers ofservices, equipment and solutions for telecoms,R&D institutions and technical universities, weconcluded an agreement for a 5G for Polandstrategy. The goal is to draw up the strategy by theend of this year, the first step towards theimplementation of the 5G network in Poland.

We don't forget about the cybersecurity aspect –the common denominator for all digital matters. Formodern economy and society to develop freely, it'svital to undertake measures to strengthencybersecurity. On 13 September,

the European Commission published a package ofdocuments, including legislative ones, dealing withcybersecurity. We intend to be an active participantof the debate that will take place in relation to theEC’s initiative. Our Ministry is going to coordinatethe process of consultation of the Government’sposition on the published package. On 9 May,premier Beata Szydło signed a resolution of theCouncil of Ministers on the National Framework forPoland’s Cybersecurity Policy in 2017-2022. Thisdocument sets out the government's strategicapproach to issues of cybersecurity in a broadsense. Currently, the Minister of Digital Affairsoversees the activities of a working groupcomposed of representatives of variousgovernment authorities, tasked with drawing up anAction Plan for the Implementation of the NationalFramework for the Cybersecurity Policy. Theoutcome of their work will be a list of measures,the implementation of which will make it possible toachieve the goals set out in the adopted document.The list will be submitted for the Council ofMinisters’ approval.

Issues relative to digital progress are of ahorizontal nature, permeating all spheres ofeconomic activity and social life. As a result, lastJune, under the leadership of our Prime MinisterBeata Szydło, 17 EU leaders submitted a letter tothe President of the European Council stressingthe need to put digital matters at the highestpolitical level of the EU. The document was signedby the premiers of Belgium, Czechia, Denmark,Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia,Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia,Slovenia, Sweden, and the UK, as well as thepresident of Lithuania. The initiative largely led tothe first summit of the European Council – wellorganised by Estonian presidency - dedicatedsolely to digital matters which took place on 29September in Tallinn.

Realising the enormous potential of the DigitalSingle Market, in all our activities, we emphasisethe need to make it more open to innovation andnew business models. We call for the removal ofunnecessary administrative and legal restrictions

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that hamper the development of this market,replacing them with solutions that are transparent,fair and responsive to real needs of society andmarkets. That's because we want the largestpossible number of citizens and businesses tobenefit from the DSM. We're certain that thisapproach is the only one which can let the EUbecome a true global leader of digital progress.

1. Communication from the European Commission: Building

a European data economy COM(2017)09

Recommendations in social mediamore effective than TV ads

Community portals are changing the balanceon the media market.

Consumers’ interest in spending money on on-linevideo transmissions has increased. The DigitalDemocracy Survey by Deloitte has proven thatnearly half (49%) of US consumers subscribe tochargeable streaming transmission services.Community portals are the key source ofinformation for every third Millennial, while 70% usethem for communicating with brands. Along withnew formats, new content consumption methodsare developed, among others Binge-watching – watching several or all parts of a serial at onesitting. Almost three-quarters (73%) of respondentsdeclared to watch video contents this way.

As demonstrated by the Deloitte survey, 40% ofMillennials (today's 20 to 30 year-olds) and ofGeneration Z (i.e. people born after 2000) regularlybinge-watch TV serials and programmes, which inpractical terms means watching six parts at onesitting (for around five hours) on average. Sincebinge-watching is gaining popularity, advertisersand marketers face must find out how to reachtheir audience using this trend.

“One solution involves more strategic productlocation in binge-watched contents, which often donot include ads. Another one involves production offeature-length films in the form of mini-serials

to make them more attractive”, says KrzysztofPrzybysławski, digital media director, DeloitteDigital. “Obviously, developing new platforms isalso an option, to make money on the binge-watching phenomenon”, he adds.

Mainstream social media?

What influences purchase decisions regardingdifferent types of goods and services? Accordingto the Deloitte survey, for Z and Y generations,recommendations in community portals are of keyimportance. Thus, their impact is much strongerthan that of TV spots. According to 27% ofGeneration Z respondents, onlinerecommendations published by friends in socialmedia are 'very helpful' in making decisions to buya product or service, while mere 18% shared theopinion with regard to TV spots.

There is one more challenge related to TV spots:the manner of watching them: nearly 99% ofGeneration Z respondents and Millennials admit toperform other activities when watching TV. Asdemonstrated by the Deloitte survey, we do onaverage four other things when sitting at the TVscreen. “When companies decide to go for TV ads,they must be aware that viewing measurementdoes not tell the whole story. The very fact that aTV set is on does not guarantee that anyone paysattention to it. When planning a media campaign,brands must include the power of social mediarecommendation”, says Michał Owczarek,creative+strategy director, Deloitte Digital. Community portals as a source of information

According to the Deloitte survey, 84% of USconsumers use community portals (over 90% ofGeneration Z and Millennials). They use socialmedia to discover new programmes. BothGeneration Z and Millennials have indicated thatthese portals are more effective than TV ads in thisrespect. Moreover, every third respondent hasindicated that community portals are their keysource of information, while a mere 21% ofrespondents from this age group indicated

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TV. If measured for all respondents, this platform isthe most popular source of information for 40% ofthem.

Community portals provide brands withopportunities to directly communicate with theirclients. According to the survey, nearly half (45%)of US consumers declare to be more fond ofcompanies and brands involved in social networks.70% of Millennials communicate with corporationsthrough social media. Nearly three quarters ofthem consider this communication channel moreeffective than a phone call. “The generation raisedup in the world of new technologies has broughttheir use to perfection. Social media providebenefits to both brands and consumers. Whenmisused, they can give rise to many questions anddoubts. When firms do not respond to customers’needs, the latter have a tool that lets them sharetheir dissatisfaction with other potential consumers.Thus, in the world of new media, caring forcustomer satisfaction must be a priority”, saysOlgierd Cygan, Deloitte Digital CE leader.

Online ads do not fit all

At present it is hard to imagine a firm that is absentfrom internet. Despite the popularity of socialmedia and their advertisement potential, reachingthe audience may be a challenge, especially thatnearly half (45%) of Millennials use ad pop-upblockers and 85% of them say that doing soimproves the speed and efficiency of Internetoperation. Some 40% of them block pop-ups intheir smartphones, too. How, then, can a companyproduce viable advertisement communicationusing the internet? More than half of respondentswould like to receive location-based ads, while46% declare to pay more attention to ads they canskip than to those they cannot. “In this respectthere's no difference between Internet and othermedia; users dislike blatant advertising. On theother hand, compared to traditional media, it opensup new opportunities, such as geolocation”,concludes Mr Owczarek.

The survey included a representative

group of 2,121 American consumers and wascarried out in 2016.

There's no escaping automation –this goes for marketing too!

by Elżbieta Pełka, co-founder of GROW Poland,president of Pełka 360 agency and MarcinStawowczyk, CEO GROW Poland

Every marketer has heard about marketingautomation. In an era of algorithms andartificial intelligence, this buzzword hasregularly appeared in discussions at allconferences on digital marketing.

Does this mean that every B2B marketer is boundto use marketing automation? And if so, whatshould we look at when choosing our supplier andimplementing marketing automation?

In 2011, there were 16 suppliers of marketingautomation (MA) solutions

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globally, today the number of suppliers ofcomprehensive MA platforms is estimated at 212,which means that the market has grown 13-fold.The number of solutions, platforms and MAspecialists is still growing, and technologydevelopment also brings about a change in the roleand potential of MA. Most tools can handle emailcampaigns, some are better than others, but only afew systems are capable of in-depth dataanalytics, creating multi-stage, dynamic andpersonalised campaigns based on behaviouralprofiles.

Marketing automation has irreversibly changedparadigms that modern marketing is based on. Ithas forced a shift in the approach to the customerand to the very essence of communication assuch. In simple words: true MA enables thedelivery of a personalised message to a definedperson at the right time.

There are multiple benefits of automation.Increased effectiveness, personalisation ormeasurability of data are but a few. Still, MA isoften identified with a simple emailing tool. Which isnot true. On the other hand, MA is sometimesviewed as a technological toy, a magic wand tosolve all the organisation's problems. This claimwill not be realistic either, but is a good startingpoint for a discussion about Marketing Automation,as solving specific problems must lie at the core ofimplementing MA. Defining goals that we want toachieve by implementing MA is paramount.

Many companies start their adventure with MA bysending a mass amount of emails, which are ofpractically no use at all, nor do they give any returnon investment, as most messages go straight tothe recipients' spam folders. Only comprehensiveMA platforms enable precise targeting thanks towhich organisations are able to precisely reachonly recipients with a realistic interest in thecompany, its products or services.

Among mature MA platforms are suppliers asOracle, Salesforce or Marketo, which allow you toget qualified leads from traffic

generated on different channels such as websites,social media, emails or banners. What does it looklike in practice? A person interested in our productor service enters into interaction with us, forexample by filling in an online form. At this point,thanks to the correct use of tracking codes, we'reable to precisely identify the customer. They stopbeing an anonymous IP address and become avaluable contact, described through a behaviouralprofile. By knowing who's who, we can influencethe customer in order to achieve our goals. In otherwords, we can start a nurturing campaign – theprocess of building the customer’s awareness ofthe brand and establishing rapport.

Thanks to the opportunities that comprehensiveMA platforms give, we can define the steps ofsuch campaigns, building whole processes ofcustomer impact against the background ofindividual interactions they enter into. Dependingon what the lead is interested in, having identifiedthem, we can contact them, invite them to awebinar, send them discount coupons etc. If thecustomer is contacted within an hour of themvisiting an organisation's website, the conversionrate increases by 600%.

Most tests demonstrate that the business goal of70% of marketers is to increase the number ofleads and obtain and keep customers. Is that MA’sfull potential? No. Automation enables multi-levelmarketing on all the stages of the customerjourney. This enables handling the customers’whole lifecycle. A holistic approach acrosschannels enable the achievement of broaderorganisational goals, reaching beyond obtainingprospects. MA involves multiple departments inthe company, reaching beyond sales andmarketing. The fewer silos the organisation has,the better and more pronounced its brand identityis. Data analytics finally makes it possible to reallyunderstand who we're interacting with, and justknowing the answer to this question, we're able todeliver a personalised message. This is why theapproach to MA should take into account thegrowth strategy of the whole organisation.

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Without data, whether it's small data or big data,there is no marketing automation. Only workingwith data can we get to understand the customer’sapproach to our organisation, which is an issuecompanies worldwide struggle with. ForresterResearch studies demonstrate that only 8% ofdata captured by marketing is used by salesdepartments! The same study indicates thatcompanies where sales and marketing cooperatenote an average of 32% increase in income yearby year.

Technologies, especially the automation ofmarketing processes and data analytics haveimproved marketers’ lives. However, in a marketsaturated with MA solutions, marketers end upfacing a new dilemma. They must find whichtechnologies will best match their needs. Onestudy involving 270 B2B companies showed that50% of marketers are most frustrated by having todeal with too much technology. Of those, 49%indicated that their biggest problem was integration.On the other hand, that same study proves thatwhat marketers want most is to grow newcampaigns and create marketing programmesrather than study the tech specs of complicatedsoftware. There is a huge gap between MA-basedsolutions and a comprehensive marketingautomation platform.

Comprehensive MA platforms enable a scientific,fully measurable approach to marketing, controllingrevenues and costs based on a revenue-management strategy. They let you createbehavioural profiles or scoring leads based ondigital body language. Only mature MA platformscan do that. They enable the effect of messageadequacy, and this is what conversion rate isabout. If we do not know what the customer wantsto hear from us, and we don‘t know how to contactthem, we are wasting time and resources onineffective campaigns, which have no majorimpact on the organisation’s target audience.

No inbound strategy, no clear goals, no qualifiedteam or no budget are the most common errors.Choosing the wrong tool, not suitable for the goals

may result in a domino effect. This is why it'sparamount that we choose the right tool which willmeet our goals. Once the right platform has beenfound, we must make an implementation planwhich includes data synchronisation – integrationwith CRM, channels, content and customerprofiling and segmentation.

Just as Marketing Automation has changed theparadigms of marketing, the internet hasirreversibly changed companies’ businessprocesses. Because information about companies,products or services is all available online, thepurchasing process has been extended, while thesales cycle has shrunk by 40%. Before deciding tobuy products or services of specific companies,consumers read about them online. They formtheir opinions on the basis of reviews on websitesor impressions described by their friends on socialmedia. 70% of customers are so well-informedabout the products or services of the company thatthey often know exactly what they are looking foronce they approach it. This is why it is soimportant to have a high-quality marketingautomation platform. Each customer interactionwith the website may be a sales opportunity. MAenables a comprehensive approach to thecustomer purchasing pathway, by preciselyidentifying all the touchpoints and allowing toautomatically react at the right time, with the rightmessage. And it lets you manage the process ofobtaining information and building customerawareness. Controlling this process means beingjust a small step from success, especially whenwe're able to quickly contact the customer whosebehavioural profile matches our sales.

Thanks to MA, marketers can immediatelyunderstand which message is right for each targetgroup, as well as where, when and how tocommunicate to obtain the best results. Marketersmay test, optimise and then retest messages,which allows them to obtain unique knowledgenecessary to optimise content, which in turnresults in saving time and money. To sum up, nomodern marketer can escape automation,especially that the potential

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of marketing automation is practically unlimited.MA gives you a realistic competitive advantagewhile establishing a strong customer-brandrapport.

Sources: Forrester Research, eStrategy Trends,Gartner Report, Martech Industry Council, HarvardBusiness Review.

Big Data – Big Problem, is there asolution?

by Pawel Grabowski VP business developmentand sales EMEA, Exadel Poland

The speed of innovation grows exponentially,and the main fuel for innovation is data.

From the first days of internet through the birth ofthe smartphone to augmented reality, more data isbeing produced and consumed every day.

According to Cisco Systems, “In 2016, global IPtraffic was 1.2 ZB (Zettabytes) or per year, or 96EB (Exabytes) per month [An Exabyte is a billionGigabytes]. By 2021, global IP traffic will reach 3.3ZB per year, or 278 EB per month.” This explosivechange in technology can be dizzying at times, andit’s hard for companies to keep up and manage toshift their business models accordingly.

There is a big opportunity here, but what aboutchallenges?

We see three main challenges related with BigData and its application into business

Technology and competences

Data ownership

Security

Already in 2014, the OECD highlighted in its reportData-driven Innovation for Growth and Well-being

the growing demand for competent resources, aswell issues concerning ownership of data andincentive for sharing.

How those three problems can be addresses ?Let’s look at them one by one.

Technology: there are four big paradigm shiftsrelated with technology which everyone thinkingabout big data should understand.

Continues technological disruption – softwaredrives this revolution: accelerating organisationalchange, improve effectiveness, run lean, andcreate value by connecting with customers in newways. Every CIO or CTO must constantlyreevaluate available options and with the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, new tools andcapabilities are just click away.

Mobile – You’re carrying a supercomputer in yourpurse or pocket right now. It has sensors formeasuring physical phenomenon, and the ability tocontinually tap into human experience. You arewalking IoT hub. We’re just seeing the tip of theiceberg of the way that innovative companies canuse this information to improve our lives. Doing sorequires apps and other software that run on themobile device.

Internet of Things – IoT data is available, butmost companies restrain from using it, thinkingabout privacy, are we as users ready to acceptlack of privacy? To be successful in this arena youneed to understand languages, protocols, securitydemands, hardware development nuances,interoperability, and the quality-assurancechallenges of the world of IoT.

Blockchain – This game-changing data andtransaction processing technology is a potentialanswer to urgent questions of global marketplaces,online commerce, secure electronic voting, andpersonal data management. But is it beingunderstood and adapted quickly enough? And whois doing this work? How should your

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organisation be thinking aboutblockchain/distributed ledger? How will it impactyou and your customers?

Let’s focus right now on competences, what arekey trends in Big Data, and how can we avoidproblems in this field

Global workforce – The need for innovationsourcing is critical to any modern enterprise. Accessing world-class talent to supplement andcollaborate with existing teams is paramount.Global software engineering companies provideaccess to a world of talent to tightly constrainedlocal marketplaces. To be successful, companiesneed the ability to work with partners who canadapt and morph team structures to match ever-changing customer needs and business realities.For developers and product owners, the ability tocommunicate needs, project deliverables,timelines, etc., across time zones and languagebarriers can determine a company’s position in themarketplace of global enterprises..

Expert-generalists – Gone are the days whendevelopers at innovation-driven companies can getby with only one development stack. The nextgeneration of dev leaders will be expert-generalistvisionaries capable of collaboration, creativethinking, and devising unique solutions tochallenges that incorporate programming, UX(user experience), UI (user interface), hardwareand business.

The next question is – how to hire and retain suchpeople? Global trend shows that technology peopletend to change projects and industry every 9-15months. Only an environment that allows them torealise themselves within the company, createsspace for longer collaboration.

Looking at the Polish market, the reality is that thetraditional idea of outsourcing is, fairly or not,associated with things like job-loss, lack of qualitycontrol, communication roadblocks like phone callsat unseemly hours or language barriers.

Still, the undeniable truth is that the workplace,especially for software development of big datasolutions, is global. Working with a projectmanager in London who runs a team of highlyeducated engineers in Poland isn’t outsourcing –it’s a necessary resource utilisation that has less todo with cost factors and nearly everything to dowith the ability to innovate at scale. I call thisinnovation sourcing. Innovation sourcing isunderstanding how to leverage the strengths of theglobal marketplace into the creative problemsolving enterprise software developmentdesperately needs.

So how do you choose a resource that ispositioned to provide innovation sourcing to helpyou in your journey? There are a number of thingsto look for.

Firstly, how flexible is their problem solvingprocess? Is it customisable, is there anunderstanding of paradigm shifts ? If the answer is'not very' and 'no', you might want to keep looking.At a time where your organisation needs to moveat the speed of innovation, having an agile andadaptable resource is key.

Next, consider their industry experience. Do theyhave a breadth of experience that will meet yourgrowing needs? You might not consider yourselfan e-commerce organisation, or even have plansto go in that direction, but when your businessmodel changes or adapts, you want to beprepared. Finally, do they have a track record ofsuccess? The last thing you want is a partnerwho's learning on the job – and with your money.Finding a team with experience – and experiencewinning big – will give you an edge.

The nature of the global software engineering gameis changing. The old tenets of speed at the cost ofquality or execution is fading, being replaced by theneed for quick deliverables and innovative, cost-effective, unique solutions. In a world where wecan customise just about anything as consumers,enterprise organisations are demanding the samecustomisation for their software solutions.

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Innovation sourcing is no longer a suggestion – it'spart of the big data driven business.

How modern technology affectsthe job market

by Cezary Karolczyk, Sage business expert

The rate of technological change hasprofoundly altered the way work and businessis done.

The development of intelligent tools and ITsystems has resulted in dramatically increasedcompany productivity, but has also acceleratedmarket fluctuations. Of the Fortune 500 companiesof 1995 only 12% remain in the ranking today.In 2016 alone over a quarter dropped off the list. Inthe digital economy, the basis of companyvaluation has become intellectual property andservices not investment goods or tangible assets.This is why inefficient colossuses unable to quicklyadapt to change will not be able to survive. Theywill be replaced by companies which can cope in adigital world and offer a non-traditional workenvironment which encourages creativity andgrowth. Smart companies attract smart, creativeworkers.

Companies that want to win over new talent mustbe ready for the technological revolution.That requires a huge organisational effort, aredefinition of the concept of leadership, and careerdevelopment. Experts at Deloitte believe thatorganisations of the future will need to be flexibleand agile, replacing fossilised organisationalstructures with individualised leadership to createteams authorised to take autonomous decisions.

Companies will compete for workers’ attention

Businesses are already adapting to the new trendsand changing demands in the job market. They areincreasingly vying for the attention of potentialemployees. In the digital

economy, brand is essential not only incommunicating with clients or business partners –businesses must also take care to ensure thatthey are seen as a good brand of employer.Creating an appealing employer brand is not apurely externally-focused endeavour, but alsoinvolves creating a positive employee experience,which requires considerably greater effort and theinvolvement of multiple agents in the organisation.

In order to keep up with the digital revolution, one ofthe key challenges for HR departments is to createworking conditions which support employeeinnovativeness and creativity while also providingautonomy and the freedom to act. Workerexpectations in terms of flexible working hours andthe potential for remote working are increasinglybeing met by employers.

Working away from the office is a growing trendaround the world. Eurostat data shows that thepercentage of EU citizens working from home in2014 was 13.5%. At that time, 13.4% of workers inPoland were using the home office model, morecommonly men (13.7%) than women (13.2%). Ofthe European countries leading in this regard, themost people working from home were to be foundin Denmark (29.2%) and Sweden (28.7%). Theanalytics firm IDC predicts that, by 2018, three-quarters of workers in developed nations will beperforming their duties according to a mobilemodel.

Sage, as a global tech firm, has introduced manyremote-working options for its employees.The company applies an accounting system thatrewards results, and not just hours worked.This approach has made it possible to introducesuch innovations as virtual teams and homeoffices. Virtual teams connect employeesdispersed throughout the country into groups whichcan work remotely, without the sometimes verycumbersome and time consuming need tocommute to an office. Studies show that over 70%of employees in such companies valueopportunities to work outside the office, or wouldlike their employer to introduce them. The

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home office, as one means to maintain a goodwork¬–life balance, increases motivation to work.In companies which have introduced similarinnovations the percentage of satisfied andmotivated employees is about 20% higher than infirms lacking such privileges.

Technology in the service of HR

The digital economy is creating a paradigm shift forcompanies in areas related to HR. Now that themajority of companies has adaptedorganisationally to using IT systems to handleareas such as finance, accounting, sales,marketing, management, production processesand logistics, the time has come to focus onhandling human resource processes. Only a fewyears ago, this area was perceived as beinglimited to functions to support and serviceemployees. Today, HR is joining the other areas ofthe company jointly responsible for businesssuccess. Increasingly, modern companies areusing the term 'digital workplace' to refer tocreating conditions conducive to productivity andcreativity. In its research, Deloitte estimates that56% of companies surveyed are alreadytransforming their HR programmes and giving theiremployees more and more remote-working tools.In addition, many of them are creating mobileapplications to supporting aspects of HR. Thedigitisation of human resource operations isentering an entirely new phase, culminating in theimplementation of IT solutions whichcomprehensively cover all business areas(including HR) with a single system.

One such comprehensive solution which weavesHR into the entire IT ecosystem is Sage X3 withthe Sage People cloud module. Its users haveaccess to essential data from anywhere in theglobe and can work together, regardless oflocation. Meanwhile, HR department employeescan better manage personnel data, periodicreviews, and the creation of various organisationalmodels based on real business needs. Thesystem makes it possible to give employeesaccess to personalised information relating to

their working conditions. It also facilitates thegeneration of personnel reports compliant withdifferent countries’ legislations, and themanagement of salaries, bonuses andcommissions, as well as many other options. Italso enables the effective management of workingtime and employee activity by tracking andforecasting working hours and related costs,monitoring absences or managing work hours. Thesystem also has facilities to more actively createcareer paths for employees through trainingmanagement, and the creation of budgets andtraining programmes. In turn, employees canmanage information relating to themselves andupdate it independently on a dedicated portal.

The Sage X3 system is now used by around 5,000businesses worldwide. It has 228,000 satisfiedusers in 100 countries. Soon this global solutionwill be rolled out in a R&D centre in Warsaw.

Experts agree that the near future will bring evergreater focus on the digitisation of humanresources. The dynamically changing world of HRneeds bold changes in terms of IT services.In order to meet the new demands of employeesand the competitive market, organisations will needcomprehensive solutions for managing HR inconjunction with all the other areas of theirbusinesses.

The future of HR Management: atthe intersection of AI and personaldata protection

Dr Daria Gęsicka, of counsel, Intellectual Propertyteam, Wierzbowski Eversheds Sutherland

Recent years have seen an outburst of interestin artificial intelligence (AI). Technologiesbased on AI have attracted investors all overthe world on an unprecedented scale.

More and more smart services

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are becoming a reality. For example, Staples isusing AI technology to automate the orderingprocess and customer service as part of its switchto conversational commerce (the use of social-media chat apps). IBM has developed WatsonBeat, an AI tool for creating music. Artificialintelligence is also being applied in the legalservices industry. For instance, IPGraphy is an AI-based service that assists in the process oftrademark clearance and trademark monitoring.Artificial intelligence is present in every aspect ofhuman existence, including human resourcesmanagement.

Proper application of artificial intelligence in HRmanagement can deliver value to organisations. Inparticular, HR leaders can use AI-based solutionsto help with the recruitment process, schedulingappointments, as well as employee management.HR management services are expected to benefitfrom AI technology in three aspects. First, AI caneliminate human bias and uninformed choices.Second, by automating the data gathering andassessment processes, it can increase theefficiency of candidate selection. Third, it canreduce HR departments’ workload and thus allowHR personnel to focus on more challengingmatters.

Regardless of how an organisation benefits fromAI, the intersection of this technology andindividuals’ data raises certain legal questions.Those concerning data protection seem to be mostfundamental.

AI and data protection

Successful implementation of AI technologies is aresult of multiple factors, the most important ofwhich are the programming skills of their creatorsand input. Since big data is fuelling advances in AIand one of the main AI skills is to makeautonomous decisions based on large collectionsof information, it is essential for HR departments tofocus on the intersection of personal dataprotection and AI. This is even more vital as theGeneral Data Protection

Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect on 25 May2018.

Even though employers are entitled to processcertain personal data of their employees, under theGDPR, employees as data subjects will havegreater rights, including the right to greatertransparency and the right to data portability. Also,when discussing the intersection of AI andemployees’ data protection, we must consider thebig data context. The scope of the data processedby AI might be broader than the statutoryauthorisation, and as a consequence, a fair-privacyimpact assessment should be conducted prior toimplementing AI-based technologies.

One of the key guarantees provided to every datasubject – including employees and candidates –under Article 22(1) of the GDPR is that they “havethe right not to be a subject of a decision basedsolely on automated processing, including profiling,which produces legal effects concerning him or heror similarly significantly affects him or her.”Nevertheless, automated decision-making is notabsolutely prohibited. There are three exceptionsfrom the prohibition, where an automated decisionis either (a) authorised by law, (b) necessary forentering into, or performance of, a contractbetween a data controller and a data subject, or (c)based on the individual’s explicit consent.However, in the latter two instances, it remainsobligatory for the data controller to implementproper measures to safeguard the individual’srights and freedoms.

The minimum threshold under Article 22(3) of theGDPR is to have human intervention on the part ofthe controller, and for data subjects to have anopportunity to express their point of view andcontest the decision. Since AI logic does notnecessarily reflect human logic and is based oncomplex algorithms, meeting these requirementsmight not always be possible. In particular, wherean individual decides to contest an automateddecision, the data controller should be able toprovide the individual with justification for thedecision. Therefore, the developers of AI-based

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solutions that interact with personal data shouldthink ahead and equip their technologies with apossibility to track back their reasoning. Thealgorithms should be not only trackable but alsoauditable. In other words, algorithms should betransparent so that factors influencing algorithmicdecisions can be identified by auditing techniques.This can be achieved, among other means, by acombination of interactivity and visualisation.

For a data controller, it’s essential to comply withinformation obligations. With the constant growth ofAI, it might not always be possible to determinewhich personal data have been processed andhow they have been processed. Since there is arisk that not all the data are covered by the datasubject’s consent, and thus processed lawfully, itseems reasonable for HR departments assistedby AI technologies to review the content ofindividuals’ consents.

Summary

AI is becoming widespread across private andpublic sectors. It involves the analysis of big dataand results in certain legal implications for dataprotection. Due to the volume of data and themanner in which it is generated, the application ofdata protection principles, in particular the principleof transparency and accountability, can bedemanding. Even though implementation ofprivacy by design, auditability, or data portabilitymight seem challenging, it is also important toperceive these features as an advantage to theorganisation. Individuals’ interest in data security isbecoming greater and greater. Therefore,implementation of proper data protection measurescan enhance the organisation’s attractiveness.

How tech can help with humanresources planning

By Iwona Uss, CPM business solutions manager,CCH Tagetik

Payroll expenses are typically one of thelargest costs for any organisation, and manyfirms have trouble accurately planning andtracking all expenses related to theiremployees.

HR isn't a revenue-producing department, and thereturn on investment in this area isn't easy tomeasure. HR leaders have to take into accountmany elements, requirements and categories whilecreating their plans, e.g. salary allocation,capitalised labour, transfers between departmentsor companies approval, budget versus forecastand what-if analysis. Fast growth in one's owncompany – or at competitors – and rapidlychanging market conditions put pressure on HRmanagers.

Nowadays, simulating multiple business scenariosand accurately preparing forecasts on a monthlybasis are highly recommended or even required.The ability to react quickly to economic andregulatory changes, and to support planningprocess driven by internal initiatives such as newbusiness line or product, or a new acquisition is amust. HR leaders should be ready to provide amanagement team with often detailed reports onheadcount reporting, average salary cost (on aquarterly, monthly or daily basis), existing-rosterplanning by individual and new hires/reductions byindividual. And they are often asked to prepare roll-forward monthly forecast or budget vs. actual vs.forecast comparison.

The most carefully prepared HR plan can beaffected by internal conditions. The HR plan’squality is challenged by high volume of data and itsaccuracy, approval flow, resources allocation...

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Human errors often occur because of floods ofspreadsheet files all needing manual work andedits.

Now, since employee expenditure is a significantpart of organisation expenses, it is ripe foroptimisation and offers a chance for significantsavings. Streamlined HR planning allows foranalysis of personnel costs and budget vs. actualvariances in detail from different angles, givingmanagers the chance to identify a risk of losswhen human resources are not being utilisedeffectively.

Technology can help firms achieve optimisation inHR planning. Good software can help manageemployee movement (hires, terminations,transfers – with or without approval, statusvariations) – by single employee and budgetposition. Such a tool will allow you to work with HRcosts with different levels of detail, from asimplified model based on standard costparameters, through projecting actual costs on thebasis of the employee movements plan, to acomplex one – detailing every single payroll line tothe same level of a given payroll subsystem.

A professional tool also allows for real-timeplanning information, scalable planning horizons,simulations and what-if analysis, reportingcapabilities covering planning and actual needs,and enabling comparison. Moreover, it will offerenhanced visibility of the allocations, customisedapproval policy, as well as security and dataconfidentiality policy. A good HR planning toolshould cover all the HR financial planning andanalysis processes, moving beyond a classicalbudget towards a continuous rolling forecast,automatically projecting into a reviewed budget andthe strategic plan. Planning can be perceived as acollaborative process which enables decentralisingresponsibility and data validation, desirable withininternational organisations especially.

HR planning process issues can be fully coveredby a corporate performance management (CPM)system, which is a set of management

and analytic processes that enables themanagement of performance in such a way toachieve measurable goals. CPM applications allowkey people in the organisation to make decisionsabout the direction of business development,based on real data and the prepared scenarios offinancial and operational forecasts.

An example of successful implementation of CPMtool in the area of HR planning and budgeting isBAS Trucks case. A fast-growing, internationalgroup of companies which sells new and usedvehicles as well as financing, leasing and after-sales services. Due to the group’s businessmodel, personnel expenses were accounted for70% of its total operating expenses. To furtherimprove its profit margin, the company needed amore effective way to plan and manage employeescosts. To gain more insight on the origins anddevelopment of these expenses, BAS Trucksdecided to deploy a new solution for HR planning.The project, which took three months, coveredmultiple phases, from identifying requirements,designing the scope of work and schedule, buildingthe application to data loading and testing, trainingusers and providing go-live support. Thanks to thebuilt-in application’s functionality, BAS Trucks candefine top-down business targets and comparethem with bottom-up budgets from the individualcompanies in the whole group. It allows managersto measure planned workforce and businessdemand, as well as to match it by modifying thetype or number of employees, salaries and otherfactors such as the billable rate, efficiency or sick-leave. Implementing this solution, provided BASTrucks with an efficient and effective budgeting andforecasting process, which results in faster closingand having budget on the lowest level. And asoperational planning is linked to financial planning,cost/price analysis on the employee level can beperformed easier and quicker. With this solution forperformance and financial management in place,BAS Trucks has a single point of truth for allreporting and analysis. “The speed ofimplementation and the results achieved with theHR planning solution reconfirm our decision toselect CCH Tagetik as our future performance

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management tool” says Harm Verhagen, financialdirector at BAS Trucks.

CCH Tagetik company’s mission is to understandthe complex challenges that face the finance officeand translate that knowledge into intuitive,enterprise-scale performance managementsoftware solutions that drive business results.CCH Tagetik solution handles the following broadlydefined processes (in the cloud or on premise ):budgeting, planning and forecasting, managementand statutory consolidation, cash-flow planning,disclosure management and reporting.

For more information how to improve efficiency,reduce risk, save money and deliver results contactTagetik’s team directly (tagetik-poland@int.tagetik.com) or visit www.tagetik.com/pl.

If innovation in the tech sector isso simple, why is it so hard?

By Prof. Tomasz Barszcz, amc TECH

In recent decades, we’ve witnessed the rapiddevelopment of information processingtechnologies.

Smart devices with microprocessors at theircentre can be found almost everywhere. We cantalk and share information with people on anothercontinent in the real time (and for free). Thousandsof new websites offering new services are beinglaunched every year.

Many companies see this wave of innovation-based growth, and are interested in developingnew products based on these technologies. Onaverage, new products bring more added value tomanufacturers, and help increase profits as well asthe value of the business. Developing newtechnologies brings the best returns on investment,which creates an entire ecosystem of venturecapitalists seeking investment opportunities in thetechnology sector. A successful company can

increase in value by several hundred percent ormore. Governments also spend huge amounts ofpublic money on innovation, trying turn innovativeideas and technologies into lucrative products andservices.

Yet the IT world is full of bright ideas which didn’tturn into wonderful products. Only one in sevendevelopment projects is successful. “If it’s sosimple, why’s it so hard?”. Let’s take a closer look.

The early to middle stages of developing innovativetechnologies are often performed at universities orresearch institutes. They receive the largestfunding, and are supposed to be the cradle for allkinds of new ideas. But practice shows that theproblem is usually the gap between the lab and thereal world. Developing a technology to produce aprototype that works in the laboratory is only a firststep on a long journey of making a product. Takenas a whole, this stage accounts for about 8% of thetotal cost.

While a development is being performed byresearchers at universities, it’s good to rememberwhat’s interesting for the team working on it. Aslong as the project is at a stage when the physicsneeds to be understood and then implemented inthe lab, it really is attractive, because the originalresearch results can be published in scientificjournals – something of paramount importance touniversity employees. However, once the labprototype is ready, the next stage –industrialisation – is a long, tedious, and costlyprocess. It consists of many actions, such asintensive testing in an increasingly complexenvironments (lab, test rig, and finally in the field).Typically, products must be re-designed,sometimes more than once. Finally, a successfulproduct must meet numerous additionalrequirements, e.g. norms, manufacturing andservice. Oh, and it must be price competitive… Allthese activities are not interesting for universityresearchers, yet they form the main part of thetotal cost (over 90%).

Who should then do the

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new product development? Few models exist, butI’d like to present the benefits of a model wheresuch activities are outsourced to a specialisedcompany, whose core business is productdevelopment. If a company which wants todevelop the technology (let’s call it the end-user)doesn’t have its own R&D department, or itsexisting one has a different profile or is overloaded,or it would require too long learning curve tomaster the required skills, it needs to look for apartner. The natural partner is the university, right?

Now, the university has many smart people andwell-equipped labs. It makes it a perfect partner for project consulting. If a customer has a well-definedquestion and needs definitive answers, it’s a goodplace to go. But if the goal is to have a developedproduct, accompanied by warranty and shortresponse time from a supporting technical team,here is where we need a third player. Have a lookat the interactions on the diagram below.

The perfect player is the specialised research firmwith a focus on innovation. Often it can be a start-up, especially if the goal is to commercialise asingle idea. More often, these are well-establishedcompanies with experience in the process of newproduct development.

If such a company executes a standard order fromthe end-user, it’s called ‘business as usual’. It’s awell-defined process, with a set of standarddocuments, such as a request for proposals(RFP), purchase order, and so on. However,

the really interesting things happens when all theactors are involved, and one gets to the centre ofthe diagram. This is where the real need from theend-user meets the technologies coming out ofacademia, and the two are bridged by theinnovation company. Here’s how real newtechnology development can be achieved. Notethe one pitfall in the diagram; if end-userrequirements aren’t taken into account seriously,the whole of the work gets done between theuniversity and the innovation company. If thisprocess is accelerated by a government grant, bevery careful not to waste money!

The innovation company, needs to achieve onemore important skill – it should be able tounderstand and to talk to people from industry andacademia.This should be the cornerstone of the companyculture. In other words, universities need peoplewho like to build prototypes, who are continuallyasking “can it be done?” and “what happens if I dothat?”. They learn by nurturing nascenttechnologies; their objective is to understand theworld. The people in industry, on the other hand,need to hit their sales targets; they need provensolutions and ask the question “should we do it?”.They need to do the job right the first time; theirobjective is to deliver a solution. The ‘man in themiddle’ needs to be bilingual, indeed.

There’s one more enemy of innovation – thebureaucratic state of mind. To fight this enemy,one needs to be an open-minded entrepreneur,who’s not afraid to take on new challenges, whilestill being able to weigh the many options offeredby different design solutions. The innovationcompany needs people who want to climbmountains that no one’s climbed before. They needto try many paths, but should be ready to changeto a better path, if proven so.

For anyone interested in developing new products,there is one motto: If you really want to dosomething, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'llfind an excuse.

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Out-of-the-box solution or customdevelopment ?

by Piotr Żbikowski, key account manager, Clurgo

As the software market matures, the choicesoftware that comes out of a box and softwarethat’s custom-written for you is no longer soobvious.

Even until very recently, the companies whoseneeds were not satisfied with available solutionsdecided to acquire custom software built to suittheir specific needs to enhance their businessdevelopment. Out-of-the-box (‘box’) solutions, onthe other hand, enabled companies to introducebest business practices, developed over the years,into their organisations.

Both of these kinds of applications are more andmore similar to each other. Companiesspecialised in developing build-to-suit products usetheir knowledge in new projects which makes newsoftware far more flexible. The possibility tointegrate external solutions is becomingincreasingly common. Both customer relationshipmanagement (CRM) systems and apps whichenhance specific business processes and theirelements might be now easily integrated. At thispoint, almost any class of software is offered asbox solution. Custom solutions which support themost specialised areas of business are still verypopular. That’s why the competition betweencustom-made and box solutions exists mostly inmost complex areas of business that are of keyimportance for companies.

A case-by-case approach, supported by first-classexecution of a product will maximise theperformance of an organisation which uses built-to-suit solution to respond to its specific needs.The company will get key support for its actions ina field of its choice. On the other hand, boxsolutions will respond better to standard

needs such asoptimisation/development/enhancement ofbusiness processes, taking all the newest markettrends into consideration.

In search for the answer

To answer the title-question, we have toemphasise the importance of real business needs.The question cannot be answered withoutthoroughly analysing the internal processes of thecompany, advantages and disadvantages ofpossible solutions and most likely assessing theprobability of future success. Things that have tobe considered prior to choosing a solution are thefunctionalities of the software, flexibility of thetechnology and development tools used. Weshould also analyse the functionalities of theapplication through the prism of the company’sinternal needs. Dedicated solutions have torespond to more strategic needs of ourorganisation. Ordering a custom solution should bepreceded by accurate analysis of needs andtechnology solutions.

At Clurgo we are aware of the importance ofchoice between market trends, creating your ownapplication or a compromise on the integration offuture systems with existing ones. That is why, inthe CRM solution era we offer reliable, world-classSalesforce solution. It integrates years ofexperience proved by success of manycompanies. It is an extensive, fully functionalplatform ready to use on any device. It might beeasily integrated to any possible business software– that’s why it became first choice solution. InAccess and Identity Management we use thesolution of a global leader, Forgerock, a platformwhich guarantees digital safety of your companyand its clients. It also enables personalised accessto products and services in any place and time –on any device.

At the same time, we support our customers indeveloping unique applications, at all stages - fromthe identification and analysis of business needsthrough the process of designing,

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implementing, and testing the solution.

As we see it

The choice between one solution and the othermust be based on a thorough analysis of the needsand the solutions available on the market, includingcosts for each variant. Applications that supportcore processes, such as finance and accountingsystems, payroll or sales do not have to be writtenanew. A better practice would be to use the ready-made solutions. On the other hand, in the case ofsystems that support specific sectoral functionsshould reach for a dedicated, custom softwarewritten by an external company. Especially whenthese can give you a competitive edge.

At present, most businesses use both methods ofobtaining business software. Some solutions arewritten to order and some are purchased on themarket. In most cases, ready-made software,especially from the upper shelf, is supplementedby additional functions written by the implementingcompanies or the customer itself.

How much social-commercial-comfort do you generate?

by John 'Bob' Spence, Get Spence

Networking is something we all do in business.Yet the way we network makes a big differenceto the way we’re perceived by our businesspeers; this in turn influences the effectivenessof our business development.

Bob Spence, business development specialist andco-founder of business development software firm5next.io, offers some strategic thinking about howto maximise sales growth through effectivenetworking.

Over the past two years, 5next.io interviewed 43business development professionals acrossPoland, the UK and the US, searching

for best practice in this role in the context ofbuilding international trade against the backdrop ofBrexit.

We discovered that the biggest area of concernfocused on the various methods of creating theright connections. Creating the right connectionswas identified time and time again as the keychallenge business development professionalsaddress on a day to day basis especially thoseworking internationally. Business development professionals understandthat the right contacts provide introductions,insights, resources and commercial information,which in turn delivers the commercial results.

Business development professionals by definitionof their role have to exchange business cards,attend networking groups, schmooze at mixerevents, present at trade shows and connect online.

The view from Łódź to Long Beach California isthat networking today is like “trying to sip amouthful of water from a fire hydrant”! There is somuch connecting taking place, one doesn’t knowwhere to start.

We looked at what’s recognised as best practice.Time use has a key part to play. Businessdevelopment is a time consuming process and theconcept of the 80/20 rule plays its part inmeasuring return on investment (ROI).

The successful business developmentprofessionals were those looking at improvingthose ratios. Connecting to everyone on the mostrandom basis was not a successful formula.

80% of your most valuable connections aregenerated by 20% of your effort.

We looked carefully at this ratio. The top businessdevelopment professionals take these figuresfurther; they look at the 80% of that 80%.

What we then have is that

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64% of your results come from 20% of that 20%!This would mean that 64% of your most valuableconnectivity is sourced from just 4% of your effort!

Now that would mean that 96% of your effort willgive a 36% return – or 36% of your results arecoming from 96% of your effort.

All of our feedback suggests that in terms ofrevenue results, our group under reviewrecognised an ROI ratio that was closer to 64/4than 80/20. This return came up almost exclusivelywith regards to international businessdevelopment.

With this in mind, the management of networkingactions is becoming more and more vital.

This dramatic fall in ROI is a by-product that ofwhat can be called in networking ‘the age ofsimilarity'.

This means meeting people with a similar offer,with similar skills, with a similar approach, with asimilar education, with a similar benefit case, withsimilar arguments.

The on-line presence of business development isanother 'look-a-like' area too.

Everyone is being equipped with the samebusiness development tools

Everyone is trying to conduct business in thesame markets that these tools open up

Everyone has access to the same training to usethese tools

With that in mind, we began to define the concepto f ‘social commercial comfort’ as the way wenow evaluate new connections.

This model is a new consideration for businessdevelopment. It's not about 'unique valueproposition'; it’s about something different. Wedescribe it as:

'The degree of social commercial comfort youare able to generate'

Because we live in an age of similarity with 'look-a-like' online presence and ‘sound-a-like’ offlinepresence, we need to communicate somethingmore to raise our profile in our meetings withpotential valued connections.

This requires the recognition of 'bespoke socialcapital' as well as 'off-the-peg commercial capital'.

What we mean is to think about what you offer as aconnection beyond the corporate similarity offerreferred to earlier and this is your bespoke socialcapital. Your ‘off the peg commercial capital’ isyour company offer or your skill set. So rather thanjust be proficient with the art of the ‘60 secondpitch’ can you communicate a different position inthe following terms:

'This is the total value of being connected to me’

This is very different than what it is that you’reselling, or your professional position. Doingbusiness across borders requires recognition ofthis approach.

‘Social commercial comfort’ is the value inhaving you as a connection beyond what you do.

So if networking is like ‘trying to sip water from afire hydrant’ then to achieve better results andimproved ROI the key is to network on a strategicbasis. On that basis, you’re not looking to appeal toeveryone or connect on a volume basis but on aselect agenda and you have ‘social commercialcomfort’ that is relevant to that audience.

Strategic networks deliver three uniqueadvantages:

private information

access to centres of influence

connectivity to appropriate contacts

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When we make judgments in engaging andconnecting we use public and private information.

These days, public information is easily availablefrom a variety of sources, including the internet; butbecause it is so freely accessible, publicinformation offers significantly less competitiveadvantage in business development than it usedto.

Private information or personal information, bycontrast, is gathered from personal contacts whocan offer something unique that cannot be found inthe public domain, such as:

the release date of a new product

unpublished expansion thinking

knowledge about what a particular buyer looks forin making a decision

Private information, therefore, can give the topbusiness development specialist an edge.

Consequently, the value of your private informationto others and the value of others privateinformation to you will depend on how muchprofessional trust can exist in the network ofrelationships. I refer to this as the level of social-commercial-comfort within your network.

It became clear that it’s worth considering howyour networking practices can lead to one kind ofnetwork or to another type. Meeting many peopleon an ad hoc basis is unlikely to build a strategicweb of connections in an efficient manner.

This is why strategic networking generates your‘opportunity DNA’ which is essentially theframework that creates your back ground to yourconnections. Your ‘opportunity DNA’ is built fromthe most crucial contacts in your network—peopleyou rely on for the exchange of private information,specialised expertise, advice and introductions.

Every business development

professional we listened to saw their internationalnetwork of connections as the vital asset thatdelivered the results and this was more so thanany other consideration.

Tailored to fit: contentmanagement systems and BigData

by Filip Pietrek, PR specialist, Hamilton May

Case study of Hamilton May – the 2.0 approachto content management in a real estate agency.

Traditionally, the role of a CMS (ContentManagement System) is to quickly and flexiblymanage the content of a website. CMS supportsthe work of editors, resellers, marketers, graphicdesigners, etc., often without any IT background,and therefore is essential in any type of businessor organisation, whose website requires frequentupdates. There is a number of free andcommercially available platforms used to managecontent, knowledge, and document flow – startingfrom the ever-popular Wordpress, up to DanishTYPO3, or DocuShare – an extremely powerful,commercial tool produced by Xerox, designed tomanage information flow within an enterprise.

Commercially available solutions aside, there aremany advantages of investing resources, time andexpertise in building your own platform, tailored toyour organisation's needs, reflecting your dailywork pace.

“If you want to make sure the work gets done, do ityourself,” says Ian Daniels, business developmentmanager at Hamilton May Real Estate Company.“We created our own CMS, which was customisedin every way to suit our individual needs. We drewinspiration from one of the most famous Britishagencies – Foxtons, and their original BOSsoftware, worth £2m. Working on self-containedtools allows us to remain independent

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and always one step ahead of our competition”.The company’s special team of three softwaredevelopers was responsible for upgrading,updating and creating system’s new functionalities.

IT as a branch develops at a very fast pace,rendering may technologies obsolete as years goby. The language in which the platform is beingdeveloped may not have an immediate impact onthe software’s end user, but it is of greatimportance to its developer. “In 2017 our CMS –even though still robust – slowly becomesinsufficient as our main management tool,” saysMr Daniels. “The technology in which we havewritten our current software has already aged, soeven a slight modification requires many additionalhours of work. That is why we – as a team –decided to build a completely new software tool,which would allow us to maintain the flexibilityrequired to easily adapt to the ever-changing needsof the market”.

A modern real estate agency must enable itsemployees to easily expand their online propertyportfolios, update listings, and even enhance theirpages with additional features, such as direct linksto specific locations, or content-rich descriptions ofthe most attractive neighbourhoods in the givencity. The obsolete architecture of the contentmanagement system makes such changes time-consuming and requires attendance of severalemployees.

Exporting data to real estate portals or automatedkeywording, which makes the listings recognisableby Google's algorithms, is simply not enough. In aflourishing 21st century real-estate market,flexibility and tools for fast data aggregation andanalysis are crucial. CMS 2.0 must be not onlyfunction as an external tool, but it must also allowagents, business departments, and marketersaccess to Big Data. “Accurate aggregation of realestate data will allow us to analyse the market ineven greater depth. This in turn will affect ourstrategic decisions and will also streamline thework of the entire marketing department. All of ouremployees are involved,

as we consult them regarding the project’s final setof functionalities,” says Ian Daniels.

The brand cooperates with investors who thendevelop their portfolio of properties available forrent. The profile of such client resembles that of aprosumer [producer/consumer], who bringsresources to the market, rather than a traditionalconsumer. That is one of the reasons why the newCMS will have a login system available for theproperty owners, allowing them to keep track oftheir statistics and offer views, compare prices incertain neighbourhoods or even in the samebuilding, as well as access the technical andadministrative details of the lease process, whichremains a crucial field of property management.

Of course CMS 2.0 would be impossible to createwithout the participation of great softwaredevelopers, fluent in the latest versions ofprogramming languages. Moreover, it is equallyimportant to invite experienced and ambitioussalespeople, focused on their goals. All effortsshould be based on two assumptions: the systemhas to be optimised and it has to be adaptable. Inthe end, it’s a tool designed to help keepcustomers updated and properly serviced on aday-to-day basis. It is anticipated that the entireproject will take 18 months to complete. We hopethis story will inspire you to develop your ownsolutions.

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Entrusting personal data to non-EEA entities and new GDPRregulations

By Justyna Zygmunt, associate, New Technologyand Telecommunications Practice KochańskiZięba & Partners Sp. k.

Entrusting data to be processed – outsourcingthe processing of personal data on acompany’s behalf to a third party – increasinglymeans having to transfer it outside theEuropean Economic Area (EEA), mainly to US-based entities, which may pose significant legalrisks on the part of the data controller.

The Personal Data Protection Act currently in forcein Poland (the Act) doesn’t include provisionsaddressed directly to processors (except in Article31(3) of the Act). This will change on 25 May 2018with the General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR, the Regulation) coming into force, whichwill significantly broaden the list of standardsaddressed directly to processors, significantlyincreasing the scope of their liability.

The Regulation applies mainly to the processing ofpersonal data connected with activity carried outby a business that has an organisational unit in theEU, whether or not processing takes place there.Yet whether or not a business has anorganisational unit in the EU, GDPR will also applyin cases where the processing of personal data ofdata subjects who are in the EU by a processorinvolves offering them goods or services,irrespective of whether payment is required fromthem. It also applies when the monitoring of theirbehaviour within the EU.

So in practice, data processors that don’t have anorganisational unit in the EU, don’t provideservices directly to consumers (data subjects) inthe EU and don’t monitor data subjects that are inthe EU, will not be subject to GDPR.

Higher level of data security guaranteed

Article 28(1) of GDPR states that the controller isrequired to entrust data processing only toprocessors that can guarantee technical andorganisational measures which meet therequirements of the Regulation, so that they canadequately ensure the protection of the datasubjects’ rights. To ensure adequate levels of dataprotection, a personal data controller shouldchoose processors who can provide the highestguarantees of compliance with GDPR standards.Therefore, data controllers should preferprocessors that are subject to GDPR ratherthan those that are not. This is becauseprocessors subject to GDPR are obliged toimplement appropriate measures to ensure datasecurity on pain of administrative penalties,regardless of the contractual relationship between processors and controllers. In the case ofprocessors not subject to GDPR, the onlyguarantee ensuring the implementation ofappropriate technical and organisational measureswill be contractual liability, which in practice canprove extremely difficult to enforce. It’s difficult totransfer the liability to processors through acontract because a large number of processorsnot subject to GDPR will use contract templateslimiting their data processing liability. A lack ofcontractual and administrative liability for a breachof GDPR requirements may adversely affect thequality of the services provided, including thesecurity of the data processed.

When choosing a processor that providesappropriate security guarantees, one should bearin mind that choosing a processor that doesn’tcomply with GDPR can cost a data controller asmuch as €10,000,000 or 2% of the total worldwideannual turnover of the preceding financial year.This shows that to protect the interests ofcontrollers, it’s recommended to determineeach time whether or not a given processor willbe subject to GDPR, and to use the services ofprocessors to which the Regulation will apply.

Entrusting data for processing

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These considerations have narrowed the circle ofrecommended processors to those which GDPRwill apply to. The second step towards minimisingthe legal risks associated with entrusting data is topay attention to the regulations governing thetransfer of data to the US. Even if the USprocessor is subject to GDPR, such entrusting ofdata will still be considered as ‘transfer of data to athird country’ within the meaning of the Regulationand will involve additional restrictions. However,the fact that a processor is subject to GDPRdoesn’t mean that additional restrictionsrelated to data transfer to a third country suchas the US won’t apply.

Entrusting data for processing that results in thetransfer of such data to the US is admissible if theprocessor is an active participant in the PrivacyShield programme. IT market leaders such asGoogle, Microsoft and Amazon in principleparticipate in the Privacy Shield, but as far assmaller businesses are concerned, special careshould be taken. The current list should each timebe verified at www.privacyshield.gov. If a givenentity doesn’t participate in Privacy Shield, thecontroller may only transfer personal data to theUS if it provides appropriate safeguards. Such canbe provided by binding corporate rules, standarddata protection clauses, or approved certificationmechanism. A data controller who decides totransfer data to the US to an entity that doesn’tparticipate in the Privacy Shield risks failing toprovide the appropriate safeguards referred toabove, which may involve a fine of up to€20,000,000 or 4% of the total worldwide annualturnover of the preceding financial year.

In the face of the obligation to choose a processorproviding guarantees of compliance with GDPR,data controllers are advised to use the services ofthose processors that are subject to GDPR. In thecase of US processors, these will be theprocessors that have an organisational unit withinthe EU; their activities involve the offering of goodsor services to data subjects in the EU, irrespectiveof whether a payment of the data subject isrequired; or their activities involve

the monitoring of behaviour as far as the behaviourtakes place within the EU. In turn, when entrustingdata to US entities, it’s also important to bear inmind additional risks associated with data transferto a third country that can be avoided, amongothers by using services of organisations activelyparticipating in the Privacy Shield programme.

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