CIOLook presents you, The Most Admired Companies to Watch 2019! What makes them the most admired amongst billions of companies around the world? Wait!

1. October 2019
most
W
a
t
c
h 2019
Companies to
Admired

4. Dreams for Sale!
And! CIOLook presents you, The Most Admired
Companies to Watch 2019!
What? How could you shortlist few companies and tell that they
are the most admired companies of 2019?
What makes them the most admired amongst billions of
companies around the world?
Wait! the answer is not that straight forward, as you might
think. While listing out these companies amongst the long list,
our team at CIOLook has gone through various painstaking
processes which have helped them to carefully curate the final
list.
Few mandatory factors came into play whilst deciding the list
which includes:
Ÿ Disruptive Products: Disruption is the key word. Some
also tends to think this as a ‘fad’. However, for me and our
team at CIOLook, disruptive products always takes the
industry forward and makes way for new innovations. When
Steve Jobs launched the first iPhone, it was a truly disruptive
product, which eventually changed the telecommunication
industry.
Ÿ Giving it Back to the Society: Social responsibility to the
community played a large role while deciding this list. Its
EDITOR’S NOTE

5. not always about doing business and getting the moolah, its also about giving something back to the
society for the betterment of everyone.
Ÿ Employee Relations: The ability to attract and retain talented employees also gets scrutinized.
Employee retention plays a big role as it often indicates the number of content employees.
Ÿ Global Presence: Effective presence in the global market is a key factor that gave these organizations
an edge over the others, who doesn’t have a presence to boast about.
Other than the mentioned points, we have also referred to the financial steadiness of the organizations,
investment value in long term, decisiveness of the respective managements, social responsibility, quality
of management, quality of products/services, innovation and global competitiveness, and usage of
corporate assets.
Additionally, this edition also considers a definitive report card on corporate reputation and how these
companies collaborate with their global partners, executives, directors and seek to higher corporate
reputation and performance. The list is prepared through a series of interviews with company leaders and
industry analysts to determine the qualities that make a company worthy of such admiration.
Happy Reading!
Rohit Chaturvedi
most
W
a
t
c
h 2019
Companies to
Admired

6. Allgress
Industry Proven Risk and
Compliance Management
Arviem AG
Impacting Supply-chains
with Innovative Services
AsiaPay
Redening Digital Payment
Solutions for Greater Good
Big Bang ERP
Growing Provider of Cloud ERP
Services Worldwide, 24/7
Bio Tech
12
16
20
24
ContentsArticles
Graphene: A Material
Marvel of the Century
52
32
Imparting Wisdom
Successful Personality Traits to
Learn from Elon Musk

7. Clearswift
Leading Provider of Advanced
Content Threat Protection
CMIC, Inc.
A Global Contract
Laboratory Organization
codeSpark Academy
Computer Science for
Young Kids
dominKnow
Leading in Cloud-based
Authoring Tool
44
40
36
28

8. mGage
Helping Businesses Leverage the
Power of Mobile Messaging
MgO Systems
Developing FASTER, STRONGER, SAFER,
and More Sustainable Building Solutions
Salt Essential IT
Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) Partner of Choice
Silverware
Making The Hospitality
Industry More Protable
Reveal Group
Transforming Businesses for Good
48
54
58
62
66

11. CONTENT
Senior Editor Alan Swann
Managing Editor Bhushan Ghate
Executive Editors Sourabh More
Alex Spellman
DESIGN
Visualizer Dave Bates
Art & Design Director Iresh Mathapati
Associate Designer Sanket Zirpe
SALES
Senior Sales Manager Kshitij S.
Customer Success Manager Jack Ryan
Sales Executives John, Kane, Irfan, Jagdish
TECHNICAL
Technical Head Aditya K.
Technical Consultant Victor Collins
October, 2019
k.roy@ciolook.com
Copyright © 2019 CIOLOOK, All
rights reserved. The content
and images used in this
magazine should not be
reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or
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permission from CIOLOOK.
Reprint rights remain solely
with CIOLOOK.
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14. Imagine you’ve been asked to manage the compliance
process, but what does that even mean? Compliance
regulations are exploding, making it almost impossible
to keep up, and you have to be able to provide evidence of
your compliance, but you and your auditor are speaking
entirely different languages. What’s worse is you need to
round up help from your co-workers because trying to
manage compliance on your own isn’t working, but even
that is easier said than done. Now you’re stuck with this
overwhelming task, and the stacks of regulations just keep
piling up.
There is a solution – Allgress. It eliminates the hassle and
streamlines the process for you, so now you can feel
confident in your compliance management because it
bridges the gap between you, your auditors and business
stake holders. Now you’re speaking the same language, and
the best part is it won’t take months to get started & you
don’t need a whole team of consultants because you have
the power at your fingertips. Allgress provides the
automation necessary to interpret information in a
meaningful way for a variety of audiences, including senior
leadership. The company brings business insight to
compliance, taking the hassle out of the hard stuff for you.
End-to-End Risk Management Process
Allgress is an established risk and compliance management
solutions provider for organizations and their extended
ecosystem of business partners. The Insight Risk
Management Suite (IRMS) offers on-premises, SaaS, and
hosted delivery options to manage hybrid cloud & on-
premises environments. The company is also the first
vendor to utilize AWS API’s for compliance and security
management of an AWS cloud environment. The Allgress
Insight Risk Management Suite v7 (IRMS) is its award-
winning integrated mature risk and compliance
management suite focused on helping organizations and
their business partners manage the reduction of their
business risk with less complexity and cost. IRMS provides
a modular architecture that automates and streamlines the
entire life-cycle for risk, compliance, IT security & third-
party vendor management process in the cloud or on-
premise. This provides the ability for its customers to craft
and acquire just the right risk and compliance management
system to meet their specific use-cases over time regardless
of the industry vertical or size of the organization.
The patented Allgress Business Risk Intelligence Engine
provides common services including data store, data
acquisition engine, user-provisioning, content library,
workflow, correlation, incident management, and visual
reporting engine, which provides the infrastructure for an
operationally consistent user experience regardless of the
use case. Allgress provides organizations the automation for
end-to-end risk and compliance management processes for
increased time-to-value, usability, simplicity, and
affordability with a modular architecture so that that
organizations of all sizes can leverage its solution product.
World-Class Marketing Executive
Jeff Kushner leads marketing at Allgress as the Chief
Marketing Officer (CMO) and has been with the company
Industry Proven Risk and Compliance Management
12
October 2019

15. since July 2012. As CMO, he is responsible for the global
marketing strategy, branding, positioning and market
communications. Jeff brings over 30 years of experience in
a variety of leadership roles in technology marketing and
business development. Before Allgress, he has held
positions that increased revenue and market penetration
with market leaders, including BindView (now Symantec),
BMC Software, Sun Microsystems (now Oracle) and
consulting to many organizations. His efforts have been
instrumental in advancing the development and adoption of
application, compliance & risk management.
Robotic Process Automation
In addition to rising requirements of manpower and cost
results organizations were slow, manual processes that
opened opportunities for inaccuracy and error, impediments
to business performance, increased business risk exposures,
and difficulty in responding to auditors, regulators, and
partner requirements. Some of the challenges included:
Ÿ Lack of ability to respond to change in regulation,
technology, business, partners
Ÿ Human error
Ÿ No single source of truth
Ÿ No accountability
Ÿ Complexity
Ÿ No clear view of GRC
Allgress has addressed many of those capabilities in the
newest release and continues to addressing these and other
customer’s challenges by automating more of the entire
end-to-end Integrated Risk Management (IRM) process
with customizable logic and dashboards focused on the
function of the user and robotic process automation using
API's, bots, machine learning and Artificial Intelligence
(AI).
Identify Compliance Deficiencies
The requirements for accountability, more oversight, and
identifying business risk quicker are accelerating with new
regulations, security breaches, partner requirements, fines,
& reporting to target stakeholders virtually impossible.
That lead to the introduction of automated Governance,
Risk, and Compliance (GRC) solutions. Many of these
other solutions and old manual methods have their own
challenges of being complex and expensive to
implement.
Allgress’ goal when developing its solution was to
overcome and reduce the complexity of these other
solutions that introduced more complexity. To achieve
that, the company introduced easy-to-use automated
solutions with a common integrated approach that
provides quick-time-to-value for all aspects of risk and
compliance management enabling multiple people to
work off the same data from identification to taking
necessary action in less time, complexity & cost.
Configure Needs of an Organization
Organizations were already struggling to keep up with
numinous regulations and best practices that were being
managed with spreadsheets and home grown
applications using expensive armies of consultants.
Jeff Kushner
CMO
Allgress, Inc.
13
October 2019

16. organization with less complexity, cost, and manpower of
homegrown or other solutions. The solution is delivered ready
to start providing a continuous picture of their risk and
compliance posture for an entire organization to an individual
department with minimal set-up. An organization can typically
start correlating technical, procedural, and operational control
information from multiple data sources and/or a traditional
assessment against one or more policies then produce visual
reports for different audiences within a “week or so”. With
Allgress, customers can converge disparate enterprise risk
silos to gain an immediate, intuitive and unified view of their
organization’s risk & compliance posture that translates that
data into the language of business to reduce business risk.
Reduce Business Risks Quicker
Allgress IRMS provides the ability for its customers to craft
and acquire just the right risk and compliance management
system to meet their specific use-cases over time regardless of
the industry vertical or size of the organization. Stakeholders
and risk professionals receive a notification when a parameter
falls outside the acceptable range with the supporting
information they need to effectively manage the acceptance,
exception, or mitigate the risk all within the solution. Allgress
is pure play Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) meaning
it only sells a GRC platform and not other solutions like
infrastructure protection or other solutions. The company
regularly attends and participates in online and industry
events.
The company foresees and hears from its customers that they
need to improve efficiency, communicate their risk posture
quicker, increase automation, have the same management
capability they get in their current on-premise environments in
the cloud, and consume data from additional IT & non-IT data
sources with responsive customer support. The company has
and will continue to add seasoned professionals to its
implementation and support team to help customers reduce
their business risk quicker using years of industry experience
and knowledge of Allgress, being most of them were Allgress
customers before joining the company.
Allgress
provides
Automated
end-to-end
risk
management
for increased
time-to-value,
usability,
simplicity, and
affordability.
“
14
October 2019

18. Impacting Supply-chains with Innovative Services
Arviem AG
C
loud computing and software programs have
significantly improved product tracking, with
real-time updates on the movement of goods
globally. It allows business firms to adjust production
schedules and inventory levels on a real-time basis.
Such systems are being used for diverse warehouse
management functions like inventory management
and they are ensuring the elimination of blind spots
and inefficiencies. One such cloud-based platform is
Arviem AG. The company solves the challenges of
obtaining visible and intelligent trade by offering
real-time end-to-end cargo monitoring services.
Arviem provides visibility and insights into the flow
of goods and finances within the supply chain,
enabling supply chain, logistics, security, and finance
professionals to have a real-time, holistic overview of
the movement of their assets. The company is
offering a full, carefree service to customers that
allow them to track all their global shipments,
regardless of the transportation mode or the
logistics service provider, on one single platform.
Below is their story,
Seeking the inefficiencies in global supply chains, the
arising security issues after 9/11 and the lack of
visibility and control supply chain professionals had
over the movement of goods globally, Arviem
realized that with the emerging new technologies it
is possible to improve the status quo and bring
transparency into how supply chains operate. The
company aspires to become a ‘one-stop-shop’ for
services when it comes to optimizing various aspects
of the supply chain, whether it is about inventory
management, working capital, carbon footprint, or
demurrage of logistics costs.
Arviem offers’ IoT enabled supply chain visibility
services by monitoring the location and condition of
goods in transit in real-time with sophisticated
sensor devices. Besides real-time event notifications
and alerts, supply chain professionals can also rely
on Arviem’s cargo monitoring platform to manage
their goods in transit. While the company’s IoT based
services help clients to digitalize parts of their supply
chain without the need for investigating into new
technologies, hardware or staff, our scalable, pay-
per-use service offers a possibility of a quick ROI by
reducing costs and enhancing efficiency. With this
services, customers can monitor their shipments
with ease, reap the benefits of the gathered data
while Arviem takes care of all the rest.
The company sets itself apart from the competition
by being the only provider of supply chain visibility
as a hassle-free service.
It aims at implementing supply chain visibility and
cargo monitoring services as easy as possible. Having
the collected cargo monitoring data in the core of
our new service offering, the company has already
developed new services that rely on the data hidden
in supply chains. The company makes sure that the
customer has the right amount of devices at the right
time and the right location of the shipment, from the
start till the shipment has reached its destination.
To demonstrate, the company’s carbon footprint
reporting and emissions monitoring solution reveals
16
October 2019

19. where carbon emissions are concentrated in the clients’ supply
chain. Clients can leverage the collected data when making key
business decisions with regards to the supply chain; such as,
how to reduce energy use and how to lower the carbon
footprint of logistics operations. With the aggregated data,
supply chain and logistics managers can develop less intensive
supply models to reduce the energy consumption of the supply
chain and lower the company’s carbon footprint.
Stefan Reidy is the CEO and Founder of Arviem, he is a supply
chain enthusiast, and a visionary. Stefan has over 20 years of
experience with innovative technologies & business models in
the supply chain, which he gathered both by working for
corporations and in the startup environment. Before founding
Arviem, he was responsible for IBM’s Secure Trade Lane
Solution, developing innovative solutions to improve security
in international trade. Stefan’s passion and industry expertise
We provide
traceability from
doors closing to
doors opening.
“
“
Arviem AG
17
October 2019

20. have been important for Arviem’s development ever since. He often
shares his knowledge with university students professionals periodically
at various events.
Arviem’s goal is to provide visibility and insights into the flow of goods
and finances within the supply chain, enabling supply chain, logistics,
security, and finance professionals to have a real-time, holistic overview
of the movement of their cargo. By having access to data and insights,
clients are enabled to make educated decisions to optimize their physical
and financial supply chain, eliminating blind spots and inefficiencies. The
company’s vision is to maximize the value of the insights it can generate
from the collected data and help
their clients to bring their supply
chain to the next level.
Thanks to Arviem’s services,
clients know where their cargo is
located in any given moment, the
environmental conditions it is
exposed to and if it’s security has
been breached. If disruptions arise
(cargo experiences shocks,
unfavorable temperature or
humidity conditions, an intrusion
or door opening or unexpected
transshipment is detected) clients
are noted immediately so they can
take corrective action. Arviem’s
monitoring platform provides an
overview of all shipments in an
easy to use, visual, user-friendly
management dashboard, making it
possible to access any information
of the cargo’s journey at fingertips.
Another innovative service
leveraging the power of cargo
monitoring data that Arviem has
developed is focusing on
optimizing the working capital
management of organizations. The
company enables the optimization
of the financial and physical supply
chains by making goods in transit
financeable through monitoring
the location and condition of the
cargo in real-time. The company
provides traceability from ’doors
closing to doors opening’ serving
as an independent verifier for
regulatory purposes as well for
real-risk mitigation.
Stefan Reidy
CEO & Founder
Arviem AG
18
October 2019

22. Joseph Chan
Chief Executive O cer
Redefining Digital Payment
Solutions for Greater Good
AsiaPay
20
October 2019

23. Ever since the ‘digitalization’ came into the bright
picture, the implementation of innovative tech in
business processes has become often a need
rather than a want. It has inherently boosted the
growth of various businesses and help them to flourish
in the current competitive markets. Fintech industry
portrays itself as an appropriate explanation for the
above statement.
Meet AsiaPay, one of the blooming digital payment
company in this industry. Led by Joseph Chan, Chief
Executive Officer, it is the leading electronic payment
service and technology player in Asia and beyond.
Being a premier digital payment solution and
technology vendor, it strives to bring advanced,
secured, integrated, and cost-effective electronic
payment processing solutions and services to banks
and eBusinesses around the world. It aims to help it’s
business partners grow their business through online
and other digital channels by providing innovative,
secure and cost-effective payment solutions.
CEO’s Description of AsiaPay
Being the CEO, Joseph Chan has always envisioned the
day when digitalization and technological innovations
will take over in both FinTech and retail industries.
He firmly believes the future requires cashless and
even cardless payment transactions that would make
shoppers complete their purchase, simply, in few taps.
He states that this futuristic idea was fueled by the
fluctuating demands of company’s Asian consumers
and the growing eBusiness concerns in the region.
“Considering that the Asia Pacific is a collective of
marketable countries with a wide population of digital
natives, we have managed to bring our merchants and
consumers the business-suited payment tools and services
that are convenient for them in the eCommerce landscape,”
says Joseph. Through the above statement, he
exemplifies, with the help of such business-suited
payment tools and services AsiaPay continues to
provide innovative payment technology and gateway
that would bring ease as well as security in this on-
going cashless generation.
He also states that AsiaPay leads to take advantage of
Asia’s active card penetration and ranking with the
highest internet engagement in the world. Moving away
from traditional cash and card payments, eWallets and
QR payments are often used nowadays when
purchasing goods, be it in-store or online which
predicts Asia’s progressive move towards the digitized
economy. The company claims to continue to add up
comprehensive and technologically advanced
payments in its payment platform that offer a
streamlined user-friendly experience that will boost
eBusinesses productivity followed to the revenues.
“New additions include Launch of Diners and Discover,
Online Bonus Point Redemption, PayDollar SDK for
Android and iOS, MemberPay, 3DS 2.0 Solution, Secure
Remote Commerce…etc,” says Joseph.
Presenting New Approaches to Clients
AsiaPay runs a 24/7 online payments platform with
multi-card and multi-currency features. This
streamlined payment processing is made for both local
as well as international users. AsiaPay’s top-notch
services roll out a wide array of payment methods that
are ranging from online, mobile and point-of-sale
payments. Over the last 20 years, AsiaPay has led the
global expansion of its accessible cost-effective
payment processing technology in cross-border
regions—namely in—Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand,
Taiwan, China, Philippines, Malaysia, India, Singapore,
and Australia.
If compared to other companies/Unlike other
companies, AsiaPay holds more than a decade of
AsiaPay headquarter in HK K. Wah Centre
21
October 2019

24. experience. Being a PCI DSS Level 1
compliant since 2006, it has opened
up in multi-channels in Internet,
Mobile, mPOS, SmartPOS, eMoto,
Offline, IVRS, IoT, etc. It also
includes payment solutions such as
BatchPay, Card Promotion Payment,
Member Payment Dynamic
Currency Conversion (DCC), MCP,
EventPay Installment Payment,
Cash Dollar Redemption, Recurring
Payment Mobile Payment (mPOS
plus), QRPay and RetailPay. It also
offers Fraud and security solutions
like Built-in intelligent fraud
management tools and reports, 3-D
secure, CVV authentication and
tokenization.
Into the Shoes of Leader
Mr. Joseph Chan is a FinTech expert
and pioneer of success in making
technologies advanced payments
through his company, AsiaPay. His
influence in the PSP industry flew
from being a Hong Kong-based
office to numerous countries across
the Asia Pacific. His drive towards
delivering the consumers their
desired payment methods and
merchants’ integrated settlements,
stands as key factors why AsiaPay is
built. The award-winning payment
solutions that he founded eyes for
the future generation’s potential for
a card and mobile-based financial
settlements.
Embracing Tech Advancements
AsiaPay’s payment platform now is
integrated with the latest 3D
SECURE 2.0 (3DS2.0). Through
3DS2.0, merchants’ eCommerce
platform is able to enjoy advanced
payment authentication, minimize
payment friction and generate more
successful transactions and
increasing eTransactions and
business revenue.
3-D Secure authentication is an
additional security layer for card-
not-present transactions, and it has
been used for over 10 years. It helps
Issuing and Acquiring banks to
authenticate the cardholder
through a web browser to prevent
fraud and AsiaPay has implemented
our own certified 3-D Secure MPI
and ACS solutions and providing our
services to our valuable merchant
and bank clients in Asia.
Ÿ Customer experience:
personalization, customization
provides a seamless checkout and
payment experience to their
customers with various payment
options and methods and
completing their ePurchases in a
secured platform.
Ÿ Payment Innovation: Analytics, IoT
and digital collaboration.
A Peek in AsiaPay’s Future
The company claims that Asia is
leading towards digitized payments
society and states, to continue to
champion its ePayment expertise in
other parts of the world, it will make
sure that its payment technology runs
effectively and gives out streamlined
access to its clients. Aiming for a
revolutionized way of interaction in
this day and age. Moreover, with over
100 payment methods and bank
partners in Asia, AsiaPay is the
leading electronic payment
processing service and solution house
in Asia, offering electronic payment
processing solutions to banks and
eBusinesses around the world.
World-class
Provider of
ePayment
Services &
Technologie
s in Asia
since 2000.
“
“
22
October 2019

26. Growing Provider of Cloud ERP Services Worldwide, 24/7
Big Bang ERP
Maximize the success
of your cloud
transformation with
Big Bang ERP.
“
“
Gabriel Tupula
CEO
Big Bang ERP
24
October 2019

27. E
RP systems help improve the management of any
organization and allows each team member to
understand his/her role within the company. Its
many advantages include streamlining business
processes and supporting the team’s daily operations
promoting the business’ growth. In 2014, Big Bang ERP
is founded to offer the best service through a unique,
personalized experience for each customer. Since then,
the company has become one of the leading trusted
business advisors for cloud solutions, and applications
including ERP, CRM, MRP, ITSM, marketing automation.
Big Bang’s Reach
Big Bang is not simply a Value Added Reseller (VAR) it is
a solution integrator. No matter the business need, the
Big Bang team can and recommend the right solution
and provide the necessary services to implement and
integrate it with the client’s current systems. Big Bang’s
expertise in various industries has influenced it to Big
Bang invest in industry-specific events, over the years,
to reach out to their potential customers in-person. It is
very important for the company to establish a human
connection, as it is part of the company’s vision to act as
trusted business advisors starting with human contact.
The organization also supports these marketing
initiatives through an online presence by publishing
insightful posts on social media, creating ad-word
campaigns to help its audience find what they are
looking for easily, and remarketing campaigns. The Big
Bang team stays up to date with market trends to
convey the right information to the right audience
through their content. The organization also uses SEO
keywords in all of their content to attract their target
market. Its website serves as a big landing page that
allows the company to study their visitors’ behavior and
use it to deliver the appropriate information along with
several call-to-actions allowing visitors to connect with
a big bang. Moreover, the company’s proprietary
methodology & approach allow them to assess clients’
business needs and fully understand the requirements,
to offer exceptional service tailored to those needs, for
each customer. Finally, the company does occasional
email campaigns to stay connected with its audience
providing them with the latest updates, news and
relevant information related to Big Bang and the
products they offer.
Big Bang believes that all people in every organization
should have direct access to the information that
enables them to do work, from anywhere, every day,
and that is what the company hopes to accomplish.
As Gabriel, CEO at Big Bang, puts it: “Take the best
features of best of breed products for one tailored solution?”
What he realized was that offering multiple products
was the solution to better serve a vast array of
customers. Gabriel has been working in the field of
technology for almost two decades. The reason behind
the idea of Big Bang was Gabriel’s disapproval of
supporting only one core product. Offering clients
more than a single option for their business needs
allows the customers to have some sort of benchmark.
This freedom to choose what fits best with the client’s
requirements is key in delivering exceptional service.
Big Bang ERP
25
October 2019

28. Big Bang ERP is solution-agnostic.
It means that the company assesses
the needs of its customers and then
offer recommendations based on
those needs. The company’s priority
is to help customers streamline their
processes to grow and prepare for
future success. Its solutions are up-
to-date. The company is constantly
looking for ways to expand its
portfolio of solutions and make sure
they cover all business management
needs with the best-in-class
solutions in the market. This is how
the company fulfills its purpose of
creating tangible value for its
customers and giving customers the
right tools to grow.
The company’s mission and vision
statement are very straightforward.
The vision consists of becoming the
most trusted independent
consultant team specializing in
business management,
collaboration, and automation
solutions. They do so by seeking
simple and scalable solutions that
respect the company’s clients’
requirements for Cost-
effectiveness, Scope and quality, and
Delivery schedule.
Big Bang is always up to date. In fact,
the company’s department of
innovation and solutions’ main
purpose is to make sure the
company can keep up with the
volatile technological changes along
with expanding its portfolio of
products and solutions. The Big
Bang team is constantly monitoring
the industry changes and applies
best practices to adapt to this fast-
paced industry. Moreover, having an
in-house department to advise the
company as it does with its clients
has proven to be incredibly
beneficial in coping with
technological changes.
Big Bang wants to become the most
trusted independent consulting firm
for all business needs. Their
company’s aim is to be a one-stop-
shop for all its clients and build long-
lasting partnerships with them to
contribute to their business growth
and success. The company also
wants to expand on an international
level and increase its global
footprint. Its future aspirations
consist of making the company’s
vision a reality by actively looking
for new solutions to serve all
business needs and opening offices
as it grows around the world to
serve customers worldwide in the
best way possible.
26
October 2019

30. Leading Provider of Advanced Content Threat Protection
Innovative, customer-driven, solutions
which protect critical information and
enable continuous collaboration across
email, the web, and endpoint.
“
“
28
October 2019

31. C
ontent threat protection
technology has become
imperative for organizations
to achieve compliance in many areas
of business. Deep Content
Inspection when coupled with Data
Loss Prevention (DLP) functionality
provides IT security teams with a
360-degree view of information
flow across the organization’s
boundary, along with granular
control of security policy to enable
automated enforcement. The
technology ultimately enables
highly secure digital collaboration;
mitigating advanced information
borne threats as well as data leaks
or unauthorized data acquisition.
With a continuous focus on
innovation, Clearswift delivers its
advanced content protection
technology to government, defense
and multi-national financial
organizations around the world.
In an interview with CIO LOOK, Dr.
Guy Bunker, CTO of Clearswift
discusses the company’s technology
portfolio and why it is trusted by
some of the most sensitive
intelligence agencies across the
globe.
Below are the highlights of the
interview between Guy Bunker and
CIO LOOK:
What led to the inception of the
company?
The company can trace its roots
back to 1982 when email was
emerging into the business world.
We effectively developed the first
email application for MS-DOS
before moving onto providing email
security solutions for both Windows
and UNIX. However in 2012, the
company was acquired and
significant investment injected into
the business for technology
innovation, together with a new
vision and focus on Advanced
Threat Protection and Data Loss
Prevention (DLP).
How do your services differ from
the other companies’ offerings?
Clearswift has created a series of
next-generation email and web
security solutions which also
overcome the problems of
traditional DLP solutions. Our
Adaptive Redaction technology
enables content to be changed on-
the-fly as it crosses the
organizational boundary, preventing
the need to stop and block content,
and hinder communication flow. The
Deep Content Inspection engine
built into all Clearswift products
enables A-DLP to seamlessly
remove advanced information
borne threats, such as ransomware
delivered in weaponized documents,
from inbound/outbound email and
web downloads/uploads. Our
advanced Information Governance
solution enables the ability to track
and trace information at a sub-file
level, creating a previously unseen
level of granular protection.
Our recent innovations enable the
redaction of text (black box) from
images, not just from documents.
Anti-steganography technology can
be deployed to prevent data loss as
well as protection from next-
generation malware hidden in
innocuous-looking images that
executes when inside a network.
Give a detailed description of the
featured person’s influence over
the company and the industry
I joined Clearswift in 2012 as part of
an executive turnaround team and
was tasked with creating a new
technology vision which could be
implemented to help reinvigorate
the Clearswift brand. By looking
into the heritage of the organization
and at the existing technology, the
idea of Adaptive Redaction was
created. With several years’
experience in DLP, I understood
where the shortcomings were with
traditional solutions and that with
Clearswift, there was the
opportunity to change the game.
Traditional DLP is about stopping
and blocking communication which
slows collaboration and creates
business risk, however, overzealous
policies frequently led to false-
positive events whereby
communication was unnecessarily
halted, resulting in the solutions
being disabled – creating data loss
risk. A-DLP was developed to
remove only the smallest piece of
information from an email or a
document which broke policy as it
traveled across the organizational
boundary via email or the web, while
leaving the rest to be delivered
unhindered, overcoming the issues
of traditional DLP and the pesky
‘false positive’. In conjunction with
A-DLP, I oversaw the acquisition of
two small companies which enabled
Clearswift to move our DLP solution
onto the endpoint as well as the
gateways, resulting in inclusion to
the Gartner analyst Magic Quadrant
for Enterprise DLP. I also led the
innovation of our Information
Governance solution, which can
track and trace information across
the organization and its boundary.
Rather than tracking just files, it can
track the information inside the
files, protecting classified
information at a more granular scale
than was previously possible.
What marketing activities do you
implement to reach out to your
potential customers?
29
Clearswift Ltd
October 2019

32. The change in legislation, particularly around GDPR,
saw our digital marketing strategy move from a push to
a pull model. Our team works together cohesively on a
broad cross-section of marketing activity including
events, digital campaigns, events and PR programs. We
work closely with our PR agency to create appropriate,
engaging content including positioning Thought
Leadership articles in relevant publications, as well as
being subject matter experts on cybersecurity stories in
the press. We also work with our partners on events
with their customers as well as attending and speaking
at a variety of industry events around the globe such as
RSA and NIAS.
How do you cope with the volatile technological
changes in the market to make your solutions
resourceful remain relevant?
The key to keeping up with technological change is to
keep up with our customers and partners which helps
us to understand the new threats they’re facing, where
their businesses are going, how we can best support
them to keep their critical information safe, no matter
where it is stored or what digital collaboration channels
it flows through. We work very closely with multiple
defense organizations around the world which enables
us to understand the next generation of threats
entering the landscape. We can then adjust our
innovation and roadmap strategy to address these
advanced threats, bringing solutions to the market
promptly.
Describe your company and its cutting-edge solutions
which address all the needs of your customers
Clearswift delivers innovative email, and web security
solutions with an emphasis on advanced threat
protection and Adaptive Data Loss Prevention (A-DLP).
Consistent use of our technology across email, the web,
and endpoint ensure there are no weak links in the
chain which is good information security.
What are your company’s future aspirations? What
strategies are you undertaking to achieve those goals?
The future aspiration of the company is to continue to
grow by delivering innovative solutions which meet our
customer’s needs. We will continue to drive innovation
in R&D through encouraging ‘side projects’ looking at
some of the most challenging information security
issues and how they can be solved, which can then be
productized and included in our solutions. We also
continue to invest and work with our partners across
the globe to drive our sales growth.
Could you throw some light on your mission
statement?
Making information safe for CNI: Around 70% of our
global customers are classified as Critical National
Infrastructure, with the majority in government,
defense and finance. We understand the special needs
of these customers where there are strong
requirements for keeping critical information safe from
both advanced cyber attacks and data loss (or breach)
events.
Dr. Guy Bunker
CTO
30
October 2019

34. Successful Personality
Traits to Learn
from Elon Musk
78
Successful Personality
Traits to Learn
from Elon Musk
32
October 2019

35. L
egends never need an introduction. They tend to
be victorious despite of their uneventful histories.
They stick to captivating traits such as Discipline,
determination and self-belief which help them
accomplish wonders in the long run. One such example
of an extra-ordinary person is Elon Musk, a South
African Business Magnate, Investor and an engineer.
Musk is the founder, CEO, and chief architect of
SpaceX; co-founder, CEO, and product designer of Tesla
Inc.; and co-founder and CEO of Neuralink. As of
February 2018, he is the 53rd-richest person in the
world and has a net worth of $20.8 billion, which is far
more than the net GDP of Greece taken into
consideration.
While each entrepreneur possesses a unique set of
traits that makes him/her successful, this Tech founder
has a few traits much different from any other ordinary
CEO, which has allowed him to build some of the
world’s most respected and innovative organizations.
Musk once quoted, “When something is important
enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.”
Let’s have a look on these personality attributes and
characteristics that make him a contender for the most
innovative intellectual entrepreneur of the century
alive.
Hard-work and Characteristic Work Ethics
Elon Musk is a hard-working innovator, working for
about 100 hours a week, and has been productive since
many years. He may even be considered as the hardest
working employee of the company, setting standards
for his colleagues to follow and implement. Since the
field of work lies inside his radius of interests, he enjoys
it to every moment and bit when it comes to learning
and execution.
Strong Risk Tolerance
Founding a start-up involves a great deal of uncertainty
and risk. A study found that after 10 years of being in
33
Imparting Wisdom
October 2019

36. business, 96 percent of the start-ups fail. Going by the
statistics, Musk must have faced the same odds against
him, when he had decided to leave an otherwise
comfortable life to start a risky and uncertain business
venture.
For instance, Musk left his PhD program at Stanford
University to find a company called Zip2 with his
brother in the year 1995. Later, the company was sold
to Compaq computers, profiting Musk a bit over $20
million. Following this, Musk once again took a great
risk by investing millions of dollars to found a company
called X.com, one of the world’s first online banks.
‘Always Be Learning’ Attitude
An astounding and less-known fact about Elon Musk is
that he is self-taught in programming and in many
advanced level subjects. He read and understood a
variety of books, which helped him gain endless and
persistent knowledge and understand diverse
concepts.
The best piece of advice on learning and
implementation is to constantly think about how things
could be done in a better manner and question self to
seek the answers.
Feedback Loop
It is of prime importance to recognize the present
symbol or otherwise ‘status quo’ in the market as an
organization and re-position accordingly. Musk solicits
constant feedback of the companies and executes ‘self-
analysis.’ He induces efforts and divergent strategies to
improve customer feedbacks and strives towards
perfectionism.
For example, he seeks out his critics and tries to
converse with them. This habit of self-reflection at
regular and considerable periods is pivotal for any
entrepreneur or organization to succeed in the long
run.
Tendency for Vertical Integration
Vertical integration is a strategy where an organization
or a firm acquires business operations within the same
product vertical. Both Tesla and SpaceX embrace this
concept. For example, Tesla not only produces electric
cars; they also generate public awareness about their
cars via Tesla showrooms across various countries. And
SpaceX does not only have the primary goal of rocket
propulsions; they develop their own rocket
architecture as well.
Faith in Self and the Founding Team
Musk undoubtedly possesses a profound belief in his
own capabilities as well as the potential-seeking factor
of its founding team. He does not hesitate to gamble on
large scale unless he is genuinely aware of the expected
end-results.
It is equally essential to maintain clarity of doubt in any
large scale organization. Under his supervision, Musk
encourages in creating a positive and comprehensive
environment across his firms.
Preferring to Stand Out From the Crowd
Musk elects to bring up innovation at every level of his
understanding. He tends to impart theoretical
knowledge at the base level, applying changes and
executing the same on the practical level. He relies
more on transitional aspects such as research and
development, thereby increasing the probability of
ground-breaking inventions.
Tesla Motors, a far headed firm headed by Elon Musk, is
anti-ordinary. Its compelling marketplace has become a
one-stop destination for potential buyers where they
can interact about product specifications. They also
have video testimonials that far outperform in the
sales-dominated industry.
There is no ambiguity that Musk, by far, has been a
pillar of inspiration for budding entrepreneurs and
investors because of his prolific and optimistic
approach towards life
All these traits possessed by Musk, in some manner or
the other, coincide with most of your habits. The only
thing that stands as a potential barrier between these
two is identifying your strengths and working on them
on a continual basis. Go on, apply these traits into your
daily life, and you may become the next big CEO the
world is in need of today!
34
October 2019

38. 36
A Global Contract
Laboratory Organization
CMIC, Inc.
B
ioanalysishasevolvedovertheyearsandoftenitisbeingused
in clinical and other pharmaceutical-related studies.
Bioanalytical services include method development, method
transfer, method qualification, method validation, cross-validation
and sample analysis. These services are critical elements when it
comestothedevelopmentofpharmaceuticals.Withover30yearsof
experience, leading Contract Research Organization (CRO) and a
providerspecialized,inbioanalyticalservicesCMIC,Inc.researchers
provide cutting-edge expertise in small and large molecule
bioanalysis in order to optimize drug development for
pharmaceutical companies. The company offers bioanalysis for non-
clinical and clinical projects, both GLP and non-GLP, to meet critical
drug development milestones. Its GLP compliant state-of-the-art
facility can accommodate quick turnaround and high-volume
projectsfromaroundthecountry.
InaninterviewwithCIOLOOK,thePresidentandCEOofCMIC,Inc.
Mike Suga, helps us study changing drug development environment
with professional scientists and improving the company's expertise
through training and continuing education while performing as
specialistsintheindustry.
Below are the highlights of the interview conducted between Mike
SugaandCIOLOOK:
Whatledtotheinceptionofthecompany?
CMIC, Inc. originated from CMIC Group, which the very first and
largest Contract Research Organization (CRO) and also the top
bioanalysislabinJapan.Itwasestablishedasastrategiccornerstone
forCMICGroup'sNorthAmericagrowth.
October 2019

39. 37
“Meeting the needs of
our clients and the
changing drug development
environment.”
Mike Suga
President & CEO
CMIC, Inc.
CMIC,Inc.
October 2019

40. 38
Describe your company and its cutting-edge solutions
whichaddressalltheneedsofyourcustomers?Wehave
been the leading bioanalysis CRO in oligonucleotide
therapeutics (Oligo) for several years now. Even before
Oligo, we have 30+ years of experience in conventional
small molecule and are also significantly expanding our
capabilitiesinlargemoleculeandbiomarker.
Could you throw some light on your mission and vision
statement?
CMIC has the vision to provide a solution service called
“Pharmaceutical Value Creator” (PVC) that encompass
an entire value-chain of pharmaceutical companies, not
only on CRO, but also on manufacturing, sales, and
marketingservicesolutions.
How do your services differ from the other companies’
offerings?
We are the leading bioanalysis CRO in oligonucleotide
therapeutics(Oligo)aswellasveryflexibleandagilewith
quick turn-around time, which is not possible by large
CROs.
What marketing activities do you implement to reach
outtoyourpotentialcustomers?
CMIC, Inc. together with the rest of CMIC Group has,
several scientific publications and whitepapers and
several webinars either already implemented or
planned.
How do you cope up with the volatile technological
changes in the market to make your solutions
resourceful?
CMIC’s“CREED”ascorporatephilosophyisconsistingof
Wellbeing, Challenge, Change and Communication
(W&3Cs). We apply these items to continuously evolve
ourselves in line with market changes and voices of
customers.
What are your company’s future aspirations? What
strategiesareyouundertakingtoachievethosegoals?
By further expanding from the current “Pharmaceutical
Value Creator” (PVC) business model, we have an
aspiration to become a “Personal Healthcare Value
Creator” (PHVC) to contribute for and to address to the
up-coming personalized medicine and individual patient
qualityoflife.
Abouttheleader
With 30+ years of experience across biotechnology,
pharmaceutical, life sciences industry, and medical
device areas, Mike Suga has been assuming CMIC. Inc.'s
President role since 2015. He earned bachelor and
master’s degrees in agricultural biosciences from the
University of Tokyo. Prior joining CMIC, he was the
Deputy General Manager of GE Healthcare’s CT/MRI
contrastmediainvivodiagnosticsandPET/SPECTradio-
pharmaceuticals division in Japan and was responsible
for establishing a new pharmaceutical operation
reportingintoGEHealthcare’sU.KHeadquarters.
He and other leadership team members, with 15 to 25+
years of the industry experience, are helping the
companytogrowandaddressthebioanalysisCROneeds
frommid-to-small/bioventureclientswhowerenotwell
served by other large-scale CROs. He together with the
current leadership team also competed strategic facility
investment in 2017, leveraged by CMIC’s new U.S. client
baseexpansionafterbusinessintegration.
Mike is based in Chicago, while he also serves as Senior
Vice President of CMIC HOLDINGS Co., Ltd., reporting
directly to CMIC Group’s Tokyo Headquarters. He
started his 30-year’s professional career as tissue
cultureandgenomicsscientistsatJTgeneticengineering
labandlaterspent5yearsinNewYorkandSanFrancisco
as JT’s recombinant DNA business development
manager. “As CMIC, Inc., we will accelerate our growth of
servicesinNorthAmericaandmostimportantlybetteraligns
with our overall vision to bring value with each client
interaction,”saysMikeSuga.
October 2019

42. Computer Science for Young Kids
C
reativity is an essential tool for success in life. It
helps us solve problems, imagine new products,
produce art and find humor in difficult times.
Play and creativity have a significant role in education,
and professionals have a responsibility to nurture both.
We now know from research that children learn best
through play and this includes learning how to be
creative. So, in spite of some out of date views on
education, governments should support and develop
this vital teaching of learning through play. Regularly
working to combine coding with core subjects like math
and English, edtech company codeSpark has produced
codeSpark Academy, a specialized learning game that
teaches kids about computer science, game design and
digital story telling.
codeSpark’s mission is to ignite curiosity about
computer science and to turn programming into play.
The company’s award-winning computer science
education platform, “codeSpark Academy with The
Foos”, is specially designed for kids who are aged 5 and
up. codeSpark Academy teaches young kids about
computer science concepts by letting them program
cute characters in a virtual world. The company
believes that diverse teams are the most creative and
innovative. codeSpark is also a proud participant in
Kapor Capital’s Founder’s Commitment to diverse and
inclusive hiring. The codeSpark team is 50% women and
50% people of color.
Creative Learning Platform
codeSpark believes all kids can create incredible things
so their platform gives kids access to powerful creative
tools for coding games and interactive stories. The
company wants every child in the world to have access
to a first-class computer science education to help
prepare them for success in a future dominated by
computers and software.
Some key differentiators for codeSpark Academy are:
Ÿ A word-free interface that makes the platform
highly accessible (pre-readers, visual learners, etc.)
Ÿ Powerful creative tools that allow kids to design and
code their own video games and create interactive
stories (these tools were only available to teens and
adults previously)
40
October 2019

43. Grant Hosford
CEO & Co-founder
codeSpark Academy
Turning Programming
into Play
“ “
41
codeSpark Academy
October 2019

44. Ÿ A focus on making sure the
platform is as interesting to girls
as it is to boys (done with a
combination of powerful female
characters and the focus on using
code creatively)
Power of Programming Tools
codeSpark Academy is the most
used kid’s coding platform in the
world and the top-grossing coding
platform of any kind on iOS. Kids
ages 5-10 use the platform in order
to learn fundamental computer
science concepts. codeSpark is used
at home and in schools and has an
unusual business model. Over
60,000 K-5 teachers use codeSpark
Academy in their classrooms for
free to teach computer science
while parents pay a subscription to
access the platform directly at
home. The company’s product team
adds new content and features to
codeSpark Academy every 3 to 4
weeks. The company is very proud
that 54% of codeSpark’s users are
girls, the highest percentage on any
coding platform. High visibility
partnerships for codeSpark include
being part of Apple’s global
“Everyone Can Code” initiative and
the launch of nine new coding merit
badges for the Girl Scouts this past
July.
Free Solutions
The platform is free for public
schools, libraries, and non-profits.
Home users can purchase access via
a subscription. codeSpark lets public
schools use codeSpark Academy for
free, so that all kids can have the
necessary access. If parents want to
use codeSpark Academy at home,
they can purchase a subscription.
Teachers and subscribers get full
access to codeSpark’s industry
leading lesson plans, projects and
other resources.
Enabling Education Accessiblity
Everywhere
codeSpark’s App has been
downloaded over 14 million times
and has been used by 30 million kids
around the world. The company
designed the platform to be
available across all devices (Android,
iOS, Amazon and Desktop/Web). So,
kids always have new challenges and
activities to engage with. The game
is self-directed and the interface is
100% visual so anyone, anywhere in
the world can play, including pre-
readers. In 4 years, over 30 Million
kids in 190+ countries have used
codeSpark Academy.
Largest Community of Kids
codeSpark is razor focused on
building the largest community of
young kid creators in the world.
Currently kids are designing and
coding over 1 million video games
and interactive stories every month!
The company knows that if it keeps
listening carefully to the customers
and keeps improving its tools, it will
have the global impact it is pushing
for. codeSpark will also continue to
pursue smart partnerships with like-
minded companies that can help
them grow and prosper.
Strong and Sharp Leader
In 2013, the CEO and Co-founder
Grant Hosford’s young daughters
wanted to know how computers
work. Inspired by their curiosity he
tried to find an “ABC’s of computer
science” for them and was shocked
to learn nothing existed. Grant
thought computer science should be
taught like English and Math, with a
clear progression from
Kindergarten through High School.
He also thought learning about
computer science should be fun and
focus on creation. So, he connected
with an incredible Co-founder, game
designer and father of three, Joe
Shochet, who shared his vision and
they launched codeSpark in March
2014.
Grant had the original idea for the
company and he and Joe still set the
vision today. Grant is very involved
in the global movement to teach
young kids about the fundamentals
of computer science. In the last year,
he has spoken about the need for
STEM education at a young age in
Beijing, Washington DC, and
London. He also writes blogs quite
frequently and recently posted a
piece about why kids as young as 5
know how AI works.
42
October 2019

46. dominKnowLeading in Cloud-based Authoring Tool
learning resources such as courses, images, graphics, videos,
Eaudio files, and their associated data pose a problem for most
organizations to store, track and update. One solution is a
learning content management system (LCMS), a comprehensive and
centralized web-based database where organizations can create and
store e-learning projects and even collaborate on content. Such tools
are ideal for large organizations, but can also help smaller content
authoring teams. There are only a handful of experienced vendors in
this field.
One such company, dominKnow, has been creating e-Learning
authoring tools and LCMS software for large teams for more than
two decades. dominKnow provides authoring software for e-learning
content development that empowers instructional designers,
developers, and teams to create better learning experiences
efficiently, together.
In an interview with CIO LOOK, the CEO of dominKnow, Luke
Hickey enlightens us how easily its clients can collaborate in real-
time, share and re-use content across projects, and engage subject
matter experts in the review process.
Below are the highlights of the interview between CIO LOOK and
Luke Hickey:
What led to the inception of the company?
Since 1997, dominKnow has taken leaps of growth developing our
all-in-one learning creation authoring system today. Now in 2019,
our content creation platform, off the shelf content, and
collaborative support system are instantly accessible from anywhere
– not just on that one CD we used to ship to you 20 years ago.
That’s how we got to where we are today. This wild phenomenon
called “the Internet” took control of the way we learn, connect with
others, proceed in business, etc. and the way we operated instantly
evolved. We saw that CD jam-packed with learning that we used to
ship across the world fast track its way into so much more, to so
many more people. It’s truly amazing to just stop and think about
how far we’ve come, and what’s even possible to achieve in the future
with the technology we have right at our fingertips.
44
October 2019

47. Easily create more kinds of
eLearning e ciently by
managing content
centrally, reusing assets,
and collaborating as a team.
“
“
45
dominKnow Learning Systems
Luke Hickey
CEO
dominKnow
Learning
Systems
October 2019

48. Could you throw some light on your mission and vision
statement?
Our software solutions were created to help solve the
problems we as individuals faced throughout our
professional careers. Creating better team
collaboration and communications, more engaging
training that works, while also adding value to the
opportunity to grow. We wanted to empower ourselves
and by doing that, also provide organizations and their
employees the tools to do so as well.
Describe the company and its cutting-edge solutions
which address all the needs of your customers
Our customer base is so vast in what it needs to
properly design and provide information to employees
effectively and efficiently with limited resources, and
our tools need to support this. We have customers in
the medical, financial, technology, food industry, and
more, and that makes for a lot of different specific
needs and approaches for designing and delivering
information.
We’ve created dominKnow ONE - based around the
needs of our clients – empowering more advanced
users with the flexibility to create and design content to
their specific needs, but also enabling less experienced
designers like subject matter experts to easily
contribute without being overwhelmed by the sheer
power and flexibility of the full system. With
dominKnow, one can help you create almost any type of
content, whether you start with off the shelf editable
courses or need to develop your compliance training or
highly engaging and interactive content, or software
simulations, or scenario-based training, or just in time
infographic-style content, or searchable
knowledgebases and so much more. All of these
capabilities are part of a core collaborative content
design approach that enables small and large
organizations to achieve efficiencies by engaging non-
traditional development groups, streamlining
collaboration & reuse and helping the company, as a
whole, raise its training output to a new level and often
with the less overall effort.
46
October 2019

49. How do your services differ from the other companies’
offerings?
DominKnow is one of the longest-serving providers of
authoring tools for e-learning. We first began in 1997
developing custom content and off the shelf libraries of
content, and now we offer a spectrum of products
including off the shelf editable content, collaborative
community-based learning, and our all-in-one e-
Learning authoring tool, dominKnow provides a
number of unique features to the market such as
multiple authoring types for traditional and responsive
design, cross-platform software simulation, an adaptive
authoring interface to meet the needs of different
skilled team members, and so much more.
Surprisingly, another unique aspect is we use our
products to create all the training content and support
material for our product. You would think that would be
the norm in this industry, but we are an exception. If
you’re looking up information in our product guide – it
was made in our tool. If you’re working through the
activities in our training guides – it was made in our
tool. If you’re searching for lessons on our community
site – it was built upon our tool.
What marketing activities do you implement to reach
out to your potential customers?
We value getting involved within the community online
and face-to-face. Attending and hosting events and
industry-geared conferences has always been a great
way to connect with peers, partners, and customers.
The value we get from the industry events has even
inspired us to create our outlet to help organizations
and peers grow. We’ve recently launched a new online
and face-to-face community resource called
“Instructional Designers In Offices Drinking Coffee” or
IDIODC started in 2018 as weekly live cast to help
instructional design peers create better learning
experiences, and also feel more engaged in the
community! Now, IDIODC has grown into a wider scale
community outlet, in-person, and online.
How do you cope with the volatile technological
changes in the market to make your solutions
resourceful?
Changes to the market and technology can impact the
business, we know this first hand. What’s important is
to utilize those changes to your advantage. For
example, when we first started, it felt like the Internet
had spontaneously appeared, we saw the opportunity
and moved from CD-ROM to all online delivery. It was a
huge change for the way we approached our business,
but it made a serious impact on our ability to extend our
reach well beyond our original customer base. We
continued to adapt, becoming one of the first
companies to drop Flash and fully support mobile-first
responsive design. Then, recognizing the important
advancements in inclusive design being made in other
web-based media, we embraced the same revolution
and aligned dominKnow | ONE with accessibility
standards like WCAG. The result is an even more
comprehensive tool. Being the first with these changes
wasn’t easy, but they’ve proved to be the right choices.
More recently, we’ve fully embraced xAPI to empower
learners to fully utilize the standard with no
programming required and have quickly become the
leader in this area. Our whole mantra is based on
learning and the opportunity to always be growing,
following that with the changes in technology, and the
market is fundamental.
What are the company’s future aspirations? What
strategies are you undertaking to achieve those goals?
After 22 years, in the industry, dominKnow is in this
space for the long run, we don’t see that changing.
We’re still excited by the possibilities technology can
bring to the power of learning to better people’s lives.
We have continued to increase the spectrum of our
content solutions, adding off the shelf fully editable
content to get people started and a searchable
community of knowledge, Clarofy, that enables anyone,
regardless of authoring experience, to contribute,
share, and help the overall knowledge of the company.
Provide a few quotes in approximately 15 to 20 words
that best describe your company and its services?
More than just an authoring tool for eLearning,
dominKnow is a powerful cloud-based authoring
system with integrated authoring tools and built-in
simulation, working together as one. This lets you easily
create, share, reuse, and collaborate on, more kinds of
content faster, by managing assets centrally.
About the Leader
Luke Hickey is the CEO and also the longest-serving
employee at dominKnow. With over 20 years of
experience in the field, he has lots of “war stories” to
share! He was there for the first lines of the code in the
original authoring solution, so he knows the products’
history intimately. Luke is passionate about the
possibilities of using technology to help make a
difference in how people learn, and that passion is
shared with everyone at the company. Luke maintains
close relationships with many in the eLearning industry,
listening, and learning as well as sharing.
47
October 2019

50. 48
Helping Businesses Leverage
the Power of Mobile Messaging
W
ith a mission to provide worry-free
messaging by delivering every message
from businesses to their customers swiftly,
reliably and securely, mGage was formed.
It all began in 1999, when Air2Web was established as
a wireless application service provider in Atlanta,
Georgia. Its objective was to provide mobile marketing
solutions to brands wanting to connect with their
consumers via mobile devices. Over the years, the
company grew through a series of mergers and
acquisitions, including its European affiliate entity in
London, as well as entities in other geographic
locations. In 2014, the company was rebranded as
“mGage,” and the following year it was acquired by its
parent company, Vivial Networks LLC, and this is where
the story of mGage continues. Today, the company is
recognized as one of the largest domestic and global
mobile messaging providers, delivering over 1 billion
messages monthly.
Throughout its journey, the company has invested in its
technology and people to ensure mGage delivers best-
in-class services. mGage is at the forefront of the
industry and is a critical partner to large brands who
want to leverage mobile to engage with their
customers.
There are over 5 billion people around the world who
can send and receive SMS messages (latest figures
2018—GSMA). It’s important to know that SMS is still a
relevant and growing channel even with other
messaging apps emerging in the marketplace.
According to MobileSquared A2P (Application-to-
Person) SMS is set to rise to 2.8 trillion messages by
2022.
mGage enables brands to send high volume time-
sensitive, transactional, and promotional messages
across key messaging channels, including SMS, RCS,
MMS, and Push. mGage also provides mobile payment
solutions, allowing consumers to pay for digital content
and services using their mobile phones.
The company’s solutions enable brands to build out
customer journeys that deliver personalized, timely and
relevant messages.The arrival of mGage’s latest
technology RCS (Rich Communication Services) offers
an app-like experience within the messaging inbox. It
includes features like quick response buttons,
carousels, rich cards, videos, branded messages and
much more. This technology when combined with
smarter segmentation and better analytics, allows
brands to understand and know their customers more
to drive higher customer engagement, enhance the
user experience, and increase customer satisfaction.
The broad and deep expertise of the company in the
ever-changing mobile industry makes mGage
sought-after experts, trusted advisors, and the go-to
partner for enterprise-level companies that look to use
mobile to their best competitive advantage. The level of
October 2019

51. 49
mGage
empowers
brands to
deliver
powerful,
personalised
and relevant
messages to
the mobile
handset to
drive better
customer
engagement.
Denisse Goldbarg
Global Chief Operating Officer
mGage
mGage
October 2019

52. 50
service the company provides, its reliability, security,
and speed of delivery are the key differentiators of why
mGage retains such a significant market share. As a
Tier-1 SMS aggregator, the company meets the highest
industry standards. The level of dedicated support it
provides to its clients is unmatched in the industry.
mGage daily operations are led by its Global Chief
Operating Officer, Denisse Goldbarg. In her role,
Denisse oversees all sales, operations and marketing
functions worldwide at mGage. She also serves as CMO
for Vivial Media. Denisse has held senior sales and
marketing roles at companies such as Time Warner
Cable, where she served as VP of Marketing, Tachyon,
Teligent, MCI, Colgate Palmolive, and Booz, Allen &
Hamilton. Ms. Goldbarg graduated from Wellesley
College and holds an M.Sc. from the London School of
Economics and an MBA from Harvard University.
Denisse has worked with large global brands
throughout her career and understands what their pain
points are and how to find solutions to those problems.
Combined with her deep marketing expertise, she
provides insights into how companies can utilize mobile
as a part of the overall marketing mix. She has helped
drive mGage forward with her strong operational
expertise coupled with a track record of success that
allows her to provide a clear vision as to where the
company is heading, and what it needs to focus on to
remain successful.
mGage operates in a dynamic industry that experiences
a lot of changes and its ability to adapt to those changes
and continuously evolve its solutions is the core reason
behind the company’s successful longevity. Given how
quickly the landscape of mobile technology changes,
mGage constantly evaluates new technologies and how
they can integrate the company’s existing technology to
offer a more comprehensive solution to its clients.
This is a very exciting time for the messaging
ecosystem. mGage will continue to develop and
embrace new methods of customer interaction.
Through its RCS technology, the company will continue
to transform the way brands connect with their
customers through business messaging.
The company will continue to invest in its proprietary
messaging cloud platform to ensure it continues to
meet the demands of both the market and
customers, to further enable omnichannel
customer engagement.
mGage will always be committed to helping
businesses leverage the power of mobile
messaging to engage, inform, and better
understand their customers.
October 2019

54. he simplest observations are
Tsometimes the greatest
discoveries. Watching an apple
falling from its branch, Isaac Newton
discovered the famous law of
universal gravitation. Almost three
centuries later, science could take
another leap forward with... a roll of
tape. There is a new wonder material
in town that might change our future.
Imagine a coffee cup that streams the
day’s headlines in real time. Or a
cooking pot that can detect the
presence of E. coli bacteria that could
make you sick. Or a television screen
that is as flexible and thin as a piece of
paper. All of these applications could
be a reality if the wonder material,
named Graphene, lives up to its hype.
A Complicated Narrative
The story begins in 2004 in the
laboratories of the University of
Manchester. Fascination with this
material stems from its remarkable
physical properties and the potential
applications they offer. Although
scientists knew one atom thick, two-
dimensional crystal graphene existed,
no-one had worked out how to
extract it from graphite.
That was until it was isolated in 2004
by two researchers at The University
of Manchester: Prof. Andre Geim and
Prof. Kostya Novoselov. This is the
story of how that stunning scientific
feat achieved while peeling layers of
graphite using adhesive tapes, and
why Andre-Kostya duo won the
Nobel Prize in Physics for their
pioneering work. This is the beginning
of a scientific and engineering
renaissance.
Unboxing Graphene
Graphene is a material that can be
perceived as a form of graphite, and
therefore a carbon allotrope that is
distinguished by its crystalline
organization. In simple terms
graphene is a sheet of a single layer
(monolayer) of carbon atoms, tightly
bound in a hexagonal honeycomb
lattice. It is the building-block of
Graphite but graphene is a
remarkable substance on its own -
with a multitude of astonishing
properties proving the title of
‘wonder material’.
Graphene is the thinnest compound
known to man having size equal to
one atom thick, the lightest material
known, the strongest compound
discovered surpassing diamond, the
best conductor of heat at room
temperature and also the best
conductor of electricity known to
exist.
The Material of the Future
Graphene is a disruptive
phenomenon; one which could open
up new markets and even replace
existing technologies or materials. It
is when graphene is used both to
improve an existing material and in a
transformational capacity its true
potential can be realised. The vast
number of products, processes and
industries for which graphene could
create a significant impact, all stems
from its amazing properties.
Ÿ Biomedical
Graphene’s unique properties allow
for ground-breaking biomedical
applications; Targeted drug delivery,
improved brain penetration, DIY
health-testing kits and ‘smart’
implants can be mentioned out of
many possibilities.
Ÿ Composite Materials
One of the simplest and most
effective ways of harnessing the
potential of graphene is to combine it
with existing products - so called
composite materials. By combining
with paints, a unique graphene
coating can be formed which could
signal the end of the deterioration of
ships and cars through rust.
Additionally, it can do wonders in the
field of weather-proofing, packaging,
sports equipment and creating
lightest, strongest, safest structures.
Ÿ Electronics
Graphene has the potential to create
A Material Marvel
of the Century
52
October 2019

55. the next-generation of electronics exploring spheres of
Sci-Fi technology, faster transistors, semiconductors,
bendable phones, wearable gadgets and other electronics.
Ÿ Energy
With its influential properties and capabilities, graphene
is surely an innovation with distinct future prospects.
Bearing this in mind, one might be surprised to know that
carbon is the second most abundant mass within the
human body and the fourth most abundant element in the
universe by mass, after hydrogen, helium and oxygen. This
makes carbon the chemical basis for all known life on
earth, so therefore graphene could well be an ecologically
friendly, sustainable solution for astronomical energy
demands. Imagine fully charging a smartphone in seconds
or an electric car in minutes. That’s the power of graphene
batteries and super-capacitors.
Ÿ Filtration Membranes
Imagine clean drinking water for millions in developing
countries. A global toll of 3.4 million deaths each year is a
serious concern which underlines the gravity of clean
water requirement. The development of graphene-based
membranes has brought that possibility closer like never
before.
Ÿ Sensors
Ultra-sensitive sensors made from graphene could detect
minute dangerous particles helping to protect potentially
dangerous environments. Its inherently micro-sized
structure allows for the creation of hair thin like sensors
which can be incorporated to detect biological agents like
drugs in our body, stresses and strain levels, atmospheric
changes caused by decaying food, and many more.
Future
It must be a wondering question that despite of
graphene’s prodigious abilities why it has not hit the
ground reality. The problem that prevented it from
initially being unavailable for commercial uses was that
the creation of high quality graphene was a very
expensive and complex process. “Its industrial production
is not yet based on reliable methods to obtain large
quantities,” claims Alberto Bianco, a researcher at the
CNRS and the University of Strasbourg. It was estimated
in 2008 that the production of a square meter of this
miracle material cost a whopping amount of 600 billion
euros.
However, studies in 2012 found that by analysing its
interfacial adhesive energy, it is possible to effectually
separate graphene from the metallic board on which it is
grown. As the techniques continue to evolve in nearby
future, on the account of its high productivity, a sharp
decline in price is expected to be achieved.
The range of industries where graphene research is
making an impact is substantial. And this is only the
beginning. These are only the baby steps. Although, it’s
important to consider the span within which it is likely to
exist in customary life, one simply cannot overlook the
inconceivable and endless potential of this supernatural
material. With continuously growing necessities and
depleting resources of the contemporary world, graphene
will certainly turn out to be a panacea of all remedies.
Bio Tech
53
October 2019

56. 54
Developing FASTER, STRONGER, SAFER,
and More Sustainable Building Solutions
I
n 2010, the McKay family home burned to the ground in a
matter of minutes due to an electrical fire that started in the
garage. Fortunately, it was during the daytime, and everyone
escaped with their lives, albeit with little more than the clothes on
their backs. For Todd McKay, MgO’s founder and former general
contractor and electrician, this event would solidify into a single
mission: to build stronger, safer buildings. This mission led to the
creation of MgO Systems Ltd.
In the last hundred years, technology has driven every industry in
the world forward except for construction. The production of
commonly used materials, such as Portland
cement, has some of the highest carbon
footprints on the planet. The time to build
is lengthy and continually changing, costing
clients millions in project delays and change
orders. Traditional construction materials
are built to minimum standards that are
frankly, unsafe and unreliable. Thirty years
ago, you had seventeen minutes to escape
from a house fire; today, that has been
drastically reduced to just three minutes!
In 2013, 100,000 people throughout
southern Alberta were uprooted from their
homes due to catastrophic flooding. In the
2016 the forest fire that devastated Fort
McMurray claimed 4400 homes that were
either totally destroyed or contaminated
beyond repair. Just last year, 88 people
were killed in the California fires and
10,000 buildings destroyed. Fires and
floods are only two events in a long list of
disasters that destroy homes, buildings and
lives every day, yet the construction
industry maintains its dedication to the
same disaster-prone materials. MgO
Systems Ltd. exists to change this narrative
by building faster, stronger, safer and
more sustainably.
MgO Systems Ltd. recognizes that
traditional materials for constructing walls,
roofs, and floors demonstrate
October 2019

57. 55
Todd McKay
Founder
Mgo Sustems
Mgo Systems
October 2019

58. unacceptable performance when it comes to the
devestaing effects of force, fire, water, mold and
insects. Thus, they’ve developed, and now manufacture,
technologically-advanced building solutions for various
construction applications such as commercial,
residential, education, hospitality, healthcare, etc.
The company’s proprietary building technologies,
developed around patented magnesium oxide-based
construction materials, are used in the design and
manufacturing of the C3 Engineered Wall Systems.
These systems provide clients with greater structural
performance, superior fire rating with no toxic off-
gassing, resistance to mold, mildew and insect,
increases insulation efficiencies and enhances acoustic
performance. The utilization of digital component
technology affords custom design integration and
precise off-site manufacturing to provide an all-in-one
solution that is both cost-effective and quick to build.
MgO Systems is, at its roots, a technology company.
Striving to push environmental responsibility with its
sustainable North American made building products
developed inhouse by its own Ph.D. Chemist, Dr. Doug
Brown and his team of scientists.
Each member of the management team has been
personally selected by Todd for their unique set of skills
and experience to build his vision into reality. MgO
Systems curates a family-style culture harnessed
around integrity and a passion for technology,
innovation and creating meaningful change.
MgO’s goal is to disrupt the traditional construction
industry and to create safer, greener standards for
building. Its primary strategy to achieve this is to
continue gaining market share with new projects and
by educating people through conferences and forums
that focus on innovation, green technologies and
construction such as the International Builders’ Show
and Greenbuild. They also have a MgO Insiders mailing
list for anyone and everyone who wants to stay in the
know. Insiders receive only relevant information:
upcoming presentations or conferences, bi-monthly
blogs and company press releases. The aim is to better
inform people about the current state of the
construction industry and to open their minds to new
technologies and better materials.
Todd has over 30 years of diverse construction
experience as both a contractor and business owner.
It’s his vision and dream for truly building better has led
the company to where it is today. Change is constant,
and with the right mindset and committmentfor a
better way, MgO Systems is well on its way to becoming
industry leaders.
For too long, the buildings
in which we live, work, heal,
and play have been built to
minimum standards,
affecting safety, quality,
health and sustainability.
It's time for change.
“
“
56
October 2019

60. With a mission to help clients accelerate their transformation programs
by applying best-of-breed technologies, Reveal Group was founded
back in 2005. The group's focus on enabling operational excellence
and workforce optimization eventually led it to Robotic Process Automation
(RPA) in 2014. Reveal Group's early RPA engagements convinced them of the
need to establish partnership with cutting-edge technologies to enable
scalability and sustainability. While RPA is often bandied about as easy to
implement in small settings, implementing a program at scale requires fit-for-
purpose infrastructure as well as experienced management and strong
governance standards.
Helping clients achieve this foundation from the outset enables future scalability
and self-sufficiency, the hallmark of Reveal Group's business model today.
The Specialists in Robotic Process Automation
Reveal Group specializes in RPA and Intelligent Automation (IA) technologies.
The firm's business model is predicated on helping clients achieve operational
excellence through automation. A critical tenet of this approach is enabling
clients to develop their own internal capabilities to drive ongoing benefits
sustainably and independently. Blue Prism is Reveal Group’s technology change
agent of choice, since forming a strong partnership in 2014. Despite Reveal
Group's modest size (100 employees) in comparison with some of the firms also
competing in the space, it is consistently ranked as as one of Blue Prism's largest,
most successful global partners, working with clients around the world.
Core Values
Reveal Group is driven by core values that guide their business, developments
and partnerships. As the organization continues to grow and evolve, these three
values remain constant.
Transforming Businesses for Good
58
October 2019

61. Reveal Group is your
Intelligent Automation
specialist. Clients look to us to
achieve sustainable and
scalable business results
through Automation.
“
Ian Crouch
CEO and Co-founder
Reveal Group
59
Reveal Group
October 2019

62. Ÿ Innovation: Reveal Group
encourages bold, imaginative and
dynamic ideas, relentlessly
challenging itself to bring clients
breakthrough results. They value
taking risks, inspiring creativity,
and learning from its outcomes.
Ÿ Collaboration: The Reveal Group
team empower each other to
make change and unleash new
potential in an environment built
on openness and trust. It has
fostered a vibrant, trusting, and
sociable culture, where doors
and learning are always open. It
is a critical tenant of the
organizations success to share
and collaborate in order to
achieve the ultimate outcomes
for clients.
clients on the journies to optimize
business operations and eventual
digital transformation. The firm’s
strong technical and architecture
chops combined with its approach of
enabling clients to build and run
their own automation environments
helps yield effective baseline
automation programs. Horses For
Sources (HfS) Research has seen
many automation programs stalled
by perpetual POCs, lack of internal
talent cultivation, limited
governance, weak change
management, poor demand
management, and minimal benefits
tracking. Reveal Group knows that
mitigating these pitfalls requires
enterprises to establish and run
robust automation operating
models; otherwise, the programs
will wither once the implementation
partner leaves. Reveal Group brings
the benefit of its pure-play
experience with RPA, including an
array of accelerators in its cache of
internal IP, and post-departure
health check capabilities to get
enterprises on the right track and
keep them there. While Reveal
Group has built its reputation as a
Blue Prism specialist, as it expands
its geographic footprint, it will
increasingly encounter clients with
other or multi-vendor RPA
environments. Reveal has already
inked partnerships with TrustPortal
and UiPath to support a wholistic
approach to the RPA space for
clients going forward.
What's in Store?
Reveal Group’s plans for 2019 and
beyond include relocating its
headquarters to New York with a
continued operational focus on
expanding its practices across North
American, Australia and beyond.
The firm will also expand on its
stature as a certified Blue Prism
partner, as well as building out it’s
UiPath practice in line with the
renowned Robotic Operating Model
it already offers.
Ÿ Integrity: Honesty, openness and
respect are fundamental to
Reveal Group’s success and
integral to the way it operates.
The passion for the work it does
and pride in its outcomes
solidifies the importance Reveal
Group places on its clients.
Ÿ Excellence: Their reputation for
delivering world-class outcomes
inspires us them be the best.
Reveal Group set standards high
so they can exceed expectations
and strive for the best results for
their clients.
The Farsighted Leader
Before founding Reveal Group in
2005, Ian Crouch, CEO and
Co-founder of the organization
served at the most senior levels of
the financial services industry and is
responsible for growing Reveal
Group into the leading specialist
consultancy it is today. Crouch
served as the CIO at National
Australia Bank and as the Vice
President of EDS, A.T. Kearney, Booz
Allen, and Hamilton. The experience
gained at these organizations
highlighted a gap in the market, one
that over the past decade he has
worked to fill with Reveal Group.
Strategizing for Success Amidst
Volatile Technological Changes
Reveal Group has made a conscious
decision to leverage RPA as a
gateway technology to enable
60
October 2019

64. 62
Just like Salt is an
essential ingredient in
every dish, technology
is an essential
ingredient to business
transformation.
“
Sonja Coetzer
Chief Operations
Manager
Salt Essential IT
October 2019

65. Salt Essential IT
loud Computing paradigm has given the opportunity and capability to the
Centrepreneurs to achieve their business goal. It represents an opportunity for
all businesses to save their time and budget with resources focused on
innovation. Hence just like salt, cloud technology is an essential ingredient to your
business transformation. Salt Essential IT provides collaboration, connectivity, &
support services to the businesses and paves the way with innovative new
technologies and IT solutions in the markets. The company has been serving
thousands of organizations since 1998 with personalized solutions delivered by
internationally certified subject matter experts.
Changing technology can be daunting and expensive if not supported by experts. Also,
the company’s experts ensure that consumers benefit from the perfect solutions to
drive their business' growth and digital transformation. Salt Essential IT enables the
business to operate better, generate revenue, and boost with happy employees by its
solutions. The company is known to make the impossible, possible for the customers,
and ‘Salties’ are very proud to be a part of the Salt family.
Empowering Customers
Salt is one of Africa’s select award-winning Microsoft Direct Cloud Solution Providers,
supporting customers ranging from small and medium business to enterprise. The
company’s mission is to empower each other, it’s customers, and it’s economy. The
company delivers expert solutions and services in data-centers and hybrid/cloud
solutions that allow its customers to be disruptors in their respective industries. As
their core focus is understanding its customers’ business. Apart from its competition
customers can buy a license, or a computer, from thousands of other IT Companies.
The company believes in the empowerment of each employee to take on the challenge
of delivering quality services that will impact the customer experience in an efficient,
productive, and collaborative manner. Customers get guaranteed up-times and access
to email while ensuring security and compliance.
Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) Partner of Choice
Salt Essential IT
63
October 2019

66. 64
Salt will involve the vendor for architecture support
and confirmation and where needed to engage with a
third party to ensure a successful consumption of
products and solutions once procured by our
customers. By putting the customer first, the company
is an ICT partner of choice. The company’s biggest
challenge lies in vendor support, which it manages
through good relationship management to ensure its
customer is always top of mind for the channel. The
company is tackling one customer at a time through
short workshops to teach them about the power of the
technology they have procured to drive collaboration,
productivity, and disruption. At Salt, it only provides the
very best AntiVirus available in the world to its
customers. The company continually strives to do its
work in new & better ways, bringing new and better
technology to the customers.
Securable and Reliable
Salt’s focus is on understanding the customers’
business and their ICT needs to manage & securely
achieve core business goals. With solutions such as
Security eXchange Point, or SXP, ensures its customers’
employees are always connected to their cloud services
reliably and securely, from any location or device. SXP
provides systems and tools to ensure their company
and their employees’ data is secure. Its Information
eXchange Point provides a secure and productive
environment for the customers. Employees and
stakeholders get access to the latest Word, Excel,
PowerPoint, etc, as well as the very secure and stable
Windows Enterprise, for a fraction of the cost of the
traditional licensing vehicle. Documents are secure as
only certain people are allowed to edit or share the
documents. Secure to Secure Site Connectivity (S2SC)
is groundbreaking technology allowing securely
connect the branches to the concerned Head Office,
and all offices to the world wide web. Disaster
Recovery (DR) is the process of getting crucial data
duplicated, in a safe, secured, and easily accessible
place. Online Backup Service (OBS) allows protecting
your critical data securely so that customers can
concentrate on the key focus of the business.
Driving Down Costs
Salt closely works with its clients to understand their
business needs, goals, and objectives and accordingly
formulate and design an ICT environment that drives
down cost yet increase productivity and yield. Through
the company’s various Software as a Service offering, it
can deliver Email eXchange Point that allows the
customers to be connected from anywhere at half the
cost. The company also allows its customers to be
disruptors in their respective industries while driving
down the cost of ownership of their Information and
Communication Technology (ICT). Its solutions are
known to save businesses up to 50% on IT costs. Its
Exchange Online plan offers a secure corporate email
for a low cost.
Time Matters
Salt Essential IT understands that it has embraced the
fourth industrial revolution digital marketing approach,
focussing its time and efforts mostly on reaching its
customers through easily accessible mediums, such as
social media and internet-based platforms. The
company’s Desktop eXchange Point enables our
customers to work from anywhere at any time, making
work always accessible. Pro Plus even share the
documents and have multiple people work on the same
document at the same time from different places that
saves time.
Salt’s sleeping server replicates data real-time between
data center’s and if hardware fails or disaster strikes,
the sleeping server which wakes up and keeps the
employees working. By accessing the right skills to
solve the customer’s problems, they don’t waste time
trying to figure out how to solve the problem.
Customers only pay for a portion of that person’s time,
and the resource is shared, making that usually
unaffordable and unattainable skill accessible to all.
Overall Impact
Salt’s vision is to positively impact everyone and
everything connected to it. The company believes in the
empowerment of each employee to take on the
challenge of delivering quality services that will impact
the customer experience in an efficient, productive, and
collaborative manner. The company’s goal is to
empower all companies in all the industries to take on
their delivery challenges and Impact each client
October 2019

67. 65
through digital transformation. The company strives to
make a positive impact on each other and the
customers in all it says and does.
As Salt is a hybrid-cloud based service and solution
house, it affords the much-needed agility to cope with
the ever-changing technology that its customers
require to be industry disruptors meeting the needs of
their clients. The company’s goal is to challenge the
status quo and in doing so, change lives for the better,
by embracing and sharing better technology.
Passionate and Motivational Leader
To evolve IT leaders need a clear vision embarking on
the journey to the cloud. Those who stay ahead of the
cloud trend will be able to control and shape this
transition. Sonja Coetzer, Chief Operations Manager,
at SALT says, “I am honored to work with such a brilliant,
forward-thinking team who embraces a Cloud-first model,
delivering smart yet effective and inclusive solutions to our
clients”. She is a living example of how choosing the right
technology tool can bring a huge amount of delivery
excellence to any job and shares this passion with
customers, staff, interns, and students alike. Having
worked all over SADC, she has been able to reach
thousands of people and helped them grow personally
and professionally by introducing and exposing them to
her world full of technological pearls. Sonja fell into IT
over 20 years ago and had her first exposure to the love
of her life when she met Windows 3.1. She grasped the
infinite power ICT products and solutions could offer to
change lives for the better, and of course like any other
marriage, for the worse. Sonja is passionate about IT
and in particular, Microsoft and will take every moment
and opportunity to apply it to her everyday life and
customers' environment.
October 2019

68. 66
Making The Hospitality
Industry More Profitable
Nick Thalas
Founder & CEO
Silverware
We bring more
to the table,
so you can bring
more to yours.
“ “
October 2019