Ericsson and Vodafone have completed the first deployment of a new energy-efficient 5G radio in London as part of their collaboration to improve network energy performance.

Situated on the roof of the Speechmark, Vodafone UK’s central London office, the controlled deployment of Ericsson’s antenna-integrated radio solution (AIR 3227) saw Vodafone’s daily network energy consumption decrease by an average of 43% in direct comparison to previous generations of radio technology, and as much as 55% at off-peak times.

Future-proofing 5G networks

Designed for future-proof and sustainable networks, Ericsson’s new radio is 51% lighter in comparison, and its more compact design and improved energy management features will help to optimize overall site footprint, making 5G rollout and 4G upgrades faster and easier.

1500 of the new radios will now be deployed across Vodafone’s network by April 2022, helping to reduce Vodafone’s forecasted energy consumption of its future 5G network and support a sustainable and responsible 5G rollout.

Vodafone partnering with Ericsson to drive efficiency

Andrea Dona, Chief Network Officer, Vodafone UK, commented: “Our strategy is simple; turn off anything we don’t need, replace legacy equipment with up-to-date alternatives and use the most energy efficient options available. The success of this trial allows us to explore new ways we can more effectively manage the energy consumption of our network with our partner Ericsson.

“There is no silver bullet to manage our network energy consumption – it is about putting sustainability at the heart of every decision and adding up all the small gains to make a material difference.”

Björn Odenhammar, Chief Technology Officer, Networks and Managed Services, Ericsson UK and Ireland, added: “Building on the success of an award-winning 5G network in London, it is another fantastic achievement for Vodafone and Ericsson to reduce network energy consumption by a daily average of 43%.

“Sustainability is central to Ericsson’s purpose and our new radio will help Vodafone to reduce network energy consumption, simplify network rollout and efficiently manage the expected growth in data traffic of both current and future 5G networks. Together we are building the 5G network of the future – one that delivers the highest possible performance with improved resource efficiency and low environmental impacts.”

5G services evolution

Ericsson and Vodafone UK first launched commercial 5G services in 2019. The strong working partnership was recognised for a high performing best-in-class 5G network in London in 2020. In June 2021, it was announced that Ericsson will be supporting Vodafone’s entire cloud-native 5G Core Standalone for packet core applications – a critical milestone to deliver 5G Standalone connectivity services.

The two companies have also been collaborating to reduce the environmental impact of site upgrades and speed up network deployment through the use of drones and Ericsson’s Intelligent Site Engineering service.

Learn more about emerging trends across the tech panorama in the latest issue of Interface

Data analytics is certainly not a new concept. It’s something we have been fascinated with, both personally and professionally, for decades but its an area which continues to see dramatic change when it comes to our understanding and indeed our application analytics tools. Data is key to transformation. We knew that already. But what we don’t know, as much as we love discussing it, is how far data analytics can truly take us. In order to try and understand where we can go, Transformation Executive Paul Bailo joins the Digital Insight to take a look at where we are. What are we seeing right now in terms of our data analytics maturity and what does it say about the opportunities ahead of us? 

After a year in lockdown, the Office for National Statistics has revealed data showing that productivity per worker during the pandemic has increased by 0.4%. 

Businesses have adapted to digital and flexi-working and the benefits they entail have now solidified themselves in our working culture norms. Across the UK, the dialogue has been changed as employers from the Civil Service to PwC have announced official structures for flexible working in the long-term, cutting office space by around 40% to reflect this. 

However, many businesses, including some giants such as Goldman Sachs, continue to denounce the idea of flexi-working in the long term, going against the grain of what employees are calling for. As restrictions are eased, employees are now being called back to the office, triggering calls for increased flexibility in order to maintain the increased flexibility they have seen during the pandemic.

This is supported by landmark research by Theta Global Advisors, showing that a lack of flexibility from businesses has resulted in negative impacts on productivity, mental health and working cultures. Workers want to choose how and where to work going forward in order to be more productive, safeguard their mental health, and achieve a better work/life balance.

According to the research, more than half of workers feel that the leaders and decision makers are “out of touch” and do not understand the processes required to ensure efficiency and productivity.

Working from home has also blurred boundaries between work and private life, with bosses messaging and emailing late in the evening and during out-of-hours, leading to employees feeling increasingly drained and unable to relax.

With a third of UK workers seeing their company’s headcounts decrease but workloads increase, a perfect storm is brewing.

Chris Biggs, Partner at consultancy and accounting Theta Global Advisors, says: “To ensure people are at their happiest and most productive, flexibility is needed in both where and when they work. Freedom from the office must also mean freedom to go to the office to account for different experiences, priorities, and conditions.

“With companies adopting new policies and substantial differentiation in the experience of working during COVID-19, it seems working environments will never return to what they were in 2019.”

The internet as a teacher: COVID-19 has shone a spotlight on health

From the endless memes about inevitable weight gain – glossing over the fact that this has often been caused by illness, depression and anxiety – to the laser-focus on mental health, how we function and what we put into our bodies has become more of an open talking point since the pandemic began. This inevitably means that people have spent more time researching the best options for their personal needs online.’Our research shows the pandemic, and resulting lockdowns, have seen some consumers altering their diets to better support their mental wellbeing’, the strategy& report states. ‘We see indicators of this shift to overall wellbeing when we look at Google Search data. It’s clear there has been sustained interest in ‘vitamins’ over the past five years, with a significant spike in January 2021′. The first lockdown also saw a huge spike in Google Searches for ‘sugar substitute’.

Increased reliance on technology has changed how we acquire food

This shift isn’t new, but COVID-19 has accelerated it. In the UK, many supermarkets had to quickly adjust their online services when the first lockdown caused an enormous surge in the demand for delivery and click-and-collect slots. Additionally, the popularity of takeaway websites and apps has exploded.According to strategy& data, 21% of consumers found they’d increased the amount they spent online during 2020, and 13% expected that to continue for the next 12 months. The data also found that consumers are more interested in spending their money with independent, local food businesses.

People are learning new skills via the internet

While consumption of takeaways has indeed risen, many have also used this time as an opportunity to either learn to cook, or to expand their cooking skills, with the internet to guide them.’Across all consumer segments, the web is the top destination for food information and inspiration, including search engines, recipe websites and videos’, the strategy& report states. Additionally, subscription box services have become increasingly popular. ‘Consumer intent to purchase these has doubled since the pandemic, with a particularly strong take-up among Generation Z’. 

Gen Z is leading the way in online health education

The strategy& research found that, by far, Gen Z was the most likely age bracket to change its diet. ‘While they my lack the spending power of older generations… the younger demographic is more likely to change their diet for environmental reasons and they are also looking to become better-informed, turning to digital formats for information about wellbeing and diets. They’re using social media, health tracking apps and podcasts to guide their nutritional choices and meet their health goals’.

Health-based goal-setting has gone digital

Food-tracking websites and apps have also been around for several years already, but an increased focus on health and wellbeing has made them far more commonplace. Additionally, pre-packaged meal plans that focus specifically on health or meeting a certain are on the rise, with online services hurrying to provide. ‘The significant rise in healthy-eating packaged meal plans, delivered to the door, is capturing the attention of consumers whose goals may include a healthier lifestyle or the greater convenience of more hassle-free preparation and cooking’, the strategy& report says. ‘The proliferation of online services and marketplaces means consumers can easily and quickly better understand their choices against their goals, and then satisfy their dietary needs, whatever they are, at the touch of a button’.

The latest episode of The Digital Insight podcast brings you the first in a new three part series with Paul Bailo, Digital Transformation Executive.

We explore how leadership teams must reassess their current operating models, take an honest look at their existing talent pool of both their employees and executive teams and think about how they attract future data and digital leaders.

What changes should they be making today to ensure that they attract the right talent, don’t fall behind or go out of business tomorrow?

ServiceNow, which is supporting vaccinations for more than 20 million people with the Now Platform and its Vaccine Administration Management solution, has released further product enhancements to its Vaccine Administration Management solution to help organisations quickly meet the “last-mile” challenges of vaccinating and protecting people at scale. The latest enhancements make it easier for people to schedule vaccination appointments and for providers to manage vaccine inventory.    

With the Biden administration directing states to make all U.S. adults eligible for vaccinations by May 1, ServiceNow is committed to leveraging the Now Platform to help states and healthcare providers convert vaccines into vaccinations as quickly as possible. The Now Platform and Vaccine Administration Management solution are being deployed in just days by some providers, using ServiceNow’s workflow technology to rapidly improve vaccine distribution, administration, and monitoring. The NHS National Services Scotland, for example, is using ServiceNow to help quickly vaccinate Scottish citizens.    

Additionally, Children’s Minnesota, one of the largest pediatric health care systems in the U.S., recently went live with ServiceNow Vaccine Administration Management in just five days. When Children’s Minnesota expanded its vaccination rollout beyond staff, to patient caregivers and the most vulnerable members of the community, it experienced similar challenges as those faced by other organizations across the country. With its new system, Children’s Minnesota has reduced wait times from three hours in a walk-in model to 20 minutes with an appointment and successfully vaccinated nearly 1,400 staff members, caregivers and the community in 11 hours. 

“At Children’s Minnesota, our mission is to champion the health needs of children and families. Right now, that means ensuring our vaccine management process is efficient and able to get our community vaccinated as quickly as possible. After all, one arm at a time is how we can get out of this pandemic,” said Patsy Stinchfield, MS, CPNP, Nurse Practitioner, senior director of infection prevention at Children’s Minnesota and head of the health care system’s COVID-19 incident command center. “We’re thrilled that we are efficiently vaccinating our staff, caregivers and our most vulnerable patients.”  #

ServiceNow is helping organisations across healthcare, government, education, and the private sector distribute COVID-19 vaccines and get people vaccinated quickly, including:  

The Department of Homeland Security is facilitating vaccinations for its 240,000 employees via ServiceNow for vaccination eligibility checks, communication management, and coordinating mass vaccinations at Veterans Affairs facilities. 

The University of Central Florida is leveraging ServiceNow to coordinate and schedule first and second dose vaccinations for its faculty and staff. 

The State of North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) is relying on ServiceNow’s technology as the foundation for its command center for healthcare providers, clinicians administering the vaccine, and supporting NCDHHS staff to access the latest information related to state vaccine requirements and to get their vaccine‑related questions answered. 

Outside the U.S., The NHS National Services Scotland using ServiceNow’s Now Platform as the digital backbone of its program to rapidly roll out the vaccine to protect citizen health in the fight against COVID‑19. Over 220,000 vaccination appointments were booked in the first 12 hours of the Now Platform going live. 

Introducing more control and visibility for vaccination scheduling  

The latest updates to the ServiceNow Vaccine Administration Management solution improve the vaccination scheduling process for vaccine recipients, administrators, and clinicians, providing increased visibility into inventory, to help convert all available vaccines into vaccinations.  

New capabilities announced today offer increased control and visibility over available vaccine doses to help match vaccine appointments with inventory supply to minimise waste and avoid overbooking appointments. This has been a challenge for many organisations, leading to long wait times and leaving many recipients in line with cancelled appointments. New capabilities include: 

The ability to schedule and cancel appointments based on vaccine inventory as vaccines are distributed. Organizations can automatically track vaccine inventory in real-time and open, close, and reschedule appointments based on the number of vaccines they have available. 

Location-level configuration capabilities enable organisations managing multiple vaccination sites to specify inventory, available hours, and appointment slots by location.  

Additionally, new capabilities announced today give vaccine recipients more control over the scheduling process for a seamless booking experience, including: 

The ability to select a specific day and time for appointments and independently book second appointments. Previously, users were automatically booked into the first available spot.  

The ability for contact center agents to book appointments on behalf of recipients. 

Options for family scheduling will be available soon, allowing families to book appointments together and at the same time, rather than signing up individually with different accounts at varying times. 

These updates will support smoother and more efficient experiences for both those receiving and administering vaccinations as more people become eligible and vaccines are made widely available. 

“The rapid distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine is one of the greatest workflow challenges of our time,” said Mike Luessi, AVP and GM, Healthcare and Life Sciences Industry at ServiceNow. “We are working closely with organizations to rapidly ramp their vaccination efforts and adding new capabilities to our Vaccine Administration Management solution twice a month as the landscape evolves and more vaccines become available.” 

Workflow a healthier future 

The recently passed U.S. stimulus package has prioritized helping state and local governments recover from the challenges of COVID-19 to get people back to work and to restart the economy.  

ServiceNow also continues to innovate its previously announced Safe Workplace suite to allow governments and organizations to safely return to work. ServiceNow’s Safe Workplace Solutions support all aspects of creating a safe and efficient return to work for governments, campuses, and companies. This now includes Vaccination Status, an app that helps public and private sector companies track the status of vaccinations in the workplace.   

With the ServiceNow Vaccination Status app, employees and stakeholders in an organization can easily submit documentation of completed health vaccinations to meet return to workplace requirements, where permissible by law. Organisations can also collect vaccination data to assess when it’s safe to bring employees and stakeholders back to a workplace and provide benefits to employees who received vaccinations, in accordance with their respective policies.   

To date, more than 1,000 organisations globally have downloaded the Safe Workplace suite apps with over 12,000 unique installations. 

“When educators became eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in Florida, we quickly began working with the Florida Department of Health in Orange County to coordinate the safe and efficient vaccination of faculty and staff,” said Dr. Michael Deichen, Associate Vice President of UCF Student Health Services, University of Central Florida. “We knew we needed a solution to seamlessly manage the vaccine scheduling process.” 

“We worked diligently with ServiceNow to build a solution that would meet our goal of safely vaccinating more than 2,000 faculty and staff in just five days,” said Scott Baron, Associate Director, Performance and Service Management, University of Central Florida. “This is a continuation of the work we’ve done with ServiceNow throughout the pandemic to build solutions that support faculty, staff and students.” 

More than half of organisations plan to increase their investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and smart building technology in 2021. This is according to Johnson Controls’ annual Energy Efficiency Indicator survey. Interestingly enough, these business plans are comparable with investment trends that came after the 2010 recession; now likely a result of preparation for the post-pandemic world. 

As people begin returning to shared spaces once herd immunity has been reached, the health of building occupants and energy efficiency will continue to be top of mind—and an investment priority for facilities managers around the world. 

What are the drivers? 

– Health and safety concerns. 

– Reducing energy use and working towards net-zero targets.

– New awareness around reducing the spread of infection as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

– The need to increase the ability to operate under different conditions, both planned and unforeseen.

In this article, we’ll delve further into the survey and reflect on the conclusions drawn. It is important to note that while the report reflects an analysis of the US market, many of the themes are appropriate to the European property industry, and the research opinions are likely shared by the majority.

Net zero is the new hero 

As Paris Agreement obligations edge closer, facilities managers are under increasing pressure to reach net-zero targets.

– 70% of organisations are very or extremely likely to have one or more facilities that are nearly zero, net zero or positive energy or carbon status in the next 10 years (an increase of 7% from 2019).

– 66% are very or extremely likely to have one or more facilities able to operate off the grid in the next 10 years (an increase of 3% from 2019).

– 63% invested in onsite renewable energy in 2020 (a 22% increase from 2019).

How smart tech can help: 

The key to harnessing energy efficiencies is having access to accurate, real-time energy consumption data. By knowing how energy is used in your facility (and when), you can identify an “energy action plan” that works for you. This is the role of a smart energy meter;  using these will put you in control of your consumption. 

Other smart, sensor-based technologies can help reduce energy consumption. For example, occupancy sensors can control lighting and heating so that energy is only being used when someone is in the room.

A breath of fresh air

With the evidence strongly indicating that COVID-19 is spread through aerosol transmission, indoor air quality is set to become tantamount to facility safety for facilities managers. 

According to the survey:

– 79% are planning to or have already increased air filtration.

– 75% are planning to or have already installed an air treatment system.

– 72% are planning to or have already increased outdoor air ventilation rates.

How smart tech can help:

New technology is enabling better air quality by observing and monitoring air quality in real time. Indoor air quality sensors can continually measure the air quality within a given area and send an immediate alert if the air quality or ventilation is compromised in any way. 

Simple, smart management systems

According to 81% of survey respondents, increasing the flexibility of facilities and buildings to quickly respond to a variety of emergency conditions was a “very” or “extremely important” driver of investment.

Managers are looking for multi-faceted, ‘all-in-one’ solutions that can streamline workflows and business operations at a glance.

– 75% have invested in the integration of security systems with other building monitoring systems (an increase of 36% from the 2019 study).

– 33% plan to invest in the integration of building technology systems with distributed energy resources in the next year (an increase of 15% from the previous study).

– 79% say that data analytics and machine learning will have an extremely or very significant impact on buildings. 

How smart tech can help:

From occupant health to energy efficiency, having an interconnected smart building system is fast becoming the norm rather than the exception. The ability to monitor, maintain and control various aspects of a building remotely via a single dashboard allows the facility manager to—quite literally—ensure a safe, efficient, energy-saving environment at all times, from anywhere. 

The future is here; and, as evidenced by the survey, the adoption of these smart systems has become a case of “when”, not “if”. 

—

About the author 

Matthew Margetts is Director of Sales and Marketing at Smarter Technologies. His background includes working for blue-chip companies such as AppNexus, AOL/ Verizon, and Microsoft in the UK, Far East and Australia. 

About Smarter Technologies 

Smarter Technologies tracks, monitors and recovers assets across the globe in real time, providing asset tracking systems to the open market and fulfilling the world’s most complex asset tracking requirements. Our services cover a vast array of business sectors, products and equipment from container or pallet tracking to military-grade devices; and can be used across a broad spectrum of industries. 

As a leading IoT company, we also provide smart building solutions for modern businesses, offering wire-free, battery-powered and low-cost IoT smart sensor technology. Our solutions will put an end to scheduled maintenance and help businesses utilise their building’s efficiency, benefitting from real-time alerts and facilities management tools that will bring them into the 21st century. 

The banking sector has experienced so much disruption in recent years, hasn’t it?

My background is in banking and insurance for many years. One of my observations ever since has been the emergence of internet banking where the operating models of banks are very much outdated and customer experience is lagging behind what customers expect and experience in other industries. One of the opportunities that Revolut brings to the table or has built, in fact, is that we continue to expand on a new perspective on customer experience and a new perspective on the underlying operating model of banks. We’ve built, and continue to expand on, a global operating model. It’s a contemporary approach with a single underlying infrastructure; one that makes the business highly scalable. And I think in order of magnitude, less costly and more efficient than your run-of-the-mill bank.

Why is this so important?

This is important because when you take a zero off the cost of pretty much anything, you can change the world. And we’ve seen that in many industries in the past and as we move down that path with Revolut, we can see that as we bring ourselves into more and more markets. The difference that makes to our customers and the difference that makes to our ability to scale the business very rapidly is immense. The fundamental business model of banking is the balance sheet, leveraging the balance sheet, taking in deposits, lending those deposits out, and essentially, making a margin on that business. That business is not being disintermediated. The balance sheet business of a bank is intact and sound and will continue on for hundreds of years into the future, is my expectation. However, the surrounding systems, the surrounding protective systems, whether they’re credit systems, whether they’re profit and loss generating platforms or new product platforms, you will want to cut the G and L platform: the credit scoring, the risk engines, all of these are designed to protect those balance sheets. And then, of course, we get to the distribution where the high cost of branches, the high cost of ATM networks, are the millstone around the neck of banks that no longer performs the way it has done in the past. I mean, with the advent of technology, we can disintermediate at that level.

How does a restructuring of a platform help?

Looking at it from a more holistic perspective, the business model of a bank is intact, but the way it is carried out is dramatically or vastly inefficient to what’s possible using the kind of technology we have available today. And so, when you reimagine that from the perspective of an organisation like Revolut, you can conceive of a global bank that operates on a single common platform. You can conceive of a global bank that shares the same operating model universally. And when you start to do that, you are able to scale the business far more rapidly than any bank. Most banks, if you look in their scaled markets, are going to be individual stacks. The stack we have in one country is different from the stack that we have in another country. And that leads, obviously, to very high cost and the inability to move rapidly and to act in a very agile manner. So, by re-conceiving the infrastructure of a bank, if you like, the way that a bank delivers its services, you can take an order of magnitude off the cost, number one, and you can bring a level of experience to the customer that’s not hamstrung by old tech, by old thinking, by siloed approaches, and even a silo at a country level. Because frankly, that school of thinking, that style of thinking is really what’s held banks back and continues to do so, today.

I guess changing is coming to many banking enterprises?

There are some banks starting to move out of that mindset, but it’s like turning the ocean liner. And we’re coming along in perhaps not a speed boat anymore, but in a fast-moving, rapidly expanding boat that can move quickly, can turn quickly and can speed past, some of the incumbents in the market. In any market, we always overestimate what can be achieved in one year, but we dramatically underestimate what can be achieved in 10 years. So, Revolut is five years into its existence. I mean, ask me that question in five years or 15 years, and I hope to show you that Revolut is a global bank with tens, if not hundreds, of millions of customers on board able to operate at margins which put banks in their current form to shame.

Security issues obviously increase with these transformations…

Well, look, security is a war, and a war that will continuously wage. I think there’ll be no end to that. The good guys versus the bad guys will go on forever. What I see is this is increasingly… What we all see is a tech battle as we move to technology as a way to distribute financial services. I think a company that has a stronger tech underpinning and is digitally native, if you like, in its understanding of that technology, will always fight a better battle than those who have to learn the tools of war and have to bring their approaches to a new battlefield, if you like. I think there’s a second part of it as well. So, not only the ability to leverage technology more completely and with more modern and up-to-date tools, if you like, but also the usability factor here. So, a lot of security issues are not driven by weaknesses in the underlying security, but rather weaknesses in customers’ behaviour or lack of understanding on the part of protagonist in the transaction as to what might represent a less secure way of doing things. By having a lot of agility and flexibility on the front end with this customer experience, we can make it easier for customers to stay secure. We can educate them through the way that the application is laid out, through the way the customer journey moves. And we can avoid situations by running, if you like, a rule set or machine learning, or some artificial intelligence tools around the transactions, in addition to the usual transaction monitoring tools and protection tools to guide customers and to help them in a way that many, I think, less contemporary organisations don’t have the flexibility to do. That allows us to do, build in a level of customer awareness of security right from the beginning, and to adjust that on the fly. We can adjust our front ends very, very quickly and lead customers to a better position.

Does this inevitably lead to lower fraud rates?

We find our fraud rates, for example, to be significantly lower than industry standards right across the board. And I think this does reflect the fact that we have a more agile and more technologically-sound understanding of what’s going on, and we can apply it more completely. There’s also something to be said for the ability to manage customers’ expectations in this regard. So, it’s quite clear coming onto a digital-only platform from a financial services perspective, that customers need to be educated, need to be made secure, need to be reminded, if you like, or nudged in the right directions. And that’s easy to achieve with a digital front end much more so than, in a branch or an ATM machine or other offline kinds of environments. So, I think the opportunity to be vastly more secure is built into the operating nature of what we’re doing here with Revolut and other technology platforms.

I guess Covid has driven some of these changes…

You could argue that, absolutely. I think a lot of our customers are driven by convenience, less so than an age demographic. And I think convenience also raises a question in people’s mind, “Whilst this is easier to achieve, am I being safe? Is my bank, A, being responsible, and B, do I inherently understand the change in risk profile that I’m taking on with moving to this platform?” I think in the end… I don’t know. Maybe let’s leave it at that now. Obviously, there’s been some changes in customer behaviours. I mean, despite all the best intentions, travel has evaporated around the world, as we’ve come to see. So, spending has been affected, but I would say that it’s more muted than we expected. We saw a change in our customers’ behaviour and a dip in spending, but we’ve also seen a rapid recovery from that, in particular as people moved online. So, an acceleration in the tendency of people to move online occurred. Perhaps we saw three to five years’ worth of growth in several months in some markets. And then, secondly, I think it creates almost like a pendulum effect. When people are unable to spend, particularly in their disposable income, a demand builds up. And as we saw in various markets now, as lockdowns were eased or removed, we’ve seen spending bounce back, and again, with the pendulum effect, in some cases higher than it was before we went into the COVID period.