| | JUNE 20159CIOReviewthat led to decommissioning 300 applications and migrating to global standards. We also developed and implemented new capabilities like Paperless Trade, Advance Notification Services and Denied Party Screening Workflow.I took over in 2012 as CIO for DHL Express Americas, which covers 55 countries and territories, including U.S., Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean. So far we've sunsetted more than 4,000 silo apps globally and migrated most of them to services. To give you an idea of the enormous scope of all this, we've been working on the overall migration project for more than four years, and we still have two to three years to go.Big DataBig Data has been a favorite "new" topic for the media recently. But in reality, we've been processing and manipulating Big Data at DHL Express for many years, long before it was a popular term.We move millions of packages every day over thousands of routes around the world and keep track of millions of check points. You need to have a very sophisticated Big Data capability to manage the routings and coding for this enormously complicated system, and delivery routes are analyzed every day in terms of performance.Recently, though, we have been using all this data a little differently for predictive analytic projects. For example, we look at performance data to identify which customers are at risk of leaving the company. This way, we can make adjustment in route performance ahead of time.Also, for a major customer--like a leading hi-tech company with stores all over the world--we use our Big Data capacity to gather and disseminate vital information. Supply chains have been shortened and goods that formerly went to distribution centers are now being shipped directly to stores requiring much more frequent and precise data that goes with the package. Our scans and check point data tell stores when a shipment of new products has been picked up in China and where it is now. This allows the retailers to decide when they can commit to customers. One big customer wants all its stores to have access to check points within minutes of the event taking place, and we can do this.Another trend which continues to add complexity to supply chains is that companies are outsourcing more and more the manufacturing of their products to a diverse set of OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) which means that DHL needs to integrate with these manufacturers fast and with different IT standards. This requires flexibility and agility like we have not seen before. For instance, when a client launches a new product and needs to integrate output at 10 factories in China, we can help accelerate that integration so the different plants can ship quickly according to our standards, build the final product and reach markets on schedule.The CloudAnother currently popular topic--cloud computing--has been part of DHL Express' strategic toolkit for years.We have been using private clouds for over 15 years, and could do that because of the scale of our company. Currently, we have our own data centers in Europe, Asia and North America.Cloud has become popular recently for SMEs which can now rely on flexible and agile computing capacity; we have been doing that for a while.Security and HackingDifferent to other industries, Logistics has been considered as an area exposed to terrorist attacks or used for perpetrating terrorist attacks. Good example of that was in 2010, when terrorists in Yemen used international express services to carry plastic explosives hidden in toner cartridges. The packages, though, were intercepted and disarmed before they could be placed on planes.We need to be extremely disciplined with anything that has to do with IT security. Like any other large company, we are very vigilant against viruses and cyber attacks and run a very secure IT operation The Challenge of E-commerceWith the growth of e commerce the logistics needs and landscape has changed; what was before a b2b move now is a b2c or c2c one. The Amazons of the world are changing the logistics landscape, and that is a challenging situation. We need to use technology to revamp our entire online presence to provide better capability for our customers (product suppliers) and their customers--the end consumers.We need to offer more flexibility and delivery options to the receivers while improving productivity for the company. This is the future for express services. And we are preparing for that future.You need to have a very sophisticated Big Data capability to manage the routings and coding for this enormously complicated system"Pablo Ciano
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