HOW OUR FUTURE IS BUILT ON OUR HERITAGE
With 17 years of experience in the field of IT, Engineering, Strategy and Media, Rani Bisal has evolved amidst the emergence of social media, cloud computing, digital advertisement, big data, mobility, and analytics. She has been a significant part of this massive global digital transformation, in different roles ranging from domain, technical & functional consultant, enterprise architect and organizational strategist serving leading media agencies, pay television companies, internet companies and newspaper publishers. As the Executive Head of Business Optimization with the leading pay TV organization in Africa, DStv Media Sales for the past 5 years, Rani guides us on the topic of “Business Transformation”: “As the Strategy & Transformation Officer, my absolute focus is on the key foundational element of any organization, PEOPLE. DStv Media Sales is currently embarking upon a Transformation journey with a clear vision and strategy across people, process and technology, that will take the organization’s Vision and Mission to the next level as per the ever-changing, needs and demands of the Consumer.”
We asked Rani what role an ‘Enterprise Architect’ plays in Business Transformation: In the world of business, ‘an enterprise’ comprises data, infrastructure, applications, systems, technology, infrastructure, business processes, business operating models, finance model and people. The role of an architect is to design and connect these components to construct a working ecosystem, within an enterprise. So that’s what I do – I analyse, design, architect and construct business strategies, models, systems and processes to stimulate maximum efficiency and accuracy within an organization while continuously improving productivity. That is how you transform a business – perpetual assessment and adjustment. On Creating a Cross-functional-Ambidextrous Organization (People, Process & Technology): Every enterprise is chasing speed, and in order to have speed, one has to be lean and agile. We need to train our people to have cross functional skills in order to become independent and future ready. The future is dynamic – so for the individual to make themselves future-proof, one has to be super agile and build dynamic skills by having a diverse professional offering. What we aim to differentiate DMS from any other enterprise of this nature is to take personnel that are highly skilled in one area and cross-skill them in other areas. For example: if you’re a scheduler, it would be prudent to also learn implementation, or project management or contract management, in order to make yourself “universally-fit”. This serves not only to empower people and boost their confidence as they strengthen their skill sets, but also serves towards DMS’s purpose-driven organization strategy which revolves around people.
Quelling concerns that Intelligent Automation of Manual Trading Processes will lead to people losing jobs, and Rani also explains what the Programmatic Trading Landscape looks like: Automation does not mean “firing people” – it’s about re-purposing and re-imagining; time, effort, energy, knowledge and skills. Every transformation journey includes PEOPLE, as they form The Core of any enterprise. We have a successful case study : we automated some activities in one of our departments in DMS, where previously, it took 4 people 99 hours to complete a particular process, once we implemented a BOT (software program) through RPA (Robotic Process Automation).
The effort was reduced to 3 hours. The 96 hours we saved was then repurposed either by taking up new tasks or by balancing some overloaded efforts on the team. Before explaining the DMS Programmatic Trading Portal, lets understand What is Programmatic?, just to be on same page. The simplest definition of “programmatic” is automating processes that involve heavy manual, and error-prone human interactions. Obviously there still has to be a manual input into an automated program. For example if you have a self-driving car, there are still manual efforts that must happen to get you from A to B – you still have to open the door, sit in the car, start the car and let it drive you.
There has to be a human relationship with the system. So where we’re saving time by automating purchasing systems is by repurposing human efforts and intelligence to make the same process more effective, more productive & smarter. We’re automating the trading processes which are very manual and menial in nature and creating opportunities for people to grow into different skills and spaces. Rani breaks down how DMS is Empowering the Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) with the Self-Service Ecosystem: The limitation for SMEs has been that: as they are building their businesses, it is difficult to simultaneously invest in technology and marketing. DStv Media Sales is offering SMEs a platform that has an automated way of reaching out to their consumers without a massive capital layout. With DMS you know that our content is Premium, our consumers are Premium, and with region specific targeting you can reach your desired consumer, and then track the performance of the placements.
The SME not only has access to this platform, but we can even help create their creative collateral. What other technological advances do we provide for both the clients and the consumers? Simply put, our technology enables a shorter distance between the consumer and your product. We are continuously exploring services that cater to the ever-changing demands of the consumer through our innovation streams like Programmatic Trading Portal, Addressable TV, Experiential Shopping, etc DMS’s Business Transformation vision revolves around improving Business Value for our stakeholders by further enabling our Clients and Partners to achieve their objectives around enhance consumer experience and increase revenue by leveraging DMS’s technological and innovation ecosystem. Here’s to DStv Media Sales future-proofing your business, through our platforms!
