Too often in cities, we find that the technology group can be like a ‘secret club’ where co-workers don't really understand what they do. And for smart cities to be effective, there needs to be a much more open and collaborative relationship, but also a much greater understanding from the city leadership about what technology is.
MEDIA 7: Could you please take us through your professional journey, like how did you come up with the idea of such a thing?
MARK THOMAS: I started my professional journey in executive roles with financial services and electricity organizations. I founded Serviceworks about 15 years ago. I got involved specifically in cities and our business evolved into being a city specialists business from 2010. 11 years ago in New Zealand, we had a big amalgamation of our largest city, and I actually got elected to be a part of the Council for my city. And my consulting business progressively got more involved in city issues. This started our relationship with Singapore. As I'm sure you know, Singapore is a smart nation where they use technology as a key enabler to help solve city problems. And so we decided to expand Serviceworks into Asia and base ourselves in Singapore. And for the last several years, we've principally focused on what's called Smart Cities, which essentially revolves around using technology solutions to help solve city problems.
M7: While designing and strategizing a smart city, what are your key areas of focus?
MT: There are three key areas. The first is just general smart city planning advice to cities. The second is a more technology-focused approach. And third is capacity building. In the advice space, it always starts with the plan of how to do a smart city implementation. And that depends on the appetite of the city- about whether it is a transformational plan, or whether it's perhaps more narrowly focused on a specific project. In the advice space, we get involved with city structures and decision-making because many of our cities are based more on functional activities like transport, waste, water, often in separate parts of the city government. So we offer advice about how to be more effective given the legacy constraints.
With the technology activity, we primarily work in evaluating and recommending technology solutions that either exist within the city or that it is considering. And lastly, there is capacity building. The key thing here is to make sure that we have adequate digital understanding and operating ability. It is often about moving a core technology function, much more firmly into the broader digital space it needs to be today. Apart from that, we also focus on the city-technology relationship. Too often in cities, we find that the technology group can be like a ‘secret club’ where co-workers don't really understand what they do. And for smart cities to be effective, there needs to be a much more open and collaborative relationship, but also a much greater understanding from the city leadership about what technology is.
M7: Since the COVID pandemic, has it been more difficult for you to do the same? Were there any processes, you had to retool?
MT: Yes, indeed, it's been transformational for us as it has for many people. I think, one of the big things we've had to do is cope with has been cities reducing budgets. Many cities have been under pressure as a consequence of reductions in income and reduced services. And so, ironically, you know the technology solutions that we have on different platforms can sometimes be an attribute for cities that are looking to save costs over the medium or long term. Needless to say, there is an initial investment cost involved, particularly if it's new, but I think, a key thing we've been doing is helping cities. In that respect, another important issue is trying to genuinely use this crisis as a case for innovation. I think, from a young age, we have learned that crisis is the mother of invention. What has happened in too many of our cities and countries is the epidemic impact has been so pervasive and long-lasting, it has stopped innovation. Because they’ve had to focus just on the more core services. So a key part of what we've been doing is working with cities on ways in which they can continue to maintain an innovative focus on their core areas of activity.
I think, from a young age, we have learned that crisis is the mother of invention. What has happened in too many of our cities and countries is the epidemic impact has been so pervasive and long-lasting, it has stopped innovation.
M7: Being a business leader, you know, how do you keep yourself up to date with all the new things happening in and around the world? How do you stay at the top of your game?
MT: One of the things that I do is speak regularly in forums (like this one) and speaking panels. I used to speak very frequently at physical conferences in Asia. But that has obviously been made virtual now. That's a crucial way for me to share what we're doing but also, more importantly, to hear what others are doing. I'm fortunate to be able to do conferences and events with top-quality people. So, that's a significant way for me to build relationships, which can be useful in terms of partnering with city projects but also staying abreast of current leading thought. Apart from that, I’ve also got my international reference points- I use the Smart Cities Dive and Smart Cities World blogs. Then, in Singapore, there’s the Centre for Liveable Cities and the LKY Centre for Innovative Cities. In the UK, there's the Centre for Cities site. Singapore, Taiwan, New York, and Barcelona among others are worth keeping an eye on. The Smart Cities Council is also a key group. (Kansas city that I get a lot of my reference information from.
M7: You are going to be speaking at the AI and Cloud Expo very soon. Do you want to share with us what the audience should expect?
MT: Well, one of the topics is going to be about what to do and what to focus on when you are designing and strategizing for a city. I’ll be talking about a few different things. For eg: whether it's AI or some other form of technology, you have to have a plan to respond to the city’s needs. So, if you're looking at implementing AI as a part of the solution, prioritize that on whatever is the key issue in your city, whether it's congestion, housing affordability, energy costs, citizen engagement, or something else. So, it’s important that your plan is focused on these needs because, in some cities, people are a little bit nervous about developments like AI. What you have to do is try and focus it on the areas that are causing citizens and authorities the most grief.
The second is making sure it's a technology that cities can both afford and operationalize. We often talk about things like AI, machine learning, emerging quantum computing, etc. But sometimes these projects get invested in by cities, but there is a lack of capability, internally, to understand it, and then citizens think that their money is being wasted. Lastly, I’ll focus on making it very easy to access the results of the tech investment. Things like reporting dashboards, so the people can actually see the consequences of the projects being implemented. Let’s say you are trying to implement a new technology solution to reduce congestion in the city. Obviously, people will know the results of it by the lived experience -whether it's actually happening on the roads. But by using online dashboards, you will be able to have regular reporting of it. And that’d be something that the people can see too. So those are a few areas I'll be touching on.
One of the top challenges of our age is climate change. It's been a huge issue for quite a while, but it seems to be a bit more focused now.
M7: Speaking of AI, how is the Serviceworks Group prepared for an AI-centric world?
MT: We always start by looking at what the problem or opportunity is in the city because AI is a tool that can be a phenomenal enabler for city change. I talk about this often and a good example I use is that of a call center in Moscow, Russia. So, Moscow, of course, is a large city with a population of about 20 million. Considering this, I asked them about an AI refresh with their contact center (when people call a contact center, they actually get an AI response) and they found that the customer service rating was higher when people got an AI response. So, that's an interesting development that I like to share with people who might be a bit nervous or uncertain about the role. But ultimately, it starts with what the problem is, and then you work backward in terms of what the range of options is right because we don't want to say that there's just one idea that's going to solve everything.
M7: Do you have any words of wisdom for our readers who will be reading this interview?
MT: One of the top challenges of our age is climate change. It's been a huge issue for quite a while, but it seems to be a bit more focused now. In about a week, the UN ICC panel is going to produce its five-yearly or so update on how we are tracking. And the expectations are that we won't be tracking it well. At the end of the year is the big meeting in Glasgow where they have a look at how we've tracked five years since the Paris treaty. So, a big part of city solution and Smart Cities practices is discussing the climate change priorities. And in most cities, it’s transporting. That’s because it causes the largest amount of carbon emissions. The second area I talk about is what can we do to engage people more. Because in many cities, there's quite a disenfranchisement amongst elections. If cities are electing mayors, there's typically a low turnout. And so, it’d be effective to use digital tools during the term of the council for city governments to engage with the citizens more, making it easier for people to respond.
The last thing is transport. We talk about moving towards a single, digital platform for transport. What that means is that we build a platform like eBay or Amazon, where all of those ways of traveling around the city can be available and interconnected. And so if you want to get from, say your university to home, you can book your travel on this platform and choose from a variety of modes of transport like scooters, or trains, or buses. Maybe if you needed a taxi for part of it. Rather than having two separate transactions or more, you can book it all at once in one place. So, this Mobility as a Service approach is an example of an opportunity that comes from the platform development that is such an important part of many of the ways that we live our lives today. Cities need to think about how greater uses of this platform approach can make things more effective for their citizens.