WeDo Technologies Blog Book 2015

2
BLOG.
wedo
tech-
nolo-
gies.comAF_Miolo_LivroBlog2015.indd 2 03/02/16 16:23

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“BLOG.wedotechnologies.com is the official blog of the WeDo Technologies team, sharing
expert opinions on the important role that Enterprise Business Assurance plays in the
digital transformation of business on several industries.
The blog posts represent the writers’ opinion. The articles are mainly created by our own
experts but it also includes the voice of some special guests on the matters which they
can had value to the community or in those topics they would like to be further discussed.
Thus, we try to answer common questions that our community has by consistently
creating content that’s helpful for you.
The BLOG.wedotechnologies.com is also a space that offers the chance to share our values,
communicate our corporate culture and of strengthening ties with the farthest reader.
This is the 2nd Edition of the BLOG.wedotechnologies.com book and it is once again
fascinating to look back and see what readers have enjoyed most. From the 33 blog
articles published from 22 unique authors, the most-shared and most-viewed articles
represent this selection of the best blog articles of 2015.
A total of 13 blog posts make up this book, addressing topics such as Fraud
Management, Revenue Assurance, Credit Scoring, Customer Value Management and
more within the different industries: Telecom, Utilities, Retail, Insurance and Healthcare.
Thank you to all our writers that have contributed to the BLOG.wedotechnologies.com last
year and also, of course to you, our valued readers.
We hope you will continue to appreciate BLOG.wedotechnologies.com in 2016.
Enjoy it!
Visit and subscribe BLOG.wedotechnologies.com
Marketing, Alliances and Community Development Team
BLOG.wedotechnologies.com
mAF_Miolo_LivroBlog2015.indd 3 03/02/16 16:23

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“Many CEOs opt for the tried
an tested way of reducing costs
and satisfying stakeholders
quickly by reducing head count,
but in retail that usually
results in lower levels
of customer service.”
AF_Miolo_LivroBlog2015.indd 4 03/02/16 16:23

5
CEOs have been getting a lot of press recently. It’s not surprising really as they are
the ones ultimately responsible for a company’s performance and are accountable
to both stakeholders and staff alike. Forbes launched the opening salvo against
wanton CEOs by saying, “across the board, the more CEOs get paid, the worse their
companies do over the next three years, according to extensive new research. This is
true whether they’re CEOs at the highest end of the pay spectrum or the lowest.”
The article and the report itself lambasted high-earning, poor-performing CEOs by
linking that the more they were paid, the worse their companies did. In fact, this
negative effect was most pronounced in the 150 firms with the highest-paid CEOs.
For the 5 percent of CEOs who were the highest paid, it was found that their
companies did 15 percent worse, on average, than their peers. The paper also found
that the longer CEOs were at the helm, the more pronounced was their firms’ poor
performance.
CEOs
SEEING RED
Written by
Rui
Paiva
Chief Executive Officer
at WeDo Technologies
27/01/2015

6
The conclusion the report came to was that overconfidence was the main
contributing factor and that CEOs who are paid huge amounts tend to think less
critically about their decisions.
At this time of the year when most news reports are on the highlights of the last year,
the BBC went out of its own conservative comfort zone to name the year’s five worst
CEOs.
Writer, Sydney Finklestein, held back no punches in stating that, “in virtually
each instance, the seeds of failure were sown in earlier success. These five
chief executives were celebrated for their genius at one time, but all have fallen,
sometimes in spectacular ways.”
The five, in ascending order of failure were Twitter’s Dick Costolo; Sears Holding’s
Eddie Lampert; Tesco’s Philip Clarke; American Apparel’s Dov Charney and Banco
Espirito Santo’s Ricardo Espirito Santo Silva Salgado.
Salgado is the family head and kingpin of an interlocking and complex set of entities
that controlled the second-biggest bank in Portugal — and brought it to bankruptcy.
Of greater interest is that three of the five are involved primarily in retailing, a sector
that is being rattled by the digital revolution and changes in the way people are
buying goods.
Whilst it is evident that more people are buying online, CEOs of some ‘bricks
and mortar’ retailing chains have been able to adapt more readily than others to
heightened competition from cheaper stores that are operating more efficiently at
lower cost levels.
Many CEOs opt for the tried an tested way of reducing costs and satisfying
stakeholders quickly by reducing head count, but in retail that usually results in
lower levels of customer service. Retailing is still heavily dependent on staff to stock
shelves and serve customers.

7
Automation has helped bringing more efficiencies at managing stock levels and
speeding checkouts but cannot yet replace the human element and ‘retail therapy’
that shoppers go to stores to seek out.
Price competition, high stock levels, rents, seasonal cash flows, theft and low ‘stock
turns’ all contribute to the woes of retailers, but there is a trend towards monitoring
and managing all aspects of the business using sophisticated software not unlike
that used by telecoms operators.
Automation is providing continuous monitoring and detecting exceptions before
they cause significant impact on retail business right from supply chain controls to
continuously auditing pricing plans to assure yielding enough revenues.
7-Eleven México, with more than 1,700 stores across the country, recently
announced that it was implementing enterprise business software to deliver end-to-
end visibility and control of its retail processes, analyzing and identifying risks and
monitoring and controlling deviations.
The trend now is to have a full picture of the retail operation and be able to act
quickly in addressing any anomalies that may occur in real-time.
When enterprise business assurance becomes the norm we should see no retailers
in that top five lousy CEO list, just as we don’t see any telco bosses there now. That
should also remove the need for boards to make the single biggest cost reduction of
all – firing the CEO!
This article was first published in TelcoProfessionals.com. You can find the original
version here.

8

9
Any product is only as good as the ideas behind it. Unfortunately, generating
good ideas is never easy! As Seth Godin puts it “You can’t have good ideas unless
you’re willing to generate a lot of bad ones.” This may present terrifying vision
that demotivates us from even trying, but in reality it is just a natural part of the
innovation process. The more ideas that are generated, the more chances of
generating really good ones.
The flip side of this is the difficulty of managing a huge number of inputs. To get the
most out of a variety of knowledge, experiences and backgrounds, one must collect
and consider a large number of inputs from a variety of sources. These inputs must
then be clarified, enriched, classified, and eventually, in some cases, rejected or
grouped with other similar ones.
“At WeDo
Technologies
we employ an
open process
for collection
of ideas”
THE VIRTUOUS
CYCLE FROM
IDEA TO MARKET
Written by
MÓNICA
VALE
PRODUCT MANAGER
06/04/2015

10
Deciding which ideas to pick for promotion to market from an extended backlog is
an even tougher task. A successful prioritization process will account for a lot of
different factors, including customer requests, market trends, strategic directions,
long-term roadmaps and, of course, available resources. While there are many
approaches, no single best solution emerges. Therefore, it is essential to constantly
implement, assess, and improve a prioritization process that best fits needs and
reality.
After that, all the selected ideas will be further detailed from a more technical
perspective for transformation by development teams into the features that the
market will see. This phase frequently requires compromises, but often the final
features will be far more complex and comprehensive than the original ideas since
the development process factors in multiple aspects and visions.
When products finally hit the market, it marks the transformation of great ideas into
real features that customers will love, which will eventually generate new ideas. The
cycle is complete, but the work is not over because it is time to go through all of the
ideas, both new and old, and start the process all over again.
If you have seen the expanse of WeDo Technologies products, then you will know
that we are not running short on great ideas. At WeDo Technologies we employ an
open process for collection of ideas: we invite everyone to contribute. We receive
inputs from a lot of different sources and markets, including telecom, retail, energy,
healthcare and finance, and from a variety of user profiles and backgrounds from
both internal, such as product architects and developers, integrators, marketing,
support and sales team members, and external contributors from C-level to analysts.
Our customer contributions are key in the process because of their willingness to
cooperate and provide constructive criticism or complex needs that challenges us
to go one step further. And their willingness to embark on a WeDo Labs project and
work from concept through to the testing of an idea helps us shape and produce
viable products for the market.
Not all of the ideas that we receive will pass the initial scrutiny, and others will fail
to provide enough business value. But a great number of them will eventually make

11
it to the development stage or maybe generate other great ideas. Our Product
Management and Marketing teams’ joint efforts offer a democratic approach
for high-level prioritization that involves the Development, Delivery, Sales, and
Professional Services teams, and ultimately the Executive Committee, in the
decision-making process that brings all stakeholder views to the table.
Next the Product Architects and Development Teams take the high-level ideas and
transform them into great product features. And it is up to the Product Management
and Marketing teams to leverage all the contributions and feed the product
roadmaps with the long-term vision for product evolution.
The final result is certainly not perfect, but it gives everyone a chance to contribute.
In the end we can be confident that all these contributions will provide us with the
best forward path that, both in the short and the long term, will bring to the market
the features that are most relevant to our customers.

12
“The best way to
safeguard against
fraud is to have a
security and fraud
management teams
working together”

13
DOUBLE BIND
IN FRAUD WON'T
BE AN ISSUE FOR
MUCH LONGER
Did anyone ever tell you to be creative about something? When this situation
happens, I use to close my eyes and start repeating this mantra to myself: “Let’s go
creative! And by the way, if you can do it right now… it will be perfect!”
This situation is what is referred to as a “double bind” - a tricky way to communicate two
discordant instructions given simultaneously. Another example of a double bind is telling
to people to be spontaneous. If they begin to act spontaneously, they are not truly acting
spontaneously; they are simply following instructions. In the end, it is a no-win situation.
From psychology to global level, the double bind constantly occurs. For example,
a double bind is encountered in economy when countries face the challenge of
growing economically without disrupting the environment.
Written by
CLAUDIa
CaLADo
Advanced Analytics
Project Manager
12/08/2015

14
In Telco, a variety of double bind situations can also be presented. One type that is
particularly worrisome to operators is the double bind faced in fraud management.
In fraud situations, operators set the necessary fraud rules to prevent future fraud
cases of the same type. Instead of controlling fraud activity, this actually results in
the growth of a constantly adaptive capacity of fraudsters to escape from the fraud
management system based on traditional fraud rule mechanisms. But, on the other
hand, doing nothing is not an option. This is another no-win situation. As traditional
fraud rules increase in number; the more complex and tricky schemes to perpetrate
fraud become, thus making it more difficult for operators to reach the level of
sophistication that fraudsters are achieving.
Fortunately, advanced analytics are now able to confront the fraud challenge.
The capacity to analyse data on a multiple dimension reality, combined with the
performance of Big Data processing, makes use of detection and prediction models
on large volumes of data more realistic now than it was a decade ago.
Detection models, also called unsupervised models, are mainly used to identify
groups or clusters from a customer base so that the behaviour of entities within
each group are more alike than the ones belonging to other groups.
When applied in the context of fraud, detection models can be used to do the
following:
• Detect suspicious behaviours
• Identify new fraud types
• Enrich case management with cluster information
• Reduce false positives
On the other hand, prediction models analyse past behaviour to obtain the propensity
value of a particular event to occur.

15
Prediction models can be used to prevent the occurrence of fraud. These models
take into account the behaviour generated by entities upon their traffic data and
evaluate their propensity to commit fraud. The prediction models can be used to do
the following:
• Prevent the occurrence of fraud, scoring all customer base and identifying the
entities having a behaviour more likely to commit a fraud
• Enrich case management with additional information to better evaluate false
positive
• Prioritize the cases in Case Management with additional propensity values
information
Advanced analytics are leading to new weapons in the fight against fraud
ecosystems that are continuously growing in complexity.
The added value of such techniques is their capacity to rapidly adapt to new realities
that are increasingly more difficult to achieve with the setting of traditional fraud
rules.
Another trend that we assist is the constant concern of providers in delivering user-
friendly advanced analytics tools, solutions, and products that are capable of guiding
a fraud analyst through their investigation, from selecting the customer base for
analysis to reaching actionable results.
Despite the double bind suffered from traditional fraud rule mechanisms, the use of
advanced analytics tools can produce the optimum combination, leading an operator
to the next step of a Fraud Management System, introducing more advanced and
complex rules within a large volume of data.
With advanced analytics tools, double bind in fraud management won’t be an issue
for much longer.

16
With RAID TELECOM (...)
we decided to design
four ‘experiences’,
helping to ensure
all roles are
optimized.

17
RAID TELECOM:
CREATING
A STATE OF
THE ART USER
EXPERIENCE
In this interview, Carlos Martins, Chief User Experience Architect at WeDo
Technologies, shares why he is so passionate about creating the best User
Experience possible for RAID Telecom, and why WeDo has invested so heavily in
this area.
by QUEXOR GROUP
AN INTERVIEW WITH
Carlos
MartinsCHIEF UX Architect
17/07/2015

18
As the User Experience Architect for WeDo Technologies, what vision did you have
for RAID TELECOM and were you able to achieve it?
As a UX architect, I wanted to deliver a state of the art look and feel for RAID
TELECOM that followed the best practices for UI design to ensure optimum usability
for our customers. It needed to be a progression from our latest version – with a
modern look, but one that still relates to our core product.
Many of today’s best design and usability practices can be traced back to industry
innovator Don Norman, who, in 1988 was one of the first to publish his principles
on the art of human machine interaction. This involves the study, planning, design
and uses of the interfaces between people and computers. For RAID TELECOM we
worked to provide a modern look and feel without sacrificing usability.
In 2013 we invested heavily in significant usability improvements with the launch of
Raid 7.0 and did extensive testing with real end-users. This resulted in some early
failures, and we learned a lot from this experience. Going forward, we only deploy
new functionality when we have at least 90% testing success. Intuitiveness is one of
our biggest design challenges today- we wanted our users to ‘recognize’ rather than
‘recall’. This is an area we worked on extensively for the launch of RAID TELECOM.
Another major improvement with RAID TELECOM is the ability to anticipate a user’s
actions through something we call ‘Smart Highlights’. This is a tool we designed for
presenting the end user with what is relevant based on their profile. This improves
the user experience and speeds up the results, providing options via the user
interface that will lead to the most critical actions. It’s a more personalized approach
that is based on user-centered design rules. When the user first logs on to our
software, they will find it very intuitive and easy to understand.
What key areas do you take into account when designing a user interface?
Our software is based on a user’s ‘web experience’. There are two different philosophies
when designing a Web user interface - Fast Web and Slow Web. Most UI applications
have one strategy, fast or slow. Our software uses both because our customers use our
solution in ways that require different speeds. There are scenarios that are time sensitive

19
or where users only require a high level view (fast web), and then there are those times
where lengthy analysis of detailed data might be required (slow web).
We needed a design approach that could respond to both fast and slow web styles.
We use big graphics and bright colors for fast web, but for slow web styles we use
a special font that is more easily readable and we add features that are specifically
designed with a strong focus on analyzing data. For example, we reduced the use
of colors but optimized contrast so we could guarantee users can focus on detailed
data. Slow web use can cause users to tire quickly, but we implemented features to
lessen the impact of eyestrain and mental fatigue.
With RAID TELECOM we decided we couldn’t create a single one-size-fits-all user
experience that would fit with every role, so we decided to design four ‘experiences’,
helping to ensure all roles are optimized. This led to our Smart Highlights feature.
Why is the User Interface so critical for a solution like RAID? And how is RAID’s
user interface different from other solutions on the market?
Businesses around the world are evolving fast and people need fast answers.
Software needs to adapt to users’ needs and UI is a critical piece of this puzzle.
RAID is one of the major tools for providing critical answers for our customers. If
the UI is intuitive our customers will achieve better, faster results. They will have the
answers they need and to allow the corporation to understand their business and to
understand where problems exist and to resolve them more quickly. The UI must be
very intuitive, fast and directed to handle day to day changes in the business.
With RAID 7 we took a different approach, focusing more on user empowerment.
This allows users to create their own dashboards and change them as the business
evolves. As a UI designer, this creates a lot of challenges, but users should be able
to redefine a screen or create a new screen from scratch if the business demands
it. We improved on this with Enterprise Business Assurance, giving users the even
more agility to create their own screens and dashboards as their business evolves.
We know business changes rapidly, and if customers have to wait for their vendors
to make upgrades or update functionality – they won’t be able to keep up and remain
competitive. Customers can now manage these changes themselves.

20
RAID TELECOM allows users to create their own analysis through our ‘Investigation
Workbench’ tool. This allows users to create ‘self-service’ analysis that can preserve
data snapshots and allow data comparisons over time. In addition, this analysis can
be attached to specific Case Management cases, which provides an added level of
information for other users. RAID TELECOM also provides the freedom to create ad-
hoc tasks with SLAs that can change or be redefined as needed. No other tool in the
market is providing all of this today; the best user experience and a powerful set of
tools that don’t otherwise exist in the market.
What new features of RAID TELECOM are your customers most excited about?
One of the things our customers have been asking for is to have Help features
bundled in with the product, making it easier to access. In the past, we provided
user guides as PDF files, but now it has been built into the product, making it more
contextual and easier to access.
‘Smart Highlights’ is another popular feature. As I mentioned earlier, this feature
gives RAID a dynamic ability to create a world that highlights what is critical and
relevant for that specific user.
‘Investigation Workbench’ for ad-hoc analysis has been extremely well received,
along with the ability to support Pivot Tables.
‘Adaptive Case Management’ gives users the power to create ad-hoc tasks and
human readable flows based on the new BPMN2.0 standard, allowing end users to
design workflows in Visio and import these into our solution.
‘Smart Data Stream’ is also a new feature. This is a new ETL engine that is lightning fast.
And last but not least is our new ‘EBA Cockpit’, which provides executive-level
answers quickly, with just a glance.
When it comes to giving our customers the best product possible, I think that we
nailed it. RAID TELECOM is state of the art in terms of user experience.

21
CreatedbyJamesFenton•NounProject
“RAID TELECOM is
state of the art
in terms of user
experience.”

22
“All this new data
and new tools are
invading Insurance
Companies business
areas down
to its processes, systems
and human resources”

23
Three Insurance salesman were sitting in a restaurant boasting about each
company’s service.
The first one said, “When one of our insureds died suddenly on Monday, we got the
news that evening and were able to process the claim for the wife and had mailed a
check on Wednesday evening.”
The second one said, “When one of our insured died without warning on Monday, we
learned of it in 2 hours and were able to hand-deliver a check the same evening.”
3 STORIES
THAT'LL MAKE
YOU RE-THINK
THE FUTURE
OF INSURANCE
Written by
GUILHERME
FARIABusiness Development
Manager - Insurance
and Banking
03/07/2015

24
The last salesman said, “That’s nothing. Our office is on the 20th floor of a tall
building. One of our insured who was washing a window on the 85th floor, slipped
and fell. We handed him his check as passed our floor.”
This very plausible story shows how insurers nowadays are concerned about providing a
great service and excelling in customer relationship, but it unveils the urge to keep up with
the latest technological trends. Social Networks, Mobility, Analytics and Cloud (the so-
called SMAC) as well as Big Data and the Internet of Things or, more appropriately, Internet
of insurable Things, are pushing Insurance Companies to a very uncomfortable ground.
The reality is that the Insurance Industry is considered to be “digitally conservative”.
The EY Global Insurance Digital Survey 2013 finds insurers limited in their digital
capabilities: fewer than half were able to digitally provide information about products
and services or provide a quote, a mere 23% could digitally process insurance claims,
and just 35% could process a transaction/ sale digitally (see chart below).
Now, imagine the following stories:
1) “My new car: a BM… black mouth, not Bavarian Motors”
I have just bought a car that, besides being loaded of sensors, is able to whisper
my driving habits directly to the ears of my insurer - distance travelled, time spent
Digital Functionality in the Insurance Sector
(% of insurers with digital funcionality)
Provide Information about products/company
Provider Quote
Customer Self-Service Facilities
Transact/Purchase
Process Claims
23
35
40
43
47

25
driving, accelerations, brakes and turns. But, at the end of the day I like it, because as
an impeccable driver, my personalized insurance premium is much cheaper than my
crazy driving neighbor.
2) “My skinflint spirit is telling me: don’t eat that chocolate and go to the gym!”
I am all fit with fancy wearable devices that know all the time my heart rate, calorie
calculations, exercise habits, sleep patterns, GPS location data,… and the truth is,
before I look at my health statistics my buddy insurer is already computing all this
data to duly adjusting my life and health insurance premiums… I am going to the
Gym!
3) “My house is calling the insurance plumber to stop a water leakage”
I was working when I received an SMS from the insurance company telling me that
there was a leaking water tap at my house. They wanted to schedule a visit from a
plumber to fix the problem and prevent any type of property damage.
These 3 stories are not far away from today, in spite of all regulatory and privacy
concerns, similar situations will occur in the near future. And again, how tough
will be for these “digitally conservative” companies to cope with large inflows
of new data, with new customer relationships and the need of higher than ever
reaction speed?
And how about the integration of the new and essential data analytics tools with
existing legacy systems, ensuring the smooth and safe transfer of data between
previously siloed departments and business systems?
All this new data and new tools are invading Insurance Companies business areas
down to its processes, systems and human resources: from Risk Assessment and
Underwriting, Policy and Premium Calculation to Claim processing and Fraud detection.
Now, the $1M question is: How are we going to continuously control these newly
shaped processes, systems and human resources, avoiding financial losses
coming either from revenue leakages or undue costs?

26
“No longer will
the revenue
discussion
be confined
to a purely
finance function”

27
WHO'S AFRAID
OF THE IoT?
NOT I - AND
YOU SHOULDN'T
BE, EITHER!
Next month I have the opportunity to speak at WeDo’s inaugural North American
Enterprise Business Assurance Conference, WDC@WDC. While pondering the key
issues facing the Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management community and
planning my subject matter during a long drive to Las Vegas for CTIA, I happened upon
a radio feature on connected devices – already quoted as standing at 10 billion. This
got me thinking. The fact is that this number is going to multiply tenfold in the next two
to three years, begging the question for any company whose revenue could be in some
way related to the new connected world we’re entering into: “Are we really ready?”
Written by
ROBERT
STRICKLANDCo-Founder of Digital Nexus
17/09/2015

28
Now that connectivity is introducing new elements of commerce to everyday objects,
from cars to energy meters, the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) is slowly but
surely becoming the norm rather than a nascent technology that we’ve long dreamed
about. Indeed, the connected world is going to be here a lot sooner than we realise –
and, although it’s something that the tech / mobile industry and consumers have been
eagerly anticipating for some time, the reality of whether we’re ready to embrace and
make the most of it from a revenue perspective is probably quite different. It’s something
that offers immense opportunity, but is simultaneously quite a frightening prospect.
Driving different behaviours and dynamics across business, the IoT will bring with it a
whole new set of challenges and disruption, especially when considering the backdrop
of protecting customers, assets and revenues. No longer will the revenue discussion
be confined to a purely finance function; there will be implications for IT spend as we
know it and company culture as a whole. This will be a board level conversation.
When it comes to the associated software and services for the new connected
world, companies are going to need to be at least on the curve – if not ahead of it.
Trailing behind will certainly not be a good place to be. This is where WeDo’s event
will be invaluable. Having attended and spoken at their events in the past, I know
from experience that they have the knack of getting people together to really define
a category, in turn listening and driving solutions to meet the demand of what their
customers want and need - ahead of the curve. That is their secret sauce.
What is needed to face the new challenges of the IoT is thought leadership, innovation
and technology, and that is what WeDo deliver in spades. Their Enterprise Business
Assurance approach allows businesses to face innovation such as the introduction of a
new range of connected devices head on, capitalising on the opportunity for growth while
maintaining tight control over business processes, the customer experience and revenue.
While it’s unusual to see this kind of innovative approach coming from Portugal rather
than the usual suspects of Silicon Valley, Israel or Germany, the fact that WeDo are
providing a glimmer of hope on how to come to terms with this new reality is something
that should be embraced. Their worldwide footprint and impressive list of clients mean
that their insights are better and different from others offering similar services. I’m looking
forward to seeing how the first event specifically for the North American market unfolds!

29
CreatedbyFelixWestphal•NounProject
“...the IoT
will bring with it
a whole new set
of challenges
and disruption...”

30
“One thing is for sure,
war is an inevitable
part of every fraudster’s
game, even if you
try to avoid it.”

31
Explaining the fraud market maturity by analogy with Computer Game ‘Civilization’.
Ah, the 90s. They were wonderful, weren’t they? Nirvana released ‘Nevermind’, people
started to go online and everyone was sure the Y2K bug was going to bring about
the end of the world. You want to know what else was great? Computer games. The
90s produced some of the most inspiring, innovative computer games the world has
ever seen. You may have played ‘Age of Empires’, which was a very influential game
for its time, related to real-time strategy, but we cannot ignore the fact Sid Meier’s
‘Civilization’ came first, in 1991, with just one objective: build an empire that can last.
Written by
CARLOS
MARQUES
PRODUCT MARKETING
Manager at
WeDo Technologies
05/08/2015
IS THE FRAUD
MANAGEMENT
MARKET
'MATURE'?

32
In this game, the player takes on the role of the leader of a civilization, starting
with one settler unit, and attempts to build an empire in competition with other
civilizations. Along with the larger tasks of exploration, warfare and diplomacy, the
player has to make decisions about where to build new cities, which improvements
or units to build in each city, which advances in knowledge should be pursued, and
how to transform the land surrounding the cities for maximum profit.
From time to time the player’s towns are attacked by barbarians with no specific
nationality and no named leader. These threats only come from unclaimed terrain (land or
sea), and over time there are fewer and fewer places from which barbarians would arise.
As time advances, new technologies can be developed and these technologies are
the primary way in which the game changes and grows. These stages of ‘scientific
advancement’, just as in real life, are directly linked with military strength. In ‘Civilization’
the war starts with a strong infantry unit, catapults and knights can be finished with
riflemen, cannons and cavalry. He who has more cutting-edge units usually wins the war.

33
Like with modern fraud prevention and detection techniques, success in defeating
the “barbarians” in Sid Meier’s ‘Civilization’ is determined by the capability to reduce
uncertainty from emerging fraud threats. However, ‘unclaimed terrains’ can blind
you from spotting these emerging threats, and that is why we rely on technological
advances to manage fraud threats when fraudsters emerge.
Similar to the game, most of today’s CSPs already have a weapon, or in this case a
fraud management tool, that is being used to stop the barbarians, or fraudsters. At
first glance, we may mistakenly believe that this is a mature market.
The question now becomes, “If you have a tool but it faces technological
disadvantages against the fraudster’s tools, are you really equipped to battle fraud?”
Certainly not.
At this point, the service provider has 2 options:
• Weapons are upgraded to a more updated version, (i.e. – The CSP begins with
arches and evolves to a crossbow)
• A completely disruptive technology is introduced, (i.e.- where you go for gunpowder
or even nuclear weapons to exterminate your enemies)
Either way, until you have the right weapon to defeat your potential enemy, the
problem isn’t solved.
One thing is for sure, war is an inevitable part of every fraudster’s game, even if you
try to avoid it.
CSPs can gain a large advantage if their fraud departments are the first to
achieve a particular technological advantage (the secrets of Artificial Intelligence,
for example) and put it to use in a “military” context. The whole system of
advancements, from beginning to end, is a full speed technology ride. So is the
market mature? Not if it is always open and rejuvenating. In other words, I would
say that it ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit!’

34
“With this latest
version of RAID
Telecom, we have also
completely redesigned
the user interface.

35
Raul Azevedo is Head of Product Development at WeDo Technologies. In this interview,
Raul shares his insights into the market drivers behind RAID Telecom, and how his
team has worked to redesign the way Telcos think about and manage their business.
by QUEXOR GROUP
AN INTERVIEW WITH
RAUL
AZEVEDOHead of PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT
18/06/2015
ENTERPRISE
BUSINESS
ASSURANCE AND
RAID TELECOM:
DEVELOPING
THE TOOLS TO
BUILD A BETTER
BUSINESS

36
What was your role in creating RAID Telecom?
I joined WeDo Technologies eleven years ago, beginning in Product Delivery. Now
my role is Head of Product Development, which is responsible for Engineering,
Technical Architecture and Quality Assurance. I oversee the entire product
development lifecycle, which includes requirements identification, analysis, design
and engineering, as well as test and delivery. I also oversee our activities with the TM
Forum as head of their Fraud Management Group.
What are latest product features of RAID Telecom? What will customers find most
useful?
As always, our focus when developing products is to remain true to our Enterprise
Business Assurance (EBA) vision. One way we’ve accomplished this was through
the creation of Fast Processes - which address the broader business assurance
needs within a CSP; going well beyond traditional Revenue Assurance and Fraud
Management. For example, with Fast Processes we have taken industry best
practices for controls, alarms, case management flows, and supplier and partner
incentives management and then packaged them and made them available right out
of the box.
Although Fast Processes are prepackaged, RAID still maintains its flexibility with Flex
Processes. With Flex Processes you can expand your audits and configure them to
fit any need that you have, including certain modeling requirements that are out of
scope within Fast Processes.
We also have a lot of new and exciting product features within this release.
Firstly- our new Adaptive Case Management tool allows users to change or react
to events like emails, tweets or external alarms. It is fully event-driven and very
easy to configure, allowing the end-user to maintain the case management flow
and monitor performance. Another feature is the new Data Discovery toolset.
Investigation Workbench is one of these tools and was designed specifically for
ad-hoc investigation. We have done significant market testing with this feature
to maximize usability and productivity. Secondly, we have introduced Smart Data

37
Blueprints, which allows end-users who are not familiar with SQL or other query
languages to produce complex queries simply by creating them in a data flow. This
provides a simple, interactive way of building complex queries that can easily be
reused.
We also have fully redesigned our information layer with our Smart Data Stream
tool. Our biggest focus for this release was the ability to react, analyze and detect in
real-time, and with Smart Data Stream, the system is able to react to events and also
receive and process streams of data in real-time.
Lastly, a trend we are seeing from our customers is the need to maximize the
value of big data sources; namely those supported by Adaptive Solutions. We
now support data stored in Hadoop and are even able to perform validations
with mixed data sources. For example, if some data resides in Hadoop and the
rest is in a transactional database like Oracle, users can still validate all the
data regardless of where it is stored, and still identify problems without the
need to extract all the data out to a separate database. This saves both time
and money.
With this latest version of RAID Telecom, we have also completely redesigned the
user interface. It is now sleeker, with a new color scheme, and it is more user-friendly,
following industry best practices for usability.
When moving to a real-time architecture, we needed to optimize the processing
time, but still keep the legacy features intact to ensure we could access backup
data. Technically this was quite a challenge, but we’ve had great results. All
configurations are in the same web-based user interface, so that any user can
see how the flow is organized. The benefit of having a fully integrated web-
based architecture is that it allows both design and analysis within the same
interface.

38
Were there any hurdles that were difficult to overcome?
One of the most challenging issues when addressing real-time processing is that
sometimes there are instances real-time processing isn’t required or isn’t supported.
What we’ve been able to do is achieve a compromise, where we maximize speed
and reach without losing the consistency of our processes, namely in the areas of
transforming and processing data. The other issue is that when we tried to maximize
the value of various big data sources, we quickly learned that we were dealing with
different realities than those we encounter in a relational database. It was a bit of a
challenge to prepare data properly so that we could maximize performance within
Hadoop, and of course our goal is to make all of this technical stuff really easy for
our end users.
We performed exhaustive user testing until we achieved a solution that met our
requirements. The end result is a product that utilizes the same base language
throughout and doesn’t require customization. We worked extensively on these
issues to ensure we could deliver the best user experience possible; not just in how it
looks, but in how it functions.
What are the benefits to our Customers? To the business managers/business
users and to the organization as a whole?
Revenue Assurance used to be focused solely on the revenue stream, but with our
new EBA Fast Processes, we’ve been able to increase coverage across the entire
organization, with real-time monitoring and continuous auditing of key processes
across the company. Auditing tools that were previously only available to revenue
assurance teams are now packaged and available to other groups- including
partners and incentives management, sales, HR, etc.
Additionally, our solution is constantly adapting to changing business needs.
Imagine that you have a case management tool to address a specific situation; in
2 months, the details of that situation will be outdated. We give users the ability
to manage changes on their own, without complex coding. There will still be the
‘power users’ who want more granular access, but now a new level of control is

39
given to every end-user to ensure that the tool keeps up with changing needs and
remains relevant to the current business processes. We also ensure that the right
alarms and controls are being monitored. We don’t believe in systems that rely on
monthly control points, but in a system that is continuously looking at the business
in a focused way, only creating alarms if there are critical issues that need to be
addressed. We provide our customers with the comfort that their business is
constantly being monitored, and that they will receive ample warning if anything
goes wrong. We tackle the problem from end-to-end in an integrated environment
that can be accessed over any device, including smartphone or tablet. It adapts to
whatever device you are using, prioritizing the interface and making it easy to see
at a glance. You can constantly keep in touch and see how things are going, no
matter where you are.
What are the advantages and best practices taken from these new technologies?
Big Data and Hadoop: At WeDo Technologies, we are leveraging the power of big
data within our product roadmap because that is the future. The CSP market has
been a bit slow to embrace the concept of open source, but supporting Hadoop can
expand a CSP’s ability to process huge amounts of data. It’s not just a data source;
it’s a tool that, if leveraged correctly, provides incredible processing power, which is
what we have leveraged with our Smart Data Stream.
Analytics: The issue of embedding analytics into the product is an area that we
are currently investing in. Machine learning and data mining algorithms for fraud
detection are what we are working on now; in other words, preparing the architecture
for a real-time world. The needs of our customers are evolving and our solution is
changing to fit those needs. When CSPs monitor critical processes, it’s important to
quickly identify problems that are leading to losses.
Virtualization: With our architecture redesign we have been working to scale our
system in a cloud environment and continue to do extensive testing in this area.
LTE/M2M: With regards to LTE and M2M, there is the need to address huge
amounts of data in real-time. We have the ability to standardize data by putting

40
it into a common data format that can easily feed our solutions and processes,
identifying if the data is VoLTE or Wi-fi or 3G. Our product is able to read and
process all kinds of data, and we are constantly improving, so when there is a new
format we can quickly adapt.
Do you expect to reach new audiences/stakeholders within the organization?
Yes definitely. With our new ‘Fast Processes’ we are extending the benefits of
our product to other stakeholders within the organization. More than serving
different users, our product allows different teams to work more closely together,
collaborating and sharing the same case management tools and features, allowing
teams to work with a common platform in a more integrated way. Also, in terms
of the user interface, we segment data visualization components for different
audiences. C-level data visualization components are very different from those that
are used by a data scientist or analyst. We have ways to address different needs by
different users/roles within the company. For example, within ‘Fast Processes’ we
provide a CXO Cockpit that has been designed to provide a summarized view of all
the processes and it delivers the results in a very intuitive way. From there, he or she
can drill down to gain further details.

41
“...our focus when
developing products
is to remain true to
our Enterprise Business
Assurance (EBA) vision.”
Created
by
Artem
D
•N
oun
Project

42
“engage with our
customers so they can
help us to help
them!”

43
While preparing for the 10th WeDo Technologies’ Worldwide User Group, I
remembered Maria João Gomes (Head of People Culture)’ blog entry on the
intensity and uniqueness of the WeDo Technologies corporate culture and values.
In fact, this uniqueness comes also with such a rich and diverse group of costumers
around the world.
Together with our customers, we have built an amazing User Group, a community of
Telecom experts that get together to share experiences, and discuss challenges and
solutions, all while having pleasure and fun!
Written by
João
ResendeVice-President
for Product
Development at
WeDo Technologies
15/06/2015
VALUES-BASED
PRODUCT
STRATEGY?

44
To achieve this, the first two values come into play: Diversity and Companionship
provide the ideas, creativity and collaborative empowerment that leverage the
individual capabilities of both WeDo and our customers to do more and better,
together.
But they also require an open and frank engagement with our customers to understand
their issues and their challenges, identify the areas and features to improve, as well as,
the key streams for research and development. Here, the message must be clear and
transparent: engage with our customers so they can help us to help them!
This cannot be accomplished without a commitment that enables trust. Our
customers entrusted us, relying on our products and our ability to support their work
and help their organizations. So naturally, they challenge us, always demanding
more, better – and cheaper!
We need to honor that trust, working for the long run, thinking of the long term and
committing to sustained product investment, with an ambitious yet solid roadmap –
always, striving to do more with less, being frugal with our own and our customers’
resources.
So, three other critical values are Commitment, Transparency and Frugality. They
give us the drive, the openness and the hands-on pragmatic approach that allow us
to continually improve our products and their effectiveness for our customers.
A Product Strategy must certainly be described by the context of the market being
addressed, the value the product is supposed to bring, the product key features to
achieve a compelling value proposition and a corresponding strategic plan.
But in a world where all seems to revolve around “what and how much value”, it is
refreshing to also examine the role that Values may have on our Product Strategy.

45
And this User Group showed so clearly the unique role of our customers in that!
Thank you.
PRODUCT
STRATEGY
CUSTOMERS
PRODUCTS
Commitment
Transparency
Frugality
Companionship
Diversity

46
“Fraud and revenue risks
associated with IoT
may mean different things
to different people, depending on
where they reside within the product
and service delivery chain.”

47
Today’s increasingly connected world is introducing many new elements of
commerce into everyday objects, from cars to energy meters. However, the reality of
whether we’re ready to embrace the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) and make
the most of it from a revenue perspective is quite different.
The IoT is progressively driving different behaviours and dynamics across business,
bringing with it a whole new set of challenges and disruption – especially when
considering the backdrop of protecting customers, assets and revenues. As a result,
revenue discussion will no longer be confined to a purely finance function; there will
be implications for IT spend as we know it and company culture as a whole.
Written by
Luís
BrásProfessional Services
Manager - Fraud
13/11/2015
IDENTIFYING IOT
FRAUD RISKS:
THE CHALLENGES
FOR OPERATORS

48
The progression to the IoT will introduce new device manufacturers and application
providers that the telecoms industry has previously not worked with, and who don’t
understand the risks. This will result in additional security and fraud risk, as these
‘trusted’ parties will need to be audited to ensure the expectations of the CSPs are
being met, says Luís Brás, head of professional services, Fraud Management Area,
WeDo Technologies.
Considerations for a Successful Risk Management Strategy
Fraud and revenue risks associated with IoT may mean different things to different
people, depending on where they reside within the product and service delivery chain.
In order to stay ahead of the curve, organisations will therefore need to consider and
evaluate from as risk perspective what elements of their existing fraud type exposure
will increase (or decrease) as a result of launching the new devices or services, and
understand the full risks that can be posed by the IoT; both what can result from
failures with the technology and what fraudsters stand to gain from attacking the
service. As part of the product and service lifecycle, the fraud and security functions
will need to be directly involved in performing ‘product and services risk assessments’
that are ultimately linked to defining the required strategies. By making a thorough
risk assessment, businesses can ensure they are adopting a balanced approach, with
technology, people and processes working together to create an effective strategy.
What defences can be defined?
As CSPs are already aware, they have a responsibility for storing and managing
highly sensitive and confidential data associated with their customers and
business partners. Consideration will need to be given as to how these new
connected devices with the IoT will be secured to maintain the integrity of the
information held or exchanged with their partners. Data and privacy protection
risks will include the potential for eavesdropping on other users, a device’s
data being transmitted over the network by the criminal masquerading as the
customer’s device, or network ID and information being subsequently provided
illegally to third parties.

49
As evidenced by recent high profile fraud and security incidents and breaches, the
criminal fraternity are becoming more innovative, deploying new and more focused
techniques for obtaining exactly what they want from the services and products
they target. The IoT will be no exception. CSPs must never become complacent or
forget that these highly organised fraudsters operate their own businesses and need
to “service” their own customers. Their business model for committing fraud spans
all types of technology and crosses international boundaries, and has traditionally
relied heavily on the CSP’s inability to respond and recover in a timely manner. It
is this aspect that they will again look to prey upon. One of the essential business
requirements for CSPs will be to continually consider the risk, and implement clearly
defined fraud, security and risk protection models for the IoT.
The demand and requirements for this progression will lead to more exciting
results in the formation of strategic partnerships. CSPs must however, consider the
implications and requirements to enable them to minimise exposure to fraud risks
associated with mobile devices, applications, processes and different business
models. At WeDo, we believe that an Enterprise Business Assurance (EBA) approach
allows businesses to face innovation such as the introduction of a new range of
connected devices as part of the IoT, head on, capitalising on the opportunity for
growth while maintaining tight control over business processes, the customer
experience and revenue.

50
“For current
customers,
the evaluation
to perform
is a Behavior
Scoring.”

51
CREDIT SCORING
AS A CONTINUOUS
PROCESS
In some businesses involving credit concession, it’s common to find Credit Scoring
processes and tools. Most of the time these are incomplete, treating Credit Risk
processes in a disaggregated way.
Credit Scoring may involve multiple types of evaluations: Acquisition or Application
Scoring, Behavior Scoring, a mix of both, or even manual handling. These can have
different timings and cycles of execution and use multiple internal or external
sources of information. It becomes a challenge to achieve a complete view through a
single and integrated solution.
Regardless of Credit Scoring tools and processes sophistication, an accurate and
up-to-date Credit Score Value is crucial in avoiding erroneous credit concession or
Written by
RUI NELSON
FERNANDESSOLUTION ARCHITECT at
WeDo Technologies
04/11/2015

52
recovery decisions with negative impacts on revenues. When the decision is too
permissive, turning risk exposure higher than the defined policy, the probability
of default and bad credit increases. If the decision is too restrictive, turning risk
exposure lower than the accepted one, it will block the maximization of the evaluated
entities’ business potential.
Credit Risk is not static, and to know at each moment the real risk in conceiving
credit, it’s critical to closely follow each entity and act upon new and relevant
information or credit related events. This continuous monitoring with credit risk
re-evaluations keeps Credit Score Values updated with the most recent known
information and behaviors. This assures the quality of data used to decide credit
concession conditions (e.g., credit limits or deposits) or best scenarios and actions
for credit recovery.
Within the life cycle of a customer, there are different events that will demand
different Credit Scoring evaluations. When an entity becomes a customer with initial
credit, an Acquisition Scoring (also known as Application) type of evaluation is used
to decide the conditions for a possible credit concession. For current customers, the
evaluation to perform is a Behavior Scoring. Acquisition scoring provides a snapshot
of the entity Credit Risk at a given moment, whereas Behavior Scoring gives a
continuous up-to-date Credit Risk Value.
Keep in mind that, during the entity life cycle, available information differs in type and
weight. For Credit Scoring it is critical to use existent knowledge in an intelligent way,
according to its actuality and reliability. When facing a new customer request, little or
no direct information is available, and scoring must rely on demographic and indirect
data supplied by third parties. However, when an entity is already a customer, direct
and highly reliable behavior information is available, and Credit Scoring should use
this knowledge to adjust an entity’s Credit Risk Value.

53
A complete and effective Credit Scoring solution, is the one capable of handling
smoothly and consistently the different events and available data during customers’
life cycle. All Credit Scoring evaluations and manual risk handling operations, must
be combined to give an accurate and up-to-date risk value and, at the same time, to
tell one common and consistent story. This approach allows, not only, to know at
each moment the present Credit Risk associated to each customer, but also to have
access to the full story and evolution of each entity regarding Credit Scoring.
New
Customer
1st
Credit
Decision
INDIRECT
KNOWLEDGE
GROWING DIRECT KNOWLEDGE
Already
Customer
Credit Risk
Revision
Already
Customer
Additional
Credit
Decision

54
“It IS hard
to get billing
millions of customers
to be flawless.“

55
Customers are now able to switch more easily to a new supplier then a couple of
years ago. Due to the regulated split-up of the value chain, more players entered the
market and there is more choice for the consumer. So, retaining a customer and
the “hunt” for the new customer became a priority. The cost of maintaining a (good)
customer is less than the cost of the acquisition of a new one thus Utilities need to
concentrate efforts on keeping the customer happy.
HOW TO
ASSURE HAPPY
CUSTOMERS
AND GET AHEAD
OF COMPETITION
Written by
PIETER
IJZERMANBUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
MANAGER at
WeDo Technologies
27/10/2015

56
Besides that the customer expects a service level of a 100%, Utilities need to
manage other expectations, which result, eventually, in customer experience. Using
my personal experience, I will mention some expectations a customer has of an
electricity distribution company and then line them up with the Business Assurance
practice. The Business Assurance practice that helps customers to be happy.
I expect my bill to be addressed to me and not to me with a slightly different name. I expect
the tariff applied to be the one the supplier promised me. I also expect the bill to reflect
the estimated power consumption minus the real one (measured once every 6 months)
and that the balance to pay / to be credited for, to be correct. I like to see my flat rate to be
adjusted to my profile of consumption so I don’t have unpleasant surprises at the end of
the contract period. I would say that these are expectations that are more susceptible to
stronger emotional reactions, when reality is different from the expected values.
So, not that hard to get these right, right? Wrong. It IS hard to get billing millions of
customers to be flawless. Generally speaking, dozens of systems and processes
create and support the data and the flow that eventually leads to that bill I receive.
An example of systems and processes involved in a meter to bill process:
• A meter from which data is read (either automatically or manually)
• An interface that transforms and transfers that data to a meter reading
management system
• An interface that transfers relevant data to a billing software
• A Customer Relation Management system that holds my contract information and
delivers it to the billing system
• The billing system holding the correct tariff information and applicable taxes and
produces the bill
• The finishing system that, with all collected relevant information, prints my invoice
With all this complexity there is a chance I may receive an erroneous bill. And when I
find out about it, I will be disappointed and call up the company. In the UK, two third
of complaints to suppliers registered by customer support professionals continue to
be about billing errors (Source: Citizens Advice).

57
Now, as a reasonable person and with some experience in the ICT sector and large
scale implementations of systems that support complex business processes, I can
understand that these things happen. And I have hope because there are solutions
that can prevent this all. In the (complexity comparable) telecommunication industry
similar issues occurred. The Business Assurance practice was adopted and the sector
has a yearly healthy return on investment and happier customers and shareholders.
One of the practices that will detect erroneous billing, before the customer does, is
Enterprise Business Assurance. As controls on the accuracy of individual systems
does not avoid errors on a process or integration level, one needs a systems’
agnostic solution that loads data from all systems involved, applies the correct
business rules and validations and verifies if all is good. These permanent audits
will allow detection of possible errors that can lead to my dissatisfaction. Better, it
will allow to detect anomalies in values billed to me (i.e. Bill Shock, I typically spend
300 USD per month and suddenly a 300.000 USD bill occurs…) and the subsequent
potential press that will reduce confidence even further.
The Business Assurance practice only works a 100% if it is continuous and involves
all customers, relevant processes and systems. Utilities thus need a solution that
can handle the big data involved and has the intelligence to detect issues and to
present them in a way we humans can analyse. Also, they will have to involve others
in the organization to solve the cases found and consequently it needs an integrated
collaborative workflow solution.
Earlier this year, it became public that a UK electricity supplier had received a
7 million pounds fine due to incorrect billing. More recently, we read another
release about that same company billing a customer millions whilst he normally
spends just 300 pounds per month. These are expensive examples of the 80% of
complaints registered at customer support centres of utilities. Underlying systems
and processes cause these issues that can be prevented by adopting a Business
Assurance practice and control systems and processes on a permanent basis. The
company that does will surely have an easier job in maintaining clients happy and
will become more competitive.

58
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