Inclusively Telecom

A city is smart only if its services, both digital and physical, are accessible to everybody. How can we achieve this goal? Chris and I spoke with Frazer McKimm, Director at New Way Networks, about how inclusivity in smart city infrastructure should not be an add-on feature, but rather be embedded in the design and deployment of services. We discussed the roles of public and private ecosystem entities, regulation, and technology, and service requirements for technology to reduce digital, social, and physical barriers, thereby improving the quality of life for all in the cities of the future, starting today. Inclusively is hosted by Chris Lewis, Lewis Insights, and Monica Paolini, Senza Fili

Nick Hunn, a physicist with extensive experience in Bluetooth technology, discusses audio accessibility and inclusion. He highlights the shift from traditional telecoil-based hearing aids to advanced technologies that benefit everyone, not just those with hearing impairments. The new Bluetooth Auracast standard is a game-changer, enabling easy access to audio broadcasts and enhancing experiences in venues such as theaters and concerts. Hunn emphasizes the importance of optimizing audio quality for all hearing levels and environments. He notes the trend of integrating hearing aid capabilities into consumer electronics, making them more accessible and reducing stigma. The discussion touches on the potential of audio technology to transform how we consume and interact with sound, including the use of smart devices and AI to enhance experiences. The conversation also explores the challenges of background noise and the need for better audio algorithms. Hunn envisions a future where audio plays a more central role in our digital lives, with technology becoming more affordable and integrated into everyday experiences. The potential of voice and sound to provide information and guidance is highlighted, suggesting a shift towards more immersive and inclusive communication technologies. You can find out more about Inclusively at https://senzafili.com/inclusively_in_telecom/ You can subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice, including Apple and Spotify

Chris McGinley, a Senior Research Fellow at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, part of the Royal College of Art a wholly post graduate art and design institute in London, joined us for this Inclusively podcast. Chris is a Senior Research Fellow. He focuses on the ageing market and diverse user needs in design, but the Centre as a whole looks more broadly at Inclusive Design. In fact, the term Inclusive Design was coined by the original Director of the Centre, Roger Coleman, some thirty years ago. As you might suspect, this is not a technology-centric discussion! More on Inclusively

The elderly population is exploding, and so are their needs and desire to live a fulfilling and independent life and have easy and effective access to healthcare. Wi-Fi and cellular can be game-changing through sensing and home-based services. I talked to Ronnie Chang, Marketing Director Fixed and Multimedia Terminals at ZTE, about a set of applications and services that are commercially deployed in China and that span a large ecosystem that includes vendors, application developers and health-care providers, in addition to the elderly population and their families. You can watch a demo of the solution here. More on Inclusively

Frances West has a vast experience in making technology more inclusive, that started when she was at IBM. She believes that technology can be a great enabler of inclusion if we put humans—all of them, with all their differences—first from design to market. An inclusive approach will drive demand, user satisfaction and profitability. She also shared her advice for startups and established companies on how to drive an internal inclusivity strategy, and her views on the future of DEI. Find out more about Inclusively Telecom and live Inclusively events here

How to make cities more inclusive with better connectivity services

Salesforce has built accessibility and inclusive design into its processes, products and services and established an accessibility group at the heart of the business. Its multi-pronged approach benefits from executive buy-in and builds up from the bottom with a specialist accessibility team spreading the word throughout the organization. In this Inclusively conversation, Jacqui Tolisano Senior Director, Product Accessibility and Adam Rodenbeck, Senior Digital Accessibility Engineer at Salesforce, joined Chris Lewis and Monica Paolini to explore how this inclusive approach works within the Salesforce model and how their lessons learned can be applied to the telecoms industry. You can find out more about Inclusively Telecom and the live Inclusively events at https://senzafili.com/inclusively_in_telecom/ Send us feedback, questions, and suggestions for guests and topics at inclusively@senzafili.com You can subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice, including Apple and Spotify

Chris Lewis and Lewis Insight, and Monica Paolini at Senza Fili, the hosts of Inclusively Telecom introduce the new podcast. They talk about the format, goals, topic and approach. You can find out more about Inclusively Telecom and the live Inclusively events at https://senzafili.com/inclusively_in_telecom/ Send us feedback, questions, and suggestions for guests and topics at inclusively@senzafili.com You can subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice, including Apple and Spotify

Inclusivity starts at home. Being able to live independently at home is, for many of us, fundamental to our quality of life. How can technology help us live on our own more safely and give our caretakers better tools to assist us? We talked to Saibal Chakraburtty, Director of Product Management at Cognitive Systems, about how Wi-Fi sensing can do this. Wi-Fi sensing uses the Wi-Fi radio signal to detect motion within the Wi-Fi network coverage area. Unlike location-based services, sensing detects the motion of people, pets or objects that have no connected device or sensor, making it very inobtrusive to deploy and operate. In a home environment, it is more respectful of privacy boundaries and does not require a smart home separate infrastructure. By tracking human motion in a residential environment, Wi-Fi sensing can detect anomalies (e.g., your mother did not get up this morning, or your father keeps going out of the house for hours at unusual hours) or other patterns that may alert caretakers or trigger an emergency response. We talked about what the technology can do, how it can be deployed and operated, how can Wi-Fi sensing services be deployed, and what are the use cases for elderly and disabled people who want to live on their own.

AI and ML are powerful tools that can improve our lives, but also can create social and economic challenges, and increase inequality. What role can they play in promoting inclusion, reducing biases, helping people with physical and mental disabilities? Or can they hinder these efforts? Is there something we need to do to ensure that AI and ML will bring a positive contribution? Our guest was Greg Mayo at NETSCOUT, an expert on AI and ML with experience in mentoring and volunteering youth facing challenging social conditions. We talked about how these new technologies can improve these experiences and conditions.

This year, at Inclusively, we celebrated our first International Women’s Day as we are still in our early infancy, having launched it last fall, with a wide-ranging conversation on how gender diversity is valuable in telecoms for women, men and business. Increasing women’s participation in the workforce, especially at high levels, is more than a box to check or a quota to meet. It improves profitability and the workplace for everybody and gives women the opportunities they deserve. Yet it also requires real work – we need to actively change the way we operate as an industry to increase women’s participation in the workforce. In this Inclusively event, Antonella Faniuolo, Head of Network Demand Planning Delivery and Transformation for Europe at Vodafone, and Eugina Jordan, CMO at Telecom Infra Project (TIP), shared their experience and vision, and told us what they are doing to increase gender diversity in the workplace both strategically and in their daily activities.

We were honored to have Tareq Amin, CEO at Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony, as our first guest on Inclusively. Tareq shared his experience at Rakuten in creating and supporting a diverse customer base and workforce. Diversity at Rakuten is an integral part of the culture and of the success of the company, and for Tareq, both a business and personal priority. There were no slides – we had an honest and open conversation about the challenges we face in making telecoms more inclusive and benefiting from inclusivity.