SJUK caught up with Verena Rathjen, Vice President EMEA Axis Communications at Wembley Stadium for OPEN London.

Held in partnership with Genetec and Milestone, OPEN London delivered on its promise to open new opportunities for visitors, facilitate connection with wider industry leaders in networking events and enable discovery of the challenges and opportunities arising from the key trends in the security industry including how technology is driving innovation in security, safety, and operational efficiency.

Axis event packed

The packed event was structured around three working areas including OPEN Mind for inspiring plenary sessions, panel debates and breakout workshops; OPEN Learn, a tech bar to start conversations and answer questions in an intimate and friendly space; and OPEN Zone to enable the easy delivery of presentations and product demos within partner pods.

With a focus on education, collaboration and networking, OPEN London provided an intimate and insightful day for systems integrators, distributors, and consultants, as well as end-customers, to hear more about the key issues impacting the security industry including trust and resilience in the supply chain; ethics and sustainability; cybersecurity and device interoperability; compliance and data regulation, digital transformation and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

Verena Rathjen, Vice President EMEA gave a warm and inspiring welcome in which she said “innovation is the backbone of progress” – progress that will see us not only address security needs but needs outside of the security arena. “Keep an OPEN mind, it’s the only way new things can get in,” she said, to coin a well-known phrase, one that resonated with us long after the event had drawn to a close.

In a brief break, SJUK caught up with Rathjen to find out more about her role and the thinking behind the OPEN series of events. As Vice President, EMEA she is responsible for the region’s sales force, technical teams, finance, and HR. “My main task when I joined Axis was to build up an EMEA head region because that didn’t exist before. So, wherever it makes sense, we have colleagues that have EMEA roles so that we can work better together. In the EMEA region, I have responsibility for everything except product development and the supply chain, because that’s delivered globally.”

OPEN is a new series of events, “the biggest events we’ve ever run”, says Rathjen. “It’s also the first event where we bring together all our partners and stakeholders. So that’s also one of the reasons why it’s called OPEN. We want to make it open to all our stakeholders. It’s a chance for our participants here to discover new opportunities, to make connections and understand what trends that are out there could unlock future business potential.”

Innovation

Expanding on her opening statement, that “innovation is the backbone of progress,” Rathjen tells SJUK: “What this means for us at Axis and our partners is, as we look into the future, we need to really open our minds to see there are many more opportunities, not only in the traditional security arena but beyond that.”

BMW is a great example of this, says Rathjen. Initially installed from a security perspective, their cameras now play a role in the manufacturing process. They are used to inspect the cars, guide the workers in the production process and with the added layer of AI, anticipate and prevent mistakes from happening – “our cameras screen every car to spot potential mistakes and only if you get a green light will the car move on to the next stage of production. Should there be a claim or a quality issue later, they have all the images saved and can track and trace the problem back to its source.”

“I think this whole arena of business optimisation with the visual quality control and also, remote inspection is an interesting area. So, how can I use existing installations for my camera for more than just one-use case, which used to be security? That’s a very interesting thought and one that I think we will need to chase more and more.”

Sustainability

“Sustainability is an important and natural part of our operations, which is why we signed up to the UN Global Compact early, in 2007.” The company recognises the value and importance of transparency and being able to show its progress towards its sustainability goals. Every year it publishes its sustainability report, written according to the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative).

Rathjen offers some examples: “We design our products so that we can manufacture them with as little waste as possible; we are also phasing out hazardous materials so most of our products are already PVC free. We have always tried to go a beyond what is expected so before something even becomes legislation, we are already doing as much as we can to help.”

The company is also on course to be net zero in terms of Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2030. “For us as a sales region that means we will only drive electric cars by then and all our offices we will run on renewable energy.”

“And the last thing, which I think sometimes also often forgotten is regard to Circular Economy – not only do we work hard to recycle our products, but also make sure that they can be used for as long as possible. And that links strongly back to cyber because that’s the one of the main elements, right? Our products are high quality so they will last a long time, but you need to make sure that they are also up to date from a firmware perspective. We’ve introduced long term software support, which guarantees continuous updates of the software for up to 10 years.”

Culture

Rathjen was drawn to Axis Communications because of its culture, stories of which she had heard and read about before joining the team. “We want to lead by example. Our values are our driving force in helping to foster openness, inclusiveness, and transparency. Our code of conduct, together with our values and strong focus on ethics ensure the well-being and development of our company, and everyone associated with it.”

The company works actively with diversity and inclusion, work-life balance, and conscious recruitment to give co-workers a great place to grow. “I think we are we are very friendly company, yes we are performance oriented, but in a positive, supportive way.”

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