London Conference: 29-30 Sep 2021

RAG's winning formula returns to London in style

 

 

Overview

RAG will return with our first post-lockdown conference Wednesday 29th and Thursday 30th September. All talks will be given in English. Attendance will be free for employees of communications providers and their regulators, but potential limitations on the number of attendees means we recommend you book your place early to avoid disappointment.

 

Agenda

The conference will cover revenue assurance, fraud management, cybersecurity, credit risk, billing accuracy, enterprise risk management, data integrity, nuisance prevention, margin optimisation, cost management and other kinds of business assurance. The formal agenda will begin promptly at 9.00am on both days of the conference, with a full schedule of panels and presentations in addition to a networking lunch and breaks at mid-morning and mid-afternoon.

The conference will be co-chaired by Rachel Goodin, Head of Technology Audit for online retailer Ocado, and Anthony Sani, founder of Orillion Solutions and co-creator of the RAG Wangiri Blockchain. Rachel and Tony bring a wealth of knowledge to the event, dating back to the very beginnings of telecoms business assurance.

Unlike other conference organisers, RAG does not announce agenda items until the relevant speakers have confirmed their participation. The following schedule shows the current draft agenda, which will be updated as new speakers are added. Click on a speaker’s name to read their biography, click here for the complete list of all speakers confirmed so far or keep reading below for more description of the main conference sessions.

Here is a more detailed walk through our agenda.

Wednesday 29th September
  • Our co-chairs for the event Rachel Goodin of Ocado and Tony Sani of Orillion will provide an introduction and opening remarks for the conference.

  • Greg Tack of Telstra, Mike Chalmers-Hunt of Vodafone, Anthony James of BT, Jeffrey Ross of 1Route and Vasily Birulin of the AB Handshake Corporation will discuss the methods for validating the origin of calls that are being considered, proposed and implemented in the UK, USA, Australia, Far East and elsewhere.

  • Will Richards of Subex will give a presentation on current developments in telecoms risk management.

  • Debdatta Mallick of PCCW Global, Kathryn Garland of JT Group, Ben Hooper of giffgaff and Adrian Harris of XINTEC will discuss how their expectations for revenue assurance and business assurance have evolved over the last two years, both as a result of the pandemic changing work patterns and telcos developing new priorities in response to significant changes in their markets.

  • Lunch will be followed by a workshop on the development of a telecoms fraud inventory, something we know many of you would like to see.

  • RAG’s own Rob Chapman will leads us in recognising the contributions made by Nixon Wampamba and Geoff Ibbett to the risk community whilst inducting them into the Hall of Fame.

  • The relationship between governance, cybersecurity, data breaches and shareholder value for comms providers will be the subject of conversation for two executive leaders in the field: Vernon Kitay of Blackfoot and freelance consultant Lee Scargall.

  • Jeremy Paynter, Senior Revenue Assurance Manager at digital infrastructure business Equinix and previously of satellite communications provider Inmarsat will join Vernon Kitay for a conversation about managing risk whilst business models are being disrupted.

  • Bill Leahy and Geoff Ibbett, both of Symmetry Solutions, will present on the topic of using superior data to provide enhanced assurance for telcos and their customers.

  • Our last formal session for Wednesday will be a panel on the evolving demands of cybersecurity featuring Richard Peachey of mobile operator Telefónica UK and Dawood Ghalaieny of IoT network connectivty provider Zariot. The panel moderator will be Lee Scargall.

  • The formal agenda for the day will close and be followed by networking, drinks and canapés.
Thursday 30th September
  • Our first panel on Thursday will feature James Edwards of Japanese blockchain developers SORAMITSU telling Tony Sani of Orillion about the potential to use distributed online ledgers to exchange intelligence in the fight against fraud. James will also comment on the reasons why central banks are turning to SORAMITSU to create new and secure digital currencies.

  • Arnd Baranowski, CEO of Oculeus, will give a presentation on advanced methods of preventing fraud.

  • Morgan Ramsey of Vodafone, Lisa Taillandier of Araxxe, and Dario Betti of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum will talk about the reasons why SMS fraud has grown so much worse and what the industry is doing in response.

  • Dr. George Bolt of Neural Technologies will present on the use of machine learning to understand and classify dealer behaviour and abuse.

  • An expert panel will debate recent trends in fraud and fraud management. The participants will be Michaël Houis of FraudBuster, David Bott of LATRO Services, Pietro Saia of Mobileum and moderator Ray Green of Focus Data.

  • Renowned industry leader Stephen Ornadel of Mobileum will discuss the evolution of SMS firewalls.

  • A workshop will cover the new features and functionality provided by the major upgrade of the RAG Wangiri Blockchain.

  • Ray Green of Focus Data will introduce his new free RAG Learning course about how to perform a facilitated risk assessment workshop.

  • The formal agenda will be completed by our traditional ‘Wise Heads’ panel of industry veterans who will review the themes covered during the conference and the state of the telecoms industry as it stands in 2021. The wise heads will include: senior manager and long-standing RAG contributor Andreas Manolis of BT; expert consultant and former Ooredoo Group Risk Director Lee Scargall; and Timo Vainionpää, the owner of Canadian wholesaler AurorA International Telecom.

  • Conference attendees will be welcome to continue to network into the evening over drinks and canapés.

Biographies of all the confirmed speakers can be found here.

 

Venue

The venue will be the International Suite at the Sheraton Skyline Hotel just outside Heathrow Airport, London, UK.

Under normal circumstances the International Suite can comfortably accommodate over 400 people but we are making considerable allowance for social distancing in our plans and will limit the number of attendees accordingly.

 

Accommodation

Attendees are responsible for arranging any hotel accommodation they may need.

A special discount on room rates has been offered by Sheraton Skyline to anyone participating in RAG London. The discounted rate is GBP84 per night and is available for bookings made before September 1st. This rate applies to the two nights of the conference and the evening before: September 28th to September 30th. Click on this hyperlink to book a room at the Sheraton Skyline at the special conference rate.

 

Travel within the UK

The Sheraton Skyline is found on the road that circles Heathrow Airport. The address is Bath Road, Hounslow, UB3 5BP.

There is plentiful car parking at the hotel. Conference attendees may park free of charge.

The nearest bus and tube stations are those which service Heathrow Airport. The airport recently announced the end of its free bus service from the airport to the hotels on the surrounding road. A one-way journey on the ‘Hotel Hoppa’ bus now costs GBP5 and a taxi would cost approximately GBP13.

 

International Travel

You should always check the official government advice to confirm the current COVID-19 rules for visitors to England.

Our best advice is that restrictions relating to international visitors are in the process of being relaxed for travelers who are fully vaccinated using COVID-19 vaccines recognised by the UK government. Choosing travel bookings that can be rearranged without additional cost means you will be able to adjust for changes in rules that cannot be promised but which are likely to occur before the date of the conference.

A recent update to UK government rules says there is no need for a quarantine period for visitors from the European Union or United States so long as they have been vaccinated using a vaccine approved for use by their home country if they are arriving from a country on the amber list and receive clean test results before departure and on the second day after they arrive. Anyone else who is not resident in the UK or Ireland must abide by the following rules depending on how the country of departure is classified by the UK government.

  • Green list: visitors from these countries need not quarantine, but must take a COVID-19 test two days after arriving in England.

  • Amber list: visitors will need to spend at least five full days in quarantine. The advice is confusing because it refers to ten days in quarantine but the exact rules for the test to release scheme say you may end quarantine ‘early’ if you book an optional test after five full days of quarantine in the UK. The quarantine will end immediately if this test is clear.

  • Red list: anyone who has been in a red list country during the 10 days before their planned arrival in England is effectively prohibited from entering England unless they are legally resident in the UK or Ireland.

The official green, amber and red lists can be found here.

We cannot give advice about the best providers of COVID-19 testing services. For more information about where you might obtain a test you may look at the advice given by Heathrow Airport or the UK government’s complete list of all test providers.

In addition to satisfying the COVID-19 checks, visitors will still need to meet normal visa requirements. Citizens of many countries may enter the UK without a visa. You can check if you need a visa by using this simple tool from the UK government. Attendees needing a visa will most likely require a Standard Visitor Visa as this is relevant for short stays for business and leisure, including participation in business conferences. Applications for a Standard Visitor Visa should be made at least three weeks in advance; tell us if you require a visa letter after you have completed your online registration.

 

Food and Drink

As well as providing lunch and refreshments during each day, we will provide drinks and canapés at the end of each day’s official agenda. Please advise of any dietary restrictions when completing the booking form for your seat.

 

Brochure

This printable PDF brochure for the conference was created on 20th September; you can download it from here or view it below. However, we always recommend that attendees check the agenda on this webpage for the most up to date schedule of speakers.


 

Free Registration for Employees of Communications Providers and Regulators

Employees of communications providers and their regulators qualify for free seats by registering with the email address provided by their employer; any registration using a different email address (for example, @gmail.com) will be rejected. Click here to register if you qualify for a free seat.

 

Attendance Options for Sponsors, Academics and Invited Guests

Sponsoring businesses may send their representatives to RAG London 2021. If your business is interested in participating in RAG events then please make your initial query through our contact form. Sponsors communicate their list of delegates through their designated liaison with RAG; employees of sponsors should not attempt to book seats through the public registration form mentioned above.

RAG allocates a limited number of complimentary seats for freelance consultants, subject matter experts, academics engaged in relevant research, and other industry leaders. To maintain a balanced audience, these seats will only be made available to specific named individuals. Invitations will be emailed in due course. If you wish to be added to the guest list you should contact a member of the RAG Committee, or else ask one of the conference sponsors to forward your request.

One of the most important aspects of our conferences is what we call the ‘RAG Spirit’. We want attendees to feel relaxed and have the freedom to talk openly about the challenges they face. To protect the RAG Spirit, we reserve the right to decide who may attend on a case-by-case basis.

 

About Our Sponsors

RAG is a not-for-profit enterprise, and telcos and regulators may attend our events for free, as do many specially invited experts. That means we rely on the generosity of businesses that pay for everything from our web server to the coffee we serve attendees. We would like to thank the following businesses for making this conference possible.

Gold Sponsors

Mobileum, Neural Technologies, Oculeus, Subex, Symmetry Solutions, TEOCO

Silver Sponsors

AB Handshake Corporation, Araxxe, FraudBuster, GBSD Technologies, LATRO Services, XINTEC

Bronze Sponsors
BluGem, Calltic, Cellusys, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Six Degrees, TMT Analysis, Trustonic

If you would like to host a future RAG event or if you want to learn about sponsorship opportunities then please get in touch. We will be glad to hear from you!

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