agenda

Think Tank

Designing the Digital Workplace

Employees are consumers of digital technologies such as IoT, AR and VR. The plethora of mobile devices has enabled them to work where they want and when they want which has raised the bar on employee expectations for tools and capabilities from their employers. In order for companies to retain the best and get the most out of their employees, it is vital to design and continually update the digital workplace. We will discuss the current trends as well as share case studies of successful digital workplace implementations.

Takeaways:

1. Highly skilled employees will demand a mobile and efficient workplace.  
2. Keeping these skilled employees fully engaged and passionate about your company is critical to achieving the desired digital transformation.

Think Tank

Artificial Intelligence and the Rise of Advanced Machine Learning

Often times, the terms "Artificial Intelligence" and "Advanced Machine Learning" are thought of interchangeably and while there is a relationship between AI and AML, to say they are the same thing is an oversimplification and misclassification. Rather the one begets the other with AI being the basic principle upon which AML is developed.

As AI begins to mature and migrate away from purely advanced mathematical operations into decision making paradigms, AML steps forward as the predictive ability of machines to process vast quantities of data for the purposes of making decisions in ways that first mimic, but ultimately surpass (in terms of speed at the very least) those of humans. As data and analytics becomes foundational to the way every business operates, AI and AML will become foundational capabilities.

Think Tank

CIO's Got Talent: Finding, Growing & Retaining the Best People

While new technology and solutions can help CIOs make more, faster and better decisions for an organization, nothing will take the place of a highly talented workforce. CIOs need to be great recruiters of talent but even more importantly growing the skills and capabilities of their team providing engaging and challenging opportunities for people. Competitive compensation is important for retaining great talent but so is a work environment where individual growth and development are front of mind and not an after thought.  

Takeaways:

1. Highly skilled employees want an environment where they can grow their skills and feel appropriately challenged.
2. Finding the best people, inside and outside of your company, and then providing a path to individual excellence is a key responsibility of CIOs.

Think Tank

Data Matters! Attaining Transformation Through Data & Analytics

If digital transformation is a journey, then data is the fuel that will transport your company from here to there. Comprehending and creating insight from data is transformational. Being able to gather and analyze data to generate a competitive edge, creates new opportunities, and promotes innovation. However, to support a pipeline of up-to-date and competitive modern data and analytics, a sound foundation and architecture must be constructed in order to deliver it.

Think Tank

Big Data, Little Data. Secure Data, Lost Data.

If digital transformation is a journey, then data is the fuel that will transport your company from here to there. What data do you have access to? How can you make sense out of the data and thus make decisions from it? How does a company use data to be a disruptor and not a victim? And how do you secure that data to ensure that the digital transformation journey does not end prematurely?

Takeaways:

1. Digital transformation without constant access to usable and reliable data will be a slow and arduous journey.
2. Digital transformation exposes increasing amounts of data potentially vulnerable to cyber attacks and must be addressed.

Think Tank

Adopting Blockchain, Imagine the Possibilities!

Blockchain is an exciting new technology that is slowly proving to be a radical innovation since Internet that triggered previous industrial revolutions. Blockchain technology features like disintermediation, improved transparency, and increase auditability can significantly reduce transaction costs, introduce efficiency into existing value chains, challenge revenue models, and open new markets. It's potential to disrupt existing economic and business models through productivity gains to multiple industries has been very promising. while there are merits, like any new technology,

Blockchain is going through its maturity cycle and questions about its scalability, interoperability, security, transition costs, data privacy, and governance will need to be addressed before it achieves widespread adoption.

Think Tank

Influencing, and not Just Reacting to, the Business Strategy

Building up digital business hinges on being able to add in information and technology assets and capabilities much earlier into leaders' strategic plans. We will discuss how CIOs are aiming to revamp the dynamics of the provider/consumer relationship in order to have a strategic impact and influence across all levels of the business.

Think Tank

The Next Phase of Digital Transformation

Today's digital technologies quickly become commodities, and adoption of emerging technologies provides only temporary edge and differentiation. To stay ahead, you must think bigger and take bigger risks. Do not make the technologies themselves the focal point, but the profound business transformations they make feasible.