conXion 2021: All about the truly connected enterprise
“Innovation is fostered by information gathered from new connections.”
Margaret J. Wheatley
This was the underlying message at Software AG’s conXion 2021, where individual stories were revealed to shed light on how being truly connected leads to innovation.
Our moderator - consultant, author and truly connected person Chris Dancy - kicked off the day with a very personal story about how he turned his data into wisdom - and how you can apply the same theory to business.
Business Transformation
Software AG’s CEO Sanjay Brahmawar used his passion for cycling to describe how technology has made his life better: “Tech plays a huge role in cycling.”
What does this have to do with your and your business goals? “Everything, because I'm sure all of you are passionate about your business and you work very hard to make it as good as it can be.”
Today that means the digital transformation of your business. Brahmawar explained that our customers believe it is a “do or die” proposition and the clock is ticking.
“But to get there, you've got to make it across the river from one bank where your business is today to the other bank, a digitally transformed business.”
For that success you need rich and meaningful partnerships.
Customer focus
Bank of Mandiri, the largest bank in Indonesia, and smart city Digital Dubai joined CPO Stefan Sigg and CRO Scott Little to talk about their journeys of data to value – unlocking the X factor that lies inside their data and information.
Digital Dubai is a groundbreaking project about building a future without paper. This year, the government of Dubai will go completely paper-free. It is also working on a complete remake of how it interacts with citizens.
The Bank of Mandiri is diversifying, adding retail and micro-banking to its wholesale business and opening offices in new countries. It uses webMethods API technology and suite of products to open up to customers and third-party partners such as fintech providers.
Truly connected enterprise
CTO Bernd Gross interviewed the acclaimed author of "Crossing the Chasm," Geoffrey Moore, who offered some advice on how your company can become truly connected and move the needle toward change.
Moore stated that you need to ensure the purpose of your company is to serve your customer, not to serve yourself. He said: “The operating model is what changes your business, but you can’t change that overnight.” To do this, he said you must be continually responding to customer needs.
Hybrid working
You could say that CHRO Elke Frank predicted the future of work, when she wrote a book in 2015 called, "Out of Office."
Dancy asked her if she knew the future was coming, that a pandemic would lead to different working environments, behaviors, and even hours. Frank allowed that even she had not imagined that so much would become digital so quickly. And she outlined just how to make so-called hybrid working work.
1. The right IT infrastructure
2. The right culture of leadership and collaboration
3. The office space itself and who should work there.
“It's all about fostering collaboration and the meetup culture,” said Frank.
Learn more
Dancy closed the day by summing up how we moved from data to information to knowledge and, ultimately, wisdom: “Wisdom is a culmination of all that data that gets turned into those visible solutions and information.”
With that data and wisdom, you can become truly connected, which means truly purpose driven. This goes beyond business and commerce; the truly connected enterprise can positively shape humanity and help transform our future for a smarter tomorrow.
And that's so important because in a truly connected world, people and technology are working together to take care of all of us.
Read our blog to learn more about these topics and to get access to the recordings of conXion 2021 here.