On September 29th, 2016, more than 250 ICT professionals gathered at the Crystal Park for a new edition of IT Days. This year's topic was "Cloud…what's next?" and several local and international digital experts discussed future innovation, the new value created by the cloud and also the advent of the Chief Digital Officer position.

The Chief Digital Officer, a true change accelerator

Dr. Roman Friedrich, Partner at PwC's strategy consulting service - Strategy&, was the first keynote speaker to take the stage, and gave an inspiring presentation entitled "The right CDO for your company's future". "The Chief Digital Officer is a animal we never saw before: he think differently" started Roman. To avoid the mistakes made by companies like Kodak or Nokia, companies need to know what the future will look like. In order to do that, companies notably need a more agile management and new process to act more rapidly, to test and launch their services and products much faster than they did before. That is actually where the CDO comes in. "He brings a sense of urgency, ensures coherence, acts on a shorter time scale and has a customer centric perspective" added Dr. Friedrich. While some CDOs will focus on creating new business models and strategies, some are more customer focused, and others have a role that resembles the one of the CIO with the need to bring more efficiency and cut costs. According to Dr. Friedrich, having a CDO in your company pays off: "top performing companies have a strong digital IQ. A strong focus on CDO gives higher financial performance". He added: "Companies need an experienced cross functional digital leader to carry out the tasks of transforming every aspect of their business. The CDO changes the digital midnest, he brings new value and business models".

 

 

The five archetypes of a Chief Digital Officer

Right before inviting local experts David Hagen from the CSSF, Remy Els from Foyer and Alain Herrmann from the CNPD, Dr. Friedrich described what he calls the five archetypes of a CDO. He therefore distinguishes the "Progressive thinker", the "Creative disrupter", the "Customer advocate", the "Innovative technologist" and the "Universalist"… with the last one being almost impossible to find. At Foyer, Remy Els and his team put emphasis on customer interaction:"we do not have a CDO, the challenge is put on all the C-levels of the company". He also notes the fact that it represents a change of mindset for CIOs. According to David Hagen CDOs do not currently introduce themselves as CDOs in Luxembourg. He adds: "There are several types of persons who are acting as Chief Digital Officers but they do not know it, they simply deal with digital transformation". As far as startups are concerned, they all have a CDO…by default! Alain Herrmann usually deals with CEOs, CIOs or the legal department, but admits that it could be better to sometimes interact with a CDO, depending on his role in the company. "Even if data protection means constrains, companies need to realize that is can give them an added value. A CDO could give the right impulse".

 

Entering the cloud with a business – and not technology – perspective

The afternoon started with a presentation by Collin Thompson, Head of Service Providers and Programs, VMWARE."Digital and especially the cloud is reshaping every industry you can name" started Collin. Banking, of course, but also Power, Utilities and Healthcare. It notably allows practitioners to treat patients more quickly, and people are now able to pay with their smartphone without having to go to a cash point. "All these aspects currently drive the development of the cloud on the one hand, and add value to serve the customers on the other". Moreover, companies can now easily move to new industries that had major barriers before, Collin named Uber, who's "on the top of the technology game", as one of the most striking examples. "All companies need to act like a software company: be more agile and flexible, have lean processes, etc. 66% of companies adopt cloud for its agility, while only 5% do it to reduce costs" stated Collin, who also added that there are several requirements to really take advantage of the cloud: "see the supplier/buyer relationship more as a partnership, simplify IT, align technologies within your company and design your application for cloud services".

 

 

Technology to accelerate your digital business

According to Samantha Wessels, SVP Group Sales, Dimension Data, we live in a world with infinite possibilities:"processes, products and services change thanks to technology. The cloud empowers you to deal with everything". It also allows to move as fast as the world, act as a startup…and fail quickly. Samantha then went on to present Dimension Data's partnership with ASO, the company behind the organization of the Tour de France. "It is a remarkable time to be a sports fan: there is no time lap, you have access to real time analytics. There is a whole new experience for viewers" added the SVP Group Sales, who thinks we have entered an era of digital greatness. It actually took Dimension Data 4 months to create a specific platform and it wouldn't have been possible without the cloud. Thanks to its mobile data center, the ICT company provided the Tour de France fans with never seen before statistics, boosted engagement on social media, and so much more. Samantha concluded her presentation with the 4 pillars which allow companies to accelerate their digital business: digital infrastructure, hybrid cloud, workspaces for tomorrow and last but not least, cybersecurity.

 

 

10 Master Classes

CIOs, CDOs and ICT decision makers also had the opportunity throughout the day to deepen the subjects closest to their interests through 8 master classes organized for their benefit by a selection of companies specializing in cloud and digital transformation (PwC Luxembourg, POST Luxembourg, Oracle, Check Point, System Solutions & Scality, Dimension Data, CTG Luxembourg, Telindus, Nerea & Wizata and EBRC).

 

Alexandre Keilmann