Coffee Break With Game-changers, Presented By Sap

The buzz: Get a shiny quarter. br If your Finance function is like most organizations’, it has traditionally focused on expense control, spreadsheet-driven accounting and management reporting, mostly past tense. Fast forward to 2020 and the full adoption of digital technologies. Now toss the coin. br Heads: Making the right digital changes to your Finance operating model, technology and people can transform Finance into a predictive analytics powerhouse. br Tails: Digital will kill Finance as we know it. If it happens – whether good or bad – how will you and your organization cope? br The experts speak. br David Axson, Accenture: “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” (Albert Einstein) br Bob Parker, IDC: “Only the guy who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat.” (Jean-Paul Sartre) br Birgit Starmanns, SAP: “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.” (John Maynard Keynes) br Join us for Finance 2020: Life or Death by Digital?

The buzz: Ready. Set. Wait! You’re a woman entrepreneur ready to start or expand your own business. Now what? You need to know that while women are the fastest growing segment of U.S. business owners, they tend to have smaller companies, generate less revenue, and employ fewer people than men. Is this due to fear of success, short-sighted planning, weak business processes, leadership insecurity – or all of the above? Learn the critical factors holding women back and solid advice to enhance your business success. These insights can help men, too. The experts speak. Jane Wesman, Jane Wesman Public Relations, Inc.: “Be flexible and recognize that business problems don't always have clear-cut solutions.” Sandi Webster, Consultants 2 Go, LLC: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right” (Henry Ford). Nina Kaufman, Esq., Entrepreneur.com Legal Expert: “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over” (Yogi Berra). Join us for Success Secrets for Entrepreneurial Women – Part 2.

The buzz: Verb: To friend. Over 1BN of us use Facebook and other social media mainly for personal communication. Many businesses see sales gold here, too. But their ‘pixels-vs-people’ approach isn’t working so well. How can B2C and B2B companies market effectively to FB and other social platforms – and what is the potential payoff? It's time to learn how to master authentic social engagement to capture the exciting possibilities for your company.The experts speak. Yvette Lui, Facebook: “It always seems impossible until it’s done” (Nelson Mandela). Jamie Tedford, Brand Networks: “Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes…because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do” (Steve Jobs). Hari Ashvuni, SAP: “The price of doing the same old thing is far higher than the price of change” (President Bill Clinton). Join us for Facebook, Etc. and Your Business: Beyond Friending.

The buzz: Climb in. Buckle-up. Your connected car is leaving the garage.Just as radio, PCs and smartphones changed our world, connected vehicles will, too, as the automotive industry advances toward a fully autonomous connected vehicle. Not to worry. It WILL be safe, courteous, green, shared, tailored for purpose – and driverless. And it will be the business platform of the future. How? The experts speak. Joe Barkai, Industry Analyst: “'I can’t believe that!’ said Alice. ‘Can’t you?’ the Queen said in a pitying tone. ‘Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes’” (Alice in Wonderland). Otto Schell, GM: “Every new experience is unusual. The rest of life is just sleep and committee meetings” (John Twelve Hawks). Larry Stolle, SAP: “I call it like the domino theory of reality. If you can go one step at a time and it seems to make sense, you can then take your audience into an area that is relatively outlandish!” (Ivan Reitman). Join us for Connected Car Take 4: Driverless, Too!

The buzz: Hyper is a good thing. As individuals, organizations, and machines inter-connect in real time, the resulting always-on hyper-connectivity is reinventing the world’s economy. If your organization is serious about competing, you need to capture the transformational power of digital across your business. The pay-off: a potentially dramatic increase in productivity and economic value. What do you need to transform quickly and win? What will you risk if you’re too slow? The experts speak. Christophe Mouille, Accenture: “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever” (Ghandi). Bob Parker, IDC: “The future is already here – it’s just not very evenly distributed” (William Gibson). Amr El Meleegy, SAP: “If you don't go after what you want you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place” (Nora Roberts). Join us for Hyper-Connectivity: Reinventing the World Economy.

The buzz: Yes or not yet? “There are only two types of companies today: those that have been breached and know it—and those that just don’t know it yet,” noted John Chambers. As a retailer’s networked connections expand and firewalls grow porous, added scrutiny is needed on security inside their IT landscape, as well as within their partner and consumer environments. What risk do “ethical” retailers face if sensitive collected data is breached? Do regional/national retailers have an advantage over multinationals? The experts speak. Brent Brown, HP: “If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else” (Y. Berra). Brian Kilcourse, RSR Research: …computer viruses should count as life…the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive” (S. Hawking). Tim Hood, SAP: …there are known knowns… known unknowns...unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know” (D. Rumsfeld). Join us for The Networked Economy: Shaping the Future of Retail - Part 3.

The buzz: Now! Attention, manufacturers. If it's a surprise that we’re mid-way into the 4th industrial revolution, here’s a news flash. Your manufacturing facility needs to take advantage of the exponential advances in technology, big data and innovations – or you’ll soon be out of business. How can you catch up? Harness the power of in-memory computing, IoT, wearable technologies, additive manufacturing and predictive capabilities. And stop underestimating customers’ evolving expectations (your competition isn’t). The experts speak. Mark Frank, Deloitte: “Vision without execution is just hallucination” (Henry Ford). David Dreyer, SAP: “It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so” (Mark Twain). Rick Imber, SAP: “The greatest danger for us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we will reach it” (Michelangelo). Join us for Transporting Your Factory into the Future Now – Part 2.

Performance Management (PM) began informally around World War 1. By the late-1950s, many companies adopted formal, personality-based PM practices without a self-appraisal component. Complaints arose about their effectiveness. Fast-forward to today. Most organizations are using a PM strategy intended to drive the right behaviors toward a specific outcome, but 80% believe it’s not delivering. Is your PM maximizing or hurting your employees’ productivity? It’s time to examine the good, bad, and ugly of PM, plus improvement strategies you can use now. The experts speak. Dr. Steven Hunt, SuccessFactors: “Sweeping generalizations about certain performance management methods being universally good or bad are almost always wrong.” Josh Bersin, Bersin by Deloitte: “Traditional performance appraisals are dinosaurs.” Pam Seplow, SAP: “Good judgment comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgment” (Will Rodgers). Join us for Performance Management: Are Today’s Practices Working?

The buzz: Drug supply risks. Today, more often than is acceptable, a required antibiotic or chronic disease drug cannot be delivered on time. What will happen tomorrow when personalized medicine tailored for one or a small patient group must be secured? The experts speak. Dr. Josef Packowski, CAMELOT Consulting Group: “Detective Del Spooner: ‘You are just a machine. An imitation of life. Can a robot write a symphony?’ Sonny: ‘Can you?’” (I, Robot). Julian Amey, WMG: “Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man…Better...stronger...faster” (The Six Million Dollar Man). Jack Schmidt, SAP: “…one of my mantras–focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains” (Steve jobs). Join us for Future of Medicine: Will Supply Chains Be Ready?

The buzz: Connected health systems. Wearable devices can track and automatically report body traits, therapy adherence and lifestyle to patients, doctors, and more. But if taken to a new level, they could have more dramatic impacts. How? Individuals would change their health thinking and behavior, health insurers would pay per outcome vs. cost, and life sciences companies would focus on prevention as well as cure. Is this the impossible dream? The experts speak. Harry Greenspun, MD, Deloitte: “If you build it, they will come… or maybe they won’t.” Scott Lundstrom, IDC: “The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency (Bill Gates). Bernhard Schweizer, SAP: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been”(Wayne Gretzky). Join us for Health Wearables Part 3 – The New Life-Changers?

The buzz: Hurry! Calling all manufacturers! We’re mid-way into our 4th industrial revolution. If your manufacturing facility isn’t taking advantage of the exponential advances in technology, exploding big data and amazing innovations, the handwriting is on the wall: you’ll soon be obsolete. What will it take to catch up? First, learn to harness the power of in-memory computing, IoT, wearable technologies, additive manufacturing and predictive capabilities. Next, stop underestimating the changing dynamics of your customers’ expectations (your competition isn’t). Want to know more? The experts speak. Mark Frank, Deloitte: “Nothing is impossible. Some things are just less likely than others” (Jonathan Winters). Timothy Day, Johns Manville: “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it” (Lord Kelvin). Rick Imber, SAP: “The secret of success is doing what you have to do, better than you have to do it” (Unknown). Join us for Transporting Your Factory into the Future Now–Part 1.

The buzz: Hurry! Connecting information, people, assets, and devices – on 3rd generation platforms that support social, mobile, cloud, Big Data, IoT – drives newly insightful business action. Can a long-standing industry like chemicals benefit? Yes! Embracing IoT can open opportunities to optimize efficiency, deploy radically new business models, and stay competitive. The experts speak. David Dunn, Rolta: “All right...but apart from better sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health ... what have the Romans ever done for us?” (Monty Python). David Cruickshank, SAP: “Standing on the shoulders of giants” (Sir Isaac Newton). John Harrison, SAP: “The Internet is ultimately about innovation & integration... you don't get the innovation unless you integrate Web technology into the processes by which you run your business” (Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.). Join us for IoT and Chemicals: Transform Your Business Models Now!

The buzz: Let’s get together, yeah yeah yeah! What does it really mean for you to have a connected business? Analysts estimate that by 2020, social networks will connect 2.5 billion people, the number of connected devices will total 75 billion, and the volume of global business trade between connected businesses will reach $65 trillion. As we move to an era of true hyperconnectivity in our digital economy, how can your company turn these challenges and your business networks into sustainable profitable opportunities? The experts speak. Dennison DeGregor, HP: “The digital CX revolution is dead – long live Digital Humanism!” Frank Diana, TCS: “The networked organization of the future knows that the lion's share of value exists outside its walls; it looks to capture that value and bring it inside (Dion Hinchcliffe). Drew Hofler, SAP: “We build too many walls and not enough bridges” (Sir Isaac Newton). Join us for Business Networks and the Digital Economy: Ready for Digital Humanism?

The buzz: Always better together. As the world becomes increasingly digital, your company’s survival will rely more than ever on co-innovation opportunities within your business network. How can you make this happen? Simply put, seek out and connect with collaborative partners who can help you achieve the solution edge that will keep you competitive and successful. But where do you look and whom should you choose? Guidance from Peter Drucker: “The best praise an innovation can receive is for people to say, ‘This is obvious. Why didn’t I think of it?’” The experts speak. Dawn Duross, Cisco: “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do (Coach John Wooden). Krishna Kumar, AppOrchid: “I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse. The choice of life” (The Godfather). Puneet Suppal, SAP: “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present...we must think anew and act anew” (Abraham Lincoln). Join us for Co-Innovation: Your Path to a Digital Future – Part 2.

The buzz: Spelling bee. Cybersecurity breaches in the headlines still strike fear in companies, governments and individuals worldwide. For businesses, the advent of the IoT can compromise secure access to critical infrastructures by connecting business applications with process/infrastructure applications, a traditional no-no. With today’s Advanced Persistent Threats and Zero Day Exploits, how do you protect access between 30-year-old sensors without Internet protocol support? The experts speak. Gerlinde Zibulksi, SAP: “What is cybersecurity? C Y B E R S E C U R I T Y – CRY BE SECURITY – SECRET ICY RUBY – ICE CURRY BYTES – I RUT BY SECRECY.” Hillel Zafir, HMS Technology Group: “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. When you read you begin with ABC.” (Sound of Music). Richard McCammon, Delego: “We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security” (Dwight D. Eisenhower). Join us for Data Security Breaches Part 4: Wising-Up to Real-Life Impacts.

The buzz: Crystal ball. Yes, change is inevitable. But today’s unprecedented pace and scale of change presents unique challenges for the future of business. Futurists worldwide are examining and assessing potential business impacts of new and emerging paradigms, energy innovations, physical-digital boundary blurring, business decentralization, and other global drivers. What are the implications for future leaders? The experts speak. Frank Diana, TCS: “We are entering a world where everything we know and understand about the purposes of business and the mission of our own organization will be challenged” (Rohit Talwar). Gray Scott, Futurist: We are becoming a digitized species…crossing the computational event horizon into a digital black hole.” Timo Elliott, SAP: “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction” (E. F. Schumacher). Join us for Emerging Paradigms and the Future of Business.

The buzz: The secret’s out. So you’re a woman and you want to start – or expand – your own business. That’s great! Women are the fastest growing segment of business owners in the U.S. today. But here’s the rub: compared to men, women tend to have smaller companies, generate less revenue, and employ fewer people. What accounts for these differences? And what can you do about? Our panelists will reveal the key factors holding women back, plus solid advice for business success – for female and male entrepreneurs. These are insights you won't want to miss. The experts speak. Jane Wesman, Jane Wesman Public Relations, Inc.: “The road to success is not a solitary journey.” Sandi Webster, Consultants 2 Go, LLC: “There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women (Madeleine Albright). Nina Kaufman, Esq., Entrepreneur.com Legal Expert: “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else” (Yogi Berra). Join us for Success Secrets for Entrepreneurial Women.

The buzz: Honk if you love connected cars! The future is definitely connected and it’s already here. Consumers, especially millennials, living an always-connected lifestyle expect continuous access to personalized information and services from service and content providers of their choice – even while driving. They do not want to be restricted by the VIN of the vehicle they happen to be driving or in at any moment. How do they define their ideal mobile digital identity? What information do they want while on the road? How much are they willing to pay for it? The experts speak. Joe Barkai, Industry Analyst: “Driving is distracting me from texting.” John Ellis, former Ford Global Technologist: “Never disrespectful. Always irreverent.” Larry Stolle, SAP: “I can do without more than I can put up with.” (Colleague, circa 1980). Join us for Connected Car Take 3: Your Mobile Digital Identity.

The buzz: It’s a small world after all. For today’s consumer, “the world” is just a few clicks away. Armed with anytime, anywhere information, they can (and do) find the best solutions for their lifestyle needs, often before walking into a store, restaurant, or service center. They’re actually maximizing their use of time, their most precious commodity. And they will punish providers who waste it. The experts speak. Brent Brown, HP: “100% of the shots you don't take don't go in...” (Wayne Gretzky). Brian Kilcourse, RSR Research: “Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window” (Peter Drucker). Tim Hood, SAP: “We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects” (Herman Melville). Join us for The Networked Economy: Shaping the Future of Retail – Part 2.

The buzz: Roll-it! Big Data represents an opportunity for us to re-imagine our world, track new signals once impossible, and change how we experience our communities, places of work, and personal lives. After nearly two years of research and filming, interviews with 30+ data science, AI, technology and digital medicine scientists and entrepreneurs, The Human Face of Big Data documentary illustrates the promise and the peril in the growing Big Data revolution. The experts speak. David Jonker, SAP: “We have to care about what kind of future we are making... (Tim O'Reilly). Sandy Smolan, Director: “Anything that is going to save the world by definition has to be able to change it for the worst as well as the better (Jay Walker). Bonnie Benjamin-Phariss, ProSocial: “There's always room for a story that can transport people to another place (J.K. Rowling). Bill Medsker, Producer: “What will happen? (Jack Kerouac). Join us for The Human Face of Big Data Film: Igniting Social Change.