IOD in 2010 & Beyond…Future of Information Technology
On Wednesday, the General Session focused on technology and the future. Attendees were greeted by Neil Isford,VP of IBM Information Management Sales, followed by a fabulous painter who creatively used his hands along with odd accessories (like a broom versus a paint brush) to paint huge portraits. He wowed the audience with his enthusiasm and talent by transforming a blank slate into a masterpiece portrait of Albert Einstein within 10 minutes!
Next Irving Wladawsky-Berger, Emeritus of IBM Academy of Technology and visiting professor at MIT, took the stage to speak about emerging trends across IT - for example, innovations in memory technology to help increase the number of transactions per second. Whaldasky-Berger also moderated a panel discussion with IBM executives across IBM's Information Management segments, including Jim Welch, Arvind Krishna, Anant Jhingran, Carl Kessler, and Peter Griffiths.
During the panel discussion, Welch, VP of IBM InfoSphere commented, "It's vital for organizations to make timely decisions with accurate, complete, and trusted information." Peter Griffiths, VP of IBM R&D for Business Intelligence and Performance Management, added to the subject of trusted information stating "As we make the advancement from automation to optimization, its also about building confidence so that business and IT people begin to collaborate more." Griffiths went on to say, "Business decisions are made by people and therefore information has to be delivered in a way that is understood and trusted by the entire organization."
Carl Kessler, VP of Development for IBM Content Management talked about compliance being like a shark in the area (at the beach), but not always detected. He went on to say, "It's not just about the bad guys. The good guys who are ethical and well-managed are also under scrutiny. The best way to use governance is to create rules that automate the compliance effort surrounding record-keeping, to remove the opportunity for accidental problems based upon human touch."
Each of the remaining panelists offered insights on transforming information for better business outcomes - delivering messages that were well received by the audience.
An EXPO Highlight
The spotlight of this year’s Information On Demand Global Conference was on the information agenda - highlighted on the EXPO floor with the Information Agenda Showcase, which included Business Partners and a unique IBM exhibit called the “Information Agenda Experience.” The Experience was a creative view of the "day in the life of information". It featured the Hensons, an American family, where a milestone event was occurring - teenager Lilly Henson was about to go off to college in Switzerland. This Experience scenario required the Hensons to go through a number of preparation steps, as consumers - touching a number of industries. Industry highlights that were a part of the tour included the banking industry (to pursue a college loan), the insurance industry (to insure valuable belongings), the retail Industry (to purchase fashionable clothes), and the healthcare industry (to transfer medical records).
The tour highlighted how an IBM Information Agenda approach services many industries – improving the consumer experience - to provide information for corporations that is immediately available, accurate, and in context as it pertains to their customers. The tour also highlighted opportunities for differentiation within each industry and was based on the premise that each company had usable and relevant "knowledge" about the family - bridging the gap from data and content to leverage information as a strategic asset.
A special thanks to our EXPO Diamond and Platinum sponsors - these included: Intel, SAP, SPSS, BearingPoint, and CSC.