Two weeks ago The Next Web organized the first TNW CxO Summit in partnership with Accenture at the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam. Aimed at senior executives, leading thinkers, and founders, this invitation-only conference featured world class speakers sharing their thoughts on topics including the Internet, mobile, technology, media, finance and entertainment.
The summit started with a welcoming note by TNW founder Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten and Accenture’s Senior Executive Digital Transformation Harald Timmer. During the four hour Summit I had the opportunity to interview four speakers asking what brought them to The Next Web Summit, the key takeaways of their presentation and what their advice is for enterprises to start doing tomorrow.
The rise of the Data Scientist
Hilary Mason – Chief scientist at Bit.ly discusses the rise of the Data Scientist, a new class of professionals integrated into large and small organizations enabling them to make sense out of the Big Data stored in their servers. Data scientists are building products and models out of data and explaining and visualizing it, turning that wealth of data into usable benchmarks for sound business decisions.
Tapping the minds of many
Looking to the future, crowds and crowd sourcing are the future of business, governments and social innovation, according to Ross Dawson. This futurist and author on how companies can leverage social networking for knowledge sharing – explained that looking at the future enables organizations to make better decisions. Innovation is at the heart of crowd sourcing and therefore it’s particularly important to look into the world of crowds to gain insights starting today. There is a blurring boundary between organizations and their surroundings, and by tapping the minds of many, organizations have the opportunity to reach out and gain the thoughts, insights and ideas of individuals. Tapping the minds of many people is a fundamental part of the future of organizations. By bringing a global talent pool into the organization they can out-compete the competition. Therefore innovation must go beyond the boundaries of organizations.
Not surprisingly, Andrew Keen has a different view and the discussion continues online.
The Lean Cloud
Well-known as one of the ‘cloud computing’ pioneers, Werner Vogels emphasized how cloud computing enables enterprises to succeed in an agile world. Key point in making your organization lean is removing all the waste, which is anything that does not lead to direct value for the customer. Although many organizations move to the cloud looking for availability, the cloud offers far more advantages for organizations. Besides agility and improving Time to Market, it enables organizations to drive down the cost of innovation due to the minimal expenses of investments and maintenance in hardware. With cloud computing to stay, it will change the way IT will be delivered in the enterprise.
The importance of Social Media
In May 2011, Royal Dutch Shell had it first page on Facebook because Herbert Heitmann – EVP External Communications of Royal Dutch Shell wanted Shell to open up and engage with their stakeholders. With the help of Facebook and other partners, Shell managed to engage 1 million fans in the first few months. Although Shell deals with the openness of social media and the more sensitive topics surrounding the organization, Heitmann explains that there is no such thing as control over social medial. What comes closest to control is engagement and taking advantage of the opportunities of social media, rather than worry about the risks and lack of control. Therefore there is no reason to be afraid or shy to engage. ”Social Media are for organizations a fantastic medium to engage with stakeholders, without any kind of mediator in between. That means you get real-time and first hand input, and you have the opportunity to tell your story without any kind of distortion”.
Accenture’s Harald Timmer concluded that the way organizations respond to the shift from information to interaction will be a major factor in their success or failure. Digital, social media and mobile are becoming dominant, and changes the way organizations are organized and operate. Customers are changing and telling their providers how they should understand their needs and tell them how to interact with the customers. Therefore organizations have to take on the digital revolution head on by integrating digital into their business model.
Lastly Harald leaves us with the key take-away of the day: “Embrace digital and engage with your customers by making them part of your community and organization. Let them do the talking for you”.
