IFS called its event last week Unleashed - very appropriate given the immense energy of the event in the city of Miami Beach which throbs with Latin energy.
I have another name for the event - “Serendipity”- for the unplanned opportunity to meet people from countless countries and industries.
They had so many sub-themes converge. The main event ran from Tuesday to Thursday, but they had a partner day, a customer advisory board meeting and a Board of Directors Meeting around it. They had so many opportunities to mingle – in the Expo Hall, in various evening activities, and at breaks. The compact Miami Beach convention center made it so much easier to network. I must have detected at least 25 accents from my meetings (ten from around the UK!)
I ran into and had lunch with Craig Conway. I have not seen him since PoepleSoft days. Great to reminisce about past and talk about the present. He sits on several boards including that of IFS.
Nick Ward of Rolls-Royce was brilliant on stage. He covered outcome-based business models like their pioneering “Power by the Hour”. Even more fascinating was his description of material science and how it is pushing aviation boundaries and making it more sustainable. I have interviewed him over Zoom, but it was nice to spend a couple of minutes in person.
I have long admired the Norwegian company, Juton. Known as a paint company, they are actually a technology company with all kinds of unique skills and tools for maritime, oil and gas, skyscraper construction sectors. It was nice to spend a few minutes with the CEO, Morten Fon. I asked him what he thought of the Miami heat. He said he quite liked it – he had enjoyed a stint in tropical Malaysia.
I missed meeting him in person – have done so on Zoom but it was awe-inspiring to hear Mark Adams of Lockheed-Martin on stage. He described one of the most complex asset management and maintenance projects ever - modernization of US Navy. Aircraft carriers on down. Need to work anywhere in globe. Paper manuals to digital twins.
We heard inspirational talks from Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian ever with 23 Gold medals; from Tia Clair-Toomey, the fittest lady in the world having won 6 CrossFit tournaments, and from our friend, Ray Wang who in his own energetic way described what staying fit means for corporations in today’s digital world.
I met journalists who cover energy and aerospace and defense. Nice to not just hang around IT types. There were plenty of sustainability and partner awards. CEO Darren Roos handed out advance copies of his book “Moment of Service”. I got a personal tour of the Expo Hall from Bas de Vos who heads IFS Labs.
There was music everywhere – a sax soloist in the analyst track, bands at every outing, a DJ continually playing music outside the expo hall. There was time to explore South Beach and Miami’s museum/aquarium district.
In keeping with the Miami theme, I must have tried salmon, mahi-mahi, lobster and plenty of other seafood over the 3 days. I delivered my gift of Tampa cigars to Oliver Pilgerstorfer and he generously shared the box with others.
I am just scratching the surface on all the venues where other attendees had serendipitous meetings of their own.
I have requested to record a video episode with the IFS team which planned and executed such an amazingly diverse event – once they have had a chance to catch their breath. One regret - I missed spending more time with I have come to know over the last couple of years like Marne Martin, Mark Brewer and Alex Ivkovic. Hope to at next year's Unleashed, er. Serendipity event
In the meantime, enjoy this 3-minute recap of the event and some of the music.
"The most innovative period mankind has experienced"
McKinsey recently wrote:
“For many companies—and many industries—the COVID-19 pandemic set off a period of head-spinning change. They realized they were capable of moving faster than they ever thought possible. They went digital in a matter of days, not years. They offered new services almost overnight. If companies sustain this newfound speed and agility, it’s conceivable that more innovation will happen in the next ten years than in any previous decade in modern history.”
In a recent Burning Platform episode about tech industry events, I presented a few slides (see starting 24.05 in the first video. Jon Reed and Brian Sommer go ahead of me) on how the world has been turned upside down in 3 other ways beyond the COVID impact
At Deal Architect, we have seen what McKinsey is talking about the accelerating pace of innovation from three projects:
Our video series
We have recorded hundreds of video episodes in our Analyst Cam, Burning Platform and New Normal series. Even as tech vendor events and travel have been disrupted, we have had a front row seat on how business is evolving industry by industry. In reverse, we have also seen how many companies and tech vendors continue with business as usual, trying to sell what they had in their bags in 2019 and wishing they could roll back time. Others have spray painted a bit of innovation when the opportunity allowed for significantly more.
Support for IFS Moment of Service book
CEO Darren Roos and his team of executives including Marne Martin, Antony Bourne and Mark Brewer are all impressive story tellers (each has been profiled in our video episodes). IFS has complex customers like Rolls-Royce Aviation, the US Navy, Juton (one of the world’s largest maker of paints and coatings) and others which have been pioneering the use of digital twins, IoT, mixed reality and next-gen contract management and field service.
Our team had a chance to interview many IFS, customer and partner executives and Darren’s team turned that into an engaging 200-page book, Moment of Service.
IFS handed out advance copies of the book at their Unleashed event last month.
SAP’s Business as Unusual project
I would say it has been the most intense project my team has ever worked on (the publisher, Rheinwerk has been similarly pushed) and it has exposed us to new energy, new medicine, new mobility, new capital markets, new networks and new business models, and yes, lots of recycled stuff using circular economy thinking.
It gave us a chance to work with some the foremost domain experts across various industries such as Benjamin Beberness, Hagen Heubach, Torsten Welte and many others. I am not exaggerating – as you will see in the book, each of them could easily be a leading industry analyst in their area of focus. They just happen to be part of SAP. It allowed us to spend time with innovative customers who are driving decentralized grids, molecular recycling, pharma cold-chain logistics, next wave of financial instruments and more. It allowed us to learn from SAP’s expanding ecosystem – not just SIs, but strategy firms, Industry 4.0 enablers, micro-fulfillment supply chain players, digital agencies and a wide range of vertical research firms.
Thomas Saueressig and Peter Maier, two senior SAP executives and authors of the book, have built an incredible team and a truly enviable range of vertical products and customers. You can see it in the heat map of industries these 8 themes cut across.
If you can believe, we started with 20 themes and narrowed it down to 8. Which means there is plenty of change we did not catalog. Every one of the 300 pages in the book drips with innovation. There is little evidence of business as usual in the book.
So, yes sure some will keep pining to go back to 2019. As for us, we plan to keep fighting for a front row seat and look forward to a small role in this coming tsunami of innovation.
November 20, 2022 in Industry Commentary | Permalink | Comments (0)