Episodes

  • Prioritizing Security and Efficiency: No Longer Either/Or!

    Prioritizing Security and Efficiency: No Longer Either/Or!
    Jan 17 2022
    The Buzz 1: “Amateurs hack systems, professionals hack people.” (Bruce Schneier, cryptographer, computer security professional, privacy specialist) The Buzz 2: “If you spend more on coffee than on IT security, you will be hacked. What’s more, you deserve to be hacked.” (Richard Clarke, novelist, former U.S. National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-terrorism ) The Buzz 3: “If you think you know-it-all about cybersecurity, this discipline was probably ill-explained to you.” (Stéphane Nappo, Global Head of Information Security, Société Générale International Banking) The Buzz 4: “My message to companies that think they haven’t been attacked is: ‘You’re not looking hard enough.’” (James Snook, Deputy Director, Office for Cyber Security and Information Assurance) The Buzz 5: “No technology that’s connected to the Internet is unhackable.” (Abhijit Naskar, author, The Art of Neuroscience in Everything) To unlock the power of the company’s data, many business technology implementations focus on optimizing business processes. That focus can sometimes lead to prioritizing efficiency at the expense of security. Reality check: No company can afford to be lax in security in today’s world with both internal and external cybersecurity threats. What to do? It’s time to re-imagine risk and compliance. Simplifying and embedding controls within systems and transactions and gaining early – and even predictive – insight into anomalies and potential risks can help you achieve security in an evolving risk landscape. Security not only delivers increased efficiency, but an overall better user experience by protecting processes, data, identities and financials. We’ll ask Gabriele Fiata at SAP and Pete Hobson at PwC to share their expert insights on Prioritizing Security and Efficiency: No Longer Either/Or!
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    1 hr
  • Grocery Retail Pioneers: Shaping Tomorrow's Customer Experience

    Grocery Retail Pioneers: Shaping Tomorrow's Customer Experience
    Dec 10 2021
    The Buzz 1: “Everybody eats – the act of buying food will never go away – but how we buy food will certainly evolve…” (forbes.com) The Buzz 2: “In The Future Market – It’s possible, of course, that physical grocery stores might not even exist in 50 years.” (fastcompany.com) The Buzz 3: “I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy was locking the front door. I said, 'Hey, the sign says you're open 24 hours.' He said, 'Yes, but not in a row.’ (comedian Steven Wright) The Grocery industry is in the midst of an intense, prolonged period of transformation. Yet emerging from this change is a once-in-a-generation chance to leap forward – for grocers to not just overcome today’s challenges, but to fundamentally reimagine the role they play in customers’ lives as they head into tomorrow. For years, grocers’ attention was mainly focused on making their stores visually appealing. Then, literally overnight, in Spring 2020 that changed – suddenly shifting to making a smooth online customer experience indispensable. Grocers are forced to find innovative ways to merge online and in-person experiences into new forms of seamless shopping. Today, retailers find themselves competing with chains, specialty stores, local farmers and markets on a scale never seen before. Reality check: Today’s connected customers have more grocery choices than ever — and they know it. Good news: With change comes opportunity. Grocers need to be willing to take risks that previously would have caused ‘indigestion’ in the boardroom. They need to seize opportunities to build resiliency into supply chains and networks, to turn last mile delivery into a margin-boosting differentiator and to be far more customer-centric. We’ll ask Capgemini’s John Waymire and SAP’s Randy Evins for their take on Retail Pioneers in Grocery Shaping the Customer Experience of Tomorrow.
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    1 hr
  • Closing the Cloud ROI Gap Through HXM

    Closing the Cloud ROI Gap Through HXM
    Dec 2 2021
    The Buzz 1: “Great companies are like beautiful clocks; they’ve got a lot of moving parts that all have to work together in order for the whole to be successful.” (Donna Peeples, CEO of Motivated, Inc.) The Buzz 2: “Cloud is rapidly becoming a business imperative, and there’s the danger of a “digital divide” emerging between organizations that understand the power of cloud and how it affects talent across the organization — and those that do not…CHROs may also need to develop an upskilling for cloud strategy to help their existing workforce.” (www.pwc.com) The numbers are indisputable. A PwC survey of 524 US executives and business leaders in May 2021 found a 92% cloud adoption rate. But just 53 percent are seeing significant value from their cloud investments. What’s holding executives back from maximizing their cloud ROI investment? When optimizing business processes, it is key to realize the importance of the human factor in the outcome and success of business transformation. 79% of the surveyed CEOs are concerned about availability of key skills among their employees. And while the CIOs are looking at the overall investment in technology and quick implementation of digital transformation, 68% of the CFOs are reporting that crisis-driven transitions to remote work will boost long-term efficiency and lead to cost reductions. The answer to the ROI question may fall to the CHRO. Connecting the technology to your people and process is instrumental in a truly intelligent enterprise. We’ll ask John McCormick at PwC, and Nick Holmes and Mohamed Yusuf at SAP for their take on the vital issue of rapid cloud adoption and the role of HXM, on Closing the Cloud ROI Gap Through HXM.
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    1 hr
  • From She-cession to She-covery: Rising from the Pandemic

    From She-cession to She-covery: Rising from the Pandemic
    May 20 2021
    The Buzz [May 2020/updated January 2021]: “Women are in the bullseye of this pandemic … In leisure, hospitality, education, health care and retail — the sectors that are getting hit the hardest — women are the ones who are falling victim to the first massive waves of this economic crisis.… Women are disproportionately those who do the lowest paid jobs in our economy… women of color in particular are over-represented.” (Emily Martin, VP, National Women’s Law Center, www.cnbc.com/2020/05/14/coronavirus-job-losses-disproportionately-impact-women.html] From the 2020 start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was apparent that the economic crisis affected women more than men – 61%, according to some reports. In this “She-cession”, the financial challenges, career-juggling burden, children’s education, and shortages of food and other necessities fell disproportionately on women. Today, as the economy opens up and we enter a “She-covery” period, some analysts project it may take at least a year for most women – up to several years for women of color – to recover. How can businesses, IT and technology use learning systems and financial guidance to help female employees, their families and local communities expedite this She-covery? We’ll ask Maryann Abbajay at SAP, Denise Malecki at PwC and Ali Wyatt at the Female Founder Collective for their insights on “From She-cession to She-covery: Rising from the Pandemic”.
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    1 hr
  • What Does “Future-Proofing” Your Business Actually Mean?

    What Does “Future-Proofing” Your Business Actually Mean?
    Apr 22 2021
    The Buzz: “Future-proofing is the process of anticipating the future and developing methods of minimizing the effects of shocks and stresses of future events. In general, the term future-proof refers to the ability of something to continue to be of value into the distant future—that the item does not become obsolete. [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_proof] We hear it all the time: leaders need to “future-proof” their businesses. But what does that actually mean? One thing is clear, you must start with a solid foundation and be ready to change. In the currently evolving post-pandemic world, it can be difficult to determine when you have that solid foundation. Is the same as the one you had pre-pandemic? And while the driver remains the same: achieve resilient and consistent business outcomes – and the benefit is similar: support continuous business innovation and drive profits and growth – the way this is achieved might be radically different in 2021 and beyond. It can affect all aspects of your business – what you sell, who your customers are, what their buying behavior is, and how your employees work to support those customers. We’ll ask Deloitte’s Mike Bechtel, SAP’s Thorsten Leiduck and Deloitte’s Arjun Krishnamurthy for their insights on the best way businesses can prepare for a semi-known future.
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    1 hr
  • Building Supply Chain Resilience in Consumer Products and Retail

    Building Supply Chain Resilience in Consumer Products and Retail
    Apr 1 2021
    The Buzz: “Many companies did not fully prepare their supply chains to deal with the mounting impact of the coronavirus epidemic…There are steps…to make sure their supply chains can better cope with other disruptive events down the road…revisiting the design of the supply chain to ensure it is ultra-agile and responsive…to deal with future large-scale crises.” (https://hbr.org/2020/02/prepare-your-supply-chain-for-coronavirus February 27, 2020) The supply and demand foundations of the consumer product and retail (CPR) sector have been massively shaken by the COVID-19 pandemic. Take digital acceleration. Online sales in 2020 were expected to increase at their fastest rate in 12 years, accounting for 20 percent of all retail purchases. But this ecommerce spike came at a time of risk and disruption to supply, as the sector’s majors – grocery stores, pharmacies, other retail outlets – struggled to keep their supply chains intact. One example: Unilever saw huge demand for hand sanitizers but a decline in non-essential beauty products. To understand these challenges and how CPR organizations are now responding, Capgemini launched a survey of 400+ CPR executives in eleven countries, examining the impact of COVID-19 on their supply chains, and how they are rethinking to accelerate supply chain resilience. We’ll ask Capgemini’s Lindsey Mazza and Gabriel “Gabi” Ledesma and SAP’s Harris Fogel for their take on Building Supply Chain Resilience in Consumer Products and Retail.
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    1 hr
  • HR Transformation: Modernize HR. Prepare for Next.

    HR Transformation: Modernize HR. Prepare for Next.
    Mar 11 2021
    The Buzz: “Building critical skills and competencies continues to top the list of priorities for HR leaders in 2021. Also on the radar — organizational (re)design and change, and leadership…None of these goals is new to HR leaders, but all have been made more urgent by the effects of COVID-19.” [www.gartner.com] While accelerating the need for digital transformation, the new business environment is creating immediate and large-scale challenges for workforce and skills. To prepare for “next”, HR leaders need to balance growth and efficiency – delivering value now while creating a future agenda. They must combine smarter people-strategies with emerging technologies and a connected human experience to deliver a transformation that is built to last. HR cloud was never meant to be the full answer. Technology that provides the foundation to modernize HR is only as good as the leaders who identify its opportunities, the technologists who deliver it and the people who work with it every day. When you can tap into each employee’s everyday experience, to motivate, guide, and reward them in real time while keeping their priorities aligned with corporate goals, your entire organization will experience wins. We’ll ask HR leaders Greg Selke, Hope Bailey and Cyrus Salazar for their take on HR Transformation: Modernize HR. Prepare for Next.
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    1 hr
  • High Hopes for 5G: Will It Breathe Life Into Our Cities?

    High Hopes for 5G: Will It Breathe Life Into Our Cities?
    Mar 4 2021
    The buzz: “5G is one piece of the puzzle to become more of a digital city that relies on connectivity more effectively. Broadband expansions, wireless networks, IoT deployments, economic development drivers…make up the overall smart city ecosystem.” [www.csbj.com/premier/businessnews/the-5g-promise-smart-cities-smart-businesses-smarter-medicine/article_15a650b7-ec34-5241-9f93-ba4b1c6675f3.html] The year 2020 saw some of the world’s most vibrant and populated cities become deserted, with Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns that forced the closure of offices, hospitality, retailers, schools and more. Some observers and business analysts have suggested cities will never return to pre-pandemic activity. Why? Too many people have seized the opportunity to move away from overcrowded, expensive cities to live in quieter suburbs and countryside. With the future uncertain, can 5G technology help to breathe life back into our cities? If yes, how and when will 5G help attract and grow businesses and improve city life? We’ll ask Deloitte’s Robert Kasegrande and SAP’s Frank Wilde and Michaella Munyuzangabo for their take on High Hopes for 5G: Will It Breathe Life Into Our Cities?
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    1 hr