POST-EVENTREPORT

20July2017,ThursdayMarinaMandarinSingapore

POSTEVENTREPORT

DiscussionSummary

BusinessAgility—StayingAheadinToday’sDigitalEconomy

CIOAcademyAsia(CIOAA),inassociationwithIBMSingapore,organisedaCIOExecutiveBriefingoverlunchon20JulyatHotelMarinaMandarin.

Morethan20CIOsandITleadersparticipatedinthisprivatelycuratedeventtodiscussneweconomiclandscapeandtechnologiesthatcouldhelpbusinessesbecomeagileinthefast-changinganddynamicdigitaleconomy.

Inhiswelcomeaddress,Mr.P.Ramakrishna,theDeputyCEOofCIOAA,welcomedalltheparticipatingCIOstotheExecutiveBriefing.

“What’sfuellingthisneedforbusinessagility?Businesscyclesaregettingshorter,thingsaremovingfastandthisislargelyduetothepervasiveandagilenatureoftechdisruptions,”hesaid.“Today,systemsareinterconnectedonlineandcompaniesaregatheringvoluminousamountofdatafordecisionmaking.Asaresult,newbusinessmodelsandtechplatformsarecausingintensecompetitionforbusinesses.”

Businessescancopewiththesedisruptionsthroughtraitssuchasadaptability,flexibilityand(achievinga)balance,hesurmised.

FromMainframestoCloudandBlockchain

DeliveringtheopeningremarksonbehalfofIBM,Ms.Lum Seow Khun,DirectionforIndustryandTransformation,IBMSingapore,saidthatIBM’sjourneystartedinSingaporewaybackin1962whenmainframeswereincorporatedintotheITsystemsbytheCentralProvidentFund(CPF)Board.Wehavecomealongwaysincethen,asIBMhasannouncedanewmainframe,shesaid.Thisnewmachine,IBMZ,isastateoftheartmainframe—itisencryptedforsecurity.Itiscapableofrunning12billionencryptedtransactionsaday.IBMclaimedthatitsnewmainframecanencryptdataatarate18timesfasterthanotherplatforms.

ReferringtoIBM’snewcapabilities,sheexhortedtheCIOstoadapttechnologiessuchascloud,cognitive,andtheInternetofThings(IoT)thatcould helpthemintheirtransformationjourney.

EngineeringaCognitiveArchitecturetodeliver

differentiatedoutcomes

Deliveringtheday’sfirstkeynote,Mr.DavidBate,VicePresident,IBMHybridCloud,AsiaPacific,saidthatthemainframewastheoriginal‘cloud’andhowthecloudtechnologyhasevolvedfromthentonow(withIBMZ,ithasreallycomealongway!).

Hesaidthattoday,businessesarevulnerabletoseismicshifts,citingthefactthatbetween2000andnow,morethan50%oftheFortune500companieshavefailed.Healsonotedthatthereisahighattritionrateamongstartups,andformostofthem,survivingthefirst10monthsofitsexistenceisthebiggestchallenge.

Towininthisenvironment,youmustdotwothings,hesuggested:one,turndataintoinsightsandtwo,improvecustomerexperience.“Businessesneedtoconnectdisparatedataandcreatenewopportunities,”hesuggested.“Applycognitivetoenhancedataintelligenceexponentially.”

Hegavetheexampleofusingdatatoderiveinformationaboutstoragespaceonshelvesinaretailstore.Thisisachievedbytrainingthesystemtodetectwhetherthereisspaceinthestoreroom.IBMWatsoncanaccomplishthiskindofcognitivework.

EnumeratingthevirtuesoftheIBM’scognitivetechnology(IBMWatson),Mr.BatesaidthatIBMbringstogethermoredataandcognitivecapabilitieswithanopencloudplatform.Itisbuiltforthecognitivearea,itis“Open”andincontrolandhasindustryexpertiseanddeliverycredentials.

IBMhasbuiltthemostcompleteandintegratedplatformforinnovation,hesaid.IBMBluemix hasalltheelementsthatbusinessesneedtosucceedtoday—application,data,AIandapps,solutionsandservices.Itfeaturesover150toolsandservicesspanningcategoriesofbigdata,mobile,cognitivecomputing,analytics,security,blockchain andInternetofThings.

Forexample,Blockchain isoneoftheadvancedservicesavailabletodevelopersonIBMBluemix,onwhichmorethan120,000appsarelaunchedeverymonth.

TheapplicationofIBM’sofferingsaremakingprofoundimpact.HereferredtothespecialBumrungradHospitalinThailandandhowIBM’scognitivetechnologyhaselevatedtheabilityofitsphysicians.HealsomentionedIBMWatson’sperformancewithorganisationssuchasMemorialSloanKettering,FreshTurf,Kenovo (personalisedtrendlist)andZumata (cognitivechatbots).

MemorialSloanKetteringcliniciansandanalystsarepartneringwithIBMtotrainWatsonOncologytointerpretcancerpatients’clinicalinformationandidentifyindividualized,evidence-basedtreatmentoptionsthatleverageourspecialists’decadesofexperienceandresearch.

Inacontextlikethis,‘Agility’becausecrucialforanybusinesstosurvive—theabilitytorespondwithspeedtothechallengesthatarebeingposedinthemarketbythelikesofUberandAirbnb—thebiggestdisruptorsthathavebecometextbookreferencecases.

“Humanadaptabilityhasfallenbehindthepaceofchangesetbytechnology,”hesaid.TheanswertothisrateoftechnologicalevolutionanddisruptionistheapplicationofAI– AugmentedIntelligence(abettertermtouseinsteadofjustArtificialIntelligence)

ArtificialIntelligence(AI)andChatbots

Mr.TeeChinWee,VPofInformationTechnology,PrudentialAssuranceCompanySingapore,sharedafewcasestudiesaboutsuccessfulinnovationprojectsinvolvingAI.

Underliningtheimportanceofdataandcognitivecomputing,hesaidthatmostsuccessfulcompaniesarepractisingdata-drivendecision-makingtoday.

DiscussionSummary

HegavetheexampleofaChineseinsurer,Zhong HaninChina(whichhad$1.5bHKIPO).Thiscompanysold100millionpoliciesinadayinChina,usingAIandmobilityaskeytechnologies.

Today,customersareatthecentreofeverybusiness,hesaid.Tosucceedinthecurrentenvironment,businessesneedtofocusonmobilityanduserexperience;multichannelcustomermanagement,workflowandautomation,anddataandanalytics,washisadvice.

Startsmall,dreambig

Mr.WeefurtheradvisedtheCIOstostartsmallanddreambig.Hehasappliedthisapproachsuccessfullytohisowncompany’swork.HiscompanybuiltaChatbot calledAskPru.Amongotherthings,itreducedthecustomercallvolumeby30%.

HiscompanyalsousesPredictiveanalyticstopayclaims,andtherearesystemsinplacetoprovideinstantclaimapprovals,hesaid.

Blockchains andLastMileFulfillment

ThelastpresentationwasbyaSingapore-basedstartup,FreshTurf.It’sco-founderKevinLimsaidthathisstartup tackleslastmilefulfilment.IthasdevelopedsolutionssuchasCentralisedlockermanagementsystem(SGLockerDeployment)andhasincorporatedBlockchain technology:builtonBluemix,IBM'scloudplatform,IBMandFreshTurf havebeenworkingonadistributedledgerplatformprototypespecificallydesignedtomanagecommercialtransactionsbetweenmerchants,logisticvendors,lockercompaniesandconsumerstomaketheofferingsecure.

Thestartup hasbeenworkingwithwithIBMBluemix Garagenetwork.UsingIBMCloudandBlockchaintechnologies,FreshTurf hascreatedanetworkofstoragelockersforshippingandparceldeliverythroughoutSingapore.Thislockerledgernetworkisdesignedtohelpimprovethe"lastmile"ofdeliveryservicesforconsumersandbusinesses,orthefinallegofapackage'sjourneytoacustomer'shome.

DiscussionSummary

TheprogrammeendedwithapaneldiscussionwhichcomprisedofPanelModeratorMr.Ramakrishna,andparticipantssuchasMr.Kalyan Madala,CTO,IBMSingapore,Mr.Wee,andMr.Lim.

Eachparticipanttalkedabouttheirinterpretationoftheterm,agility.Mr.Limsaiditwasthe“abilitytohackquickly,andhaveshorterdevelopmentcycles.”

ToMr.Madala,agilitywasabouttappingintomarketopportunity. “Ifyoufeelthepainpoints,andareabletorespondtothemquickly,thenitisagility,”hesaid.

ForMr.Wee,what’smoreimportantiswhatthecustomerwants.Speakinginthecontextoftheinsuranceindustry,whilehepraisedtechnology,hewasnotforitall.“Weneedtohavebalance,aswehavebothtypesofcustomers(whoaretechsavvyandwhoarenot).Onedayit(insuranceprocesses)mightallbeautomated,buttheremightstillbeahumanelementtosettleclaims.”

TheeventendedwithaQ&Awiththeaudience,whoshowedagreatinterestinthecasestudiesandhowIBM’stechnologieswereleveragedtomakethebusinessesagile.

DiscussionSummary

Confidential©2017.CIOAcademyPteLtd.Allrightsreserved.Neitherthisreportnoranypartofitmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingorotherwisewithoutthepriorpermissionofCIOAcademyPteLtd.

MorephotosfromtheeventcanbefoundinCIOAcademyAsiaFabcebook page:https://www.facebook.com/pg/cioacademyasia/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1591692830883486

EventPhotos