How AI Adoption Should Be Balanced with Ethics and Fairness

Highlights

00:05 — Aaron introduces the latest Back @ IT episode, explaining the Oracle Industry Lab’s aim to give people hands-on experiences with the latest technology and physically experience its real-world impact.

01:27 — Oracle continues to focus on industry-specific solutions and outcomes for its customers; a topic the company will dive into during its keynote segment at the Cloud Wars Expo in June.

01:43 — Aaron is joined by Vice President of Oracle Industry Lab Burcin Kaplanoglu to learn more about the lab’s impact and big-picture goals.

02:49 — Burcin describes how he arrived at the Oracle Industry Lab, including nearly 17 years of experience in the construction engineering industry. The experience fueled an idea to build a construction site to simulate real-world use cases and solve customer problems.

04:23 — Implementing a simulated environment and scaling to multiple locations proved its value — according to Burcin, simulating real-world cases resolved nearly 80% of issues that would otherwise have gone unnoticed.

05:07 — Bringing things to life and seeing outcomes firsthand pays off with customers.

05:58 — In the first 18 months of operations, Oracle had over 2,000 engagements from people all over the world. The lab, which began as a double-wide trailer, now occupies a three-story, 30,000-square-foot facility. The project has grown to facilitate multiple industries that learn from each other’s experiences.

07:42 — The lab has also proven value in fueling a partner ecosystem. Burcin describes Skydio‘s indoor autonomous drone testing within the new warehouse site.

10:02 — In another example, Burcin described the use of the lab featuring tools designed to provide precise measurements in plane manufacturing.

11:09 — The “why” behind a cloud company investing in physically testing and validating solutions is simple: To work with customers and co-innovate, to be good custodians of data, and to show evolving use cases when engaging with customers.

12:24 — Aaron discusses drone-captured data to facilitate quality assurance processes. Wrangling data points together into contextual, sensible information that can lead to better decision-making will become even more important as the mass of available data grows.

13:52 — Making sense of data is a complex process, particularly as industry data remains largely siloed. What each individual company has “is not enough”  — more data is needed to reach the desired business outcomes.

15:19 — The drive to better contextualize data is in service of the customer.

16:00 — In a recent press release, Oracle announced new labs in both Chicago and England. the U.K. lab is focused on mobility and sustainability. It includes a train station, roads, a construction site, “food and beverage chaos,” and everything needed to fully simulate autonomous transportation. Lab capabilities are constantly evolving.

18:52 — Burcin clarifies the lab is not to be confused with a demo center. While capable of demonstrations, its main goal is to identify the technology, skills, and Oracle tech needed to solve problems.

20:45 — Emphasis on the experiential continues to take shape in the post-pandemic environment. Expectations endured a massive shift as workers operated outside corporate offices. Oracle’s new test site provides the ability to “show, don’t tell” when it comes to new products.

22:38 — Upon building the initial site, which consisted of a trailer, a steel structure, and a fence, the superintendent attached RFID tags with duct tape. The tags stayed in place through harsh conditions for 18 months, long enough that Burcin still jokingly claims the most important lab finding remains the power of duct tape.

23:55 — There is tremendous value in simplifying rather than overcomplicating things.

24:33 — Aaron and Burcin close with key takeaways. Burcin encourages CXOs to focus on their end-users  — the industry professionals getting hands-on experience with these tools. Figuring out what the end-user needs and providing it accelerates adoption.

Web3, Blockchain, and NFTs continue to grab a lot of attention, but what do they really mean? And what types of opportunities exist? Behind the scenes, a lot of companies are building unique solutions on top of blockchain to deliver a new way of doing business. This is creating the potential for better transparency, crafting new NFT valuations, and redefining what Web3 could be.

To help me decipher all of this is Susan Falola. She is the Founder of JUUBIX, a Go Global Award Winner – Frontrunner in Fintech 2021, a Strategic innovator, blockchain and NFT expert, and a strong advocate of DEI – diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Highlights

01:32 — Introducing Susan Falola, CEO and Creative Director at JUUBIX.

02:34 — What is JUUBIX? Susan explains the business of providing stakeholders as a service and establishing an entirely new collaborative marketplace for talent, companies, and investors. The JUUBIX ecosystem immerses users in emerging technology services, such as NFTs, the Metaverse, and blockchain products to explore innovative new sources of revenue.

05:10 — The Metaverse introduces the conjunction of physical, digital, and virtual aspects of business. The emergence of new technologies also means new challenges—and potential for innovative solutions—to fill gaps in a given product or service. JUUBIX is an example of a model that successfully identifies and fills those technological gaps.

06:17 — When it comes to emerging technologies, networks can experience rapid growth, due to the vast pool of knowledge available worldwide. JUUBIX connects collaborators anonymously through interests, skills, and needs and thus naturally adopts a diversity of ideas.

08:58 — The model overrides any biases, intentional or otherwise, when seeking the right person or skillset to fulfill a need.

10:28 — There are more opportunities with blockchain technology beyond the trending topics in the news like crypto and NFTs. Blockchain is an infrastructure providing unmatched levels of transparency in the supply chain.

12:15 — How does blockchain technology relate to the community-driven value of NFTs?

15:22 — The JUUBIX ecosystem naturally converts users into the network’s assets. So, how does blockchain technology relate to those assets’ increase in value as user skillsets are repeatedly validated?

17:41 — AI aids the process of sorting through massive volumes of data and developing an algorithm capable of providing intuitive evaluations of potential collaborators in the JUUBIX network.

20:29 — There are use cases for empowering individual employees, investors, entrepreneurs, and those who might be overlooked due to gender, ethnicity, or level of experience.

22:58 — Creating a network of anonymized stakeholder connections is just one of the countless possibilities emerging technologies have created, despite the spotlight hovering almost exclusively on crypto and NFT news.

25:10 — Watch for Susan’s upcoming publication, “Metaverse or Meta-for-the-worse?”

Yes, we’ve all seen and heard commercials about 5G for our personal phones. But there’s much more to it than that. Think about the huge need inside of the industrial IoT space or functionality inside of smart factories; or think about utilities, energy, and water communications.

But this doesn’t mean that 5G will solve all the problems. Let’s be real. But it does mean when properly implemented, 5G can unlock new capabilities for the enterprise.

In this special  episode, and in conjunction with my recent visit to the Oracle Industry Innovation Lab, I had the opportunity to chat with the Chief Revenue Officer for Verizon Business, Sampath Sowmyanarayan. We dive into 5G, the Verizon Business and Oracle partnership, unique use cases of 5G, the impact across multiple industries, and much more.

“We’re working very closely with the Oracle in their [innovation] lab and one of the things we see in 5G is we can’t go it alone. We work with the three hyperscalers, cloud providers as well – the ecosystem is big. You can use the Verizon 5G network or you can go through any of our partners, but you still get the best.”

- Sampath Sowmyanarayan, CRO Verizon Business

Highlights

03:31 — While we often see commercials for 5G from a personal aspect, there are many opportunities with 5G across the enterprise. There’s also the opportunity for multi-access edge computing. How many companies are recognizing the top benefits from these?

04:33 — There are three major use cases for 5G:

1. Mobility — delivering higher bandwidth and latency
2. Fixed Wireless Access — broadband speeds available wirelessly in a small box
3. Mobile Edge Compute — bringing together the power of the 5G network with the power of the cloud

6:30 — 5G is beneficial for locations such as venues and warehouses. There are many use cases in various industries that started off with basic connectivity and have now grown as 5G has the ability to provide a lot of data at very low latency.

08:45 — Verizon Business is working closely with Oracle in its lab, as they recognize the need for co-innovation and partners with so many B2B use cases. Each lab is dedicated to an industry or vertical. For instance, the lab in Atlanta with Emory University is focused on healthcare.

09:48 — The ecosystem is big—the Verizon Business 5G network can be accessed through a number of its partners. Partner ecosystems have unlocked co-innovation and co-creativity to keep customers at the center.

11:04 — What factors should be considered when getting started with the 5G journey? Firstly, Sampath recommends working with trusted communication and network partners.

12:08 — Secondly, Sampath encourages quickly gaining an understanding of how 5G can change the workflows in your business. What capabilities of 5G can you use to unlock changes in your workflow? How can 5G help with your digital transformation?

12:32 — Further, you need an ecosystem to make it work—there is no one partner that can provide all of the tools.

13:38 — The manufacturing industry seems to be ahead of the curve with 5G adoption.

16:02 — There has been a rise in smart factories popping up. With 5G in industries like manufacturing, it’s more than just what’s running on the line. It’s also about safety, awareness, and quality control.

16:38 — With massive amounts of data flowing, there are many attributes of 5G that benefit this—high speed, low latency, device density, power consumption, and reliability—but its speed and latency are the backbone.

18:18 — Quality control is a critical component.

19:15 — As many companies worldwide have made sustainability a focal point, 5G will play a part in contributing to the sustainability goals. For instance, it helps reduce energy consumption and emissions with workflows. There have also been related use cases with AI and sustainability.

For more in-depth insights on the categories that matter from top experts, register now for the Cloud Wars Expo.

For far too long, cybersecurity has been viewed as a cost center instead of how it can build real value for businesses. This has led to bad decisions, wrong tech investments, and putting the wrong people in certain positions.

Further, cyberattacks continue to increase in volume and sophistication. If your company is already in a bad state, the cyber-threats will exacerbate the issue and increase the speed of the company’s downfall.

So, what are some of the best ways to help be prepared? How can we develop a cybersecurity mindset from the C-suite on through the rest of the organization?

To help me answer these questions, I’m joined by Robert Wood. Robert is the Chief Information Security Officer for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a fellow Acceleration Economy Analyst, and co-host of the Cybersecurity as an Enabler channel and speaker at the upcoming Cloud Wars Expo event.

Highlights

01:45 — Robert wrote an article discussing how security teams can build value. Oftentimes, building value can be challenging for security teams due to issues of communication.

03:50 — Security teams and leaders need to embrace what and how their organization does to provide value for its stakeholders. With that, they should be considering what positive and even negative impact they can have in the process of delivering value.

05:05 — There needs to be a change in perspective and a zero-trust mindset. Whether or not an action is intentional, the actions of security team members can impact the downstream of delivering value to customers.

07:40 — Is it difficult for security teams to address certain stakeholders without getting too technical? A lot comes down to how the security team communicates.

09:45 — Cybersecurity can become very complicated. Although security has been around for a while, there is still a newness factor when it comes to cybersecurity. This newness factor should be a foundational thing that is discussed at all levels and integrated into all parts of an organization.

11:00 — There are great tools available that can improve security processes. How can security teams balance the overload of tools and stay on top of their responsibilities?

12:10 — The Ambidextrous Organization is a model that Michael Tushman at Harvard introduced. It can be used to evaluate how your organization is extracting value through its operations and how it’s exploring new ways to add value.

13:20 — Sounil Yu has developed a framework called the Cyber Defense Matrix. Essentially, it’s a NIST cybersecurity framework, which involves identifying, protecting, detecting, responding, and recovering. It also includes different asset classes. This can also help identify redundancies.

15:40 — Having a framework or structured way to look at your portfolio is important, as it can better demonstrate your unique solutions.

18:00 — With a rising number of cyberattacks per week and per organization, AI and machine learning tools are playing a role to complement cybersecurity efforts.

22:05 — AI models can learn from scenarios and create synthetic data to create new cybersecurity models.

23:40 — Cybersecurity gets decision support in a variety of ways.

24:20 — President Biden had released a statement about national security. He put an emphasis on better collaboration between the federal government and private sector, critical infrastructure owners, and operators. Further, he suggested they must accelerate efforts to lock their digital doors.

25:30 — A major part of better working together and managing collective risk is to continue talking about it to create awareness, maintain people’s focus, and encourage action.

28:30 — Everyone in security should be critically thinking about value—what value does your team bring, but what value do you, as an individual, bring to the organization?

30:45 — Before jumping into AI and machine learning, it’s important to have a good data strategy as well as the right tools, framework, and ecosystems in place. Having a data mindset shift is foundationally important.

33:27 — Also, think in a collective mindset in terms of how you, your team, and your organization are adding value to the broader community.

Big data and managing that data is bringing big cloud players to the table. And we’re not talking about just any big cloud player – we are talking about Google Cloud jumping out in front with its recently announced Google Cloud BigLake.

My colleague Bob Evans, Founder of Cloud Wars, shared in a recent Cloud Wars Minute that “Google Cloud’s position is now one of no limits, as explained at their data cloud Summit. They are promising limitless innovation, limitless data, limitless reach, scale, and workloads. They put together a lot of new product announcements to try to pull this all together.“

But what does this mean from a practical perspective for those trying to wrangle the data from disparate locations?

In this episode, I’m joined by Pablo Moreno, data scientist, AI expert, Acceleration Economy Analyst, and host of the Data Revolution Channel. We’ll dive into what Google BigLake is, what it means in the “big data” world, and much more.

Highlights

00:07 — Google Cloud released its BigLake solution to help people harness data from various locations in this hybrid or multi-cloud world.

01:27 — Pablo considers BigLake as a disruptive idea. It’s a common platform solution to connect every data source, domain, warehouse, and more regardless of the brand or technology. With everything going digital, the idea of having one vendor to provide every solution seems unfeasible, as every cloud, department, and technology has its own needs and focus.

03:41 — Massive data and multi-clouds present some struggles for users. For instance, people could be trying to manage data stored in one place with one type of infrastructure, then go to another cloud database that has a different structure and different purposes. The challenge to overcome here is bringing all of these together and making sense of them.

04:19 — The BigLake toolset enables access to harness the controls on a singular platform and then apply governance on top of that. The key to success with business intelligence tools includes being able to source and unify data from different locations.

07:04 — The solution breaks down the barriers to allow users to bring any data source in, including open data formats. It also enables users to leverage BigQuery as well as have acceleration of performance.

07:44 — How big is big data? In terms of what Google is bringing to the table with BigLake and BigQuery, there are massive volumes of data. So, large companies need to have a platform to harness these large amounts of data.

09:26 — The size of the company is not the only factor that can play into the size of the data. It also depends on who you are and what you do. Big data is just relative to organizational needs.

11:01 — Google Cloud is leveraging its Dataplex component. It’s managing, monitoring, and governing data across these multiple data lakes. So, not only is Google providing the place for data, but it’s also providing the tools to help you manage and govern the data.

11:58 — Having access to such a variety of data from different angles through a common platform requires a certain level of governance and understanding. IT professionals and users need to be aware of what’s happening, their capabilities with that data, and the capabilities of the data.

12:51 — You need to be relocated with security, have enhanced education, and analytical techniques. Further, users need to be educated on ethics and compliance.

13:52 — Google Cloud announced its Data Cloud Alliance. Its core goal is its commitment to solving the skills gap for skills development for practitioners in modern data and analytics. Another core principle is its commitment to reducing complexity challenges with data governance, privacy, and loss prevention as well as global compliance.

15:07 — This level of commitment provides an ethical principle foundation through collaborating with other companies.

This episode is brought to you by Cloud Wars Expo running June 28-30 at Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. Go to CloudWarsExpo.com for more details.

Droves of people realized during the pandemic that there is more to their careers, and companies were hit with the realities of having real employee experiences that matter.

Further, the shift in expectations puts an onus on organizations and CXOs to deliver on these expectations through digital investments, upskilling, and much more.

To help me explore all of this on this episode is Scott Vaughan. He’s an experienced CMO, and Board Level executive with many years of advising and leading the organizational go-to-market strategy, and Acceleration Economy network analyst.

Highlights

00:15 — This episode is brought to you by the Cloud Wars Expo. This in-person event will be held June 28th to 30th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California.

00:42 — As an experienced CMO and board-level executive, Scott Vaughan joins for a conversation on the next generation of the great resignation and the reimagination of employee experiences.

02:02 — There has been a recent shift with the idea of the great resignation. One cause of this period could be due to major events that we have experienced and witnessed over the past couple of years—from the pandemic to racial and social injustices, and even simply life changes. The unevenness of society and businesses has created a surge of people stepping back and reflecting, shifting the great resignation more so toward the great reshuffle.

04:35 — Aaron reflects on a leadership mentor program that he was part of. Something that stood out to him during conversations with young professionals was that their passion is driven by their curiosity.

06:30 — There are two forces coming together in the great reshuffle. There are workers who feel displaced or couldn’t work for some time. Then, there are companies that need to find talent. Now, companies are waking up to realize they might just need to build their own programs and development efforts.

“It’s about attitude and aptitude that’s going to create the altitude if we can find the right kind of people.”

Scott Vaughan

07:58 — With the explosion of working from home, many saw the ease of accessibility to digital tools and learning capabilities. For instance, digital tools such as Zoom become more accessible to enable users to connect and collaborate for personal, professional, and educational purposes.

08:45 — Further, there’s a generation of native digital workers and talent that now have the tools to learn faster. Companies can take advantage of these opportunities by bringing in talent that could be from another industry but has high growth potential for both the company and the individual.

09:24 — The concept of ‘anti-work’ does not imply that people hate working. Rather, it’s intended to highlight how people were treated by an employer or their work environment and what they’re against in the workplace. People want to work where they feel valued.

10:24 — There’s a new set of criteria considering not just work-life balance, but work-life integration. It’s not necessarily to work more hours, but to rethink the strict, artificial standards that were in place.

11:15 — An important point that workers are prioritizing now is if they share the same values as the company. Do you share the same aspirations about things that matter? Companies are implementing specific types of diversity and inclusion efforts as well as acknowledging cultural values.

12:04 — Companies have been implementing sustainability efforts now, as many people have values that align with the environment and sustainability.

12:44 — Is there a lack of digital investment from companies? What impact does this have on a worker’s decision to work for a company? This can be a barrier to the employee experience. It’s an advantage to potential employees to stay modern with a digital infrastructure, mindset, and culture to ensure that it’s not just about the consumer experience, but also the employee experience.

15:40 — The company culture and company values can be the greatest contributors in industries that might have a staffing shortage. Companies need to be able to understand what their employees want and need, then make that part of the process. Additionally, companies need to have the ability to empower their employees to make the right decisions.

18:30 — There needs to be a customer-centric focus, too. If you’re focusing on your employees and customers, there’s going to be a symbiotic relationship of how things interact, especially in industries that are heavily dependent on employee-to-customer engagement.

“When you’re in the middle of a great resignation moving to a great reshuffle…there’s going to be a different environment that business leaders have to pay attention to.”

Scott Vaughan

20:02 — It’s more about initiatives and outcomes versus specific tasks and jobs that have to be done. That’s where empowerment comes in.

21:12 — With the pace of change in the workplace, it’s important to stay upskilled, as the jobs and roles that existed several years ago no longer exist as they do now. They’ve morphed into something different than they’re traditional thought of. This gives employees the opportunity to transform themselves as the business values and business evolution charge forward.

24:30 — People are becoming more empowered when it comes to pay equity and transparency. Business leaders need to be proactive about checking in and not just giving raises, but also looking at total compensation and all that can be done to continue maintaining empowered employees. In addition, business leaders shouldn’t wait for laws to be put into place to implement transparency.

There is ample focus on STEM for women in technology, but underneath that is a typical view of front-end or back-end development.

While this is still very necessary, there are many other aspects of business technology that need everyone to have a seat at the table. Further, with the expansion of the metaverse, this seat will take on new forms, but needs openness to foster inclusiveness.

With all this in mind, I’m joined by Kathryn Rose. Kathryn is the CEO & Founder of wiseHer. She seeks to empower women and girls and equip them with the insights, guidance and tools needed to succeed.

Highlights

00:23 — Aaron dives into the conversation with Kathryn about keeping a diverse mindset, especially in STEM fields. Her company will soon be launching a B2B brand, specifically for channel organizations and a technology channel called ‘Channel Wise.’ Recently, Kathryn’s organization was also a semi-finalist for ‘Startup of the Year’ at Summit.

03:16 — February 11th was International Day of Women and Girls in Science. So, Aaron reviewed initiatives behind this, finding that there are nearly 6,900 participants around the program. One initiative that Kathryn has worked with is Tech Girls, which specifically focuses on STEM initiatives for girls in middle school.

06:03 — Master Sergeant Briana Mullane with the Air Force Cyber Command stated that the biggest challenge working in a STEM field is the self-assessment of your own capabilities. In any professional environment, women often deal with imposter syndrome.

08:43 — The Metaverse provides opportunities for creative ideation, sharing your voice, and allows people to determine their own virtual presence to represent who they are. What kind of potential does this have to include the voices of women as another sector in the STEM field?

10:19 — There may be more limitations in a physical space. So, how can we reframe the conversation on making the virtual world not just a poor copy of the physical world?

10:53 — There needs to be diverse voices in the development of new technologies, such as AI systems. When the majority of programmers are male developers, how can technology be developed to recognize female voices as well?

11:49 — A current effort with AI is inherent bias. Because AI is going to be the back end on top of all the data, bias is shifting in different ways as it’s feeding into the development of new technologies, including the Metaverse. So, as the Metaverse continues to be developed, it’s not going to be a poor representation of the physical world, but an opportunity to reimagine it into a virtual space.

12:50 — Startups tend to see a more immediate impact of the work compared to larger enterprises, where it has to pass through several layers for approval.

16:11 — The STEM field is constantly evolving. There are many jobs now in technology that isn’t just coding nor do they require a computer science degree.

17:15 — A lot of companies, such as IBM, have instituted the idea of ‘the new collar worker.’ They have started career academies and removed requirements, like having a Bachelor’s degree, to encourage people at all levels by providing avenues for them to get involved. However, a major challenge is not just getting women and others from different demographics excited about being part of technology, but retaining them.

18:31 — In an article about the Metaverse, Aaron covered the ‘Gaming Grandma’ who is in her 90s and just got involved with gaming.

19:28 — There needs to be a level of awareness of available technical resources. This helps break down old-school perceived barriers. For instance, apprenticeship programs can be incredibly valuable.

20:24 — Kathryn encourages technology channel partners to consider regional technology academies and programs, as they are incorporated as part of the public school system. Further, some high schools provide career exploration and opportunities to gain college credits.

23:30 — It’s one thing to open the door, but it’s another thing to keep the door open. One of the biggest challenges, particularly for women in any field, is that there needs to be a welcoming culture. There are people ready to work, businesses just need to be prepared to lean in.

24:24 — Businesses need to have a diverse mindset and be intentional about the people that they recruit. Additionally, businesses need to foster a culture of inclusivity and provide the necessary resources.

For more in-depth insights on the categories that matter from top experts, register now for the Cloud Wars Expo

For too long, new frontiers of technology have been scary to many. And artificial intelligence is no exception. Further, tt’s important that we showcase the humanness in AI and realize that AI needs people to flourish, but, more importantly, provide guidance.

AI should be used to augment humanity in an ethical way. In order to do this, a strong community of AI advocates is needed to democratize these core values along with the AI capabilities.

In this episode, I’m joined by a leader in the global AI community, Dalith Steiger. She is the Co-Founder of the SwissCognitive which is a World-Leading AI Network committed to unleashing AI in business.

Highlights

00:44 — Dalith Steiger jumps in to answer questions, such as:

• What should we expect from AI?
• What should we expect from people within the technology?

02:52 — At SwissCognitives, Dalith explains how they prefer to talk about cognitive technology rather than AI. For instance, when talking about artificial intelligence, they are not seeking to copy the human brain or human beings. Rather, cognitive technology implies the cognitive development of technologies.

04:30 — While AI technology can seem like futuristic science fiction, it’s actually a reality now. Technology is an iterative process. So, if we aren’t sharing knowledge with the technology, how can the devices learn?

06:29 — AI is breaking barriers between different groups of people and cultures, such as through real-time language translations. Especially during the pandemic, the ability to connect with different people and cultures is a major advantage of technology.

10:30 — How can we continue to break down these barriers? While many worry that AI is going to replace people, it should be helping to augment people, furthering abilities for personal connections, experiences, and exchanging ideas.

11:44 — What are the expectations, themes, capabilities, and barriers of AI? While these all vary, Dalith explains how we should not talk in absolute terms. We shouldn’t make claims such as, “Everything and everyone is going to be replaced by technology with what we’re doing.”

“Shift from technology-literate people to people-literate technology”

Dalith Steiger | Co-Founder of SwissCognitive

13:54 — Not everything that can be developed and implemented is being developed and implemented. People tend to be afraid of something if they don’t know about it. So, people need to understand the power of technology and the opportunities that technology presents.

15:46 — The more we know, the better we can act. We have to be conscious of AI ethics.

16:27 — Not only does technology need to be learning, but humans need to be learning as well, developing maturity when it comes to the usage of this technology and how we interact with it.

17:16 — AI has the potential to help preserve natural resources, such as providing the ability to simulate something prior to development. In addition to considering ethics with people, how can we ethically be using AI for sustainability?

19:19 — At some point, people are going to have to put trust in the technology in order to remove the fear.

22:48 — Technology is not dangerous—it’s the people behind it. We wouldn’t have cybersecurity if we would trust a human being. We have to set the rules, but we shouldn’t limit ourselves too much.

23:43 — If you want to be a world champion, you have to innovate, as innovation doesn’t talk about growth, but about added value.

SwissCognitive is a World-Leading AI Network committed to unleashing AI in business. We are a highly respected cross-industry global community of business leaders and AI experts transparently exchanging about the development & implementation of AI. While spotlighting hands-on use cases, challenges, successes, and opportunities – both in the boardroom and on global stages, driven by turning AI into a key economy-booster.

Clifford Stoll once said, “Data is not information, information is not knowledge, knowledge is not understanding, understanding is not wisdom.”

So, is data still important? In reality, this is a catch-22 question. On one hand, we need data to drive the decision-making process. However, on the other hand, if the data is siloed, bad, outdated, or incomplete, this creates the perfect storm of unrealistic goals and horrendous decisions.

With all this in mind, Glenn Hopper, CFO of Sandline, joins me in this episode to explore the evolution of CFOs, digital optimization versus transformation, the impact of AI, and what fuels the data-driven CFO.

Glenn is the author of Deep Finance: Corporate Finance in the Information Age and is passionate about transforming the role of Chief Financial Officer from historical reporter to forward-looking strategist.

Highlights

00:02 — Finance leaders are diving into the technical aspects of data and determining how to balance the strategy around this. What should CFOs and finance leaders be focusing on? Glenn Hopper joins to unpack the need for digital optimization versus transformation within finance teams, the path of data to wisdom, and more.

02:40 — The intent behind Glenn’s book is to advocate that all finance professionals need to know enough to be dangerous when it comes to technology and coding. The book serves as a roadmap for CFOs to lead digital transformation in their businesses.

04:35 — While looking backward is still vital to identify trends, CFOs are going beyond forecasting. Simply being a conduit of information doesn’t add value. The role of the CFO moving forward requires adding value to every bit of data.

06:13 — If the CFO is just a conduit, then they aren’t really needed. The CFO needs to provide strategic value, expertise, and value knowledge to fully explain the data.

07:03 — As data becomes more available, automation is being further incorporated into finance and accounting functions. If workers are being replaced by automation, what then happens to the finance department? Finance professionals will need to upskill and be placed in positions that provide more value.

“From a psychological standpoint, [automation] helps the person realize that they are more valued than just being a data entry person…they should feel like they’re more valued as a person with their knowledge and experience.”

10:00 — Since the introduction of data lakes, there has been a great progression in the democratization of data, such as increasing access to data. CFOs can be part of this, as the same skills used in finance functions can be transferred to data science; it just takes it to another level.

11:55 — Having access to data that goes farther out enables more productive, informed, and strategic conversations within organizations. The quote from Clifford Stoll encapsulates this idea well—emphasizing the need to have data to back up strategies and decision-making conversations.

“You can have this massive amount of data that you’re collecting…but if you’re not doing anything with it, who cares? It’s just noise.”

14:01 — By using analytics to translate data, CFOs can determine their first steps towards descriptive statistics and identify correlations. Then, they can move through their next steps by using that information to better understand business structure and develop predictive analytics. Having this level of understanding then leads to the pyramid of wisdom. This is when you can truly run a proper data-driven organization.

15:50 — Collaborative experience comes behind that wisdom. Conversations with peers are essential to harness that experience and input to maximize the potential of your data.

16:23 — Further shifting the focus, CFOs become the messenger of the findings—from the Board of Directors all the way down to frontline workers.

17:12 — As the CFO, your objective isn’t going to be protecting operations over sales. As the CFO, you can keep the other C-level people honest and have your own data insights because your view is not through the filter of operations.

19:43 — Where should there be strategic investments in certain technologies or upskilling through HR efforts?

20:20 — While Covid-19 has activated hyper-growth, many companies are seeking the next steps of digital transformation. Glenn encourages companies to not miss the mark—technology is advancing and businesses need to be prepared to digital transform to maintain a competitive edge.

22:27 — There have been increasingly more moves towards the augmentation of the human. People need to grasp the difference that they are not being replaced by technology, but that they could be replaced by a person who is understanding of the evolving and advancing technology.

23:41 — In this past, businesses and industries took longer to reach a point of revolutions. Now, the pace of change is much faster.

“Digital transformation…it sounds like one and done. And it’s not really…It’s more of an evolution.”

26:35 — It seems that digital transformation has been overused or lost its original meaning and what it was intended to be. It has morphed into multiple different things. Rather, organizations can shift their view to digital optimization as well as it being an ongoing process—continually optimizing at an increased pace of change, moving forward faster.

Throw out any traditional notions of what Higher Ed used to be. Students are now made up of all ages, backgrounds, geographic locations, and more. Further, our blended world of virtual and physical create challenges and opportunities for both students and faculty alike.

The current generation is now taking the knowledge and skills they’ve learned and applying it truly astounding and practical ways – ways that creating a future of sustainability for future generations.

In this episode, I’m joined by Christine Welcher who is a Director with QuestionPro and focuses on Academics and Nonprofits, specifically, Universities and other higher education institutions.

She shares her real-world experiences with students reimagining ancestral knowledge and bringing it into a new era.

Highlights

00:33 – Christine shares her background and how QuestionPro is impacting universities for market research by surfacing detailed insights into higher education.

01:29 – The pandemic forced many higher ed institutions to reevaluate their technology and experience of faculty using the technology. This created a huge need for cloud solutions for learning and teaching and opened up new ways to engage.

04:09 – Faculty have now had to pivot their time to be available as students want to learn at all hours based on their needs. Universities have had to engage students where they are to learning can happen anywhere at any time.

06:17 – COVID disrupted so many levels of society which meant that this was the time that many people decided to go back to school. Further, they felt the need to shift careers in a totally new direction.

09:24 – Christine shared her experiences of visiting Vietnam with a program she used to run. This program allowed here to engage with students that are bringing life back to rural and farming communities. These areas had been decimated by the war and two and three generations of ancestral knowledge was lost.

13:55 – People are reclaiming the land that was hit hard by the war – even turning craters creating by bombs into beautiful landscapes with ponds and bridges.

17:21 – Christine shared a quick takeaway challenge: Don’t take the STEM courses for granted. Infuse the learning with passion to create something priceless.