ISG Imagine Your Future Podcast

Digital technologies are transforming the way enterprises operate, so it should come as no surprise that the role of the digital leader also is undergoing great change.

Barry speaks to Dan about what it takes to be a leader in the digital world, exploring how the modern technology executive needs to be fluent in both business and technology – or, as Dan describes it, be “double-deep.”

Dan believes leadership is becoming a shared responsibility, as opposed to being something provided by only a few at the top of a hierarchy. This can be seen in the proliferation of new CXO roles - Chief Digital Officer, Chief Security Officer, Chief Technology officer, to name a few.

As the traditional enterprise leadership structure is replaced by a more agile and collaborative team architecture, enterprises are reaping the benefits of the emergence of a new generation of entrepreneurial technology experts who are influenced by ideas from across teams and departments.

Join Barry and Dan as they discuss these issues, along with the top five technology themes that Dan believes will transform the future of work.

Join us for a look back on the themes and concepts covered in this year’s ISG Smartalks™ podcast series. Barry Matthews and his guests, Eleanor Winn and Bryn Barlow of ISG, reflect on where we’ve been and what we can take away.

Over the course of the series, the podcast has covered diverse technology-related themes that have informed, entertained and inspired listeners. Discussions with guests have explored subjects from blockchain, sourcing, automation and artificial intelligence, to 5G networks, the future of work, service orchestration and the digitization of business, and drawn on the experience of experts from a variety of industries and backgrounds.

Join Barry, Eleanor and Bryn on their journey through the episodes as they discuss the technologies that have had the biggest personal and professional influence, those that promised much but delivered little and those that they believe will have the greatest effect on business over the next 10 years, along with favorite technology gadgets and heroes.

When it comes to blockchain, the jury’s still out. Some believe it’s an example of technology that’s promised much and delivered little. Others think it will have a far-reaching impact on practically every aspect of our lives, much the same way the internet has.

Barry gets together this week with two eminent blockchain thought-leaders, Alex Manders of ISG and Muneeb Shah of Wipro, for the latest episode of the ISG Smartalks™ podcast. Together they define blockchain for the uninitiated and explore how it underpins the existence of cryptocurrencies.

According to Manders and Shah, blockchain technology has the potential to disrupt nearly every industry – from banking and financial services to energy and utilities, healthcare, pharmaceuticals and farming.

They argue that its greatest sphere of influence to date has been on cross-industry supply chains in which the technology helps track and trace goods from their provenance to the point of sale in previously unimagined ways.

The potential range of applications for blockchain is just starting to be understood. In the future, with the advent of interoperability between two or more blockchains, the technology is set to become a key enabler and transformation catalyst to industries and the global economy as a whole.

Whether you’re new to the blockchain debate or have your own views on how the technology will influence our lives, tune in to hear Barry’s lively and enlightening discussion with two esteemed experts in this exciting field.

In this episode of the ISG Smartalks™ podcast, we look back at ISG’s Automation Summit London (11-12 September). Barry Matthews catches up with four leading automation experts at the conference to find out their thoughts on the current state of technology and how they see automation impacting business over the next decade.

Barry speaks with Professor Leslie Willcocks of the London School of Economics, who has co-authored 65 books on automation. Willcocks believes we’ll see exponential growth in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic process automation (RPA) businesses, leading to mergers and consolidations in the sector. He dismisses the idea that RPA will merely patch up the old world of business tech and instead sees it as foundational for a new way of doing business, allowing enterprises that focus on technological convergence to separate themselves from their competitors.

Next, Barry finds Craig Jones, Partner – Advisor Relations, of Wipro with whom he explores how RPA has become more strategic and transformative. Jones predicts we will see more businesses move to cognitive AI in the next ten years, believing it will lead to huge efficiencies, but only if businesses have the right data and the right structure in place.

When Barry sits down with Sajesh Gopinath, General Manager, of UST Global they discuss how businesses are evolving in their relationships with automation – moving from proofs of concept to demanding clear results on what the technology can deliver. Gopinath believes those enterprises that have automated systems to orchestrate processes and information across the enterprise will become market leaders.

Finally, Barry tracks down Serkan Ibrahim, Sales Director, of IPSoft who predicts a convergence of capabilities and vendors in the automation market over the next ten years. Despite some disappointment in RPA, Ibrahim still sees it as the best gateway to digital transformation – and believes we’re only just starting to see its true capabilities.

Tune in to hear an honest conversation with four of the field’s experts about automation, cryptocurrencies and the power of change in the market today.

The ISG Index™ has been assessing and analyzing the state of the global IT services market for the past 17 years, over 67 consecutive quarters. The Index is considered the authoritative source for marketplace intelligence related to outsourcing transaction structures and terms, industry adoption, geographic prevalence and service provider performance. It covers both the traditional, managed services sourcing market as well as the fast-growing as-a-service market.

Stanton Jones, Director and Principal Analyst at ISG Research, has drawn a wealth of insight from the ISG Index™ during his time with the firm. In this episode of the ISG Smartalks™ podcast, he talks with Barry Matthews about the dramatic changes he’s observed in the sourcing industry over the past two decades.

They discuss the profound changes to the typical size and length of outsourcing deals, but also how the fundamental business rationale and objectives of outsourcing have transformed during that time, resulting in significant changes to both the structure and focus of traditional and as-a-service providers. Tune in to hear this dynamic discussion about the past, present and future of the sourcing industry.

5G is just around the corner and many believe the next generation of networks will transform the world in unimaginable ways. From enabling live streaming to driverless cars, 5G will facilitate many technological innovations.

Businesses prioritizing customer experience know that fast, reliable network performance can drive improved order fulfilment, payments and customer service. Getting the network “supply chain” right has never been more important because it provides the foundation for digital transformation.

In this episode of the ISG Smarktalks™ podcast, Barry Matthews talks with ISG network experts Phil Hugus and Jon Harrod about what the 5G future holds for us. They discuss what it will mean for the network sourcing market – both for service providers and their customers – and the role 5G will play in transforming businesses.

Of course, any new technology at the top of the CIO’s agenda and with implications this big also comes with a lot of hype. Tune in to hear the discussion.

Most businesses are by now some way down the road of digitization. Many are automating their services using a mix of the growing array of automation and cognitive technologies. Automating services inevitably means that human and digital workforces find themselves delivering different parts of the same business processes, or at the very least interfacing with each other. 

So, the challenge enterprises are increasingly facing is how to ensure oversight and visibility across processes and manage resources most effectively to ensure high levels of productivity. In this episode Barry Matthews talks to entrepreneur and business leader, Kit Cox, about service orchestration and how it is driving the digital transformation of many businesses.

Service orchestration enables the rapid scaling of robotic process automation (RPA) and cognitive technologies in an open ecosystem and provides a platform for seamlessly managing human and digital workforces. The importance of service orchestration is set to increase as enterprises invest in more automation tools to enhance the capabilities and productivity of their human workers as well as the experience of their customers.

Kit Cox is an entrepreneur and founder of service orchestration platform, Enate. He’s passionate about the benefits that intelligent automation can bring as bots and humans start to work side by side.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is arguably one of the most disruptive technologies of our time. In this episode of ISG Smartalks™ Barry Matthews is joined by Mark Kelly of AI Ireland to discuss how AI is set to transform our lives, both as workers and consumers. Although not new on the scene, AI is currently driving a revolution in business due to its ability to leverage big data, improved algorithms and the Cloud.  AI technologies are benefitting a vast range of industries with contextualization and personalization of consumer offerings being just two of many ways in which businesses are taking advantage of the technology.  But AI projects do not always have the desired business impact for a variety of reasons, including access to data, availability of the right talent and the commitment of senior leaders.

Tune in to hear the discussion!

Mark Kelly is the founder of AI Ireland, a non-profit organization with a mission to bring together players in the field of AI in order to forge and strengthen ties and to celebrate the development of AI for the greater good. Mark is also an AI podcaster and TedX speaker.

Barry Matthews and Steve Hall explore the multiple ways in which technology is influencing what we do at work as well as how and where we work. Despite technologies such as PCs, mobiles, smartphones and networks having had a massive impact over the past few decades, most of us still operate in part analog and part digital world.

Organizations must continue to adapt themselves using automation, collaboration tools and the latest thinking on optimal office environments to ensure they can make the most of their greatest asset - people. This is particularly true for millennials who have very different approaches to communication and working and who form a growing segment of the global workforce.

Whether or not automation will lead to job losses or displacement, technology is empowering people to take greater control of their careers. Opportunities presented by flexible working models and the gig economy, not to mention the creation of new roles and jobs that we haven’t even dreamed of yet, are changing the shape of work as we know it.

Barry Matthews continues his exploration of sourcing in a digital world, this time with Kit Burden of global law firm DLA Piper. Lawyers play a central role in contracting for third party services, and major changes to the industry over the past two decades have had a lasting impact on their role and approach. The need for shorter, more flexible, more agile contracts, coupled with the desire to create collaborative partnerships with third parties have become the norm. Artificial Intelligence technologies are now poised to revolutionize not only the way that enterprises contract for services but are also set to transform the legal profession itself.

Kit is Partner and co-chair of DLA Piper’s global technology and sourcing group. He has advised on some of the largest and most complex technology sourcing relationships in the market.