Speakers & Participating Analysts

Sustainable Digital Commerce: Preparing for an Era of Smarter Business, Jordan Jewell, Research Manager, Digital Commerce and Enterprise Applications

Digital commerce, the buying and selling of products and services online, has taken every industry by storm, demanding both B2B and B2C sellers provide vast catalogs, excellent user experiences, and expedited shipping. These forces have skewed in favor of quantity over quality, short-term profits over long-term success, and marketing impact over environmental impact. The tide is already changing though, and customers are beginning to favor smarter and more sustainable commerce practices that are built for the long haul. This session looks at how the digital commerce status quo is shifting toward long-term sustainable transactions, the enormous opportunity that it creates for early adopters, and how your organization fits into the new equation.

The Future of Sales Enablement, Randy Perry, Vice President, Business Value Strategy Practice; Nancy Selig, Vice President, Interactive Platforms; and Matthew Marden, Research Director, Business Value Strategy Practice

Digital transformation (DX) is driving a new agenda for the C-suite. The clock is ticking, and there's less than three years to execute on DX or face imminent failure. Even those that are successful today must continue to advance their DX strategy. Technology providers must guide their customers forward, but this means dealing with new buyers, new opportunities, and new relationships; delivering new dialogues; and undergoing their own digital transformation. In this session, Randy Perry, Nancy Selig, and Matthew Marden will draw from recently completed research to discuss how IT providers will need to transform how they market and sell to their customers and deliver transformative business outcomes.

The Growing Private Cloud Landscape and the Customer Demands Driving Growth, Deepak Mohan, Research Director, Cloud Infrastructure Services, and Natalya Yezhkova, Research Vice President, Infrastructure Systems, Platforms and Technologies Group

Enterprise IT's approach to cloud has shifted over the past five years. Early adopters in the market are transitioning from "cloud also," through "cloud first," and increasingly into "cloud everywhere" as their underlying approach to cloud adoption. Emerging solutions in the market are reflective of this shift. This has broadened the options available to customers to consume cloud deployments and services and make trade-offs that are well matched to their respective business and operational needs. At this session, IDC will provide an overview of the evolving private or dedicated cloud environments and discuss the customer demands that are driving this evolution.

The Tipping Point for Sustainability Progress, Jennifer Cooke, Research Director, Cloud to Edge Datacenter Trends

Today, 83% of organizations have a sustainability pledge in place, and half of organizations state that they plan to only do business with partners with shared environmental goals. Being a good citizen of the earth is very important to individuals and corporations alike, and IDC believes that attracting and retaining top talent will hinge upon an organization's commitment to sustainability goals. But many organizations are in nascent stages of progress, and technology to support digital transformation and edge IT service will further challenge progress. This session will explore strategies and new technologies that will help organizations move from "greenwashing" to achieving meaningful business and sustainability goals.

Blueprint for Better Content Performance, Kathleen Schaub, Vice President, CMO Advisory Practice

Content is 9.9% of the average tech company's marketing program budget — the third-largest program investment, according to IDC's 2019 CMO Advisory Tech Marketing Benchmark Survey. According to a study sponsored by IDG Communications, 58% of tech marketers expect to increase their content budget. Yet 77% of these executives report that their ability to measure content ROI is inadequate. The key to better outcomes is a content plan that aligns analytics and promotional strategy along with the typical message, creative, and distribution plan. IDC will share the Performance Marketing Insights step-by-step blueprint and case studies in this interactive session.

Track 1: IT/OT: Digital Engineering in the Future of Operations, Kevin Prouty, Group Vice President, Energy and Manufacturing Insights

As companies transform to market-driven operations, the distinction between IT and OT is disappearing. As more data management and virtualized systems become part of the OT core, new operational models and governance will be the focus of the digital engineer. This presentation will highlight how the new digital engineering organization will become the foundation for the future of operations.

Track 2: The Future of Connectivity — Connecting People, Things, and Processes, Carrie MacGillivray, Group Vice President, Internet of Things, 5G & Mobility

Connectivity is the common denominator in how people, things, and processes interact today. As digital interactions increase, it becomes clear that connectivity is not yet seamless, nor pervasive. For consumers and organizations alike, the increased reliance on being digitally engaged requires ubiquitous, reliable, and robust connectivity. Carrie MacGillivray will outline IDC's view of where the future of connectivity will evolve and steps that need to be taken to allow for pervasive experiences across devices, platforms, and context.

Track 3: Consumer Trust and Empathy: The Intangible, Soft Side of the New Rules of Engagement, David Myhrer, Research Vice President, Consumer Strategies

Customers are the catalyst for change by adopting technologies that are rewriting how they engage, what channels they use, and what experience they want. Companies need to embrace new "rules of engagement" to address evolving consumer expectations regarding this new type of experience based on trust. Yet, without empathy, these efforts will fall flat. More than ever, consumers want to do business with competent companies that genuinely care and consistently fulfill their promises. Distrustful of advertising, consumers judge this based on real-life experiences — their own and those of other people. Building consumer trust in this new world requires genuine empathy, competence, character, and conviction, as consumers increasingly relate to brands the way they relate to other people. This session looks at how consumers are driving change by their adoption of technology and how companies must adapt to build trust and deliver on the new expectations and experience they want.

Track 4: Future of Digital Infrastructure: Infrastructure Software and Services Redefine Consumption, Matt Eastwood, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Infrastructure, Cloud, Developers and Alliances

Digital transformation involves the management of an increasingly diverse application and data portfolio that extends from edge to core. Many organizations are struggling to scale their IT environments while supporting a digital infrastructure that delivers strategic market advantage. In this session, Matt Eastwood will benchmark the state of IT readiness while exploring how technology, deployment, and operations will be redefined to meet the digital business challenges of the future.

Track 5: Realizing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at Scale, Ritu Jyoti, Program Vice President, Artificial Intelligence Strategies

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are changing the future while disrupting the present. It is pervasive across the enterprise software stack from databases to data integration and BI tools to CX and industry applications. While it is deceptively easy to launch successful AI pilots, moving toward an organizationwide program to realize the full value potential is fiendishly hard. Using MLOps to effectively manage and govern the AI life cycle from experimentation to production is the business' next competitive frontier. This presentation will review real-world examples of AI-powered applications and solutions in production, operating at scale, and enabling superior business outcomes.

Track 6: Emerging Opportunities as Enterprise Developers Go Cloud Native, Arnal Dayaratna, Research Director, Software Development

[Session detail to come]

Track 7: Privacy and the Future of Trust, Ryan O'Leary, Senior Research Analyst, Legal, Risk, & Compliance

Continuing on the future of trust theme from the main stage presentation, "trust" introduces new variables that go beyond the traditional idea of "security" to include "risk," "compliance," "privacy," and even business ethics. This session will outline what essential "trust" and privacy initiatives your business should be considering for 2020 and beyond.

Track 8: Future of Work: Deployment and Implementation Insights and Case Studies, Holly Muscolino, Research Vice President, Content and Process Strategies and the Future of Work

The future of work is not about someday; leading organizations are moving decisively to seize opportunities that new work models can bring to their teams regarding the work that must be completed as part of their digital transformation. In today's session, IDC will share insights and case studies from newly completed field research — findings that answer such critical questions as: who and what completes the work, how is it done, where is it done; and what tools, technologies, processes, and organizational cultures are most effective? Join us to garner the examples you will need to build your investment case for implementing the future of work programs this year.

Track 1: Delivering Ubiquitous Infrastructure: Use Cases at the Operational Edge, Rick Villars, Research Vice President, Datacenter & Cloud

The operational edge is where the real transformation happens in the transformed operation, but the need to deliver consistent edge environments that can support resilient decision making at scale is a critical requirement. In this session, Rick Villars will leverage uses cases to assess the challenges and opportunities to enable operational edges that support mass customization and the experience-driven economy.

Track 2: The Future of Enterprise Connectivity: The Transformative Potential of 5G Enhanced by the Multi-Access Edge Cloud, Rajesh Ghai, Research Director, Carrier Network Infrastructure

The cloud as a destination for enterprise applications and as an operating model has been a critical driver of digital transformation and a source of agility, efficiency, and new business models/revenue streams for the enterprise. 5G connectivity, enhanced by the carrier multi-access edge (MEC), has the promise to unleash a second wave of digital transformation and business value creation for the enterprise. Enterprises that have begun the DX journey can ill-afford to ignore the value creation potential of these low-latency distributed MEC clouds in order to remain competitive and relevant to their customers. Join Rajesh Ghai as he brings to life the transformative potential of 5G enhanced by MEC clouds.

Track 3: Market Opportunity Beyond Products: Earning Customer Trust, Kathleen Schaub, Program Vice President, CMO Advisory & Customer Experience

As superior product and services become table stakes for customer experience, buyers increasingly rely on factors such as transparency, personalization, and community support to determine who to invest with. In IDC's 2019 IT Buyer Experience Survey, 88% of tech buyers say that a company's reputation for contributing to social causes will impact their future buying decisions. This presentation will discuss how tech companies can support brands both through technology and signaling their commitment to an expanding array of stakeholders and customers as they move to meet a broader set of customer requirements and the market opportunity for technology firms that do.

Track 4: Hybrid Multicloud Management Wars Flip the Script on Enterprise AIOps and Automation Strategies, Mary Johnston Turner, Research Vice President, Cloud Management

Containers, Kubernetes, and microservices are driving massive change in the scale, scope, and speed of enterprise infrastructure and application management requirements. Attend this session to hear how cloud-based control planes, functions/serverless automation, and AIOps are driving radical change in the way enterprises will configure, optimize, and control hybrid multicloud architectures.

Track 5: Creating the Capacity to Learn as an Intelligent Organization, Jennifer Hamel, Research Manager, Analytics and Intelligent Automation Services

Better intelligence involves more than the ability to track and analyze an increasing amount of data. It requires structures that enhance an enterprise's capacity to learn and use the resulting knowledge to maximize desired business outcomes. Organizations will need to rethink how decisions are made, at all levels of the enterprise as well as with a broader ecosystem of stakeholders. This presentation will focus on practices, technologies, and services for sourcing and sharing information to enable organizations to accomplish learning at scale.

Track 6: Next Frontier for Enterprise Saas and PaaS Providers: Positioning for Enterprises' Digital Supply Chains, Mickey North Rizza, Program Vice President, Enterprise Applications and Digital Commerce

[Session detail to come]

Track 7: Pervasive Data Defense in a Trust-Based Future, Robyn Westervelt, Research Director, Security & Trust

Sensitive data resides across widely distributed environments, and keeping that data out of the hands of cybercriminals is increasingly complex, time-consuming, and costly for security teams to manage. The emergence of unified edge security solutions tightly integrates largely siloed security products at the edge. These emerging solutions promise to address today's highly convoluted data security infrastructure. Join Robyn Westervelt in exploring the key findings of IDC's 2020 Global Data Security Survey to shed light on emerging data security strategies across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments. Westervelt will examine the influence of emerging data security technologies, update attendees on the status of post-quantum cryptography, and discuss the future of enterprises' security infrastructure.

Track 8: The Rise of the Intelligent Workspace: Opportunities, Techniques, and Challenges, Phil Hochmuth, Program Vice President, Enterprise Mobility

New team structures, enhanced collaboration, and a work environment that fosters human-machine augmentation requires a new, intelligent workspace — a workspace with new technologies, including AI, robotics, AR/VR, and intelligent process automation. To meet this challenge and accelerate their digital transformation, organizations will invest in the technologies and services that add the "intelligence." In today's session, IDC will outline the technologies that will be foundational, differentiating and ubiquitous; and will highlight solutions that deliver connectivity, interoperability, integration and, of course, security for the intelligent workspace that will power the rapid functional evolution and business growth required.

Track 1: Future of Operations and Industry 4.0, Jon Lang, Research Manager, IT/OT Convergence

Industry 4.0 is the concept of how companies will automate and control their operations. Building an Industry 4.0 strategy on the foundation of edge computing, analytics, AI, and software-defined automation, the transformed automation system provides the flexibility and resilience to support operational execution in a market-driven environment. This discussion will show how the future of operations will be built on the foundation of Industry 4.0.

Track 2: Future of the Connected Worker: From "at Work" to "in Work," Linn Huang, Research Vice President, Devices & Displays

5G's transformative potential extends beyond technologies and infrastructure to people themselves. Thirty years ago, work was a destination for most that involved a physical commute to a physical location. Today, growth in the number of remote and gig workers means fewer people with work to go to and more with just work to do. Persistent connectivity, cloud computing, workflow automation, and increased focus on the employee experience means work will be less a task to do and more a digital environment the user drops into to monitor or steer. Join Linn Huang as he unpacks how 5G impacts the future of work.

Track 3: Creating Empathy at Scale: Driving CX Culture Across the Organization, Douglas Hayward, Research Director, Worldwide Digital Strategy and Agency Services

Customer experience (CX) and providing an empathetic experience will be critical battlegrounds for enterprises in the 2020s. How should organizations proceed? New CX technologies such as martech suites, personalization, and AI/cognitive arm workers with tools that let them provide an empathetic experience. Accompanying these tools are new work practices, including design thinking, agile development, and DevOps that promote a more client-centric, proactive, and innovative culture mindset. The challenge is to build on the newfound ubiquity of these digital platforms to drive innovative, proactive, and entrepreneurial behaviors across the organization that result in a better experience for the customer. This is the cultural and organizational dimension of empathy at scale, one aspect of what IDC calls "innovation at scale." This session looks at how organizations must democratize their CX platforms and drive innovative and entrepreneurial behaviors across every part of the enterprise if they are to create radically better experiences across the customer journey.

Track 4: Extending the Infrastructure to the Edge, Ashish Nadkarni, Group Vice President, Infrastructure Systems, Platforms and Technologies Group

We are witnessing a shift in how infrastructure is viewed, thanks to the proliferation of the edge. The edge is all about moving compute to where data is created. The edge is also creating an explosion in the number of assets to be managed. Now IT must figure out how to push core platforms to the edge so that data and assets can be managed in a business outcome–centric manner. This is the new era of distributed and autonomous infrastructure: core-edge-endpoint.

Track 5: Unstructured, Undefined, Unknown: What Do You Really Know About Your Data? Marci Maddox, Research Director, Enterprise Content Strategies

Data that is well understood can be infinitely valuable. Data, in the absence of meaning and context, is worthless and costly. There is huge opportunity in shining a light onto the growing amount of underutilized or dark data and to improve an enterprise's data utilization quotient. This presentation will share insights from IDC end-user research to identify customer needs and shortcomings in leveraging data more effectively.

Track 6: Every Enterprise a Platform: Opportunities Around Enterprises' Digital Distribution Platforms, Al Gillen, Group Vice President, Software Development and Open Source

[Session detail to come]

Track 7: Analytics: The Foundation of the Future of Trust, Chris Kissel, Research Director, Security Products

As the network perimeter dissipates, the new control points become identity, endpoints, data, and applications. The foundation of security in this almost infinite scope of protection control points becomes analytics. Participants will learn the extensive role of how analytics are used to establish statistical baselines to find anomalies between gaps in point products; analytics detect breaches to individual identities, if entities are moving laterally between policy zones and if a platform is "compliant" from both the standpoint of regulators and within a given organization's parameters. Perhaps most important, the session will discuss how analytics help determine risk.

Track 8: Future of Work: Critical Services to Scale the New Work Experience, Megan Buttita, Research Director, Emerging Trends in Talent Acquisition, Worldwide Services Group

To maximize the productivity and effectiveness of the workforce, the office of the CHRO working with IT and other business leaders will need to orchestrate organizational change management initiatives, initiate agile and adaptive skilling and technical support programs, and evolve talent acquisition, development, and retention programs. Because of the business-critical nature of these changes, external service providers will be essential to accelerate and de-risk these initiatives. This session will highlight how new approaches to organizational consulting, process automation, and digital workplace services will play in the success of the new work experience. It will also identify the critical success factors that will make or break work transformation initiatives.