Technology Revolution: The Future of Now

Join Bonnie D. Graham Live from Sap Sapphire Now 2017.Gain valuable insight into ways that digital transformation will help you reimagine your business.Take a look at all the reasons why you cannot miss this conference. Discover new industry-tailored products and customer successes that will enable your digital business strategy.Find new ways to reduce complexity and increase responsiveness across your organization.

Join Bonnie D. Graham Live from Sap Sapphire Now 2017.Gain valuable insight into ways that digital transformation will help you reimagine your business.Take a look at all the reasons why you cannot miss this conference. Discover new industry-tailored products and customer successes that will enable your digital business strategy.Find new ways to reduce complexity and increase responsiveness across your organization.

The buzz: "There was more than $300M in venture capital invested in AI startups in 2014, a 300% increase (over 2013)" (Bloomberg).These are exciting times for business! Never has it been easier to harness innovations like artificial intelligence systems to drive productivity gains across your company. Think what you can do with speech and text recognition and visual image processing driving chatbots and digital assistants, and real-time complex data analysis understanding operational systems. The experts speak. Travis Tompkins, Deloitte: "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice" (Neil Peart). Dr. Paul Pallath, SAP: "An approximate answer to the right question is worth a great deal more than a precise answer to the wrong question" (John Tukey). Kevin McConnell, SAP: "Never engage your enemy until you have a substantial advantage. If you do not have an advantage, change the rules until you do" (Sun Tzu). Join us for Machine Learning Trends Part 2: Harnessing AI.

The buzz: "It will not be a world of man versus machine. It will be a world of man plus machines" (Ginni Rometty, IBM). Reality check: The human brain is too slow to uncover complex, nuanced patterns in the massive data produced by today's digital businesses. Why is this an issue? Your company needs to turn that data into intelligent insights to fuel your day-to-day business operations in every line of business, from Finance and HR to Sales and Marketing. The solution? Machine learning can harness that data into insights you can integrate into your enterprise applications and processes. The benefits? Grow your business, optimize efficiencies, support employees and delight customers. Who doesn't want all of that? The experts speak. David Jonker, SAP: "Just do it" (Nike trademark). Chandran Saravana, SAP: "Everything has to start with empathy for the end user (Bill McDermott, SAP CEO). Join us for Machine Learning Trends – Part 1: Enabling the Intelligent Enterprise.

The buzz: "What do you call a financial controller who always works through lunch, takes 2 days off every 2 years...and leaves every night after 10 PM? Lazy" (Accounting Day humor). Good news for corporate accountants. Continuous Accounting can reduce period-end workloads by distributing departmental workloads continuously across accounting periods via automation, integration, collaboration, streamlined processes, and instant insight to the entire business. You gain back time while transforming Finance. The experts speak. Isaac Tucker, Blackline: "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants" (Isaac Newton). Robert Kugel, Ventana Research: "Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning" (Ben Franklin). Elizabeth Milne, SAP: "The 7 most expensive words in business are: "We have always done it that way!" (C. DeVrye). Join us for Continuous Accounting for Finance: From Bean Counter to Strategic Partner.

The buzz: "This is a tricky universe we're staffing up and engaging…the core goals are the same…human is the bottom line." (Meghan M. Biro, TalentCulture). There's no mistake the CHRO agenda is evolving…for the better. From the role of HR in the business to how people strategy is enabled through innovative processing and technology, now, more than ever, the CHRO is evaluating the who, what, when, where, why, and how of structuring and operationalizing the modern organization. Which business trends are impacting how HR leads and which technology trends will enable their success? The experts speak. Susan Steele, IBM: "I don't stop when I'm tired. I only stop when I'm done." (Maya Angelou) Victor Reyes, IBM: "Inspiration is for amateurs – the rest of us just show up and get to work." (Chuck Close) Dr. Patti Fletcher, SAP SuccessFactors: "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of 'disaster,' I remember my mother's words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers--so many caring people in this world." (Mr. Rogers aka Fred Rogers) Join us for CHROs and People Strategies: New Year Resolutions and Beyond – Part 2.

The buzz: "It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much" (Yogi Berra). 2016 was a pivotal year for Global 2000 companies to align practical AI applications and embrace intelligent, conversational technology. As enterprise tech gurus sang the praises of conversational AI's potential, enterprises were listening with open minds and checkbooks. If you haven't entered the Era of AI yet, join us to learn how to avoid pitfalls along the way. The experts speak. Gray Scott, SeriousWonder.com: "Everything we do, every thought we've ever had, is produced by the human brain. But exactly how it operates remains one of the biggest unsolved mysteries, and it seems the more we probe its secrets, the more surprises we find" (Neil deGrasse Tyson). Robin Kearon, Kore: "Success in creating AI, could be the biggest event in the history of our civilization" (Stephen Hawking). Join us for AI and the Conversational Era of Chatbots: Connecting People to Technology – Part 2.

The buzz: "It is as if every dollar bill in your pocket has a list written on it of all the transactions it was involved in prior to reaching your hands. The blockchain ledger infrastructure has huge potential to simplify" (Ted Halpern, www.nasdaq.com 03/29/17). As the switch to digital money via blockchain technology turns central banks into dinosaurs, many people are skeptical about whether to trust the security and privacy of transactions en route to the blockchain. You don't want neighbor Joe to suddenly own your condo. How to separate the hype surrounding blockchain from its real benefits? The experts speak. Jeremy Epstein, Never Stop Marketing: "Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it" (Puck). Alon Kantor, Check Point: "Technology is anything that wasn't around when you were born" (Alan Kay). Raimund Gross, SAP: "If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old" (Peter Drucker). Join us for Money's Digital Makeover–Part 2.

The buzz: "The world is drowning in cash – and it's making us poorer while fueling a corrupt underground economy." (K.S. Rogoff, The Curse of Cash). Jerry Maguire's "Show me the money" is taking on new meaning: India demonetized its largest cash bills, switching to electronic money. Sharing Economy icons Uber and Airbnb don't accept cash. Brick-and-mortar retailers require advance payment via mobile. Will Blockchain make us cashless soon? The experts speak. Prof. Rajeev Srinivasan, Travancore: "The corrupt are incorrigible and are still looking for unfair means to stock black money" (Narendra Modi). Simon Bain, SearchYourCloud: "Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves…tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining…" (A. de Saint-Exupéry). Nadine Hoffmann, SAP: "To find something, anything, a great truth or a lost pair of glasses, you must first believe there will be some advantage in finding it" (All The King's Men). Join us for Money's Digital Makeover – Part 1.

The buzz: "It's getting harder and harder to differentiate between schizophrenics and people talking on a cell phone" (B. Newhart). Is mobile technology improving or endangering us? Picture this: While driving or walking, you find a restaurant, reserve a table for six, get directions, text info to your posse–all on your mobile device. But if you or your property are injured in the process, your next query may be: "Siri, where's the nearest hospital or tow truck?"The experts speak. Gavin Quinn, Mindset: "My friend's trying to convince me…any independent contractors who were working on the uncompleted Death Star were innocent victims when it was destroyed..." (Clerks). Scott Steadman, SAP: "We may encounter many defeats but we must NOT be defeated (M. Angelou). Pankaj Kumar, SAP: "A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools" (D. Adams). Join us for Mobile Technology: Dangerous vs Delightful?