Technology Revolution: The Future of Now

The buzz: Ready. Set. Wait! You're a woman entrepreneur ready to start or expand your own business. Now what? You need to know that while women are the fastest growing segment of U.S. business owners, they tend to have smaller companies, generate less revenue, and employ fewer people than men. Is this due to fear of success, short-sighted planning, weak business processes, leadership insecurity – or all of the above? Learn the critical factors holding women back and solid advice to enhance your business success. These insights can help men, too. The experts speak. Jane Wesman, Jane Wesman Public Relations, Inc.: "Be flexible and recognize that business problems don't always have clear-cut solutions." Sandi Webster, Consultants 2 Go, LLC: "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right" (Henry Ford). Nina Kaufman, Esq., Entrepreneur.com Legal Expert: "It ain't over 'til it's over" (Yogi Berra). Join us for Success Secrets for Entrepreneurial Women – Part 2.

The buzz: Verb: To friend. Over 1BN of us use Facebook and other social media mainly for personal communication. Many businesses see sales gold here, too. But their 'pixels-vs-people' approach isn't working so well. How can B2C and B2B companies market effectively to FB and other social platforms – and what is the potential payoff? It's time to learn how to master authentic social engagement to capture the exciting possibilities for your company.The experts speak. Yvette Lui, Facebook: "It always seems impossible until it's done" (Nelson Mandela). Jamie Tedford, Brand Networks: "Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes…because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do" (Steve Jobs). Hari Ashvuni, SAP: "The price of doing the same old thing is far higher than the price of change" (President Bill Clinton). Join us for Facebook, Etc. and Your Business: Beyond Friending.

The buzz: Climb in. Buckle-up. Your connected car is leaving the garage.Just as radio, PCs and smartphones changed our world, connected vehicles will, too, as the automotive industry advances toward a fully autonomous connected vehicle. Not to worry. It WILL be safe, courteous, green, shared, tailored for purpose – and driverless. And it will be the business platform of the future. How? The experts speak. Joe Barkai, Industry Analyst: "'I can't believe that!' said Alice. 'Can't you?' the Queen said in a pitying tone. 'Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes'" (Alice in Wonderland). Otto Schell, GM: "Every new experience is unusual. The rest of life is just sleep and committee meetings" (John Twelve Hawks). Larry Stolle, SAP: "I call it like the domino theory of reality. If you can go one step at a time and it seems to make sense, you can then take your audience into an area that is relatively outlandish!" (Ivan Reitman). Join us for Connected Car Take 4: Driverless, Too!

The buzz: Hyper is a good thing. As individuals, organizations, and machines inter-connect in real time, the resulting always-on hyper-connectivity is reinventing the world's economy. If your organization is serious about competing, you need to capture the transformational power of digital across your business. The pay-off: a potentially dramatic increase in productivity and economic value. What do you need to transform quickly and win? What will you risk if you're too slow? The experts speak. Christophe Mouille, Accenture: "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever" (Ghandi). Bob Parker, IDC: "The future is already here – it's just not very evenly distributed" (William Gibson). Amr El Meleegy, SAP: "If you don't go after what you want you'll never have it. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place" (Nora Roberts). Join us for Hyper-Connectivity: Reinventing the World Economy.

The buzz: Yes or not yet? "There are only two types of companies today: those that have been breached and know it—and those that just don't know it yet," noted John Chambers. As a retailer's networked connections expand and firewalls grow porous, added scrutiny is needed on security inside their IT landscape, as well as within their partner and consumer environments. What risk do "ethical" retailers face if sensitive collected data is breached? Do regional/national retailers have an advantage over multinationals? The experts speak. Brent Brown, HP: "If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else" (Y. Berra). Brian Kilcourse, RSR Research: …computer viruses should count as life…the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive" (S. Hawking). Tim Hood, SAP: …there are known knowns… known unknowns...unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know" (D. Rumsfeld). Join us for The Networked Economy: Shaping the Future of Retail - Part 3.

The buzz: Now! Attention, manufacturers. If it's a surprise that we're mid-way into the 4th industrial revolution, here's a news flash. Your manufacturing facility needs to take advantage of the exponential advances in technology, big data and innovations – or you'll soon be out of business. How can you catch up? Harness the power of in-memory computing, IoT, wearable technologies, additive manufacturing and predictive capabilities. And stop underestimating customers' evolving expectations (your competition isn't). The experts speak. Mark Frank, Deloitte: "Vision without execution is just hallucination" (Henry Ford). David Dreyer, SAP: "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so" (Mark Twain). Rick Imber, SAP: "The greatest danger for us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we will reach it" (Michelangelo). Join us for Transporting Your Factory into the Future Now – Part 2.

Performance Management (PM) began informally around World War 1. By the late-1950s, many companies adopted formal, personality-based PM practices without a self-appraisal component. Complaints arose about their effectiveness. Fast-forward to today. Most organizations are using a PM strategy intended to drive the right behaviors toward a specific outcome, but 80% believe it's not delivering. Is your PM maximizing or hurting your employees' productivity? It's time to examine the good, bad, and ugly of PM, plus improvement strategies you can use now. The experts speak. Dr. Steven Hunt, SuccessFactors: "Sweeping generalizations about certain performance management methods being universally good or bad are almost always wrong." Josh Bersin, Bersin by Deloitte: "Traditional performance appraisals are dinosaurs." Pam Seplow, SAP: "Good judgment comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgment" (Will Rodgers). Join us for Performance Management: Are Today's Practices Working?

The buzz: Drug supply risks. Today, more often than is acceptable, a required antibiotic or chronic disease drug cannot be delivered on time. What will happen tomorrow when personalized medicine tailored for one or a small patient group must be secured? The experts speak. Dr. Josef Packowski, CAMELOT Consulting Group: "Detective Del Spooner: 'You are just a machine. An imitation of life. Can a robot write a symphony?' Sonny: 'Can you?'" (I, Robot). Julian Amey, WMG: "Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man…Better...stronger...faster" (The Six Million Dollar Man). Jack Schmidt, SAP: "…one of my mantras–focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains" (Steve jobs). Join us for Future of Medicine: Will Supply Chains Be Ready?

The buzz: Connected health systems. Wearable devices can track and automatically report body traits, therapy adherence and lifestyle to patients, doctors, and more. But if taken to a new level, they could have more dramatic impacts. How? Individuals would change their health thinking and behavior, health insurers would pay per outcome vs. cost, and life sciences companies would focus on prevention as well as cure. Is this the impossible dream? The experts speak. Harry Greenspun, MD, Deloitte: "If you build it, they will come… or maybe they won't." Scott Lundstrom, IDC: "The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency (Bill Gates). Bernhard Schweizer, SAP: "I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been"(Wayne Gretzky). Join us for Health Wearables Part 3 – The New Life-Changers?

The buzz: Hurry! Calling all manufacturers! We're mid-way into our 4th industrial revolution. If your manufacturing facility isn't taking advantage of the exponential advances in technology, exploding big data and amazing innovations, the handwriting is on the wall: you'll soon be obsolete. What will it take to catch up? First, learn to harness the power of in-memory computing, IoT, wearable technologies, additive manufacturing and predictive capabilities. Next, stop underestimating the changing dynamics of your customers' expectations (your competition isn't). Want to know more? The experts speak. Mark Frank, Deloitte: "Nothing is impossible. Some things are just less likely than others" (Jonathan Winters). Timothy Day, Johns Manville: "If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it" (Lord Kelvin). Rick Imber, SAP: "The secret of success is doing what you have to do, better than you have to do it" (Unknown). Join us for Transporting Your Factory into the Future Now–Part 1.