Technology Revolution: The Future of Now

Today's buzz: Risk. Supplier risk management is the fastest growing discipline within supplier management. Why? When a key supplier disrupts the supply chain, your costs of doing business increase along with perceived and unperceived risks for the buying enterprise. Do you have a solid strategy in place? Think technology. The experts speak. Dr. Van Gray, Baylor: "As our world becomes increasingly connected and multicultural, supply chains and their good management will be important fuel to the elimination of poverty, eradicating diseases, and to increasing rates of literacy with freedom of thought." Sarah Hill, Baylor MBA: "Failures, repeated failures, are sign posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success." (C. S. Lewis). Aaron Peavy, Baylor MBA: "The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them" (Ernest Hemmingway). Eric Coker, SAP: "Chance favors the prepared mind" (Louis Pasteur). Join us for Supplier Risk Management: Time to Get Serious.

Today's buzz: Empowering managers. Want to improve your organization's performance management? If you're focusing on HR processes, but not your managers' POV or day-to-day style, listen-up! SAP and Baylor University researchers studied best practices, tools, and processes that empower natural manager behavior to make better performance-based job assignments, promotions, and pay decisions. The experts speak. Dr. Gary Carini, Baylor: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard…" (John F. Kennedy). Hannah King, Baylor MBA: "Nothing is more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people" (Thomas Jefferson). Kevin Mitchell, Baylor MBA: "The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge" (Daniel J. Boorstin). Dr. Gabriela Burlacu, SAP: "When you win, sometimes it overshadows a poor performance" (Duke's "Coach K"). Join us for Employee Performance: Empowering Managers.

Today's buzz: The Journey. Customers are changing the rules of the marketplace. Digitally connected, socially networked, better informed before making a purchase, they jump between web, mobile, in-store, and phone and expect it to happen seamlessly in a personalized context. Whew! What is their POV on personal data privacy, advice for competing retailers, and definition of the best-ever customer experience? The experts speak. Prof. Chris Pullig, Baylor: "It's not rocket science, but it can get complicated." (Kevin Lane Keller and Chris Pullig) Arnold Bueso, Baylor: "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." (Maya Angelou) Akin Oladipo, Baylor: "If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses?" (Jeremiah 12:5) Bill Hou, SAP: "It's more fun to be a pirate than to join the Navy." (Steve Jobs) Join us for The Buyer's Journey: What Do They Really Want?

The buzz: Breached again. Forbes.com's "The Big Data Breaches of 2014" include Neiman Marcus, Michaels, P.F. Chang's, Dairy Queen, Goodwill Industries, Affinity Gaming's 11 casinos, Albertson's, plus "22.8 million private records of New Yorkers." Breaches cost merchants dearly in lost customers and profits, a tarnished reputation, and substantial fines. Are merchants waking up and becoming proactive about PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance and security standards? How easy is it for hackers to gain access via merchants' unprotected vulnerabilities? The experts speak. Richard McCammon, Delego: "Look wide, and even when you think you are looking wide – look wider still" (Lord Robert Baden-Powell). Hillel Zafir: "If it happens once, it's ignorance; if it happens twice, it's neglect; if it happens three times, it's policy" (Anonymous). Gerlinde Zibulski, SAP: "The forecast is cloudy with a chance of security." Join us for Data Security in the Age of Credit Card Breaches–Part 2.

The buzz: Safety first. After record vehicle recalls in 2014, automakers are under intense pressure from consumers and regulators to be proactive about product quality and safety issues; protect consumers; and minimize the duration, scale, and cost of recall events. How? Advanced analytics. The experts speak. Mark Gardner, Deloitte: "Anyone who sits on top of the largest hydrogen-oxygen fueled system in the world, knowing they're going to light the bottom, and doesn't get a little worried, does not fully understand the situation" (Space Shuttle Commander John Young). Josh Greenbaum, EAC Consulting: "Beware the unintended consequences of advanced analytics in the automotive sector. Saving lives is unequivocally a good idea, but big data analytics will have other impacts that might not be as well-received." Derek Snaidauf, Deloitte: "Better three hours too soon than a minute too late" (William Shakespeare). Join us for Time for a Tune-up: Advanced Analytics and Auto Safety.

The buzz: HR here and there. HR practices in Western countries can differ significantly from Eastern countries in terms of organizational structure, motivation, communication and conflict resolution. Whose are the most successful? According to professor Dr. Michael J. Marquardt, American companies think they're the keepers of the best management practices. Consequently, they don't try to learn as much as they can from other places. Is it time for U.S. HR leaders to take a page from other countries' HR playbooks? The experts speak. Patrick Heffernan, TBR: "With malice toward none, with charity for all…" (Abraham Lincoln). Allan Krans, TBR: "Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to" (Richard Branson). Thomas Otter, SAP: "When we hold a World Championship for a particular sport, we invite teams from other countries to play, as well" (John Cleese of Monty Python). Join us for HR Makes the World Go Round: Global Practices – Part 2.

The buzz: Health. Wearables like wrist bands, watches, glasses, and contact lenses are the NBT. Why? They can now measure body conditions and use the data to support healthier living, disease prevention, and faster rehab. But will patients actively track and share wearables-generated data, despite privacy concerns? And are wearables precise enough to meet medical device quality standards? The experts speak. Lynne Dunbrack, IDC Health Insights: "…When the familiar pen-and-paper methods of self-analysis are enhanced by sensors that monitor our behavior automatically, the process of self-tracking becomes both more alluring and more meaningful." (Gary Wolf) Greg Reh, Deloitte Consulting: "For a busy doctor, the ability to use email would save more lives than a Fitbit." (Jeff Tangney) Joe Miles, SAP: "Connected gadgets that are indistinguishable from their disconnected peers will fuel the growth of wearable technology." (Roger Bate) Join us for Health Wearables – Hype or Revolutionary?

The buzz: Space. Changing the culture and shaking up the status quo in organizations is always challenging, but key to survival. How to make it happen? Build a continuous innovation culture by identifying the right people, process, and space. But working in a tiny cubicle with half-walls or a conference room is hardly conducive to brainstorming new ideas. Hint: Your employees, partners and customers need a stimulating environment that inspires them to loosen their (proverbial) ties and think outside the box. Get it now? The experts speak. Jason Yotopoulos, mach49: "If humans can live for 100 years, why do companies die so young?" (Sukant Ratnakar). Greg Petroff, GE Software: "Eventually everything connects–people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se." (Charles Eames). Sam Yen, SAP: "We don't know who discovered water, but we're certain it wasn't a fish." (John Culkin). Join us for The Case for Space: Disrupting the Status Quo with Innovation.

The buzz: Recruiting. If acquiring and retaining top talent for your company tougher than ever, three factors may be at play: workforce mobility mindset, competitors' poaching, and your employer brand. If the third comes as a surprise, here's a reality check. Just as customers check social media for product and service reviews, potential job recruits are combing the Web for insider info about you, the employer. Are your talent leaders helping or hindering your brand? The experts speak. Tim Sackett, HRU Technical Resources: "Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called "EVERYBODY", and they meet at the bar." (Drew Carey). Chrissy Glover, GlassDoor: "What you deny or ignore, you delay. What you accept and face, you conquer." (Robert Tew). Jessica Miller-Merrell, Xceptional HR: "Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make something simple." (Willie Woody Guthrie) Join us for The Yelpification of Recruiting – Part 2.

The buzz: Future of Insurance. According to a survey from SAP and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), long-standing insurance companies are struggling to keep pace with strong competition from other industries that offer advanced consumer-facing insurance capabilities. Can traditional insurers survive? It may depend on how well they embrace analytics and learn to incorporate data from M2M and IoT. brbr The experts speak. Anthony O'Donnell, Insurance Innovation Reporter: "Now Harrison was prepared to reject 25 years of his own work and move ahead on an almost untried technology…" (NOVA) Karen Furtado, SMA: "We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten." (Bill Gates) Hugh Anderson, SAP: 'Your success in … is based on your ability to change faster than your competition, customers, and business." (Mark Sanborn) Join us for Future of Insurance in the Age of Customer Intimacy and IoT.