Technology Revolution: The Future of Now

Today's buzz: Fraud. With today's sophisticated detection and prevention technology, you'd hope we'd be able to stop the bad guys from stealing our money and identities, cheating companies and consumers. Alas, industrious cybercriminals are busy this very second devising clever schemes to attack vulnerable merchants and buyers, creating innocuous-looking blogs and referral sites, targeting chat forums and social media, infecting e-cards. Your organization can't afford to not be vigilant and not be resistant to the risk of corporate fraud. The experts speak. Prakash Santhana, Deloitte: "When the proverbial 'it' hits the fan – will you be ready? Because it will…it is only a question of time!" Vincent Walden, Ernst & Young: "Big risks require big data thinking." Mike Kosonog, Deloitte: "'More Data, More Opportunities.' This tag-line seems to cut two ways." Michael Lortz, SAP: "The data doesn't lie...or does it? Join us for Fakes, Frauds, Scams: Who's Winning? – Part 2.

The buzz: Mobile BI. Mobile BI is quickly becoming mainstream, with a majority of organizations considering it "critical" or "very important," particularly in smaller organizations, in the Retail segment, and outside North America and EMEA. In fact, according to the Howard Dresner Mobile Analytics Study 2013, mobile business intelligence is the third most common use case for mobile business workers, next to email and contact information. Are you and your team getting right-time business information when, where and how you need it, so you can act on it quickly? The experts speak. Howard Dresner, Dresner Advisory Services: "Sometimes doing your best is not good enough. Sometimes you must do what is required" (Winston Churchill). Kaan Turnali, SAP: "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" (Leonardo da Vinci). Mimi Spier, SAP: "In time of big wind, some people build walls and some people build windmills" (Chinese proverb). Join us for Mobile BI: Location, Location, Location.

The buzz: Mentoring. Mentoring at its most basic involves a more experienced or knowledgeable person helping to guide someone less experienced or knowledgeable for personal and/or professional development. But mentoring can be so much more. It's a two-way learning street, with its own rules and culture. It can be done in reverse. And it can help your organization pass on cultural norms and more. The experts speak. Sherryanne Meyer, Air Products and Chemicals: "'Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi!' is the phrase I will occasionally recite to colleagues who have some knowledge that I need. Obi Wan was Luke and Anakin Skywalker's mentor in Star Wars." Sarah Cooke, Great Place to Work: "I'd rather regret the things I have done than the things that I haven't" (Lucille Ball). Meaghan Sullivan, SAP: "Dress for success… always present yourself both mentally and in physical appearance in the job that you want to be in… one level up." Join us for Mentoring Done Right: Everybody Wins!

The buzz: Game on! We've always been drawn to games in our leisure time, from Senet (Egypt), Mahjong (China), dice (Iran, India) to Monopoly (US), and videogames. But while we were having fun, gaming became a serious player in the arenas of formal learning, workplace productivity and even sales. We've heard that 70% of the top 2000 companies plan to use gamification (term coined in 2002 by Nick Pelling) by 2015. Are you in it to win it? The experts speak. Prof. Ashok Ranchhod, Games Design Hub: "Curiosity may have killed the cat, so we should love and respect it. For without curiosity and imagination, we would all be the living dead." Gopal RajGuru, Innovate+Grow Group: "Gamification has its place … but some things are difficult to put into a meaningful game that both entertains and educates." Philipp Herzig, SAP: "The opposite of play is not work, it's depression" (Brian Sutton-Smith, play theorist, game researcher). Join us for Gamification: Filling the Customer Expectation vs Sales Gap.

Today's buzz: Industry 4.0. It's 2014 and we're witnessing the rise of the Industrial Internet and orchestrated manufacturing. This Age of the Smart Factory brings a new generation of systems delivering real-time awareness and autonomic interactions among machines, systems, assets and things aka The Internet of Things. Is your business ready to adjust and take advantage of the opportunities - or will you be left behind? The experts speak. Dave Westrom, ThingWorx: "And it ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things" (Niccolo Machiavelli). Quentin Fisher, CSC: "In 10 minutes, the equivalent data from the dawn of creation until 2003 is generated and there is plenty of idle data in the system. Cisco has quoted that 1% of what can be connected is connected." Join us for Industrial Internet: Real-Time Capabilities to Grow Your Business.

Today's buzz: Mobility. Welcome to the Mobile 2.0 world. Enterprise mobility is moving at triple-Internet speed. Adoption of BYOD and enterprise-wide B2E, B2B and C2B is disrupting traditional computing. Nearly 50% of organizations will invest in mobile apps, devices and mobile device management solutions over the next 12-18 months, but not all have a mobile strategy in place to ensure effective deployments. What will it take for companies to have a fighting chance to achieve mobile success? The experts speak. Benjamin Robbins, Palador: "Going small is not the same thing as going mobile." Michael O'Farrel, Mobile Institute: "Wearable workforce on the horizon." Maribel Lopez, Lopez Research: "Mobile is the foundation for contextual engagement." Carolyn Fitton Coad, SAP: "The connected future is here and mobile is the first screen to innovation." Join us for Enterprise Mobility for Dummies: You Can Run But You Can't Hide – Part 2.

Today's buzz: Thinking. According to "The 10 Skills That Will Get You Hired In 2013" (Forbes.com, Dec. 10, 2012), the top four skills required for 9 of the top 10 most in-demand jobs were critical thinking, complex problem solving, judgment and decision-making, and active listening. Pop quiz: If you apply for a "hot" new job today and are asked to honestly rate your proficiency in these skills, do you know enough about the definition of critical thinking to respond? The experts speak. Dr. Mark Battersby, Professor: "The first step in critical thinking is 'logical self-defense'—learning not to be taken in by bad but persuasive arguments." Dr. Sharon Bailin, Professor: "Critical thinking is more than logical self-defense. It involves coming to a reasonable decision based on a careful evaluation of relevant reasons and data." Deepa Sankar, SAP: "Analytics is not just about numbers. Look beyond those numbers." Join us for Critical Thinking: Path to True Business Intelligence?

Today's buzz: Marketing. We're all bombarded daily by a deluge of content. Some works its intended magic; most fails with a splat or simply vaporizes. If you're among the legions of writers (or a manager of writers) spewing forgettable content that's doing injustice to your brand, and your only authentic words are curses flung at your keyboard, help is here. Tune in for insider tips to go from dull, irrelevant messages to actionable, memorable, experience-rich communications gems. The experts speak. Jeremy Epstein, Sprinklr: "Brands will not survive the social age without experience management." Kare Anderson, Moving From Me to We: "Whoever most vividly characterizes what a situation is about usually determines how others see it in their mind's eye, think about it, and act on it." Tim Clark, SAP: "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you" (Maya Angelou). Join us for their insights on Social and Content Marketing: Why Is Less More?

The buzz: Project teams. When it comes to technology implementation roll-outs, achieving success demands astutely aligning your time, money and people with corporate objectives. The bottom line: If your project teams aren't earning high-fives on design, development, testing, training and ultimately process integration — and your PM (project manager) locks their door and turns off their phone — it's time to consider new approaches to project management. The experts speak. Greg Stimpson, Method360: ""Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid" (Albert Einstein). Erik Axton, Method360: "A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it" (G.K. Chesterton). Jason Bradley, SAP: "To simplify complications is the first essential of success (George Earle Buckle). Join us for Project Teams: New Roadmap To Success

Today's buzz: Shared value in education. What if your company could deliver shareholder returns while simultaneously helping to solve our global education crisis, and better prepare the workforce for the jobs you need to fill? You can! A growing number of smart companies are using their core business strategy and operations to create the power to solve education solutions, far beyond the reach of their limited giving budgets. The experts speak. Kate Tallant, FSG: "By aligning profit with purpose, companies can become essential partners for schools, nonprofits, and governments in overcoming the global education crisis." Amanda Gardiner, Pearson: "Companies should not be managing their reputations, they should be managing their impacts." (Christine Bader blog in The Guardian) Brittany Lothe, SAP: "Plan like a pessimist, think like a realist, act like an optimist and – above all – love what you do. Join us for Business's New Role in Education: Creating Shared Value.