After more than a decade of abundance, where the economy was steadily expanding, money was free, globalization was progressing, geo-politics were as boring as they should be and life was generally good, the world has taken a decisive turn towards a different future. Scarcity has re-emerged as an urgent priority at the executive agenda. Although we all longed that, with the Covid-19 crisis subsiding, we would enter a period of stable economic prosperity, the opposite is true.
Suddenly we find ourselves in a perma-crisis, where all certainties seem to have disappeared. The scarcity of talent will not alleviate anytime soon. Interest rates are rising, bringing an end to (almost) free capital to invest. Energy prices are expected to remain high. The world’s natural resources can no longer sustain our current levels of consumption. Inflation seems to stay at an unprecedented high level for an extended period. The geo-political tension of the ‘cold-war’ seems to have returned leading to an opposite trend of de-globalization of supply chains. The scarcity of almost everything is now a determining and social factor, as well as continuously rising pressure on the climate, resulting from an excess of carbon and other emissions.
And yet technological innovation seems to be unaffected by this situation of Uncertainty2. There is a steady flow of new, potentially transformative, ready to scale technologies, like Generative Artificial Intelligence, Synthetic biology, Quantum Computing, and Virtual and Augmented Reality, that promise solutions to all our challenges. Yet in a world where scarcity is in abundance, we must think carefully about the choices we make, including the technologies our businesses use. The time of ‘let a thousand flowers bloom’ is replaced by successfully ‘Dealing with Dilemma’s’. New concepts to guide our decisions like De-growth and Green-growth are introduced as alternative roads to the future.
Simply focusing on the creation of revenue, profit, shareholder value and superior performance is not enough. People, whether it’s your customers or employees, demand a clear purpose. They want businesses that contribute to society, addressing the big challenges of our time and actively shaping better futures for all. They expect ‘social’ businesses that ‘Do Well by Doing Good’. So, as we use technology to deal with the challenges our businesses face, we must find a balance between value creation, easy of use, convenience, climate friendly outcomes and the interests of society at large. Our businesses must take responsibility for the increasingly digital society they help to create.
During our Sogeti Executive Summit we will develop an optimistic scenario, minted by one of the speakers as “The Great Progression”, to write the future you want and explore some of the technologies that will help you get there. Question we will address at the summit are:
During a 24-hour intense program, perspectives from many different angles will be presented by authoritative speakers, interspersed with discussion amongst your peers. Participating in the summit will help you develop a scenario for your organization successfully riding the wave of “The Great Progression”, including an action list of where to start.
Recognising the environmental impact of travel, we want to ensure we make a positive contribution to investing in our planet, so will be planting trees with our partner Ecologi to reduce this impact.
Revolutionizing Software Development and Testing with Generative AI
'Quality at speed' is the mantra, not just for testers but also for developers. This necessitates a paradigm shift in traditional methods, and that's where Generative AI comes into play. This transformative technology promises to revolutionize the way both developers and testers approach their work, enhancing productivity and expediting delivery.
In this insightful session, we will explore the disruptive potential of Generative AI in the realms of both software development and QE&T. Key use cases, like automated code generation, script creation, and test case formulation, will be discussed, illustrating how AI-driven processes can drastically curtail manual effort and improve accuracy.
Our discussion will extend beyond the technical to encompass strategic considerations: the creation and maintenance of custom AI platforms, the upskilling imperative in an AI-integrated workforce, and the role of AI in crafting a unique market differentiation strategy.
Join us as we delve into the future of software development and testing, powered by Generative AI. Discover how this technology can help your organization maintain a competitive edge in an increasingly complex and fast-paced digital landscape.
Native Apps: Think of a new idea on Monday, have it running in production on Friday
Modern enterprises have evolved into software companies. Even if your business doesn’t sell software, the application and computing infrastructure at the core of your business is now your most important product line. How long does it take your development team to deliver a new application feature, test it, and push it out to production for your users? Ten years ago, you could have been forgiven for saying “six months”. Five years ago, “three months” was still an acceptable answer. Today, and in the future, the answer will be weeks or days. For the most agile firms – pun intended – timeframes of hours are the new standard. To achieve this kind of velocity, enterprises have had to make the transition from monolithic, legacy desktop and client-server applications to lighter, loosely coupled RESTful, API-based services. Reuse of code, services, and infrastructure allows systems designers to focus on the business logic instead of the plumbing below. Let’s discuss the true value of Modern Apps.
Data for Net Zero: The gold standard for corporate climate action
While many businesses and governments have set net-zero targets, the evolving regulatory ecosystem and increasing pressure from investors and clients, combined with organizational and operational difficulties to measure emissions, mean that they now need to be fully equipped to act on their carbon accounting. By acting on carbon accounting, you’ll drive transparency and accountability on your ESG commitments. Once you’ve evaluated your current state, you can define your strategy; translating carbon assessment into tangible insights to monitor and report at scale through industrialized measurement powered by our trusted Data & AI accelerators and solutions. Act on your carbon accounting with Data for Net Zero as part of our overall sustainability framework, Data for Net Zero is seamlessly utilizing net-zero intelligence to build resilience and reduce climate and business risks.
Enable simulations and advanced sustainability analytics providing centralized real-time insights, and you’ll form action plans – shaping your net-zero ambitions into a universal, sustainable future for you and others.
James McQuivey
James tracks and predicts behavior change, whether among consumers or employees. In his tenure at Forrester, he successfully forecast the rise of online shopping in 1998 and more recently predicted the arrival of Amazon’s Echo platform before it existed. His models succeed because he focuses on an understanding of core human needs and motivations, using that foundation to predict why, when, and how people will try new things. In February 2013, James published his book Digital Disruption: Unleashing the Next Wave of Innovation. Currently, he is the research director for Forrester's Future of Work team, guiding a team of analysts to not only identify changes in the world of work but also prepare clients in every industry to approach these changes as opportunities instead of threats.
Previously at Forrester, James ran Consumer Technographics® North America, Forrester's unparalleled consumer research effort. In addition to keynoting at industry events and Forrester forums, James is routinely sought after for comment by such publications as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal
Peter Leyden: The Great Progression
Peter Leyden has spent his career in a wide range of roles figuring out the future, explaining what’s probably coming next, and helping envision how we can build a better world. He came to San Francisco at the beginning of the digital revolution to work with the founders of WIRED magazine, he then learned the futures business working with the founders of the pioneering strategic foresight firm Global Business Network, and eventually founded two of his own media startups focused on the future.
Leyden now is considered a thought leader on the future, on the impact of new technologies, and on the repercussions of megatrends. He has worked for 25 years as a futurist and tech expert through Keppler Speakers, giving keynotes on roughly a monthly basis throughout America. He’s written two influential books on the future that went into multiple languages, and most recently written popular online pieces like The Great Progression, 2025 to 2050. He is regularly interviewed by the media and podcasts. Leyden also is a senior advisor on strategic foresight operating through his firm Reinvent Futures. He frequently takes what he learns about the future and helps senior leaders of organizations think through the strategic implications of what’s coming in the decade ahead. More at PeterLeyden.com.
Eleanor ‘Nell’ Watson: Scarcity of Trust
Eleanor ‘Nell’ Watson, a pioneering ethics and machine intelligence researcher, has been a driving force behind some of the most crucial AI ethics initiatives, including the IEEE 7001 standard on transparency. Her contributions have earned her fellowships from prestigious organizations such as the British Computing Society, Royal Statistical Society, and The Atlantic Council.
Nina Schick
One of the first GenAI experts, Nina analyses how this nascent field of artificial intelligence will change humanity. Nina is the Founder of Tamang Ventures, an advisory firm focused on Generative AI, as well as the Creator of ‘The Era of Generative AI’ – a Substack project telling the story of GenAI through exclusive content and interviews. Nina advises several AI and technology companies, including Truepic — the first to build media authentication technology, and Synthesia, the world’s first AI-to-video generation platform.
Nina is a renowned public speaker, appearing on stages including CES, TedX, CogX and WebSummit. She has delivered keynote speeches for businesses and organisations including Microsoft, Adobe, DARPA and the UN.
Nina’s debut book – ‘DEEPFAKES’ was released in 2020 and has been translated into five languages. The first book on AI-generated content, she predicts that over 90% of online content will be ‘created’ by AI in 2030.
Nina is a seasoned media commentator – appearing regularly on BBC, Sky, Bloomberg and CNBC. She has also been published by Wired, Time, MIT Tech Review and The Times. Nina speaks seven languages and calls London, Berlin and Kathmandu home.
Frank Trentmann
Trentmann is professor of history in the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck College, University of London. He was educated at Hamburg University, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and at Harvard University, where he completed his PhD. He has taught at Princeton University and at Bielefeld University. He was Fernand Braudel Senior Fellow at the European University Institute. He is a specialist in the history of consumption.
His latest book ‘Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First’, unfolds the rise of our modern material world and examines the global challenges of our relentless pursuit of more – from waste and debt to stress and inequality. The book, translated into six languages, was in 2016 chosen as the book of the year by The Times and was winner of the Austrian Wissenschaftsbuch/science book prize in 2018 for the best book in the humanities, social sciences, and cultural studies.
David Weinberger: Knowledge without Understanding
Since the dawn of the web, pioneering thought leader David Weinberger has been deciphering the impact of the technology on our lives, business, and ideas. He has pursued this work as a senior researcher at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, as former co-director of the Harvard Library Innovation Lab, as a journalism fellow at Harvard's Shorenstein Center, a Franklin Fellow at the US State Department, and currently as a writer-in-residence at an AI research group at Google. His many years as a marketing consultant to innovative tech companies, a marketing VP, and entrepreneur have given him first-hand experience in our new economy. A best-selling author, his latest book Everyday Chaos: Technology, Complexity, and How We're Thriving in a New World of Possibility examines how AI, big data, modern science, and the Internet are enabling us to embrace the chaos from which the future arises. Addressing both business and individuals, he explains how we're advancing as never before, not by anticipating the future, but by making it even more unpredictable. His first book, Cluetrain Manifesto has been called a “primer on Internet marketing,” revealing the Internet as a social space years before social networks like Facebook came along.
