Leadership and Ownership: A CIO needs to have both the traits. Technology helps, but people make the difference. Many organizations struggle with the ‘people’s dilemma’. What competences are needed to cope with change? How do you manage this talent and who takes the lead?

Robotics, process automation, block chain, internet or things, artificial intelligence, smart devices and sensors often pro-vide a direct business need. No push from IT but a pull from the organization. How do you as a CIO and IT organization coop with? It’s a matter of making the right choices.

The traditional focus of IT used to be on systems in the back office. A few years ago, the customer was suddenly seen as the starting point. Process optimization and streamlining of systems are still important, but mostly in the context of creating an optimal customer experience.

In today’s dynamics where markets are disturbed by new-comers and big tech players, speed is fundamental. Prolonged development processes are making way for agile processes, supported by the right tooling and platforms. On the hunt for a market share with ‘minimum viable products’!

Leading companies agree: everything starts with data. Not only in the context of a better understanding of customers, market dynamics and finance, but also for streamlining the process, both internally and across the chain. Here is an ever-increasing call for the correct meta and master data.

Often the impression is that many new tech companies operate from a creative chaos, without restrictive frameworks and appointments. The reality is that the best start-ups and scale-ups in the adoption of APIs, cloud, micro services, data management are in fact very well aware of their own architecture and governance.

Whoever is talking about digital transformation, isn’t just talking about technology. It entails new methodologies, new organizational forms, and even new cultures within organizations. Agile, Scrum, DevOps, Lean, etc. are ways in which you can shape the transformation into an organizational sense.

What distinguishes digital transformation of digitization? Really digital driven companies go beyond a data layer or otherwise technological addition to existing products. It’s about a way of operating that is embedded through the entirety of the organization. To start with the board.