STUDY TOUR Agenda Building the Digital Platform Seattle and San Francisco, United States 22-27 April 2018
Introduction In the world of the Matrix, everything is increasingly connected via the cloud, the edge and the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT creates massive potential flows of data, and new types and levels of real-time activity. As well as all this new information, we are now also able to leverage huge historical data sets, enabling smarter decisions today. Smart companies, government agencies, ecosystems, cities and nations will be powered by this data. But at the same time, new threat surfaces and vectors are emerging. Vendors are jostling for position in the IoT, cloud and edge platform spaces. New economic and business models are emerging. Our organizations need to become intelligent clients of, and players in, this evolving Matrix. We have updated our September 2017 study tour to make it even more relevant and exciting. On this tour, we will look at a wide array of small and large players who are helping reshape the fabric of the Matrix, and helping organizations exploit it for advantage. Come with us to Seattle and San Francisco and learn which new capabilities can be made to work in your environment and help your organization win in the 21st century. The April 2018 LEF study tour, Building the Digital Platform, will be held in Seattle and the San Francisco Bay area on 22-27 April. Please register at https://leadingedgeforum. com/event/2018-lef-spring-study-tour-building-digital-platform/register/ or contact Jane Kingston at jane.kingston@leadingedgeforum.com if you have any questions. STUDY TOUR 2018 Building the Digital Platform 1
Below is our current itinerary: Saturday 21 April Delegates arrive. Sunday 22 April Join us in the morning for a visit to some local attractions, followed by lunch, before returning to the hotel. In the evening, LEF will introduce the tour and recommend how to get the most out of it. Participants will get to know each other, share their contexts and what they hope to gain from the tour. This will be followed by a drinks reception and informal buffet dinner your chance to talk to other delegates and exchange views on this tour s theme. Monday 23 April Leading Edge Forum First thing on Monday morning, LEF associates will outline and explain the key concepts of the Matrix, the IoT and new digital platforms and give our perspectives. We will expose the key issues to consider and look out for during the week. We will establish shared understanding and language. The motto for this session is: There is no such thing as a stupid question. But questions get stupider the longer you don t ask them! Amazon Amazon is one of the giants of the digital world, not least because of the success of its AWS cloud offering. In previous study tours, Amazon has given us a broad overview of its offerings, including cloud infrastructure, machine intelligence, the Alexa natural language interface and its Greengrass IoT framework. In this tour, we will drill down a little more into Amazon s approach to IoT. Tuesday 24 April Microsoft In its Satya (Nadella) Era, Microsoft is looking like a completely different business. It has opened up its ecosystem, is embracing open source and allowing third-party technologies to run on its platforms. We hear about a fundamentally different culture and operating model, but more significantly, Microsoft s customers are trusting it to provide technology solutions that meet their fundamental needs. The study tour will visit the Microsoft campus at Redmond and look to understand this new Microsoft and the way it will solve our IoT needs. Madrona A leading venture capital firm based in Seattle, Madrona Venture Group will host us and introduce us to several innovative startups related to our study tour theme. Fly to San Francisco Wednesday 25 April SWIM Inc Many pioneers who seek to transform the efficiency of their industrial infrastructures with new applications are doomed to failure. The tech industry from the big guys such as AWS, Azure and Google to the scores of IoT startups will tell you that success depends on how well you build, orchestrate and run your new 3
application. But developers lack the skills to build new apps, IT/OT can t manage or deploy them, and customers have brownfield deployments that can t be replaced. SWIM sees this as a data rather than a DevOps problem and tackles it with machine learning. Its approach delivers immediate value to customers without the need for advanced cloud skills or data scientists. Afternoon free Time to relax, reflect and recuperate, followed by Wednesday Group Dinner Please make sure you join us for our midweek dinner at a local venue. This is a fun, relaxed evening, and a chance to carry on discussions with other attendees and the LEF team. Thursday 26 April NVIDIA NVIDIA are better known for their success with consumer graphics processing technology, but the application of their chips in the machine intelligence field is proving to be very exciting. They have formed interesting partnerships which are bringing use cases to life across IoT and MI which will change the way everyday activities occur, in our lifetimes. Our visit to NVIDIA will lift the lid on this space and give us a glimpse of what to expect in the future. Andreessen Horowitz Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is among the most famous and most effective venture capital firms in the Valley. It has invested in many breakthrough companies including Facebook, Twitter, GitHub and Bromium. We will spend the afternoon with four of its early stage companies. Friday 27 April GE In many ways, GE is the poster child of an industrial organization that has very publicly committed to becoming a digital leader. GE has committed to transforming itself and providing its customers with powerful solutions based on its Predix platform. At GE s digital facility in San Ramon, we will see demonstrations and have discussions of GE s role and perspectives. Workshop The tour will conclude with an intensive discussion among the delegates of what has been learned and what actions you expect to take. Real-time notes will be taken of your comments. These are extremely useful for assembling trip reports upon your return. In previous study tours, delegates reported that this closing session, in which we boiled down what we had learned and what good action steps would be, put the whole week into context and highlighted the issues that they needed to research. We hope that you will leave the week with some new insights into how to exploit IoT and the digital world in general, some new contacts, and a greater awareness of the large and small companies we engage with during the week. Transport to San Francisco Airport will be provided for delegates flying out on Friday evening. Arrival time at the airport will be approximately 3.00pm (so please book your flights accordingly). 4
Additional information Participation fee The fee for participating in the tour is 5,300 plus VAT (or $6,800) for clients and 7,750 plus VAT (or $9,900) for non-clients of Leading Edge Forum. This fee covers accommodation (room and breakfast) for six nights, from Saturday 21 to Thursday 26 April inclusive, at The Fairmont, Seattle and The Grand Hyatt, San Francisco. It includes the cost of the reception and social events on Sunday, travel to all host companies during the week (including flight from Seattle to San Francisco), the reception and dinner on Wednesday evening, and all costs incurred by us in organizing the tour. Travel Based on our experience of previous study tours, we expect that most delegates will wish to arrange their own travel to and from the United States. Registration procedure If you wish to participate in the tour, please register online at: https://leadingedgeforum.com/event/2018-lef-spring-study-tour-buildingdigital-platform/ As places are limited to 40, we suggest that you register as soon as possible. The closing date for registration is Friday 23 March. If the tour is over-subscribed, we may have to limit participation to one delegate per client organization. For further information or queries regarding the April 2018 study tour, please contact Jane Kingston on +44 (0)7768 643936 or at jane.kingston@leadingedgeforum.com. About the Leading Edge Forum Leading Edge Forum (LEF) is a global research and thought leadership programme dedicated to helping clients reimagine their organizations and leadership for a tech-driven future. We serve as a strategic touchpoint for CXO teams to provoke and challenge their thinking to help them win in the 21st century. We believe that as business and IT become inseparable, virtually every aspect of work and the modern firm will need to be reimagined, and this creates exciting new digital opportunities. Through an annual membership programme of research, events, onsite workshops and advisory services, we support senior leaders in areas such as strategy, organizational change, executive education, talent development and the future of the IT function. Members enjoy personalized access to our global network of thought leaders, clients and leading practitioners. Leading Edge Forum is part of DXC Technology. For more information, visit leadingedgeforum.com. 5
Regional Headquarters The Americas 1775 Tysons Blvd Tysons, VA 22102 USA 3000 Hanover St Palo Alto, CA 94304-1112 USA Asia, Middle East, Africa Level 9, UE Biz Hub East 6 Changi Business Park Avenue 1 Singapore 468017 The Republic of Singapore Australia & New Zealand 26 Talavera Road Macquarie Park, NSW 2113 Australia Leading Edge Forum Asia Pacific and Australia 135 King Street Level 20, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia France Tour Carpe Diem 31 place des Corolles CS 40075 92098 Paris La Défense Cedex France Germany, Austria and Switzerland Römerstrasse 11 D-82049 Pullach Germany, Ireland, Iberia, Italy, Benelux, The Nordic Region and South Africa Floor 4 One Pancras Square London N1C 4AG United States and Canada 1775 Tysons Blvd Tysons, VA 22102 USA North and Central Europe Schickardstrasse 32 71034 Boeblingen Germany South Europe Tour Carpe Diem 31 place des Corolles CS 40075 92098 Paris La Défense Cedex France UK and Ireland Floor 4 One Pancras Square London N1C 4AG Bracknell/Amen Corner B1-2, UK Cain Rd. Amen Corner (Blgd BRA02) Bracknell RG12 1HN About Leading Edge Forum Leading Edge Forum (LEF) is a global research and thought leadership programme dedicated to helping clients reimagine their organizations and leadership for a tech-driven future. We serve as a strategic touchpoint for CXO teams to provoke and challenge their thinking to help them win in the 21st century. We believe that as business and IT become inseparable, virtually every aspect of work and the modern firm will need to be reimagined, and this creates exciting new digital opportunities. Through an annual membership programme of research, events, onsite workshops and advisory services, we support senior leaders in areas such as strategy, organizational change, executive education, talent development and the future of the IT function. Members enjoy personalized access to our global network of thought leaders, clients and leading practitioners. Leading Edge Forum is part of DXC Technology. For more information, visit leadingedgeforum.com. About DXC Technology DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) is the world s leading independent, end-to-end IT services company, helping clients harness the power of innovation to thrive on change. Created by the merger of CSC and the Enterprise Services business of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, DXC Technology serves nearly 6,000 private- and public-sector clients across 70 countries. The company s technology independence, global talent and extensive partner alliance combine to deliver powerful next-generation IT services and solutions. DXC Technology is recognized among the best corporate citizens globally. For more information, visit www.dxc.technology. 2018 DXC Technology Company. All rights reserved.