eWorld's location, location, location and building your personal Big Data

Friday 4th March, 2016

What is it about eWorld? For the fourth time running, I emerged out of Westminster tube into the throng and out under the copiously precipitating skies. And yes again – no umbrella… But as the rain steadily turned to sleet, I was grateful that the OEII Exhibition centre was only a few minutes’ walk away.  And as I shivered my way up to the exhibition space on the 5th floor, I was even more grateful for the free bacon sarnie laid on by Capita.

The morning kicked off with a keynote from Paralympian and 7/7 survivor, Martine Wright, the running theme of which was how to cope with change. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one in the audience feeling that any change we may be facing in the workplace can only pale into insignificance compared to her traumatic, though eventually triumphant experience.

And as she went over the hours in the run up to 7/7 – I realised I’d almost forgotten that the day before had witnessed the euphoric celebrations of London winning the Olympic bid. In fact, by some cruel irony – it was because of those celebrations that Martine found herself on that train, having slightly overslept from the night before.

You both can, and can’t imagine it. She sat down on the circle line, going to work, on an ordinary day – the next thing she saw was a blinding white light…and the next 12 days were spent in a coma, 3 of them with her family not knowing where she was, and a whole year in hospital. And then, as we probably all would, tortured herself with thoughts of “what are the chances?” "why me?" But amazingly, that was the start of an incredible journey for Martine – one which carried her along into Team GB and the heart of the Olympic village itself.

She decided that she had two choices – curl up and give up – or live her life, whatever it might hold. And despite the incomparable change she’s had to face – her Power of Seven (seven being the number she’s embraced as her own) probably translates to any environment:

•    Choice – you have the power to make decisions that affect outcomes
•    Maximising Opportunities – be proactive, jump on opportunities and take calculated risks
•    Embrace Change – don’t be afraid - change is usually good for us
•    Sport – its workplace equivalent could be energy or passion, giving you the confidence to succeed
•    Teamwork – work together and involve key stakeholders in your plan.
•    Team Me – find your core support network
•    Belief – anything is possible as long as you believe

I went from there to a session by Wax Digital on Integration, Integration, Integration. Despite seeing them a few times at eWorld before, I’d never really crossed paths, and I have to say – I do like a presentation that tells a story – a proper beginning, middle and end. I’ve been to many a dull, dry presentation, so hats off to Wax Digital on making it both solid and fact filled, as well as entertaining.

So with a nod to Location, Location, Location – Kirsty Alsop and Phil Spencer lead us via Gartner’s wonderfully flowery IT Market Clock (Dusk of Obsolescence anyone…?) to the necessity to a successful business of integrated software, integrated systems and overall, an integrated business, with a P2P voice at the C-level. Plus, with the emergence of big data, being able to take advantage of a fully connected B2B network is the way the industry is heading. For example, a future where tax information from HMRC and risk assessment from Dun & Bradstreet is fully integrated into your systems is just around the corner.

Continuing my theme of connectivity, I popped along to see our stable mates from the exhibition floor, Procurious – whose founder Tania Seary was presenting on the theme of networking. She opened up the discussion by stating that really, if you want to be taken seriously – you should have 500+ LinkedIn connections. Much shuffling of feet ensued. I have a number of procurement and finance executives on my LinkedIn, and apart from consultants, there are really only a few who have as many as that. But I agree with Tania all the same.

In much the same way as our business networks need to be connected, we have to be able to offer our own personal big data. What are we the sum of? Where has our experience taken us and what can we offer to others? That only makes sense in an open environment. Of course, there will always be an important place for more traditional face to face networking, but these days as Procurious says – if you want to get involved, get ahead – and increasingly that’s essential on a global scale whatever your location, location, location…