Tuesday 11 November 2014

Banks, vendors and networking

This afternoon's keynote is an interview with Oliver Bussmann, the Group CIO of UBS, a global financial services company. Cue another huge attendance in the auditorium, loud music, flashing lights and a fancy stage setting.



Interesting hearing someone for the banking sector talking about some of the pressures they face, especially around risk management and security. They have to spend a lot on regulatory compliance.
They are also facing a number of disruptive influences, eg ApplePay which are taking advantage of new technologies. Even the underlying technology supporting Bitcoin is making the banks change the way they work.
He confirmed that the role of the CIO is changing, away from the back office function, to a digital leader. Working with the business to drive innovation forward. Something I often bang on about, when people think of us as just the IT department....
The other interesting part of the discussion was the fact that he tweets, apparently this is unheard of from a CIO. He was quite laid back about it, but most of audience horrified.

I also took some time this afternoon to walk round the exhibition. Last night there was a fairly mad reception in there, where I spent most of my time collecting cocktails and freebies! Today I had a much more leisurely stroll round and had some interesting conversations with vendors. There's a lot here, some familiar to us, and some new. This picture shows only about half of the exhibition floor.



Also spent some time in the EXP Lounge ( Gartner equivalent of VIP) networking with colleagues from other institutions, and from other sectors. It's a very pleasant place to spend the breaks, good wifi, lots of power points, a juice bar, and a balcony overlooking the sea. You can even get a massage if sitting in too many sessions gets to you! As there are many sessions running at the same time, you can also catch up with those you've missed as they are all recorded and available in the lounge on demand.


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