Curious about how technology is shaping our future?

Last week some of our Sage business experts attended the greatly anticipated Thinking Digital Conference. The conference is for those curious about how technology is shaping our future. We asked our experts to tell us their 5 key takeaway points from the conference and we received some fascinating insights.

Antoinette Oglethorpe

The 5 lessons I learnt from the Thinking Digital 2015:

Lesson 1 – the need to retain and develop your talent has never been greater

Advances in technology mean jobs will change.  The new jobs will need more skills, more intelligence and more education.  Investing in your people’s development is a necessity not a luxury

Lesson 2 – Analyse your data and respond to it

Data drives insights.  Do you really know what’s working and what’s not working in your business?  Find out.  And action what you learn.

Lesson 3 – Don’t innovate until everything works.

Start with needs and build the simplest solution that will address those needs.  Then just make it work.  Don’t get distracted with the newest fad and trend just for the sake of it.

Lesson 4 – Don’t plan on getting it right first time.  Learn through trial and error.  Iterate and evolve.

How much do leaders in business paralyse themselves with perfectionism?  And end up doing nothing for fear of doing something that won’t work?  Imperfect action is better than perfect inaction.  Just do it.  Then improve it.

Lesson 5 – Get a mentor or a leadership coach

A strong theme throughout the day was the importance of learning from others and giving support to others.

Leadership is a huge responsibility.  And often a lonely one.  Get yourself the support you need to develop from people you trust and respect.

Kate Baucherel, Ambix

Here are my five hints and tips from the conference:

1. Your parents were right – switch off the lights when you leave the room and avoid leaving devices on standby in your home office. It could save you hundreds of pounds a year. –  Andy Stanford-Clark, IBM Master Inventor
   
2. Whatever sector you’re in, getting the little details right and making the customer experience smooth and simple will put you ahead of your competition. –  Russell Davies, Director of Strategy, Government Digital Service
   
3. Only 10% of people are still working at 6pm. Most families eat at 5pm. How’s your work/life balance? – Holly Goodier, BBC Audience Pathfinder
4. Don’t close your mind to technology. If you hear yourself saying “I don’t get it” add YET. Open your mind and grab the opportunities. – Sam Aaron, Cambridge Musical Coder
   
5. Work hard towards your plan. If the plan changes, your hard work to date will help you succeed. Post It Notes were invented by accident – but there had been a lot of work invested before the surprise success. – Ken Banks, author of “The Rise of the Reluctant Innovator”
   

Graham Soult, CannyInsights.com

A big theme of the conference, this year and every year, was not being afraid to be creative and inventive. As Laura-Jane ‘LJ’ Rich reminded us, “One invention made real has the power to make a difference… even if only to one person.”

I’ve shared lots of individual highlights – including my own observations and lots of retweets – at https://twitter.com/CannySites.

A few retail-flavoured favourites of mine were:

• Speaker Tim Leberecht said that “romance is something that is crucial to business”, and his observation resonated with my view of retail – it’s about giving the customer moments of delight.

• Patrick Meier noted that “much to Twitter’s chagrin, most people aren’t on Twitter”. I tweeted that It’s worth reminding ourselves of that sometimes – when you live your life in the Twittersphere, you can sometimes lose sight of the fact that most potential customers don’t.

• My interest in fashion (I run the Fashion & Style Directory site) was covered by ‘information designer’ Stefanie Posavec showing off her statement jewellery designed using air pollution measurements in Sheffield. The shape of the necklaces mirrors the changing levels of pollution. Really fascinating!

• We were reminded by speaker Bob Paton that the first online shop happened in Gateshead, back in 1984.

• Ade Adewunmi from the Government Digital Service argued that “if I can’t access or use your website on my phone, you’ve got a bigger problem than not having a cool native app” – which is very sound advice.

 

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