Canadian Thought Leaders Share Insights to Prepare for Digital Disruption
- Details
- Written by Jeff Ishii
On February 27, more than 120 companies gathered at Activate Digital 2018 in the heart of Ontario’s technology innovation corridor. We were presented with material that explains how digital transformation will fundamentally change our businesses. The conference also allowed us to interact with Canada’s leading IT thought leaders. The event was hosted by Long View Systems and included 15 technology partners.
The technology corridor between Toronto and Waterloo is home to 15,000 tech companies, including over 2,600 start-ups. The underlying narrative of the conference encouraged businesses to seize the digital opportunities at hand or be left behind. To do so, companies must embrace digital transformation and seek partners to help reduce the time to achieve results.
John Dathan, General Manager of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Canada, believes that every company’s technology infrastructure will evolve to a hybrid mix of private and public cloud solutions with powerful compute at the edge providing intelligent services. The “edge” according to John is where companies interact with their customers and employees. As a result, compute will be everywhere, connected, and everything will be understood.
Netapp’s General Manager for Canada, Jon Mellon, explained that 20% of all revenue generated by today’s businesses is at risk of being disrupted. He added that companies that don’t make a decision (to capitalize on digital disruption), are indeed making a decision. Robin Bell, CTO of Long View Systems, further cited the need for businesses to get ahead of disruptive technologies. By 2020 2.3M high tech jobs will be created, while eliminating 1.8M jobs where repetitive work is required.
The results of digital transformation often speak for themselves. Businesses that effectively use data, outperform their peers by a wide margin. Top performing data driven companies realize the following benefits:
- Become 6x more operationally efficient
- Acquire 3x new customers
- Add 2x top line growth
Rola Dagher, President of CISCO Canada, described the fundamental changes happening within the business landscape. Today, a Fortune 500 company lasts an average of 15 years, while 50 years ago, the average was 75 years. The pace of change continues to increase. Rola explained that the amount of data captured in 2017 was greater than the previous 5,000 years combined and only 0.5% of that data was being analyzed. “Data is the fuel of human progress and analytics is the engine”, she added.
The need for transformation was further supported by Kevin Peesker, President of Microsoft Canada. Kevin explained that 80% of leaders believe that their business will be disrupted. This is supported by McKinsey’s study on the future of work, which suggests that 50% of global activities are automatable by adapting current technologies. Kevin added that 1M jobs in Ontario will disappear, but worldwide, there will be 30M to 50M new tech jobs created.
At the end of the day, there was general consensus that “the time is now!” for digital transformation, but where does a company begin?
Robin Bell provided some guidance for the audience by explaining Long View’s position on the most disruptive technologies in 2018. According to Robin, companies should consider investing in the following solutions:
- Artificial intelligence
- Intelligent applications
- Virtual augmented/mixed reality
- Adaptive security
- Blockchain/distributed ledger
Kevin Peesker summarized the key takeaways for IT executives to make digital transformation real within their organizations:
- Secure buy-in from the top of the company
- CEO/CIO relationship is critical
- Culture is key
- Leverage vendors/partners
Outcomes of the conference closely mirror our conversations with CIOs across Canada. In particular, businesses are keen to monetize their digital investments and leverage the promise of AI. We look forward to ongoing discussions as CIOs implement their digital strategies.
Jeff Ishii is the Chief Technologist at the IT Media Group. He possesses a wealth of experience in management consulting, professional services and IT operations delivery for Fortune 500 companies. Jeff has been at the forefront of technology for the last 30 years by implementing creative solutions that have produced sustained business value.
Past Attendees
ADP - VP Architecture & Infrastructure
AESO - VP, Information Technology
Agnico Eagle Mines - VP, IT
Agrium - Global Mgr., IT Security
Agrium - Senior Director IT Shared Services
Aimia - SVP & Global CIO
Ainsworth Engineered - Director IT
Air Canada Vacations - Director IT
Alberta Energy Regulator - Director, Office of the CIO
Anthem Properties - VP IS
AON Risk Solutions Canada - Head of IT
Aviva Canada - VP, Architecture & Strategy
Bank of America Merrill Lynch - CTO
BC Ferry Services - VP & CIO
Bell Business Markets - Director, Strategy & Planning
Bell Canada - National Director, Digital Transformation
Bellatrix Exploration - Director, Information Technology
Bentall Kennedy - VP IT
Black Press - CTO
BlackBerry - VP Corporate IT
BMO Financial Group - Head of Services Delivery
Bombardier Aerospace - CISO
Bonavista Petroleum - Head of IT
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP - Global CIO
Bow Valley College - Director, IT Services
Bridgewater Bank - Head of IT
BuildDirect - VP IT
Bulk Barn - Head, IT
Burnco - CIO
Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec - VP, IT Planning, Architecture, Governance, Operations
Calfrac Well Services - Head of IT
Canada Mortgage and Housing - VP, Information & Technology
Canadian Depository for Securities - CIO
Canadian Direct Insurance - CTO
Canadian Payments Association - VP & CIO
Canucks Sports - Head of IT
Capgemini - Service Delivery Director
CAPREIT - CIO
Cardel Homes - VP MIS
Cargojet - CIO
CCS Corp. - VP IT
CDSPI - Board Director
Centerra Gold - Director IT & Comm
CIBC - Senior Director, Infrastructure Planning & Engineering
CIBC - SVP & CIO, Retail and Business Banking Technology
CIBC Mellon - AVP, Enterprise Architecture
CIBC Mellon - SVP & CIO
Cineplex Entertainment - CTO
City of Brampton - Senior Manager, IT Architecture & Planning
City of Richmond Hill - CIO
City of Toronto - Director of Strategic Planning & Architecture
CN Rail Service - Chief Information Security Officer
Coast Capital Savings - VP Technology
Concordia University - AVP & CIO
Crescent Point Energy - Head of IT
Dairy Farmers of Ontario - Head of IT and Administration
Dale Parizeau Morris Mackenzie - VP, IT
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP - Director, Information Technology
DealerTrack Canada - Director, Technology
Defence Construction Canada - Corporate Manager, IT
Deloitte - Director, Risk Advisory
Dentons - Canada CIO
Devon Energy - Director, Integrated Business Services
Direct Cash - VP IT & Security
Dynamic Tire Corp - CIO
D+H Partnership - VP, Head of Canadian Mortgage Technology
eHealth - EVP, Technology
eHealth Ontario - VP, IT Systems & Services
Encana - Director, InfoSec
Enbridge Inc. - VP, Technology and Information Services
Enerflex - CIO
Enerplus - VP. IS
ENMAX - VP, IT & PMO
Equity Financial Trust - VP, IT
Essential Energy Services - Director, IT
Expedia Cruise Ship Centers - VP IS
FGL Sports - VP, Information Technology
Finastra - SVP, Head Technology Managed Services
Fix Auto Canada - COO & SVP
Flightnetwork.com - CIO
Freedom Mobile - Head, Customer Applications, Experience, & Strategy
FT Services - CIO
FundServ - CIO
Genus Capital Management - CTO
Genworth Financial Inc. - VP IT
Golder Associates - CTO
Gran Tierra Energy - Director IT
Grant Thornton LLP - CIO
Greenwin Inc - VP, Information Technology
Groupe Dynamite - Director, IT
GSK Canada - IT Director
GTAA - Acting CIO
H&R Block Canada - VP IT
Haventree Bank - VP, Technology
Hewitt Equipment Ltd. - VP & CIO
Hitachi Vantara - GVP & Global CTO
Home Trust Company - CIO
Home Trust Company - CTO
Home Trust Company - VP & CISO
Horizon North Logistics - CIO
IBM Canada - Associate Partner, Payments Industry
Indigo Books and Music - CIO
ivari - SVP & CIO
JP Morgan Chase Canada - Executive Director, Information Risk Management
Keyera Energy - Director, Information Technology
KnowledgeOne - CIO
LaFarge Canada - Director, IT
Landmark Cinemas Canada - VP, IT
LCBO - Director, Applications Systems
LCBO - SVP & CIO
Leisureworld Senior Care Corp - VP IS
Lightstream Resources - Head, Information Services
London Drugs - GM IT
Loto-Quebec - Corporate Director, InfoSec
Magna International Inc - VP & Global Leader, IT (CIO)
Manulife - Global Head of Private Markets & Real Estate Technology
March Networks - VP Professional Services & CIO
MaRS Discovery District - Managing Director, Fintech and Commerce
McCain Foods Limited - Manager InfoSec
McInnis Cement - Director of Information Technology
Medical Pharmacies Group - VP, Information Technology
MEG Energy - Manager, Information Technology Solutions & Services
MMM Group - CIO
Montreal Police Service - CIO
Morguard Investments - CIO
Moulding & Millwork - CIO
National Bank of Canada - Information Security Officer
National Capital Commission - Chief, IT infrastructure & Support Services
NHL Players' Association - Head, Security & Technology
Northbridge Financial Corp - CIO
OEC Group Canada - Vice President, Information Technology and Client solutions
Oildex - VP, Architecture & Infrastructure
Olympia Financial Group - CIO
OMERS - EVP, Data & Technology
OMERS - SVP IT
Ontario Pension Board - CTO
Ontario Trillium Foundation - CIO
Osum Oil Sands Corp - Manager, IS
Ottawa Police Service - CIO
Pacific Western Transportation - CIO
Packers Plus - Global IT Director
Pason Systems - Manager, Digital Communications & Corporate IT
Patient News - CTO
Peel District School Board - CIO
Pengrowth Corp - Director IS
Penn West Exploration - Snr. Manager, IT Operations
Peterson Investment Group - Head of IT
PFB Corp. - CIO
Pizza Pizza - CIO & VP, IT
Precision Drilling - VP, IT
Precision Drilling - Director, IT Infrastructure & Security
PSP Investments - Snr. Director, Internal Audit & Business Infosec
Public Works and Government Services Canada - Director, IT Security Directorate
PwC - Managing Director, Real Estate Technology Advisory
Qantas - Global CIO
Queen's University - Director, Information Technology
RBC Royal Bank - Head of Application Security, Data Protection & Security Consulting
Regal Lifestyle Communities - CIO
Revera Inc. - CIO
Revera Inc. - Security Architect
Ricoh Canada - VP,IT
RioCan Property Services - VP IT
Roche - Head of IT Americas – Operations
Rogers Communications - SVP, Customer Experience IT
ROM - CIO
Russel Metals - VP,IS
Scotiabank - Head, Systems Architecture & Platform Modernization
Scotiabank - VP - International Systems Technology
Scotiabank - Head, System Architecture & Platform Modernization
Scotiabank - Global Head, GBM Compliance & Transformation
Sears Canada - Divisional VP, Information Technology Services
Secure Energy Services - GM, IT
Shaw - Head, Customer Applications, Experience, & Strategy
Shaw Communications - VP, Technology Operations
Shaw Communications - Director, Risk Management
SMART Technologies - Director, IS Corporate Services
Smartcentres - Director IS, IT
SmartOne Solutions - President & CIO
Societe de Transport de Montreal - Division Head - Security and Compliance
Street Capital Financial - CIO
Sun Life Financial - AVP, Data & Business Intelligence Services
Sun Life Financial - VP Application Ops & Services
Suncor Energy Inc. - Director, Application Portfolio Optimization, I&PM, Business Services
Symcor - CTO, VP Technology Services
Talisman Energy - SVP IT & Business Services
TD Bank - Enterprise Architect
Teknion - SVP, CIO
TELUS - Chief Security Architect
Tervita Corporation - VP, Information Technology
The Hudsons Bay Company - VP Technology
The Hudson's Bay Company - SVP & CIO
The Source - VP, Information Technology
TMX Group - CISO & Global Head of Infrastructure Services
Toromont Industries - VP & CIO
Toronto District School Board - Chief Technology Officer
Toronto Hospital for Sick Children - Director of Technology
Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) - Chief Enterprise Architect
Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) - CIO
Toyota Canada - National Manager, IS
Transamerica Life Canada - CIO
Trican Well Services Ltd. - Director, Business Information Systems
Tridel Corporation - CIO
Trillium Health Partners - IT Director, Applications & Clinical Informatics
UFA Cooperative - VP & CIO
University of Calgary - Executive Director, Development Services
University of Ottawa - CIO
University of Ottawa - Senior Director IT Services & Infrastructure
University of Toronto - Director, Centre for Management & Technology
University of Waterloo - Director, Technology Entrepreneurship
Vancity - VP Technology & Solutions
Viterra - Director Enterprise Technology
Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company - Director of Innovation Outpost
World Health - Director IT
Wolseley Canada - CIO & COO
Yellow Pages Group - Director - Enterprise Data Management
York Region District School Board - CIO
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I didn’t go to Vegas looking for the next big thing. I went as a Canadian media delegate to attend 
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The manufacturing world is putting on a new face, and the makeover it is receiving from powerful new technologies has the potential to help Canada reaffirm its position as one of the world’s leading manufacturing nations and win back work that has migrated to low-cost countries.
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