A snapshot of digital transformation in action across Australia and New Zealand

What you told us about your own digital transformation journeys

Three weeks; eight locations across Australia and New Zealand; 35 keynote, client and industry speakers; 28 Empired and Intergen speakers; close to 1000 attendees… And more true life stories of disruption, experimentation and transformation than you could poke a stick at.

John Bessey – Executive General Manager, Sales & Marketing, Empired & Intergen

Key insights If you made it along to a Convergence near you this year: thank you for joining us. What follows here is a souvenir ‘snapshot’ of this year’s Convergence series and what you told us about your own transformation journeys.

If you didn’t make it along this year, we hope this high level view gives you some food for thought.

There were lots of common themes in the stories shared by our clients across the eight events and it is clear we all share the same challenge: to transform ourselves to stay relevant in the face of constant disruption. But what is clear is there is no single right answer to how we do this.

Each story told of a different journey and approach – each organisation has done it differently, but for largely the same core reasons, and each with their company’s fundamental vision and purpose front of mind.

Throughout Convergence we learned from business leaders from various roles across enterprises of all sizes, spanning a range of industries, and it’s clear that ownership of digital transformation is bigger than a single role (whether CIO, CEO, CMO, CDO…). It’s a challenge and a responsibility that belongs to us all, wherever in the business we may sit.

True digital transformation requires a shift in mindset – and often a leap of faith. It needs to be leader-led but owned by everyone. The days of IT strategy and business strategy being two mutually exclusive conversations are gone: as an enabler technology underpins all things.

And, as the Convergence series showed us, when this true ‘convergence’ occurs – between IT and business – true, sustained transformation can become a reality.

John Bessey Executive General Manager Sales & Marketing Empired & Intergen

In the words of Bob Smith, CEO of Public Trust: “I don’t have a digital strategy. I have a business strategy.”

Session snapshots There is no bigger disrupter in business today than technology. Accordingly, technology-enabled business transformation has become a leading (if not the leading) organisational imperative.

Digital ‘masters’ – those who achieve true people and customer-centred digital transformation – are 26% more profitable than their average industry competitors and generate 9% higher revenue. Transformation is a no brainer. It’s good for business. We know this. And yet…

There’s a gap between what we know and what we do. A 2017 Microsoft study across Asia Pacific showed that while 88% of us know that digital transformation is non-negotiable for us all:

• Only a third of us have a strategy in place to make it a reality

• Half of us are dipping our toe in the water

• Nearly a quarter of us are still in the changing rooms thinking about getting our swimmers on

Across this year’s Convergence series, close to 1000 business professionals took time out to think on and hear real world stories about how technology helps to underpin and propel this transformation.

And, what came through loud and clear in all the sessions, panels and stories shared was that technology is merely the enabler. Successful digital transformation requires the bringing together of many ingredients, including the convergence of:

• A growth and innovation mind set

• Joined up thinking across all areas of the business

• Vision and action

• Organisational purpose and plan

• People and technology (note the priority given to people before technology)

Simon Bright CEO Intergen/COO Empired

“The nature of the conversations we’re having with our clients has fundamentally changed. Successful organisations today are focused on and want to talk to us about what it means to truly become a digital business in order to thrive and stay relevant in a disruptive world.”

But what is digital transformation – and where to start? It’s a pretty nebulous, all-encompassing term, often applied liberally to anything with a digital element. Our take on digital transformation boils down to three outcome-oriented key focuses, as follows:

These are the three vital areas that – in our experience – make up the foundations of successful digital and business transformation.

A focus on engagement. Engaging your customers, acquiring customers, retaining customers.

A focus on empowerment. On improving your business operations right across your organisation, helping you and your people to achieve maximum productivity and efficiency.

A focus on enablement. With the right cloud platforms and services in place, helping you to be a smart, modern and nimble business – giving you the agility you need to move with and ahead of the times and freeing you up to focus on the high value activities that truly differentiate your business (rather than spending great chunks of your time tied up keeping the lights on).

Beneath each of these focus areas sit a collection of joined-up technologies which help enable these outcomes. But the primary focus, first and foremost, needs to be on achieving these outcomes.

You can access the content on demand and play with our Convergence digital transformation Power BI dashboard here: Empired and Intergen.

Individual session presentations:Why digital transformation? John Bessey (Empired & Intergen)

Microsoft keynote Frazer Scott (Microsoft)

Digital transformation across the enterprise Chris Dury (Empired) and James Page (Intergen) with customer stories from: Neil Macrae (NZ Police) and Katrina Ede (Ryman Healthcare)

Unleashing the power of the platform with business applications Guy Riddle & Rowan Miller (Empired) Steve Scarbrough (Intergen)

Transforming your customer experience Kevin Miller & Mladen Georgievski (Empired) Adam Ford (Intergen) with Customer stories from: Charlotte Walshe (Dynamic Controls) and Shaun Crooks (Toyota NZ)

Keeping pace, staying safe in the digital world Andrew Burke & Jaen Snyman (Empired) Joe Bradley, Marcus Griffin & Bevan Sinclair (Intergen)

Taking your people on the change journey Jodee Handley (Empired) Customer story from: Tracy Voice (Ministry for Primary Industries)

Data as your most strategic asset Dan Smith, Hugh Rogers, Ben Johnson & Sundeep Rehill (Empired) Customer story from: Tristin King (JUCY)

Your modern digital workplace Anle Pretorius & Doug Baxter (Empired) and Kate Clode & Toby Spendiff (Intergen)

The future is here Steve Scarbrough (Intergen) & Tim Davison (AUT) Neil Macrae

NZ Police

Panel insightsAcross eight panel sessions, we had the chance to hear the real life stories and lessons of digital transformation directly from 28 business leaders across numerous industries, each of them intimately familiar with the challenge of digital transformation today.

Whether it was an ‘aha moment’, a burning platform, or the proverbial slowly-boiling frog making digital change a necessity rather than a nice-to-have, each business leader spoke in no uncertain terms of a strong impetus and need for transformation.

Yet, while there was widespread recognition within Australasian businesses and leadership teams that digital transformation should be right at the top of the organisational agenda, many spoke of the understandable challenges that come with turning this intention into reality, even when the spirit is willing.

In essence, our leaders told us that successful digital transformation relies on a – sometimes radical – change in mindset, a rethinking of the fundamentals underpinning everything we do and why we do it.

What were, or are, the catalysts for digital transformation?

From across the Convergence panel conversations, a number of clear key catalysts for digital transformation emerged, chief amongst them:

• Customer experience as the ultimate differentiator and success factor

• The need to redefine organisational purpose and relevance

• The impetus for transformation created by business change

• Market competition – the need to grow (or even simply to maintain) market share

• Industry changes – keeping up with – or ideally ahead of – the Joneses in your sector

• Risks posed by legacy systems

• The engagement and experience of the people within our organisations

Panel insights What are the keys to success?

• Focus on people first, technology after.

• Get a great business strategy in place (with digital a part of everything, not an appendix).

• But remember, too, as Peter Drucker famously said, Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Your strategy will stall if it isn’t met with the right mindset and brought to life by your people.

• Commit to innovation and growth.

• Understand your pain points and work from there.

• Remember it’s an evolution. Commit to iterations.

• Get the right (multi-disciplinary) team in place.

• Leadership buy in and vision from the top is non-negotiable.

Key lessons learned?

• No experience is a bad experience as long as you learn from it. And as long as you fail fast.

• Digital transformation in each organisation is like a snowflake: while there are distinct similarities from one to the next, there’s no right or wrong, no one single blueprint, and certainly no such thing as perfect.

• Build trust in the people around you and get the right people around you – from inside and outside your organisation.

• Keep doing it, keep coming back to the ‘why’, keep telling stories.

• Remember if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

• Change is hard. But it’s the only constant.

• It’s not about technology. In the words of Chris Buxton from Statistics New Zealand, “When people think about “digital” they think about technology, but technology is the least relevant thing in a [digital transformation] journey.”

• Make it about your customer.

Perth – 11 October Vito Forte, CIO, Edith Cowan University; Mark Winkworth, GM Finance & Business Improvement, PEET

Brisbane – 13 October Melany Taniora-Green, Regional Sales Lead NSW/QLD, Empired; Amanda McMillan, CRM & Network Operations, Surf Lifesaving Foundation; Andy Helm, IT Application Architect, ASSA ABLOY

Christchurch – 17 October Darren Wilson, CIO, AsureQuality; Gabe Rijpma, Senior Director Health & Social Services Asia, Microsoft; Mark Delaney, Digital Strategist, NV Interactive; Katrina Ede, Software Development Manager, Ryman Healthcare; Charlotte Walshe, CEO, Dynamic Controls

Wellington 19 – October Chris Buxton, CDO, Statistics NZ; Pam Thorburn, Director Student Academic Services, Victoria University; Carmen Casagranda, CIO, CIGNA; Tracy Voice, Director Business Technology & Information Services; Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI); Mark Delaney, Digital Strategist, NV Interactive; Emma Barrett, Executive GM, Solutions & Services, Intergen

Melbourne 26 – October Adrian Stagg, CIO, Save the Children; Tom Leydon, Director of IT, Woods Bagot; Ryan Engellenner, Operations Supervisor, Bank Australia

Sydney – 24 October John Bessey, Executive GM, Sales & Marketing, Empired & Intergen; Norma Abeyasekera, Executive Officer, St Vincent de Paul

Auckland – 3 November Emma Barrett, Executive GM, Solutions and Services, Intergen; Reg Prasad, Head of Consulting, Qual IT; Tristin King, Head of Technology, JUCY; Bob Smith, CEO, Public Trust; Liz Bishara, Director Student Hub, AUT; Frazer Scott, Director of Marketing & Operations, Microsoft

Adelaide – 13 October Brock Sperryn, Client Executive, Empired; Steve Sturm, Enterprise Systems Manager, ElectraNet; Kerry Maidment-Grocke, Enterprise Architect, ElectraNet

INDUSTRY ATTENDANCE

POSITION ATTENDANCE RESPONSIBILITYWhose responsibility is your organisation’s digital strategy?

MOTIVATIONWhat is the biggest driver for your organisation’s digital transformation?

BARRIERSWhat are the biggest barriers to digital transformation in your organisation?

What you told us about your digital transformation journeyHere’s what you told us about your aspirations, priorities, barriers and timeframes for digital transformation:

BUSINESS TRANSFORMATIONWhere are you at in your business transformation journey?

RESULTSWhen would you want to see results from your digital transformation?

TIMINGWhen would you want to start a digital transformation journey?

COMPANY SIZE

Our industry & client speakers:

Frazer Scott Director of Marketing & Operations

Microsoft New Zealand

Glenn Winton Client Executive

Microsoft Australia

Brett Lightfoot State Director

Microsoft Australia

Simon van Velthooven Emirates Team New Zealand, World Champion

Commonwealth & Olympic medallist

Marcus d’Assumpcao Territory Channel Manager

Microsoft Australia

Graeme Muller CEO

NZ Tech

Andre Eikmeier Founder & Joint CEO

Vinomofo

Eric Swift Director of Enterprise Commercials

Microsoft Australia

Miles Gustafson Director of Retail

Microsoft Australia

Tristin King Head of Technology

JUCY

Allanna Ryan CFO

Pacific Smiles

David Williams CIO

Pacific Smiles

Mark Winkworth GM Finance & Business Improvement – PEET

Vito Forte CIO

Edith Cowan University

Amanda McMillan CRM & Network Operations Surf Life Saving Foundation

Andy Helm IT Application Architect

Assa Abloy

Darren Wilson CIO

AsureQuality

Gabe Rijpma Snr Director Health & Social Services

Microsoft Asia

Katrina Ede Software Development Manager

Ryman Healthcare

Carmen Casagranda CIO

Cigna

Chris Buxton CDO

Statsistics NZ

Neil Macrae Manager: Intelligence Operations

NZ Police

Pam Thorburn Director Student Academic Services Victoria University of Wellington

Norma Abeyasekera Executive Officer

St Vincent de Paul

Adrian Stagg CIO

Save the Children

Peter Willmott CTO

Aussie Farmers Direct

Ryan Engellenner Operations Supervisor

Bank Australia

Tom Leyden Director of IT Woods Bagot

Bob Smith CEO

Public Trust

Liz Bashara Director Student Hub, Student

Services & Administration – AUT

Shaun Crooks Interactive Marketing

Toyota

Tracy Voice Director Business Technology &

Information Services – MPI

Steve Sturm Enterprise Systems Manager

ElectraNet

Charlotte Walshe CEO

Dynamic Controls

Tim Davison Manager of Business Intelligence,

Strategy & Planning – AUT

Mark Delaney Digital Strategist NV Interactive

Reg Prasad Head of Consulting

Qual IT

Our Empired & Intergen speakers:

Simon Bright COO & CEO

Empired & Intergen

John Bessey Executive GM Sales & Marketing

Empired & Intergen

Emma Barrett Executive General Manager

Solutions & Services Intergen

Chris Dury Practice Lead Architecture

Empired

Jaen Snyman National Business Manager Cloud Design & Integration

Empired

Andrew Burke Chief Technology Officer

Empired

Kevin Miller Head of Digital & Experience Design

Empired

Guy Riddle Practice Lead – Solutions & Architecture

Dynamics Solutions Empired

Rowan Miller Practice Lead – Solutions & Architecture,

Dynamics Solutions Empired

James Page Northern Regional Sales Director &

Microsoft Client Development Intergen

Steve Scarbrough GM Dynamics Solutions

Intergen

Toby Spendiff GM Enterprise Solutions

Intergen

Joe Bradley GM Cloud Services

Intergen

Kate Clode Practice Manager – Enterprise Solutions

Intergen

Adam Ford Practice Lead – Digital & Experience Design

Intergen

Hugh Rogers Principal Consultant – Data Insights

Empired

Jodee Handley Principal Consultant

Empired

Michelle Mancini Practice Manager – Dynamics Solutions

Empired

Our Empired & Intergen speakers:

Darren Christophersen GM Enterprise Solutions

Empired

Melany Taniora-Green Regional Sales Lead NSW/QLD

Empired

Ben Johnson National Business Manager Data Insights & Integration

Empired

Mario D’Silva Regional Sales Lead VIC/SA

Empired

Mladen Georgievski Solutions Specialist

Empired

Stuart Strickland General Manager WA

Empired

Anle Pretorius Practice Manager

Enterprise Solutions Empired

Mike Berry-Porter Regional Manager QLD

Empired

James Abraham Practice Lead CRM

Empired

Brock Sperryn Client Executive

Empired

Gavin van Niekerk Principal Consultant Cloud

Design & Integration Empired

Mohammed Farooq Solutions Specialist Dynamics Solutions

Empired

Sundeep Rehill Practice Lead – Data Insights

Empired

Doug Baxter Solutions Specialist Enterprise Solutions

Empired

Bevan Sinclair Practice Manager

Cloud Design & Integration Intergen

Marcus Griffin Cloud Services Architect

Intergen

Dan Smith Practice Lead – Data Insights

Empired

Our sponsorsWithout the following partners, the Convergence roadshow series would not have been possible.

We’re infinitely grateful for their ongoing support and partnership.

We’re here to help and work

with you as you plan the next steps in your digital

transformation journey.

www.empired.com/what-next

www.intergen.co.nz/what-next