2022 – like the two years preceding it – has been a year of huge technological transformation for businesses. And 2023 looks set to be the same fast-moving story.
That’s why, when organizing our annual series of Connect Summit events this year, we decided the theme should be ‘Innovation for the always-on enterprise’.
In 2022, with continuous transformation top of the agenda, we assembled an amazing roster of speakers across the EA and IT community (including many LeanIX customers) to share ideas around how technology can support organizations in readying themselves for a state of constant change.
The last of our 2022 Connect Summits took place in Berlin in September – and, as you’ll know if you were able to attend, it was a two-day whirlwind of wisdom and insights from top speakers.
If you weren’t able to attend (or you were and missed out on some sessions), don’t worry. You can now catch up (and avert your terminal FOMO) with all the sessions you missed on-demand.
There are dozens of sessions available – and they’re all potentially valuable. But for those of you who are short on time, we’ve highlighted three sessions that you absolutely don’t want to miss.
Ready with your popcorn (or bookmark button, at least)? Let’s begin…
Session 1: Our CEO and co-founder André Christ’s keynote
This year we’re celebrating a decade of LeanIX. (Don’t worry: we’re not expecting a card or anything – though we won’t refuse a cake.) Our CEO’s keynote took a reflective look back at the amazing journey our company, technology and customers have been on over the last decade.
10 years is a long time in tech, and André had plenty to cover. He talked about how we grew from a tiny company to a company with over 800 customers, how our architecture evolved from a monolith to a multiproduct platform, and how our product went from a fixed meta-model to a model that allows for the flexible reporting we offer today.
André also invited some of LeanIX’s first customers on stage, including representatives of Kuehne+Nagel, Helvetia, E.On Energy and RWE Renewables, to share some of their journey over the last ten years.
But André’s keynote wasn’t just about looking back. Transformation never stops – and in the current climate never even pauses. Luckily, André had plenty to share about plans for the future, both for our company and for our customers – including an exciting sneak preview of LeanIX’s transformation roadmap over the coming years.
To give an insight into the type of transformations we’re supporting across various industries, we heard from Dirk Slama, Vice President of Bosch and Chair of digital.auto. He discussed how he plans to tackle a wave of technological transformations that will affect the mobility sector by partnering with LeanIX on value stream management.
Dirk showcased a brand new type of urban vehicle on stage that’s been created with the help of the LeanIX platform. The City Transformer can change dimensions to help with traffic and parking (yes, really), so it’s not one to be missed.
So if you’re interested in LeanIX past, present and future, you should watch André’s keynote ASAP.
Session 2: Fillippo Catalano, CIO & CDO at Reckitt on establishing EAs centrality to digital transformation
Even if you haven’t heard of multinational consumer goods company Reckitt, you’ll almost certainly have heard of and used one of their brands – be that Dettol, Lysol, Nurofen or Durex.
In recent years, this CPG giant has been digitally transforming on an epic scale – and CIO & CDO Fillippo Catalano has been instrumental in putting enterprise architecture at the heart of that transformation.
In his session, Fillippo explains that, as a former enterprise architect himself, he knows how EA is all too often classified by other teams as the department that says ‘no’ — and should therefore be avoided or even worked around as much as possible.
This is a recipe for disaster, particularly in an era demanding continuous transformation that simply can’t be carried out effectively without EA involvement.
That’s why EAs need to watch Fillippo’s session pronto. It will provide you with invaluable ammunition in the fight to convince colleagues and stakeholders that EA is a key enabler of change – including real-world examples of how Reckitt has used EA to drive its digital transformation and establish competitive advantage.
Session 3: Dirk Ramhorst, CIO at Evonik on using EAM to get IT recognition
Happily for CIOs everywhere, many businesses now recognise the importance of IT in driving business success. But with budgets tightening in the face of global economic uncertainty, there’s a very real danger that these hard-won gains could be reversed – and the function lose its seat at the table.
So when Dirk Ramhorst was brought into specialty chemicals company Evonik to transform its IT department, he knew he needed to ensure that IT was perceived at board level as more than a cost center.
To establish IT as a business enabler, Dirk recognised that a top priority would be to fill in a missing (or at least outdated) piece in the Evonik’s IT landscape: Enterprise Architecture Management.
Establishing a modernized EAM function at Evonik would kill two birds with one stone: driving digital transformation while simultaneously showcasing the impact of Dirk’s strategic decisions.
To find out how Dirk went about bringing Evonik’s EAM out of the ivory tower into a position of real influence over Evonik’s IT landscape and business, watch his session.
Insight and inspiration, on-demand
During his session, Dirk also mentioned how he had spoken at last year’s Connect Summit Europe in Bonn about establishing a systematic EAM model at his last company – and the man who would turn out to be his Chief Architect at Evonik was in the audience!
This meant that when Dirk was announced as Evonik’s new CIO, he and his Chief Architect were able to start working together on establishing the same sort of systematic model at Evonik that Dirk had laid out in Bonn, even before Dirk had officially started.
That right there’s a killer example of the kind of connections you can make by attending a Connect Summit. We hope that those of you who were able to make it this year, either in-person or virtually, made valuable connections of your own.
But while those Connect Summit networking opportunities will now have to wait until 2023, the wisdom that was shared with us at Connect Summit Europe 2022 is here to stay – and waiting to be watched, including:
- Jutta Hacker, Head Enterprise Architect, Deutsche Bahn AG: Surprising Master Solutions for High Performance Business
- Tobias Liepe, CTO, Daimler Truck Financial Services & Bernardo Tarillion, Principle Director, Business & Technology Innovation, Accenture: One time chance for IT reset
Head over to the event agenda page now to see what else there is on offer – and register to watch at your leisure.
Let us know what you think, and if you have any questions about how LeanIX can set your organization up for success in a world of constant technological transformation.
