Podcasts about accenture digital

The data landscape is changing faster than ever, and with it, the security threats - so whose responsibility is it to make sure your data is safe? Is it the data team? Or is it the cyber team? We tackle this question and more with Head of Data at AND Digital, Tim Hatton.From leveraging AI to secure data to the importance of real user testing, to how Tim threat models his client's data capability, you won't want to skip this ever-important topic!We also talk about ‘data mesh' and if you're not familiar with that term - it's a data management framework that decentralises data ownership and responsibility to the teams that use the data. The idea is to make data more accessible and available to business users by directly connecting data owners, data producers, and data consumers.So you can see why we thought that was an important topic to cover because, with this model, comes a lot of trust in others doing the right thing when it comes to data security!So you won't want to ‘mesh it up' if people are following this framework in your organisation.Key Takeaways:Test User Journeys with Real People: Assumptions don't cut it—Tim emphasizes the importance of validating user journeys with real-world testing to ensure effective data usage.AI and the Data Deluge: Friend or Foe? We explore the booming trend of AI in data management, but also ask the tough questions: Can AI be used for good in cybersecurity? Can it even help solve cold cases?Holistic Data Security Assessments: Discover Tim's approach to assessing clients' data capabilities and security, involving both data and cybersecurity teams for comprehensive protection.Maturity Matters: Responsibility for Data Protection. Tim reveals a surprising trend - immature organizations might have stricter controls! Discover how your organization's maturity level defines data security ownership.The Future of Self-Sovereign Data: Explore the concept of self-sovereign data and why it might be the future of personal data management and security.Show NotesBook - Wicked Beyond Belief (The one I mistakenly said was Helter Skelter)An Article on Self-Sovereign DataAbout Tim HattonTim Hatton has been working in digital since before it was called digital. Over the course of his career, he has worked on data and digital transformation projects for some of the biggest companies in the world.He joined AND Digital in 2016 and is currently Head of Data. At AND he has worked on data strategy projects for clients in industries including finance, travel, publishing and retail as well as for several government departments.Tim joined AND from Accenture Digital, and prior to this Tim ran his own digital marketing agency for many years, and co-founded a number of dotcom start-ups during the 1990s, none of which made him a millionaire but all of which taught him a great deal.Tim is a regular speaker on digital topics at AND Digital events, for AND's clients and in the media.LINKS FOR Tim HattonTim's LinkedIn

Michelle “Shelly” R. Swanback serves as President of the Company and chief executive officer of TTEC Engage. She joined the Company in May 2022 as the chief executive officer of TTEC Engage and was named President for TTEC Holdings, Inc. in November 2022. With a proven track record driving growth in the digital environment, Shelly is both a market maker and a strong cultural leader with over 30 years of experience in digital transformation, strategic consulting, technology, services, analytics and M&A. Prior to TTEC, Ms. Swanback lead Accenture Digital, building it into a global transformation powerhouse with more than $20 billion in annual revenue. As President of Product and Platform at Western Union (WU), she led the company's digital transformation journey, evolved the business model to a customer-centric platform and doubled the WU digital business to $1 billion. Shelly is currently a board member of Willis Towers Watson (NASDAQ:WTW). Ms. Swanback holds bachelor's degrees in Finance and Computer Information Systems from Colorado State University.

Guest: Mike Sutcliff, Co-Founder & CEO, Mobeus Technologies https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikesutcliff/ Mike Sutcliff is a distinguished business leader recognized for his exceptional contributions to the digital landscape. With a career spanning over 30 years at Accenture, he left an indelible mark on the technology and business sectors, notably as the visionary behind the creation of Accenture Digital. During his tenure at Accenture, Mike's leadership and innovative thinking were instrumental in pioneering the evolution of Accenture Digital, which continues to be a global industry leader. His transformative vision and commitment to excellence were pivotal in shaping the digital transformation landscape. He was a frequent speaker and contributor to thought leadership across the digital eco-system. Upon retiring as CEO of Accenture Digital, Mike embarked on a new entrepreneurial chapter, co-founding three groundbreaking startups: Cherish Health, dedicated to revolutionizing healthcare solutions; HeadVantage Fan Experience, focused on enhancing fan engagement in the sports industry; and Mobeus Technologies, where he serves as CEO, driving the development of "Immersive AI" as a revolutionary new class of computing capable of creating entirely new digital experiences. In addition to his entrepreneurial pursuits, Mike is an active Operating Partner with Advent Private Equity, where he continues to apply his vast expertise to foster innovation and growth in the private equity space. He also serves as a distinguished member of several boards of directors, including Encora, Ascendion, and Collabera, where his strategic insights and leadership play a pivotal role in guiding these organizations towards new heights. Mike Sutcliff's enduring dedication to innovation, his impressive legacy at Accenture, and his multifaceted contributions as an entrepreneur, private equity partner, and board member showcase his unwavering commitment to shaping the future of technology and business. His influence continues to inspire and transform the digital landscape. #GaryFowler #gsd #gsdadvisory #GSDSuperScaler #mikesutcliff #ImmersiveAI #mobeustechnologies

Show notes: Accenture: Digital ID for all by 2030 (UN= SDG Initiative 2030)

Pritesh is the Managing Director of Accenture Song. In this episode we discuss: Who Accenture Song are and what they do Managing the rebrand from Accenture Interactive to Accenture Song Streamlining dozens of companies under the new brand Managing the human implications of a rebrand The benefits of merging data and creativity The new brand of CMOs and how they need to be literate in both data and creativity The challenges of working around client silos to launch new work Knowing when you have enough data Marketing being “more than just the wrapping paper, but about what's inside the box too Challenges for marketers coming into a recession Running a creative agency with an IT background The lessons from Gillette and P&G at the start of his career Building diverse teams and new thinking What Alex Ferguson taught Pritesh about leadership Managing mental health Pritesh Gadhia Pritesh has spent 20 years working in the digital space and has been involved in some of Accenture's biggest digital transformations in the UK and Europe. He joined Accenture Digital back in 2014 when it was first set up to develop the company's experience technologies. Following Accenture's restructure in March 2020, Pritesh was appointed to lead Accenture Interactive in the UK, now Accenture Song. Pritesh is passionate about initiatives which champion Diversity and Inclusion and Mental Health issues in the workplace and has implemented multiple programmes which address these areas. His personal hero is Alex Ferguson and he draws on his management style in his current role. Find Pritesh on Twitter and LinkedIn Everything Else The human paradox: From customer centricity to life centricity Accenture Song rebrand Zaid Al Qassab talking about depression in Campaign Magazine. He was also a guest much earlier than this on the Strategy Sessions. Andi Jarvis If you have any questions or want to talk about anything that was discussed in the show, the best place to get me is on Twitter or LinkedIn. If you don't get the podcast emailed to you (and a monthly newsletter) you can sign up for it on the Eximo Marketing website. Make sure you subscribe to get the podcast every fortnight and if you enjoyed the show, please give it a 5* rating. Andi Jarvis, Eximo Marketing.

Victoria Libin is an accomplished strategic legal executive with a passion for disruptive technology. She most recently was at Accenture Digital, where she led a global team of senior lawyers focused on expansion into new business areas and development of cutting-edge technology platforms. Previously, she served in senior legal roles at Viacom and multiple startups. Victoria holds a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, a master's in art history from Harvard University, and a bachelor's in art history from Brandeis University. As senior in-house counsel we are required to see "around corners" and not only anticipate change but help lead the companies through times of change and turmoil. This requires the ability embrace risk, be willing to make mistakes, learn and grow from those mistakes, which is not natural for lawyers. However, while counterintuitive adopting a growth mindset and stepping out of our comfort zone will make us more resilient and successful. In this episode, we will explore how to become comfortable in the "grey zones" and embrace intelligent risk taking. We will discuss how to create safe zones where our team members and colleagues feel empowered to take intelligent risks and be able to make mistakes.

We see stories about new applications for artificial intelligence every day but, while it works as an aid for decision making, it often falls flat when left to deal with human problems like helping companies find the best staff, or how to accurately recognise faces in a crowd. So how do we figure out which questions to ask to get the best results and why should some subjects be off-limits for the level of technology we currently have? Ray Eitel-Porter is Global Responsible AI Lead with Accenture and he took some time out to talk Niall Kitson through the problems of adopting an ethical approach to artificial intelligence.

Luca Cassina defines his life as a "slalom", he started as a start-upper in the technology sector, but then he quickly acquired a leading position first in Italy and subsequently in Europe for PayPal and Amazon.After leading roles in tech giants, he decided that a middle-sized fast-growing company was more suitable for him and has become Executive Vice President Customer Success EMEA at Mirakl, the industry’s first and most advanced enterprise marketplace SaaS platform with a crucial timing.Indeed, the Covid-19 outbreak accelerated the transition towards eCommerce and investments in the area of any traditional business. The raise of demand is towards the creation in a virtual environment of the same conditions as a brick-and-mortar shop. Luca discusses his predictions for the future of eCommerce from the privileged standpoint of one of the most advanced platform providers in the market. On the same topic, you can find interesting the podcast "Mike Sutcliff, former Group CEO at Accenture Digital, on challenges and opportunities of digital transformation".

Spiros Margaris is a global influencer on artificial intelligence, Fintech, and blockchain. In this podcast, he shares with Giulio Coraggio of DLA Piper the main milestones of his career and the turning point that granted him so much visibility in the space of digital transformation. The discussion shifts to debate on the driver of innovation, identifying artificial intelligence as the most promising technology which will become the electricity of the future. Finally, we exchange views as to whether regulations are an enabler of innovation, or the market shall be left to competition, also referring to the revolution that is hitting the banking sector with the growth of Fintech and the exploitation of blockchain which goes beyond cryptocurrency. On a similar topic, you can listen to the podcast "Mike Sutcliff, former Group CEO at Accenture Digital, on challenges and opportunities of digital transformation".

Ann Cavoukian is known globally as one of the major influencers worldwide on privacy-related topics. Her main contribution to data protection compliance was the creation of the concept of privacy by design, which is now provided by the GDPR and the privacy laws adopted by the main countries internationally. In this podcast, Ann Cavoukian discussed with Giulio Coraggio, partner at DLA Piper, about her career where she was Information & Privacy Commissioner of Ontario for three mandates, the data protection related values that she followed throughout her life that were inherited from her Armenian family, Google's decision to ban third-party cookies and of the implications Covid-19 passports. You may also find the podcast "Mike Sutcliff, former Group CEO at Accenture Digital, on challenges and opportunities of digital transformation."

Mike Sutcliff was Group CEO at Accenture Digital for 32 years before recently retiring and getting dedicated to new and challenging projects of digital transformation. In this podcast, Mike Sutcliff, tells Giulio Coraggio, Technology Partner at the global law firm DLA Piper, about his career, how he built Accenture Digital's business from scratch, and what the technological milestones of digital transformation were in his view across the last  20 years. He then gives some advice to businesses on how to deal with technological innovation during the current financial downturn due to the Covid-19 pandemic and on which technologies he would bet for the coming years.Finally, he gives some snippets on his current new career and the very interesting project in which he is involved, and about how digital healthcare in his view has massive potentials.On a similar topic, you may find interesting the podcast “With Rosy Cinefra, Head of Legal at NTT Data, on the impact of Covid-19 on digital transformation“.

This week Kevin sits down with Andy Zimmerman, president of frog design, one of the world’s leading design and innovation firms. Prior to joining frog, he was the managing director of Accenture New Businesses, where he launched the Accenture Interactive and Mobility businesses that make up the majority of what is now Accenture Digital. Previously, he was a managing director at idealab, one of the first and most successful incubators, and the global managing partner for ebusiness at PwC.

In this episode of Restarting America, Josh Gibbs from 97 Switch interviews Alex Campbell, the founder and CEO of SavorWe. Throughout the interview, they discuss the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on business and society. Campbell shares how the current health pandemic has affected his company and how he is adapting to new circumstances. Campbell began his career at Accenture in their mobility practice as part of the larger Accenture Digital group. During his time at Accenture, he worked as a Senior Digital Analyst, concentrating on all areas of application delivery. His work focused on functional requirement development, user stories, acceptance testing, and client-facing presentations. Campbell gained industry experience working in the utilities and agriculture industries across Australia, Brazil, and the United States. He worked with the agile as well as the hybrid development methodologies. Campbell is a graduate of Marquette University with degrees in Finance and Entrepreneurship. He is a self-taught chef with a passion for cooking and entertaining. He also enjoys other hobbies such as playing basketball and hockey and traveling.

Andy Zimmerman is president of frog, a leading global design and strategy firm, and part of the Capgemini Group. Prior to joining frog, he was the managing director of Accenture New Businesses, where he launched the majority of what is now Accenture Digital. Previously, he was a managing director at idealab, one of the first and most successful incubators, and the global managing partner for ebusiness at PwC. On this episode we cover human-centered design and why it's so critical, how augmented reality and virtual reality will inform customer experience over the next few years, how the pandemic might change the types of experiences that consumers crave, and how to walk the fine line between being too ahead of the curve and too behind.As always, we welcome your feedback. Please make sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play.

Alex Rainey is the CEO and co-founder of travel startup Pluto, who provide useful tools that help people discover, organise and protect every trip. He has a passion for tech and how it can solve tough problems. He doesn't mind ruffling a few feathers and is relentlessly curious. He has over 7 years of experience in building and launching new digital services. He previously worked at Accenture Digital, working at a number of FTSE 100 companies. He's also a self-taught developer and still enjoys getting his hands dirty! Away from the laptop, he's an avid traveller, cook, Stoic and cinema lover. Founders365 is hosted by business coach Steven Haggerty and shares 365 insights from 365 founders during 2020.

Remember the time you needed to talk to sales rep or support but had only annoying bot?While chatbots can help with providing relevant answers, qualifications, and partial claim resolution, they can't replace humans. Accenture Digital says that 56% of B2B companies claim chatbots are driving disruption in their industry.Why?Because B2B companies delegate the wrong tasks to bots. Tasks that should be executed by humans.That's why, according to Nerdydata, only 0.5% of B2B companies across the globe use bots. The most common reasons not to use bots are:Personal negative experiencePeople don't believe that somebody will read this messageLosing the communication with customers cause you may miss the messagesAt the same time, you can provide 24/7 support, book meetings with sales while the team is offline and help to find answers.In the new episode of Full-funnel marketing podcast, I decided to chat with Casie Millhouse, a chatbot expert, to figure out:What are the most common mistakes and pitfalls with chatbots in B2BWhat tasks should and shouldn't be delegated to botsHow to define the right cycle for messenger communication/follow-ups not to annoy people?Successful case studies in B2B spaceLinks:The Ultimate Guide to Messenger Marketing & Facebook Chatbots - https://getleado.com/b2b-growth-ebook/Casie Millhouse on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/casie-millhouse-singh/Never miss a new episode: https://sendfox.com/lp/mnyll3

How can AI and new technology enhance and empower mental wellbeing across the Nordics? Learn more about Deptective, the winner of our Nordic HumAInity Innovation Challenge, and how they are using AI to combat depression. In this episode we speak with Suheng Shi, co-founder of Deptective, and Per Österman, Managing Director in Accenture Digital.

Marketing Disrupted is your up to-the-minute podcast about what’s happening in marketing today, hosted by Brent Chaters, Managing Director, Accenture Digital, and Amber Mac, technology and marketing reporter. It's what you need to know right now about reaching customers in this ever-evolving technological landscape. 

This week's episode of Social Media Week's Leads2Scale podcast features Robert Harles, Managing Director & Global Lead, Social Media & Emerging Channels, Accenture Digital. During the conversation, Robert discussed his early days in Management Consulting how it has helped shape and define his career, his experience working with some of the biggest brands in the world, focusing on social media and enterprise collaboration, and we spent time talking about his current role at Accenture, their recent acquisition of Droga5, and how having one of the most respected creative agencies in the world will shape their business going forward. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe to Leads2Scale on your favorite podcasting app! This episode is brought to you by Social Media Week New York 2019! (Use code: Leads2Scale to save 15% on your pass!) Follow Toby and Social Media Week! @tobyd & @socialmediaweek on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter.

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Kip Webb, Managing Director of Clinical Innovation at Accenture, to discuss the results of their recent study about evolving consumer attitudes towards digital health and non-traditional care. Learn how to listen to The Hospital Finance Podcast on your mobile device. Highlights of this episode include: Background on Accenture’s survey Read More

The New digital economy holds great potential for progress and disaster. We need to rethink everything - how we interact, how we do business, how we spend our free time - and fundamentally who we are as humans. And as a human race, we are struggling with the transition. My guest in this podcast is an expert in the field of Digital Transformation. He is someone who’s professional opinion I hold in very high regard. But he is also one of those unique individuals who lives both his personal and professional life with passion and purpose. The company he heads up is the largest digital service provider in Africa - and Accenture as a global company is one of the largest digital agencies in the world. They grapple daily with their clients on how to stay relevant and how to position themselves correctly in the years to come. We discuss where entrepreneurs should be looking for opportunities, how he manages his kids in the digital world, and we discuss where we should position our children for future success Please enjoy my fascinating conversation of the Managing Director of Accenture Digital Africa - Wayne Hull

The Future of Big Data Today I'm interviewing David Mathison to discuss the future of big data. David is the CEO of the CDO Summit & CDO Club for Chief Digital Officers and Chief Data Officers. He is the world’s leading authority on CDOs, having been quoted by CNBC, Computerworld, Deloitte, Financial Times, Forbes, Guardian, McKinsey, MIT Sloan Management Review, VentureBeat, Wall Street Journal, and ZDNet, among others. From 1999-2002 he was founder and CEO of the Kinecta Corporation where he raised $30 million in under 2 years. The Kinecta Corporation is now part of Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL). From 1994-1999 David was VP with Reuters, where he pioneered online content syndication, years before RSS was invented. David has more than 30 years experience in the hi-tech, information, publishing, software, and events industries.Continuous leadership and success in the strategic planning, rapid growth and management of multi-million-dollar global business operations. Today we are talking the future of big data, the future of the world with big data and this kind of stuff! So I hope you enjoy it! Please review and feel free to share this episode with your friends and subscribe wherever you feel comfortable. Lovely to speak with you again David, we had the pleasure of working together a couple of times. We went to Las Vegas with IBM, when I also learnt a lot about the future of big data and when Will Smith was speaking we did laugh... DavidI was on the floor right in front of him. It's great to be with you again, Nathaniel. We go way back. One of the things before we get into IBM I really appreciate what you did! One of the first times we worked together was in 2014. It was at the BBC and it was our first ever London CDO Summit. It was sponsored by Accenture Digital and I'll never forget it because you helped us to trend on Twitter. It was the first time we ever trended on Twitter and even ahead of the Mayor of London at the time so I appreciate all your work and hello to all your fans and followers out there very delighted to be on the show with you today! Yes we were both recently at the IBM think conference and I was a Watson influencer. I'm going to the San Francisco event coming up in February and Will Smith was certainly unbelievable. He was so powerful in his presentation and just came off really, really nicely and had some really great appropriate jokes as I recall to about data and all the digital people in the room. They always get great guests. Oh, it was absolutely phenomenal. I just couldn't stop laughing. NathanielHe just took the Mickey, in England we say take the Mickey out of people and and is the polite way to put it and he took the Mickey out of the guy from Titan watches, the guy was from from India and will said he needed a spokesperson and how he wanted the job and this kind of stuff you know and I think it was just really quite on point actually, he was just so on the ball with the influencer marketing trend that is happening right now.  There's so much that we could talk about and I'm sure we're going to talk some more on future shows. We were just briefly talking about in 10 years time what the world is actually going to look like and I learned so much from attending your your CDO Summits and it was absolutely incredible when I went to the first one, learning so much about the future of big data. It was just amazing and in fact, the second event that I attended I really learned a massive amount about the future of retail. Actually, this is bricks and mortar retail we're talking about and what I found was amazing, was actually what the New York government we're doing in New York with Data. I think that's just so interesting and the future of big data is so exciting. Say you want to have a business and wonder where is the best location for my new coffee shop, they actually analyse that data for you. Then they say, well, your best bet is to have a shop here on 23rd street because you've got the amount of traffi...

Lee Naik is the CEO of TransUnion Africa, a subsidiary of the giant American consumer credit reporting agency, TransUnion, that’s listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Prior to joining TransUnion Africa, Lee spent 18 years at Accenture, where he served as Managing Director of Accenture Digital in Sub-Saharan Africa. Since signing up to lead TransUnion Africa in January 2017, he’s been tasked with shaping the company’s continental growth strategy— a process that’s so far necessitated the recruitment of key senior talent, the orchestration of major tech platform updates, and the expansion of the firm’s range of information solutions. In this conversation with Andile Masuku - which forms part African Tech Roundup’s podcast miniseries on digital assets (http://bit.ly/atrudigitalassets) - Lee offers insight into how data-led legacy corporates like TransUnion Africa are grappling with the prospect of a future led by democratised technologies and open source collaboration. Editorial Disclaimer: Raise (https://getraise.io) is the presenting sponsor of this podcast, which is part of an African Tech Roundup miniseries focused on digital assets. Raise is a founding member of the African Digital Asset Framework - ADAF (http://adaf.io). African Tech Roundup retains full editorial control over all published content. Opinions expressed by the host, Andile Masuku, and his guests, do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the presenting sponsor, Raise.

Nuestro primero capítulo del podcast creado por Accenture Chile: "In The Name of Now". Dirigido por Tomás Sánchez, Director de Accenture Digital, conversamos de diferentes temas relacionados a la innovación, tecnología, mindfullness y nuestra sociedad con Fernanda Vicente, Directora de Scotiabank y Asela, entre otros

Esta semana tiene lugar en Madrid la Semana Marciana, una iniciativa que pretende crear tecnología sencilla y divertida que solucione los problemas de nuestro día a día. Entre sus inventos más famosos está la tortilla que tuitea. Hablamos también de la webapp para medir nuestra fatiga que ha creado Zeiss y repasamos con Andoni Garrido todos esos inventos futuristas que nuestros antepasados imaginaron hace un par de siglos que íbamos a tener en el siglo XXI. ¿Habrán acertado?Laura Rocha, directora de marketing de Carl Zeiss en España, nos habla de la aplicación que han lanzado para medir nuestra fatiga visual: con las nuevas tecnologías tratamos cada día peor nuestra vista y nos lo demuestra.Facebook nos avisa de qué ha pasado con nuestros datos y si estamos afectados por el escándalo de Cambridge Analytica, pero hay más, porque introducen mejoras de privacidad en Messenger y quieren perseguir comportamientos fraudulentos como el del citado caso. Pagará a los chivatos: descubre cómo será en el podcast.David se acerca hasta las oficinas de Accenture Digital para conocer los cacharros de la Semana Marciana. Hablamos con Juan Alonso, de Liquid Squad, sobre un compositor automático del siglo XVIII, cuya versión digital se encuentra en la Biblioteca Nacional, aparatos para medir el estado de ánimo de la oficina, la tortilla que tuitea… Inventos que podrás ver esta semana en Madrid.Un temazo viral de Mario Bros y… ¡un extra! Porque hacemos un guiño a este hit viral de Iván Lagarto en ‘Imperios y Cacharrazos’ (no abras el enlace o te encontrarás con un spoiler de lo más bonito)

Simon has an insightful interview with Blackrock and iShares' Stephen Cohen on the future of wealth finance and tech. We also have a roundtable panel going through the latest jargon, demystifying the ARs from the VRs and explaining why the two are so often confused. Troubles with AI and machine learning and how they apply to the industry? Another two things that sound so similar, those at the cutting edge will take you through it step by step. Fintech is a fast paced world with constantly evolving buzzwords and acronyms. It’s forgivable to let a few things slide, our guests use real world examples to show you how important these new techs are and how they can improve your business. Our roundtable brings you: Rebecca Skiles, Managing Director, Accenture Digital, Olivia Vinden - Tech/Blockchain specialist for Asset and Wealth Management, Alpha Nick Burns, Chairman, EngageWorks And to cap things off we have another interview, this time with Eileen Burbidge, Partner at Passional Capital, on the major trends of the moment and where wealth sits within that. All this and more in this week's show! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode and if you want to show us some love leave a review on iTunes! Let us know your thoughts @FintechInsiders and join the discussion by signing up at Fintech Insider News. Special Guests: Eileen Burbidge, Nick Burns, Olivia Vinden, Rebecca Skiles, and Stephen Cohen.

CliffCentral.com — South Africa has an opportunity to build on the positive developments that have emerged in recent months. The economy has performed slightly faster than expected, with economic growth now projected to be 1% in 2017, 1.5% in 2018 and 2.1% by 2020. This pace of economic growth is welcome, but is still too slow to address unemployment and poverty. Joining the team for the discussion is Mr Wayne Hull - Managing Director of Accenture Digital in Africa, Bryden Morton - Executive Director of 21st Century Pay Solutions Company, Mr Maluleke Sir, and Aubrey Moraka - Independent Financial Planner.

Episode SHOWNOTES and interview summary on: http://behindthestory.be/podcast/episode10 This podcast episode is part of a new series, "Talking To Jane", in partnership with Start it @KBC, a Startup Incubator with the largest Startup Community in Belgium. In this series, Jane interviews entrepreneurs of Tech Startups, put forward by Start it@KBC. You will hear their inspiring journey's and the role of incubators to start and grow their business. Here is what is shared and discussed in this episode: Links and Resources: Tim’s company and Social Media Links: https://www.epihunter.com/ LinkedIn Facebook Tim can be contacted through: Epihunter website contact form Email: tim.buckinx@epihunter.com International Day of Epilepsy, 12 February 2018 – https://epilepsy.org/ This day Epihunter starts it’s crowdfunding campaign About Absence seizure About Convulsive seizure Imec.istart – Business Accelerator Program set up to support tech start-ups with coaching, facilities and funding International League Against Epilepsy For more: Right-click here and save as to download this episode to your computer You can find the shownotes to this episode on: http://behindthestory.be/podcast/episode10 Subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Android If you would like to be part of my storytelling community, please join my Facebook group here The interview: Tim Buckinx is Founder and CEO Epihunter. He previously was Product Manager with Joyn and Digital Technology Marketing Manager with BOSE. At 44 years old, he has just started his own company, Epihunter, to pursue his life’s goal: Developing technology that will improve the lives of patients with epilepsy. And he has a big vision. He doesn’t come from an entrepreneurial family. His parents were in education. But during his career he was fortunate to do very interesting activities and he had some big opportunities. It all prepared him for his current big entrepreneurial journey. Tim himself has a chronic blood disease, and needed to be very resourceful with his work schedule and job choices, often needing to find time for medical appointments. But he always had a mindset that everything is achievable, privately and professionally. While every year, hundreds of students go into the job market in Belgium, he wanted to stand out in the crowd early on. So he was attentive and alert, always looking for opportunities, observing the needs of his environment. His goal has always been to make an impact. Marketing is an enabler for impact, he believes, because you can see results from it immediately. And Tim is interested in bringing the message. He started in B2B Marketing, selling cardboard boxes through catalog. He learned that things didn’t have to be beautiful to sell. Don’t look for perfection, look for what is needed. Then the internet came, which really triggered him. He got to work for a clothing manufacturer. It was inspiring, because it was an old fashioned brand that used internet to bring clothes to all parts of the world. Then he moved on to other companies. Until he got a job at BOSE. He was the 4th member of BOSE at that time, and in no-time, he helped grow that team to 60 people. Sales and Marketing, making the bridge between the technical side of things and the needs of the organization, became his specialty. With his team, he also noticed they needed to change the structure of the team, when more countries were added. So he started to adopt Agile working, before people even had heard of Agile. Because of their successful work, they were invited by corporate to roll-out the concept company-wide, for a new platform for BOSE globally. Tim was in his element. During the 3 years that followed, working with new cultures, his career sky-rocketed. He made it to management positions. Then suddenly his life changed. His son got epilepsy at the age of six (his son today is 13). His wife immediately saw it was serious when their son started to tremble one morning at the kitchen table. Various neurological tests were done. It was a roller-coaster period to find the right medication. Tim started to do all kinds of researches himself and looked for solutions with experts and specialists, because not all epilepsies are the same. There are convulsive seizures (gros mals) and non-convulsive seizures (petit mals or absence seizures). His son, Daan, started with convulsive seizures, but thanks to medication, they stopped. But his seizures themselves didn’t go away. Daan now suffers from absence seizures. It looks like he is absent. It’s silent. An estimated 65 million people in the world are living with epilepsy today. 30% can’t even be helped through medication. And 15% suffer from absence seizures. His son goes to a Special Needs school. And there isn’t a system or service to bring your kid to that school. He and his wife had to arrange all that themselves with supportive friends. Therefore it is not easy having his own business, because you don’t have access to affordable health insurance, e.g. And getting paid while he is starting his company is not easy. Especially with a special needs child, this is a big worry. And there is his own disease. Tim has a Blood disease and needs to really work around hospital appointments and rest periods after some hours of work. Often he’s spending half a day  on his laptop working for his company, in the hospital’s waiting room. It is difficult to find peers who have the same experiences. But there are Social Media groups that are very supportive, like some closed Facebook groups. Tim joins those groups. It’s an added value, because you get supportive advice when you have a real question or situation. Secondly, you can openly talk about medication, and how parents support themselves. And thirdly, you share the same difficult situation and challenges. People in your environment often don’t believe you. Schools face many challenges, because of more and more neurological issues, like ADHD and autism. The main issue with absence seizures is that it’s difficult to notice. Teachers have many children in the classroom with their own specific ‘issues’. But when his son, Daan, noticed that his teachers got irritated because they hadn’t noticed his seizures, and were tired of re-explaining things, he often felt misunderstood. One evening his son asked him: “Daddy, you work in digital. Can’t you invent a light that turns on when my brain switches off?” It was painful for Tim to his son struggle like that. A couple of weeks later, he saw a YouTube video on EEG headsets. That was a turning point and moment of epiphany. He saw it could be possible to realize what his son had asked him! Since then, Tim doesn’t believe in coincidencec anymore! He started his company not by coincidence! For the last 2 years he has worked on his solution, deep diving into EEG technology, speaking to parents, medical specialists, and organizations. After that YouTube video, he got inspired, using the same technology as basis for his solution, to turn on a light when a patient has his seizure. And the data that is captured from seizures, can be used to improve our knowledge, and make better solutions. The solution itself provides added value. A child knows the teachers are not angry anymore. Teachers now can immediately be triggered to respond adequately. And once it is known to the larger public, people on the streets will recognize a patient and offer help when needed. The technology is built on a cloud platform, using a smartphone app. The program runs algorithms that trigger a flash light on a headset to turn on on the exact moment. And these are modern looking headsets! Kind of cool, even! The solution can help patients feel more integrated, their environment becomes more understanding. Having a few seizures could even become OK and acceptable! He believes you have to create opportunities in order to create new opportunities. Like he said, coincidences don’t exist, because soon after his discovery, he participated in a Hackaton about epilepsy. He did not win, but UCB was interested in helping with the idea. He got support from UCB and Accenture Digital at the start to see how he could build a company out of this, looking at it from a user, business, and technology perspective. Not easy, but possible, they said. From that moment, he got triggered to surround him with good people. And in that mindset, the first thing you have to do in Belgium, is pitch at Startit @KBC, the biggest Startup Incubator and startup community in Belgium. He went from doing his programming and research in his own home, to having proper meeting rooms and office facilities, where he received more coaching, services and got in touch with potential co-founders. In may 2017, he founded the company, with Niki Driessen, who was Lead Architect at BOSE. Dirk Loeckx, joined as the Chief Science Officer. End of summer 2017, he pitched in front of Imec.istart, and he got the first funding to pay the first freelancers, purchased headsets, and do testing. They built the platform and features with a team for a proof of concept. And they started testing the solution with the first 9 families. And currently (February 2017), Epihunter runs it’s Indigogo campaign, that started on 12 February 2018, on International Day Of Epilepsy. This will run for 40 days. During this campaign, Epihunter sells the yearly subscription and headsets. The participants need only to have a cheep smartphone. The headset costs €300,- The yearly subscription is €399,- €25,000 is the minimum to raise in this campaign. More is well possible and it will speed up things. Epihunter will also make funds available to families who cannot afford the solution. Allocation of the funds will be done via the International League Against Epilepsy in the various countries. Also on 12 February, the Win Winner campaign, will be launched too, where individuals/Angel investors can help invest as well. All this including the capital round should raise the required €500,000,- On 1st April, Epihunter will ship the first versions. Features will be improved as they go. He talks to many hospitals, universities an companies. He gets much interest already internationally. His solution will go global! We live in the era where digital technology can do for people what glasses did for people with poor eyesight in 13th century, is what Tim believes. What he does is all related to helping people with epilepsy lead a better life, and support their environment. On failure, he says that he tries to make as many mistakes as possible. It makes sure he doesn’t overthink things. Thinking holistically about something and move on it. Situations change constantly, you always have to adapt. If you don’t act immediately, you miss out on the learning and the growing. If you start in the unknown, the unknown becomes known and then you can make and finish your plans. And on his entrepreneurship, he says he will never go back to the feeling of an employee. And to the feeling that your current job is the best you can do. His mantra is: Do it now and not later! Later, it will get more difficult and more complicated. It is almost like having a baby. There is no perfect moment for it, and that makes every moment a perfect moment! He has a pile of books to read still, because he hasn’t got time these days. Instead he watches inspiring YouTube video’s and Ted talks, and he reads presentations and reports. When his pile diminishes, then he knows, he’s got a bit more free time! His son Daan couldn’t be more proud of his father! ENJOY THE INTERVIEW!

Digital disruption is inevitable, especially as new technology emerges at a rapid pace. But instead of being disrupted, it's up to companies and leaders to take charge and become the disrupters themselves. According to Michael Sutcliff, CEO of Accenture Digital, the future of customer experience is all digital and focuses on personalization. However, creating a plan on a whiteboard and actually putting into into action at scale in the real world are two very different things. In order for a digital strategy to truly be effective, companies must be able to adapt their digital technologies and learn more about their customers' intentions over time. Preparing to be disrupted isn't something that happens overnight—companies must work at it and plan to adapt their strategy. Many of the companies that struggle with digital disruption are those that don't want to put the work in or don't know where to start to move towards the digital space. Some companies put lots of effort into the front end of customer experience without realizing the changes that need to be put into the back end and the supply side. Creating a strong digital customer experience is both an art and a science that requires work and planning on all sides. Instead of relying on legacy technologies like outdated call centers, many organizations don't realize the importance and potential of a digital customer model that can be much more efficient and interactive. In the digital space, disruption can come from any other industry, not just those that are right around your company. Consider the example of Airbnb: it paid attention to customers to realize what they really want is an experience. The company then partnered with other brands, such as transportation or ticketing companies, to take advantage of their technology and create a package for Airbnb customers that gives them everything they need for a great experience. Airbnb wasn't disrupted by other industries but was able to leverage their technology to disrupt Airbnb's current model and create something more efficient and successful. But no matter how much technology is added, customer experience will always be human centered. Technology is simply the supporting tool to create a good experience for a human, whether that is the customer or an employee. The best digital strategy can't create a strong experience if the human skills and connections aren't there. Companies should work to truly understand customer intentions instead of just caring about how much money each customer earns for the company. Customers can quickly see when a brand doesn't truly care about or understand them. New digital technologies provide companies the opportunity to greatly improve their customer understanding and interactions—companies that don't keep up or lead the pack of disruption will quickly fall behind companies that are embracing disruption. Digital disruption has the potential to fundamentally change how an organization does business and interacts with customers—but it's up to the company to take charge and lead the change.

I came across a recent article where the Managing Director of Accenture Digital made the bold claim that large companies cannot do innovation. More accurately, Narry Singh said, “.. Corporate innovation does not work.” He goes on to claim that innovation at large companies do not work because “.. the firms are too slow to move – […]

Wondering how to make your company more digital -- and why it's worth it? Learn the inside story from Accenture Digital chief Mike Sutcliff. His 36,000 employees -- and 1,300 data scientists -- are on the front lines of digital transformation in companies worldwide. Gain practical insights from an expert's perspective on disruption, business models, and competing in a digital world.Mike Sutcliff is group chief executive of Accenture Digital, which integrates digital assets, software and services across digital marketing, analytics and mobility to help clients drive growth and create new sources of value.

Wondering how to make your company more digital -- and why it's worth it? Learn the inside story from Accenture Digital chief Mike Sutcliff. His 36,000 employees -- and 1,300 data scientists -- are on the front lines of digital transformation in companies worldwide. Gain practical insights from an expert's perspective on disruption, business models, and competing in a digital world.Mike Sutcliff is group chief executive of Accenture Digital, which integrates digital assets, software and services across digital marketing, analytics and mobility to help clients drive growth and create new sources of value.

How to digitally transform your business - I speak with Rory Moore, one of SA's innovation pioneers about how to future proof businesses using service design and innovation