00:01:55
Why? Because from my experience, when you implement a new technology in an organization, most failures are really not about the technology, but they are about the people I mentioned. And so what I do is I try to embrace both concepts together, an organization, and make sure that the technology is helping the people to implement the required improvements. Because at the end of the day, an organization is nothing more than a group of people coming together to provide value added to another group of people. And technology is a key enabler to make that happen. So, but it cannot be successful unless you implement technology and consult people throughout the whole process. This is what principally I've done. So I've been for 20 years managing projects in the construction, energy, health care, hospitality, you name it.
00:02:53
I've also been also a subject matter expert with the government of the UAE on digital enablement, and I have provided advice and assistance to the government to implement best practices across a number of public sector entities. I've had quite a senior engagement as well on large scale projects, including the rollout of 4G in the UK. I've also been involved in several technology projects in more time. I'm currently also managing an interesting project in the quantum space, particularly on quantum communication, which is quite interesting in other area, which is very innovative and involves basically developing a network which can add more security to the data that will be transferred from one place to another, particularly to highly sensitive, highly sensitive. Super interesting. And I love the fact that you mentioned like making the bridge between AI and the personal touch.
00:03:57
I see it for myself as well. Let's say during the daytime, I work for a big corporate doing digital transformation there myself, that the role of bridges is becoming a skill on its own. And here I was also wondering, like acting as a bridge between the AI and the human touch to digitally enable small and bigger enterprises, what would be, let's say, the top three challenges that you see coming again and again, whether they're big or small companies? That's a very good question, Cedric. I think one of the main challenges is trust, trusting the technology that it can work as expected. The technology, because infrequently you find that people tend to compete with technology, but in practice they complement each other because there are different skills.
00:04:59
With technology, AI to the present date, at least, although through generative AI, this is changing progressively, is very good at processing data in an efficient way, creating consistency and processing the clearly defined tasks and learning from past experience based on scientific data. However, it also has a number of weaknesses and these weaknesses include it doesn't have intuition, it doesn't have empathy and understanding of different cultures, and more importantly, it is not human. So no matter how well you use the technology, it is not a realistic representation of the human beings. Human beings always like to deal with human beings as a preference to a machine. OK, we are trying to replace certain tasks with machines, but the human being remains the human being and the human being has creativity.
00:05:56
We are approaching a stage where artificial intelligence might simulate to an extent creation, creativity. We've seen, for example, the creation of paintings and art and also combining certain different types of technology together. But it still lacks some of the key elements that make creation unique. So it's still a long way out there. But to answer your question, I think if I had to summarize the three key attributes, it would be dissonance between the technology and the human and proper communication. And they are all interrelated together relatively, because if you don't have a proper communication and understanding of what each one of these two different types of intelligence, how they can work together, then clearly there is conflict, there is issues of that particular technology. I think that that's definitely true.
00:06:56
But what we usually think about as well with technology, I mean, we don't really look at it usually, let's say, from the people versus technology, but actually it's like in a pyramid structure. You know, you have people, process and technology. You need the three to work together to really transform how you do things. I was just thinking when you were saying it at the beginning, because you said that the most failure is actually coming from the human aspect. So actually, before Cedric was asking you the question, I wanted to ask you, do we actually need the humans? Why? Why we need humans? Then when they are making everything much more difficult and failing, then do we really need humans? Well, of course, I mean, without the humans, the machines won't exist for sure.
00:07:50
Let's put it this way. I mean, we have created them now, but so of course they would not exist if we would not created them, but we created them. So do we really need them in some processes? Do we really need the humans in some processes that the machines can take over so the humans can take over the, for example, more advanced jobs about the execution and decision making? This is in fact where I see there is complementarity, obviously, when you look at the technology, the technology at the moment is automating a number of processes which used to be done by humans. So it's the very basic ones which are most obvious are the accounting processes and the procured to pay function, the payroll, which are highly repetitive and routine.
00:08:47
But that is the most basic. And we've been through that cycle decades ago. And it is today is taken for granted that most of these processes are automated and you don't find a human being actually carrying out this process today, but they are highly automated. Today, what we're thinking is automating an element of creation as well, as I was referring to earlier on. So, for example, you can just type in something, it gives you a basic layout and you can build a report around what it says. Now, the problem is doesn't have your voice, doesn't have your timbre. OK, so there is an element of uniqueness, but we are moving towards there. And if you look at the reports of the World Economic Forum, the future of work, for example, we are seeing movements towards different types of skills.
00:09:49
And today people have need to understand that certain skills are very important. And for me, one of the most important skills that a person needs to have is learning how to learn. Because if you learn how to learn, you can always remain and keep updated with what is happening and the changes around you. And yes, we have technology, we have AI, but AI needs to be trained. It's like basically having a baby and you need to educate the technology to perform a specific function. It needs a history, it needs a past, it needs an experience. So we gave birth to AI trainers where there are people specialised in training AI algorithms to behave in a certain way. So these are different types.
00:10:38
Tomorrow, probably my work will be taken also away from AI, having a chatbot doing some consulting work on its own, I don't know, but a certain human interface obviously always helps. We've been talking about also autonomous vehicles as well for quite some time, which are more of different types of technology, have IoT, we have 5G, you have, for example, remote sensing and you've got AI, which are all built in making sure that autonomous vehicles work. Today, we still don't have autonomous vehicles. And I have my doubts to the extent when we will be having autonomous vehicles, because it carries a big risk from a human life point of view. So one needs to be very careful.
00:11:24
But we're seeing other developments, for example, surgeons can perform operations at a distance remotely to the use of 5G, having robotics in place in a hospital in a different geographic location, and they can perform the operation from their own home. So these are all developments. But the human is still at the centre of the core value added that is being generated in particular activity. I'm not saying that the AI couldn't achieve that stage. In fact, if I wanted to quote Stephen Hawking, he said, I do remember some time ago before he died in a BBC interview, he said that AI could spell the end of the human race. Now, I'm not being so dramatic, but it is Stephen Hawking who said this. It's not just a regular person from the road.
00:12:21
So it's it merits some consideration that we need to be careful about technology and technology has to be regulated. In fact, we've seen a number of regulations that have been issued, particularly at the new level. We've seen the AI Act, which is coming in stream next year, but also a number of legislative programs like the Digital Services Platform, the Digital Services Act, which has been in place to regulate certain activities online, to regulate particularly the big boys like Facebook, like Twitter, like LinkedIn, and so forth. So a healthy dose of regulation and education would balance out also the survival, so to speak, of the human race with that technology. Because what we have in terms of technology today is, on the one hand, what is its basic value that it generates?
00:13:25
For me today, organizations are meds driven organizations. They are driven by algorithms. If you look at the top companies in the world and those which are listed on the Fortune 500, they are not large, large immovable property companies, but they are the Googles of this world and they are the online engines that exist. And these companies, what do they have? They have a robust algorithm which is capable of interpreting data and predicting patterns of behaviour and potentially influencing those patterns of behaviour. Now, this has a positive connotation because you can influence behaviour from a positive point of view, but it means that you can have control over human behaviour, which means that you can manipulate people. So there is also the ethical use of technology and the underlying data.
00:14:23
How are we collecting data and how are we using that data? And we need to protect people from being manipulated and exploited. It's like from this interesting movie, right? Like with great power comes great responsibility. But I mean, I completely agree, let's say, on the learning aspect. And I think this is also what is super important. And I think it's a really good, good takeaway and super important to share with our audience, but also others out there that with technology and what we want to bring as well with innovatology is to learn people how to use technology, not get abused by technology. And the skill of learning to learn is indeed, I think, going to be increasingly important at an exponential level, I think, even because the level of technology that gets introduced just reduces with the amount of time that we just keep on living.
00:15:26
Like every year, it seems like there's a new technology that just hits the sound barrier and goes through the roof. So like, I don't know what will come in the next after generative AI, but it will be here before we even know it. Quantum tech. And we'll just need to learn how to learn to use it, not get abused by it so that we can pivot ourselves and keep making ourselves relevant. And here I was really thinking, because like on the one hand, it's our educational system, which I was really reflecting on, like a couple of weeks ago, we had a podcast with Juliette Malhere, who's the digital lead of the tech centre at Orange, where we also discussed like the digitalization and education.
00:16:09
You also had a conversation with Jan from four classmates where digitalization can help reduce the gap in inequality in education. But I still feel that even with those initiatives, like the mindset of teaching people how to learn, I don't see it yet. And I do sense also for myself, like the, I mean, I'm not that old yet, but like the older that I get, the more I feel myself also becoming resistant to new things from time to time. And I really feel it also like sometimes when we're having a conversation at home, like sometimes I just really like how I am doing things and like how I have been doing things. So how do I keep the energy to keep learning how to learn?
00:17:01
Is there any tip that you can give on that from your perspective, David? Like how do you reinforce yourself to keep learning to learn? Very good question. First of all, I'm almost 50 years old, so I'm a bit older than you, I would say. But there are a number of things. I think, first of all, we need a good foundation and a thirst for reading. I mean, reading is the foundation of learning, because once you appreciate the art of reading, you are forming a good capability of learning, not just on technology, because I believe that at the end of the day, we as humans, we shouldn't just focus ourselves on things which are related to our profession, but taking a broader approach, because that helps us even in our profession, not only in our life.
00:17:54
It's good to have a good background in philosophy, even if it's not connected to technology, because the philosophy gives you the background for rationalizing and for logic, which you need in your day to day life. What I find is as I grow older is surrounding myself with young people, because by surrounding yourself with young people, you get more and you see the energy and you try to get more active from that point of view. And continue dreaming and believing in a goal which is challenging, but achievable, and it is there. You need to be a dreamer, and the dreamer, you have to have your head in the clouds, but your feet on the ground. This is a really very important concept where you dream big and you want to aspire and the things that you want to achieve are limitless.
00:18:48
However, you need to have your feet on the ground of what can be achieved, because we do tend to overestimate what we can achieve in a year, but we underestimate what we can achieve in a decade. So we need to have a clear plan of action and strive for clear goals in the future that are consistent. Moreover, what I find, especially I observe these in digital transformation projects that I manage, there is a difference between motivation and commitment, and many organizations make the mistake of focusing on motivation as opposed to commitment. Now, what is the difference between motivation and commitment? Motivation is about incentivizing people to do the right thing by giving them a form of power. Now, this power could be either power for more money, more knowledge, more, for example, authority or responsibility.
00:19:48
So that is motivation. But the problem of motivation is that it is temporary. So you like it and then once you get it, it's finished. Not even if you get it. So after a certain point in time, it dissipates. Commitment is completely different. Commitment is about a passion. It is about a desire to achieve a goal which goes beyond your personal needs, but goes across the whole group. And when you are managing a digital program, the leadership team should create the sense of commitment from people. And you get that by showing honesty, integrity, by providing a clear direction which is mutually agreed and shared with your people. And then you can show them the way, build the way together to achieve that common vision. And technology is clearly an enabler to that.
00:20:44
Makes sense. I think you're the head and I'm the feet at the moment. What do you mean? You're the dream friend and I get things on the floor. Yeah, I really agree with the dreaming and the surrounding by you because I think that this is definitely underestimated in like how we can keep learning because like the reading, I'm not a big reader. I prefer, yeah, he is a bigger reader. For me, I prefer also different kind of consumption of information, like, for example, by listening, podcasts, visualizations, etc. Yes, of course. I come from an old school background, 50 years old. Yes, me too. It didn't exist at that time. And for me, the reading is also, I recently was interested in how to actually publish a book and I realized that 90% of the books that are published, that are made mainly for the author to make money.
00:21:45
So I'm a bit sceptical about reading even more, but I don't want to discourage people to read. But it's the reading is there. It's really accessible. It's something that also we are learning in the traditional education, in primary school, secondary school. I was forced many times to read. Maybe it comes from there that I'm not really a big reader. But the dreaming and the surrounding by the youth is really underestimated because I think that we are forced by the society to stop dreaming at some point and just, let's say, shut up and keep going. Like, for example, it may start usually with your first job, with getting on the board with, to get the authority hierarchy, etc.
00:22:32
Many people are scared to dream about having their own business to get out because I also hear many times recently about, you know, it's good enough that I have a good job and I am really satisfied with that, that I have a good job and this is enough for me. And I am really proud of that. And I hear it a lot from people who surround me. And I am like, it was, for example, the generation of my parents who had this kind of mindset, who were like really glad for having a good job. But nowadays in the 21st century, there are like limitless possibilities, of course, depending on the country where you're living in. So it's, of course, different also in European countries. It's different, for example, in Spain and Italy, where you have big unemployment.
00:23:29
It will be different than in, for example, Belgium. But it's, I see more really like limiting beliefs in these things. Also surrounding my youth, I always see people like getting motivation from the older, from the wiser, older society. But actually, like it's when it comes to tech, it's actually like our children who are the wiser people, like who use the tech, actually. I mean, children in general. I didn't say over. OK, no, no, it's fair enough. Yes, definitely. I mean, learning is important through different, different means. I mean, today there are different types of media that you can use. Obviously, reading is one of them. But there are others that I'm sure are equally possible for one to learn.
00:24:25
Another area which I think is important, I'm not sure if we're going off topic, by the way, we're focusing a bit more on this stuff. We want to focus on more the tech side or more on the visionary and change side. We can go even like, I mean, the tech for me is going hand by hand with also the visualization, because what we are seeing as the emerging tech nowadays, it's really like also really connected to, for example, these tactics. So, OK, OK. OK, let me talk about some technology aspects that are emerging today, which would be very interesting. Obviously, today everyone talks about AI. I won't mention it anymore because we have been hearing about it.
00:25:13
But there are quite a few other interesting technologies out there, there is obviously distributed ledger technology, which I must say hasn't really taken off well yet, but it has a lot of potential for business because it has the possibility of lowering transaction costs at a very low level, because it does away with intermediaries, so you have a chain of activities and basically the transaction is approved through a democratization process, where you've got a number of users who have to solve a puzzle, so to speak, through mining and getting approved a transaction from one place to another. And the immutability of the transaction guarantees transparency in the process. And this has, I feel, a lot of use and application in developing countries initially, where the most obvious use of DLT is in financial transactions, where you are using a currency, so it's a cryptocurrency.
00:26:16
But aside from cryptocurrency, there is a lot of potential for supply chains, where you have a large number of players working together, particularly in the food industry and in the pharmaceutical industry, which are regulated, and there needs to be traceability of transactions from farm to fork. And DLT, Distributed Ledger Technology, enables the traceability of supplies from the originator right to the consumption in an automated fashion. So that is quite a technology which is coming on stream. And today we also apply what are called smart contracts, which basically apply for obviously automated approval systems throughout the system, which involves an element of AI. Aside from DLT, a very important technology which is coming on stream is quantum technology as well.
00:27:13
There has been a lot of investment in quantum computing, quantum computing particularly in the United States and Japan and Canada, focusing on developing two areas, quantum computing as hardware, which creates significant computing power, much more than we have today. But there is a second branch, which is less known, which is quantum communication, which basically uses the laws of physics to encrypt data in a way which cannot be hacked. And this holds tremendous potential for the future, because again, quantum technology is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can break the current traditional ways of encryption, because traditional ways of encryption today are mathematically based. And since they are mathematically based, the quantum computing, they can be decrypted because they can process at a very fast rate, a number of different permutations to crack the code.
00:28:18
Whereas quantum communication uses laws of physics to prohibit the decryption of that particular code. So this is also very interesting and has good application, particularly in the financial services industry and particularly in critical infrastructures and defense and health industries. It's a very interesting technology. We are also seeing another important technology, which is seeing a move from cloud computing to edge computing. What is the difference? Cloud computing is based on a central database, so it's focused on data centers, whereas edge computing stores data at the user level, and then there's an interface with the center, which is even more safer from a decryption point of view. There are obviously other more technologies, but I don't want to ramble on and see what we want to focus on a bit more.
00:29:12
The quantum is really interesting, and let's keep it in the space of digital made simple. I had some quantum technology, quantum science classes a couple of years back, and it was one of the most interesting courses, but also one of those courses where you went through and you were like, I actually don't understand what I just read about, I don't understand what I just learned. I still paused it with quite a good mark, but I actually don't fully grasp the parts of quantum, of making it practical, where you can be in two states at the same time, you calculate the wave equation, and it's super complicated, I find. How would you make that technology simple to someone who has even less of an idea of what it actually represents, what it means, and what it can represent in their lives?
00:30:13
Because, okay, it's two good examples, but the technology behind it, how would you explain it to make that digital technology simple, or that technology? It's not easy. It's not easy to say. No, but basically, the explanation, I mean, would be that whereas in traditional technologies you've got two states, and typically they're binary states, okay, so it's either a one or a zero, okay, in a quantum state, you can have multiple variations of a zero and a one. It could be 0.1 and 0.9, 0.1111, so you've got a continuum, and whereas in a traditional classical system, you've got something which is more fixed, which is dichotomous, you've got a zero and a one. I'm not sure if it's still simple, but at least I've tried to get this.
00:31:14
It's made it at least more simple already for me, because I always got lost with quantum, where you can be zero and one at the same time, and that concept is just so difficult to follow, but if you're talking about the dichotomy in, say, traditional hardware, zero and one, versus now the continuum, that gives me a better thing to grasp on, because it's like, again, this is more mathematical again, but you go from, let's say, integer numbers to, I think, rational numbers of the equation. So for me, it helped. I don't know if it helped for you. And you also wrote a book, Digital Made Simple, so can you tell us more about what the book is about and what it argues, or what is the main idea that is inside your...
00:32:08
Okay, thank you for this question. Yes, my book, Digital Made Simple, is about what we find in the market when you do digital transformation, you find all these complex frameworks that try to make life very difficult to create, to carry out a digital transformation process. Now, what I've tried to do through my book is to create, from my experience in managing these type of projects, what are the bare bones and the basic things that need to be in place in order to make a digital transformation project successful. So the frameworks, I've built a very simple framework, which can be used by organizations, and it is divided into three parts. And since I adopt a human approach, I've developed it from a humanistic perspective. In fact, there are three stages.
00:33:01
The first stage is what I call digital mindfulness. Now, digital mindfulness is about knowing where you are today from different perspectives, because many people think they know where they are, but they are mistaken. And the problem of making a mistake of knowing where you are is you will get it wrong or where you want to go. So it is very important to get it right immediately and know where you really are. And why am I saying this? Because as a company, as a CEO, for example, you have a specific perspective of the performance of your company, but your senior management team and even your people at lower levels might have a different perspective depending on the function they are managing.
00:33:49
For example, the sales manager might believe that the company is doing well because he's making many sales, but the finance manager might think that the company is performing poorly because they're not getting paid. So it is the same transaction, but from a different perspective, they have a different viewpoint of the company. This is a very simple example. So when you develop an understanding of where the organization is, you need to bring people together and get their different perspectives on the table to come up with a reality which makes sense. Apart from that, an organization is a living thing. It's not an inanimate object because it's made up of human beings, which means that where it is fluctuates over time. It's just like a human being.
00:34:39
If you go to the gym, sometimes you make a good performance. Another day, you say, oh, no, I'm not doing the same thing as I did yesterday. So it's a bit of a problem. And the organization is the same. So even if you look at data of the organization, if you're looking at financial statements, for example, of three months down the line, today you're in a completely different position. So you need to have real-time data today. And tomorrow, it will be even different. So you need to have multiple snapshots over time. So that is the concept of digital mindfulness. You need to look at different perspectives. And the perspectives need to take into account a number of things.
00:35:17
So they need to account for how the business is doing, what is the strategy of the company, where it is going, what are the key objectives, the structure, and also the processes and technologies they are using, and how they are joining together. And from there, what we do is you look at the digital maturity. So I've developed a digital maturity model over four different stages or where you are. So it could either be at a stage where you are still a novice, where you have never tried a technology. Or in that case, what is the most important is to build momentum and education. Or alternatively, it could be at the second stage where you've implemented technology in a particular function. Or else, the third stage would be implemented technologies in an integrated way across the whole organization.
00:36:10
Or the fourth stage, which is you are an innovative player and you are using technology as a core asset for your strategy. So these are the different four areas. The second element, once you know where you are, it's about building strategic agility in your digital transformation journey. What does this involve? Because since change is very rapid, yes, you need to develop a digital roadmap. But more importantly, you need to develop the right processes to be able to adapt to change. So this is a very important part. And the last component is what I call balanced leadership. So we have been talking about people, processes, and technology. But most companies make the mistake of trying to get the best people, the best technology, and the best processes.
00:36:55
Whereas what you need are the right people, the right processes, and the right technology, which are synchronized together. So this is, in a very brief way, what my book is about. That's actually a very good distinction between the best people, best process, best technology might not necessarily be the right fit. Because you still need to achieve the synergy between each other. And sometimes you also see it outside of technology, where you might have the best players on a team, coming together to play a game. But they're not a team. So they're not the right team to win the competition. That's all I was going to say. You've taken my words. We think alike. I also saw that you are doing a mentorship. Is it for companies or individuals, or for who to do mentorship?
00:37:53
At the moment, I'm coaching a number of companies, mainly SMEs, to kickstart them on a digital transformation journey to give them the potential to generate 5X growth over a period of three years. And basically, what I do is I walk them through my framework in a practical way to make sure that they hit all the targets that they are intending of achieving. How is it different to mentor a company or an SME versus mentoring a person? It's a good question. The actual mentorship is with the CEO of the company or the CIO. So when I say company, it's the management of the company. So it's not the overall company in general. It's also changing the culture of the company itself. For example, I am now going into the program called Digital Czechia.
00:38:52
Because from the digital perspective, I really feel that we have a lot of digital gaps in the EU. And I will be the mentor for the Digital Czechia to make Czech Republic digital. So let's say to make a digital transformation of a country. And we will be collaborating with the non-profit companies, because this is where the change is usually driven. So you need to actually mentor the non-profit who are actually having some bigger cause on the society as such. And we are doing the mentoring for the companies, for the not-for-profit companies. To change the mindset. Yes. So to change the culture, to change the mindset. Sometimes it's more about, in this case, they are really not digital. For example, in Czechia, it's really like you go back in history.
00:39:45
Because people just start to speak about Slack. And I'm like, what? The Slack in my life is for five years, even more. So it's slightly easier for me to bring this kind of knowledge and practices to Czech Republic. But you can make a much bigger impact if you mentor the companies than the individual. I mean, of course, if the individual then becomes... I also have a question, because you were speaking about the dreaming. So what is actually the dream goal for you, David? What do you have in stake in the future? Like you have your book, you have the mentorship, you are successful with your digital journey. So what is actually the goal or the dream behind all of this? Yes, basically to spread the message that digitalization is human.
00:40:42
That I am able of spreading all this message and becoming the spokesperson of this theme, which I feel is very important. So speaking at key conferences that focus on this and also writing other books. At the moment, I'm also writing another book, which I'm co-authoring with another person. It was called Mark Kane. It will be named Digital-Led Sustainability, which will be focusing on the sustainability aspects of digitalization. How digital tools can help organizations to achieve sustainability goals in line with the directives. And not just the directives, but also the SDGs of the United Nations. And I would like to continue writing other stuff. So I'm looking at one, which is called Data Made Simple as well. And also focusing on large-scale initiatives coming up with several conference papers and mentoring several people around the world.
00:41:43
Digitalization and sustainability. I think that's going to be a very interesting topic. Because like last year, we went to the Google offices in London. I think a couple of podcasts ago, we were also talking about that with digitalization, you have your data centers, which consume so much energy. So like how to connect then actually also digitalization to sustainability journey, I think is going to be a very interesting discussion and topic to talk about. It already is, I think. Because also with the blockchain and with the technology producing so much energy on our planet and our resources being limited is quite... I have also a question regarding the tools, because you mentioned one book, which should be about digitalization of organizations and the tools. So what are the tools that you could see from different organizations that are ground-breaking?
00:42:57
For example, doing the digital transformation. At the moment, we're working on an interesting product, which is called... We're building a company, which is based on playbooks. What playbooks do essentially is automating most of the digitalization process for organizations. So the way we're building it as a company, the company is called Scenario, is by building in content. For example, you want to create a digitalization, so digital maturity transformation. So we have the tool inside it, people use the tool, it is automated, it is shared from a working group and everything is in a single place. And it is all about automating knowledge and creating knowledge through this process and facilitating the process of automating and making sure that there is a good success in the digital transformation process.
00:44:00
Because most digital transformations fail, but around 80% of digital projects fail. And what this tool does is it enables better communication from all the stakeholders by automating most of the processing needs and interactions against the various players. And this is going to increase significantly the probability of success of the projects. From a management point of view, what we are seeing is also from a skills management point of view. We're seeing AI applications which are coming on stream that are able of matching the skills of people you have in an organization to the task at hand. So it goes beyond a job description, but it is going into the nitty-gritty detail of people who can actually tap into their potential.
00:44:55
One area I feel that should take off and I think would be very interesting is the application of generative AI as a personalized coaching tool. For different people. I'm involved in another project which is an EdTech project which is helping students to basically plan their career path. And they would have a personalized Sherpa which is in their pocket with their mobile phone where they would be guiding them basically through their education and lifelong journey until they reach the age of the working age. So this is also another tool that we are developing in this process. Wow, it's quite some interesting tools. I think the first one, I can really see a lot of merit in it.
00:45:46
Especially the bigger the enterprise, sometimes the more difficult it is to keep everyone aligned to the same level of information and to keep everyone in the same direction which often indeed leads to the failure of digital initiatives or just transformation initiatives in general because at some point you start to diverge or you forget to keep someone informed and they go their own way and then things just bungle apart. So I think that one's really curious to explore further. And then the digital coach in my pocket. I think I could use one. Maybe also a digital coach in my pocket for how to manage my finance. That would be a really good one. There are certain things that cannot be automated. That's unfortunate. Some processes need humans.
00:46:47
Yeah, I have a question regarding like when we are speaking about digital transformation, also digital is made human, etc. What is the current struggle in the world in the emerging tech or what do you see as a pain point in the digital nowadays? I've made reference to people, but beyond people there's also data. We see a lot of issues associated with legacy systems. And when you implement new technologies, one of the key problems that I see is how do you transfer and how do you use data which is being stored in legacy systems to the new system? Especially if the data is not organized in a structured manner because you need to cleanse it, validate it, mine it. And there is a lot of...
00:47:40
And especially if you are implementing a technology that goes on top of the legacy systems because they will be operating at different levels. So for example, the banking industry has nightmares in implementing AI, specifically because one regulation is very tough, but also the data structure is not easy to change. In fact, today there is a lot of emphasis on building data lakes. We see a lot of companies doing that precisely to be in a position to be able to implement new and improved technologies. But here it's also sometimes challenging because we are busy with building a data lake, but then like every other year, like the structure of that data lake needs to change because there's also their new plugins defined, like all of a sudden you move from data bricks to data factory to then Spark.
00:48:34
I don't know what's all out there, but the amount of plugins that help you manage your data gets better, but that also means that you need to then change your data lake structure towards it. Exactly, exactly. And my last question for myself is, when you are looking at your journey of your career, what would be one advice that you would give to yourself for the beginning of your journey? Wow, okay, very interesting question. The advice I would say sometimes is, first of all, always embrace failure because failure makes you stronger. That is for sure. But secondly, don't be too proud of yourself and get help from others in order to succeed because you owe your success not just to yourself, but because you are working in a team with others.
00:49:32
That's a good one. Last question from my side then, like what would be your advice to people facing challenging technologies to help them keep things simple? Break down the problems. So if there is a challenging technology that you don't use, first of all, seek help from someone else who knows how to use it. And if possible, experiment with it, even in a safe environment. So if there's a beta test or an offline system, try to play around with it initially. Don't be afraid of making mistakes. For me, that's the best way of learning things, just being hands-on and trying them out, making mistakes and trying again until you get it right. I love how it ties into your previous answer as well. Yes, really, really, really nice. Thank you so much, David.
00:50:28
Is there something that you would like to mention, but we didn't ask the right question or anything that you would like to add to our interview? That we didn't ask the right question or that you would like to highlight for our audience? Not at all. Thank you very much for your time. It was really great to speak with you. It was a very interesting discussion and I hope that you found this useful from your end. Yes, definitely. Thank you so much. And thank you to all of our audience for being with us, either if you are watching this live or if you are watching the recording on our social media platforms. And don't forget to subscribe to us on YouTube. But we are also very active on LinkedIn, Facebook and also Instagram. So we are really excited to connect with you there and also definitely follow also David. And we will be looking forward to meet you on social media and also during our next podcast. So thank you so much, David, and have a nice rest of the day all. Thank you very much. Thank you.
