OPEX Week: Digital Transformation Summit 2023 Recap

Intro

For the second year in a row, ValueBlue returned to OPEX Week: Digital Transformation Summit (2023) as a Gold sponsor. This is an exciting event for me personally as I get to enjoy some rays at the Hyatt Regency in Miami, Florida, but also professionally as I got to hear many companies’ stories of how they operationalize transformation initiatives. Like last year, I had many great conversations, and my brain is brimming with insights to share. Now that I’ve had some time to reflect (and sort through my many thoughts), I’m eager to share those takeaways with you.

Summary

One reason this event is always a huge success is as companies evolve and undergo digital transformations, engage in new digital business models, and develop new (or revisiting current) technology strategies, leaders are always interested in sharing experiences and learning new methods of delivering business value. This year, there were four main tracks to follow, with fantastic speakers and sponsors ready to share their insights and learnings with all 600 attendees.

The four main tracks were:

• Process Excellence
• Process Automation
• Business Transformation
• Total Experience Transformation

The inspirational tracks featured presentations that addressed changing organizational structures and processes and innovative ideas. Additionally, there was an awards ceremony at the end of the week.

Keynote: Adapt, Persevere, Overcome with Olympian Gail Devers

Regardless of which track appealed to you the most, everyone started off the week listening to the keynote speaker. This year’s speaker was decorated Olympic medalist Gail Devers.

Devers shared an inspiring story about how she overcame many challenges to ultimately become an Olympic Champion. She was at the peak of her running career when her health started to fail. She had just made it to the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, but at her hurdling and sprinting events, her body would not perform. Soon after, she was diagnosed with Graves' Disease, an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks the thyroid gland.

Devers began taking radioactive iodine treatment, which destroys the portion of the thyroid that produces hormones. By 1991 she found herself training again to qualify for the Barcelona Olympics of 1992, where she won gold in the 100-meter dash — a victory she would repeat at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

We might not all be sprinters competing for medals at the Olympics. Still, her perseverance through difficulty is relatable to anyone managing that project which is about to go over time or budget (or both!). Identifying the problem, finding a solution, and coming out of the process with a better product than when you started.

Key Session Takeaways

After the keynote, everyone was free to attend whichever sessions caught their eye. While many of the sessions were intriguing, here are some of our key takeaways: 

• Balancing the needs of many stakeholders while transforming your organization (inspired by Martijn Gribnau at Volksbank)
• How we need to start thinking about the data we gather from both within and outside our organizations to fuel machine learning (a great session on agility with Sateesh Seetharamiah of EdgeVerve Systems)
• Keeping a customer-centric approach to your transformation portfolio in mind (inspired by Jaime Lopez at City National Bank and Chet Harter of SAP Signavio)
• Plus, of course, ValueBlue customer INPO's great session on effective tool selection 

Here’s a high-level look at our session and what attendees found most valuable from the presentation by INPO.

INPO & ValueBlue: Finding the Right Tool to Embark on Your Digital Transformation Journey

I couldn’t conclude my blog post without mentioning our session. Special thanks to INPO’s Chameka Amerson and Andrea Cannegieter for walking us through their tool selection journey.

In it, they shared strategies that leaders can incorporate into their business and deliver business value quickly. Touching on:

• The evaluation process — what are the key areas you need to consider when sourcing a new digital transformation tool?
• How can you make a business case for management that ties to organizational goals?
• Which problems are solved when using and successfully adopting a digital transformation tool?

Our session led attendees through the outline and strategy of change within INPO’s organization. Their insights, and the demo of the tool, were designed to move leaders into a more compassionate group that understands a more diverse environment and that offers significant potential for keeping a business healthy and strong.

I was very pleased with the warm reception from the crowd and am grateful to all those who stopped by our booth after the presentation to speak with me.

Discussions at the Booth

As we mentioned above, we had a lot of great discussions surrounding business transformation being at the top of every organization’s list of initiatives. As these initiatives are ever-evolving, it is at the top of mind for many stakeholders. Over coffee and cappuccino at our booth, we engaged in discussions that offered vital insights into collaborative initiatives, leaders’ challenges, and use cases that deliver business value.

The most common questions we heard revolved around How do we undergo an impactful transformation, increase agility, and revenues, reduce risks, optimize costs, and develop new business models?

Our ValueBlue team felt this conference prioritized sharing new best practices for leaders and providing some tools for them to move in a more contemporary direction.

Closing 

Overall, OPEX was a great week for learning and discussion. We are looking forward to attending again next year. If the INPO session sounds interesting to you, we have another customer speaking about their search for transformation tooling during our webinar on-demand— Finding the Right Digital Transformation Tool: How Hoag Modernizes their Application Landscape. Learn more here!