Automation Realized 2020

Automation Coming Together to create long term value

Our first conference covering automation topics back in October 2016 was aiming to address a question which is still relevant to this day: “Will robots help us do less? Or become more?”. This was in the early days of Robotic Process Automation when it hadn’t yet taken off as a global phenomenon in digital transformation. However, we acknowledged its potential and brought on the stage some of the professionals that could share their insights with the interested audience. And so we planted a seed for the years to come and every event became an opportunity to get inspiration at any point along the automation journey.

Fast-forward 4 years later to present time, and we witness an automation landscape that is significantly broader than one technology - it is an ecosystem that advances fit-for-purposes solutions, integrating multiple technologies and/or multiple vendors with the ultimate purpose of improving our lives: Automation Coming Together to create long-term value. So, to answer the question we raised in 2016, we would say that robots (of all forms) help us in achieving progress in our society – by doing less of the tasks that do not maximize our human potential, we make more space for creativity and human interactions that spark innovation. This year’s conference brings forward the long-term value attribute of digital transformation as we imagine a future characterized by human at center, technology at speed and innovation at scale, in the right proportions that would maximize the combined human and machine potential.

To drive our society forward with this vision, all stakeholders need to be engaged in developing the adequate technical, business and regulatory frameworks that support the development and implementation of automation technologies, while guiding the individuals in this transition to a digitally advanced environment. Policymakers, software companies, large and small organizations, and citizens have a shared responsibility to build resilience into the fabric of our society and drive long-term value.

With this mission in mind, we have transformed the 5^th edition of our automation conference into Automation Realized, as it reflects our ongoing commitment to create a platform for sharing the latest thinking, insights, trends and lessons learned in the automation space.

Agenda

7 October
8 October

Time zone: GMT+3

14:00 - 14:20 | Automation ongoing relevance as a driver of future value for business and society

Aurelia Costache | Consulting Leader | EY Romania & Intelligent Automation Leader | EY CESA

References to automation might immediately make an association with business objectives and methods for efficiency gains, nevertheless the implications are far broader than that. This is a phenomenon rather than a passing trend because it brings fundamental transformation in our society by rethinking how we, as individuals, change our habits to embed technology in all aspects of our lives. So, that means an adaptation is needed across the board in public policies and business environment to ensure that the society sets the strong foundation for human-centered and technology-enabled future.
14:20 - 14:45 | Automation considerations on governments’ agendas

Beatriz Sanz Sáiz | Partner | EY Spain & Consulting Data and Analytics Leader | EY Global

Mary Hallward-Driemeier | Senior Economic Adviser, Finance, Competitiveness & Innovation | The World Bank

We look at regional and national policy makers to have an active role in setting the "tone at the top" in the development of frameworks that support the sustainable digitization of our communities. Why and how are national AI strategies developed? How can the public and private sector work together to drive technology-enabled progress? What are the ethical considerations around the human and machine interactions? These are just some of the questions we will explore in this interview to get a macro perspective on how automation is strategized at government level.
14:50 - 15:20 | Market insights, trends and outlook for automation

Neil Ward-Dutton | VP AI & Intelligent Automation European Practices | IDC

Understanding the automation market is critical in making informed decisions about the future development of tech solutions. Market research captures a great deal of insights from a broad enough sample of implementations to be able to draw conclusions on results and make projections about the short- and medium-term developments. What are some of the latest observations from IDC's Neil Ward-Dutton in the Intelligent Automation space?
15:20 - 15:40 | Networking & Live DEMOs
15:40 - 16:45 | Market leaders’ vision on scaling-up automation to drive long term transformation

Boris Krumrey | Global VP Automation Solutions | UiPath

Peter Walker | EMEA CTO | Blue Prism

Paul Donaldson | Vice President Client Services | Automation Anywhere

Deriving long-term value from automation implies a commitment to look at all the possible ways it can improve the experience of all stakeholders - employees, customers, suppliers, authorities - and develop relevant solutions. When it becomes a mindset, rather than a temporary band-aid, automation is scaled-up to create long-term value. The leading software automation vendors will share some use cases from clients that scale-up and the way it transformed their environment.
16:45 - 17:05 | Networking & Live DEMOs
17:05 - 17:50 | Panel discussions

Dialogue Space [A]: How does automation scaling-up in Customer Operations add value to the business?

Moderator: Enrique Manso | Executive Director | EY Spain

Panelist: Ioan Sandru | Digital & IT Director for Customer Solutions | E.ON Romania

Panelist: Martin Stevenson | Head of Telecommunications Industry | BluePrism

In this Panel, our guests will share their insights on elevating the customer experience by means of automation technologies. The transformation in the way businesses interact with customers is one that requires education and buy-in from both sides - employees and customers - to ensure a large-scale adoption of the new ways of delivering and receiving customer service. We explore the Telefonica story of their Call Center transformation and also get some ideas from E.on's implementation of Digital Customer Solutions.

Dialogue Space [B]: How do you engage the workforce in scaling-up automation?

Moderator: Horatiu Cocheci | Director People Advisory Services | EY Romania

Panelist: Simona Popovici | HR Executive Director | Group Renault Romania

Panelist: Andrei Cretu | Co-founder | Pluria, 7Card, V7 Capital

Panelist: Gabriel Mocan | Head of Digital Technology and Innovation | Banca Transilvania

One of the most quoted challenges in advancing automation programs - or any transformational program - is change management. The engagement of the workforce is critical in scaling-up automation to be able to generate ideas on potential use cases, but also to implement them and maintain them. In this session, we invite you to engage with speakers that come from different backgrounds - IT, HR, and start-up - to explore the impact of factors such as organizational maturity or area of work in the speed of technology adoption. What do they see from their respective roles and what are some potential areas for leveraging learnings from one to another?

Time zone: GMT+3

14:00 - 15:20 | The automation ingredient in enterprise platforms

Arvind Rajpurohit | Sr. Solution Strategist and Enterprise Architect | IBM

Jens Hansen | General Manager EMEA - Data & AI | Microsoft

Diana Galbinasu | Platform Innovation Executive | SAP CEE

Large tech players with a strong foothold in enterprise solutions are looking at automation solutions as a must-have component in their platforms. This allows customers to have a one-stop-shop for their technology needs, but also provides for flexibility to find the right solution for the well-defined problem. In this session, we are aiming to get an understanding of what to expect from automation capabilities integrated within enterprise platforms.
15:20 - 15:40 | Coffee & virtual networking break
15:40 - 16:25 | Panel discussions

Dialogue Space [C]: How is Cloud accelerating the pace of automation?

Moderator: Stuart Fenwick | Partner | EY Switzerland

Panelist: Michael Azzopardi | Senior Manager | EY Malta

Panelist: Cosmin Ioan Panaete | Business Processes Director | Regina Maria

Panelist: Daniel Rusen | Marketing and Operations Director | Microsoft Romania

The COVID-19 crisis has been a time to see the Business Continuity Plans in action and a major game changer for those organizations that adopted Cloud and were able to quickly adapt their operations to the new operating model. We are inviting you to join our guests that can share from their experience in setting-up and running Cloud operations and how automation is facilitated in this environment.

Dialogue Space [D]: How is the automation pipeline continuously enhanced with new ideas?

Moderator: Selma Turki | Executive Director Cognitive Solutions | EY Belgium

Panelist: Wojciech Zajaczkowski | Associate Partner | EY Poland

Panelist: Caroline Grey | VP Strategic Partnerships EMEA | UiPath

Panelist: Dan Bujoreanu | Digital Operations Transformation Leader | P&G

Methodologies, tools and technologies enabling process improvement have been around for decades. Business Process Reengineering (BPR), Lean Six Sigma, or Business Process Mapping (BPM) are just a few terms to illustrate that process improvement is not one project, but a journey that unfolds as we explore the possibilities. A pipeline for automation might include any ideas that leverage various technologies (eg. OCR, ML, chatbots) in achieving a superior process from an end-to-end experience view. And since change is the only constant in life, we can always count on new ideas to further improve.
16:25 - 16:45 | Humans only challenge: Put your automation general knowledge to the test

This is no fancy "Who wants to be a millionaire" game, but maybe you aspire to be an automation trivia guru. So, roll up your sleeves and start clicking on the right answers!
16:45 - 17:30 | Automation art of the possible: food for thought to inspire brave ideas

Marco Neves | CEO | InteractIdeas

Razvan Ion | Founder | Spinnwerk Vienna

Alin Iftemi | Co-founder | Modex

Our ability to imagine things that do not yet exist and then plan for transforming them to reality, is the hallmark of human evolution. We evolved to respond to the circumstances that governed our environment and that in turn has led to a change in the environment and an ongoing cycle of adaptation. The way we innovate is by no means a smooth process and many times it starts with "It cannot be done". But those who believe that we have it in us to change for the better, remove the "not" and advocate and work for a better tomorrow. Let some of them inspire you in this talk about Technology, Art & Education and maybe bring some new angles to how we look at automation technologies.
17:30– 17:45 | Future back: ACT now to create long term value

Aurelia Costache | Consulting Leader | EY Romania & Intelligent Automation Leader | EY CESA

What can we start doing today that will set us on the right path to reaching the future we envision?