On October 3rd, I gave one of the keynote talks at the “Business is Talking” conference in Warsaw, organized by Netia, Poland’s largest alternative fixed-line telecommunications operator.
We are entering a very interesting time for businesses across the world. Things are changing – Industries continue to see disruption. The technologies that have been introduced over the last decade have changed the way we do business and the ubiquity of mobility, emerging devices and concepts like natural language processing, big data and machine learning are posed to have radical impact on our society and culture. Desktop computers have moved from novelty to utility, and are being displaced by new types of devices. Smartphones are everywhere and the coming years will see wearable computers become common among consumers.
These topics were on the minds of many of the participants and were the primary focus of the presentation that I gave, “Approaching the era of the invisible computer”.
It was a thrill sharing my ideas with the audience, having countless discussions on how businesses can position themselves in a world of disruption and being a part of a global Isobar collaboration that was so well received.
I was able to introduce Google Glass (in person) to the audience and demonstrate some of the interesting ways we are using the device internally and with clients. Right now, Glass explorers are limited to the United States, and people were very excited to finally see the hardware in person and watch it in action. I was able to demonstrate the work that we did with Motorola Solutions: a Google Glass application that provides extended situational data to first responders and law enforcement officers.
I also surprised the audience by showing off a prototype application that we have that is a connection between Google Glass and devices that are part of “The Internet of Things”. This application, called Isobar Glass House, allows for complete command, control and messaging between Google Glass and a smart home. From Poland, the crowd got a real kick out of me pulling up a live camera feed of my (gracious) wife who was feeding the kids breakfast in the morning while I used Google Glass to turn the lights on and off, change TV stations in my living room and perform other home automation tasks from afar.
In addition to my talk, Isobar put on a fantastic display of emerging technologies and innovation. Taking over a large space inside the conference, the Isobar Innovation Zone consisted of 8 different project showcases that leveraged creative technologies from 5 different Isobar offices in the US, Poland, Malaysia, Australia and Singapore. In addition to Isobar teams, the entire Aegis Media team in Poland pulled their resources to make this event a huge success.
It really shows how unique Aegis/Dentsu is as a network. True collaborations across regions and working across offices to bring innovation to the marketplace. This cross-network approach was also well demonstrated as representatives from our different businesses (Krzysztof Andrzejczak, Hypermedia Isobar Managing Director, and Krzysztof Mocek – Carat Poland Managing Director) participated with me on a panel to discuss ‘’The Future of Human: Brand: Interface’’. This panel was moderated by Radoslaw Brzuska, Aegis Media’s Chief Innovation Officer in Poland.
I had a great experience collaborating with our teams in Warsaw. The audience at BTR 2013 was very savvy and had high expectations for the conference content, and I feel that we really delivered.
Overall, it was a great event and I am honored to have been able to be such a part of it.
