As always, the latest World Economic Forum annual meeting was a hive of activity, bringing together world and business leaders to shine the spotlight on the biggest challenges facing our global economies today.
Kicking off Data Migration International’s event calendar for 2023, we headed to Davos where, together with digital switzerland, the DMI JiVS team hosted the Digital Lounge@WEF.
The intense program of speakers and panel discussions at WEF23 was centered around topics that will shape the world of tomorrow, with a clear focus on technology and digital innovation. One area that resonated in particular was the pivotal role that data plays in solving the world’s challenges. Topics from the many and varied sessions spilled over into conversations in the Digital Lounge, and we’ve summarized some of the main data-related themes for you here.
From left: Dieter Vranckx CEO – Swiss International Air Lines, Guy Parmelin Federal Councillor, Dr. Peter Richner, Deputy Director – EMPA, Stefan Metzger, Managing Director of digitalswitzerland
Data as a Key to Sustainability
One of the dominant themes at WEF23 was of course the climate crisis – something that no organization can shy away from. Presentations and subsequent discussions highlighted the importance of data in areas such as sustainability reporting for meeting ESG targets and reporting on the production of greenhouse gas emissions. Companies must be able to measure and understand their ecological footprint at every stage of the supply chain. For the purposeful evaluation of progress and impact, historical and operational are required, which means that companies need to have access to their historical information. Reducing the data footprint also plays a key part in sustainable operations, and in the Digital Lounge we discussed the importance of adopting a data management approach that both minimizes data storage and keeps operating systems lean.
Data Is King – but Only if It Can be Trusted
We all know that data holds the key to unlocking precious information that drives important decisions. WEF23 covered this topic with presentations including “From Mass Data to Mass Insights”. But making the right decisions relies on data and statistics being trustworthy, complete, and up to date. How can an organization make business-critical decisions based on data that is unreliable and inaccurate? Data health is therefore gaining traction and there is unarguably a case for cleansing and optimizing data, especially when it comes from different sources including ERP, IoT, and web applications. Making sure that data is of the best possible quality is essential for making informed decisions, and an increasing number of companies are now leveraging technologies such as data analytics to create trusted value from their digital ecosystem.
Keeping Data Secure in the Face of Increased Cyberattacks
With sessions at WEF23 dedicated to “protecting cyberspace” and “global cybersecurity”, this is an area that affects every organization in the world. Cyber threats and cybercrime are on the rise, and the World Economic Forum published its Global Security Outlook 2023 report during the annual meeting on January 18, highlighting that 86% of business leaders believe current global political instability is moderately or very likely to lead to a catastrophic cyber event in the next two years. There is a distinct sense of urgency to build and enhance cyber resilience – with companies and governments investing in data security measures and technologies to keep their data secure.
Stimulating Presentations and Conversations
Throughout the event, the DMI team listened to stimulating presentations, such as Tech for Good: Addressing Climate Change Through Digital Solutions with Palantir CEO Alex Karp at the Palantir Pavilion, Value Creation in the Metaverse at the Wipro Pavilion, and The CMO as a Great Connector at the Infosys Pavilion, as well as panel discussions organized by SAP’s Intelligent Enterprise Institute.
We also made the most of the opportunity to network with customers, partners, start-ups, and entrepreneurs at the exclusive, invitation-only Digital Lounge@WEF along with co-hosts digital switzerland.
We were delighted to meet with representatives from companies including Microsoft, Accenture, SAP, Swiss International Air Lines, Unicef, and more.
Tech for Good in Palantir Pavillion powered by digitalswitzerland: Alex Karp CO Founder and CEO Pantir, and Dario Cologna (Swiss athlete) on the photo
From left: Jason Rüesch, Stefan Schoepfel, Dario Cologna, Christian Boos, Roman Furger, Tom Pfister
A Raclette Party with Surprise Guests!
During the day, DMI’s Digital Lounge events are renowned for insightful discussions on technologies, innovations, and new ways of doing things in the digital era. But in the evening, our customers and partners associate the Digital Lounge with good food, good company, and good entertainment. Digital Lounge@WEF did not disappoint, and our guests enjoyed a fabulous raclette party. They were also joined by surprise guests:
Dario Cologna, who won the 2008-09 World Cup for cross-country skiing – the first Swiss ever to win this title, four gold medals at the Winter Olympics and one at the World Championships. He was joined by Jason Rüesch and Roman Furger, professional athletes from the Swiss Professional Ski team. Jason, Roman and Dario are also young entrepreneurs who co-founded Trainpub – project born out of their share passion for sport and desire to create something new in the sports market and pass on knowledge.
Dr. Walter Kistler, Head of Sports Medicine at Davos Hospital, who also provides professional support to the International Ice Hockey Federation and Swiss Ice Hockey Federation in Davos. He shared insights into the role of data in elite athletes’ training programs and the importance of historical data and data analytics in the 24/7 measurement and evaluation of activity to optimize training and – most importantly – prevent injuries.
WEF23 confirmed it – all roads lead to data! It sits at the very core of operations, analytics, reporting, and decision-making, and is key to sustainable operations as well as solving the biggest challenges in the world today. Making sure this data is trustworthy, accessible, and secure is therefore an absolute priority for businesses, organizations, and governments around the world. At DMI, we are proud to play our part with the Information Management Platform JiVS.
Author: Tom Pfister, Chief Marketing Officer