By Loren K. Baynes, Director, Global Marketing Communications, The Open Group
The Open Group Amsterdam 2017 – Architecting the Digital Enterprise – was another tremendously successful event! The venue was the stunning Koepelkerk, a 17th century domed church in the heart of Amsterdam. Nearly 400 attendees came from 33 countries, including Australia, Peru and Singapore, where The Open Group will host an event October 29 – November 1, 2018.
Each day consisted of stellar speakers, significant content, and very productive meetings.
Monday, October 23 began with a warm welcome by Steve Nunn, The Open Group President and CEO. There was also a moment to commemorate dear colleagues from The Open Group and AEA who have recently passed away. John Spencer and Len Fehskens received a standing ovation for their decades of contributions throughout the globe.
The first keynote speaker, Aaldert Hofman, Lead Enterprise Architect, Schiphol Group, shared the vision, planning, results and lessons learned in the Schiphol Airport’s digital transformation – from strategy to value streams.
Next up was Shekar Kulkarni, Chief Digital Architect, Huawei Technologies Co. with his presentation All Together Now: A Holistic Approach to Navigating Digital Transformation. Shekar discussed Open ROADS, which encompasses real-time, on-demand, all online, do-it-yourself, and social. He stated future-ready firms deliver better margins.
The morning continued with Klaus Niemann, CEO, act! Consulting GmbH who presented Enterprise Architecture Digital Readiness Framework and Study Results. His philosophy – ‘life punishes those who delay’. The key is it’s better to communicate a solution aligned with heuristics, which help to define a standard.
The plenary concluded with Andrea Kis, Consultancy Manager, North Europe-UK, ISG. She spoke of the New Service Management Approach for the Digital Age. Andrea said that organizations should ‘focus on outcomes and goals, not problems’ and that ‘21st century organizations will not progress with a 20th century mindset’. She shared how the service management approach is value-driven, evolving, responsive, and integrated. The liaison with The Open Group IT4IT™ operating model and VeriSM™ will help to advance digital management. Rob Akershoek, IT4IT Architect, Logicalis (now Fruition Partners) / Shell Information Technology International B.V. and Suzanne Galletly, Chief Examiner, IFDC joined Andrea for a Q&A panel session moderated by Steve Nunn.
Panel with Suzanne Galletly, Rob Akershoek, Andrea Kis
During the lunch break, Eric van Busschbach with Micro Focus presented The Journey to Value: Think BIG, Start Small, Accelerate Outcomes.
Afternoon track topics included EA & Business Transformation, and The Open Group Open Platform 3.0™ – many compelling presentations and case studies. One of the highlights was TOGAF®, IT4IT™ and ArchiMate® – The ‘Holy Trinity’ of the Enterprise and IT Operating Model Transformation by Sukumar Daniel, Principal Consultant, Action Research Foundation. (TOGAF and ArchiMate are both standards of The Open Group.)
After a very full day, attendees enjoyed the networking reception at the Koepelkerk balcony.
On Tuesday, October 24, the digital transformation theme continued. The morning began with an interesting conversation with Steve Nunn and Sonia Gonzalez, The Open Group Forum Director, Architecture and ArchiMate® Forums. Sonia shared how the ArchiMate model can be applied to everyday life activities, including ordering a cup of coffee!
The first keynote speakers of the morning were Lourens Riemens, Enterprise Architect, and Wim Scholtes, Program Manager, both with Netherlands Tax & Customs Administration. Their presentation was titled A Practical Approach to Connect Business, Applications and Technology with the ArchiMate Standard. It was an excellent case study on how the ArchiMate model helped their organization learn to: iterate in small steps; visualize and publish; push and pull; manage and architect.
Destination Digital was presented by Michael Fitzgerald, VP and Global Leader, Digital Strategy and Transformation, DXC Technology Consulting. His view is that ‘it’s not science fiction’ and he used personal case studies such as a ‘Working Mom’. He also said organizations should ‘stop focusing on resources and start focusing on platforms and their effects’.
Rose Schooler, VP, GM, Global Internet of Things Sales, Intel Corporation, shared her thoughts on Industry Transformation: How Telecom Transitioned to an Open Architecture. A key takeaway – ‘It’s no longer business as usual!’ According to Rose, the three phases of transforming the network are workload consolidation, virtualized applications, and software defined. There was also a special guest appearance by Don Bartusiak, Chief Engineer, ExxonMobil Research & Engineering, and Co-Chair of The Open Group Open Process Automation™ Forum.
Steve Nunn, Rose Schooler, Don Bartusiak
The final plenary speaker, Dave Lounsbury, CTO and VP, Services, The Open Group, presented on The Architecture of Abundance. Included in the presentation was how using the IT4IT standard makes DevOps work in practice.
Saad Mughal, New Business Region Manager, Orbus Software, was featured during The Lunchtime Partner presentation: GDPR: An Architectural Standpoint – Managing Compliance and Integrating Your Approach Within Your EA.
Topics included in the afternoon tracks were TOGAF® 9 case studies, Architecture Methods and Techniques, and industry content relevant to the Open Process Automation Forum. The Open Process Automation track featured presentations by Don Clark, Schneider Electric, and Juan Aparicio and Rainer Falk with Siemens Corporate Technology.
What a way to culminate the evening – a private experience and reception at the Amsterdam National Maritime Museum, near the city old harbor, where the building dates from 1656!
Wednesday, October 25 featured two inaugural track sessions – IT Management Professionals Day and the ArchiMate® User Group meeting. Presenters for the IT Management Professionals Day were representatives from a wide range of organizations including Valueflow, State Bank of India, and Oracle. The ArchiMate session was free to attend and brought together ArchiMate® stakeholders and users to share information, best practices, and learn from each other. There was also an ‘Ask the Expert’ panel with representatives from The Open Group, BiZZdesign, and Arismore (part of Accenture).
The Open Group also hosted a ‘by invitation only’ Government/EU roundtable to cover aspects of initiating, growing, operating, and sustaining Enterprise Architecture initiatives in the government and public sector, with presentations by the State Bank of India and the Dutch Tax Authority.
The Open Group Member Meetings were held on Thursday, October 26. These are sessions where Members from all over the globe are together face-to-face, and continue their many Forum activities, such as developing standards, certifications, white papers, business guides and much more!
A very special thank you to our sponsors and exhibitors: Good e-Learning, Fruition Partners (formerly Logicalis SMC), Micro Focus, Orbus Software, Association of Enterprise Architects (AEA), BiZZdesign, EXIN, ModelioSoft, Van Haren Publishing.
Check out photos and tweets by attendees and @theopengroup on Twitter – #ogAMS
Hope to see you and your colleagues at our next event in San Diego, California, January 29 – February 1, 2018 #ogSAN
For a listing of 2018 events, please see here.
Be sure to also follow The Open Group on LinkedIn.
Loren K. Baynes, Director, Global Marketing Communications, joined The Open Group in 2013 and spearheads corporate marketing initiatives, primarily the website, blog, media relations and social media. Loren has over 20 years experience in brand marketing and public relations and, prior to The Open Group, was with The Walt Disney Company for over 10 years. Loren holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Texas A&M University. She is based in the US.
One comment
Comments are closed.