Please tell us the evolution of DES these past years, to reach the point where it is now

From the beginning, DES has counted with a lot of support from leading companies. Initially, it was made of ICT companies, but while gaining recognition on the market as the reference on DT, more and more organizations from all kind of industries are joining our impressive Partners line up. The reason behind this is not only being the reference in Europe, but being the place to find the best partners to succeed in their transformation journey.

During the first edition, DES2016 focused on helping visitors to be aware of the need to implement digital transformation with a holistic vision within the company. The goal in 2016 was to make it clear to the attendees that it was necessary to establish a global strategy impacting all business areas, from IT infrastructure to business management and even company’s own culture.

A year later, DES2017 under the concept ‘Digital Maturity Journey’ elaborated a digital maturity map to ease doing a self-diagnostic to understand in which stage of the digital transformation the company was in and to define next steps for our attendees’ organizations. The objective was to provide solutions that allow companies to integrate their traditional business model into the new digital economy following a roadmap.

DES2018 edition under ‘Facing the Digital Avalanche’ claim, highlighted the awareness of the national and international business. We focused on the urgent need to undertake digital transformation and to change national economic and production models through technology. Finally, this year we decided to name our storytelling ‘Digital DNA for Augmented Organizations’. We make a strong call to action to address the process of digital transformation now. There is no time for excuses, but to assume that digital transformation is a continuum and that we must be masters of its five key points to be future-proof.

DES 2019 is all about the need of companies to integrate Digital Transformation into their DNA

Please explain this year’s main motto “Digital DNA for Augmented Organizations”

During the fourth edition of DES-Digital Enterprise Show we want to focus on the main challenge that compa­nies immersed in a transformation process are facing: the need to integrate new technologies into their DNA and the cultural change this entails. Innovation, together with technology, will be the engines for development. Thus, it is fundamental to integrate the culture of innovation into a companies’ identity and business philosophy in order to continue growing.

Until now, many of them have started the digital transformation in a hazardous way, without a clear roadmap that involves the whole organization. Now is the time for this process to have a comprehensive application that involves not only IT departments, but all the organization. 

Transformation is a continuous process that must address the 5 key dimensions of the Digital Star Cycle: digital leadership, special attention to customer and employee experience, operations optimization, and added value through technology and innovation, when defining a winning strategy that allows us to generate new revenue streams based on new business models, new digital value chains and new digital economies.

What kind of person/profile usually attends DES?

The event is been designed to help all managers and professionals who want to be up to date and know the most inspiring use cases and everything related to the transformation of organizations. Therefore, our visitors are CEOs, CIOs, CDOs, CMOs, CFOs, and leaders of Human Resources departments. For each of these profiles, we have developed specific content agendas to show them key concepts to be leaders in the digital age. Surviving is not enough any longer, it is only a way to postpone your company’s death.

71% of the attendees are C-Level decision-makers, 16% are middle managers, 14% directors, 11% technicians, 5% presidents of large companies and, finally, 2% are academics or analysts. On the other hand, if we focus on last year’s visitors, 82% of the visitors came from Europe, mainly from Portugal, the United Kingdom, Germany and France, followed by America (11%), Asia (5%) and 2% from the rest of the world.

The biggest differences of the digital revolution over the previous ones, is the irruption of disruptive technologies and the speed of change

Which industries (if any) are most represented at DES?

DES-Digital Enterprise Show is a holistic event where all industries are represented. Thus in the last edition our visitors and exhibitors where divided in the following industries: Telecom (12%); Retail (10%); Banking & Insurance and Consumer Goods (9%); Cities & Public Sector and Pharma & Health (8%), Media & Entertainment and Consultancy (7%); Manufacturing (6%); Energy & Utilities (5%) and others (11%).

In addition, within the contents of our Digital Business World Congress, we also have a special focus on how technology and innovation are driving industrial transformation. We organize 9 industry forums focusing on analysing the challenges of digitization faced by companies from Banking, Energy and Health to Industry 4.0, Retail or Tourism, and from Telecommunications, Media and Entertainment to Smart Cities and Urban Mobility. Each of them combines the knowledge of international experts and success stories of companies that have stood out all over the world for implementing an innovative business model, or for successfully carrying out the digital transformation process.

What kind of opportunities open to the people that attend DES?

DES2019 has become an international meeting point, where attendees can find the latest news and the most innovative solutions from leading IT companies, as well as enabling technologies to develop new business models, improve the experience of their customers and employees or increase operations productivity.

In addition, as a content-driven show, DES runs on 10 stages simultaneously where more than 450 international experts share trends and use cases on Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Blockchain, IoT, Robotics applied to different industries such as Banking, Energy, Health, Industry 4.0, Retail, Tourism or Urban Mobility, among others. 

Our main objective is to ease the transformation of organizations and the identification of the best partners and talent to make it successfully. That is why we also include experiences and spaces for networking within the event program.

How many people and companies do you expect this year?

Focusing on figures, we can stress that interest in business digital transformation has grown gradually since the first edition, in 2016. In these years we have gone from 18,000 attendees to expect to exceed 23,000 this year.

In this fourth edition we will have leading IT companies like IBM, Altran, Deloitte Digital, EY, T-Systems, Globant, KPMG, Santander, Telefónica, Nutanix, Ferrovial, Seidor or Improove; which will be presenting the latest and most innovative solutions for visitors to find the way to digitalization, also counting on the experience and knowledge of leading companies.

In addition, we again have the support of institutions such as Madrid City Council, the regional government of the Community of Madrid, several Ministries of the Spanish Government, Business Europe, CDTI, the European Commission, Enterprise Europe Network, the European Investment Bank, ICEX or Watify. All of them consider DES the event where to promote digital transformation business and to facilitate cross-border opportunities.

The use of Big Data, Blockchain, IoT, Virtual Reality or Cloud is already a reality in many companies

Today, are people still talking more about Digital Transformation than actually transforming their companies?

It was like this some years ago, nowadays organization assume that they need to revamp their strategy to continue being a leader or to become one.

Initially it was a concept without real implementations, now their customers and their competitors have made companies aware of its value, allocate resources to it and look for the best partners to carry it out efficiently. So there has been a definitive evolution on that side, as companies and, especially, their management, see the advantages that Digital Transformation brings with it. There is, obviously, still some resistance in certain executive profiles (especially the more traditional ones), but this is being less and less each day.

What is the real value of DT? Transforming people or processes?

Since the beginning of time transformation has been a constant. The biggest difference of the digital revolution over the previous ones that came before, is the irruption of disruptive technologies and, above all, the speed of change.

The real value of digital transformation is to satisfy customers (internal and external), who ask for much more than cheap products, demand unparalleled experiences and companies that no longer only think about making money in the short term. In other words, people must be put at the centre of the transformation and the rest will follow.

In my opinion, it is no longer time for awareness, but time for action. We must speed up.

The public sector is increasingly aware of the need to address the Digital Transformation paradigm

What is the current adoption of these new models & technologies in the corporate landscape?

The use of technologies such as Big Data, Blockchain, IoT, Virtual Reality or Cloud is already a reality in many companies, but much remains to be done. The development of new technologies, and new applications that we have been talking about for decades, is getting bigger and faster. Adapting and knowing all technological innovations, and how to implement them in a company is becoming more and more complex. Now more than ever, companies must seek advice and help so that the digital transformation of their businesses gets real and efficient in a reasonable amount of time. Because if corporations need too much time to apply the Digital Transformation, by the time they have finished, technology will have changed again.

How is the Public Sector doing? Are they applying DT? To which degree? How will this affect everyday life?

The public sector is increasingly aware of the need to address this transformation, and although the beginnings were slow, we can assure you that in recent years they have accelerated the process of getting closer to the needs of citizens and improving services. Some countries such as Sweden, Denmark or Finland are leading the digital transformation of the public sector.

In Spain, public administrations have also taken a big step forward in this area, also driven by new legislation promoting the implementation of e-government, for example. However, as the latest study carried out by EY under the title “Digital Administration in Spain” points out, it is still necessary for public administrations to tackle a comprehensive strategic plan for digital transformation.

If we focus on how this modernization and transformation is affecting the daily lives of citizens, we can see some examples in the use of shared vehicles available in Spain’s cities such as Madrid or Barcelona; unification of personal data and medical reports through national platforms; creation of electronic administrations or the creation of a Secretary of State for Digital Advancement, within the Ministry of Economy.