The role of technologists has radically changed. From suppliers to enablers, From pull to push, technology is where many (but not all) futures start. Originally presented at the Accenture Paris Innovation Lab on July 17, 2017. Slides with notes.

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Old world:
Business makes requests to IT
New world:
IT builds a platform for business
IT teams have a new role:
from supplier to enabler.

2. The new role of technologists in
21st century organizations
Laurent Haug
17 July 2017
Originally presented at the Accenture Paris Innovation Lab

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The “digital transformation” is an occasion
to review how you work. Don’t transpose
your dysfunctions to the digital world.

4. The role of technologists
Build platforms
IT team role: provide a platform
for the organization to build on.

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Ben Thompson
“From the outside it may seem that Amazon is
buying a retailer. The truth, though, is that
Amazon is buying a customer”
Amazon bought Whole Foods to
add a customer to its platform.

6. hello@laurenthaug.com © 2017Source: stratechery.com

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The tech giants are competing
to make their platforms better.

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Countries are engaged in a similar
competition. This is what Estonia is
doing: “government as a platform”.

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Focus on creating secure, cost-efficient,
compliant and agile platforms for
internal and external clients to build
services on.
Build platforms
Build a platform = provide an internal
“Amazon Web Services to your organization

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Most new business capabilities are now
born from technology. Identify, test and
deploy those building blocks to improve
your platform
Build platforms
Your responsibility: find
what “bricks” are needed.

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Is remote work something
you should investigate?

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What about distributed work like SamaSource
(a sort of not for profit Mechanical Turk)

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Does your HR department know how
programmers are recruited in 2017?

14. The role of technologists
Anticipate
IT team role: anticipate the changes
that will impact the organization.

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François Briod, Founder and CEO, Monito.com
“Today our CTO spends only 15% of his time
making sure our infrastructure is running.”
The role of CTOs is changing. This
from a startup (team avg age: 25y old)

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What will be automated? When?
What should be automated, non automated, hybridized?
Who will automate? Should you automate yourself or outsource?
Where is your data? Who has access to them? What value does it have?
What will the blockchain change?
Is the blockchain a blindside hit or something to follow smartly?
Will technology enable new competitors?
What technology will change your internal processes?
What impact will technologies have?
Fundamental questions only
technology-savvy people can answer

17. hello@laurenthaug.com © 2017Source: Wired
What risks are coming
with digitization?

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What risks are coming
with regulation?

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153
Tencent WeChat = Helping Government Get Online...
Offering Government Services to its 549MM Users*
Source: Tencent.
*Monthly active users as of 1Q15.
Shanghai Government
Services Provided via
WeChat
Hospital
Appointment
Pay Natural
Gas Fee
Obtain Taiwan
Travel Docs
Smog Test
Appointment
Property Tax
Lookup
Pay Electricity /
Water Bill
Passport
Applications
Driving Violations
Look Up
Weather / Library
Search
Fapiao (Receipt)
Management
Hillhouse Capital
Where are users now?

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Anticipate changes in the landscape as
early as possible. A change you anticipate
is an opportunity, a change you don’t a
threat.
Anticipate
Anticipating is the
job of IT teams.

21. The role of technologists
Demystify
IT team role: explain what technology
really brings to the organization.

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22
Segway hype:
“Will replace walking”
“No need to walk ever again”
“Reinventing urban transportation”
“Reinventing the wheel”
Very hard to separate noise from
signal in the hyped tech world.

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Another example of hype.

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And another

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Punchlines abound.

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Smart robots will take over 33%
of jobs by 2025, Gartner says.
Source: PBS
Machines are likely to take over 47%
of today’s jobs within a few decades.
Source: University of Oxford
Panic inducing
headlines too.

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More panic.

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Media Company CEO to yours truly (June 2017)
“We absolutely need to do something with
blockchain, otherwise we don’t innovate.”
The hype triggers a frenzy, but
C-suite don’t really understand.

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David Brooks, NY Times (2013)
What data can’t do
Data struggles with the social.
Data struggles with context.
Big data has trouble with big problems.
Data favors memes over masterpieces.
Separate signal from noise: explain what
data can do, but also what it can’t.

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Pierre Arnal, CEO Actuaris
“We are re-adding intuition into our models.”
It’s not data vs intuition,
it’s data AND intuition.

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Lien
AI is full of promises, but
it is going to take a while

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Occupations
disappear all the time.

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Technology destroys occupations,
not jobs.
Mass unemployment
is not coming.

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Technology has created more jobs than it has
destroyed, says 140 years of data
Source: The Guardian
I’m not saying that.
Data is saying that.

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Nadezhda Mandelstam (1899 – 1980)
Many tech phenomenas can be explained using real life
examples. Did you know Mandelstam’s wife would
“backup” his writings by visiting friends and asking them to
learn his poems by heart? Kind of a blockchain circa 1920.

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Help your stakeholders see through the
hype. Create a safe environment where
they can say they don’t know
Demystify
If you don’t you will focus your
resources on the wrong initiatives.

37. The role of technologists
Say no
IT team role: remind people that
technology isn’t the only way to innovate.

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Ask people to share innovation ideas, and 95% of the time
they will start with “so my idea is an app that…” Most of the
time what they propose can be done better without an app.

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There is often a non technological solution.

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Technology is a tool, not a religion. It is
not the solution to everything. Manage
expectations to surpass them more easily.
Say no

41. In conclusion

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The role of technologists has radically
changed. From suppliers to enablers,
From pull to push, technology is
where many (but not all) futures start.

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What will technologies really change?
What is the role of technology?
What is the role of technologists?
What should our platform do?
Who and where are your stakeholders?
Questions technologists must answer

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Old world:
CFOs → CEOs
New world:
CTO → CEOs
In the past CEOs used to come from
financial backgrounds. In the future,
CEOs will come from IT backgrounds.

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