Coming up: Main Insight Event Benelux 2024
Read more about the Main Insight Event Benelux 2024 on May 16th in The Hague!
Read more about the Main Insight Event Benelux 2024 on May 16th in The Hague!
On April 9th 2024 the annual Main Insight Event DACH was held at the Hyatt Regency in Düsseldorf. The event, organized for our close community of C-level professionals across the DACH region, aims to inspire, form connections and drive knowledge-sharing.
Like every year, a trending topic will be explored through several panel discussions and key notes, bringing together experts in the field who will share their insights and perspectives to help stimulate meaningful conversations and provide key takeaways. The keynote speakers and panelists will be revealed shortly. Furthermore, attendees will have the opportunity to network with other like-minded professionals.
This year’s event was moderated by Helena Felixberger and co-hosted by Sven van Berge Henegouwen (Managing Partner & Head of the DACH Office at Main Capital Partners). The topic of this edition focused on Artificial Intelligence – business implications, chances and risks for mid-sized B2B software companies.
The key-learnings of this year:
Matthias Patzak, Enterprise Strategist at AWS, discussed the vast impact of AI:
“Most don’t realize how big AI actually is and how we can leverage it: we need to be more creative. AI gives us the long overdue incentive and the opportunity to rethink how we get work done. It has the potential to get rid of the more cumbersome tasks and increase productivity. In order to leverage generative AI properly, at least from the top-line model, you should automate infrastructure and streamline process performance.”
Rob Elsinga, National Technology Officer at Microsoft, mentioned the disruptive power of AI across all industries and predicted that, by 2025, 90% of all applications will be infused with AI. However, despite its wide-spread adoption, the use of AI requires regulation from within:
“It’s crucial for organizations to operate within compliant environments and adhere to the same regulations, particularly in terms of identity management and data protection. These privacy issues should be regulated and managed by separate teams within the organization.”
Bottomline: AI streamlines business processes, but needs regulated guidance.
Anna Berlee, Professor Privacy Law at Open University, discussed how Generative AI should not be used as a knowledge source:
“We often see generative AI being used as a knowledge base, which it isn’t. In AI development, biases inherent in real-life data can manifest in generative AI models, potentially leading to skewed outcomes. Attempts to counterbalance biases may inadvertently introduce new biases. Therefore, it’s crucial to refrain from treating AI systems as infallible sources of truth but instead acknowledge their limitations. Transparency regarding training data and model specifications is essential for understanding and mitigating biases.”
During a panel discussion, mid-sized software companies within our portfolio shared first-hand insights on how to embark on AI integration.
Gustav Rek (PERBILITY GmbH) emphasized the necessity of commencing with the organization’s people and culture: “Convince individuals within your organization of AI’s potential, eliminate apprehension, and foster an environment of open-mindedness.”
Sebastian Leopold (PeakAvenue GmbH) added: “Provide your colleagues with the appropriate tools to facilitate their interaction with AI, thereby easing the process. This can be achieved through prompt-engineering. Internally, at PeakAvenue, we leverage AI through an assistant designed to generate text aligning with our marketing team’s specified tone. This resource is accessible to all, facilitating prompt-based collaboration.”
From the perspective of Main, Bram Kaashoek ended on the note: “If you still have legacy solutions make cloud adoption and SaaS a priority.”
Rudy Kuhn, Lead Transformation Evangelist at Celonis, provided his perspective on how AI can take Process Mining, Automation and Orchestration to the next level, mentioning:
“To make AI work for enterprise, AI needs to know the business. To know the business, it needs to know how processes run end-to-end. But there’s a great disconnect at the heart of all enterprises. Processes are fragmented across individuals and systems, teams often have overlapping objectives, communication barriers arise due to language differences, and systems lack interoperability. Consequently, processes become obscured and difficult to comprehend. What is lacking is the vital connective tissue known as Process Intelligence.”
You can expect a perfect mix of excellent networking and in-depth insights into exciting topics. It's the ultimate event for anyone working in the software, tech and innovation industries.
Take a look at the other Insight events organized by Main.
The Main Insight Event Benelux is hosted annually as a knowledge-sharing and networking platform for our close community of C-level software executives across the Benelux region. The edition of the event will be held at the Hilton Hotel in The Hague, the Netherlands.