The buzz: “The Wholesale Distribution industry is at an inflection point of rapidly changing business fundamentals” (Deloitte). The future is becoming clear for Wholesale Distributors: revenue will come from customer-specific solutions that transform their business and help their customers to differentiate in the marketplace. How to achieve this? Provide value-added services, smart technologies, and automation – all geared to support real-time custom responses, proactively engage customer loyalty and re-focus employees on high-value tasks. The experts speak. Sebastian Valencia, Clarkston Consulting: “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds” (Bob Marley). Steve Okun, N-Spro: “If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves” (Thomas Edison). Magnus Meier, SAP: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, now where it has been” (Wayne Gretzky). Join us for Wholesale Distribution 2019: The Intelligent Enterprise.

The buzz: “Pharma and healthcare companies must start generating ideas and implementing digital strategies immediately” (digitalmarketinginstitute.com/en-us/blog/16-03-2018-6-ways-digital-is-transforming-pharma-and-healthcare). Connectivity, digitalization and the resulting intelligence are helping life sciences companies discover exciting therapies and patient services through technology collaboration. Think wearables and implanted devices that use apps to connect patients with physicians or deliver serialized therapy, and more. The experts speak. Don Heiliger, Accenture: “We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible” (Vince Lombardi, Jr.). Al Berry, Arbour Group: “The best way to predict the future is to create it” (Dennis Gabor). Petra Streng, SAP: “If I take 30 steps linearly, I get to 30. If I take 30 steps exponentially, I get to a billion” (Ray Kurzweil). Join us for The Life Sciences Intelligent Enterprise: Connected Patients and Products.

The buzz: “The crossover is one of the most lethal offensive moves in the N.B.A., used by the game's best ball handlers.” (youtube.com/watch?v=QlgiuZ3gkKg) To succeed in today’s hypercompetitive environment, consumer products companies need greater speed, agility, and defense. How? Borrow from a famous sports playbook: master the “crossover” basketball move. Done right, the strategy can be hypnotic, disguising your next step and keeping rivals off-balance as you get into position to make your next big play.Ready to learn the right moves? The experts speak. Javier Flores, SAP: “To be trusted is a greater compliment that being loved” (G. MacDonald). Kyle Tate, SAP: “It’ll all be alright in the end. And if it is not alright, then it is not yet the end” (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel). Don Gordon, SAP: “My geranium is dying, for all I can do, Still leaning toward the last place the sun was” (T. Roethke). Join us for Basketball Playbook to Consumer Products: The Crossover Move.

The buzz: “Technology is permeating and disrupting every aspect of distribution today” (www.fortna.com). Reality check for wholesale distributors: winning and retaining customers is highly competitive. How are industry leaders staying relevant and leapfrogging competitors? They’re developing innovative business models, using their vast data, simplifying and improving the way they work, and enabling their employees to help grow the business. The experts speak. Mark Dancer, Network for Channel Innovation: “There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder (Ronald Reagan). Guy Blissett, Deloitte: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning” (Sir Winston Churchill). Paul Pretko, SAP: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity” (Seneca). Join us for Staying Competitive in Wholesale Distribution: You and the Value Chain.

The buzz: “In a marketplace increasingly driven by clinical efficacy and value-based outcomes, understanding the customer becomes as important for pharma companies as it is for Pepsi” (R. Robinson). One of the biggest hurdles for any company is the development of an innovation-ready culture and ecosystem, especially in Life Sciences. How to achieve this? Leading Life Sciences companies are rapid-testing ideas to foster innovation and using analytics, blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning and IoT to deliver business-wide value and customer-centricity. The experts speak. Don Mackenzie, itelligence: “You can act to change and control your life…” (Amelia Earhart). Janel Firestein, Clarkson Consulting: “Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius… better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring” (Marilyn Monroe). Kevin Brophy, SAP: “Winning is not everything, it is the only thing” (Vince Lombardi). Join us for Life Sciences: Prescription for Digital Innovation.

The buzz: “It’s more important than ever for wholesale distributors to evolve and adapt” (http://blogs.infor.com). What’s keeping wholesale company executives awake at night? How fast they can address the digital convergence across B2B and B2C, as consumers become the increasingly savvy, empowered masters of the marketplace. Leading wholesale distributors are meeting this challenge by transforming, reengineering, and finding hidden ROI through Omnichannel Engagement, Smart Warehouse Technology, Customer Centricity and Talent Management. The experts speak. Chip Kleinheksel, Deloitte: ‘I do love email. Wherever possible I try to communicate asynchronously. I'm really good at email” (Elon Musk). Tim Yates, DataXtream: “Things are only impossible till they're not” (Jean-Luc Picard). Werner Baumbach, SAP: “Change is the essential process of all existence (Spock, Starship Enterprise). Join us for Wholesale Distribution: Speed-Up Your Digital Transformation.

The buzz: “… experts encourage retailers to focus on enhancing their existing platforms and to shift their mindsets to customer behaviour” (https://medium.com). From social showrooming to crowdsourcing, smart curation to sustainable fashion, the fashion industry is evolving fast and technology plays a key role in how we dress to be seen. Some exciting trends: IoT sensors and beacons recognize shoppers and make personalized offers. Virtual reality allows shoppers to try on items online and receive virtual style guide advice enabled by machine learning. The experts speak. Dr. Timo Sandritter, LDJ Productions: “… vision with action can change the world” (Nelson Mandela). Andrew Miller, Keytree: “… once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes” (Albert Einstein). Peter Akbar, SAP: “Innovation! One cannot be forever innovating. I want to create classics” (Coco Chanel). Join us for The Future of Fashion: Will Technology Dress Us for Success?

The buzz: “This is a new era of medicine… For the first time we can digitize humans” (Eric Topol, MD, health.usnews.com). Reality check for healthcare providers, payers, and producers: You need to reduce costs, improve patient safety and care quality, and gain market share. But where to turn? New technologies such as Blockchain, Connected Health, Personalized Medicine, Health Wearables, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. So many options. What to do first? The experts speak. Jack Schmidt, Deloitte: “That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex” (Steve Jobs). Chris Whalley, AWS: “Imagination is more important than knowledge…imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution” (Einstein). Raj Subramanyan, SAP: “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be” (Wayne Gretzky). Join us for Life Sciences Innovations: Trends to Watch in 2018.

The buzz: “As consumers prosper from stable US and global economies, the consumer products industry will reinterpret traditional levers to fuel growth in a hyper-competitive marke.” (www2.deloitte.com). CP companies are being forced to rethink channel partner relationships, product mix, pricing strategies and more. Why? Due to business-as-usual disruption by eCommerce giants like Amazon, innovators with direct-to-consumer subscriptions, and retailers' expanded private label lines. How can CP companies use data to bolster their brands and strengthen relationships with consumers? The experts speak. Jerry Wolfe, Vivanda: “For the times they are a-changin’” (Bob Dylan). Barbara Thau, Retail Writer: “I am always looking for that nuance, that moment of truth, and you can't really do that fast” (Paul Thomas Anderson). Colby Sheridan, SAP: “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth” (Mike Tyson). Join us for Consumer Products Industry Under Attack: Reclaiming Market Share.

The buzz: “Warren Buffett just confirmed the death of retail as we know it.” (BusinessInsider.com 050817) Retailers: Recent headlines are spreading fears about the role of Artificial Intelligence in retail plus aggressive digital marketplaces disrupting traditional retailers’ livelihoods. What to do? Three insiders from premier fashion and retail companies in various industries will sort through the racks of rumor, fluff and myth to set the record straight and share insights on what the future of customer engagement will look like. The experts speak. John McCoy, SAP Hybris: “Panta Rhei – Everything flows. Change alone is unchanging” (Heraclitus). April Tomlin, SAP Hybris: “If you ever find yourself in the wrong story, leave” (Mo Willems, Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs). Tom Otten, SAP Hybris: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it” (Ferris Bueller). Join us for Retail Reality Check: Secrets to Engaging Customers.

The buzz: “ Machines with the ability to take on more intricate work tasks enable a new level of automation … particularly valuable for wholesale distributors” (Karen Lynch). Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies are becoming the “new normal” for wholesale distributors, despite alarmist sci-fi predictions from Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking. How? AI and ML are enabling wholesalers of all sizes to harness computers to compete with and even surpass human abilities to improve customer service, reduce costs, and improve uptime via predictive maintenance. The experts speak. Sebastian Valencia, Clarkson Consulting: “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change” (Stephen Hawking). Brian Everett, itelligence: “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning” (Ben Franklin). Werner Baumbach, SAP: “Chance favors the prepared mind” (Louis Pasteur). Join us for Transforming Wholesale: AI and ML on the Job.

The buzz: “This is a new era of medicine… For the first time we can digitize humans” (Eric Topol, MD, health.usnews.com). Reality check for healthcare providers, payers, and producers: You need to reduce costs, improve patient safety and care quality, and gain market share. But where to turn? New technologies such as Blockchain, Connected Health, Personalized Medicine, Health Wearables, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. So many options. What to do first? The experts speak. Jack Schmidt, Deloitte: “That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex” (Steve Jobs). Chris Whalley, AWS: “Imagination is more important than knowledge…imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution” (Einstein). Raj Subramanyan, SAP: “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be” (Wayne Gretzky). Join us for Life Sciences Innovations: Trends to Watch in 2018.

The buzz: “To ensure ongoing product innovation and closer consumer relationships, consumer goods manufacturers must re-imagine their business and take advantage of new technologies” (digitally.cognizant.com). With the IoT market expected to top $500 million by 2023, SAP asked consumer products executives how IoT adoption can solve their business challenges. Those who understand IoT applicability reported the real value of IoT is in supply chain processes. The experts speak. Don Gordon, SAP: “Not fare well, but fare forward, voyagers” (T.S. Eliot). Mike Quindazzi, PwC: “Humans are the lowest-cost, 150-pound, nonlinear, all-purpose computer system which can be mass-produced by low-skilled labor” (NASA). Carol Mackenzie, SAP: “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena…if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls….” (T.Roosevelt). Join us for Vision to Value: IoT in the Consumer Products Industry.