A Word From Our CEO
ILTA is and always has been Peer-Powered. The planning team for ILTACON Europe expressed this concept of Peer-Powered so clearly and simply for their roles: “We want to design a conference that we want to attend.” And they delivered brilliantly!
There was some strong tech content from Microsoft (any thinking about Co-Pilot? Anyone not thinking about Co-Pilot?) and from Matt Watts at NetApp. I learned quite a bit about the new Outlook – and what Co-Pilot brings to it – as well as about Yottabytes and the sustainability (or lack thereof) of keeping every email and dm every written. Did you know that 18% of the entire electrical grid for the country of Ireland goes toward supporting the big three data center providers? I didn’t.
Our two-day event opened with the always inspirational Dr. Rob Archer, who talked with us about the importance of resting and recharging. For those of you who have seen Dr. Archer before, yes, we were eagles. But we were also humans communicating about the difficulty of resting, especially in an industry as fast-paced as tech. I loved hearing from colleagues about their challenges and incredibly creative solutions. Thank you, attendees!
On day 2, Hannah Fry, Professor of Mathematics and Bloomberg TV personality, showed us truly fun math can be, as well as incredibly important. A lot of what we do in our daily jobs has to do with patterns, and departures from patterns. Professor Fry provided powerful examples of how looking at the wrong data, incomplete data, or data in the wrong context can lead to poor decisions. What does this mean for us as technology professionals? Know what data you need to make a decision, then make sure you have it and that you trust its quality and completeness. That can be a tall order.
Ella Sy of GDR spoke to us about the Customer Experience: The New Frontier. Her slides need to be required viewing for all of us in customer service. In other words, all of us. We all have customers. She communicated clearly about the level of control we have over the customer experience, even if we cannot always control what is happening with the technology itself.
These are just a few highlights from what was a fabulous – and unexpected! – programme for a tech event. However, the real stars were our attendees who participated, asked questions, and interacted, as well as our sponsors, who made it all possible. Please allow me to thank the team at ILTA member firm Allen & Overy for their hospitality and unfailing helpfulness. And a huge thanks to ILTACON Europe Co-Chairs Damien Behan and Karen Jacks, as well as to Tony McKenna and Andrew Powell, for producing an event that I, for one, was thrilled to attend!
See you in November 2024!