Australia’s strategic path to digital transformation, operational excellence, and AI readiness: Insights from CIO Edge

Jim founded ADAPT with a vision to help Australia thrive commercially, now and for the future. To enable that, Jim leads ADAPT’s mission to connect, inform and equip our local business and tech leaders. ​

Leading the development of ADAPT’s agendas and content strategy whilst also advising executive leadership teams from global technology providers, Jim is uniquely experienced to be the voice of the end user, customer and vendor.​

Bringing his deep knowledge of the local market, Jim regularly presents on modernisation and “know your customer.” He guides business leaders who are responsible for developing and deploying technology strategies across their organisations and helps some of the world’s largest vendors with their go-to-market and content plans.​

Through entrepreneurial product development and a servant leader mentality with his team and clients, ADAPT grows annually with clearly differentiated value for all stakeholders.​

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As the Head of Analytics and Insights at ADAPT, Gabby Fredkin’s primary role is managing analysis to produce ADAPT’s actionable insights to identify trends supporting organisations in Australia.

With a passion for creating stories with data, Gabby is consistently rated as one of the top speakers at ADAPT’s events. In roundtable discussions, he specialises in using statistics to initiate thought-provoking discussions, enabling ADAPT’s customers to become more data-driven.​

Using modern data science techniques, he provides ADAPT and its customers with confidence in the accuracy and validity of the information used for ADAPT’s research, advisory and events.

Working across artificial intelligence, machine learning, AI ethics, DevSecOps, end-user behaviour, and human-centred design, Gabby’s vast experience continues to grow, supported in part by a Master of Business Analytics from Deakin University.

I am the CEO of Evolved Reasoning, a Generative AI – based company that provides education materials for conferences, workshops and presentations for executive business leaders looking to understand, trust and deploy artificial intelligence solutions, especially Generative AI models like ChatGPT in their businesses.

With offer a pragmatic business lens on what is otherwise a deep experience set in the algorithmic component and capabilities of complex AI systems. My co-founder and I are both experienced technical business leaders, and we love working with organisations at all levels of competence. In fact, we really enjoy bringing high performing executive teams on the AI journey from a business strategy perspective.

Peter Weill’s work centers on the role, value, and governance of digitisation in enterprises and their ecosystems. His research focuses on digital business models and transformation, digital savvy and partnering, replatforming, and modern business.​

Based in Australia, Peter consults ADAPT and attendees of EDGE events on how to be future ready in the digital age.​

Peter has written award-winning books, articles, and case studies published by Harvard Business School Press, Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and more. ​

In 2008, Ziff Davis ranked Peter as #24 in its list of the Top 100 Most Influential People in IT, the highest-ranked academic. ​

Peter has worked on digitisation issues with executive committees and boards at more than 50 companies globally.​

A visionary and value-oriented Chief Information Officer with extensive global experience in planning, developing, and implementing cutting edge technology strategies that digitise, transform and enable business differentiation, optimisation and sustainable growth. As an executive leader collaborates with executive teams to align technology strategy with businesses and the wider corporate vision.

With a career spanning leading financial institutions globally, including Credit Suisse, CBA, Westpac, Macquarie, and NAB, has extensive experience in design and delivery of cost-effective technology solutions to address complex business problems, embed robust operational risk management, digitise and drive customer experience. This is combined with business intelligence, commercial acumen, and cyber security to enable market-attuned growth, future-proof businesses, and innovation with deep expertise in all aspects of project lifecycle, from feasibility analysis and conceptual design, through to implementation.

A track record of building and leading large teams high performance teams that are industry-leading, multidisciplinary, and geographical dispersed with deep skills across IT and businesses that are engaged and focused with vast experience in insourcing and outsourcing models. A strong advocate for and fosters inclusive, diverse and continuous learning cultures.

John Hunt was appointed Chief Information and Replenishment Officer on 1 September 2021. John initially joined Woolworths Group in 2017 as Chief Information Officer. John spent over 25 years at Woolworths Holdings, South Africa where he held a range of senior IT and core retail leadership roles, including CIO and Senior Executive for Food Planning and Value chain.

A graduate from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, John is a retailer through and through and is passionate about how information technology and technology innovation is being optimally used in enabling the business to support both the front line team members as well as ensuring our customers have the best shopping experience.

At Telstra, Angela and her team have a mission to help the Australian government, enterprise, and businesses transform to digital, transform to the cloud, and transition to Industry 5.0. Angela and her colleagues bring the best of global technology to Australia, integrating it with the country’s best network. They deliver these solutions through Australia’s largest technology integration practice and the largest practice of data and AI scientists.

To simplify the complexity of technology and instill confidence in customers adopting new technologies, Angela ensures that Telstra’s products and services are offered As-a-service, Secured by Telstra, and Managed by Telstra.

With 20 years of experience in the tech industry gained across four continents, Angela has worked with market leaders such as Amdocs, Cramer, Clarity, and Price Waterhouse Consulting to deliver transformation, automation, and monetization to the telco industry. One-third of her career has been spent working onsite with customers, collaboratively achieving business outcomes.

In addition to her role at Telstra, Angela serves as a growth advisor to innovative startup and scale-up companies, playing a crucial role in developing impactful technologies. She also has the privilege of mentoring women in technology and coaching star performers. Actively participating in community groups, Angela contributes to creating a better future for the next generation through initiatives related to mindfulness, the future of work, and climate change.

Passionate about travel and outdoor activities, Angela enjoys exploring the world and making it a point to find the ocean in almost every country she visits. Proudly working for Telstra, Angela is dedicated to growing the Australian tech sector for the next generation, including her two digital-first kids.

As the Senior Vice President (APAC) & Chief Evangelist for WalkMe™, my tenure has been dedicated to pioneering innovative approaches to digital adoption and transformation. The core competencies I’ve honed include strategic leadership, methodology development and sales excellence.

I am a Regional Sales Leader who builds predictable SaaS businesses in the APJ region with a focus on solving customer problems (not selling). This ‘customer-first’ mindset has helped me to gain an understanding of the customer buying process, which in turn has improved my teams’ ability to predict their sales and enable the team to grow and scale.

Both my experiences at ADP (subscription revenue) and SAP (cloud recurring revenue) have provided me with insight into how to navigate large organizations, and my experiences at WalkMe has given me first-hand insight into understanding the expectations of building a hyper-growth business whilst collaborating with the Founders of the company.

My leadership style focuses on trust, transparency, and accountability, and I have used these principles as the regional point of contact for senior executives and their respective teams. I am the published author of ‘The DAP Strategy’ and with a focus on the ‘Power of How’, I help organizations understand how digital adoption can impact their revenue, risk & cost.

I have over 17 years of experience working in business and technology roles. The vast majority of that time has been focused on digital product development and leading projects that generate business and customer value using a broad range of technologies and delivery methods. More recently I’ve been trying my hand in the exciting world of Sales Engineering in one of the fastest growing Digital Adoption start-ups, WalkMe!

I’m passionate about delivering great digital experiences that meet the product vision, business objectives and user needs. I’m skilled at collaborating with business, design and engineering teams and building strong stakeholder and vendor relationships by always being focussed, honest and supportive – no matter how much chaos is going on around us!

I am an experienced and accomplished transformation executive with a deep passion for delivering “Business Value” and providing thought leadership.

My global 20+ years of experience in managing IT and business transformation-focused portfolios enables me to drive sustainable improvements across the technology services delivery process. By leveraging my skills in delivering positive business outcomes across banking, insurance, healthcare, and logistics domains, I successfully facilitate value-driven solutions to customers through measurable operational uplift and a keen ability to recover challenging at-risk programs and projects. I focus on uplifting the quality of business outcomes, the reliability of delivery commitments, and the implementation of standard practices for delivery governance and controls.

I invest time and effort into mentoring, developing, and inspiring a high-performing team, in addition to ensuring the success of my teams through effective management of financials, vendors, and resources.

As a Regional Sales Manager at Delphix by Perforce, Andrew Hinde drives continuous data and compliance transformation programs for clients as well as leading the growth of strategic partnerships in Australia and New Zealand.

With an extensive career working at the intersection of data and enterprise technology, Andrew has previously held roles at Tibco, Oracle and Clarivate. These roles have covered a range of technologies, including advanced analytics, big data platforms, data integration, data quality and ERP systems. At Delphix, Andrew shares what’s possible when organisations embrace DevOps efficiency by tackling the final automation frontier, their data.