MIT CISR Annual Research Forum 2022

This new book by Stephanie L. Woerner, Peter Weill, and Ina M. Sebastian will be released October 18, 2022. We will celebrate with the authors during a Book Launch Reception from 5:00–7:00 PM on November 8.

All attendees of this Forum will receive a free autographed copy of the book. 

8:15 AM

Check-in & Continental Breakfast

9:00 AM

Welcome & Introductions
Stephanie Woerner

9:15 AM

Increasing Data Liquidity at Your Organization
Barbara Wixom
In this session, Barb will introduce the concept of data liquidity: the ease of data asset reuse and combination. She will share data liquidity research insights gleaned from this year’s data leader interviews, and she will share examples that illustrate that there is more than one way to increase data liquidity. 

10:45 AM

Morning Break

11:15 AM

Panel Discussion: Create More Strategic Value Faster with Digital Innovations
Nils Fonstad
For an organization to generate measurable strategic value from a portfolio of digital innovation initiatives, most of those initiatives must progress from developing a minimum-viable product into a scaling-up phase. In this session, a panel of accomplished executives will share how they overcame a variety of roadblocks to generating more value faster with digital innovations.

12:00 PM

Lunch

1:00 PM

Guiding Decentralized Decision Making
Nick van der Meulen
In recent years, organizations have increasingly relied on decentralized decision making by cross-functional teams to rapidly sense and respond to changes in their environment. To succeed with this approach, organizations don't need less leadership—they need better leadership. In this session we'll examine leadership practices that help organizations deal with the potential downsides of decentralization.

2:30 PM

Innovating with xTechs
Alan Thorogood
Partnering with xTechs offers new customer experiences or lower-cost operations. But xTechs want to scale quickly, while a large organization has to carefully manage their brand, integration plus regulatory and cyber risks. Alan will share what experienced bankers have learned about engaging FinTechs, and what successful entrepreneurs say about working with banks. Then, he will present a framework on how to innovate faster and evaluate an xTech, setting up a great conversation amongst participants.

3:00 PM

Afternoon Break

3:30 PM

Customer First: Reframing from Industries to Customer Domains
Stephanie Woerner
For decades, companies have thought of themselves as operating in industries such as banking, retail, shipping, automotive, and energy. But most customers have (often cross-industry) needs and problems that must be solved—for example, business customers want to manage their energy consumption, and consumers want to get an education, buy a house, or manage their daily lives. We call these different customer problem areas domains. In this session, Peter will present early results from the most recent MIT CISR survey, looking at what companies that are top performers in implementing a domain mindset do. Then we will share experiences.

5:00 PM

Future Ready Book Launch & Reception
All attendees are encouraged to join us to celebrate the publication of the latest book based on MIT CISR research: Future Ready: The Four Pathways to Capturing Digital Value by Stephanie Woerner, Peter Weill and Ina Sebastian. The authors will be happy to personalize your complimentary copy of their new book. 

8:30 AM

Continental Breakfast

9:00 AM

Scaling AI: Foundations That Matter
Barbara Wixom
MIT CISR research has identified three key capability areas that organizations need to master for scaling AI: data monetization, AI explanation (AIX), and model management. In this session, Barb will share what the research team now knows about these capability areas, with a focus on findings from 2022 interviews and case research.

10:00 AM

Morning Break

10:30 AM

Organizational Surgery: Unlocking Value from Digital
Peter Weill
To create bottom-line value from digital, many organizations need to do some kind of organizational surgery—they are just not well designed for the digital era. These organizational changes remove organizational complexity and help the firm focus on capturing value. We have identified four different drivers of digital value that should be the goals of any surgery: (1) Your target customer types; (2) a capability to be used across customer types; (3) creating and reusing a component based on a “crown jewel” of the firm; and (4) commercializing a component or capability by selling as a service. In this session, we will describe how top performers captured value from digital in these four ways, illustrate with a case study and then share experiences.

12:00 PM

Lunch (Optional)

1:00–4:00 PM

Deep Dive Sessions (Optional)

Data Research Advisory Board Meet-up
Barbara Wixom
The MIT CISR Data Research Advisory Board will meet to debrief the board members’ advisory and research contributions for 2022. Board members will engage in several activities, including member sharing, research report-backs of in-process efforts, and prioritization discussions that will inform next year’s agenda. This is a closed session for current data board members; learn about the MIT CISR Data Board.

Developing a Digital First Workforce
Nick van der Meulen
This deep-dive provides a forum for attendees to connect with each other and explore current challenges related to hiring, retaining, and developing digital talent. During this session, participants will exchange ideas and engage in peer discussions based on new survey findings on how organizations are future-proofing their workforce. By participating in this session, attendees will also be able to help shape the MIT CISR research agenda on talent for 2023.

Future Ready
Peter Weill, Stephanie Woerner & Ina Sebastian
In this deep dive, we will present an overview from our new book about what it means to be a Future Ready company. We will describe the four pathways to Future Ready and the four explosions that company leaders must manage in a digital transformation with many company examples. Participants will break into groups to assess their current states and work on next steps in their companies’ transformation journeys. Participants will complete an assessment in the session and will use the results to inform the small group work. This deep dive is designed for executives who are leading digital business transformations to share experiences and learn from each other using MIT research.

Tracking Your Digital Innovation Portfolio
Nils Fonstad
This session will be an opportunity to learn in greater detail from Nils and other participants about how the firms he has studied changed their approach to digital innovation to generate more strategic value faster from a portfolio of digital innovation initiatives. It will also be an opportunity to discuss the implications of his findings on what participants could do next to overcome similar challenges. This session is especially relevant for top-level managers responsible for building a portfolio of digital innovation initiatives that realizes one or more strategic objectives and for functional experts responsible for building shared resources that help propel sets of similar initiatives.