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“Loyalty goes two ways: loyalty towards our employees, and loyalty towards our customers. We never give up on our customers”
April 1, 2021 - “I remember using an Apple II in the 1980s” says Gerrit Timmer, co-founder and now Chief Science Officer (CSO) at ORTEC. “But not for big projects – for those we needed bulky mainframes that cost millions. It was for small calculations, and for writing text. Typewriters were not quite that handy!” No digital mobile networks, no proper laptops and, instead, huge stacks of paper: this not-so-distant past seems unimaginable. But Gerrit and four other math wizards had an appetite for challenges and innovation – so 40 years ago, our founders embarked on the adventure of a lifetime. Countless great projects later, ORTEC has much to be proud of: together with our customers, we have made an impact that goes beyond mere business.
An interview with Gerrit Timmer, co-founder and Chief Science Officer (CSO) at ORTEC
Bremen, January 31st, 2021 - ORTEC has achieved SAP certified integration for its ORTEC for SAP S/4HANA, rel. 3.0 logistics add-on with the latest version of SAP S/4HANA. The certification has been issued by the SAP Integration and Certification Center (SAP ICC).
Zoetermeer, The Netherlands – ORTEC appoints Marijn Deurloo as Chief Product Officer (CPO). Deurloo will focus on the accelerated development of a market and customer-driven portfolio of scalable solutions.
“Resilience is agility’s twin brother. One cannot exist without the other!"
We are right in the middle of a digital revolution, says Roel van Rijsewijk, director of Cyber Defence at Thales. The question, however, is what the digital future will look like. “The digital transformation is changing the world for good: everything is in a state of flux and nobody quite knows where we will find ourselves when the dust settles.
Interview with Roel van Rijsewijk, Director of Cyber Defence at Thales
“We jumped ten years into the future in one fell swoop. The change was not gradual: it was instant and disruptive”
TNO, the company for which Ellen Lastdrager serves as Managing Director of Traffic & Transport, has a variety of roles. TNO identifies new technological developments in the field of mobility for authorities and organizations. It furthermore supports organizations in developing products and services by making innovative technologies and methods available to them. According to Lastdrager, boards eager to introduce innovative ways of working now have the wind in their sails: “I’ve noticed that people have become a lot less fearful of digital technologies. It speeds up the rate at which new technologies are launched and adopted. I cannot see fully autonomous vehicles happening just yet, but these technologies certainly develop at a faster pace. As society’s adaptivity increases, organizations will have to speed up their innovation efforts too.”
Interview with Ellen Lastdrager, Managing Director Traffic and Transport at TNO
February 2021
Everyone wants to become data-driven and most organizations have realized by now that the transition revolves around acquiring the right data, technology, skills, and models. However, executives often seem to ignore the most important, and most exciting requirement: changing the corporate DNA. To facilitate a data-driven approach and to attract the new generation of digital talent, organizations will have to implement multiple mindset shifts. And not all of them are even directly related to data. What they do have in common, though, is that the board has a key role to play. Rianne Langenberg, Managing Consultant at ORTEC Consulting, takes us through several key requirements based on the five “Mindset shifts for organizational transformation’ published by ThoughtWorks. Such a philosophical and organizational shift starts at the top and requires a solid change plan.
This article on Mindset Shifts for Organizational Transformation is the last part of our series on Data and AI in the Boardroom and is powered by Rianne Langenberg, Managing Consultant.
"I am not under the illusion that there will come a time at which we can sit back and say: Right, there we are. Transformation done.”
Univé wanted to digitize whilst staying true to the organization’s DNA, tasking Ellen Peper to do just that when she was given a seat on the board as Chief Transformation Officer (CTO) in 2017. Since then, Peper has kickstarted a comprehensive transformation that will ultimately make Univé more attractive to its members. “We are harnessing the power of Univé, the power of cooperation.” Together with Frank Dijkstra, IT Director, she relates the story of how Univé is becoming a data-driven organization. “A transformation like this one touches on all layers of the organization: you have to convince everyone that a change is necessary.” One of Univé’s objectives is to develop an insurance brand with new services, most of which are linked to Univé’s insurance products. We want to move to an omni-channel service model, offering services digitally and in our physical stores, “in order to express our core values of ‘togetherness’, ‘closeness’, and ‘action’.”
Interview with Ellen Peper, Board Member and CTO of Coöperatie Univé, and Frank Dijkstra, IT Director
“Making mistakes is good, as long as you are fully committed to solving them and learning from them”
Chip machine manufacturer ASML is renowned for its progressiveness, due in part to technologies such as Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography. “ASML is one of the finest companies in Europe”, says CFO Roger Dassen. In his view, ASML was able to build this innovative reputation because it operates in a field where mistakes are accepted as necessary, provided that you learn from them and are 100% committed to solving them. “Everything goes, as long as the potential rewards outweigh the risk.”
January 2021
Algorithms are more widely used than ever before and affect people and organizations alike on an even greater scale. Apart from algorithms being a useful way to optimize all sorts of operations, there is also a potential downside: they can potentially discriminate against certain people. The profiles used for fraud detection could for instance be questionable. Algorithms can also potentially influence hiring processes, mortgage applications and online targeting, and in all these processes, it is vital that people are treated fairly. The good news is that, although it is step by step, we can make algorithms fairer.
This article on Explainable & Fair AI is the third part of our series on Data and AI in the Boardroom and is powered by Rogier Emmen, Lead Consultant Data Science.
To stay ahead of competition, companies must think creatively about how to incorporate AI into their strategy. The series on Data and AI in the Boardroom, consisting of four articles, looks at areas where AI in the boardroom can be deployed, some of the issues that may arise and what we should expect to see. For a business to adopt AI with any degree of success, it must be embedded in its strategy. As well as establishing ownership of such a strategy at board level, companies will also need to consider how to deal with any ethical challenges that technology brings.