afb Market and Innovation Event 2016 offers solutions for the digital future
afb Market and Innovation Event entered its third round in May 2016. The event was a complete success.
Munich, 20 May 2016 - afb Application Services AG (afb), a leading pan-European full-service provider for the optimization of the lending business of banks and leasing companies, hosted the afb Market and Innovation Event on 10 May 2016. 150 specialists and managers from financial and service providers, manufacturers and retail organizations discussed solutions for digital transformation.
Digitopia: digitalization and the cross-industry consequences
afb hosted the afb Market and Innovation Event 2016 at the Hilton Munich Airport under the slogan "Digitopia - The dawn of a new world of work". The event highlighted digitalization and its transformative influence on strategies, structures and processes in all industries. Keynote presentations, interactive workshops and a panel discussion provided concrete solutions for increasing transformation competence and exploiting the opportunities of the digital era. In addition to afb representatives, experts from science and business as representatives of afb's partner network shaped the programme, so that the agenda highlighted diverse aspects of digitization from strategy, leadership and brand to processes, products and technology.
Case study: IT at two speeds
At the heart of the event was the challenge of implementing innovative functionalities simply and flexibly in existing IT landscapes and systems that are geared towards stability. The case study by Birgit Spirek, Head of Business Organization & Process Management at the Wüstenrot Group Austria, illustrated the advantages of two-speed IT. Enrico Moritz, Manager Business Development and Consulting at afb, also showed how afb Fast Integration Business Services optimize the digital customer journey based on bimodal IT. André Becher, Manager Software Development at afb, used specific application examples, such as an integrated and sales-promoting dialog platform for retailer and manufacturer websites, to demonstrate how these agile services add innovative functionality to legacy systems.
Another highlight was the keynote speech by Dr. Alexander Ilic, Director & Assistant Professor of the Auto-ID Labs ETH Zurich / University of St. Gallen, which offered forward-looking insights from current research. He presented the disruptive power of digital technologies using the example of 3D printing, virtual and augmented reality and their potential areas of application.
Figure 1: The plenary session of the afb Market and Innovation Event 2016 on 10.05.2016 at the Hilton Munich Airport Source: afb
The interactive sessions of the "Speed Innovation Market" covered cooperation opportunities between FinTechs and banks, legal requirements for digital business models, leadership and collaboration in the world of work 2025 as well as design thinking and lean change in agile organizations. Methods for developing business model innovations and the tension between brand and sales in the digital age were also examined. Speakers at the Speed Innovation Market included Georg von der Ropp, Partner BMI Advisory at BMI LAB AG, Dr. Axel Sauerland, Leasing Industry Leader at IBM Global Business Services, Florian Bliesch, Head of Mobile at ING-DIBA AG, Dalibor Karacic, Managing Director of JETSTREAM Marketing GmbH, Philipp Moder, Managing Director of Phocus Direct Communication GmbH, Claudia Schmidt, Managing Director of Mutaree GmbH, Dr. Daniel Rücker, Partner at Noerr LLP and Dr. Daniel Berndt, Chief Client Officer at Raisin (WeltSparen) GmbH.
Moderator Sabrina von Nessen, Marketing Manager at afb, led a panel discussion on the challenges and forecasts of the digital future at the end of the event. The participants were Dr. Heinz-Peter Renkel, Managing Director of the AKA Secretariat of the Arbeitskreis Autobanken (AKA), Juan Hahn, Senior Partner at BusinessKonsulat, Dr. Axel Sauerland, Leasing Industry Leader at IBM Global Business Services and Prof. Dr. Frank Stenner, lecturer and author. The conclusion of the discussion: digitization offers extensive opportunities that can be realized through intelligent IT solutions, expert support and consistent organizational development.
"We are delighted that the event has established itself as a cross-industry event for financial and service providers, manufacturers and retailers under the banner of innovation and transformation. The participants discussed and developed concrete digital solutions and recommendations for action with experts from afb and our partner network," summarizes Gerolf Dienhold, Member of the Board of afb.
About afb Application Services AG
Munich-based afb Application Services AG has been optimizing complete business processes in the lending area of banks and leasing companies since 1995. As a full service provider, afb offers a customer and project-specific mix of process, specialist and IT consulting, projects based on the afb Credit Management Solution, application and infrastructure operation, business process management and outsourcing. The innovative solutions enable the automation of the entire lending process - from the offer to the application with fully automated credit decision and processing through to contract management. Well-known companies from the financial services sector use afb's solutions internationally and generate a significant proportion of their turnover with them.
