August Community Slideshow: What’s on your summer reading list and why?

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Welcome to ITWC’s August 2018 community slideshow! Every month we ask leaders in the Canadian technology industry about a general life topic as a fun way to know the community a little better. This month we’re talking about one of our favourite topics of discussion at the ITWC headquarters, books!Did you know that the average North American reads only twelve books per year? Twelve books! Surprising right? And according to a recent study, the median is actually closer to four books per year. Well, knowing our community, it’s no surprise that these tech leaders are constantly reading, far surpassing the average North American.With summer heating up, many people are taking time to lounge by the pool or on the beach to enjoy the sun and a good read. That left us thinking: What is currently on your summer reading list?Read on for answers from  SOTI, Google Cloud, IBM and more. We’d love to hear your thoughts, use the hashtag #CommunityQuestion and join the conversation.
Carl Rodrigues, President and CEO of SOTI Inc."I’ve always had an interest in learning about early innovators and how they used their thinking to change the world. I believe there’s always something valuable to learn from the journey of those who have paved the way for our industry’s capabilities. Right now, I am reading Nikola Tesla’s autobiography, My Inventions, and Other Writings."It’s a fascinating look at his life and work. We don’t often credit Tesla for all of his contributions, but I think this book really highlights the unique vision he saw for the future."
Jim Lambe, country director of Google Cloud for Canada"Next on my reading list is Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.The recommendation came from Jean-Michel Lemieux, SVP of engineering at Shopify. "It's a fascinating story of humanity and 'JML' talks abstractly about it, and I need to understand why he talks about it so much."
Neil Cawse, CEO of GeotabNeil Cawse (left), CEO of Geotab poses with his vice-president of data and analytics Mike Branch at Google Next in San Francisco."I’m currently reading Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari, which is the sequel to Sapiens. It's a very interesting book describing why we do the things we do. The book tackles the big questions - why do we have war? How do our emotions impact our actions? It gives you great insights into understanding what emotions are there in the first place and that helps you control your own emotions."
John Reid, CEO, Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA)"Summer means cottage time at Trout Lake in the Quebec town of Fort Coulonge, and yes one of my goals is catching up on my reading list. It has been a worthy goal for years, but reality says differently. Have you ever tried to concentrate on anything when surrounded by energetic grandchildren with limitless appetites for leisure and food? My reading list, at the very best, is keeping up with google news, which I share with all over beer, chips and a good hamburger. You have to love summer!"
Charlotte Wang, Chief Technology Officer, Global Technology Services, IBM Canada"I’m a city dweller, and love to find a quiet corner in my backyard to get lost in a good book.  This summer, I am focusing on a few different themes. My career began in the Canadian Navy, and I’m going back to my roots with Turn the Ship Around! by L. David Marquet. This is a true story of how one captain brought the morale of his ship’s fleet from bottom to top by challenging traditional leadership strategies. His learnings are invaluable for me as a CTO at IBM and leading a team of ambitious and talented high achievers."At the other end of the spectrum, I’m reading The Truth About Your Future – The Money Guide You Need Now, Later, and Much Later by Ric Edelman.  Ric takes an interesting angle on the digital disruption and reinvention, by discussing how it affects the way we invest our personal finances."Lastly, if you haven’t heard of Don Tapscott, I highly recommended looking him up. He is a leading authority on technology and business. His book is called Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business, and the World."
Paul Struthers, EVP & Managing Director, Sage Canada"Some of my favourite books that I plan to revisit include First, Break All The Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently; Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco by Bryan Burrough; and Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance, as I love the great insights and inspiring details on how Musk has innovated and pushed boundaries."I have three daughters, so I’m definitely on board with pushing the diversity agenda globally, and I think Earning It: Hard-Won Lessons from Trailblazing Women at the Top of the Business World by Joann S. Lublin would be a great read for me on this topic."Some other titles I plan to get to include Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Timothy Ferriss and The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries."
...And Bill GatesNo, we didn't actually interview the Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist (pictured above, with current Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, at a 2016 event in Vancouver), but he technically answered our question on his blog in May, so we'd be silly not to include his suggestions here.• Leonardo da Vinci, by Walter Isaacson: "Isaacson does the best job I’ve seen of pulling together the different strands of Leonardo’s life and explaining what made him so exceptional." • Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved, by Kate Bowler • Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders: "I thought I knew everything I needed to know about Abraham Lincoln, but this novel made me rethink parts of his life." • Origin Story: A Big History of Everything, by David Christian • Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think, by Hans Rosling, with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Ronnlund

How do you accommodate a major sporting event? July Community Slideshow

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Welcome to ITWC’s July 2018 community slideshow! Every month we ask leaders in the Canadian technology industry about a general life topic as a fun way to know the community a little better. In honour of the World Cup taking place in Russia, we decided to ask tech leaders across Canada:"How do you balance your employees’ desire to watch a major sporting event with your company's usual workload?"While no predictions were made, it was great to see that the World Cup has brought so many people together which solidifies the saying that #SoccerisLife!Read on for answers from Intel Canada, SOTI, Trend Micro and more. We’d love to hear your thoughts, use the hashtag #CommunityQuestion and join the conversation.
Carl Rodrigues, President and CEO of  SOTI Inc. "Sports play an important role in SOTI’s culture, and as an avid sports fan myself, I think events like FIFA are a great way to bring our global offices together. Our multinational workforce means that we have fans of many of the teams, so there are flags and jerseys all over. We’re showing the games in our offices worldwide with screens set up in our common areas and high speed WIFI for streaming. The key is to make downtime fun and engaging for employees, creating an entertaining environment so casual and passionate fans alike can join the festivities."
Marcia Sequeira, Country Manager, Trend Micro"As a global company, Trend Micro has employees from almost every country represented in the World Cup, and so of course we encourage our employees to come together and watch – after all it only comes around every four years! Trenders (what we call ourselves) are passionate about soccer and often make time to watch at work; most offices are equipped with televisions/digital screens in the breakroom or lunchroom and it can get rowdy depending on the game! Coming together like this is a great opportunity to get to know your colleagues, especially from different departments. In Canada we have four offices – Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary – and so this helps fuel team-building, collaboration and friendly competition! Overall, Trend Micro believes in working hard, but also finding that balance and enjoying your time at work."
Steve Astorino - Vice President of Development, Hybrid Cloud, z Analytics and  IBM Canada Lab Director"The IBM Canada Lab in Markham is the largest software development organization in Canada and so we have a lot of very smart and dedicated people working here, many of whom are big fans of the World Cup. We have shown every game we could and posted the schedule, so people knew when and where each game was playing. Since we have people from many different backgrounds at the Lab, there have been plenty of people cheering for each team. It has been a fantastic team builder for all of us. One of the challenges for a large workplace like ours is that not everyone gets a chance to meet each other. It has been a great way for people to come together for a time and enjoy the spirit of the World Cup. Many choose to bring their computers down to our large marketplace and watch it together. Plus, Italy didn’t make it this year – so people have delighted in reminding me of that."
John Reid, CEO, Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA)"Mobility computing and the cloud generally are the ultimate enablers of work flexibility. I can simultaneously watch the World Cup and cut, paste and like to all our social media networks. And when a video call comes in, I can talk about the soccer game and then move on to the need for Canadian tax reform. Married to a woman from England, I know who I want to win the World Cup. And for Canada? I want us to win the race for first place in innovation and productivity rankings. A flexible approach to work is a key part of that!
Deanna Thomson, National Director, Channel Sales for Dell EMC Canada"There are not many sporting events as popular,  from a global scale, as the World Cup. We live in a world of constant work/life tension – and I use the word tension on purpose as ‘balance’ is only possible from a long-term perspective. Short-term, we do what we have to and fit in our work and personal needs, but it isn’t always balanced. However, in-between our critical deadlines we always can offer additional value to our employees and embrace memorable events like the World Cup. The energy around the office during global events like this is extremely effective for team building and collaboration, refueling our ability to get work done in an environment that feels more balanced with our personal needs. As perfectly said by FIFA Women's World Cup champion, Abby Wambach: ‘I’ve never scored a goal in my life without getting a pass from someone."
Denis Gaudreault, Country Manager at Intel Canada "Our employees work hard all the time, and we appreciate their dedication. If they need to take a break to enjoy the excitement of the World Cup and cheer on their teams alongside their colleagues, they can do so in the many common areas in our offices. We're confident that they'll bring that positive energy back to their work."
Scott Armstrong, Partner, Brainrider "Empowerment and accountability is Brainrider's approach. Our team is made up of high-energy, professional, millennials who work hard every day to deliver better marketing results for their clients. As part of our value proposition for these employees Brainrider offers a comfortable, engaged work environment where performance is measured using client deliverables and client results. This allows our team to manage their schedules and priorities to fit in the world-cup, charitable time, extra-long weekends or any other passion as they see fit."
Justin Thouin, CEO of LowestRates.ca"We view popular events like the World Cup as an opportunity for team members to get together and enjoy the spectacle and each other's company. In fact, the France/Belgium semi-final is on the big screen in our boardroom right now! We trust that team members understand their priorities and commitments and allow them the flexibility to manage their workloads around personal priorities, whether those are watching the World Cup, or an important appointment. We objectively evaluate team members based on their results in relation to their targets, and trust that they know best how to manage their time to deliver these results."
Tyler Handley, CEO of Inkbox"Allowing your employees to watch the World Cup at work is a tough call. Our strategy has been to allow our employees to stream one game per day in the background, while tackling their less-involved tasks like responding to quick emails, tedious spreadsheet work, etc. We let everyone watch the final game though!"
Dan Holowack, CEO of CrowdRiff"We have a diverse team at CrowdRiff, many of whom are football lovers. Since we have big display screens around the office, we keep them on during World Cup with the volume turned down during the day so others can still work uninterrupted in our open office. So far we’ve managed to strike the right balance between supporting our favourite teams and focusing on getting things done! Of course now when I hear cheering it could either mean we won a new customer or a goal was scored. Either way it keeps the energy high."

12 predictions for Canadian tech in 2018 – December Community Slideshow

Artificial Intelligence, OpinionLeave a comment
For our last community slideshow of 2017, ITWC decided to look at the year ahead and ask executives to give us a prediction for Canada's technology industry in 2018. Read on for answers from IBM, OpenText, Dell EMC, and more.
Adam Howatson, chief marketing officer with OpenText"2018 is going to be all about artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things... We're quickly moving towards a trillion connected devices in the Internet of Things, and the only way to glean useful insights from the volume of data that can be collected that Internet of Things is by leveraging artificial intelligence. The two go hand-in-hand."
David Gens, president and CEO of Merchant Advance Capital"Our industry [venture capital] is linked to the U.S. in many ways... and what happens there tends to happen here, perhaps with a slight delay. Fintech has definitely seen an industry shakeout in the U.S., particularly as it relates to the online providers of credit to small businesses. So I think that will continue to happen next year - you're going to see some players fall off and disappear, and some of the stronger-scale players that are better capitalized thrive. So you're going to see a separation of the pack."
Kevin Connolly, Canada president of Dell EMC"In 2018 we will witness a deeper partnership between man and machine, and this partnership will be interwoven into our day-to-day lives, transforming the way we live and work. Emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence(AI), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), the Internet of Things(IoT) and cloud computing are accelerating us towards this new direction. IoT is expected to grow rapidly and by 2020, there will be 30 billion connected devices worldwide-from wearable technology, to self-driving cars to hospital equipment. We expect AI will continue to dominate the digital era, changing the way we spend our time acting on data, and not just curating it for smarter, faster decision making."
Michael Martin, senior executive, Internet of Things lead for IBM Canada"As we move forward to a new year, we anticipate that the Canadian tech industry will experience a new wave of innovative disruption that will help change the way we live and work. Everyday objects – from toasters, to hospital beds, to elevators, to cars – are becoming connected and digitized to help create a safer world for us, a better consumer experience and excellence in service while eliminating redundancies. 2018 will bring an evolution to Internet of Things (IoT) with the intelligent, federated fabric of networks that service these applications, where multiple independent systems can send messages and share data from one system to another to enhance resources and improve quality of service. This will be a new era of augmented intelligence where man and machine bring advanced levels of efficiencies together."
Tara Kelly, CEO of Splice Software"Ninety per cent of brands will launch a skill in Alexa's, Google’s, Siri’s or Cortana's voice instead of their own brand voice, putting billions of dollars of brand equity at risk. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent building a brand. It’s essential as voice-first devices begin to dominate that brands continue to differentiate. Consider how you recognize a voice from across a room, and how colors and smells are used in branding. A brand experience has to go beyond visual. Why let Alexa, Siri or Cortana be the voice of your brand when the interface allows you to use your own?"
Cameron Dow, president of SAS Canada"AI and machine learning will continue to intensify in 2018. With Canada’s healthy innovation ecosystem, more government and industry investment will be made to support the understanding of the technologies, recognition of business value, and adoption. Canadian organizations will welcome the next era of analytics: the analytics economy. Now we have more than just data. We have accessible data, fueled by advances in compute power and connectivity, and interpreted by ever-more powerful analytics. In this new economy, disruption and innovation can come from anywhere. Organizations that perfect the path from data to decisions stand to capitalize most. The analytics and data science skills shortage will continue to pose challenges for businesses looking to innovate at scale."
Jodie Wallis, managing director of AI at Accenture Canada"2018 will be the year we see artificial intelligence moving from experimentation into the heart of Canadian businesses. Our research indicates that businesses who successfully apply AI solutions will increase profitability by 38 per cent by 2035, and that humans and machines will continue to collaborate with each other, transforming the workforce as we know it. The lines between AI and humans will continue to blur as machines offer strengths and capabilities to cut through complexity, clearing the way for strategic thinking and action. With AI in the mainstream, Canadian businesses will be able to evolve faster, become more efficient and deliver better value to consumers."
Luc Villeneuve, country leader, Red Hat Canada"Blockchain technology has been hyped for years because of its potential to transform many industries, particularly financial services. This year I’ve been hearing so much debate and discussion about Blockchain and I expect 2018 will be the year we see interesting developments, perhaps solutions. Financial Services is an important vertical for Red Hat and we’d like to help in a smooth transition. AI and Machine Learning have reached a critical peak on the hype cycle and in 2018 I hope we’ll see fascinating solutions designed with customer’s needs and value in mind, rather than solutions that are just first to market."
Kirsten Sutton, vice president and managing director of SAP Labs Canada“Into 2018, we will continue to see a deepening focus on diversity and inclusion as key drivers of innovation. With the unprecedented advantage of 5 generations in the workplace, a better understanding of how to effectively include differently-abled people in our teams, and by unlocking the potential of young and early talent, tech leaders will see tremendous leaps in innovation as we bring together a broad range of people to solve complex challenges.”
Mark J. Barrenechea, CEO and CTO of OpenText“In 2018, everything from the cloud, edge points, machines, automation, supply chains, security, and customers will become more intelligent. This will give us greater business insight, real-time decision making, and better planning to repurpose skills. Equipped with AI and cognitive systems, big data analytics, and machine learning, the insights-driven Intelligent Enterprise will leverage agile development to build apps in the cloud, automate processes and menial tasks to optimize efficiency, and explore data lakes for sophisticated insights and better decision making.”
Cindy Gordon, CEO of Saleschoice"Mobile first is history, and AI and robots first is about to dominate everything in life. In my role as CEO of an AI company which specializes in guided AI selling that helps sales professionals spend their precious time on the best opportunities instead of distractions, we have had the privilege of analyzing the largest SalesForce client data set in the world and have learned that we can predict losses with our deep learning algorithm at 99 per cent accuracy before they even start to sell. This means literally trillions of dollars can be released into our global economy from using AI in sales. The degree of AI success will lie in our clients' dataset completeness and, more importantly, the quality of the AI algorithms - that is, machine learning - methods at work."
Paul Teshima, CEO and co-founder of Nudge.ai"In 2018 AI will do the opposite of what most people think. Instead of creating a world which is more inhuman, it will actually free up people's time to be more human."