Written by Emily Carlson and Amanda Sorg
The Internet 2.0 Conference is a one-of-a-kind technology event where you’ll become immersed with the innovations and ideas that are driving change in today’s tech industry. For three days, you’ll have access to educational and informative sessions to gain the latest, cutting-edge insights. And with some of the biggest names in the industry participating – like Amazon, Salesforce, and IBM – it’s a hub of opportunity where you can meet industry leaders, mentors, and spark potential partnerships. Some other attendees include Saas, IoT, and AI & ML tech companies – even marketing professionals and robotics pioneers.
This year’s Internet 2.0 Conference was held in Las Vegas, Nevada at The Mirage resort, where Divurgent’s very own Emily Carlson, Vice President of Technology, was a panel speaker. While there, she also received the Outstanding Leadership Award for her contributions to the field of technology and has shared with us her insights and key take aways from this year’s conference.
“Special thanks to the Leadership Team at Divurgent, they really have given us great opportunity to work every day in an entrepreneurial spirit type of environment, which really lends to some great opportunities to lead really great people. I’m very fortunate for the Team that I have.” – Emily Carlson
Internet 2.0 Conference Insights and Takeaways
To add a little excitement to the experience, attendees endured a mini sandstorm during their time in Las Vegas – no surprise there, with it being in the actual dessert. But even with the hitchhiking grains of sand, this year’s conference was smaller in attendance than previous events due to the attributing COVID precautions. The result, however, made this year’s event a favorite for Carlson, as she noted the panel speakers were well chosen, and each panel was efficient and concise in their discussions.
Some topics from this year’s conference included blockchain, cryptocurrency, security, disaster recovery, digital innovations, and even climate change – but the most prevalent topic surrounded automation and AI machine learning. Carlson mentions that discussions on AI, and how to further integrate AI in to offsetting business processes, was the overwhelming theme heard throughout the conference.
Paradigm Shifts and The AI Revolution
In fact, during the panel discussion that Carlson spoke on, automation and AI machine learning became the main focus. The purpose of the Paradigm Shift in Technologies and Innovation Systems panel discussion was to dig deeper into paradigm shift statistics and hear about the panelists’ real-life experiences in the shift towards technology trends. Other speakers on the panel included Casey Barka of Strike Tax Advisory, Brad Bishop of Docupoint, Olivier Sosak of IT Y’ALL, Jasmine Wilson Viccaro of The Kraft Heinz Company, and Vennard Wright of Wave Welcome. (Watch the Paradigm Shift in Technologies and Innovation Systems panel discussion, time stamp 2:13:00)
It’s already widely known that technology is growing exponentially, but the pandemic has also created another facet to this booming growth of technology in recent years. During the pandemic, technology shifts were more often an inevitable and necessary action to continue conducting “business as usual.” Provided stats from CompTIA highlighted that the tech industry is projected to exceed $5.3 trillion in 2022, the US tech industry’s Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) is expected to grow 5% through 2024, and cloud computing CAGR is expected to grow 17.5% by 2025. These are huge strides and advances towards a new norm in technology, and it’s a shift the panelists have also experienced within their companies.
The panelists were asked what they define to be an emerging technology and how that technology has led to their company’s recent success. Overwhelmingly, the response was artificial intelligence – “this is the AI revolution”, poetically phrased by Sosak, who says it’s being seen in every field and is changing the access of, and what is done, with data.
Carlson’s approach to utilizing this technology is to meet it with the perspective of “how will this work for us, and how can I solve multiple problems with one tech?” For Divurgent, the pandemic created a need to empower healthcare organizations by providing AI-powered, compliant, and conversational healthcare experiences. From this need, Divurgent’s AI healthcare chatbot Tobias was born. Tobias (acronym for Technology Operations Business Information Artificial System) is an AI-powered, fully customizable chatbot that can live on web pages, in Microsoft Teams, and other environments. The shift took away the need of an in-person support and took that support to the desktop – allowing other people in the organization to focus on other work while Divurgent, and Tobias, provide the additional support.
Carlson says the best ways to know if a product is successful is through the following:
- Measure the technologies outcomes against not only your own leadership’s KPIs, but also the client company’s own KPIs, to track how successful the project was for that individual client
- Understand that technology is as much about the end users support as it is about fostering a successful implementation
- Understand that your clients are their own great innovation centers because they know what it is they’d like to see – by partnering together you facilitate successes on both sides to create better outcomes and reduce pain points
What to Consider When Pursuing a Shift in Technology
With the inevitable technological shift towards automation and AI, companies need to look at these tech projects as not only “just another tech project.” When you get down to the core of what needs to shift in tech, it’s the people – it’s having the right stakeholders at your table, it’s the people who create AI, and it’s the end users benefiting from your product. Your company needs to have all the right resources to continue supporting what can come after a successful AI product.
Important thoughts to consider when pursuing a shift in technology:
- What is the first problem you can solve by using AI?
- Will your end users be open to utilizing an AI tool?
- Will you be able to have key stakeholders involved to form an ongoing governance committee?
- How will you ensure your AI is developed without biases?
About the Authors
Emily Carlson is the Vice President of Technology at Divurgent, where she leads project and program initiatives ranging from value-based care to mobile device management, and enterprise architecture security initiatives. She has over 20 years of experience in the IT field, with much of her career focused on the healthcare markets. To learn more about Emily, visit her on LinkedIn.
Amanda Sorg is the Marketing Content Writer at Divurgent, where she creates impactful and meaningful content that connects clients to the Divurgent community. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Anthropology from the University of North Florida, holds certifications in Digital and Content Marketing, and has been with Divurgent since 2022. To learn more about Amanda, visit her on LinkedIn.
About Us
Divurgent is a solutions provider focused on what matters most to our client partners. We disrupt the typical value equation by using data-infused, flexible, and scalable solutions that demonstrate and quantify value for our partners.
We are committed to IT evolution, deploying tailored solutions that help our client partners achieve improved operational effectiveness, financial performance, and quality of customer experience. Throughout Divurgent’s 14-year history, we have experienced year-over-year growth measured in both revenue and employee headcount.
Excellence, Learning, Innovation, Trust, Enthusiasm—these are the ELITE Values that drive us to be more and do more—to redefine consulting and transform healthcare for our clients and the communities they serve. We are passionate about providing innovative solutions that offer our clients the opportunity to improve customer experiences and enhance operational efficiencies. Staying true to our values, mission, and our vision of a passionate Team has given us the tools to be a successful firm both externally and internally, growing both as a company and as a Team. www.divurgent.com
