It is not often that entrepreneurs, IT directors and operations officers get the chance to devote an entire day to learning about the latest tech trends and how they can affect their business. Last month, the Gordon Flesch Company (GFC) held Tech Summits in both Milwaukee and Madison that offered just that: the chance to listen, learn and engage with industry experts in an environment where the only wrong answers were the ones that weren’t asked.
The big focus of the events? Big data. It’s a topic that is on every company’s radar as the goliaths of the world — Google, Apple, Amazon and more — wield extraordinary power based solely on the information they collect from their users. Nearly 90 percent of the world’s data has been created in the last two years alone, and that number only increases as the world rushes forward. It’s not surprising that businesses have been struggling to harness the power of this data for their own growth—it’s a fairly new phenomenon that leaders at large and small corporations alike are trying to tackle. Collecting that data is one thing, but companies also have to figure out how to use the data to learn about their business and drive future business growth. Leaders also need to be able to protect their data, both from employees inside their organization who should have limited access, and from people outside their organization that shouldn’t have access at all.
GFC’s business analysts and industry consultants discussed these dynamics and more, answering attendees’ questions and prompting them to think about their business and what their objectives are for the coming months and years. Once a company knows what they want to accomplish, GFC can help them find the proper tech strategy to achieve those goals. Every business is unique, and GFC’s focus on designing customized solutions is a key component to help businesses in today’s world not only survive the changing technological landscape, but to thrive in it.
Focused breakout sessions turned toward other areas of business technology. Attendees had the option to learn about how to optimize business processes, leverage enterprise content management systems, evaluate their business continuity and disaster recovery solutions, maintain secure networks, and implement output management and electronic filing systems to reduce waste and increase data security in their organization. The GFC Tech Summits also featured ongoing demonstrations about the latest tech innovations from desktop efficiency to self-serve copy and print stations. New products from Canon, Sharp, Lexmark and more were demoed at the event, with representatives available to answer questions about specific solutions.
The events were an opportunity for businesses in the Madison and Milwaukee communities to see just how far technology could take them in 2015 and beyond.
To catch a down-to-the-tweet recap of the events in June, check out #GFCTechSummit on Twitter. Stay tuned to GFC’s LinkedIn channel for announcements concerning new events in other parts of the Great Lakes Region.