"We are in a time of total upheaval," says Doris Albiez (Dell). "Everything is changing and must change in order to keep pace with innovations such as the digital workplace, the cloud and Industry 4.0."



How this upheaval manifests itself, what risks but also opportunities are associated with it, were the central topics at the 12th IT Executive Summit. On February 25 and 26, the guests discussed "Digital Leadership Strategies" at "The Charles Hotel" in Munich. The exclusive group was made up of top management representatives from the largest IT service providers and system houses, IT providers and, for the first time, managers from key sectors of the German economy. Klaus Straub (BMW) and Roland Auschel (Adidas), for example, provided exclusive insights into their views, strategies and experiences of digitalization.



It is particularly important to better understand the needs of customers and to question existing business models. "What works successfully now could quickly stagnate in the future - if strategies are not adapted to the new technologies, delivery and business models," Diana Coso (EMC) pointed out in the interview. That's why you now have to "focus your energy on new topics."



The guests at the summit agreed that digital transformation is not always easy. Nevertheless, it is "a friend and not a foe" and there are "more opportunities than risks", as Günter Schiller (ACP Holding) put it in a nutshell. Thomas Steckenborn (CEMA AG) even went one step further and said "The starting conditions for us as partners are ideal". New business models offer new business potential - and this must be exploited.



In its seminars, industry summits and congresses, the Vogel IT Academy(akademie.vogel-it.com) offers IT decision-makers and partners focused knowledge on a wide range of topics. The Academy is a division of Vogel IT-Medien, Augsburg, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vogel Business Media. The most important media brands of Vogel IT-Medien are IT-BUSINESS, eGovernment Computing, BigData-Insider.de, DataCenter-Insider.de, CloudComputing-Insider.de, IP-Insider.de, Security-Insider.de and Storage-Insider.de. Vogel Business Media is Germany's largest trade media company with 100+ trade journals, 100+ web portals, 100+ business events as well as numerous mobile offerings and international activities. Its headquarters are in Würzburg. The company celebrates its 125th birthday in 2016.