Intelligent CIO Europe Issue 06 | Page 102

GET TO KNOW “ of the significant transformation towards personalised decision making. The technological keys for this transformation are data analysis, predictive analytics, personalisation, online and real-time responsiveness, and data unification. What do you currently identify as the major areas of investment in your industry? penetration processes require deep recognition of each market, local partnerships, local involvement and networking and these vary from one country to another. What changes to your job role have you seen in the last year and how do you see these developing in the next 12 months? I would say data analysis platforms. How do you deal with stress and unwind outside of the office? Outdoor jogging works for me. I find an hour of running to be one of the most productive activities, not only for relaxation, but also for contemplation. If you could go back and change one career decision, what would it be? The two decisions that most shaped my career are the focus on entrepreneurship and the decision to integrate my two areas of interest: technology and psychology. Both were taken rather late in my career. If I could, I would have aimed towards these directions much sooner. The major change I experienced is expansion in the type of solutions and use cases that we are asked to support. This is the result of the growing interest and demand for applying speech analysis and predictive analytics to various business needs. What advice would you offer somebody aspiring to obtain C-level position in your industry? In my opinion, the crucial quality of a senior manager today is the ability to I FIND AN HOUR OF RUNNING TO BE ONE OF THE MOST PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES, NOT ONLY FOR RELAXATION, BUT ALSO FOR CONTEMPLATION. separate the wheat from the chaff; on the one hand, to be very open and well updated with new ideas and concepts, yet on the other hand, to be able to differentiate, with strong common sense, intuition and confidence, between what’s really important and what isn’t. Such executives are most capable of making a difference, setting a company’s directions, adapting to new challenges and leading internal and external changes. Awareness of what to prioritise and what not to, is the first step. n What are the region-specific challenges when implementing new technologies in Europe? Technologically, our language-independent speech analysis is well adjusted to the multi- regional European environment. However, the marketing perspective is more challenging. Despite the general globalisation trend, 102 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com