This article was originally published in the September 2019 issue of the IABM Journal which can be viewed here.
Change, Innovate and Adapt is the theme for this year’s Annual International Business Conference which is taking place in London in early December.
As IBC 2019 opens for business these three words should be at the forefront of our minds; our industry is well into its transformation to an on-demand, IP-delivered, cloud-enabled structure where efficiency and scale make a real difference. Our future success depends upon driving organizational and business change successfully, innovating with transformative products and services, and adapting to agile operations and as-a-service business models. In short, completely transforming every aspect of our businesses.
We are carrying these messages forward strongly with all our activities at IBC. The show-opening IABM State of the Industry breakfast session – ‘Seeing clearly in the cloud – strategies for business transformation’ – looks at what’s driving industry change and how both IABM members and visitors to the show can meet the challenges and unlock the opportunities in our fast-changing industry. It also provides the first of many excellent networking opportunities IABM is providing throughout the show.
The Future Trends Theatre – which IABM is again curating – returns with twice as many presentations across a huge range of leading-edge topics, and many IABM members are taking advantage of presentation opportunities to share their ideas with the widest possible audience.
This year’s BaM Awards® at IBC has attracted a record of nearly 200 entries, and the BaM Awards® Party on Saturday will recognize outstanding innovation across the entire BaM Content Chain®. As well as celebrating that innovation, the party also provides more excellent networking opportunities.
Talking of the BaM Content Chain®, in the 15 months since we launched it to give the industry a modern working model, we are now seeing it being widely accepted and adopted across the industry. Indeed, IBC itself is framing the new Conference Tracks this year around our BaM Content Chain® segments across all five days of the event. We have had a similar welcome to our most recent initiative – the IABM Technology & Trends Roadmap™, and I now expect this to become a blueprint to frame technology discussions between our members and their customers, short-circuiting what has previously been an onerous business – sharing and comparing roadmaps.
‘Manage’ is one of the most lively segments of the BaM Content Chain® as broadcast and media companies search for more efficiency and agility in their media factories. So it is appropriate that our Special Feature this month is on developments in Manage, and there are some excellent insights in it from member companies who are leading the way in transforming media management and workflow orchestration to power the new media factories.
In July we announced the results of the election to the new Members’ Board, which will serve for two years under the chairmanship of Andreas Hilmer of Lawo. Andreas has laid out his vision for how he sees IABM developing in that period in an article in this edition, and we also hear from outgoing chair, James Gilbert of Pixel Power (who remains on the Board as Immediate Past Chair), reflecting on what has changed over the course of his four years as chair.
There are too many other interesting features in this edition for me to single out – but I am sure you will enjoy reading them and gain useful insights. I must however make a special mention for John Ive’s lightning tour of innovation in each segment of the BaM Content Chain®, and I share his conclusion –that the future is bright! All we need to do is to continue to change, innovate and adapt – and then keep repeating the process!
I wish all members a successful IBC Show and I look forward to meeting up with as many of you as possible during the show – and at various other IABM events that follow – including Conference in December!