From Augmented Humans to Saving Children with Cancer: My best experiences at the OOW Dubai

Events are not only about what happens on the day, but what you take away. For me, it’s often the people I meet and the new insights and perspectives I come across. Sometimes, it’s even just the energy of the event that keeps me buzzing for the next few weeks. At the Oracle OpenWorld (OOW) Dubai last week, I had a great opportunity to spend time with customers, analysts and even colleagues, who I’d otherwise only meet on Zoom and Slack. Including one of my batchmates from the Accelerated Executive Insight program. We did this last year at the IESE University and the University of Michigan. Best part was that we could just pick up our conversation where we last left it! 

A standout session was the Gartner one, where their managing partner, Mim Burt, presented predictions for the next decade. Three things stood out for me. 

• First, Augmented Humans are not so uncommon, and we will possibly see more of this going ahead. In fact, even today, people with disabilities are using computing technology in unique ways to enhance their faculties. Not too far away, when voluntary microchipping and enhanced abilities will lead to Bring Your Own Enhancement (BYOE). 
• Second, crypto currencies will rule when it comes to the financial needs of the unbanked population and the ‘underbanked’ (interesting term that!) population. No surprises there. But the expected pace of this is stunning. Gartner predicts that by 2025, 50 percent of the population that has mobile phones but no bank accounts will have a cryptocurrency account.  

My own observation is that with the extent of regulatory pushback we continue to see against crypto currencies, such a big conversion might take several more years. But good news - the future for the unbanked is looking up. All thanks to crypto and mobiles.  

• Third, digital advertising is likely to get even more persuasive by becoming more invasive. Technologies that can plot your emotional graph based on your eyeball movement or speed of scrolling or observed sequential habits already exist. And brands will be happy to move from a demographic or digital-habits targeting, to a more ‘in the moment’ emotion-based targeting. 

My personal view is that this will be directly at loggerheads with the movement against social media addiction. Already we have regulations such as SMART that call for social media de-addiction. Both these trends gaining ground will lead to strong strong polarization. (Yes, yet another reason for the world getting polarized.) -

The best thing at a company event, is when you get to know something new about your own organization. That for me was the work Oracle is doing with Egypt’s 57357, a cancer hospital for children that treats patients for free. We support them with our ERP Cloud. Watched a beautiful video (not yet public). When you hear some of their patients and their parents, you realize what they’d be condemned to - if the hospital did not operate. And when you hear the doctors, you are filled with admiration for the people who have chosen to create positive impact in the world. The fact that my organization has a role to play in making sure that children who cannot afford cancer care are still getting enough treatment and care to survive it - it’s an incredible feeling! 

Similarly, the work we do with Narayana Hrudalaya and Dr. Devi Shetty is inspiring. That an effective ERP solution means more judicious use of the hospital’s money and resources - which means they do not turn away any patient for lack of funds - that’s the kind of ‘connect the dots’ experience we all need about our work.

At events like OOW, you feel connected with the world at large and experience the impact your business is creating in it. Most of the times it is business as usual, when we think and talk about speed, efficiency, and innovation. But some of these engagements stop you in your tracks. Make you think of the wider impact of everything you do. How it touches people and lives. And when you make that connection, you spontaneously smile. Because purpose is really about the happiness you feel in creating impact.