London Calling, ForgeRock Answering!
Our Identity Live summit series landed in London with a bang last week, as visionary analysts, executives, technical experts and industry thought leaders got together to talk identity and share insights - first at Identity Live London on Thursday, and then our Technical UnSummit on Friday. At The Brewery, a unique venue in the heart of the City of London, speakers tackled the opportunities and challenges of the digital identity revolution from different angles for a truly thought-provoking day.
We kicked off with an introduction to the concept of digital identities, and how they can be a catalyst for positive change. Our CEO Mike Ellis pointed out that the number of connected devices already exceeds the world population, so it’s up to organizations to take advantage of this tech-driven world to personalize the customer experience. With ForgeRock helping you to secure identities across your entire business, you can do so without opening yourself – and your customers – up to undesirable risk.
The "A-Ha!" moments didn’t stop there, with some highlights including:
- Our SVP of Product Management, Daniel Raskin explained how you can monetize digital customer relationships, and our Identity Technology Director, Ashley Stevenson described the future of identity, as ForgeRock sees it. Ashley's demo of the ForgeRock Identity Platform showed how digital identity for people, devices and things works in practice, especially in the context of the connected car and Internet of Things.
- A fireside chat with Scott McNealy, Former CEO & Co-Founder of Sun Microsystems & Chairman of Wayin was a lively affair, with the tech legend riffing on his provocative assertion: ‘you’ve got no privacy – get over it!’
- A keynote speech from Marko Orenius, Director of Digital Business Platform at Amer Sports, outlined the company's sometimes challenging but ultimately transformative (and value-rich) evolution into an omnichannel business. Memorably, we were shown the world’s first attachment-free smart basketball.
- A lively panel discussion about the evolving role of identity in digital transformation featured Matt Grest, Director of Platform at the BBC, Dan Farrell, Managing Director of Digital Integration Europe at Accenture Digital and Rimma Perelmuter, CEO at the Mobile Ecosystem Forum. The discussion was moderated by David Birch, Director of Innovation at Consult Hyperion, who left no stone unturned with his questions.
- For a new perspective on GDPR and what it means in reality for organizations on the front lines of its implementation, our own VP of Innovation & Emerging Technology, Eve Maler, and independent GDPR Analyst Chiara Rustici, put on a lively interactive presentation that featured ForgeRock CMO Robert Humphrey in a memorable cameo role (nice wig Robert!). Eve and Chiara pitted the company standpoint against the consumer-centric view, exploring how GDPR will affect customer interactions in the years ahead.
- We were treated to a peek into the coming Pensions Dashboard by Kenneth May, Lead Architect at Origo. As Kenneth put it, ForgeRock technology handles the ‘bits and pieces’ behind the scenes that powers a simple solution to a very complex problem.
- From HSBC, we were lucky enough to have David Knott, Chief Architect, and Ian Sorbello, Head of Product Technology, Security at HSBC Digital Solutions, explain the organization’s path to a single digital identity solution.
- Finally, Ken Hughes, Leading Consumer & Shopper Behavioralist & Playologist delivered a stark warning to companies that aren’t harnessing the digital consumer revolution: you’ll soon be irrelevant. Ken left us marveling at the imagination behind the diamond Shreddies campaign – and how we should all tilt our customer engagement strategies.
The following day, the action moved to a different central London location for UnSummit, where – as our own Daniel Raskin put it – we had the chance to ‘geek out’ and dive deep into the technical details. With an agenda set on the day, UnSummit let us share what’s happening with ForgeRock’s solutions, while attendees share their knowledge and ask challenging questions.
You can find the highlights video as well as individual session videos on ForgeRock's YouTube page - be sure to check them out. Likewise, presentation decks will be available on SlideShare and you can catch up on the social media action over on Storify - we've got photos from both Identity Live and the Technical UnSummit.
Special thanks must go to our sponsors Accenture (Global Headliner), PwC and Deloitte (Headliners), Amido, Capgemini, Identity Methods, KCOM, IS4U and Paradigmo (Rock Stars) for helping us put on an unforgettable show. It won’t be long before we’re in Paris for the next Identity Live event in late November – we hope you’ll join us there!
Stuart is Regional Vice President, UK and Ireland, at ForgeRock
