Charles Reed Anderson

IoT & Digital Transformation

Categories: AI, Asia, Business, Digital, Innovation, Leadership, Singapore, Smart Cities, Strategy, Technology, Trends

Charles is one of Asia’s leading technology industry innovators and thought leaders. His pragmatic approach makes him a valued advisor to influential decision makers by helping them separate industry hype from reality.

After 20+ years in the emerging technology industry, Charles recently joined Eight Inc., the global experience design firm behind such iconic concepts as the Apple Store, Nissan Crossing in Tokyo, and Lincoln’s “no salespeople” car dealerships in China.

In this role, Charles applies the same human outcomes-based methodologies used to create those concepts to help clients address their business challenges, including how to drive technology adoption, prepare for the Future of Work, and engage the innovation ecosystem.

Charles previously has led innovation initiatives at leading telecoms operators, including Vodafone, O2 and BT, ran his own strategic advisory firm, and served as a Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company.

He is the Host of the TechBurst Asia podcast and a prominent keynote speaker who has presented at nearly 300 industry events globally, where he shares his candid insights on IoT, Smart Cities, The Future of Work, Digital Transformation and 5G.

Digital Transformation

It is clear the companies realise they need to leverage technology to fend off competitive threats, improve their operational efficiency and enhance the customer experience. While the C-suite loves talking about their digital transformation initiatives, we need to ask an important question, “Why do so many of these initiatives fail?”

In this presentation, Charles explains why it is not technology that is holding the industry back, rather it is us as people. More specifically, Charles believes there are 3 types of collaboration required to minimise the risk to failed digital transformation initiatives:

1. Internal Stakeholder Engagement – companies must engage stakeholders from all areas of their business, including the C-suite, functional and operational areas, and end users, to ensure that deployed solutions deliver tangible business value – and that they are adopted by the users.

2. Technology Ecosystem Collaboration – Technology solutions are complex, with each involving multiple technologies from multiple vendors to create a single solution. Integrating these vendors technically and operationally is a challenge, but also a necessity.

3. Market/Industry Collaboration – delivering a technical solution is worthless unless it solves a business or industry challenge. The most innovative and creative solution deployments recognise this and bring together partners from across ecosystem to ensure they launch solutions with the price points/business models that meets market demand.

Creative collaboration isn’t just about bringing together groups of people, it’s about finding the right groups of disparate stakeholders and partners to deliver the optimal results.

IoT Now: What’s Hot, What’s Not & What’s Next

Charles will look across the IoT Ecosystem to identify which markets, technologies and solutions are driving the industry forward, which are failing to meet expectations, and which will rise to prominence over the coming 12 – 24 months. Topics covered included:

The Rise of IoT in China
Taipei’s Smart City Strategy – How to Deliver a citizen-centric Smart City
The SIM Revolution – How eSIMs & Virtual SIMs will drive evolutionary and revolutionary business models

IoT in Asia – The Calm Before the Storm

The size and scale of the IoT opportunity in Asia Pacific is staggering. Not only is it home to 4.5 Billion people, but it also has an emerging middle class of nearly 1 Billion people. Why is this important? Because it means that opportunities abound. In Asia, we are not just leveraging the latest technologies and solutions to progress the advanced markets like Japan, Korea and Singapore, we also leverage proven technologies and solutions to help countries in emerging markets digitize their society and reach their full potential.

In this presentation we:

examine the latest industry trends to describe both the opportunities and challenges the IoT ecosystem faces when engaging with the region’s IoT decision makers,
explain how new business, operational and financial models are required to drive IoT adoption, and
provide “best practice” examples of how innovative, cross-industry collaborations can deliver digital transformation and business value.

A Creative Approach to Digital Transformation

How creativity and collaboration are the keys to driving successful business and digital transformation.

Charles has been very observant with the trends of international IoT industries, and that makes the conversation with him full of precious knowledge and great insights. We are glad that he has paid attention on the efforts and development of smart city work in Taipei City and given us not only positive comments but also significant advices. Charles is a great ambassador who employs his witty sense of humour when delivering his pointed views to IoT, mobility and digital fields.
~ Charles Lin, Deputy Mayor, Taipei City, Taiwan

It is always amazing to listen to the countless examples of applications and solutions Charles has picked up through his interactions with the IoT industry’s movers and shakers. Especially impressive is his ability to crystallise large amounts of information into actionable insights for the benefit of his clients. If you need somebody to make sense of the IoT, Charles is your guy.
~Thomas Jakob, Regional President Asia PacificBosch Software Innovations

Charles and I have worked together in two capacities, the first being an adviser to me regarding IOT and the second as a keynote speaker at events that Samsung facilitates. Charles is without a doubt the go to guy for IoT. His knowledge and understanding is second to none. He’s an excellent public speaker also and a great guy to top it off.
~ Verdon Kelliher, Director of Strategic Innovation, Samsung

Charles brings a refreshing perspective to the world of IoT and is not taken in by the hype. He is often a contrarian and in a market driven by hype, this is stimulating. Charles presents his findings with detailed quantitative research and knowledge that goes beyond your typical analyst. His understanding of the market from “sensors to platforms” is unparalleled in the analyst world. Charles would be my “go to” guy for market perspectives on IoT.
~ Saj Kumar, Head of IoT & Digital Transformation, SAP Asia

It is rare to come across an IoT “thought leader” who not only understands the latest technology trends and their impact on the global and Asian markets, but also has the ability to explain them in a simple and powerful way. Charles’ pragmatic approach to explaining how the latest IoT trends and technologies will impact the business and operating models of companies across the IoT ecosystem allows him to deliver realistic, actionable insights to his audiences. Charles is without a doubt the best IoT keynote speaker in the market.
~ Silvia Yu, CEO, Red Peak Asia

Charles Reed Anderson

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