24.9.2015
Ninth Combis Conference, the central annual event organized by Combis, opened on Thursday in Šibenik. Through this year's main topic Feel digital. Live digital., the aim is to bring participants closer to the technologies that enable innovation of products and services as well as faster and more efficient business operations.
Ivan Gabrić, Combis CEO
The Conference was opened by the Combis CEO Ivan Gabrić who has spoken about the topics: new mobility, total immersion in sensors and the democratization of creativity, which strongly change our lives and business operations. “In fact, the main question is not what changes us, but in what way it changes us and how we ourselves participate in changes”, says Gabrić.
“Innovative ideas for the development of our everyday business are in the focus of this year's, ninth, Combis Conference. We will show successful examples of projects and solutions built on the needs and demands of companies, but we will go a step further and reveal how we see the future of IT”, the head of Combis emphasized.
Kai Ulrich Deissner, member of the Board and Chief Financial Officer of Hrvatski Telekom, pointed out how technology affects the development of telecom industry, what trends we can expect and what the technological changes bring to the end user: „Technology is the foundation of our business and our main goal is to remain Croatian market leaders in this area. We continuously invest in order to provide better service to our customers, and also use the technology to change and accelerate our business. Advantages of technology are visible, both financially and through the satisfaction of our employees and customers.“
„We can do business with the help of various technologies and everything will function. However, it is much easier and more efficient to manage business when everything is integrated. There are numerous examples which show how well it functions“, said Deissner.
Goran Car, Combis Professional Services and Solutions SBU Director, pointed out that the digital era requires change for all without exception, thus Combis went to implement some changes within the company - one part relates to the aspect of the products and solutions, and the other relates to in-house organization and the way in which it provides services to the end user.
“Digitalization is not just the use of internet and mobile applications, it changes the way of work and production, jobs, successful business models, products that the market wants. Some companies use outsourcing and it is often seen as a success. However, it is the smallest form of creating added value. Therefore, we believe that the future is in our own solutions, with our own 'twist of lemon' – a bit of originality that makes us interesting and competitive”, Car said and presented Combis' program of internal startup - neostartup.
“Neostartup, as we called a model of internal startups, uses Combis’ existing resources and knowledge, but at the same time gives the team within startup freedom in developing and generating new solutions that tomorrow may become a relevant product“, adds Car.
The first such Combis' project is iFlight – innovative Cloud flight schedule management system based on the biometric monitoring of aircrews' physiological condition in real time by means of wearable devices and mobile application. It was presented by Mario Rudman and Marko Radoš, friends from Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing from which they recently graduated, and today they're colleagues in Combis team.
Fredrik Härén, globally renowned business creativity speaker
A globally renowned business creativity speaker at his first guest speech in Croatia, talked about changes taking place in the world and advised Combis Conference participants to be more focused on creativity and thinking beyond borders.
"To make a business more digital should never be the aim itself. The aim should be to make the business more customer focused, faster at delivering its products, easier to talk to etc. Of course, many times that means making it more digital, but do not lose track on thinking on why you are doing something", said Fredrik Härén, globally renowned business creativity speaker at the beginning of his plenary lecture 'A Rapidly Developing World'.
Härén, who is in Croatia for the first time, added how big changes are happening now in many industries, but we also have to keep in mind that when driving fast we have to pay attention to WHEN we are supposed to “turn” (ie make the change).
"If I was a Croatian business person I would not think 'How can my Croatian company change the world?', I would think 'How can my company help make the world better.' Focus should be put on the solutions, not the geographical location. The world of business doesn’t care about where you come from – it cares about what you want to do", said Combis Conference key note speaker.
Härén advises to stop thinking so much around “countries”. „The winners today, and tomorrow, will be the people and companies that are able to think beyond borders. If Croatia is getting a lot of people to do that, it will be good for Croatia. And I think it is easier for people from small countries to think like that, as people from big countries have such a huge market within their borders."
Fredrik Härén is listed in: “Sweden's Top Ten Speakers Ever”. Härén is Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), among 700 speakers worldwide and Certified Global Speaking Professional (GSPGlobal), a society of only 30 members globally.
He held more than 1.500 lectures in more than 60 countries (only last year he has been in more than 30 different countries on five continents). He is an author of 9 books - including ‘The Idea Book’ which was included in “The 100 Best Business Books of All Time”. His second most popular book, 'The Developing World', is about creativity, dreams and a curiosity about the world, written about change and awakening and the dangers of not seeing what is going on in the world today. Fredrik's most recent book 'One World. One Company' is about being a truly global company.
First Conference day continues with lectures from leading businessmen from successful Croatian companies and a round table named 'ICT in a country of football and tourism'.