Nacho Pinedo, founder and CEO of ISDI (Higher Institute for Internet Development), opened the event by stating that "it is a mistake to think we are living in an era of change when in reality we are witnessing a change of era." Therefore, denying reality or living in isolation from it is not an option. Thus, "the digital transformation of companies is an ethical duty to employees and customers," Pinedo noted, adding that "if we talk about the digital world, it is more difficult to transform than to create from scratch."
Following the opening, companies took the floor to explain how intelligent data analysis has changed the paradigm of their businesses and how they are navigating this path, fraught with challenges and even more opportunities.
GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION: INDETERMINATION AND REGULATORY PULSE
The new GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) will come into effect on May 25th, and is mandatory for all European Union member states. Javier Fernández Samaniego, director of Samaniego Law; Óscar Casado, Head of Legal at Telefónica Digital; and Pablo Fernández Burgueño, founder of Nevtrace, were in charge of reviewing the GDPR's progress and shortcomings in detail.
One of the key points of the debate was the conflict whatsapp number list between this regulation and Spanish legislation , which all speakers described as particularly restrictive and fraught with obstacles to the advancement of the digital economy.
BLOCKCHAIN AND THE POWER OF DECENTRALIZATION
Alex Preuskschat, Blockchain Spain's Node Coordinator, gave one of the keynote addresses of the day. He explained the essence of blockchain technology to the audience , from the concept itself to the implications its implementation would have for businesses and public administration.
Paradigmatic examples of sectors where blockchain has a significant impact include, in the private sector, banking and insurance, due to the possibility of eliminating intermediaries and commissions; and, in the public sector, the decentralization of property registries, a project already underway in some Nordic countries.
INNOVATION TO GIVE VALUE TO DATA
On behalf of DataCentric, Antonio Romero de la Llana and Manuel Suárez, CEO and Director of Operations respectively, took the floor first to present the main innovations that the company will make available to its clients in 2018, both in products and in processes and business models .
NEW BUSINESS MODELS, B2B MARKETING AND VISUALIZATION
Although it's overwhelming to think about the volume of data each of us generates in a single day, or the fact that if the speed of a car had advanced as rapidly as computing power, as Bernardo Hernández—former Google executive and General Partner of Eventures—pointed out in the afternoon session, we would now have small cars traveling at 480,000 km/h, information and the technology to store, process, and interpret it have been determining major business decisions since the end of the 20th century, and therefore the direction of the world we live in.
Gerardo Raído, Chief Digital Officer at DataCentric, spoke alongside Mikel Lekaroz, CEO of OZ Digital Spain, to unravel the key advances in Database Marketing strategies for digital B2B environments. Marcos Ríos, Insight Principal Consultant, and Julio Lerena, Sales Manager for Iberics at Luciad, demonstrated the visual power of data in decision-making.