CIO FORUM

Tuesday, December 13

Overview
14:00-15:30: Assessing AI Trustworthiness – Necessity, Potential, or Illusion

Stefan Wrobel (Fraunhofer IAIS, Germany)
Peter Heidkamp (‘Deutsche Börse’, Germany)
Ioanna Constantiou (CBS, Denmark)
Virpi Tuunainen (Aalto University, Finland)
Moderator: Claudia Loebbecke (University of Cologne, Germany)

16:00-17:30: The Real Questions of Enterprise Transformation

Michael Müller-Wünsch (Otto, Germany)
Ann Fogelgren (GN Group, Denmark)
Joe Peppard (University College Dublin, Ireland)
Moderator: Robert Winter (University of St.Gallen, Switzerland)

Session Outlines
Outline

The upcoming European AI Act will be the worldwide first regulation of AI systems. It requires that AI systems with a high risk must be assessed for trustworthiness. However, so-called harmonized standards still have to be developed and agreed upon for operationalization. Given the rapid pace of technological progress and manifold possibilities for constructing intelligent systems, the question arises as to how to assess AI trustworthiness, developed so that underlying criteria or even standards have a meaningful lifespan and are consistent with different international value concepts regarding the use of AI.

In the session, Stefan Wrobel will introduce the topic and raise opportunities and challenges that arise from developing appropriate AI standards. He will introduce how compliance with such AI standards can be operationalized through AI assessments and hence suggest that assessing AI trustworthiness is necessary and possible in business. Peter Heidkamp, Ioanna Constantiou, and Virpi Tuunainen will challenge and complement his views on assessing AI trustworthiness from different perspectives. Claudia Loebbecke will moderate and foster a lively discussion among speakers and with the audience.

Outline

Otto’s enterprise transformation comprised not only (another) fundamental business model transformation (from linear e-commerce to digital platform), but at the same time a transformation of tasks and work culture on both the business and IT sides (from traditional units to agile tech/business teams) – all at a considerable scale and under considerable market and financial pressure. During the transformation, Otto had to deal with some fundamental challenges not fully covered by extant research, e.g., how to scale up entrepreneurial dynamics to the corporate level without losing agility and innovation, how to leverage business and IT teams excellence while maintaining alignment and preserving autonomy, or how to combine agile transformation with established financial and investor management processes.

Having driven this enterprise transformation as Otto’s CIO, Michael Müller-Wünsch will share not only why this fundamental transformation was successful, but also where research insights were missed. Ann Fogelgren and Joe Peppard will discuss critical aspects such as the role of the ‘IT unit’ in the digital enterprise and enterprise transformation, how KPIs of tech and business units can be aligned, and how digital entrepreneurship can be scaled without compromising coordination. Robert Winter will moderate and foster a lively discussion among speakers and with the audience.

Session Speakers – 14:00 – 15:30

Stefan Wrobel is Professor of Computer Science at University of Bonn and Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS in St. Augustin, Germany. He studied computer science and artificial intelligence in Bonn and Atlanta, Georgia/USA (M.S., Georgia Institute of Technology) and obtained his PhD at the University of Dortmund. Professor Wrobel’s work is focused on questions of the digital revolution, in particular intelligent algorithms and systems for the large-scale analysis of data and the influence of Big Data/Smart Data on the use of information in companies and society. He is the author of a large number of publications on data mining and machine learning, is on the Editorial Board of several leading academic journals in his field, and is an elected founding member of the ‘International Machine Learning Society’. He was honored by the German ‘Gesellschaft für Informatik’ as one of the formative minds in German AI history. As Speaker of the ‘Fraunhofer Big Data and Artificial Intelligence Alliance’ and director of the ‘Fraunhofer Center for Machine Learning’, he is engaged nationally and internationally in pushing forward the benefits of digitization, big data and artificial intelligence. (www.iais.fraunhofer.de/en/institute/about-us/institute-management/stefan-wrobel.html)

Peter Heidkamp is the Head of IT Governance, Risk & Transformation at Deutsche Börse Group, an international exchange organization and innovative financial market infrastructure provider. He is responsible to for the group’s IT control structures and large transformational IT projects. Before joining Deutsche Börse, Peter has been working at KPMG for more than 20 years, providing regulatory and technology consulting services primarily to the financial services industry. He led KPMG’s technology center of excellence and developed solutions to increase trust in cloud services and AI. Peter has studied business administration with a focus on computer sciences and technology management at the University of Cologne. (www.linkedin.com/in/peter-heidkamp-15010b5)

Ioanna Constantiou is a Professor of Information Systems at the Department of Digitalization in Copenhagen Business School and academic director of CBS’ Business in Society initiative on Digital Transformations. 2017 to 2020, she was Professor of Information Systems at the Department of Applied IT in University of Gothenburg in Sweden. She holds a Ph.D. from Department of Management Science and Technology, Athens University of Economics and Business. Her research focuses on the impact of digital platforms, digital technologies, and in particular AI on the digital transformations in industries, society, and on everyday life. Her research is published in a number of prestigious academic outlets. Ioanna Constantiou serves as a SE for the Journal of Strategic Information Systems and Electronic Markets. (www.cbs.dk/en/research/departments-and-centres/department-of-digitalization/staff/icdigi)

Virpi Kristiina Tuunainen is the Associate Dean of research and international cooperation and professor of Information Systems Science at the Department of Information and Service Management of Aalto University School of Business in Espoo, Finland. Her widely published research focuses on ICT enabled or enhanced services, digital platforms, and customer and community digital innovation. She received her PhD (Econ.) degree (majoring in Information Systems Science) from the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration (Finland) in 1999. She is past Vice President of Publications of the AIS, past President of AIS SIG Services, and she received the AIS Fellow award in 2016. She currently serves as SE for European Journal of Information Systems. (people.aalto.fi/virpi.tuunainen)

Claudia Loebbecke, University of Cologne, Germany holds the Chair of Media and Technology Management at the University of Cologne and is member of the Administrative Board of the Public Broadcaster WDR (‘WDR Verwaltungsrat’). 2005-2006, she was President of the Association for Information Systems (AIS), which named her AIS Fellow in 2012, and a Distinguished Member cum laude in 2019. She received a Master Degree (1990) and a Ph.D. (1995) in Business Administration, both from the University of Cologne, Germany, and an M.B.A. from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA (1991). In 2018, she completed the MIT’s Executive Education Course ‘Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy’ and became ‘Certified Board Member’ awarded by Steinbeis Business Academy in Berlin. (mtm.uni-koeln.de/team-loebbecke-home-engl.htm)

Session Speakers – 16:00 – 17:30

Michael Müller-Wünsch is SVP corporate IT at Otto group, one of largest retailers in Germany. After earning a Doctorate focused on Distributed Artificial Intelligence at Technical University of Berlin, Germany, and spending some years as post-doc, he held several consulting and management positions (COO) in the logistics industry before becoming CIO in 2012 and moving to Otto group in 2015. During his time at Otto, he drove the fundamental transformation of one of Germany’s biggest retailers (that started as a mail order business) from linear e-commerce leader to digital platform orchestrator. In parallel to the fundamental business transformation, he also drove the transformation of work towards an agile, “real-time organization with respect for our society”. (www.linkedin.com/in/muewue)

Ann Fogelgren, CIO for GN Group, is an ambassador for the new CIO leadership role. As an integral part of the business, her starting point is the customer, and her strategic “toolbox” to achieve success are digitization transformation, innovation, and diversity. To succeed as a CIO requires that you are multidisciplinary, that you keep the focus on technological modernization, drive the agile process transformation and at the same time push for a cultural change based on diversity, inclusion and courage. Ann holds a MBA in Marketing and Management from Northern Arizona University and a PhD in Information Systems from Copenhagen Business School. She was named CIO of the Year 2022 in Denmark, being the first woman to receive this award. (www.linkedin.com/in/ann-fogelgren-65332a1)

Joe Peppard is Professor and Academic Director at the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, University College Dublin. His research studies contemporary issues and challenges that managers and boards of directors face in an environment of accelerating technological change. While academically rigorous, with his research he seeks to steer a pragmatic path. He recognizes that managers want frameworks and models to help them understand their own predicaments, insights to figure out options and consequences, and clear actionable advice and guidance. In his writings, Professor Peppard seeks to help the busy manager and board member to be successful. The Wall Street Journal cited his research as one of “10 tech events of 2021 that will shape the future”. (www.linkedin.com/in/joe-peppard-5868513)

Robert Winter, University of St.Gallen (HSG), Switzerland, is a full professor of business & information systems engineering and director of HSG’s Institute of Information Management. He is founding director of HSG’s Executive MBA program in Business Engineering. Having been vice editor-in-chief of the Business & Information Systems Engineering journal and senior editor at the European Journal of Information Systems, he currently serves on the editorial board of MIS Quarterly Executive. His main research interests are design science research methodology and enterprise-level IS management topics such as architectural coordination, governance of digital platforms, or governance of enterprise transformation. One of his publications received the AIS Senior Scholars’ Best Paper award for 2017. (iwi.unisg.ch/en/lehrstuhl-winter)