Keynote Speakers

Chris Peck

Head of Cloud Success Services, ANZ
SAP

Title: The Curious Perils and Power of Purposeful A.I.

“Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad”. It seems that Brian O’Driscoll knew that intelligence (artificial or otherwise) can sometimes be really dumb!

Join us to discover the secret formula for making magic with A.I… and also some of the unexpected things that can go very wrong indeed..

Bio: As Head of Cloud Success Services (CSS) for Australia and New Zealand, Chris’ primary responsibility is to provide strategic leadership across the CSS organisation and work with the broader SAP organisation towards building a strong relationship with customers and partners to deliver successful outcomes for our customers.

Prior to his appointment as Head of CSS Chris spent four years as Executive General Manager of Public Services, Chris was focused on working with the Australian Public Sector on digital innovation and transformation programs. Providing strategic advice, as well as leveraging global expertise to ensure agencies take advantage of new intelligent technologies to become more proactive, automated, foresighted, data-driven, and citizen-focused. He is a passionate advocate of SAP’s social impact initiatives, leading the SAP ANZ Crisis Coordination team on Bushfire Recovery and COVID-19, championing the role of technology in fostering Australian economic recovery.

A strong advocate for powering opportunity for all people through digital inclusion, Chris is also Executive Sponsor for SAP’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and its Young ICT Explorers program – a non-profit competition, supported by CSIRO Digital Careers, The Smith Family and Industry and University partners. It aims to encourage primary and high school students, particularly those in disadvantaged communities, in years 3-12 in Australia and New Zealand to solve real-world problems using their creativity and power of technology.

SAP’s inaugural Reflect RAP, in addition to increasing understanding of First Nations histories and cultures within SAP, also aims to create a multiplier effect, through increasing the amount of corporate procurement spend that is funnelled to businesses owned-by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through SAP’s Business Network.

Prior to working for SAP, Chris was a key member of the SAP team within Deloitte, managing and running their SAP technical practice in Australia. Chris holds a Bachelor of Commerce, focussed on Information Technology, from the University of Calgary, Canada.

Alok Gupta

Senior Associate Dean of Faculty, Research and Administration
University of Minnesota
ISR Editor-in-Chief

Title: A Perspective on Human Condition(ing) for Future of Work(ing) with AI

Abstract: A lot of focus of recent popular press has been around redundancy of humans in the future for work.  However, repeated failures of AI introduction in the workplace has provided some to rethink.  None-the-less, investment and belief in AI’s utility in the modern workplace keeps on increasing.  Most of the scholars agree (perhaps hope) that while commoditized work will be relegated to AI, humans that learn to leverage the technology can perhaps find a place in the future workplace.  Based on some recent research, I want to share challenges that humans face in working with AI both from the perspective of human capability and the effect of working with advanced computational technology on human thinking.

Bio: Alok Gupta holds the Curtis L. Carlson Schoolwide Chair in Information Management. He is Editor-in-Chief for Information Systems Research (ISR), a top journal in the area of information systems. He also serves as Senior Associate Dean of Faculty, Research and administration at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota.

His research focuses on Economic Engineering of systems – where system design explicitly considers incentives of participants – as applied to a variety of transactional systems from internet, real-time databases, B2B systems to e-commerce. He has published more than 80 journal articles in various information systems, economics, and computer science journals. More than 45 of these articles are published in premier journals — Management Science, ISR, and MIS Quarterly.

He received the LEO Award for career achievement from the Association for Information Systems (AIS) in 2021, and was awarded a prestigious NSF CAREER Award for his research on dynamic pricing mechanisms on the internet. He served multiple terms as an Associate Editor for Management Science and as Senior/Associate Editor for ISR. He has guest edited several special issues in Management Science and ISR. He has been serving as Publisher of MIS Quarterly since 2004.

Andrew Burton-Jones

Professor
University of Queensland
MIS Quarterly Editor-in-Chief

Title: Reflecting on the Three Worlds of Research and our Responsibilities as we Pause between Crises

Abstract: As we come to live with COVID-19, it is likely that we are just in a pause between crises. Due to climate change and other factors, more crises are likely to come. The good news is that COVID-19 taught us a lot about being resilient and we are now well-aware of the seriousness of the issues we might face. We therefore have to take this opportunity to reflect on what we are doing and how we can face the future more effectively together. Are we doing the most important scholarship? Are our journals supporting it as effectively as possible? How can we improve? In this talk, I will discuss some of the issues we might face, provide a framework for how I consider these issues in my editorial role at MIS Quarterly, and offer suggestions to consider going forward.

Bio: Andrew Burton-Jones is a Professor of Business Information Systems at the UQ Business School, University of Queensland. He obtained his BCom (Hons) and M. Information Systems from the University of Queensland and his Ph.D. from Georgia State University. Prior to returning to UQ, he was an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia. Andrew conducts research on how organizations can use information systems effectively, how to improve systems analysis and design methods, and how to improve theories and methods in the IS discipline. Recently, much of his work has focused on the digital transformation of healthcare. Andrew has taught a variety of information systems courses in the USA, Canada, China, and Australia. He is a Fellow of the Association for Information Systems and Editor-in-Chief of MIS Quarterly.