Paul Zikopoulos
In a rapidly transforming world, data has become the new
competitive advantage. And according to future trends expert
Paul Zikopoulos, “Every day we walk by solvable problems,
leaving opportunities untapped.” The VP of Technology Unit
Skills & Enablement at IBM, Zikopoulos discusses how working
these “solvable problems” creates disruption in the marketplace
and how golden signals of opportunity can be found within
mountains of noise. At IBM, Paul leads from the front, owning
accountability and strategic direction in a “tech years are like
dog years” world for the entire IBM Technology Unit’s (all IBM
software and hardware) sales, tech sales, and partner ecosystem
learning journeys, and upskilling programs.
Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau
for lectures, Paul is changing the way audiences are looking at
their businesses in terms of potential sales, obstacles,
potential for growth, and how they utilize technology, such as
generative AI and cloud applications, to support their
organizations. Paul shares future trends that are starting to
happen in real-time and have multiple applications: from garbage
cans that alert sanitation departments when they need collection
– saving cities millions – to shampoo brands that are connecting
weather forecasts with personal consumer profiles to suggest the
right mix of hair products for the day. He easily discusses the
next generation of technological change from the power of
machine learning and voice-to-text, to the opportunities in
reading digital body language and joining the Internet of Things
trillion sensor economy, and more.
Incredibly energetic and easy to follow, Paul is the antithesis
of what many people think of when they consider a big data
expert. Using incredible visuals, including a hashtag aggregator
that instantly creates examples of perfectly segmented consumers
live on stage, Paul amazes audiences with the amount of
information available to change the conversation about your
industry. By sharing his insights on where big data comes from
and the idea that “If you aren’t paying for it, you are being
sold,” Paul breaks apart the roles of data collection and
decision making for executives seeking the opportunities for
disrupting their industry and leap-frogging the competition.
Paul is an award-winning tech thought leader and writer who has
shared his expertise on AI and big data on the popular TV show,
60 Minutes, as well as in publications such as Technopedia and
Analytics Week. He has published 21 books, including Cloud
Without Compromise, The AI Ladder, and three ‘For Dummies’
titles, and more than 360 articles during his, as he calls it,
accidental 28-year career as a data nerd — which he began with
no prior coding experience. Among the leading voices in tech and
big data, Paul has been named in dozens of global “Experts to
Follow” & “Influencers” lists, including Analytics Insight’s
“Top 100 Global AI & Big Data Influencers” and SAP’s “50 Big
Data Twitter Influencers.” Currently, he is writing an O’Reilly
book on Hybrid Cloud. An expert in harnessing the power of big
data, Paul brings real world experience from his at time
managing more than 1,400 professionals to help groups build
influence and affect change in their organization.
Paul has taken an active role in bolstering Women in Technology,
LGBT and general workplace inclusivity (completing an intensive
D&I certificate at Cornell University), and Coding for Veterans.
In addition to being the first and only male ever to be
recognized as an IBM Canada “Women in Technology Ally of the
Year” award winner, he is a seated board member for Switch
(formerly known as Women 2.0), a global network and social
platform for aspiring and current female founders of technology
ventures who he became involved with after one of his tweets was
mentioned on the TV show “The View.” He is also on the
world-recognized Masters of Management Analytics and AI program
boards at Canada’s prestigious Queen’s University.
