Paul Zikopoulos

Future Trends Expert, and VP of Technology Group Skills Vitality & Enablement at IBM

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.

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.

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.”

Paul has taken an active role in bolstering Women in Technology, LGBT and general workplace inclusivity, 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. He is also on the world-recognized Masters of Management Analytics and AI program boards at Canada’s prestigious Queen’s University.