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Mike Walker
Executive Director of Global Healthcare and Life Sciences at Microsoft
Cincinnati, United States
I’m an entrepreneur, futurist, digital strategist, podcast host, global keynote speaker, and a best-selling author with a specialty in helping business executives stay relevant in the digital economy. I am able to bring paradigm-shifting digital transformation by leveraging leading innovation practices through my experiences with Fortune 500 leaders around the globe.
I have found that my success has been driven from my pragmatic approaches to large scale problems, my ability to break down large complex challenges into something manageable, along with my insatiable need to bring teams together. What’s unique about me is that not everything has to be a major transformation to gain value, I understand how to maximize current business processes while also identifying new business models.
?Currently at Microsoft, I lead a cross-industry innovation team that focuses on advising senior leaders on how to digitally transform their business using concepts like digital ecosystems, digital twins, AI, IoT, and Blockchain. Previously, I worked at Gartner, as a Vice President of Technology Innovation research where my thought leadership is reflected in over 150 published research notes and over 5,000 client engagements.
My work can be heard, watched, or read in some of the following places:
My new book "REWIRE! Using the Digital Ecosystem Playbook to Reinvent Your Business"
Hosting my innovation podcast "V-Next: The Future is Now"
Reading my articles on Forbes
Gaining my perspectives on Enterprise Architecture on “Mike The Architect” blog
Available For: Authoring, Consulting, Influencing, Speaking Travels From: Cincinnati, OH
Speaking Topics: Digital Ecosystems, Metaverse, Digital Transformation, Strategy, Innovation
Community Leadership Development Program - Alumni
Credly
June 09, 2023
Earners of this badge have been recognized as graduates of the Community Leadership Development Program. They have demonstrated an understanding of the Individual Contributor Leadership Principles and Technical Leadership Attributes by completing virtual classes and real-world assignments. Earners have demonstrated the expertise and dedication to shape, inform, and land strategy within communities and organizational teams and the ability to lead, scale, and deliver success through others.
Rethinking Smart Objects: The International Workshop on Interacting with Smart Objects in Interactive Spaces
ACM ISS ’22 Companion, November 20–23, 2022, Wellington, New Zealand
July 10, 2022
The 2016 published Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies expected “smart technologies to be the most disruptive class of innovations over the following years due to their computational power, scalability in analyzing large-scale data sets, and rapid advances in neural networks” [24]. Since then, researchers have made considerable effort to continuously integrate smart objects into the user’s natural environment so that they can explicitly or implicitly interact with the smart objects. This trend is strengthened through embedding computational capabilities into conventional objects [17, 18]. Such ubiquitous and distributed devices will replace previous dominating devices as a future trend. For example, the functionalities provided by a smartphone, a commonly used centralized device, can be modularly integrated into the user’s environment to enable natural communication.
MetaInsight: Automatic Discovery of Structured Knowledge for Exploratory Data Analysis
Association for Computing Machinery
July 10, 2021
Automatic Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) focuses on automati-
cally discovering pieces of knowledge in the form of interesting data
patterns. However, the knowledge conveyed by these suggested
data patterns is disjointed or lacks of organization. Therefore, it is
difficult for users to gain structured knowledge. As the number of
suggested patterns grows, these stand-alone patterns are less likely
to motivate users to conduct follow-up analysis, which hinders
the suggested patterns from being effectively utilized to facilitate
EDA. In this paper, we propose MetaInsight, a structured represen-
tation of knowledge extracted from multi-dimensional data, which
aims to facilitate EDA effectively.
Blockchain Governance Models: Insights for Enterprises
University of Arkansas
February 19, 2019
This white paper aims to answer the question: “What are emerging models and practices for shared governance over blockchains?” A blockchain application is a software application that maintains a distributed, immutable record of sequenced transactions (called a digital ledger) secured by a peer-to-peer network of independent computer nodes. While most innovation decisions happen within the boundaries of the firm, shared blockchain applications require coordination across firm boundaries. This requires a different approach to software governance because no single entity or individual can unilaterally make decisions regarding rule changes, code base upgrades, or record altering. This white paper is developed to help managers and developers think through, and assess, shared governance options even as they continue to evolve.
Tags: Blockchain, Digital Transformation, Ecosystems
Information Systems and Data Management
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY (NYU) - Stern Business School Masters in Accounting Program
August 27, 2017
Course description:
As companies aim to be more competitive, the need to have more efficient systems to support the
decision-making process becomes a critical component of their business strategy. Generally, large
organizations have a vast and complex landscape of systems. More often than expected, such companies
have multiple and silo-based business systems to support their operations, finance, accounting, and
analytical business processes. As the amount of systems in an organization’s landscape increases, the
complexity for managing the underlying data becomes even more complicated. From a finance and
accounting processes perspective, companies still manage multiple and disconnected systems making
basic financial and accounting reporting and controls time consuming and prone to errors.
Tags: Innovation, IT Strategy, Predictive Analytics
The History of Software Architecture - In the Eye of the Practitioner
University of L’Aquila, Italy
February 20, 2017
Software architecture (SA) is celebrating 25 years. This is so if we consider the seminal papers establishing SA as a distinct discipline, and scientific publications that have identified cornerstones of both research and practice, like architecture views, architecture description languages, and architecture evaluation.
Tags: Business Strategy, Digital Transformation, Innovation
1 Advisory Board Membership
OhioX
OhioX
February 01, 2019
The OhioX Advisory Board is comprised of technologists, startup founders, innovators, and business and civic leaders.
We believe that by uniting diverse backgrounds we can help accelerate Ohio as a world class technology and innovation hub that creates a vibrant economy and opportunities for all.
Spotlight on Mike J. Walker
Vernovis
March 05, 2023
You could not sum up Mike J. Walker’s career, interests, and impact in a single word if you tried. To say he is “interesting” would be an understatement. He is part entrepreneur, part digital strategist, and part futurist. Mike is also the Executive Director of Strategy for the Global Health and Life Sciences at Microsoft, where he helps executives navigate the complex web of digital transformation. His expertise in digital business models and emerging technologies like digital ecosystems, industrialized metaverses, advanced AI/ML, and Web 3.0 has made him a sought-after advisor for businesses looking to stay ahead of the curve.
5 Trends Emerge in the Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2018
Gartner
December 08, 2018
Waiting curbside for an Uber or Lyft driver might one day be the old-fashioned way of getting around. Instead, passengers will need to head to the helipad to catch a ride from a flying autonomous vehicle. Not only will these future taxis take to the sky to potentially reduce traffic, they’ll operate independently of a human pilot.
Realistically, the world (and the technology) aren’t quite ready for autonomous flying taxis. The first challenge will be mastering the autonomous technology, which is still at least five to 10 years away. According to a recent test by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, today’s autonomous vehicle makers Level 2 driver assistance are not capable of driving safely on their own. The production vehicle that can safely drive itself anywhere, anytime isn’t available at the local car dealer and won’t be for quite some time.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Emerging Technology
Hype Cycle for Business Ecosystems, 2018
Gartner
August 15, 2018
Business ecosystems continue to evolve, becoming the basis of innovative business models. Both the technologies that underpin business ecosystems and the business models built out of them are evolving quickly.
Amplify Customer Demands for Innovation With Active Listening and Personalization
Gartner
August 08, 2018
"The customer is always right" originated in the early 1900s, but it has a new meaning today as industries seek to engage customers early in the innovation process. CIOs must invest in social analytics, market research and personalization technologies as part of a harmonized digital platform.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Emerging Technology
Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2018
Gartner
August 01, 2018
Our 2018 Hype Cycle reveals five emerging technology trends that profoundly shift experiences in our spaces, blur the lines between human and machine, and enable AI ubiquity that will propel organizations to connect into new business ecosystems to become competitive over the next decade.
Published: 06 August 2018
ID: G00340159
Analyst(s): Mike Walker
Table Of Contents
Analysis
What You Need to Know
The Hype Cycle
Emerging Technologies Trends
Major Hype Cycle Changes
The Priority Matrix
Off the Hype Cycle
On the Rise
Biotech — Cultured or Artificial Tissue
Flying Autonomous Vehicles
Smart Dust
Artificial General Intelligence
4D Printing
Knowledge Graphs
Neuromorphic Hardware
Blockchain for Data Security
Exoskeleton
Edge AI
Autonomous Driving Level 5
Conversational AI Platform
Self-Healing System Technology
Volumetric Displays
5G
Quantum Computing
Tags: Digital Transformation, Ecosystems, Emerging Technology
Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2018
Gartner
June 01, 2018
The 2018 Hype Cycle reveals five emerging technology trends that profoundly shift experiences in our spaces, blur the lines between human and machine, and enable AI ubiquity that will propel organizations to connect into new business ecosystems to become competitive over the next decade.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Ecosystems, Emerging Technology
Toolkit: How to Build an Emerging Technologies Radar
Gartner
April 06, 2018
Organizations are challenged by the changing technology landscape. An emerging technology radar provides enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders with a tool to transform hype-driven investment decisions into a benefit-driven, defensible approach to prioritizing technology adoption.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Toolkit: Assessing the 2018 Top Five Business and Sociocultural Trends
Gartner
March 16, 2018
Scanning external trends that affect the organization and its markets is a critical need for enterprises looking to prosper in the digital era. Enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders focused on emerging and strategic trends can use this Toolkit to future-proof their businesses.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2018: Intelligent Apps and Analytics
Gartner
March 08, 2018
Perceptions of artificial intelligence have shifted from killer robots to algorithm-based intelligent apps that link our physical and digital lives in previously unimaginable ways. Enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders must devise innovative strategies to harness this technology.
Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2018: A Gartner Trend Insight Report
Gartner
March 08, 2018
The intelligent digital mesh is a foundation for future digital business and its ecosystems. To create competitive advantage, IT leaders must evaluate our top disruptive technology trends related to the mesh to identify opportunities to exploit.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2018: Digital Twins
Gartner
March 08, 2018
Well-designed digital twins based on business priorities have the potential to significantly improve enterprise decision making. Enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders must factor digital twins into their Internet of Things architecture and strategy.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Twins, Emerging Technology
Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2018: Event-Driven Model
Gartner
March 08, 2018
Digital business is event-driven, so organizations need to invest in event-centric design practices and technologies to exploit digital business moments. Enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders must champion event thinking across business and IT.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2018: AI Foundation
Gartner
March 08, 2018
Creating an artificial intelligence foundation will create the potential to reinvent business models, ecosystems and customer experiences. Enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders have an opportunity to lead innovative programs that bring about substantial business outcomes.
Maximize Digital Business Value Creation Through AI Algorithms
Gartner
February 21, 2018
Artificial intelligence algorithms accelerate the speed and scale of digital business. This research provides EA and technology innovation leaders with guidance on how AI algorithms can maximize digital business value.
Tags: AI, Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation
Toolkit: Workshop for Creating EA Personas in Digital Business Diagnostic Deliverable Analysis
Gartner
January 12, 2018
Persona-based analysis is a powerful tool that helps leaders diagnose and take action against digital business disruption opportunities. Enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders can help their leaders consider the human side of digital business strategy decisions with personas.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Toolkit: Examples of Deliverables to Enable Enterprise Architecture in Cloud Strategy Delivery
Gartner
January 09, 2018
This Toolkit provides a set of diagnostic deliverables that leading EA organizations use to understand the impact of technical disruptions on their cloud computing strategies. These impacts will force EA organizations to rationalize their bimodal architecture and digital business strategies.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Using Enterprise Architecture to Maximize Cloud Strategy Business Outcomes
Gartner
January 09, 2018
Leading EA and technology innovation leaders provide a cloud-first architecture strategy to identify business opportunities, while also understanding exposure to the risks of onboarding emerging technology capabilities that support their digital business.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Toolkit: An Enterprise Architect's Guide to Ideation
Gartner
December 21, 2017
Collaboration is vital to the success of digital transformation. Leading enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders must foster innovation mindsets in all employees to ensure that transformation efforts are strategically driven, implementable, and challenge the status quo.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Demystifying the Many Personas of the CTO
Gartner
December 08, 2017
CTO roles vary. This research shows how CTOs understand their roles and how other leaders engage with them. EA and technology innovation leaders, including CTOs, should leverage this information to better shape and evolve their roles in the context of digital business transformation.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Emerging Technology
Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2018
Gartner
October 03, 2017
The intelligent digital mesh is a foundation for future digital business and its
ecosystems. To create competitive advantage, enterprise architecture and
technology innovation leaders must evaluate these top trends to identify
opportunities that their organizations can exploit.
Key Findings
■ Articial intelligence (AI) delivers value to every industry, enabling new business models. It does
so by supporting key initiatives such as customer engagement, digital production, smart cities,
self-driving cars, risk management, computer vision and speech recognition.
■ As people, places, processes and "things" become increasingly digitalized, they will be
represented by digital twins. This will provide fertile ground for new event-driven business
processes and digitally enabled business models and ecosystems.
Tags: Digital Transformation, Ecosystems, Emerging Technology
Survey Analysis: How CTOs Can Enable Digital Business Transformation
Gartner
September 08, 2017
CIOs expect CTOs to help drive digital business transformation. Our CTO survey reveals that enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders should use their expertise and organizational relationships to impact all five phases of digital business.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Emerging Technology
Hype Cycle for Enterprise Architecture, 2017
Gartner
July 28, 2017
As digital business progresses, we see an increasing focus on platforms, business ecosystems, analytics and design elements of EA, and a reinterpretation of the fundamentals. For IT leaders willing to rise to the challenge, these are times of unprecedented opportunity.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Toolkit: Example Ideation Workshop for Enterprise Architecture and Technology Innovation Leaders
Gartner
July 25, 2017
Digital-business-enabling technologies have started to radically change how business operates and the digital products and services they offer. This Toolkit provides EA and technology innovation leaders with an example workshop to accelerate ideation efforts.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2017
Gartner
June 01, 2017
The 2017 Hype Cycle reveals three distinct technology trends that profoundly create new experiences, with unrivaled intelligence, and offer platforms that propel organizations to connect with new business ecosystems in order to become competitive over the next five to 10 years.
Solving the Enterprise Architecture Communications Gap with a Generative AI Comms Agent
Mike The Architect
April 24, 2025
Enterprise Architecture teams generate a mountain of valuable insights—capability roadmaps, compliance dashboards, impact analyses—yet most of it never reaches the people who need it. Business leaders get quarterly slide dumps,
technology leaders get architecture documentation, and security, finance, and operations leaders tend to get scattered spreadsheets. This siloed approach leads to low visibility, misaligned priorities, and missed opportunities to demonstrate EA’s strategic value.
Why Reference Architectures Matter—And How Generative AI Makes Them Better, Faster, Stronger
Mike The Architect
April 21, 2025
Now enter generative AI the game changer that will turbocharge RA creation, validation, and upkeep without sacrificing rigor.
Generative AI doesn’t replace the expertise of your architects; it amplifies it. With an autonomous Reference Architecture Model Synthesizer, you move from slow, artisanal artifact creation to a rapid, iterative design cycle—keeping your blueprints fresh, governed, and widely adopted. The result? EA teams that spend less time on tedious drafting and more time on strategic guidance, innovation, and alignment with business goals.
Building the AI‑Ready EA Team: From Architects to Orchestrators
Mike The Architect
April 21, 2025
Enterprise Architecture has always been about bridging strategy and execution—crafting blueprints that guide investment, design, and governance. But as AI shifts from experimental pilots to core business fabric, architects can’t afford to remain manual artisans tucked behind the scenes. Instead, today’s EA leaders must evolve into AI orchestrators: strategic conductors who coach intelligent agents to draft models, enforce policies, and surface insights at machine speed.
The KPIs of an AI‑Infused Enterprise Architecture Practice
Mike The Architect
April 19, 2025
In a world where generative models and autonomous agents handle discovery, design, governance, and simulation, Enterprise Architecture must move beyond gut‑feel and glossy slide decks. Just as a pilot trusts an instrument panel rather than a compass alone, EA leaders need clear, real‑time metrics to prove that their AI copilots are actually boosting velocity, tightening compliance, and driving measurable business value.
AI‑Driven Scenario Planning: Your Enterprise Architecture Flight Simulator for Roadmapping
Mike The Architect
April 17, 2025
In this post, we’ll show you how to connect live financial, operational, and compliance data feeds into a generative‑AI simulation engine, run Monte Carlo‑style analyses at the speed of thought, and present interactive dashboards that let executives tweak variables in real time. No more stale “point estimate” forecasts—just data‑backed, probability‑weighted insights that turn roadmap debates into precision maneuvers. Strap in, because your next funding cycle is about to take off.
Shifting From Static Documentation Graveyards to a Dynamic Living DNA of Your Organization's Architecture
Mike The Architect
April 17, 2025
Most EA repositories look more like document cemeteries than dynamic decision engines. Diagrams, wikis, and spreadsheets sit in silos—out of sync, out of date, and almost impossible to query. The result is painfully slow impact analysis (“What services talk to Service X?”), fractured traceability (“Who approved that change last June?”), and manual reconciliation of conflicting versions. In short, your strategic visibility is locked behind layers of PDF, Visio, and Excel.
A knowledge‑graph EA repository changes that. By ingesting every diagram, spreadsheet, and policy doc into a unified graph, you create a living architecture DNA.
Guiding AI-Generated Enterprise Architecture Artifacts, Not Hand-Drawing Them
Mike The Architect
April 15, 2025
Fast-forward to 2025 and the same productivity ethos meets a new power source: generative AI. The vision is simple, AI copilots for Enterprise Architects are the new task pane in our day to day tools. Now your job is to coach and curate, spending time on trade-offs, business value, and storytelling rather than nudging arrow angles in diagrams or drafting architecture definitions from scratch.
AI Trendspotting: Building a Predictive Technology Radar for Enterprise Architects
Mike The Architect
April 13, 2025
Forecasting how the future of tech will impact your business without a deliberate trendspotting capability is like sailing in fog with a broken compass—you might move, but the odds of landfall are slim. Imagine, instead, running your architecture practice the way air-traffic control manages a busy airport: every blip on the radar appears in real time, tagged with altitude (maturity), speed (adoption velocity), and flight plan (regulatory outlook). That’s the promise of an AI-powered technology radar.
Sprint-Speed Enterprise Architecture: How Generative AI Compresses Strategy Design from Quarters to Days
Mike The Architect
April 12, 2025
Enterprise Architecture is supposed to be the connective tissue between strategy and Execution, yet in many firms the business model evolves faster than the future-state diagrams. By the time a shiny capability map clears the review cycle, the CFO has shifted investment priorities and a competitor has launched the very product we’re still blueprinting.
AI-Augmented Architecture Review Board
Mike The Architect
April 08, 2025
An AI-augmented Architecture Review Board (ARB) combines human judgment with machine intelligence—LLMs, risk scoring models, and policy-as-code agents—to review design changes in real time, automate compliance, and generate immutable decision logs.
AI Co-Pilot for Governance: Keeping Your Architecture Safe Without the Headaches
Mike The Architect
April 05, 2025
Traditional enterprise governance feels a lot like airport security circa 2001—long lines, manual bag checks, and everybody praying the process catches the bad stuff before wheels-up. It sort of works when you run a few chunky monoliths. The goal is straightforward: transform governance from a perceived roadblock into an intelligent guidance system—much like air-traffic control that keeps thousands of flights safely coordinated without grounding innovation.
From Ivory Tower to Intelligent Nerve-Center: Why AI-Driven Enterprise Architecture Starts Now
Mike The Architect
April 01, 2025
Let’s level with each other, Enterprise Architecture can feel like the designated driver at the digital-transformation party—responsible, necessary, but not exactly the life of the celebration. Meanwhile, AI has crashed the scene like a headliner DJ, and every executive in the building wants to dance. If we don’t figure out how to spin the tracks, someone else will grab the booth, and we’ll be left explaining why our decades-old mixtape still matters.
Why Industry Architecture Still Matters—And How It Has Evolved for 2025
Mike The Architect
January 03, 2025
Industry architecture is the Rosetta Stone between business ambition and the rapidly shifting tech alphabet. In a world of autonomous agents, synthetic biology, and quantum-enhanced analytics, organizations that cannot translate technology into industry-relevant value will be disrupted by those that can.
Unpacking Relevant Insights from My 2016 Autonomous AI Agents Gartner Report
Mike J Walker
November 20, 2024
As I have been working with clients on LLM-based autonomous agents, I remembered that I write a Top 10 Strategic Trend report when I was at Gartner in 2016. I'm excited to explore how well this report holds up in today's market. See below for the original report.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Emerging Technology
Microsoft’s new data & AI solution for healthcare
Healthcare Digital Magazine
October 13, 2023
Hospitals create 50 petabytes of siloed data every year, 97% of which remains unused, according to the World Economic Forum. Yet this data has so much potential to change the healthcare sector for the better, if it can be analysed. Now, Microsoft has announced new data and AI solutions, which will help healthcare businesses to put their focus on upgrading patient experiences and that of the healthcare professionals taking care of them.
Unifying data and transforming healthcare with Microsoft Cloud
Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare is an industry-specific data solution, on Microsoft Fabric, which unifies data. The healthcare-specific data solutions offered by Fabric aim to minimise the time-consuming task of uniting disconnected, multimodal health data sources (from text, to videos). Alternatively, Microsoft Fabric offers a secure way for businesses to analyse and visualise data-driven insights within their business.
How Zero-Day Impacts CISOs and What They Can Do About It
Mike Walker
May 09, 2023
Zero-Day has been top pf mind. It is crucial to address the long-term consequences of zero-day vulnerabilities on the cybersecurity landscape. Zero-day vulnerabilities refer to unknown flaws in software or systems, leaving organizations defenseless and vulnerable to cyber attacks. In this blog post, we will explore the potential impacts of zero-day vulnerabilities and discuss effective strategies for businesses and individuals to protect themselves against this persistent threat.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Emerging Technology
2 Books
Rewire! Using the Digital Ecosystem Playbook to Reinvent Your Business
Advantage Publishing
January 26, 2021
The future of business is rapidly changing, and digital ecosystems is a major force driving it. From now to 2025 digital ecosystems will represent approximately $60 trillion in global revenue from all industries around the globe. Organizations have a tremendous opportunity to take a concept that has 2% global market share to approximately 30% by 2025.
“Rewire! Using the Digital Ecosystem Playbook to Reinvent Your Business” will demystify digital ecosystem frameworks and introduce their capacity to enable high-value business partner exchanges, what that means for the future of doing business, and how to understand markets through a digital ecosystem lens.
Reading this book innovators, enterprise architects, technology innovation leaders, and CxOs should expect to be able to understand digital ecosystems and how to create strategies for them. Packed with detailed illustrations and best practices from Mike J. Walker’s digital ecosystem experiences both at Gartner and Microsoft over the past five years, this book provides approachable and actionable tools that will help organizations understand and embrace digital ecosystems in a rapid and digestible way.
Tags: Blockchain, Digital Transformation, Ecosystems
Office Business Applications: Building Composite Applications using the Microsoft platform
Microsoft Press
July 01, 2007
Foreword
Companies are adopting service orientation as a design principle to drive enterprise agility and business innovation. With service-oriented architecture (SOA), they can efficiently respond to business changes and evolve their IT systems rapidly. Service orientation is about decomposing the IT assets into easily consumable services. A composite application is the primary vehicle to deliver business value through service orientation and is a great way to aggregate these services to support cross-functional processes. Theoretically, composite applications allow for these services or components to be mixed and matched like blocks, allowing developers to customize applications to evolving enterprise needs relatively easily.
With the release of 2007 Microsoft Office System clients, servers, and tools, Microsoft delivers a true application platform that can be used to create collaborative, role-based, easy-to-use solutions that extend the traditional LOB applications and enterprise systems. Not only has Microsoft significantly improved the capabilities and tools for personal and business productivity, but it has also invested significantly in the extensibility and programmability of the 2007 Microsoft Office System. Microsoft calls these solutions Office Business Applications (OBAs) and recently announced the technology to design and develop OBAs.
A Guide to AI in Healthcare
The Medical Futurist 2019
October 05, 2019
In the last couple of years, artificial intelligence has evolved from a futuristic promise into an
unavoidable reference point for innovation. Not only does it appear daily in news headlines,
but the number of A.I.-related studies, research projects, university courses, and companies
has grown exponentially, not to speak about the rapid improvement in the precision of the
technology. The initiative called A.I. Index in its 2018 Annual Report found that from January
2015 to January 2018, active A.I. startups increased by 113 percent, while all active startups only
showed a moderate increase of 28 percent. Research into A.I. is similarly accelerating. Nothing
presents that better as the number of studies published in the medical field. While in 2005,
there were only 203 research papers on Pubmed.com, one of the most prestigious databases
for life sciences, the number rose to 7668 in 2018 and it’s likely to hit a new record in 2019.
Exploration and Practice of Engineering Management Professionals Training Based on the Internet and BIM
ATLANTIS PRESS
May 27, 2019
In order to improve the quality of innovative curriculum system for engineering management. Through the introduction of the Internet, virtual simulation, big data, cloud computing and other new technologies, the traditional engineering management specialty was upgraded to create a new construction engineering information training platform.
The results show that information technology and engineering education are deeply integrated, and the teaching methods of Engineering Education in the "Internet and BIM" environment are innovating to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of engineering education.
European Commission: Digital Government Benchmark API study
European Commission
October 05, 2016
This study provides an analysis of Web APIs as enablers for the digital transformation of government. While
digital transformation of government is much wider than the technologies which can potentially support it, an
analysis of the role of Web APIs in the public sector is highly relevant to illustrate how technology can
enable the transformation of government.
The aim of this work has been to identify the ability of Web APIs to assist Member States with enabling their
digital transformation. Areas of specific focus include cross-border interoperability between Member States
and the opportunity for the EU to become involved in developing or advocating API standards.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Emerging Technology
1 Courseware
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: DISRUPTOR OR TRANSFORMER OF 21ST CENTURY LIBRARIES
University of Ottawa
June 22, 2017
The Internet of Things (IoT) has rapidly become one of the most familiar — and perhaps most hyped — expressions across business and technology.
We expect to see 20 billion internet-connected things by 2020. These “things” are not general-purpose devices, such as smartphones and PCs, but dedicated-function objects, such as vending machines, jet engines, connected cars and a myriad of other examples.
Open CA Level 3: Distinguished Chief Architect
Gartner
August 11, 2011
Open CA Certification – is primarily concerned with the competencies that an architect possesses. In other words, how an architect thinks through solving a set of broad highly impactful enterprise problems to realize business value. For Open CA certification, it is not needed to be TOGAF certified or even know the TOGAF framework , that is one of many validated frameworks. One must prove to be able to have done architectural work in real life situations for many years. Open CA certification is very much like PMI certification for project managers that require detailed documentation, letters verifying your experience and a set of interviews to validate what was documented.
Texas Association of Enterprise Architects
Mike J. Walker
May 02, 2013
This chapter is part of a greater global organization called the Association of Enterprise Architects. The Association of Enterprise Architects (AEA) is the only definitive professional organization for Enterprise Architects with over 35,000 professionals world-wide.
Its goals are:
Raise the status of the EA profession
Foster an already vibrant EA community
Access to EA thought leadership
Increase market value of professionals
Introduction of the Texas AEA
These were all great goals and I wanted to bring this level of professionalism to Texas. In this state there is a vibrant community of Texas professionals, vendors and consortiums offers thought leadership, visions for the future, and proven practices based on reality of today. Building on the Global AEA Texas has the following objectives:
Mike the Architect Blog: Texas Association of Enterprise Architects
This chapter will strive to have the following characteristics to ensure a vibrant and highly interactive community forum. We will be…
Regular. With quarterly and monthly meetings starting first in Austin, TX and then branching out to Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.
Impactful. Through full day events we hope to draw in top speakers in the architecture community.
Highly Interactive . These meetings and events focus first on the community and take the best from a conferences and a user groups.
High Quality. The key to a vibrant and sustainable community is to make sure there is high quality discussions and interactions.
We have been lucky with some top notch sponsorship support and I would like to personally thank all these vendors for helping to make this happen! With out your
Tags: Digital Disruption, Ecosystems, Emerging Technology
1 Instructor
Microsoft Global Connected Communities - Digital Ecosystems Lead 2023
Credly
March 09, 2023
Connected Communities - Lead 2023
Issued by Microsoft Technical and Community Leadership
Earners of this badge have been recognized as a Lead in the Microsoft Connected Communities program. In this position, earners have demonstrated leadership skills by partnering with business leaders to set the community strategic direction, recruiting and managing a team of volunteers to execute on that strategy, and creating clarity, generating energy, and delivery success for members and the business. These earners have the leadership skills required to excel at Microsoft.
Microsoft Releases Financial Services OBA Component Library, Giving Firms a Head Start in Creating Applications Built on the 2007 Microsoft Office System
Microsoft
March 12, 2008
Helping financial services firms solve real-world problems in the areas of interoperability, extending legacy systems and creating compelling user interfaces, Microsoft Corp. today released the Financial Services Office Business Applications (OBA) Component Library at the sixth annual Microsoft Financial Services Developer Conference.
Microsoft OBAs are composite applications built upon the 2007 Microsoft Office system, utilizing the familiar and easy-to-use interfaces of Microsoft Office products and connecting to additional Microsoft technologies (such as Microsoft SQL Server or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server) or other back-office systems. The resulting solution is built to model how people work within financial services firms day-to-day, integrating with existing workflows, reducing training efforts and trimming development time.
Loan Origination Reference Architecture
Mike J. Walker
August 02, 2007
The Loan Origination Reference Architecture shows how to build architectures that unify people, process and technology through familiar Office 2007 user interfaces. It includes an architecture framework for lending with an Office Business Application based scenario and BizTalk “MISMO” Accelerator for the loan origination process in banking. OBAs are an emerging class of business applications that connect existing line-of-business (LOB) systems with the people that use them every day through the familiar user interface of Microsoft Office, bridging the gap between how business process systems work, and how people work. OR-LOS will help customers simplify document management, increase integrated workflow, improve efficiency and ultimately lower time-to-market offering for faster turn-around and reduced cost.
Solutions that leverage the OR-LOS have the following benefits:
Empowers Business Users to make informed lending decisions
Using familiar Office tools for common business tasks (e.g., Outlook or Excel)
Provided with a extensible lending platform that will reduce the development cycle
Lending technology consolidation strategies can be derived
Interoperable Lending Platform through BizTalk MISMO Accelerator
Rich collaboration platform
Enterprise Architecture Toolkit
Mike Walker
May 02, 2007
So what exactly is the EATK? Well simply put it is a set of tools that will aid Enterprise, Solution and Domain Architects with their architecture efforts in a pragmatic way. The EATK does so by providing a set of base tools built in existing products that they may already have or use for the same purpose. The value of how the EATK rationalizes these solutions is by extending common interfaces used in enterprises such as Microsoft Word and Visio.
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Below is a summary of what the EATK is:
Solution Accelerator for Enterprise Architecture
Series of Add-Ins to Existing Products
Set of Smart Architecture Templates
System Architecture Document
Architecture Decisions
Architecture Review Board
Architecture Viability Assessment
Architecture Portal which includes:
Hosted Process and Collaboration Workflow
Knowledge Management System
Asset Management System
Based on Industry Standards
Supports IEEE 1471
Supports TOGAF ADM
Provides a Bill of Materials
Source Code
Whitepapers
Rich Media
Tags: Business Strategy, Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation
10 Keynotes
What If? Preparing for Cybersecurity Risks Begins by Understanding AI’s Role in Attacks and Defense
BIO International Conference
April 24, 2025
The industry is still grappling with GenAI while quantum is lurking around the corner. There are already companies and countries experimenting with quantum. From a business perspective, the ways that AI can be used to mislead or attack a company are almost as limitless as the benefits of AI. The strategies to mitigate not only cybersecurity attacks but incidents become “what if” scenarios. These strategies are focused on looking at new technologies and considering what the scenarios are if these technologies were used to attack businesses. As new technologies are adopted, it is imperative that all parts of the industry focus upon and prepare for possible cybersecurity incidents and attacks. While there are nuances within each part of the industry, many companies are facing the same type of cybersecurity threat. This panel discussion will present challenges and suggest strategies to prepare for the future.
Impact of Gen AI and next level innovation
Kinaxis Supply Chain Unplugged!
July 24, 2024
In my presentation you will find the latest thinking on generative AI used in pharma manufacturing. We bring together a one-of-a-kind event that brings together leading supply chain practitioners, thought leaders, partners and academia around the world for open, peer-to-peer conversations about the latest innovations, opportunities and challenges in supply chain management.
Ohio Tech Summit 22
OhioX and John Carroll University
April 23, 2022
Get your seat to the future.
Tech Summit 22 is coming to Cleveland. Join us on Saturday, April 23, 2022.
The Summit is a full day of content and experiences where Ohio tech shows-off and features high-profile speakers, tech demos, and networking opportunities.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Ecosystems, Emerging Technology
IDEA Week Keynote
IDEA Center at the University of Notre Dame
April 08, 2019
This session will explore what blockchain consortiums are, the industry trends, and learn how Microsoft enables customers like GE with a common framework for blockchain strategy for consortiums. Learn how GE has built upon this strategic framework to apply blockchain to the aviation industry by applying lean six sigma to unlock the value of blockchain in an industrial setting. We will explore active use cases in part origin, flight history, and third party reconciliation that GE Aviation is creating on the Microsoft Azure Blockchain Platform. Havera and Walker lead the audience through frameworks for optimizing supply chains, reducing costs, and improving efficiency.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Ecosystems, Emerging Technology
Now’s the Time to Shift Your Business Architecture Function to the Future
The Business Architecture Summit
November 15, 2017
Business Architecture is an ever-evolving discipline that has become a vital component of a successful organization’s strategy. This session provides emergent practices from leading business architects. Whether you are a beginner or an expert there is unique insight to be gained from hearing Mike speak. Specifically, we will explore:
1. Why are more Business Architects engaged in innovation practices?
2. How leading Business Architects are using humanistic approaches like Design Thinking to deliver value?
3. What are the methods, models, and tools Business Architects will add to their toolbox in the future?
Mike J. Walker is widely recognized as a Strategist and Enterprise Architecture advisor, industry thought leader, author and mentor. Mr. Walker has aided global fortune 100 companies with their innovation programs, strategic planning and enterprise architecture with high-impact pragmatic approaches. Clients hold him in high regard to deliver advice, out-of-the-box innovative thinking and architectural strategies. Serving in leadership positions in global organizations delivering IT strategy and enterprise transformation initiatives. His thought leadership can be seen on his blog MikeTheArchitect.com, in the press, or in publications. Finally, through Mike’s passion to advance the industry he has served as a board member at the Open Group, chairing both the TOGAF and Business Architecture.
Tags: Business Strategy, Digital Transformation, Innovation
37 Media Interviews
EV Magazine Profile
EV Magazine
May 15, 2024
Mike J. Walker is an entrepreneur, futurist, digital strategist, podcast host, global keynote speaker, and a best-selling author with a specialty in helping business executives stay relevant in the digital economy.
Dose #5 Making of the Next-Gen Pharma Factory with Mike Walker (Microsoft)
Supply Chain Wizard Podcast
March 31, 2024
In this episode of SCW for Pharma, Evren Ozkaya welcomes Mike Walker, Microsoft's Executive Director of Global Healthcare and Life Sciences Digital Strategy, to explore why pharma companies are slow in embracing digitalization and ways to help them catch up. They delve into strategies for adapting factories to the production of the growing market of emerging biologics, cell-gene therapies, and mRNA-based drugs, expected to reach nearly 1 trillion dollars by 2030. Mike estimates that only 1%-3% of companies fall under the fully digitized factory of the future category, highlighting the industry's digitization challenges. They explore factors contributing to this lag, including risk management, regulatory compliance, and entrenched status quo, exacerbated by uncertainty on where to begin digital transformation. Mike presents his top 10 supply chain trends for the life sciences industry and discusses the development of a digital ecosystem platform to enable various organizational departments to utilize high-quality data, feeding into high-performing AI and digital twin models.
Supply Chain Wizard Podcast Teaser 1 - Top Supply Chain Trends in Life Sciences
Supply Chain Wizard Podcast
March 20, 2024
Teaser for episode 5 of Supply Chain Wizard for Pharma podcast series. Evren chats with Mike Walker, Microsoft's Executive Director of Global Healthcare and Life Sciences Digital Strategy, about the importance of high-quality, real-time data for building effective AI, digital twins, and metaverse solutions for manufacturers.
Open Question for AI4Good: AI for (whose) good?
ICT Works
October 19, 2023
In recent years, AI for Good (AI4G) – or also AI for Social Good (AI4SG) – has become a catchy label for initiatives, gatherings and funding calls, all revolving around the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This conversation, shaped by win-win narratives on the synergies between business and development/humanitarian stakeholders, has been mainly animated by technological corporations, global consultancies, and international organisations, and has coalesced around a plethora of publications and events bringing together corporate executives, start-uppers, policymakers and development practitioners.
Technology Digital Magazine - Mike J. Walker Interview
Technology Digital Magazine
June 15, 2023
Mike J. Walker heads up Microsoft’s life sciences supply chain practice, and explains why industry advisory drives business value
Supply chain is a complicated industry that typically requires highly trained engineers to oversee, but pharmaceutical (pharma) supply chains take complexity to another level.
Supply Chain Digital Mike J. Walker Interview
Supply Chain Digital Magazine
June 03, 2023
Mike J. Walker heads up Microsoft’s life sciences supply chain practice, and explains why industry advisory drives business value
Supply chain is a complicated industry that typically requires highly trained engineers to oversee, but pharmaceutical (pharma) supply chains take complexity to another level.
Mike J. Walker at Microsoft empowers pharma supply chain innovations
Healthcare Digital Magazine
May 15, 2023
Supply chain is a complicated industry that typically requires highly trained engineers to oversee, but pharmaceutical (pharma) supply chains take complexity to another level. As well as the usual litany of supply challenges, pharma has distinct requirements on the handling of materials like a cold chain element, and also faces the perils of product recalls and compliance issues, because the field of medicine is just about the most regulated sector there is.
And then of course there’s the added pressure of how catastrophic any delays might prove, because the medicines being shipped are critical for ensuring patients have access to the medicines they need to maintain their health, or even keep them alive.
While there is a variety of permutations, the most prevalent today is the small molecule pharma supply chain. This chemical-based drug will typically begin with the sourcing of raw materials – active pharmaceutical ingredients – used to manufacture drugs. The manufacturing process involves several stages: formulation, quality control, packaging and labelling.
Once the drugs are ready, they are shipped to warehouses or distribution centres, from where they are distributed to healthcare providers, pharmacies and hospitals.
Microsoft empowers pharma supply chain innovation
Healthcare Digital Magazine
May 03, 2023
Mike J. Walker heads up Microsoft’s life sciences supply chain practice, and explains why industry advisory drives business value
Supply chain is a complicated industry that typically requires highly trained engineers to oversee, but pharmaceutical (pharma) supply chains take complexity to another level.
Executive Profile of Mike J. Walker
Healthcare Digital Magazine
March 18, 2023
Mike J. Walker is an entrepreneur, futurist, digital strategist, podcast host, global keynote speaker, and a best-selling author with a specialty in helping business executives stay relevant in the digital economy.
Walker brings paradigm-shifting digital transformation by leveraging leading innovation practices through my experiences with Fortune 500 leaders around the globe.
He has found success in driving pragmatic approaches to large scale problems, ability to break down large complex challenges into something manageable, along with an insatiable need to bring teams together.
What’s unique about Walker is not everything has to be a major transformation to gain value; he understands how to maximise current business processes while also identifying new business models.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Ecosystems, Emerging Technology
Mike Walker Takes the Future by Storm in His Return to the Pages of A&G
Architecture and Governance Mag
January 13, 2021
The future of business is rapidly changing, and digital ecosystems are a major force driving it. From now to 2025 digital ecosystems will represent approximately $60 trillion in global revenue from all industries around the globe. Organizations have a tremendous opportunity to take a concept that has 2% global market share to approximately 30% by 2025.
This is why Mike Walker, an entrepreneur, futurist, and an author with more than 25 years of experience in emerging technologies, innovation management, and business strategy, wrote his most recent book — “Rewire! Using the Digital Ecosystem Playbook to Reinvent Your Business”.
Currently at Microsoft, Walker leads the cross-industry digital ecosystems innovation team. Previously, he worked at Gartner as a Vice President of Technology Innovation research where his thought leadership is reflected in more than 150 published research notes and more than 5,000 client engagements.
Interview: Gartner’s Mike Walker Identifies 5 Emerging Technology Trends
IT News Africa
September 24, 2018
The 35 must-watch technologies represented on the Gartner Inc. Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2018 revealed five distinct emerging technology trends that will blur the lines between humans and machines.
Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) play a critical role in enabling companies to be ubiquitous, always available, and connected to business ecosystems to survive in the near future.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Emerging Technology
Gartner Names Knowledge Graphs an Emerging Technology
Stardog
September 06, 2018
Stardog, the leading Enterprise Knowledge Graph Platform, is proud to report that Gartner has recognized Knowledge Graphs as an emerging technology in its 2018 Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle.
The shift from compartmentalized technical infrastructure to ecosystem-enabling platforms is laying the foundation for entirely new business models that are forming the bridge between humans and technology. – Mike Walker, Research Vice President at Gartner
This year’s Hype Cycle specifically focuses on technologies that show promise in delivering a high degree of competitive advantage over the next five years.
Gartner Identifies Five Emerging Technology Trends That Will Blur The Lines Between Human And Machine
EMS Now
August 28, 2018
2018 Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle Garners Insights From More Than 2,000 Technologies
The 35 must-watch technologies represented on the Gartner Inc. Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2018 revealed five distinct emerging technology trends that will blur the lines between humans and machines. Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), play a critical role in enabling companies to be ubiquitous, always available, and connected to business ecosystems to survive in the near future.
“Business and technology leaders will continue to face rapidly accelerating technology innovation that will profoundly impact the way they engage with their workforce, collaborate with their partners, and create products and services for their customers,” said Mike J. Walker, research vice president at Gartner. “CIOs and technology leaders should always be scanning the market along with assessing and piloting emerging technologies to identify new business opportunities with high imp
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Emerging Technology
Gartner Sees AI Democratized in Latest ‘Hype Cycle’
Big Data Wire
August 27, 2018
Software architecture (SA) is celebrating 25 years. This is so if we consider the seminal papers establishing SA as a distinct discipline, and scientific publications that have identified cornerstones of both research and practice, like architecture views, architecture description languages, and architecture evaluation.
Gartner's five emerging tech trends to look out for
CRN
August 06, 2018
AI predicted to be put into the 'hands of the masses' in next 10 years, according to analyst's latest Hype Cycle
The democratisation of artificial intelligence (AI), an explosion of smart technology and a blurring of the lines between biology and technology are three of the tech trends Gartner is betting on to flo
Democratic artificial intelligence will shape future technologies: Gartner
ZDNet
February 02, 2018
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a key area of research and development, and while AI and machine learning algorithms begin to influence everything from our cars to our social media news feeds, the technology will soon be available to everyone.
That is if Gartner's predictions on emerging technology trends prove to be true.
On Monday, the research agency said that democratized AI will be one of the major trends which will shape our future technologies.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Emerging Technology
Top Trends in the Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2017
iTango
September 24, 2017
Enterprises should explain the business potential of blockchain, artificial intelligence and augmented reality.
August 15, 2017
Contributor: Kasey Panett
Imagine a world where it is possible to implant a magnet that detects electrical current or utilize an exoskeleton to enhance strength. Now consider the potential abuses of requiring employees to have chip implants before they can work. Human augmentation has the potential to use technology to enhance bodies and minds, but also raises ethical and legal questions.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Emerging Technology
Defining the Edge of the Network and What it Means for Your Business
Vertiv
August 28, 2017
The tech world is full of buzzwords, trends, and ‘disruptive innovations’. It’s easy to get lost in the constantly updated tranche of new developments and terminology that sometimes we miss out on or ignore technology that makes a real impact on how businesses do business.
Al & Technology Panel: Navigating Innovation, Technological Advancements, and Evolving Regulations
The Bioprocessing Summit
August 21, 2024
I join a Al & Technology Panel whereby we discuss how to navigate the latest innovations, how technology can accelerate your GenAI adoption, and how evolving regulations may help or hurt GenAI progress.
Tags: Digital Transformation, Generative AI, Manufacturing
Platforms: Past, Present, & the Future
Blockchain Research Institute
February 15, 2022
Come join the rockstar panel (Todd McDonald, Hanumantha Rao, Preeti Gandhi, and I) tomorrow at 10:10 AM EDT where we discuss "Platforms: Past, Present, & the Future" at the Virtual Blockchain Revolution Global conference.
Digital Ecosystems Platforms Past, Present and the Future
TCS
February 23, 2021
Blockchain platforms emerge at the rate of almost one a day. Since the 1970's, when distributed ledger technology was first discovered, a lot of platforms have emerged. A lot has changed in the industry since then and led to a revolution of sorts in use-cases and relevant platforms for Blockchain as well. Hear from the experts from R3 Corda Microsoft and TCS on what the past, present, and future of Blockchain-led platforms hold.
Dear Enterprise Have You Developed a Sound Strategy
Consensus 2019 - New York Blockchain Week
May 13, 2019
Enterprises are coming together in large numbers to form and participate in blockchain and DLT consortia, which allow companies to address common issues and challenges in their industries. Consortia often are being formed not to build new private blockchain protocols, but instead to collaborate in developing enterprise-hardened business and operational solutions using existing blockchain protocols.
Collaboration among industry players as they explore solutions can yield great successes, but also can lead to failures unless a comprehensive approach is used to consider the complex and inter-woven factors that could determine the fate of such efforts. This session brings together panelists from leading enterprises, blockchain consortia and advisors to debate and navigate the factors that shape the outcomes of successful blockchain consortia engagements.
Tags: Blockchain, Business Strategy, Cryptocurrency
49 Podcasts
Driving Industry Innovation at Microsoft Research
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November 10, 2021
Ever wonder how the worlds leading innovators think, spend their time, and the projects they are working on? If you do, you're in luck! Mike J. Walker speaks to Ranveer Chandra , Managing Director Research for Industry at Microsoft. Listen in to hear advise and perspectives from Ranveer. He i
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Innovation's Role in the Global Pandemic
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October 08, 2021
The world has seen the pace of healthcare innovation accelerate at a tremendous rate. If you ever wanted to get a "behind the scenes" view of this pandemic, stay tuned! Mike J. Walker speaks to Tierney Morgan, Health and Life Sciences Industry Advocate with Microsoft about the the vacc
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Episode 56: Innovation's Role in the Global Pandemic
V-Next
October 08, 2021
The world has seen the pace of healthcare innovation accelerate at a tremendous rate. If you ever wanted to get a "behind the scenes" view of this pandemic, stay tuned! Mike J. Walker speaks to Tierney Morgan, Health and Life Sciences Industry Advocate with Microsoft about the the vaccine landscape, the hurdles that needed to be overcome, and practical wisdom on how to effectively innovate in this industry.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Emerging Technology
Gartner's Top Strategic Trends for 2021
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July 08, 2021
One thing we’ve learned from this pandemic , nothing is certain and big changes await ahead. With each of these challenges there is an innovation that is waiting to solve it. Mike J. Walker speaks to David Cearley, Research Vice President and Fellow with Gartner. We are going to dive into his To
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Episode 54: Gartner's Top Strategic Trends for 2021
V-Next
July 08, 2021
One thing we’ve learned from this pandemic , nothing is certain and big changes await ahead. With each of these challenges there is an innovation that is waiting to solve it. Mike J. Walker speaks to David Cearley, Research Vice President and Fellow with Gartner. We are going to dive into his Top Strategic Trend report that will provide us a glimpse of the technology trends over the next three to five years.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Emerging Technology
Mike Walker - On a career in Big Tech and their incredible ecosystems
The Future Lab
July 05, 2021
Mike J. Walker is an accomplished architect with a vast amount of experience as a leader, innovator and technology expert.
Currently, Mike is Senior Director, Applied Innovation and Digital Transformation at Microsoft and previously has worked at leading technology companies such as Gartner, Hewlett-Packer, and Dell. His career has taken him across Ohio, Seattle and Austin.
In this episode we talk with Mike about his career working for some of the most innovative companies in the world, the incredible ecosystems of these tech companies and their cities, and how Ohio can play a leading role in the future.
Mike is internationally known as an expert in innovation, strategy development, and enterprise architecture. His insights are sought-after as a speaker at major events worldwide. Additionally, he has delivered keynote speeches for conferences and events on five continents.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Ecosystems, Emerging Technology
Consultants Saying Things About Enterprise Architecture
Consultants Saying Things About Enterprise Architecture
June 10, 2021
One of the most overwrought concepts in business and technology is the idea of the Enterprise Architect and the Architecture they practice.
Libraries have been written about this topic. Literally. Libraries.
I wanted to have a discussion that was less about what it is and more about some of the most effective ways to practice it.
So I called on my buddy Mike Walker to join me with some of my other smart friends and talk about it.
In this episode:
- What is an architect?
- What do effective architects do well?
- What are some key skills necessary to practice enterprise architecture?
- What does enterprise architecture look like during the COVID crisis and beyond?
- Can Mike Walker actually predict the future?
Add your thoughts to the conversation and comment below!
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation
The Future of Remote Work
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March 10, 2021
Transformed by the 2020 global pandemic, the workplace will never be the same. While full-time Zoom meetings, home schooled children, and isolation are temporary the impact of this shift will have lasting effects on how we work and live. In this episode, Mike J. Walker is speaking with Michel Bo
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Demystifying Quantum Computing
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February 17, 2021
Quantum computing will introduce radical transformations across many areas like: medical and life sciences, security and encryption, and will super charge artificial intelligence. Companies like Microsoft, Google, and IBM are in a space race to build reliable quantum computing as a service. Mike J.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Chris on Enterprise Architecture Innovation
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February 03, 2021
Imagine if your company strategies were clear, innovation permeated all corners of your business, no technology debt, and people were not a problem to moving things forward. Well, that’s likely not the case but I’ve got some good news for you. Mike J. Walker has a chance to sit down with Chris L
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
End of Year Thank You to the V-Next Listeners
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January 21, 2021
I just wanted to send all of our listeners a BIG thank you for all your support this year. Creating this podcast has been fun and looking forward to many more episodes! I hope all of you have a happy new year and holiday season. See you next year!- Mike
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Is Molecular Whiskey the Future
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January 13, 2021
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
The World's First AI-Created Whiskey
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January 06, 2021
AI and whiskey, you might not think they go together, but they do! Mike J. Walker hosts with special guest Angela D’Orazio, the Chief Nose Officer for Mackmyra Distilleries. Mackmyra, Microsoft, and Fourkind partner up, for the first time, to use Microsoft Azure AI in the creation of a new whisky
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Innovating with Bourbon
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December 17, 2020
So what does Bourbon and Innovation have in common? Much more than you might think. Mike J. Walker hosts with special guest Marianne Eaves, Master Distiller and bourbon extraordinaire. This spirit visionary (booze
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Gartner's Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle 2020 Panel Discussion Part 3
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December 10, 2020
In part 3 of a 3 part series, I'm excited to try something a little different. We will start with a virtual bourbon tasting with a panel of innovation thought leaders and then discuss the Gartner 2020 Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle. Mike Fulton from Nationwide Insurance and an Adjunct Profess
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Gartner's Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle 2020 Panel Discussion Part 2
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November 20, 2020
In part 2 of a 3 part series, Arun Ghosh from KPMG and I are continuing from the panel 1 episode. Continuing with our virtual bourbon tasting panel we are going deeper into the Gartner Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle. Asking controversial topics like, “Is the Gartner Hype Cycle a victim of it
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Gartner's Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle 2020 Panel Discussion Part 1
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November 19, 2020
In part 1 of a 3 part series, I'm excited to try something a little different. We will start with a virtual bourbon tasting with a panel of innovation thought leaders and then discuss the Gartner 2020 Emerging TechnologiesHype Cycle. Mike Fulton from Nationwide Insurance and an Adjunct Professo
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Protecting Our Elections with Emerging Tech
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November 05, 2020
In this episode, I'm excited to be speaking with Dr. Josh Benaloh, Senior Principal Cryptographer at Microsoft Research. If you have ever wondered why we still don’t hold our elections online, how we can combat interference in our elections, or how advanced cryptography can be used to create
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
The 2020 Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle with Brian Burke
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October 27, 2020
In this episode, I'm excited to be speaking with my former colleague Brian Burke, VP Research Analyst for Gartner about the latest Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle that he is a co-author on. Technology is evolving faster than ever and having reliable tools to understand these changes are vital
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Demystifying the Gartner 2020 Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle
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October 15, 2020
In this episode, I'm seeking to demystify the Gartner 2020 Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle. I'm going to talk about the good, the bad, and yes... the ugly as well. As many of you already know, I've got a little experience in this space (especially because I write them for Gartner). I
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Gartner Hype Cycles Explained
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October 15, 2020
In this episode, I'm providing a 10 minute primer on the Gartner Hype Cycle Methodology. For those organizations that are starting to go through their "season of strategy" Gartner Hype Cycles are useful tools that help leaders better understand the technologies and trends in the marke
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Emerging Technology Fueling Smart Cities
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October 14, 2020
In this episode, Jonathan Reichental, Ph.D. is back! Jonathan and I are going deep on emerging technologies that are fueling smart cities today and tomorrow. We cover everything from future trends to specific technologies like AI, Blockchain, IoT, SustainabilityTech, Autonomous Things, Drones,
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
The Business of Digital Transformation
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October 14, 2020
In this episode, I'm invited to the "Thinking Big" Fall 2020 Virtual Speaker Series at John Carroll University to talk about the business of digital transformation. While this is a broad topic I will attempt to give a primer on the key areas leaders should focus. Specifically, in th
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Innovation in Higher Education
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October 07, 2020
In this episode, I'm speaking with Scott J. Allen a professor at John Carroll University. Listen into this wildly entertaining episode where we share personal stories, the promise of innovation in higher education along, with what is also holding it back.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
Hispanic Heritage Month and Innovation
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October 01, 2020
In this episode, I'm speaking with Betsabe Botaitis, Head of Finance at Uplift. We will dig into Hispanic Heritage Month (from 15 September to 15 October) recognizing the contributions and influence of Hispanic Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States.
Platform Revolution: Blockchain Technology as the Operating System of the Digital Age
Platform Revolution - Don Tapscott
November 15, 2021
"Don Tapscott masterfully explains why blockchain capabilities combined with AI, IOT, big data, and others will be the essential platform to serve as the digital fabric for next generation business models. This book is a must for innovators. "
- Mike J. Walker
Blockchain Foundations for the Internet of Value
The University of Arkansas Press
September 08, 2020
Don and Alex Tapscott first inspired me to research blockchain-enabled solutions when they described how blockchains would transform the “Internet of Information” to the “Internet of Value” with their groundbreaking book, Blockchain Revolution and with the launch of Blockchain Research Institute. Based on case studies and interviews with over 100 executives, my new book explains blockchain foundations in easy-to-understand terms; presents over a dozen enterprise solutions that are in production today across financial services, supply chains, energy, and other industries; and identifies the action principles to move enterprises from aspirations to business and social value delivered. I am so grateful to the publishers Matt Waller and Mike Bieker and to contributors from EY; FedEx; IBM; iDatafy; KoreConX All-In-One Platform; McKesson; MediLedger; Mike Walker at Microsoft; Santander Empresas España; Stellar; VeriTX; Walmart and many more.
Using Artificial Intelligence in Marketing
Kogan Page
March 04, 2019
Using Artificial Intelligence in Marketing: How to Harness AI and Maintain the Competitive Edge, & is published by Kogan Page.
Huge thanks to all the amazing contributors based in the US including:
Sherif Mityas
Max Tegmark
Robbee Minicola
Mike Duke MBA
Mike Walker
It’s such a relief that it’s being so well received, including brands like Nike; thanks Thom Nowell
“This book will be invaluable in setting brands up for success as they shift to a world where AI must be at the centre of marketing strategy.”
The book is not hype. It’s a very well researched collection of global case studies of both success and failure with AI; sharing advice from academics and analysts, but also recommendations on vendors, tech disruptors, and many of society’s related major issues such as trust and ethics.
On this last point, I'm on the All Party Parliamentary Group Taskforce looking into the adoption of AI in enterprise, so please share your views with me.
Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft Plans to Stay Relevant in the Post-Gates Era
Microsoft
June 12, 2008
Walker’s post is a must-read for anyone trying to figure out why OBAs matter to Microsoft (and will matter, going forward, to its users). And in his "What types of OBAs are there?" post, Walker explains the difference between Office-client-only and Office-client-plus SharePoint OBAs
Digital Ecosystems and Industry Cloud Panel
Mike J. Walker
October 14, 2021
Organizations are racing to the cloud at a record pace. To navigate the complexities involved, they need to realize the full potential of a multi-cloud approach and determine the optimal mix of on-premises, Enterprise cloud, and Azure for the spectrum of Microsoft and VMware-based workloads amassed over decades.
Join Mike Walker, Senior Director of Applied Innovation and Digital Transformation at Microsoft, and Michael Fulton, VP of Product Strategy & Innovation at Expedient, as they explore the evolution of cloud and recent trends that are enabling the acceleration of digital transformation for companies of all shapes and sizes.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Ecosystems, Future of Work
Become a Leader, Not a Casualty in the Digital Age. How to Transform Your Business with Blockchain
Blockland Conference
December 11, 2019
Blockchain will have a profound impact on the future economy. Organizations must choose if they will embrace this disruptive technology to digitally transform or will they simply use it to optimize mundane and potentially obsolete future models. We will examine the shifting business landscape, effects of blockchain on the enterprise today and tomorrow along with some key market observations.
Blockchain Consortium Innovations at GE Aviation
Blockchain Week NYC - Ethereal Conference
May 10, 2019
This session will explore what blockchain consortiums are, the industry trends, and learn how Microsoft enables customers like GE with a common framework for blockchain strategy for consortiums. Learn how GE has built upon this strategic framework to apply blockchain to the aviation industry by applying lean six sigma to unlock the value of blockchain in an industrial setting. We will explore active use cases in part origin, flight history, and third party reconciliation that GE Aviation is creating on the Microsoft Azure Blockchain Platform. Havera and Walker lead the audience through frameworks for optimizing supply chains, reducing costs, and improving efficiency.
Enterprise Blockchain Panel with Microsoft
Etheral SXSW
March 13, 2019
At SXSW 2019, Kaleido and Microsoft were featured on an #enterprise blockchain panel titled "Enterprise Blockchain Springs Forward from the Crypto Winter." Topics include Kaleido's availability across clouds and regions (AWS and Azure), how blockchain use cases are making real impact and much more. Hosted at the Blockchain House by ConsenSys.
Tags: Business Strategy, Digital Transformation, Innovation
How to Make the Best of Blockchain — Types of Blockchain Projects and How They Add Value (2018 UK Gartner Enterprise Architecture Summit)
Gartner
June 11, 2018
How to Make the Best of Blockchain — Types of Blockchain Projects and How They Add Value
Tags: Business Strategy, Change Management, Innovation
17 Videos
Mike J. Walker at Microsoft helping pharma supply chains navigate change
Healthcare Digital Magazine
May 13, 2023
Mike J. Walker – who leads Microsoft’s life sciences supply chain strategy – on the difference between advising and consulting
Microsoft’s Health & Life Sciences division helps businesses build a more sustainable future and transform their organisations “by unlocking innovation, digitally empowering your workforce and driving manufacturing efficiency through marketing”. It modernises the discovery process, and “helps develop quality system-processes to remove barriers to new product development”. On the supply chain front, it helps build end-to-end visibility through automation and improved asset tracking.
Digital Ecosystems Enabling Healthcare Supply Chains
Mike J. Walker
February 09, 2022
PREVIEW: The Future of Pharma Supply Chains
Come join me and my amazing panelists (Diane Krisciunas, Anne Marie O'Halloran, and Daniel Carchedi) on Feb. 15th at the Virtual Microsoft Envision US Healthcare Summit 2022 where we will be talking about the future of the Pharma supply chains.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Emerging Technology, Innovation
2 Visiting Lecturers
Thinking Big Series: The Business of Digital Transformation
John Carroll University
October 19, 2021
While this is a broad topic I will attempt to give a primer on the key areas leaders should focus. Specifically, in this session I will cover:
Why business leaders must stay vigilant with digital transformation
Summary of the top 2020 digital trends to understand
Digital transformation approaches and tools to harness the power of the digital wave of trends
Digital Transformation Playbook: Five Elements to a Successful Strategy
Mike J. Walker
February 01, 2020
Organizations of all sizes and types are facing a higher velocity of change in their business, market, and industry. The pressure to deliver results is mounting exponentially. As a leader you know you must stay ahead of, or overtake, the competition
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Define your blockchain strategy: Innovate with blockchain, or face disruption
Microsoft
January 01, 2019
From a technical perspective, blockchain is a transparent and verifiable distributed digital ledger that will change the way people think about exchanging value and assets, enforcing contracts, and sharing data. The technology is a shared, secure ledger of transactions distributed among a network of computers, rather than resting with a single provider. Businesses are using blockchain as a common data layer to enable a new class of applications. Now, business processes and data can be shared across multiple organizations, which eliminates waste, reduces the risk of fraud, and creates new revenue streams.
Value Realization Framework and The Open Group Architecture Framework
Microsoft
August 02, 2011
This article is part of the Value Realization Framework (VRF) Better Together Series. The Series was created to provide insights into how VRF works with, aligns with and/or provides additional capabilities to existing frameworks or methodologies. By focusing on the qualities of each framework, this series examines how each complements the other. Highlighting the distinguishing differences illustrates how you can balance aspects of the two frameworks in a way that advances value. This specific Better Together Series centers on the Value Realization Framework (VRF) and The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF).
This article contains the following information:
• Key differences between VRF and TOGAF
• Similarities between the frameworks
• How to use the strengths of each framework
• Mapped process linkages
• TOGAF and VRF in Action
The level of detail provided in this overview assumes that the reader is an experienced Microsoft Enterprise Architect, with a breadth of skills for delivering effective technology consulting services. This document does not provide introductory-level instruction for the key models and techniques used in the process, so the reader is assumed to have prior knowledge of these tools.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Architecture in Turbulent Times
Microsoft
May 02, 2008
This article aims to show architects a way to understand key forces on the business of IT, what they can do to add value, and the key areas of focus and technologies that will help them deliver value back to the business. (15 printed pages)
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Architecting Regulatory-Compliant Architectures
Microsoft
April 02, 2008
This article will serve as a guide for architects who want to design banking solutions that are compliant with the latest regulatory laws. There is no one-to-one mapping or checklist to solve these issues. However, this article will provide some interesting insight into how these regulatory concerns can be addressed by using the latest Microsoft technologies. We will be using a business scenario coupled with many of the technology challenges in banking. The hope is to make a real-world example of the relevant issues in the banking landscape. (23 printed pages)
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Introduction: Microsoft and the Insurance Value Chain
Microsoft
November 02, 2007
The insurance industry today faces a collection of business process execution challenges quite unlike what it has faced in the past. Traditional business challenges such as customer retention, product profitability, new product generation, and loss rates have been exacerbated by explosive volatility, whether in the form of increased customer mobility, increased rates of change in business cycles, or simply greater volatility of weather and climate change. The accelerating rate of change of and within the business cycle is the ultimate root of these challenges for all Insurance agencies and carriers today.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Building Interoperable Insurance Systems with .Net 3.0 Technologies
Microsoft
October 02, 2007
Enterprise architecture has grown from being just a set of small pilots to being a fully sponsored and supported initiative within enterprises. With the growing demands to reduce costs, increase agility, and standardize IT environments, there has been a surge of enterprise architecture activity. According to Gartner and the MIT institute the growing complexities that span across process, information and software are among the three top CIO concerns. Additional pressures come from regulatory bodies that impose compliance guidelines on the industry (such as the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 or FFIEC Guidance). Compliance has been a catalyst for the formation of an enterprise architecture practice. This article will walk you through the daily challenges that an enterprise architect faces. By doing so, we hope to provide a unique perspective on this growing role in the IT industry.
Integration of Enterprise Architecture and Application Portfolio Management
Microsoft
October 02, 2007
For many enterprise architects, there is increasing pressure from CxOs to cut costs, reduce inefficiencies, and to foster agility in systems. Enterprises invest more than 70 percent of their budgets purely on maintaining their existing asset investments. This shows that there is a clear and present broken link between strategic business objectives and “keeping the lights on” in the IT department. This is verified by a recent report by AMR Research that reports that 75 percent of IT organizations have little oversight over their project portfolios and employ non-repeatable, chaotic planning processes.
By using an application portfolio management (APM) practice, IT decision makers can gain visibility into the application’s impacts that reside in the enterprise.
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Developing the Reference Application Pack for the Loan- Origination Systems (OR-LOS)
Microsoft
April 02, 2007
The purpose of this article is to walk through the development aspects of the Office Reference Application Pack (RAP) for the Loan-Origination Systems (OR-LOS) solution. Developers and architects who seek more detail on how to build Office Business Applications (OBAs) for the financial-services industry will find this article very useful. Specifically, if you are planning on building a loan-origination system (LOS) for your lending institution, this article will help you make the difficult micro-level design decisions. Although this is only one way of developing a specific architecture for a specific application, we feel that most developers will get valuable insights from the process and the technologies that we employed in the OR-LOS architecture. (56 printed pages)
Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Building Sustainable Banking Architectures
Microsoft
February 02, 2007
In this article, we will use a banking scenario to focus on some of the specific needs for financial services. This scenario will provide means for partners and customers to integrate banking applications and establish consistency in this integration. This article describes the Loan-Origination Reference Architecture Pack. (36 printed pages)
Building Interoperable Insurance Systems with .Net 3.0 Technologies
Microsoft
October 02, 2006
Through this whitepaper we will use an insurance industry scenario to demonstrate interoperability capabilities of the Microsoft platform. Through maturity of many enterprises, we live in a world where there is more than one stack of technology. These platform stacks range from legacy mainframe-based COBOL or FORTRAN types of applications, to the more modern solutions based on .NET, Mobile Systems, or Java – and everything in the middle. As a result, as enterprises have iterated through technologies and technology trends, there has been more than a few Band Aids applied to the various technologies.
Tags: Digital Transformation, Innovation, Open Innovation
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I’m an entrepreneur, futurist, digital strategist, podcast host, global keynote speaker, and a best-selling author with a specialty of inspiring organizations with bring paradigm-shifting thought leadership.
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