PwC Herald Talks - Innovation: It’s about staying relevant

The PwC Herald Talks series is focused on addressing the big issues that businesses are facing. The next event, to be held on 18 May, will tackle one of the greatest challenges any company will face: innovation.

You don’t have to go far to realise just how influential new technologies and business practices have been for New Zealand’s business landscape. This year’s PwC NZ CEO Survey found a massive 85 per cent of local CEOs expect new technology to be the biggest influence on stakeholder expectations over the next five years.

What these findings reveal is that innovation isn’t just happening at the cutting edge - stakeholders now expect innovation to be a fundamental part of an organisation. Those firms without an innovation strategy aren’t just missing an opportunity to stay ahead of their competitors, they are failing to meet the expectations of customers, shareholders and investors.

Unsurprisingly, there was no shortage of possible panellists who are already embracing the value of innovation. The PwC Herald Talk’s keynote speaker, Savannah Peterson, has certainly seen this first-hand. As well as founding Savvy Millennial, Savannah travels extensively for speaking events, both in New Zealand and around the world, and was named one of Forbes’ 30 under 30 in 2016 for the consumer tech segment. Throughout her different roles, working with start-ups right through to multinationals like Google, Savannah has seen what it takes to translate an innovative idea into a successful product. 

Joining Savannah on the day will be a panel of experts, chaired by NZME’s Fran O’Sullivan. The panellists include entrepreneur Claudia Batten and Dr Rebecca Gill from Massey University, as well as Andy Symons, PwC’s Financial Services Sector Leader.

Andy’s experience stems from his longstanding engagement with New Zealand’s technology sector and advocacy for the country’s start-up ecosystem. Andy has helped companies of all sizes to build a culture and a structure that supports greater innovation. 

“New Zealand has a unique opportunity as a testing ground for innovative ideas, both among local companies and branches of international firms,” said Andy ahead of the event. “This gives them room to try new ideas, transition to new business models and really understand their customers.

“At the same time, we have to be asking ourselves ‘what are the barriers to innovation?’ Innovation is rightly celebrated in New Zealand, so what are the barriers that organisations are encountering and how can we lower them?”

Register to attend or find out more about the event by visiting iticket.co.nz.

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