Hot of the press in “bank und markt 06/19”: Opportunities and risks of AI for the financial sector

Artificial intelligence is the new buzz word of the financial industry, says Jochen Werne. In view of the rapid pace of technological development it is becoming a source of hope for the banks – and rightly so, writes the author. After all, banks have an enormous amount of data at their disposal. Despite all the digitalisation and areas of application of AI, Werne sees the chance for a renaissance of consulting as a link between people and the technical world. Red. Bank und Markt

Read the full article in the new June 2019 edition of BANK und MARKT here

Chancen und Risiken von KI für die Finanzbranche

German: Künstliche Intelligenz ist das neue Buzz-Wort der Finanzbranche, sagt Jochen Werne. Angesichts der rasanten technologischen Entwicklung wird sie zum Hoffnungsträger für die Banken – zu Recht, meint der Autor. Schließlich verfügen Banken über einen enormen Datenschatz. Trotz aller Digitalisierung und Einsatzbereiche von KI sieht Werne jedoch die Chance auf eine Renaissance der Beratung als Bindeglied zwischen Mensch und technisierter Welt. Red.

AI, Society, Sailing, Passion & more – on camera with Sascha Adam (Part 1)

Jochen Werne is full-time Director & Authorized Officer for Bankhaus August Lenz & Co. AG of the Mediolanum Banking Group and is responsible for Business Development, Marketing, Product Management, Treasury & B2B Payment Services. In addition, he is involved in the development of non-profit organizations and a member of the Learning Systems Platform of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

The initiative www.wegofive.net addresses the question of how a unit of man and machine can be created in the working world of tomorrow and how algorithms can be seamlessly integrated into the organization in order to supplement the capabilities of employees.

In this first, introductory part of our interview Jochen gives us an insight into what has changed for him in the last decades – and he finds out that “Hamburg is probably the most beautiful city in Germany” 😉

As an independent interim manager, profile and team coach, Sascha Adam supports people, decision-makers and companies in actively shaping digital change.

More at www.wegofive.net/mission/about or www.sascha-adam.net.

Many thanks to the coast by east Hamburg in the Hafencity Hamburg for the permission to film here. A very recommendable location with obliging service, extraordinary menu and good drinks. Apropos, the background noises also give you the feeling of sitting directly with us 😉

German original

Jochen Werne ist hauptberuflich Director & Authorized Officer für das Bankhaus August Lenz & Co. AG der Mediolanum Banking Group und verantwortet dort die Bereiche Business Development, Marketing, Product Management, Treasury & B2B Payment Services. Darüberhinaus ist er am Aufbau gemeinnütziger Organisationen beteiligt und Mitglied der Plattform Lernende Systeme des Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung. Die Initiative www.wegofive.net geht der Frage nach wie in der Arbeitswelt von morgen eine Einheit aus Mensch & Maschine geschaffen werden kann und sich Algorithmen nahtlos in die Organisation integrieren, um die Fähigkeiten der Mitarbeiter zu ergänzen. In diesem ersten, einleitenden Teil unseres Interviews gibt uns Jochen einen Einblick was sich in den letzten Jahrzehnten für ihn verändert hat – und stellen fest, dass “Hamburg die wahrscheinlich schönste Stadt in Deutschland ist” 😉 Sascha Adam unterstützt als selbstständiger Interimsmanager, Profile- und Team-Coach Menschen, Entscheider und Unternehmen dabei den digitalen Wandel aktiv zu gestalten. Mehr unter www.wegofive.net/mission/about oder www.sascha-adam.net. Ganz herzlichen Dank an das coast by east Hamburg in der Hafencity Hamburg für die Genehmigung hier filmen zu dürfen. Eine sehr zu empfehlende Location mit zuvorkommender Bedienung, außergewöhnlicher Speisekarte und guten Drinks. Apropos, die Hintergrundgeräusche geben einem auch gleich das Gefühl direkt bei uns zu sitzen 😉

Keynote announcement: International Banking Innovation Forum, Vienna

Banking Professionals are faced with many new challenges as PSD2 & Instant Payments in Europe at center stage which are driving automation and Innovations. It will be a great pleasure representing Bankhaus August Lenz with a keynote on the importance of the combination of all aspects of HUMAN, DIGITAL & CULTURE to create valuable business models for future banking. Looking forward joining other Top Industry Experts to tackle these topics with them.

A talk about Antarctica and extreme weather conditions with Anna-Maria Guth

It was a pleasure and great fun having an interview with Anna-Maria Guth about Antarctica, its importance for our planet and its extreme weather phenomenas

Jochen Werne

SCJohnson wrote: “An expedition under extreme conditions: From 12.02. – 28.02.2018 Jochen Werne led the expedition Antarctic Blanc to Antarctica. The team passed the Drake Passage and sailed “to the end of the world”. The extreme conditions at sea demand special protection: that’s why the crew had skin care products from SC Johnson Professional™ with them. Jochen Werne, expedition leader of the Antarctic Blanc, reports after the expedition on his experiences and new findings. “One hand for the man, one hand for the ship” – the perfect skin care for all professions and extreme weather situations is called Stokolan®.”

H.S.H. Prince Albert II will honour the merits of Albert 1er during the Navigators Heritage Challenge

The NAVIGATORS HERITAGE CHALLENGE is a 360 nautical mile OFFSHORE SAILING CHALLENGE where navigators are allowed to use only instruments invented before 1900. 

“It’s a great accolade for the Navigators Heritage Challengers and their engagement in creating international understanding and environmental awareness, that His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco is giving us the honour and will personally lay the wreath in commemoration of Albert 1er from the expedition’s flag ship on July 2, 2019”

Jochen Werne, Expedition Leader

IN REMEMBRANCE OF the unique explorer, seaman and statesman PRINCE ALBERT I of MONACO the challenge starts in Palma de Mallorca and ends Monaco with the goal to raise awareness and sensitise civil society for the importance of our MARITIME ECOSOCYSTEM in relation to the UNITED NATIONSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS.

What makes this challenge special is that it is open – by invitation – to all types of sailing yachts, but for the participating crews it is only allowed to use navigation technologies invented before 1900. While the navigators on board give their best to determine their position at sea as accurately as possible, the spectators worldwide can follow the yachts and their tactics live on the Internet thanks to modern GPS tracking devices.

AudiMax Interview Banking: Klischees auf der Spur

Banker haben keine Freizeit.

Jochen Werne, Direktor der Bankhaus August Lenz & Co. AG antwortet AudiMax auf die Frage nach dem Klischee, dass Banker keine Freizeit haben. Text: Felix Schmidt / AudiMax


“Freizeit ist wichtig! Nicht nur zur Entspannung, sondern vor allem um den Blick über den Tellerrand hinaus zu schärfen. Die Bankenbranche befindet sich in einer der größten Umbruchphasen ihrer Geschichte. In solchen Phasen ist neben unternehmerischen Denken besonders Kreativität gefragt. Und wie kann man dies besser schöpfen als abseits täglicher Routinen”

Jochen Werne

Das Original der AudiMax Sommerausgabe findet sich hier

Man sollte nie so viel zu tun haben, dass man zum Nachdenken keine Zeit mehr hat.

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Erster deutscher Professor für Experimentalphysik im Zeitalter der Aufklärung

Small talk with Siri, Alexa & Co.

What role does humans play in times of exponential technological developments and how does this influence our society?

Author: Jochen Werne / first published May 2019 @LinkedInPulse

Siri or Alexa? Who can offer us more help in our daily life? Who provides the better answers and leads the more eloquent conversation? A legitimate question, because both Smart Devices are now so technically mature that it is difficult to make a simple distinction. Alexa was only launched in November 2014 in the USA and at the end of October 2016 in Germany.

Our world is changing from analogue to digital. While the invention of the printing press in 1450 by Gutenberg was a true milestone on the timeline of human development, we now live surrounded by smartphones and cloud applications in which we can store, share and retrieve even the most private information from anywhere in the world. Smart support is omnipresent: Siri accompanies us through everyday life in the form of Apple products and Alexa awaits us – Amazon powered – with a familiar voice when we get home. The intelligent speech assistance systems are only one of many modern applications of Machine & Deep Learning technologies and are therefore more broadly defined by artificial intelligence. With the extremely dynamic and rapid development of smart robotics and learning systems, some people are asking themselves what role humans will play on the stage of these technologies in the future.

The emerging technological possibilities, like all technological achievements in the past, have an impact on our daily personal lives, but their potential unfolds when we consider this impact in a scaled way and when it comes to our society as a whole. The Tübingen professor of media science, Bernhard Pörksen, even speaks of the fact that we have long since been able to be described as a “digital society” – this change took place in an extremely short time and without us being prepared for it. As a result, we would first have to learn competences to understand our actions in this new digital world and also to learn how to deal with the resulting effects. The learning of these skills takes place at different speeds in the case of digitisation issues, even against a demographic background. In contrast to the digital natives of the 21st century, some parts of our population with fewer points of contact with digital media find it more difficult to deal with the challenges of new technological standards and to adapt to the changed conditions in the service sector. The efficiency of the technical possibilities that permeate all areas of our lives is impressive, but it is crucial for success in the service sector not to ignore one factor: human empathy. 

An example of this is the financial sector. Your own money is an issue that most people are most personally concerned about. However, plagued by fears of loss, personal biases and an extremely complex oversupply of investment alternatives, many investors seek personal support that goes beyond enumerating facts. We are talking about human support and empathic accompaniment, which machines (so far) have not been able to provide. A service that ideally covers not only the technical aspects of financial consulting, but also the behavioural finance aspects.

Undoubtedly there are already developments like Google Assist, in which attempts are made to incorporate empathic components into the developments, but the ability of the machines to simulate emotions and accordingly cause emotional reactions in humans (still) reaches its limits.

The upcoming technological developments will help us to solve many hitherto unsolvable problems in e.g. medicine, in environments hostile to humans or in a World Food Programme in a relatively short time. But as always with new technologies, it is also important to limit the abusive possibilities of use and to educate population that have little contact with modern instruments and technologies, because otherwise there is the danger of creating a feeling of inequality, which in turn can lead in extreme cases to a division of society. The desired progress would thus be reversed into its opposite: a step backwards based on a lack of communication at the micro and macro levels. 

“It will certainly be our task in the future to ensure that developments in technological progress, artificial intelligence and the role of man go hand in hand. To advance optimizations through technology and digitization, as well as a parallel enlightenment of the individual with regard to his uniqueness in relation to technological development, as well as his social responsibility in this context.” 

Jochen Werne

The following comparison should simplify the problem between strengths and limitations of automated systems: In 2012 an autopilot would probably not have let the Costa Concordia collide with a rock – the reason was human, emotionally driven behaviour. But an autopilot could not have landed an Airbus 320 on the Hudson River in 2009 either. This required human experience and spontaneous creativity. Something that our brain can do, but that still allows the technical possibilities of AI to reach hard limits for the foreseeable future.

It remains to be said that smart devices like Alexa and Siri provide valuable support and even provide entertainment with the increasingly mature question-and-answer game. We can ask the digital companions anything. We also get – within the scope of technical possibilities – a cheeky answer. But we have to deal with the extent to which these answers provide us with what we expect, also on an emotional basis. Because our expectations often go beyond a technical answer. 

More in-depth insights on this topic can be found, for example, at the Platform for Learning Systems (https://www.plattform-lernende-systeme.de/home.html ).

Creating international understanding through peoples diplomacy on sea

German Naval officers reflect about Antarctica and its importance for our society.

“It has been an honour to give a speech for the “Marine-Offiziers-Messe München”, highlighting the importance of Antarctica for us and our planet and to report about the Global Offshore Sailing Team’s Expedition Antarctic Blanc.”

Jochen Werne
Antarctic Blanc Expedition Leader

Having experienced the sea by themselves the retired German Naval Officers enriched the discussion greatly with their own fascinating experiences and personal stories about life on sea and the challenges with the elements.

I’m grateful to Commander ret. Bernd Lehmann and Commander ret. Bernd Chittka for the invitation and the members and guests of the “Marine-Offiziers-Messe München for an outstanding evening and their engagement for our society.

The Global Offshore Sailing Team sailed to the most Southerly partially ice-free place of this planet – the ANTARCTIC continent. The international team remembered all sailors who bravely explored this fragile and dangerous environment.

With this Expedition a platform of intercultural and interdisciplinary exchange for ANTARCTIC enthusiasts such as Historians, Environmental Scientists, Sailors, NGO’s, Navies, Associations or just out of personal interest has been created.

www.AntarcticBlanc.com

German Stevies committee is awarding innovations and human creativity

The German Stevie Awards are a top-class business award for the German business world. Outstanding achievements are rewarded in over 80 different categories: from Manager of the Year in over 30 industries, to Marketing Campaign of the Year, to Product of the Year, and more.

It’s greatly inspiring seeing the different approaches companies are going to be innovative and a step ahead of their competition in a highly dynamic business environment

Jochen Werne
German Stevie Awards Jury Member
Management & Human Ressources


Jury member Jochen Werne about the importance of the human factor in a digital world

digital thoughts 2019: Expeditions into the digital world – technologies, ongoing change, leadership

On May 23, ec4u will present innovations and trends for the customer experience and innovative applications for marketing, sales and service together with customers, experts and opinion formers and address the challenges of digital leadership in the midst of (agile) transformation:

  • How, for example, AI and other innovations can support marketing, sales and service both on the customer side and internally. 
  • How executives can deal with digital change in order to grow with their company. 
  • What communication, organization and culture in agile transformation can and must look like to provide a stable foundation for your business.

LEARN MORE HERE

“It’s greatly inspiring giving a real keynote in an innovative virtual conference like Digital Thoughts 2019”

Jochen Werne