What a day Friday 7^th April was! The official launch of iServer 2017 finally happened and – dare we say – everyone who participated had a fantastic time. Indeed, the weather was gorgeous, the surroundings were as stately as one might expect from the Palace of Westminster, and the speakers had great insights and stories to share with peers from the industry.

The day gets started!

The day started nice and early for everyone here at Orbus. We were already at Parliament, ready for action at 8.30am. Tables were set up, posters fixed and cameras positioned, so as the start of the event was approaching and invitees were making their appearance everything was in place to greet them. From 10am we all enjoyed some morning refreshments professionally prepared and served by the venue’s catering staff. Everyone got to meet and interact with peers from around the EMEA region in a beautiful, relaxed and historical environment. After all, more heads are than one, and throughout an entire day there were lots of useful ideas flying about, especially from the variety of interesting speakers presenting, from Orbus customers to Forrester Research. And no one can deny that sometimes it’s just nice to meet peers face to face and have a conversation over snacks. Hopefully all our customers who were able to attend the day would agree!

Let the presentations commence

Around 10.30am, after we’d all had a croissant and a cup of tea/coffee, the actual event began after a short introduction from our very own Tim Mitchell, Orbus Software’s Head of Marketing. The day’s first speaker was Gordon Barnett, of Forrester Research, who tackled EA Practices and the Evolution of Value Based EA. The talk captured the interest of many, as the questions at the end proved. Following him, we had Marcel Grossert, Chief Enterprise Architect at Novartis. His informative and thought provoking presentation – Enabling Global Insight into Digital Transformation – along with Marcel’s natural charm and great delivery style captivated the audience and served as a fine closing to the morning session.

Marcel Grossert, Novartis

From noon to 1pm we enjoyed a well-deserved lunch. This was a good opportunity for the invitees to engage in more depth with one another, as well as the guest speakers. The afternoon session debuted with a duo from Schroders, Duncan Sharrad and Heman Khajuria, who spoke about how they are using iServer for their Process Modelling and EA, as well as offering some insight into SAFe Agile Implementation.

Walking through iServer 2017 with Russel Jones

Following them was Russel Jones, iServer Product Development Manager. As you can imagine, Russel had quite a few things to share with the audience. His iServer 2017 Walkthrough of the new features had the audience very interested as our customers got to see the new functionality. Many questions were asked and answered, as everyone present wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and get first-hand information. The session ended with a presentation by our company’s new Head of Customer Services, Alexandra Nybratt. She detailed Orbus Software’s evolving approach to customer service excellence, with a distinct emphasis being placed on the upcoming Learning Ecosystem – watch this space!

Robert Hilger, KPMG International

After a short break for refreshments, the event continued with the last two guest customer presenters of the day. Robert Hilger sparked the crowd as he discussed KPMG International’s EA Journey, achieving Strategic Success through targeted communications.  And then Imran Chowdhury of Al Jazeera Media Networks rounded off a great speaker line-up with his presentations, Driving and Monitoring Organisational Performance with iServer.

Breakout Sessions

To round off the day’s event, everyone’s favorite consultant breakout sessions – a highlight of the iServer 2015 customer launch – offered our customers Orbus’ own brand of speed dating. As members of our consultancy, customer services and support teams moved round the tables, customers were able to ask in depth questions and see close demonstrations of each topic. The session was a great success with many interesting conversations being sparked, and the result was an informative and lively working session to top off the day.

Orbus support take customers through iServer 2017 Upgrades

As the day drew to a close, we couldn’t let the stunning location pass us by, and a tour of the Palace of Westminster seemed like the perfect end to the day for our customers. Walking around the Palace of Westminster and learning about its history, witnessing historical places in person, was hands down a wonderful experience. After taking in the beauty and solemn distinction of the building we moved into an evening reception at the Westminster Terrace Pavilion. It was most obvious here that the launch was an all-around excellent day. With drinks overlooking the river Thames and the clear April evening sky, discussions ensued and everyone clearly had a terrific time until well after nightfall!

Drinks on the Terrace

To conclude, we’d like to thank our customers for showing up and taking part in our celebration, our guest speakers for preparing interesting and informative presentations, and lastly to all the people outside and inside Orbus who helped make the iServer 2017 Launch Event the success it was.