Generating Real Business Value with AI

As we transition from the exploratory phase of artificial intelligence into an era marked by tangible, measurable business impact, it is crucial for leaders at all levels—executive, strategic, and technical—to understand how AI is shaping industries. In this keynote, Markus Egger, an experienced technologist, business strategist, Microsoft Regional Director, and Founder of the CODE Group, will guide you through the practical integration of AI within diverse applications, from traditional desktop environments to modern web-based platforms, and beyond.

This session, led by Mike Yeager, CEO of CODE Consulting, offers insights for senior leaders and developers on succeeding with AI initiatives. We'll examine common pitfalls in AI projects, including unclear objectives and poor data quality, while focusing on strategies to achieve real-world business value. Participants will learn techniques for defining AI projects, aligning them with business goals, and evaluating ROI. Using concrete examples from actual projects, we'll distinguish AI reality from hype and explore both opportunities and challenges. Attendees will gain actionable methods for steering AI initiatives towards success, emphasizing high-impact projects and effective metrics for progress. Whether you're starting your AI journey or optimizing existing projects, this session provides tools to drive meaningful business improvements through strategic AI implementation.

As the initial fascination with AI transitions into a demand for genuine, sustainable business value, this panel discussion promises a deep dive into the practical aspects of implementing AI in the enterprise environment. Guided by Laurabeth Baker, a panel of seasoned experts from the CODE Group—including its founder Markus Egger and leading executives—will explore the nuances of integrating AI into business systems to drive real-world outcomes.

This interactive session will address the critical questions surrounding AI deployment: How can we build systems that deliver not just technological advancements but true business value? What are the proven strategies, and what pitfalls should companies avoid? Panelists will share insights from their extensive experience in developing and managing AI solutions across various domains, providing attendees with a comprehensive understanding of what works, what doesn’t, and how to pivot away from the AI hype towards creating impactful, efficient AI-driven applications.

Participants are encouraged to engage with the panel, pose questions, and discuss scenarios ahead of time, ensuring a rich, participant-focused dialogue. Join us to gain actionable insights and strategies from top AI leaders that you can immediately apply to your enterprise AI initiatives.

In this session, Senior Software Engineer Philipp Bauer, will demonstrate how to implement a large language model (LLM) from Azure OpenAI within your own applications. Using a simple example from the keynote introduced by Markus, Philipp will showcase multiple methods for integration. These include deploying LLMs through Azure OpenAI’s cloud services, setting up models via GitHub, or even running local language models. By the end of the session, attendees will gain hands-on insights into the different approaches to embedding AI functionality into their platforms.

In the previous panel session today, we focused on the business process of how a company might integrate AI. Now we'll answer your more deeply technical questions.

This is sort of a “software developer to software developer” Q&A session. Some answers will certainly begin with “it depends” and that's fine. We welcome anyone from the previous part of the day to stay. The technical answers we offer may influence how you talk about AI with your IT team.