Networking dinner Wolters Kluwer, a digital company

Just before the guests were immersed into the digital transformation of Wolters Kluwer, Ronald Verbeek presented the plans and priorities of the CIO Platform Nederland in 2018. Currently we have 107 members and recently we welcomed two new members (B&S International and Dutch Flower Group). Upcoming year we expect to expand the number of members. 

At the end of 2017 we have made an inventory of the necessary actions to undertake to be GDPR-ready. The progress is on schedule and gets extra explanation during the presentation. In consultation with the board and the members of the CIO Committees the events and meetings during this year will be dominated by current developments (like AI, Data Science, Blockchain and IoT). 

At the end of this first part of the meeting there was a short discussion about the subject Architecture in an Agile environment. Useful information was shared, for instance about how to allocate an architect in a team and delegate mandate. 

“When you have to be right”  

Martin Wuite explained how Wolters Kluwer has undergone an impressive digital transformation and the undertaken steps to keep up in the digitizing society. Particularly the last decade the company went through a huge change and became a digital company. 

The connotation with printed law books is still there, but meanwhile according to their 2016 full-year results, 85% of the company’s total global revenues were generated from digital products and services. The growth strategy of Wolters Kluwer is focused on offering solutions to professionals in the health, tax and accounting, risk and compliance, finance, and legal sectors. The tagline ‘When you have to right’ emphasizes the commitment of Wolters Kluwer to help customers make decisions with confidence, and to increase productivity with information, software solutions and services.

Standardizing IT processes at the backend and with a customer-based solution on the frontend is central to delivering on the company’s strategy. For the near future, their focus is aimed towards development of initiatives applying big data and advancing the application of artificial intelligence that align with the needs of their customers. 

From print to digital
Harrie van Luxemburg started his presentation with the transformation from printed books into digital publishing. As an example he mentioned the well-known compiled and annotated legal texts. These best sellers are still being produced by Wolters Kluwer, but the production process evolved digitally in a short period of time. With the arrival of several digital software products Wolters Kluwer is still the largest legal publishing house of The Netherlands. 

Harrie mentioned clear examples which proof that in a short period of time many processes are simplified by digitalization and have a better fit with the wishes and expectations of the customer. The world is getting more and more digital and Wolters Kluwer keeps the same pace by putting for instance User Experience of products in the heart of the organization, improving their website and adjusting the organization. The customer and its needs are the central theme. 

Product demonstrations 
After the break it became clear that Wolters Kluwer is fully focused upon delivering digital products and services. After dividing the group into smaller groups there were four product demo’s scheduled and a brief summary of the organizations history was clarified. 

The product demo’s were highly appreciated by the participating CIO’s and CxO’s and endorsed that Wolters Kluwer in 2018 became an industry leader concerning the delivery of information “When you have to be right”. After the demonstrations the guests were offered a walking dinner. While enjoying several nice snacks it was possible to network and to chat with one and another. 

Once again it was a very successful Networking dinner. We are already looking forward to the next Networking dinner on Tuesday the 24^th of April 2018. Host of this next event will be the National Police.