“These are thrilling times”. When Maximo Ibarra, 52, says this, he is referring only to himself, even after having led Tre, Wind and Sky, to mention the latest companies, from today he becomes the CEO of Engineering. And it does not even refer to the multinational that has just brilliantly passed forty years of history. He refers, to the world after Covid, to the near future that he recently analyzed by leading one of the B20 task force, the one on digital obviously: “We are in a historical moment of reconstruction and repair of what the crisis has damaged. But we are above all in a phase in which we are rethinking the very foundations of our world. How we live, work, interact. We have been forced to see things differently and we will organize ourselves differently. Already in the next two years, 60 percent of world GDP could be generated by digital transformation, major challenges await us. “.
Italian Tech Week 2021, Maximo Ibarra (CEO of Engineering): the future tech that awaits us
You will face them with a new hat, that of Engineering: how did your appointment come about?
“I had known the funds that bought Engineering for some time and I knew the company having always been a customer of theirs. A solid and consolidated reality that can continue to grow “.
One billion and two hundred million in turnover, made by managing important projects for medium and large companies and for the public administration: yet it is not so well known.
“Yet we are the greatest reality ofinformation technology in Italy. A true Digital Tech Champion ”.
He takes the place of Paolo Pandozy who led it for a long time with remarkable results: what will change?
“A couple of things: the first is a well-known company that can and still has to broaden its spectrum and audience, it needs to be told a lot now that it has reached large dimensions. The second is more substantive: making the most of all the incredible skills it has in all industrial sectors and all markets ”.
Perhaps by expanding the share of turnover made abroad.
“Today 85 percent of our revenues are made in Italy. We can become a digital tech champion in other countries as well. We will soon see where ”.
In your narrative there is a lot of talk about “digital ecosystems”: what exactly are they?
“A digital ecosystem is a set of technologies, solutions, platforms and markets that adapt according to the needs of a company. But to do this we need integrated, horizontal and transversal solutions ”.
The very slow Italian digital transformation has so far proceeded by building many silos, and this applies to both the public administration and companies: it will not be trivial to break them down and make data, systems and people communicate.
“It is not trivial but necessary. Think about how much faster and more efficient we could have been with a regional and national health system that communicates and is easily accessible and manageable even by the general practitioner of the smallest Italian municipality. We are working hard on this ”.
What new technologies need to be implemented?
“All of them, but for example artificial intelligence can contribute to creating innovative solutions only with open data and interoperable platforms. Only in an ecosystem “.
It is also about changing company organization.
“Today the chief information officer it is no longer in the rear but at the forefront, only in this way do you appreciate the advantages of breaking the silos ”.
It is obviously not just a question of technology, but of people.
“Yes, it is an educational and cultural theme. In fact, Engineering invests 40 million euros a year in research, has a team of over 450 researchers and data scientists and through an internal academy annually delivers 15,000 days of courses on emerging technologies “.
It was the summer in which Italy opened its eyes to the importance of cybersecurity with the public administration and some large companies, like yours, victims of cyber attacks.
“Here too, it is a cultural theme, of awareness. In other countries, cybersecurity was already a critical function of a company’s success. It will never be a again nice-to-have”.
The National Recovery and Resilience Plan has just started: there has never been so much money to invest in digital transformation. Advice?
“The first is not to consider these one-shot investments, when instead they are only the very first stone of a path that we will have to continue to take; the second is execution, the thousand streams must be avoided in order to concentrate on a few well-made system projects “.
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