Welcome to the KuppingerCole Analyst Chat. I'm your host. My name is Matthias Reinwarth. I'm analyst and advisor with KuppingerCole Analysts. This is the second episode in a series of views back on EIC. And for this episode, I have invited Patrick Teichmann, who has not yet been a guest here on the show. So first of all, a short introduction, Patrick Teichmann. He is lead advisor with KuppingerCole, joined some months ago, but is in the business for 10 years or so.
Hi, Patrick. Good to have you.
Hi, Matthias. Thanks for having me. Great to have you. These episodes that we're just currently doing is Matthias is asking the same questions to different participants, attendees from KuppingerCole's side at EIC in Berlin. And it was your first EIC, so you had lots of surprises, of course. But as you are an experienced, I am lead advisor from start away here at KuppingerCole. Starting with the topic perspective or general focus, what was your personal key topic or focus during EIC and why? Why did it stand out? I think there were like two topics which were pretty much interesting for me.
So as you might have heard, SAP Identity Management, with which I started around 10 years ago, is coming to an end. And of course, I was interested a lot in how the transition is working, where the customers are and what this means to the community. So what all the viewpoints are. So I will be also joining the DSAG Congress end of the year to talk about this topic. And this was very interesting and outstanding to see where the different companies, the different institutions are at the moment. The other thing was the NHI perspective or topic, non-human identities.
So when we are now like have worked a lot of around human identities and when I was starting, we were still talking about technical users that sounded like robots doing something. We are now talking about non-human identities and yeah, also what it means for AI. What is our view as IAM community on the AI topic, bringing another flavor into this topic. And this was pretty much interesting or a lot of new insights I gained here and that was interesting to me. Right.
And as you actually mentioned, especially the NHI topic or the combination, especially of agentic AI plus NHI, when you have systems acting on their own behalf, acting autonomously, that's really something that was one of the key topics at EIC. And I also covered that partially. So it's really an interesting topic. Was there something, some speakers, some tracks that you watched that were most thought provoking that you really took home and some food for thought or engaging and why?
Yeah, that was when Yves and Mike were talking about the death and the digital estate working group, at least their perspective on this topic, so-called data, and having a panel about this. And that was a talk about what progress they made over the last year. And it was like the, yeah, not so comforting topic about the death and what it means to your digital estate. So we all know about the real estate, but we were, or the term of the digital estate is pretty new.
And yeah, what it means to your identity if you die, for example. And we were also experiencing in this panel about the grief bots that you might have heard of, the alive people train bots to be there after they die. And we were also discussing what happens if you delegate some of the things you are doing as a youth now to this grief bot, for example. And that was really interesting.
Of course, it also gave you a bit of goosebumps, but at the end it was very interesting and yeah, really brought us in the direction to think also what this means to us, to us as an individual, but also of course to companies with your digital identities being spread over various providers. Right. I think it really is, it's a European, it's a German problem because we don't talk about these topics usually.
But nevertheless, if you are inheriting because a relative dies, you're inheriting pictures, I don't know, have inherited some kind of sheet music that somebody composed, what happens with that? I'm not entitled to understand even what that means. And the more you can actually think ahead before the event of no longer living, then that's helpful. And I think that we need to adapt and to get used to that as well. It's an interesting topic, but as you said, not that comfortable. But from your personal perspective, it was your first EIC, but I know that you were pretty active at EIC.
So what did you do? What did you focus on? What did you talk about? Yes. On the first day, I started to moderate a track together with Alejandro Leal from our research team. That was very interesting. And starting slowly into the EIC, working there to work with the people there.
But yeah, then I had the pleasure to moderate a track on my own, also to moderate the panels. On Thursday, I was doing the EIC morning run with some participants where we were around like 40 participants joining the morning run to start really fresh into the third day of EIC. And therefore, that was also quite nice. Guided with my colleague, Celine, the people through Berlin, we ran onto the Brandenburger Turm. And that was pretty nice as it started to the day.
And then on Friday, I had the pleasure to give my own talk in terms of identity federation, like federating between two organizations and how you should not just look at the tool as we in the IAM community sometimes tend to do or organizations tend to do, but also to look at the other parts like people, processes, policies behind IAM and where you integrate with each other. Very, very interesting. I think important topic. It's about trust, about ensuring trust, about making sure that you actually understand what the other organization is doing, that you are consuming identities from that.
That is really an important topic. Of course, the most important question in this series of podcast episodes is, was there something, a moment during the event that was unexpected, funny, engaging, energizing to you? You can give more than one answer. I'm pretty sure it's energizing, of course, the Thursday morning entity that we are not a community that just like to stay within the hall, but people also love to run there. And that was pretty energizing, I would say. Although my knees hurt a bit afterwards from the streets, but that was quite okay and something I could live with.
And the thing is what was very heartwarming for me that I saw so many familiar faces from my career so far that I can reconnect with, that I can exchange ideas with, and also like to see what has happened in the meantime, since we met the last time. That was, I guess, very heartwarming, as I said, and also very refreshing to exchange ideas and also see the progress that some made in terms of their IM stuff.
Yeah, that's mostly it. Yeah, I think one thing that I want to go back to, because the events team is really doing a brilliant job in preparing all of this. But nevertheless, there is something that you cannot prepare for, for example, if there is a no-show when a speaker does not show up. And I think that happened to you, right?
Also, yeah, that's right. Sometimes, unexpectedly, people get sick, for example, or whatever, and then you have to jump in, have to extend your talk, or have to extend your panel. And the thing is, there are so many people who are willing to jump in and are willing to share their experience, their ideas. And that was really nice to see that we were able to show short notice, like we were 40 minutes before we were not certain about the show up, or if the person shows up. And therefore, it was quite nice that others jumped in and were willing to really get into a chat and do the panel with me.
Great. And I think these are the most challenging, also the most exciting parts. But as you said, when you realize that this is really a community working together, also trying to deliver and supporting and delivering really brilliant results, that's, for me, also one of the most important parts of EIC. It was my 10th EIC, and learning that they are really working together and contributing, and everybody wants to make this the best event ever. And it was, of course.
For those who haven't had a chance to dig into EIC or to be part of that, maybe being on vacation, or I don't know, there are not too many good reasons to not be there. But if they are or have not been there, anything that you could recommend to start with? One thing that is a must-see that you would like to recommend for those who want to catch up with the event?
Yeah, I would recommend. So, for example, one thing that we as IAM enthusiasts try to, or what sometimes happens, that we dig so deep in our area that we are not able to really transmit the message that we should to our management when we are an organization.
So, I can recommend the keynote from my colleague, Philip Messerschmidt, which is addressing how you should address your management and how you convince them about the importance of IAM, because there are different drivers for each management representative. And also, the other thing about, as I said already, about the DEF and the Digital Estate Panel, this is really helping to shift your view, but it's sometimes needed, to where identity is now going to, in which direction it comes, to a point where it is really impacting everyone.
And I hope this is something we are able to transmit in the community and also is going to sharp the idea we have at the organization that it will be sooner or later impact everyone and therefore really should reflect about the challenges that come from there. Right. It has reached our daily life. If you look at what something that we in Germany call the elektronische Patientenakte, where you already have an identity and where you have access to your own data and need to authenticate and have the access to authorize access to your systems, to your data, to your medical records.
That is an example. Of course, the full EUDI Wallet topic will reach more or less very quickly. It will reach all of us.
So, you've made it. So, we're through this podcast episode. Before we close down, and I'm really looking forward to having you in other episodes as well, because I know you are an expert. Any final thoughts, final thoughts regarding EIC that you would like to mention? Some famous last words before we close down? No matter where you are in your IAM journey, this is the plate where you find the right people to connect. Wherever you are, if you are starting IAM or just with it, or are you already thinking about decentralized identity, you find the right people.
And this is really what I love already about this event. Right. I have to add this. My standard saying here is, if I was not made to go there, because I work for Copenhagen, I would love to go there. That's really the important part about EIC. It sounds a bit fishy, because what else should he say, but it's really true. It's kind of class reunion of the IAM community. It's really great. Thank you very much, Patrick, for being my guest today. Looking forward to having you soon again. And that was the second episode in this three-episode series of looking back at EIC from different perspectives.
Thank you very much, Patrick. Thank you, Matthias.
