Andrew Ayres currently works as a Master Strategist for UK & Ireland at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise – one of the world’s most innovative technology companies – where he advises clients, across a range of industries, on how they should leverage people, processes and technologies to spur their transformation and change agenda.... Read more
Andrew Ayres currently works as a Master Strategist for UK & Ireland at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise – one of the world’s most innovative technology companies – where he advises clients, across a range of industries, on how they should leverage people, processes and technologies to spur their transformation and change agenda. In his work, Andrew is able to draw from his extensive knowledge and experience spanning a broad range of related areas – such as Transformation, Edge to Multi-Cloud Technologies, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence – to advise boards and their teams on their optimal paths to success. In recognition of his expertise, he currently holds the position of Discussion Leader at HPE’s Customer Innovation Centre in London.
Before joining HPE, Andrew worked at Micro Focus (now OpenText) where he led the Advisory & Professional Services teams on a range of strategic client accounts – across Financial Services, Pharmaceutical and Manufacturing industries. Prior to this Andrew was a Senior Manager at the world’s leading technology research and consulting firm Gartner Inc. – spending 5 years supporting clients in the Arabian Gulf and 3 further years aligned to the Public Sector in the UK&I. This combined experience has given Andrew unique perspectives on what it takes to succeed, the pitfalls that are to be avoided along the way and the approaches and frameworks senior leaders should embrace and adopt to keep their critical technology programmes on track.
As a seasoned public speaker, throughout his career, Andrew has spoken at CIO and Digital Transformation events – aimed at senior business and technology leaders – across UK, Ireland and the broader EMEA region.
Andrew qualified from University of London with a BSc in Biological Sciences, holds an M.B.A (with Distinction) from Manchester Business School and is in the final stages of his Ph.D at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). His doctoral research centres on the challenges of effectively governing the use of AI and Machine Learning in Heavily Regulated Industry contexts – such as Banking and Finance. Andrew is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) – an international, nonprofit, scientific society devoted to promoting research in, and responsible use of, artificial intelligence.
In terms of speaking engagements Andrew’s main focus at present is on raising awareness of the fact that humans are no longer the only ‘agent-type’ in the modern organisation. Instead, companies have become ‘socio-material assemblages’ made up of humans AND machines. In his view, modern firms (their strategies, policies and principles) still run on the outdated notion of ‘human-centricity’. Andrew believes that this paradigm shift towards ‘the second machine age’ renders most of the collective wisdom we hold on how best to manage, govern and optimise organisations – much less relevant and in some cases completely redundant. He also covers the all-important area of leveraging high-quality data – as the foundation stone to successful AI (and other) endeavours.
Andrew splits his time between London, England and Belfast, Northern Ireland with his wife, daughter and dog. Amongst other things, he is passionate about music, literature and cross-country mountain biking.