I recently had the pleasure of traveling to Times Square in New York City to attend Saugatuck Technology’s one-day executive event, the Cloud Business Summit.

The event brought together more than 100 CIOs, CFOs and CMOs from large national enterprises to hear how the convergence of cloud, big data, mobile and social media is “Rethinking Business Innovation.”

Saugatuck kicked off the event by sharing some of their recent research. I found it encouraging that it echoes what we are hearing from our customers every day. For example: 68 percent in the C-suite see the cloud as the key driver of business innovation, and companies now see the value in how the cloud helps them transform their business.

While at the conference, I was able to be part of the Cloud Business Applications panel that focused on architecture’s role in enabling innovation. Moderated by Mike West, a vice president and distinguished analyst from Saugatuck Technology, the panel included Rick Lloyd, director of technology planning and strategy at Pitney Bowes; Mark Nittler, vice president of enterprise strategy at Workday; and Vikram Nair, former CIO of Pfizer Animal Health.

Much of our discussion focused on how mobile, social and advanced analytics have become part of how we do business. We shared how CIOs can leverage these tools to collect big data in order to architect a better solution, and debated the different ways cloud architectures are impacting emerging solutions in sales and marketing, customer service and support, human capital management, finance, manufacturing and the supply chain, and collaborative commerce.

I always find it fascinating to have the chance to speak with my peers about the opportunities we see in today’s cloud. Our panel seemed to be well-received, and there was plenty of lively discussion about the different drivers guiding cloud architecture.

Likewise, I had many good side conversations during the conference about the state of manufacturing, and how manufacturers must be nimble and flexible enough to scale up the detail of their business. I was proud to hear that Plex was often credited with having the most complete and flexible cloud ERP, helping manufacturers generate profits from every inch of the plant floor.

How do you see mobile, social and advanced analytics impacting manufacturing processes in the near future?