Diversity of thought drives innovation in tech

Women account for just 26.5% of executive, senior-level and management positions in S&P 500 companies, according to findings from Statista. To showcase the strength that women can bring to tech companies, we hosted our inaugural UBS Women in Tech Summit in San Francisco, bringing together over 200 technology investors and executives.

“This is a powerful forum to drive change, strengthen connections and to recognize inspiring female leaders across tech” said Jamie Sutherland, Head of Americas Advisory Sales at UBS, who opened the day.

Our keynote Amy Weaver, President and CFO, Salesforce observed “We finally have an incredible number of women who are breaking into the top levels. We need a lot more, but the momentum over the past few years has been encouraging. For women to really make advances, we must show that there are different ways to lead.”

Alongside keynotes and one-on-one meetings, we hosted venture capital and private equity panels with industry experts who discussed the current market challenges in raising capital and exiting investments with mixed opinions on when they expect the market to improve. ​

AI adoption and monetization was a common theme throughout the day, with investors keen to understand the time horizon and potential impact on the sector. ​

According to UBS Research, the opportunities from generative AI for software firms include additional monetization potential, increased demand for cloud-based hosting and infrastructure services, as well as cost savings from accelerated development time and enhanced productivity in support, sales and marketing functions. ​

Industry analyst Gartner estimates that nearly 15% of new applications will be automatically generated by AI without a human developer in the loop by 2027, up from 0% today. This was a theme referenced by many of the presenters -- Salesforce has added a ChatGPT app for Slack to provide instant conversation summaries and writing assistance, while Einstein GPT uses Generative AI to improve productivity in the sales, service and marketing functions. Atlassian has partnered with OpenAI to build product enhancements such as extracting action notes and decisions from a meeting transcript, draft tweets and test software plans based on product documentation. ​

While today’s AI technology is impressive and offers potential to transform multiple sectors, there was some hesitation voiced about the gap between what customers can do with AI today and the enthusiasm around it. The focus of corporates is firmly on AI adoption and monetization will follow. ​

As the tech industry evolves it’s crucial that greater diversity remains a key focus for organizations and is recognized as an opportunity to help drive growth. Diversity of thought, opinion, background and experience enables better decision making and encourages innovation. ​

“By bringing together this influential group and providing a platform to showcase female leadership and a space to connect with investors and peers, at UBS we are making a visible impact in the technology sector and I’m excited to be a part of the journey” Taylor McGinnis, Software Analyst, UBS Global Research.