(Dresden) The DiALOG 2016, the only international forum for Enterprise Information Management (EIM), took place this year in the historic Taschenbergpalais, in the heart of Dresden. Once again, the number of participants has increased, with around 180 visitors enjoying two days filled with a wide range of information and discussion all around the subject of EIM.

"The theme of this year's conference, 'Giving food for thought', is entirely in-keeping with the core values of Enterprise Information Management - 'integration, rather than departmental thinking', 'transparency, rather than just data collection' and 'business process thinking, instead of IT thinking'" explained Steffen Schaar, the conference's organiser and host. "EIM is communication!", he continued enthusiastically. "Once again, we are very pleased to have seen so many experts, users and partners take part and to use this excellent platform for valuable information exchange and networking."

The conference was opened with an agile presentation that introduced the various partners. Each of the partner companies had give-aways for the attendees, featuring their branding. Many thanks go to BCT Deutschland, Comarch, LIB IT-DMS, OnBase, axians ICT Austria, FIS Informationssysteme und Consulting, Aristaflow, faizod, interface projects, id-netsolutions, PD Partner, Right Point IT, Sennheiser, HEYDEN-SECURIT, IT& Business, as well as all of the media partner, All about Sourcing.

Following the presentation, Frank Schabel, Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications at Hays AG, took to the stage and talked about the "stumbling blocks on the path to digital organisation". He went into particular depth about the role of leadership and the culture as the linking connections, but also made it very clear which areas of conflict organisations are facing today and how IT should also act as a mediator.

Prof. Michael J. Mielke of Deutsche Bahn AG spoke about Quality Information Management and how this is actively and positively being implemented at Deutsche Bahn. A presentation on the theme of stress management from a completely different perspective was presented by Volker Ziegler, the German national coach for table tennis at the German Disabled Sports Association. He identified solutions from top-level sport that anyone can use to help manage stress.

Various Factory lectures on the themes of eFiles, the Cloud, as well as information, document and contract management rounded off the conference programme. In their practice-orientated lectures, insights into successful EIM organisation projects were delivered by the winners of last year's DiALOG Awards 2015. The final presentation of this year's conference also drew parallels between elite sport and business services. In his speech extolling the virtues of the winning mentality and self-confidence, Michael von Kunhardt, coach and mental trainer, gave examples of how the world of business can learn from the techniques practised in professional sports.

This year, again, the DiALOG Award "Excellence with EIM" was presented during the event. Among the five winners was the city council of Würzburg, with their project "From the local authority to the service provider". Their success was celebrated by Peter J. Schmerler, CEO of VOI e.V. (voice of information society) and patron of the event, who awarded them for their future-orientated structure and user concepts in administrative business processes.

A special feature of this year's congress was the opportunity to get to know the sights of Dresden from a different perspective. Conference participants, together with Electoral Prince August and Countess von Cosel, got to experience a very special tour of the city, followed by a rustic dinner in the traditional Sophienkeller.

"After the DiALOG is always before the DiALOG", said Simon Feess, Head of Organisation for the DiALOG conference, "in this spirit, we are already working on the conference programme for 2017, which will be all about EIM. We are looking forward to 10th - 12th May 2017 in Hamburg, when we will, once again, be delighted to welcome lots of EIMers to our conference." During this event, the fourth DiALOG Award will be presented.