EVENTS
Bigger, Better, Brighter:
Infotech Forum 2018 sets a new benchmark
[(From Left to Right) Harpreet Singh, Territory Manager- Kaspersky Lab, Nirav Biswas, CTO- NHBC, Dr. Herald Dcosta, Director- Intelligent Quotient Security, Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, Kalinga Digital Media Pvt Ltd, Mrutyunjay Mahapatra, DMD – Digital Business & New Business-SBI, Subroto Panda, CIO, Anand and Anand, Vishal Dhupar, Managing Director, South Asia- NVIDIA, Damodar Sahu, Partner & Industry advisorWIPRO, Shankar Aggarwal, OSD- ASSOCHAM, S.N Tripathi, Secretary-Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs- Govt. Of India, Suresh Kumar, Partner & CIO, Grant Thornton, S Mohini Ratna, Editor-VARINDIA] Infotech Forum 2018, the much awaited annual event for the industry to interact with end customers from various verticals, was held on 25th May 2018 at Hotel Shangri-La. The event witnessed the presence of 400 high-profile guests comprising of CXOs (CIO/CTO/CISO) from government, PSUs, enterprises, IT consultants and marketers from various verticals, all gathered under one roof for an impactful discourse on the topic: ‘Disruption – A new Reality’. The forum provided a platform for all to discuss and brainstorm on latest technological disruptions that are taking place in this digital age, with technical presentations, panel discussions, thus proving as the biggest business networking event. The event also witnessed the unveiling of the 7th edition of India’s first coffee table book, capturing the successful journey of the Top 25 brands and Most Admired Brands in the Indian ICT industry. Prominent Speakers from diverse sectors like Government, Telecom, Security, BFSI and IT services to digital and the corporate world shared various ideas and best practices on how technology and the industry is moving. The event also proved to be a game changer for the CIO community. S.N Tripathi, Secretary, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs- Govt. Of India and Mrutyunjay Mahapatra, DMD, Digital Business and New Business – State Bank of India graced the Infotech Forum event as special guests. The
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other eminent dignitaries who’s presence raised the bar of the event include Shankar Aggarwal, OSD- ASSOCHAM; Vishal Dhupar, Managing Director, South Asia- NVIDIA; Pawan Duggal, Cyber Expert-Supreme Court of India; Dr. Herald Dcosta, Director- Intelligent Quotient Security; Bharat B Anand, CIO- NATGRID; Suresh Kumar, Partner & CIO, Grant Thornton; Dr. Rajeev Papneja, COO- ESDS Software Solutions; Nirvan Biswas, CTO- NHBC; Ricky Bindra, Group Sr. VP-JIO; Harpreet Singh, Territory Manager- Kaspersky Lab; Subroto Panda, CIO, Anand and Anand and Damodar Sahu, Partner & Industry Advisor- WIPRO. The event commenced with the welcome speech given by Deepak Sahu, Publisher & Editorin-Chief, Kalinga Digital Media. In his speech he threw light on the digitization and the scope that digitization brings to people. “Digitization is creating tremendous opportunities for economies across the globe, and India is an example of a country that not only understands this opportunity, but it has embraced it. As a media house, our focus has been Technology, that is at the forefront of everything we do." Vishal Dhupar, Managing Director, South Asia- NVIDIA in his speech highlighted the opportunities of AI and hinted that firms across the globe are fast becoming aware of the power of Artificial Intelligence, Mixed reality, Deep learning and Blockchain technology. While Shankar Aggarwal, OSD-ASSOCHAM shared
his perspective on the economic growth and sustainability, S. N Tripathi, IAS, SecretaryMinistry of Parliamentary Affairs- Govt. Of India shared his perspective on Digital India and the scope that e-governance offers to every citizen. Mrutyunjay Mahapatra, DMD – Digital Business & New Business – SBI in his keynote address, enlightened the audience on how banks always want to understand their customers better and improve their relationships. "Technology could cut banks' infrastructure costs by up to $20 billion each year by 2022," he said. The previous data protection laws were put in place during the 1990s and haven't been able to keep pace with the levels of technological change. On this background, Pawan Duggal, Cyber expert-Supreme court of India spoke on how GDPR will bring the biggest change in data protection laws in more than 20 years. Dr. Rajeev Papneja, EVP & COO, ESDS Software Solution in his speech spoke on the innovative solutions the company offers in its state-of-the-art data centers. In the evening session, Dr. Herald Dcosta, Director- Intelligent Quotient Security spoke on India’s present security landscape. The event also witnessed the recognition of 100 Eminent CIOs of India, India’s Top 25 Trusted Brands along with the Top 50 Most Admired ICT Brands. This was followed by the recognition of the Top 10 Brands Icons of India.