The event emphasised why enterprises that are ready to take the big, bold leap toward ‘digital’ stand to win in the new normal.
The global pandemic has been a watershed moment for enterprises in every aspect. It has tested IT in ways that we have never anticipated. Technology and digital leaders have been at the helm of a host of radical shifts that questioned the very relevance of what had come to be known as “best practices” in the world of business.
In a short span of time, we have realized that recovery and future growth for businesses are clearly ‘digital-led’. Enterprises that are ready to take that big, bold leap toward ‘digital’ will effectively respond to the changing customer and employee demands.
The 8th season of CIO Crown, held during one of the most critical phases in the technology industry’s history, was centered around this key message.
Organized for the first time in a virtual format, CIO Crown brought together the best of business technology leaders, practitioners and industry experts from across domains and industries.
The audiences had some key takeaways around this year’s theme — “Rise of The New Digital Economy — Customer and Employee Experience Perspectives”.
The 3+ hour information-packed symposium provided deep insights into a number of topics to help technology leaders chart their future course of action. A line up of highly relevant keynote sessions, engaging panel discussions and a series of fire side chats were key highlights of the event—all of which focused on delivering valuable takeaways to build a ‘digital-only’ enterprise in the new world order.
The event was kicked off with a welcome address by Anoop Mathur, Founder & President, CORE Media. Anoop underlined the new CIO mission in 2021 which is largely going to be around redesigning the ‘everyday economy’. He also touched upon the three disruptive data-driven initiatives from the government of India—Account Aggregator, open credit enablement network and open health services network –to build a truly digital economy.
Sharad Sanghi, MD & CEO of NTT-Netmagic, who delivered the welcome note, set the tone of the event by talking about how CIOs have risen up to be the true change makers in times of need. He also revealed the company’s expansion plans for India market in a fire side chat with Anoop. Sharad announced NTT-Netmagic’s $2 billion investment plan for India market in the next two years and also about India’s first and largest operational hyperscale data center campus in Chandivali.
Another highlight of the event was a panel discussion moderated by Anoop Mathur with two prominent technology leaders in the country – Prakash Ramachandran, CTO, Byju’s and Shiv kumar Bhasin, CTO & COO, NSE. The session highlighted how the brands leveraged their unique digital strategies to effectively address the changing customer demands and unprecedented scale during the pandemic.
A key focus of attention during the event this year was the highly informative keynote sessions delivered by two sought-after speakers in the industry -- Payal Arora, a TEDx speaker, author and professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam & Harish Bhat, the brand custodian at Tata Sons. Payal’s session on ““Next Billion Market: From Risk to Opportunity” was predominantly about how the next billion user demographic can be leveraged in the new data-based economy. Harish, on the other hand, unveiled the four mega consumer trends in the new normal and how digital will define the truly successful brands of tomorrow.
Some of the other featured speakers of this year’s edition included:
Anantharaman Balakrishnan, VP & MD-Sales, India & SAARC, Nutanix who gave the audience an overview about the company’s growth story in India while highlighting some of the key trends and market drivers. Nutanix also announced the “Leadership Circle” recognitions at the event—to honour technology leaders who continue to lead their organizations through global disruption, with their exemplary work and innovative approaches.
S. Venkatraman, Vice President & Country General Manager, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric India, who spoke about technologies that are effectively addressing some of the key shifts in customer demand post the pandemic.
Seema Ambastha, Senior Executive Vice President - India & Global –Sales & Business Development, NTT-Netmagic and Sankarson Banerjee, CIO, RBL Bank—who, in a fireside chat, discussed about the changing banking landscape and how digital is at the core of this shift.
Venugopal Arcot, Director and Head Solutions Consulting, India, ServiceNow spoke about some of the long-terms trends in areas such as customer and employee experience and how organizations must re-orient processes and systems. He also announced the Digital Visionary recognitions honouring technology leaders for their remarkable digital initiatives and innovations that helped transform their organizations to be future-ready in the new normal.
All in all, the event provided IT leaders an opportunity to further get a view on how emerging technologies in the areas of cloud, AI, intelligent automation among others can help them respond to the changing customer and employee experience expectations.
CIO Crown also celebrated the accomplishments of CIOs with Digital Genius and HHH awards in various categories.