SAT CIO Forum discusses ‘Preparing You for an IT-quake’

The South Asian Technologies annual CIO forum was concluded successfully recently under the theme “Preparing You for an IT-quake”. Held at Centara Ceysands Resorts and Spas, Aluthgama, Bentota, the forum and interactive outing explored a plethora of issues related to IT and security and was an opportunity for a niche group of end-users and partners to interact with each other.

Organised by South Asian Technologies Pvt Ltd (SAT), the CIO Forum saw a successful turnout and full participation and enabled participants to acquire first-hand business knowledge on securing and managing their company’s information and provided an opportunity for discussion and debate. The SAT annual CIO forum was a networking platform and an enjoyable, interactive outing for C Level decision makers of large corporate enterprises, customers, product partners and their families.

The annual forum has been held for the past three years and seeks to build long lasting relationships with customers and partners. The forum emphasised two-way dialogues, interactive sessions and keynote speeches addressing the vital challenges of Chief Information Officers in a fast paced and fluctuating business environment. Furthermore, the forum debated current needs and concerns of clients and organisations and explored a host of IT themes relevant to corporates in Sri Lanka.

Themes discussed included the need for businesses today to leverage technology to evolve as well as the importance of de-risking the shifting security landscape. The Research and Development body and Advisory Council for IT companies, International Data Corporation (IDC), also participated in the forum, delivering a keynote address and moderating a panel of key security players in the market. Security was a dominant theme which pervaded the forum and speakers delved into how business leaders measure their organisation’s security risk, mitigate and derive a tool for creating business value. The IDC is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology markets.

Shalil Gupta, Associate Vice President, Insights and Consulting of IDC stated, “IT Security is now an indispensable component of the business processes, especially when organisations today are transforming into digital enterprises riding on top of the third Platform (Mobile, Cloud, Social, Analytics). Those relatively safer from cybercrime organisations are embarking on a new era and their IT and network risk levels are rising. Due to increasing security threats in the digital environment and emerging technology architectures outpacing enterprise security environments, security is now being treated as a business differentiator by organisations.”

The forum explored the growing importance of security – which has shifted from the periphery of IT into the mainstream business spectrum.  It highlighted how security is now a business enabler and the imperative and urgent need to equip one’s organisation against attacks and information theft through an automated and intelligent security setup. It was concluded that sophisticated security supports IT leaders in navigating large volumes of sensitive information, ensures faster turnaround and mitigates damages to brand name and loss of shareholder faith and revenue.

Lal Chandranath, Managing Director of DMS Electronics (Pvt) Limited participated in the SAT annual CIO forum and commented on its success. “I have been attending the CIO forum for the past two years and it keeps getting better each year. This unique event was informative and enjoyable – I enjoyed the discussions at the forum, which took place over a relaxed, casual atmosphere, as well as the opportunity for fellowship and networking among peers.”

South Asian Technologies (Pvt) Ltd works with a partner network of over 150 companies and is a trusted distributor for leading ICT brands such as Symantec, Check Point and Intel Security.