BT and TechPros: Discussion on network infrastructures, 27th January

BT, in collaboration with TechPros, is hosting an interactive panel discussion titled “Daring to disrupt: how digital leaders are transforming network infrastructures” on the 27th January, 14:00 -15:00 GMT. I spoke with Susie Dardis of BT about the event, and the important information that attendees should know.

BT and TechPros: Combining to discuss the digital industry

We began by discussing how long the event has been running for, and what has been involved in previous events:

“The research was conducted last year where we interviewed 60+ technology leaders over a six-month period culminating in the launch of the first of the research eBooks, with part two to be released in the coming weeks.

Past events also include two virtual roundtable events in October. The events consisted of an accomplished group of Technical and Digital Leaders and C-Level executives from within Ireland, Europe, and North America where industry challenges were presented with participants exchanging advice, experiences, challenges, and opportunities throughout the session”.

We moved on to speak about the inspiration to start the event, and how COVID-19 influenced this years proceedings:

“2020 was a year of dramatic change, not least for business and technology leaders responsible for business continuity throughout the pandemic. Once again many of us find ourselves in ‘lockdown’ requiring all but essential work to be carried out from home.

With 65% of CIOs struggling to support the adoption of digital technologies into their legacy infrastructure, the transformation of network infrastructures became an increasingly crucial, if risky, venture.

We explored the challenges global organisations faced in transforming their networks across various geographies, while also dealing with the influence of changing IT skills requirements, cybersecurity, and cloud. Nevermore crucial and the Coronavirus era”.

In terms of excitement and opportunity attendees can look forward to learning from global experts in tech and IT, as Susie stated:

Attendees can look forward to presenting their own questions and learn from Global Tech experts and IT leaders. Attendees can also crystallise their thinking on overcoming industry challenges, and benchmark ideas about network infrastructure.

Questions will be answered by our panellists where they will share expert advice and best practice on three critical business considerations that enterprises face today in the new economic environment: Connectivity, Collaboration, and Cyber Security.

This is an excellent opportunity for attendees to better understand how others have balanced the challenges and benefits of digital transformation and learn how their industry peers will move forward with IT and networks in a post/current pandemic environment.

The free eBook for registrants/attendees of the event allows readers to unlock the 5 success factors for infrastructure transformation. The eBook also gives access to insights from industry experts representing Microsoft, AIG, Siemens, Capgemini, Hedgeserv, GE Healthcare, Experian and many more enterprises”.

In terms of guest speakers, the event will have panellists from a wide array of backgrounds, to provide exciting variety for those willing to attend:

“The panellists include Fotis Karonis CTIO of BT Enterprise, Keith Kiernan Group CIO of Bank of Ireland and from ServiceNow, Venguideshe (Venkat) Lakshminarayanan Sr. Director, IT Infrastructure Engineering & Operations. They will also be joined by TechPros moderator Jermaine Edwards.

“Fotis Karonis is a CTIO for BT Enterprise & BT/EE 5G Executive Advisor. Fotis has been the lead to drive the delivery and launch of the 5G programme; a role he took up in August 2018 having been BT’s Managing Director of Mobile and Convergence, CTO of EE, and lead of the Technology integration of EE with BT group.

As EE CTO, he led EE the UK’s largest operator to be the first to launch 4G in the UK in 2012 and was awarded Mobile Europe’s CTO of the Year in 2015.

Keith Kiernan is a senior executive with extensive pan-European experience in strategy development, service delivery, operations, and business transformation programs, as well as outsourcing of both IT and operational functions. He has circa 20 years’ experience in managing large teams, many within large global multinational organisations, providing internal and external client support to business-critical systems and clients.

Before Bank of Ireland, Keith has led transformation programmes at RSA and O2 where had overall responsibility for the restructuring of the Irish business’ operating model. Prior to joining O2, he was responsible for the delivery of infrastructure operations to Bank of Ireland within HP Managed Services.

Venkat Lakshminarayanan is a senior technology entrepreneur with extensive industry experience and a passion for technology innovation. He has a proven track record building enterprise infrastructure, customer support services, and product development for tech start-ups as well as fortune 100 enterprises.

With over 25 years’ experience, Venkat is a strong leader and collaborator and enjoys mentoring others. He is currently the Sr. Director of IT Infrastructure Engineering & Operations at ServiceNow. Prior to ServiceNow, Venkat held senior positions in FireEye Inc., iOPEX Technologies, and BlueCoat (Symantec).

Jermaine Edwards is an event moderator for TechPros.io and has led dozens of our virtual events sponsored by enterprise technology and services companies. Jermaine is an Inc magazine featured customer growth author who has personally trained and delivered talks to over 4,000 customer leaders, executives and teams.

Jermaine is invited by companies around the world like Gartner, Dell Technologies, London Business School and GE to create unique customer growth and loyalty strategies that make them irreplaceable in their market.

In terms of advice for those attending, Susie provided tips for guests to get the most out of the experience:

“Register for the event and submit your questions and challenges for the panellists to answer. As this is an interactive panel discussion, these questions will be shortlisted, and you can vote on which will be presented to the panel. And if you have any questions arising from the event, click here and a BT specialist will be happy to help”.

To conclude, Susie spoke of the significance of the event, and how it hopes to shine a light for those interested in navigating the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic:

“This research has shown how deeply affected IT leaders have been; as they have sought to navigate the pandemic for their business. This period has been far more than a business and technology challenges.

How they have kept communication lines open between their teams has been the most significant initiative that most have undertaken. It has been a time of digging deep to support dispersed teams, who’ve never had to work in such an unusual set of circumstances; and always with an eye to a better future”.

Register here for the event and claim your free eBook https://bit.ly/3bPYT2B

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