Inspiration comes from a variety of sources daily. Dervla Mannion to chair 5th European Tech Summit May 5th, Cork

By  Dervla Mannion VP European Operations Centre, Trend Micro, Director of it@cork European Technology Cluster, member of Digital Sales Council, Europe.

Brief background about you?

I currently head up the European Operations Centre of Trend Micro, a global leader in IT security. Originally from Dublin, I transitioned to Cork from our London base some years ago. Prior to this, I’ve had a variety of tech leadership roles spanning sales, marketing and operations functions both in Ireland and abroad – and have spent a number of years living abroad, primarily Germany, The Netherlands and UK. This experience has been invaluable to me in understanding the ethos of a European centre, and gaining insights to broad range of cultural and corporate mannerisms. Constantly learning new things is a driver for me – and travel has been a great enabler of this. In 2015, I was humbled to be nominated one of Irelands Top 20 influencers in the global tech industry.

All speakers Now confirmed for #ITCork16 & what a line up we have. #Excited #Cork #Tech https://t.co/H95jBAwbn5 pic.twitter.com/xIBTN9XGGJ

— Euro Tech Cluster (@itcork) March 31, 2016

What inspired you to speak at this event?

The European Technology Summit is now in its 5^th year, and I’ve attended each of the past conferences. I’ve learned something new every time – and this year my motivation is the ability to influence the core topics that are relevant to all business and tech leaders. Am very privileged to have been invited to chair this year’s summit – and am very excited to the day itself.

Why it will be helpful for people to attend. What will they get out of it?

The event is a unique opportunity that gathers global and local leaders in technology – to discuss trends that directly impact a multitude of businesses. We have a stellar line-up of thought leaders in areas that are relevant to everyone. WE have four key themes throughout the conference; firstly we will be taking a look at the fintech sector – from an educational, regulatory, compliance and disruptive viewpoint. We’ll then move to the area of big data and look at the power of analytics and how this underpins business progress. There will be an interesting deep-dive here into the power of analytics in managing performance – with great examples from a sporttech perspective. Cybersecurity is next – this topic has the full attention of very business executive and is the most important priority for IT organisations in 2016. We are very excited to have the FBI join us here to discuss the impact of data breaches and the very real threat this brings to businesses. WE will close taking an innovative view centred around the theme of ‘workplace 2020’ with our speaker line-up giving us insights to managing suppliers, peoples and getting successful people into the job. From a content perspective – we’ve ensured that relevance to the audience is our number one goal of the day.

Delighted to announce @annascally_kpmg will speak at #ITCork16 @KPMG_Ireland @itcork https://t.co/S9MsSfMyKL pic.twitter.com/VBfCoHbmk7

— Dervla Mannion (@DervlaMannion) April 8, 2016

Why is the Cork Tech sector doing so well?

Cork is a thriving hub of economic, industrial and business activities. A vast number of multinationals have chosen Cork to house their European HQs – tech and pharma are standout leaders here. The business environment Cork offers to such companies are centred on its ability to adapt, innovate and be competitive. This has fostered a fantastic community of talent that is available in the region and has been a key driver in ensuring the sector remains vibrant – and ahead of its game. Embracing this community, and ensuring we are always thinking of the path ahead of us – is the non-profit umbrella organisation IT@Cork. Headed up by Ronan Murphy (CEO, Smarttech), this organisation brings together its members on a regular basis to share market and business insights, and fosters a learning ecosystem within the tech world. It’s a fantastic opportunity for synching up peer-to-peer entities – and has been a critical success factor in keeping the Cork sector on a fast track to growth.

What should Irish companies do to continue to be successful?

Forbes recently named Ireland as ‘one of the best countries in the world’ for ease of doing business. This is a fantastic accolade that isn’t accidental. Ireland’s young workforce is capable and highly adaptable. Positive attitudes and a desire to succeed ensure that we are high performance focused and competitive. We have a great ability to look beyond the somewhat smaller Irish market to the global market. These are fantastic attributes for Irish companies to continue to drive an innovation culture.

Who has inspired you?

Inspiration comes from a variety of sources daily – it’s important to seek this out and not wait for it to happen – this is crucial and deliberate. I do this by fully immersing myself in both the internal (my company, my team) and external community (our customers, our partners, my industry peers). Underpinning all this – a constant source of inspiration for many years has been Trend Micro’s Executive team – headed up by our CEO Eva Chen, who epitomises everything that innovation, culture, learning and leadership should mean.

@DervlaMannion @Smarttech01 launching #ITCork16 outside #Cork City Hallhttps://t.co/H95jBAwbn5 pic.twitter.com/2XVApKudX4

— Euro Tech Cluster (@itcork) March 28, 2016

Anything else you’d like to add / we should have asked you?

Yes! Where do I buy my ticket for European Technology Summit….? Remaining tickets available online from www.itcork.ie

Where can people see / listen / read more about you?

Well I’ve made a conscious effort to improve my social media presence this year – so can be found in all the usual online hang-outs, primarily sharing tips, tricks and insights to the exciting world of cybersecurity. Last year I also joined the board of the newly formed Digital Sales Council (a partnership of AA-ISP and the Sales Institute) – this group host a fantastic array of events that are relevant to sales leaders, and has been a long-awaited and welcomed initiative in Ireland. Most importantly however – am excited to welcome delegates to the European Technology Summit on 5/May in Cork, it’s on track to be a sell-out event, and will be the talk of the town.

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