Conference Review - Business Transformation
The UK's leading IT membership organisation serving corporate, vendor and government communities
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NCC 40th Anniversary Conference The industry comes together to celebrate the National Computing Centre at 40th
Impressionist Rory Bremner was not short of appropriate subject matter when he took to the stage afterwards to entertain the audience, which he did in grand style! The theme of the conference was Business Transformation and delegates listened to a host of expert speakers and participated in a range of streamed sessions. Highlights included keynote speaker David White from The Chidren's Mutual. David provided the CEO perspective of business transformation. After reviewing how and where value was created within the Children's Mutual, he made some radical changes to ensure each process was efficient, supported by the right technology and aligned to the overall objectives of the Mutual. For IT this meant outsourcing and he explained how this rationale has helped contribute to the growth of the organisation in a challenging marketplace. The Pharmaceutical industry is also fiercely competitive and Paul Burfitt, CIO of Astra Zeneca shared his view that IT on its own won't deliver value, to succeed you need innovation and a "never be satisfied" attitude is essential.
John Robertson (LogicaCMG) sees CIOs as transformers in disguise, and identified the five natural laws of business transformation. He also reminded the audience of Charles Darwin's famous quote. "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." Kevin Malone from IBM looked at how Service Orientated Architecture can be used to create the connections and interactions required by today's customers. These services can transform working performance by providing ready access to personalised information services and integrated environments. Next up, the Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit, Ian Watmore provided an entertaining update on the transformational government agenda, reminding delegates of the turnaround in the way public sector IT is perceived; from failure to success. There were six themed workshop sessions throughout the conference each addressing a different aspect of transformation; business continuity; interoperability, change leadership, learning and development, convergence, planning and strategy. The NCC's Stefan Foster started Day two of the conference with a presentation about the how the work of the Centre and its partners is shaping the industry through professionalism initiatives. And in doing so they are preparing the industry to take on the challenges of the future; including how to attract new people into the industry. The rest of the session focused on the pace of change and the value of technology adoption. Jerry Fishenden of Microsoft presented some startling statistics about how fast and how great the pace of technology innovation will be in the coming years. He addressed the issues of coping with such complexity and of how to solve the demand for access to working environments from multiple devices in multiple locations. Ian Kennedy (Cisco) looked into his crystal ball and made a strong case for scaleable network services which are non-invasive, centrally controllable, highly distributed and come with integrated security. Transformation requires strong leadership to succeed and achieving this through Values Based Leadership was discussed by award winning CIO, Darin Brumby, of First Group. With a significant emphasis on ethics, values, accountability and responsibility, Darin shared his experiences in transforming IS at First Group. Our closing speaker Arun Shenoy of Intel gave us a fascinating insight into the history of transistor and also a roller coaster ride into the future where the expected rate of technological change will be breathtaking. He suggested coping strategies to ensure the ride would be smooth. NCC Members can download slide presentations at http://www.ncc-conference06.co.uk/. If you would like to receive advance information about next years conference, please contact kylie.millar@ncc.co.uk NCC members benefit from discounted rates at all NCC events, if you would like to discuss becoming an NCC member please contact info@ncc.co.uk See our gallery of photos from the event at http://www.ncc-conference06.co.uk/. Thank you to the delegates, speakers and NCC staff who all contributed to making the NCC 40th Anniversary conference such as success.
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Anniversary Conference
All of the IT industry's key figures were in attendance at NCC's 40th Anniversary Conference and Gala Diner this week in London. Pride of place went to Tony Benn, who as Minister for Technology back in 1965, proposed the creation of a national centre to promote the more effective use of information technology and created the National Computing Centre the following year. Tony, who was in fine form, entertained the delegates with amusing anecdotes about the early days of IT. He was presented with a special gift from NCC's Chief Executive Officer Michael Gough in recognition of his work in establishing the Centre. Tony was not the only politician in attendance however as Stephen Timms MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury also spoke about the challenges businesses face today, going on to re-affirm the NCC's crucial role in supporting the growth of the UK economy.
Radical thinking was also proposed by 