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Cover story: SEARCC 2005 will shape our ICT future

Peter Davidson, Information Age

18/08/2005 11:25:11

For three days in September, Sydney will be the epicentre of the information technology world when more than 60 luminaries will discuss the emerging technologies and processes which will shape ICT in business, government and education.

The South East Asian Regional Computer Confederation conference - SEARCC 2005 - to be held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, from September 28 to 30 is expected to attract more than 700 delegates from a dozen countries to hear ICT professionals and thought leaders from Europe, North America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

A unique event, "ICT: Building Bridges" will offer a broad-spectrum analysis of current management issues and challenges, strategic analyses of the latest technologies and their application, and provide an opportunity for delegates, from enterprise leaders to students, to gain new insights from the presentations - and from personal networking.

Hosted by the Australian Computer Society, SEARCC 2005 combines six leading ICT events in one: the SEARCC conference, CIO magazine's annual conference, CIO Government magazine's annual conference, Computerworld's IT leaders' conference, the ACS national conference, and the Technology and Innovation Showcase.

The event is being organised by IDG Communications.

Eight keynote speakers will address plenary sessions, which are open to all delegates, on a range of management and ICT topics:

• Paul Glen, award-winning author and management columnist • Egidio Zarella, global and Asia-Pacific partner, KPMG information risk management group • David Blumanis, data centre consultant, Asia-Pacific, APC • Prof Calie Pistorius, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Pretoria University • Christopher Lochhead, chief marketing officer, Mercury • Phil Edholm, chief technologist and VP of network architecture for Enterprise Nortel • Kevin McKean, CEO and editorial director of InfoWorld magazine • Steve Vamos, MD, Microsoft Australia

More than 50 other speakers and panelists will host specialised sessions in four streams: ICT in business management, in government, in academia, and emerging ICT technologies.

In this preview, we profile the keynote speakers and their subjects, and a sampling of other speakers and pannellists. Contributed pieces from Egidio Zarella and Jeroen van den Hoven appear elsewhere in this issue of Information Age, along with further details of the conference sessions and all speakers.

Government support SEARCC 2005 has the support of Prime Minister John Howard: "I am pleased to support the South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation conference.

"This year's event presents a unique opportunity for leading ICT professionals from Australia and abroad to engage with one another on a number of issues and strategies to maximise the potential of these new technologies across Australia and the Asia Pacific.

"The opportunities and challenges posed by new technologies are vast. This conference will provide an excellent forum to explore some of these issues at both a national and regional level, and I would encourage you to take the opportunity to participate."

NSW Premier Bob Carr has added his encouragement to the event: "I am pleased to welcome participants to the SEARCC 2005 conference in Sydney.

"SEARCC 2005 brings together ICT professionals from the world's fastest growing regions to swap ideas, explore business opportunities, benchmark current best practices and discuss the latest technologies from the world's fastest growing industry sector.

"By hosting the conference in Sydney, the Australian Computer Society - of which I am NSW Patron - is helping explore how ICT can better serve South East Asia's needs and further improve our business success.

SEARCC: what it is and what it does The South East Asian Regional Computer Confederation (SEARCC) was founded in 1978 to confederate the computer societies of Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia.

It has since been joined by Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Taiwan to become the over-arching professional peak body for ICT across the fastest-growing region in the world.

Combining its annual conference, already a high-profile gathering on the international ICT calendar, with the ACS national conference and the highly-respected events hosted by IDG's CIO and Computerworld magazines, has created a single point of contact for ICT professionals unlike any other.

Registration details are available at , with further information from (02) 9439 5133 or (02) 9902 2714.

Welcome from Chairman Kumar Parakala

ICT - maximise the potential

SEARCC 2005 is the most significant ICT conference to be held in Australia for decades.

ICT in Australia is at an important milestone in our evolution as an industry and this conference has a vital role to play in shaping the future impact of ICT on the way organisations, businesses, governments and economies perform.

Effective and responsive ICT is vital in ensuring competitive and vibrant organisations, growing economies and responsible government. The development and adoption of ICT is moving at an accelerated pace around the world, creating growth and wealth and opportunities for South East Asian businesses and government.

Yet there are sometimes wide gaps between Australian and South East Asian ICT practitioners in understanding mutual strengths and leveraging opportunities that drive economic growth in Australia and the region.

SEARCC 2005 is about bridging these gaps by bringing the ICT communities of South East Asia and Australia together in Sydney between 28-30 September.

The conference will be a world-class event with leading ICT industry leaders presenting and speaking and many others in attendance. The event will focus the world's attention on Australia's ICT sector and position Australia as an ICT leader in the Asia Pacific region.

On a local level, we will be building the bridges between ICT practitioners including Chief Information Officers, senior public servants, academics and emerging technologists.

The conference provides vital opportunities for the development of the ICT sector and provides personal and professional development opportunities.

The conference will appeal to both ICT and business professionals with a program that includes a high-quality management stream. The speakers in this stream will present on topics relating to IT governance, security and risk management. The role of ICT at the board level is gaining prominence and this particular stream will interest board directors and senior business managers.

Other streams covered in the program are emerging technologies, education/academia, and government, with sessions presented by speakers who are recognised industry visionaries, whose work is changing the way the world lives, conducts business and even how the world thinks when it comes to the possibilities ICT offers.

With topics as diverse as creating a Cyber City, to developing personal technology for individual health care, the conference sessions will enlighten, motivate and educate ICT professional at all levels and working in all industries.

Most significantly, the conference also provides the opportunity to showcase the Australian and South East Asian ICT industry to an influential international audience.

Once in Australia, these overseas delegates will undoubtedly be using the opportunity to undertake business activities which will have a positive impact on the growth of our industry and the local economy.

SEARCC 2005 is appreciative of the support of IDG as the event management partner for the conference. Like SEARCC, IDG recognises the significance ICT plays in a healthy and competitive economy and are committed to fostering emerging technologies and associated industries. I am confident all attendees with find SEARCC 2005 a professionally and personally rewarding experience. We hope attendees will leave the conference with a myriad of ideas and principles that are immediately applicable in their workplace and that will influence their strategy for using ICT in the future.

Most importantly, we know you will be inspired to drive expanded and enhanced uses of technology in your organisation, and maximise the potential of ICT in all areas of business, government and academia.

Kumar Parakala will also speak on "Organisational culture - showstopper in IT governance".

The keynote speakers

Steve Vamos, Managing director, Microsoft Australia

"Business value is a leadership issue, not a technology issue"

The day isn't too far off when the head of every organisation, and the people running each division, will be people who grew up with computers - who used them at home, at school and university and found them to be a valuable tool for getting things done. When that day comes, we won't need to talk about the business value of IT anymore. That will be a given. But we're not there yet. Walk through the corridors of power and you'll still find plenty of people who view some technology with suspicion.

In any technology investment, there are three things you are looking for: competitive advantage; reducing costs; and improving productivity. But too many people think productivity is enough to justify technology, and fail to notice the gulf that separates the business people from IT. The issue boils down to this: how can we bring greater understanding between the business and the technology sides of the organisation?

If some business leaders don't grasp the strategic significance of technology, the burden falls on the CIO to get the message across. One way to solve this is to make sure the executive team use technology themselves. Make a smartphone fan of your CEO, and the value of mobility projects becomes obvious. The message is simple but not always easy to put into practice - the leader of the business and his or her direct reports need to be involved in decisions about technology implementations. Only through this level of involvement can your organisation expect to have any chance of reaping significant return.

So how does a company squeeze the most value from its technology spend? Ultimately it's not the software and hardware decisions that matter most; it's a question of leadership.

Many would argue that the total responsibility for IT projects should be given to the CIO. But the problem is, they're not always the ones who control the resources you need to drive change. And ultimately, the business leaders have to be accountable for revenue, profit and productivity. That's why getting them involved, and excited, is important. The truth is, it is people and their application of technology that produces the greatest benefit.

Ultimately whether we can realise this potential is a matter of leadership - at all levels of an organisation. Leadership in this context must be directed toward creating an environment in which people and technology - our two vehicles for labour productivity growth - can combine to the maximum effect.

Appointed Managing Director of Microsoft Australia in February 2003, Steve Vamos is responsible for the strategic direction and leadership of the company, focusing on building deeper relationships with Microsoft's stakeholders and meeting the needs and challenges of customers and partners.

Previously, he was CEO at ninemsn, a joint venture between Microsoft and PBL, and MD of Apple Computer. He spent 14 years with IBM Australia in a number of sales, marketing and general management positions. As a recognised IT industry leader, Steve continues to serve as a member of the board of directors of the AIIA and ninemsn. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of NSW. In 2004, he was voted as Australia's most influential member of the information community by a panel of judges for The Australian Financial Review.

Christopher Lochhead, Chief Marketing Officer, Mercury

"Optimise impact: IT leadership in the era of do more with less"

The demand on IT to deliver business value has never been higher; leading CIOs are focused on how to optimise the business impact they create. Without the right controls across an organisation, IT executives can often have conflicting information about how their organisation is performing.

The ability to gain control is challenged by ever-increasing compliance demands, complexity and cost pressure. In this dynamic session you will learn how global enterprises are using business technology optimisation to improve IT governance and applications while gaining a single, accurate and timely version of the truth about everything they are being ask to do, and everything they are doing.

Christopher Lochhead leads Mercury's world-class marketing team and is a recognised leader in the business technology optimisation (BTO) industry. Previously, he was the chief executive of Lochhead Corp., a strategic marketing firm and early BTO consultant, and the CMO on the start-up team at Scient, a pioneer in the Internet consulting industry that achieved revenues of $US156m in its second year of operation. Lochhead was an executive VP at Vantive, and an innovator in the sales force automation and CRM software industries..

Calie Pistorius, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, University of Pretoria

"Managing innovation for competitiveness"

To survive and prosper in a competitive global environment, companies must be competitive. Innovation is a key contributor towards competitiveness - in fact it can be argued that it should be an essential element of any organisation's management approach.

A number of recent studies indicate that executives increasingly recognise the importance of innovation and are rating innovation as a top priority, but at the same time express their frustration at the ability of "innovation to deliver".

There is an increasing demand for understanding of the true nature of the innovation process and the competitiveness/innovation link, and especially for an understanding and ability to manage innovation. Technological innovation presents great opportunities for new growth, but at the same time threatens the existing order. The threat and opportunity of technological innovation should be managed as an important element of any organisation's risk portfolio.

Just as technological innovation continuously creates new industries and companies, it is also one of the primary causes of demise, especially of market leaders - if it is not managed properly. This is particularly true in a fast changing field such as information technology. No wonder then that executives across the world are recognising the value of the strategic management of innovation! Can you afford not to do it?

Prof Calie Pistorius is the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria in South Africa. He is an expert on the management of innovation, particularly with regard to the impact of innovation on the competitiveness of organisations and the assessment of technological threats and opportunities.

He is the chairperson of the National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI) in South Africa, established the Institute for Technological Innovation at the University of Pretoria and gained experience in the IT field as a former director of IT at the university.

He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School. He holds bachelor and honours degrees in electronics engineering from the University of Pretoria, specialising in digital systems, masters and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from the Ohio State University, as well as a masters degree in the management of technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He is registered as a professional engineer in South Africa; and is also a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa, South African Academy for Science and Art, Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, Fellow of the South African Academy of Engineers, Fellow of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers and Senior Member of the IEEE.

David Blumanis, Data Centre Consultant, Asia/Pacific, APC

"Remote sites are now business critical"

According to Networking Computing, a recent survey found that 76 per cent of respondents found availability of local technical support to be one of the biggest challenges to managing technology at remote offices. Many Australians run across remote sites, and rapid technology changes, such as the growth of IP telephony, have suddenly made remote sites business critical.

The impact of a remote or branch site failure would be both damaging and costly and these businesses now face major challenges when it comes to supporting their distributed networks.

Manageable network critical physical infrastructure (NCPI) provides visibility of all sites and proactive alerts when environmental conditions change. It is critical to be able to standardise and manage the physical layer of the entire IT environment, deploy centralised management of remote sites and improve remote site security.

David Blumanis will explain the key points to consider in supporting remote or branch sites and discuss critical areas to be considered when evaluating available options.

Blumanis has over 24 years experience and knowledge in the information technology industry as a user and a consultant, with a key focus in managing, operating and transitioning highly available infrastructure services. He has managed some of the largest IT operations in Australia such as Telstra, Unisys, Optus, Vodafone, and Tech Pacific, including the largest data centre in the southern hemisphere.

Based in Sydney, he is responsible for educating, consulting and advising CIOs and senior IT executives in APC data centre architecture and its business benefits.

Denis Tebbutt, Managing Director Australia, InterSystems

"Leveraging business integration projects to drive innovation"

Australian companies are spending over 10 per cent of their IT budgets on business integration initiatives. A recent InterSystems survey of local CIOs cites cost reductions and increased ROI from existing applications as key drivers.

However, visionary CIOs also recognise the transformational capabilities of enabling accurate, real-time access to data across the organisation. Success requires a balancing act -- balancing the drive for agility against the business processes employed; and balancing innovation to increase agility against business and personal risk.

This presentation will highlight case studies where CIOs are successfully leveraging business integration to drive innovation, while maintaining acceptable levels or reducing business risk.

Denis Tebbutt says: "My plan is to look at the balance between business processes and the agility that sits in a company, risk vs. innovation and how compliance plays a role in exploring the question: 'How to make it all work from a technology perspective?'

There are many statistics showing business integration projects failing, although InterSystems' own research shows that not quite as many are failing as, for example, the Standish Report found.

But there is no doubt many organisations are struggling to integrate the information within their businesses. The recurring theme today is that organisations have more data than they can swing a stick at. They are being asked to reduce spending on IT, while users are asking for more information because they know it exists.

The challenge is to bridge that divide. In the past, organisations have solved the problem with enterprise applications developed on a global scale. These were seen to be world's best practice. The problem is that it forces organisations to adopt those world's best practices. Yet they may not give you the needed agility now required.

The reality is organisations already have applications running the business very efficiently and effectively. What is needed is the ability to develop composite applications and integrate information from existing applications, while new business processes are introduced to give the new required levels of agility.

You have to look at the level of innovation that technologies can bring to the business. Innovation takes time and there is risk. This risk can be assessed by testing new business process gains produced by the innovation. The latest integration technologies can in effect reduce some of the risk since they self-generate the required 'programming code'.

This hasn't always been the case. InterSystems' research shows that many business integration projects failed because of the high level and quantity of human resources required in most business integration initiatives.

Paul Glen, Principal, C2 Consulting

"Leading geeks: how to manage and lead people who deliver technology"

Today every manager must learn to lead geeks. Dot.com or dot.bomb, it doesn't matter. Geeks deliver and support the technology that drives efficiency, effectiveness, and competitiveness of real businesses. In fact, companies have become so dependent on geeks that 92 per cent of technology professionals work for traditional, non-technical corporations and only 8 per cent work in high-tech firms. Yet, most managers and executives find that geeks are difficult to fathom and even harder to lead.

In today's business climate, technology drives productivity and competitiveness and "geeks" drive technology. More than ever geeks - those people who research, develop, design, build, test, install, and support technology - are a critical factor in every organisation's success. Leading Geeks challenges the conventional wisdom that leadership methods are universal and gives executives and managers the understanding they need to manage and lead the technologists upon whom they have become so dependent. Paul Glen is a Computerworld USA columnist and author of award-winning book "Leading Geeks: How to Manage and Lead People Who Deliver Technology". He is a Principal of Los Angeles-based C2 Consulting, a firm dedicated to helping technology organisations resolve their people issues. As a speaker, he presents regularly at private meetings and public conferences and frequently appears as a guest in print and broadcast media worldwide.

Kevin McKean, Chairman and Editorial Director, InfoWorld Media Group

"Five emerging technologies to embrace (and three to skip)"

Information technology has been under attack from within and without in recent years. Within the industry, the consistent downward pressure on costs and budgets, the growing availability of low-cost, standardised hardware, and the trend toward global outsourcing, have fuelled a misperception that ICT is nothing more than a commodity.

From without, some experts have gone so far as to pronounce IT dead. All of these trends ignore the key mission of IT, however, which is to innovate - and innovation has continued unabated, and underappreciated, the entire time.

In this session, Kevin McKean identifies the small group of truly innovative emerging technologies that will transform IT and elevate its strategic value to business execution. McKean will also single out new technologies that, though often hyped by the industry and IT media, are likely to fizzle.

Before joining InfoWorld, the US's leading publication monitoring deep technology, Kevin was responsible for the strategic editorial direction of PC World in print and online. He led complete redesigns of both the PC World Web site (launched October 2000) and the magazine (September 2001).

He also held the position of executive editor at Forbes.com, where he was responsible for product development and content relationships. Additionally, he served for two years as the assistant managing editor for business and finance at Time Inc. New Media. From 1987 to 1997, he worked for Money magazine, first as senior editor, then as the founding new media editor, responsible for all computer-related Money products.

Egidio Zarrella, Global Partner, Information Risk Management, KPMG

"Creating value with ICT"

Ask a CIO about the key issues weighing on their mind and risk management is certain to be high on the list. In fact, when KPMG interviewed over 250 global CIOs late last year, they expressed considerable concern about what they saw as a growing gap between ICT and their business.

"Basically, it comes down to the fact that the business people have so many other things demanding their attention, they don't have time to get their heads around ICT," said Egidio Zarrella, KPMG's Global Partner in Charge, Information Risk Management.

KPMG has used the results of its research to compile a report entitled Creating Stakeholder Value in the Information Age, which sets out the case for IS governance.

Zarrella has used the launch of the report for call for a conscious shift in the way business and ICT people work together.

"Even though we've been talking for years about the need for greater cooperation, the trend is getting worse. There's a definite 'us and them' mentality in many organisations and they forget they're part of the same business working towards the same goals and outcomes."

He said the introduction over the past few years of a multitude of new compliance requirements, regulations and accounting standards has left businesses struggling to conform.

"The principles of running an IT practice are the same as running any business: you have to meet budget, achieve ROI, and so on. However, those principles still haven't become entrenched within the normal operating procedure of many IT groups, leading to cost blowouts and internal sniping.

"As a result, we're seeing a return of CFOs taking over IT again, which creates a whole new set of problems about accountants making decisions about IT without listening to IT professionals," he said.

Zarrella predicts a strong backlash against compliance as businesses vent their frustrations about the variety, complexity and cost of systems they've been required to implement in recent years.

However, he says IS governance need not be complicated, and that IT should be governed with the same diligence and control focus that is applied elsewhere in the organisation.

"IS governance is about three things: getting the most from IS and moving it towards its strategic goals, ensuring that stakeholders and management understand and manage the key IS risks and establishing conditions to enable effective IS management.

"IT is the plumbing. You have to have it but it won't give you any advantage unless you drive it appropriately," he said.

For those organisations that do implement good IS governance, the pay-off is tangible. The KPMG report details a 2003 study of 1600 companies by Governance Metrics International which found that businesses with strong governance policies outperformed those with weak ones in terms of shareholder value.

KPMG's report also highlights the essential ingredients to improving IS governance:

• clear and consistent communication; • an IS oversight committee; • agreement on objectives, documented through service level agreements; • a clear IS strategy developed with input from both the CIO and the executive committee; • well-defined IS policies, procedures and standards; • a defined level of accountability; • performance management strategies; • rigorous risk management processes; and • effective project management.

"For an organisation to be successful, the CEO has to have the vision and needs a good understanding of IT, but the CIO also has to educate the CEO about what is possible and be involved in any ICT-related decisions."

Phil Edholm, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Network Architecture, Nortel Networks Enterprise Networks

"A view to the future - the changing face of business communications"

There is no doubt that communications convergence is transforming the enterprise IT organisation. However, convergence is merely a step on the journey into the transformed enterprise. This session will give a three- to five-year view into the future of communications and the business values that are created by convergence; virtualisation, hyper-interactivity, and Webification. As these transformations occur, they will once again change the requirements of the underlying network, leading to new dimensions of security, trusted federations, and autonomic operation.

Leveraging his experience as a technology leader across Nortel Networks' enterprise line of data and voice networking products, Phil Edholm now focuses on the Nortel Enterprise Portfolio and driving enterprise edge solutions to service providers and the enterprise customers. In this role, he is responsible for defining the vision and architecture in the enterprise and next generation edge networks.

At Nortel, he has led the development of VoIP solutions and multimedia communications as well as IP transport technology.

Phil was a member of the IEEE 802.3 standards committee during the definition of broadband Ethernet and 10BaseT, developed the first multi-protocol network interfaces, and was a founder of the Frame Relay Forum.