Ajilon Victoria Sponsors AIIA Industry Analyst Forum

Bill Leropoulos (right), with AIIA VIC Chairman, Ron Gauci

Ajilon’s General Manager, Bill Leropoulos, took centre stage last week as the premium sponsor of an Industry Analyst Forum held by the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), Australia’s peak ICT representative body.

The forum, themed ‘ICT Business Trends and Predictions,’ was held at the Melbourne Arts Centre.  It was the second in a series of similar forums the AIIA has lined up for the year and was attended by a number of Ajilon clients from Telstra, Toyota and the National Australia Bank.

“The AIIA has been hosting these forums in Victoria for around five years now, as a means of supporting better knowledge sharing within the Australian ICT industry and maximising its potential,” Bill said.

“Ajilon recognises the tremendous contribution the AIIA make to our industry and this is why we’re proud to be the premium sponsor of its 2007 Event Series in Victoria.

“These forums are extremely well-attended.  They’re a great opportunity for our industry leaders and experts to come together, network and share their predictions of business trends that will shape the future of our industry in Australia.

“They’re also a great platform for promoting the Ajilon brand – we’re able to showcase our business in a controlled environment to our competitors and clients.”

Opening the afternoon’s discussions with a reminder to the audience, Bill said, “Our challenge as an industry is to position ourselves today for the changes we know will have an impact on our businesses and our clients’ businesses tomorrow.  We have an obligation to anticipate the future, but to understand the lessons of the past so we can deliver the maximum value from our opportunities.”

Attendees clearly benefited from Bill’s recent industry observations, which included the importance of working with clients to establish the right infrastructure at the outset of a project and the risk that short-term cost-cutting can have on long-term growth and investment.

Guest speakers from Gartner, IDC and Longhaus were then invited to take the stage and share their views on the trend predictions most likely to influence ICT buyer behaviour for 2007 and beyond.  Not surprisingly, skills shortage was a recurring theme throughout the day.

First speaker Andrew Rowsell-Jones, Vice President and Research Director of Gartner, gave a glimpse into the areas Gartner predicts customers will be concerned about.  His address, titled The Gartner EXP CIO Agenda – CIO Priorities 2007, focused on the changing world for CIO members and the competition they are facing as a result of worldwide skills shortages.

Second speaker Catherin Bennett, Director IT Management Programme for IDC Australia, delivered a presentation with the attention-getting title, The CIO Exposed.  She shed some light on the reasons why there are increasing numbers of CIO’s now reporting directly to CEO’s, as opposed to CFO’s – a newly emerging trend.

Catherin also touched on why CIO’s today are being recognised as having a greater value in the overall running of ICT businesses.  Her views sparked much debate in the panel discussion that followed!

Final speaker Sam Higgins, Research Director at Longhaus, took a slightly different tack with his speech, titled 2007 Australian ICT Trends – In the Business of ICT.  His offering to the audience focused around the theme of open-sourcing and why this new business model will be utilised more in the future.

The forum concluded with an interactive panel discussion facilitated by Julie Fahey of KPMG, which gave audience members the opportunity to question and debate with speakers on their presentations and predictions.

“The panel feedback I received from our Ajilon attendees and clients was overwhelmingly positive.  The common thread coming through being the enjoyment and interest factors,” Bill said.

“I’m really happy with the way that Tuesday’s event ran.  Sponsoring these AIIA forums is proving to be a great way of introducing our clients to Ajilon and I believe, is giving them a deeper understanding of our ability to meet their needs moving forward.”

The next Ajilon-sponsored forum in the AIIA 2007 Event Series will be held on Wednesday 20 June and will focus on ‘The Key Technological Investments for the Future’.  If you would like more information, visit http://www.aiia.com.au/i-cms.isp?page=events&option=front&id=58.

To access the presentation materials from this event, click on the following link:
http://www.aiia.com.au/i-cms.isp?page=2268