Too many insightful experts and thought-leaders to catch in two days; but still a must-attend annual tech event.
Since the start of the digital age, the global business landscape has never experienced disruption as disruptive as what we are experiencing right now. According to Gartner, over US$1 trillion in IT spend will directly or indirectly be affected by the shift to cloud-based computing.
Associated technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, Internet of Things and big data, are all pressing enterprises large and small to leverage on data-centric business intelligence or face existential consequences.
At Cloud Expo Asia 2019, the entire gamut of Cloud-related technologies was on show to simultaneously inform, enlighten and bond attendees through coverage of hot-topic issues by over 600 prominent thought leaders, practitioners and dignitaries.
Cloud Expo Asia
The exhaustive range of cloud-related keynotes covered customer experience and engagement, cloud innovations, infrastructure and best practices. Smarter document workflows (Adobe), use of application programming interfaces (Twilio), challenges and trends in Agile, Blockchain & Devops (Orbium) were packed with attendees interested to pick up important strategies and tips.
Cloud & Cybersecurity Expo
Interesting keynotes covered thought-provoking topics such as disruptive decision making (Telstra), human-centric cybersecurity (Forcepoint), cyber-resilience through realignment of security posture maturity (ISACA Singapore Chapter), and B.A.I.T — a focus on insider threats (Mastercard).
Big Data World
Case studies on data storytelling, fintech, business intelligence and management of tech talent provided insights on how best to unlock the treasures found in big data. Interesting topics included disruptions in the real estate business (PropertyGuru), protecting large healthcare datasets (NHS England and Cook Children’s Health Care, Fort Worth), the missing piece in the data engineer’s toolset (JetBrains) and the hottest trends and applications of data science at the heart of Silicon Valley (Microsoft/Stanford University).
Smart IoT
Attendees learned about Singapore’s first “Netflix for Cars” (CARRO), about Smart Cities and intelligent buildings (Frost & Sullivan, Jakarta Smart City, Signify), and about Analytics of Things being combined with IoT for an enterprise-wide approach (Teradata).
Data Centre World
Attendees learned about the top criterion for data centre design, fire protection, and busway power distribution in mission critical applications. Interesting keynotes included mentions of the surge of hyperscale data centres (Linesight), the multi-billion-dollar DCIM success that wasn’t (Schneider Electric), hardware hacking – the overlooked cybercrime (ERI Direct), and the impact of sound on data centre hard disk drives (Johnson Controls).
Ecommerce Expo Asia
How do you fail at personalization? Make the customer experience creepy! This was one interesting topic (Acquia) at Ecommerce Expo. Other notable keynotes touched on engaging the channel-less customer; cross-border conundrums; innovative storytelling to future-proof mobile content; going beyond keyword ranking; and the new buzzword “conversational commerce”.
Drawing people closer to the cloud
The two day event was held at Marina Bay Sands Singapore on 9 and 10 October. Making this year’s event stand out from previous years, the organiser partnered with the College of Healthcare and Information Management (CHIME) to address current cybercriminal interests in the healthcare sector.
Other notable stand-out event features included The Live Data Centre of the Future (where visitors could peer into an actual working data centre), the ever-popular She Loves Data Live (a focus on the feminine touch in tech); the Re-Cloud Theatre (where visitors get ideas on rethinking and rearchitecting cloud strategies) and the Channel Partner Programme to support regional growth and collaboration, and of course DevOps Live, the popular workshop for coding and web development.
With 21 theatres across seven shows and hundreds of separate seminars, fireside chats, case study presentations and networking opportunities, Cloud Expo Asia 2019 again helped to galvanize visitors from around the world to tap into the rich possibilities of cloud computing. If the information was just too exhaustive and broad-based for some visitors, the same technologies that the expo addresses are the ones that also allow people to follow-up on missed keynotes, networking or collaboration opportunities – all at the flick of the smartphone screen!
