Kolkata, December 2019: INFOCOM, one of the largest congregations of technology professionals, buyers-sellers, corporate leaders, academics, visionaries, and policymakers, that was conceived with the aim of setting the pace for development in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector, entered into the second day of the convergence. INFOCOM Conference focuses on the three pillars of Business – technology – Leadership. With the focal theme of the 18th edition being, ‘Winning in this VUCA world’, the three-day conference entered its second day, after a successful day one, with more interesting discussions and speeches by notable personalities. INFOCOM has always provided a platform that hosts a wide range of knowledgeable speakers from the private and public sector in India as well as stalwarts from all over the world. The second day of the conference witnessed a wide spectrum of discussions ranging from extreme customer centricity to leadership in a digital society to patient centricity in healthcare to motivational talks by accomplished achievers and transformative orators.

The discussions in the second day of the Summit kick-started with a TECHNOLOGY FORUM that saw various leaders from the industry take the stage and share their ideas on various topics.

The Technology Forum kick-started with a Spotlight Session on ‘Extreme Customer Centricity in this VUCA World’ which was hosted by Mr. Ambarish Dasgupta, Senior Partner and Founder, Intueri Consulting LLP. The session witnessed Renowned Thought Leader, Customer Centricity Expert and Author of “Managers the Day After Tomorrow”, Mr. Rik Vera take centre stage and share his ideas on the topic. After spending over 25 years in C-level jobs in sales, marketing and general management at companies such as Desso, Armstrong and Domo Contract Flooring, Mr. Rik Vera has always built his businesses on innovation, new business models, customer centricity and technology as a powerful enabler and now he uses that experience to inspire companies to develop their own strategy for a digital and connected world. He started this exhilarating life as an inspirational keynote speaker in 2012 and since then he has given several hundreds of highly rated keynotes around the globe to international companies.

The session was followed by the Leadership Keynote Address on ‘Datacentre Modernization: The Foundation for Digital Transformation’ by Mr. Bala A, Vice President & Managing Director, SAARC & India, Nutanix.

This was followed by a Keynote by Mr. Prashant Garg, Partner - Analytics, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young LLP on ‘CIO Bucket List 2022’. Another Keynote by Mr. Arijit Ghosh, Enterprise Architect, Hewlett Packard Enterprise on ‘Intelligent Data Platform: Dawn of the Intelligence Era’ followed the session.

This was followed by a session on ‘Oracle Generation 2 Cloud- India’ by Mr. Kapil Makhija, Senior Director– Cloud Platform, Oracle India.

Sri Debashis Sen, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Information Technology & Electronics, Government of West Bengal and Chairman, HIDCO,delivered a keynote address on Leadership in a Digital Society.

Dr. Suborno Bose, Founder of Eduguy and Founder and Chief Mentor, Indismart Group delivered a keynote address on ‘Is Technology Assisting you to get your Career Choice?’ Mr. Anindya Ghosh, Associate Partner – Cognitive Business Decision Services, IBM India Pvt. Ltd also joined him in this session, providing the technology perspective.

Post lunch, the sessions of Day 2 of INFOCOM 2019 proceeded in two tracks. Track A being the INDUSTRY & SME FORUM and Track B being the CIO & Security Forum.

The first session of the Industry & SME Forum focused on ‘Understanding ROI on your Insurance’ addressed by Mr. M K Kemmu, Regional Manager (P&GS), Life Insurance Corporation of India.

This was followed by a SME Panel on ‘New Generation Entrepreneurship in India’ chaired and moderated by Mr. Aparup Sengupta, Chairman, Startek-Aegis and Founder and Chairman of AAJ Global Foundation.

The panel comprised of Mr. Shafquat Haider, Managing Director, Ciproco Computer Ltd., Bangladesh and Chairman, Council for Communication & IT, SAARC CCI, Ms. Rochita Dey, Director, Sreeleathers Ltd., Ms. Vinita Bajoria, Executive Director, Titagarh Wagons and Director, Continental Valves Ltd., Prof. Ashoke Ranjan Thakur, Vice Chancellor, Sister Nivedita University, Mr. Sagar Daryani, Co- Founder and CEO, Wow! Momo and Mr. Pradip Bhowmick, Director, School of Engineering & Technology, Adamas University.

This was followed by a Keynote address on ‘Building an Effective Digital Ecosystem in Banking’ by Mr. Niraj Sharma, Deputy General Manager – Digital Banking, Bank of Baroda.

The Industry & SME Forum concluded with a Social panel discussion on ‘Engaging your Business with Social Media’ chaired and moderated by Mr. Atul Jayawant, Group Executive President – Group IT and Group CIO, Aditya Birla Group. The eminent panelists for the discussion were Mr. Parthiv Vikram Neotia, Director, Ambuja Neotia Hospitality, Mr. Simarpreet Singh, Director, JIS Group and Ms. Preeyam Budhia, President-Business Development, PATTON.The panelists shed light on how social media can play a role in enhancing business growth.

The CIO & Security Forum took off with Mr. Jaspreet Singh, Partner – Cyber Security, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young LLP speaking on ‘Managing Cyber Security with Business facing Service’.

The session was succeeded by a panel discussion on ‘Good to Great using Digital’ which was chaired and moderated by Mr. Joydeep Datta Gupta, Partner, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP. The distinguished panelists for the session were Mr. Samik Nandi,  Portfolio Development Leader for Process Industries, Siemens Digital Industries Software, Mr. Sanjay Hiranandani, CEO & Managing Partner, DOT1 Solutions, Mr. Surojit Biswas, Chief Operating Officer, Techno India Group & Sister Nivedita University, Ms. Sanghamitra Pyne, Head – IT, HEL, CESC Generation, RP Sanjiv Goenka Group, Prof. Ujjwal K Chowdhury, Pro Vice Chancellor and Dean of School of Media, Communication & Fashion, Adamas University and Mr. Probal Chakraverty, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Eduguy.

The next session was addressed by Mr. Diwakar Dayal, Managing Director - India and SAARC, Tenable. His keynote was on ‘Benchmark like a Boss to Improve your Security Program’.

This was followed by a panel discussion that witnessed effective inputs and opinions on ‘Preparing for the Next Technology Wave’ from eminent panelists such as Dr. Amit Banerjee, Scientist, Microelectronic Technologies & Devices, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Mr. Rajat Ganguly, Director and Head – East, Dell Technologies India, Mr. Doman Yadav, Senior General Manager (Telecom), Powergrid Corporation of India, Mr. Supratik Banerjee, Vice President, TCG Digital Solutions Pvt Ltd., Mr. Rohonesh Kar, Presales Leader – India Media, Akamai Technologies and Mr. Arijit Ghosh, Enterprise Architect, Hewlett Packard Enterprise. The session was chaired and moderated by Mr. Atul Prakash Agarwal, Founder and Managing Director, APT Software Avenues.

The CIO Track on Day 2 ended with a keynote. On ‘Enabling a Cyber-Secure Digital India’ by Keynote Speaker, Mr. K P Unnikrishnan, Vice President - Marketing, Asia Pacific & Japan, Palo Alto Networks and followed by a Product Innovators Showcase presented by Mr. Abhishek Awadhani, VP and Head of Finance, Strategy and Operations, Mad Street Den.

The second day of INFOCOM ended with two Plenary Spotlights. The first one was an inspirational keynote by Woman Icon Major (Retd.) Vandana Sharma and hosted by Prof. Santanu Ray, Director, Student Enrichment and Mentor, Department of Management and Commerce, Sister Nivedita University. An Entrepreneur, TEDx Speaker, Career Coach and an Ex-Military Officer of the Indian Army, Major (Retd.) Vandana Sharma, shared her inspiring life story with the audience. Her journey from a young girl in an army family aspiring to join the forces to a Kargil war veteran to an entrepreneur helping start-ups setup their business, the session on ‘Taking Risks to Rise’ kept the audience spell bound.

The day ended with a Spotlight session on Upgrading Your ‘Selfware’ by keynote speaker Mr. SUDHANSHU PALSULE, Award Winning Educator, Consultant and Leadership Coach in the field of Transformative Leadership. CEO Advisor and author, Mr. Sudhanshu Palsule is regarded as one of the leading thinkers in the fields of Complexity and Transformative Leadership. Trained as a physicist, Mr. Palsule draws upon principles of quantum mechanics and ecology in his work on building effective 21st century organizations and teams that can thrive in non-linear conditions. His notion of “Self-Ware”– the program of thinking, emotions, and beliefs that drives us, remains central to his work on leadership.