The past year made us all revise our views on the format of events. And ICL Group is no exception. This year the company will hold ITSF-2021 Digital Forum in Kazan for the 14th time. The event will unite the key players of the IT market and will set the direction for digital transformation of business. The participants will discuss the issues of a “smart factory”, imports phase-out and insourcing; define the trends of digital economy and digital transformation. Who will be the headliner of the event? What surprises have the forum hosts in store? Liliya Aleeva, Head of ITSF-2021 Project, Deputy Head of Sales, ICL Services, told us about that.
The market has real demand for face-to-face meetings. They help boost partners’ confidence
Q: Liliya, ITSF, like many other events, was cancelled because of the pandemic last year. So, will it be held this year come rain or shine?
A: This year is anniversary for us that is why ITSF-2021 will be held under the auspices of the 30th anniversary of ICL Group. Due to safety requirements in the epidemiological situation, the event will be held in a new format of a closed club with a limited number of participants. Top 100 key players of the IT market and our partners, top managers of companies, heads of IT and IS departments will meet on our venue in Palace Hotel by Tasigo. Within the event, we plan a plenary session with the Republic’s top officials, a discussion panel, round tables and many interactive activities.
Q: Anyway, why offline and not online? Or the event will be held in a hybrid format?
A: The whole last year was filled with online events. Both our partners and we long for real-life communication, that is why the market at present has real demand for face-to-face meetings. Besides, the offline format is better for establishing business relations and boosting partners’ confidence. In offline, the audience takes part that is more active in discussions and interacts with speakers instead of just watching videos. However, as we cannot invite everyone interested to participate offline, we will organize webcasting of the plenary session and speeches of the guest headliners on the event website.
Q: ITSF is held for the 14th time already. This is a considerable age for an event and, above all else, an indicator of its relevance and efficiency. Do you remember how it all began and how the event was changing in the course of time?
A: The event was first held in 2006. Over the years, speakers and topics have been changing, the number of participants growing annually. Representatives of various cities and countries, including Eastern Europe, China, Cameroon and others, joined the Forum. Many of them visited it each year to, so to say, make sure that they are on the same page with respect to the most recent IT trends. This year we also wait for guests from China.
At first, mainly information security issues were under consideration, but the subject area expanded from year to year. Moreover, today we see that the ITSF abbreviation itself reflects only a small part of all the useful content of the Forum. It used to be an information security forum, but it changed its focus to digital transformation, innovations, strategic business plans. That is why an idea to reposition the Forum occurred to us. Everyone understands that to provide system changes of a company you need synergy of information technologies that helps promote business efficiently and effectively. Therefore, our event is now not only about Security, but also about Strategy, Services, Software and Solutions.
Continued at business-gazeta.ru.
