Leveraging technology to drive excellence in South East Asia

The GEC Media and Global CIO Forum recently organised the South-East Asia edition of the World CIO200 Summit 2022 in Singapore. This year’s summit revolved around the theme of LeadX, leading through transformation. The summit which saw an amalgamation of technology experts from the Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Singapore, celebrated the bold spirit of technology leaders in exceeding challenges and barriers while bringing innovative solutions forward and driving organisational growth through technology interventions and digital transformations.

Established in 2017, the World CIO200 Summit is a multi-country CIO felicitation ceremony that recognises the achievements of digital leaders of today who have transformed the IT infrastructure of their organisations driving growth and change. Having completed Africa, Europe, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Egypt edition of the Summit, the South East Asian edition of the summit was hosted at the Sands Expo Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands in Singapore on 4 November 2022.

The summit which is touring 40+ countries will culminate in the Grand Finale on 23–24 November 2022 in Thailand.

The South East Asian edition of the World CIO200 Summit in Singapore was sponsored by 3i infotech, Kissflow, and Infinite Blue | CTO as the Gold partners; Lingaro as the Silver partner; Seeburger Business Integration as a Business Integration partner; and Infocomm Media Development Authority and RosettaNet as Supporting partners.

Welcoming the delegates to the in-person summit, Malavika Shanker, President, South East Asia, Global CIO Forum highlighted the importance of the event and how the forum has helped CIOs and digital technology experts connect and share information on trends, challenges, and deployments to help the community drive technology implementation and lead the transformation journey. “We believe in building human connections so together we succeed,” she said.

The Summit began with a session by Manoj Saxena, Chairman, RosettaNet Singapore GS1 Digital standards non-profit consortium. A dynamic senior IT executive with 20+ years of experience in consultancy and management across all areas of business operations, Saxena shared his insight on Partnership and Research. This was followed by a presentation by Dinesh Varadharajan, Chief Product Officer, Kissflow who highlighted the role of technology in driving business transformation.

An expert in building next-generation digital financial experience platforms, Arivuvel Ramu, CEO of Inypay shared his insight on his digital journey from being a CIO to becoming a CEO of a Fintech company. A former Group Chief Technology Officer at Tonik, the Philippines’ first purely digital neobank overseeing the digital banking IT organisation, Ramu built and launched the first pure-virtual digital bank in South East Asian edition region from the ground up across the multi-cloud platform.

The banking-as-a-service platform helps financial institutions re-evaluate the way money works to join the future digital ecosystem. The session was followed by a presentation from industry expert Romulo P. Cambaliza, President, Comfac Technology Options Inc.

The summit also featured a unique Leadership Snippet: Rapid Fire session that saw Setiaji Setiaji, Chief of Digital Transformation Office, Ministry of Health, the Republic of Indonesia; Jim Sarka, CIO and VP of Business Technology for Asia Pacific, Johnson & Johnson MedTech; and Khalid Nizami, Head of Information Technology and Digital Transformation, Ecolab share views on leadership qualities. The session was moderated by Vinay Awasthi, Worldwide Head of Print Supply Chain Ops, HP.

The other speakers included Tuan Anh Pham, Group CIO, Becamex IDC who shared a Solution Providers Roadmap to the CIO’s Mind.

This was followed by a presentation by Edmund Situmorang, Chief Technology Officer of Asian Bulk Logistics. An industry veteran with over 15 years of senior management experience in strategy, information technology, and human capital development, Situmorang shared the story of a CIO’s transformation and the lessons learned from the journey.

Next, Sin Yong Loh, Director, TradeTrust, Sectoral Transformation Group, Infocomm Media Development Authority shared information on the role of IMDA.

The penultimate session was the next round of rapid-fire Leadership Snippet with experts including Rajesh Nandakumar, Head of Technology, Westpac Banking Corporation; Manju Jalali, Global Head of IT, International Baccalaureate; and Sham Arora, Global Head, Enterprise Technology, Standard Chartered Bank. The session was moderated by Santosh Nair.

Delivering the Vote of Thanks, GEC Media Group’s Global Head for Content and Strategic Alliances Anushree Dixit talked about the forum’s history, reach, and the South East Asian edition network. She thanked the delegates and speakers for joining the event and making it a big success.

The World CIO 200 Summit in Singapore concluded with the felicitation of CIOs and Industry leaders who have accelerated digital and business transformation, creating a better future for their businesses and driving growth.

The World CIO 200 Summit South East Asian edition Awards

Legend CIO: Life time achievement awards for more than 20 years of experience.

Master CIO: Experience of more than 15-20 years and unparalleled technological experience in a career life span.

Leader CIO: Experience of 10-15 years and multiple domain expertise.

Next-generation CIO: Experience of 5-10 years or less and undertaken mammoth projects in a less span of time.

By Shubhendu Parth.