Highlights of World CIO 200 Summit Finale in Bangkok, day one

It was the congregation of the best technology implementors and digital transformation experts at the inaugural day of the The World CIO 200 Summit, Grand Finale. The seventh edition of the world’s largest CIO excellence and leadership programme organised by GEC Media and Global CIO Forum commenced at the Grand Fourwings, Convention Hotel in Bangkok.

The year’s summit revolves around the theme of LeadX or leading through transformation and focuses on borderless technologies, fearless ambitions, and limitless leadership. The summit which saw an amalgamation of over 200+ technology experts from across 40+ countries 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. The summit in Bangkok is the culmination of the year-long face-to-face and virtual celebrations across Africa, Europe, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, KSA, Oman, Egypt, India, Singapore, and Pakistan editions of the event.

The grand finale of the World CIO 200 Summit in Bangkok was sponsored by CAAS as the strategic partner and StorIT, Automation Edge, Dell Technologies, Mindware, Redington, Logitech, and OPX Technology as platinum partners. It was supported by Veritas, Alteryx, Infinite Blue, and 3i Infotech as gold partners.

The silver partners included Western Digital, Forcespot, Accops, Veeam, NetApp, Logicom, Pure Storage, TechnePlus, Kissflow, DLlink, Exotel, and Finesse. The summit was supported by Infoblox, HTP, BITS Secure, SecureNet; RNS Technology Services, and MetaO.

The 2022 edition of the World CIO200 Summit began early in the day with the session on Moving towards Self Awareness, Acceptance, and Agility conducted by Dr Ektaa Sibal, Global Wellness Ambassador, Global CIO Forum. Later, she also shared insight into how technology and business leaders can redefine themselves using high-power habits. Dr Sibal stressed the importance of wellness and understanding the mind.

Dr Ektaa Sibal, Global Wellness Ambassador, Global CIO Forum.

Kicking off the opening session and welcoming the participants Ronak Samantaray, Co-Founder and CEO of Global CIO Forum said: “The event is not only a celebration of the IT champions and pathbreakers globally, but it is also an amalgamation of a year-round hive of activities held under the umbrella of the summit.”

He further highlighted that during the last six years, the World CIO 200 Summit 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.

Ronak Samantaray, Co-Founder and CEO, Global CIO Forum.

The conference commenced with the launch of CaaS or the CIO as a Service, a global platform designed to serve as a one-stop-shop and a go-to-platform for meeting all ICT needs of a customer. The global platform was launched by Venkatesh Mahadevan, CIO of Dubai Investment. The others to join the launch included Basil Ayass, Sales Leader – Education and Healthcare; Pratap Pat Joshi, Global CIO Manufacturing Forum; and Manoj Saxena, Chairman, RosettaNet Singapore GS1 Digital standards non-profit consortium.

The Technology Keynote was presented by Charbel Zreiby, Channel Presales Director META, Dell Technologies who informed the participants about the emerging trends and five areas where the company can help organisations.

Next, UAE’s top business coach, author, and speaker Dr Corrie J Block shared his insights on Evolutionary Psychology and the Metaverse.

Keynote presentations were also made by Uday Birajda, CEO and Co-Founder of Automation Edge who shared his thoughts on whether automation and AI projects can deliver value at a scale.

The other technology keynote speaker included Rajesh Samantaray, Co-founder, CEO, and Chairman of OPX Technologies. He talked about the strategies and steps for leapfrogging toward one’s goals.

Rajesh Samantaray, Co-founder, CEO and Chairman, OPX Technologies.

Samer Semaan, the Channel and Alliances Manager, Middle East for Pure Storage shared his views on future data experiences.

Samer Semaan, Channel and Alliances Manager, Middle East, Pure Storage.

The day also saw Dinesh Varadharajan, Chief Product Officer of Kissflow talk about De-risking Digital Transformation.

Dinesh Varadharajan, Chief Product Officer, Kissflow.

The highlight of the day’s session also included the workshop on The CIO – CEO Journey. The session was jointly conducted by Henry Santos, Serial Entrepreneur, COO, Board Member Global CIO, and Darren Shaffer, a former Military Caption Board Member, and CTO. The workshop focused on areas where the roles of the CEO and CIO leadership align and differ. The speakers also shared case studies of successful CIO-to-CEO transitions, competency framework for modern effective leaders, and methods to cultivate skills essential for a CIO to become the CEO.

Darren Shaffer, Former Military Caption Board Member, and CTO,

It was followed by a workshop on the essential cyber security aspect by Patrick Doliny, a Retired US Marine Officer and a career CIO, CISO focusing on a multitude of cybersecurity best practices. The fun interactive workshop was designed around the popular game “go fish” or cyber go-phishing where participants engage each other on an exciting cyber journey to catch the bad actor and recover.

Patrick Doliny, Retired US Marine Officer; Career CIO, CISO; Keynote Speaker.

Forcespot conducted an exclusive boardroom for selected enterprise executives at The World CIO 200 Grand Finale in Bangkok, Thailand. The session titled ‘MOVING TARGET DEFENSE – Building Impregnable Cyber Fortress by Augmenting NGAV, EDR and XDR By Morphisec’ was attended by 15+ senior IT decision makers.

Forcespot’s exclusive boardroom meeting with senior IT decision makers at The World CIO 200 Grand Finale in Bangkok, Thailand.

The World CIO 200 Summit Grand Finale saw the unveiling of GEC 2.0 brand representing performance, profitability, and persistence to mark the 10th anniversary of the GEC Media Group. The day’s event concluded with exclusive closed-door boardrooms and late-night clubbing around the red and white Christmas theme.

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Event Snapshot

Date of the event: 23 November 2022
Number of attendees: 230+

Venue : The Grand Fourwings Convention Hotel, Bangkok

Speakers