SP Jain School of Global Management hosted the Dubai chapter of IT Management Conclave 2018 with the theme ‘Leadership and Governance in the Digital Age: Building Successful Digital Enterprises’ on 24th October 2018 at Taj Dubai, UAE. Results of SP Jain’s annual Industry Survey, led by Dr Karippur Nanda Kumar, Associate Professor and Area Head of IT at SP Jain, were presented at the event.

The conclave was attended by IT professionals from leading companies like Oracle, Henkel, Emirates Airlines, Expo 2020, Etisalat, SAP, IBM, Infor, Protiviti, Tech Mahindra, Kuehne + Nagel, National Bank of Kuwait, DU, Crowe MAK, Grant Thornton, Notions Group, Roche Pharmaceuticals and Louvre Hotels, among others.

The event kickstarted with an opening speech from Mr Chandrasekhar Singh, Global Director - Corporate Relations, SP Jain, which was followed by a welcome note by Prof. Christopher Abraham, Professor and Head of Campus (Dubai), SP Jain.

Prof. Christopher Abraham said, “In the dynamic and disruptive digital age, the right leadership mindset becomes a key differentiator between success and failure of organisations. With the continuous disruptions in technology across sectors, it is imperative for all 21st century leaders to have an authentic and agile mindset. The annual IT Conclave organised by SP Jain Dubai is a platform to sensitise key stakeholders on the critical developments in technology and how organisations can prepare themselves for a world that is increasingly becoming volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.”

Mr Kiran Kumar, Associate Director - Digital Transformation, Protiviti, delivered an engaging keynote speech. It was followed by a talk on ‘Technology for Disruptive Innovation’ by Dr Balakrishna Grandhi, Dean - Global MBA & MGB and Professor of Marketing & Strategy at SP Jain. He spoke about the advancements in IT and its implementation in SP Jain’s programs to create the ‘Classroom of the Future’.

After Dr Grandhi’s address, Dr Karippur Nanda Kumar, Associate Professor and Area Head of IT at SP Jain, shared the results of IT Management Conclave 2018 Industry Survey.

Dr Kumar said, "Survey respondents from Dubai/UAE indicate that leaders in their organisations need to focus more on providing a clear digital vision and align business and IT strategies accordingly. Enterprises in Dubai/UAE can speed up digital transformation by putting more emphasis on establishing a digital governance framework that facilitates clear accountability, clarity of roles and decision-making authorities related to digital strategy, policies and standards and areas such as risk management. Another important area which requires leaders’ attention is to ensure nurturing the talent required to drive and deliver the digital strategy.”

The conversations continued with a panel discussion on ‘Building Successful Digital Enterprises’ covering areas such as diversifying the business model through creative partnerships, strategic collaborations and disruptive innovations and more.

The panel was moderated by Dr Dhrupad Mathur, Deputy Director - Faculty Management and Associate Professor - IT Management at SP Jain, and the panellists included:

The event has been covered by Thomson Reuters Zawya.com, a leading source of regional news and intelligence, serving more than 1 million professionals with up-to-date country and industry news as well as essential global coverage from Reuters. The article published on 25th October 2018 presents the survey findings and highlights that 80% of the leaders in Dubai/UAE have indicated that digital transformation is the top priority for IT spending in 2019. You can read the key takeaways of IT Management Conclave 2018 Industry Survey Results here.

To see more photos from the event, click here.