CEOs from top ICT companies will examine the future of IT in SA at a conference in Midrand later this month.
IT Confidence 2007, to be held on 28 February at Gallagher Estate, is ITWeb's fourth annual event where prospects for the IT sector are discussed.
"Never before has a conference assembled together so many of the leading CEOs of the South African ICT sector," says Brian Rainier, MD of Brainier Capital and programme director of IT Confidence 2007. "These are representatives of the major systems integration, software and telecommunications players."
Key speakers will include Roy Blume, senior analyst from BMI-TechKnowledge; Chris Hart, senior economist from Absa; Mmamathe Makhekhe-Mokhuane, chairman of the Government IT Organisation; and international speaker Simon Scarrott, an offshoring and outsourcing expert from Compass Management Consulting's UK office.
Topics on the agenda include SA's economic outlook, lack of bandwidth, as well as the interest surrounding new versions of software, such as Windows Vista.
"We'll hear whether the large systems integrators are expecting Vista implementations to drive much new business, as well as what Oracle and Novell think about it," says Rainier.
Government's IT spend priorities are also on the agenda. Makhekhe-Mokhuane foresees discussions around the "harnessing of ICT for socio-economic development", which involves "using ICT to improve service delivery and citizen convenience".
IT's role in supporting business growth in financial and retail institutions will also fall under the spotlight, with speakers including Pat Pather, CIO of Standard Bank, and Henri Slabbert, CIO of Edcon.
According to Rainier, the JSE's IT sector is trading at a discount to the rest of the market. "Is this a reflection that investors don't believe there's much growth in profitability of IT stocks? Are margins being squeezed too much? Is the top growth not there, or is price deflation unavoidable? These are some of the questions our speakers we'll tackle at IT Confidence at the end of this month."
Share