Saeed Al Khotani Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – The two-day Saudi Arabia CIO Summit 2012 under the theme “Driving the CIO Agenda for Business Success” will kick off on Sept. 25 at the Jeddah Hilton Hotel, said Jyoti Lalchandani, Vice President and Regional Managing Director for the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, International Data Corporation (IDC) Sunday at a press conference in Riyadh. He said the exclusive invitation-only event will bring together under one roof more than 80 of the Kingdom's most influential CIOs and IT heads. In a discussion of global information and communication technology (ICT) experts from Intel and Saudi Telecom Company (STC) hosted by IDC prior the press conference, Lalchandani said spending on information technology is poised to increase 12.4 percent in Saudi Arabia by the end of 2012 over the previous year. He said recruitment, retention, and development of skilled IT resources remains the number-one challenge facing the Kingdom's CIOs, and revealing that while government-related ICT investments are holding up, there is a noticeable shift in focus underway towards cost optimization and operational efficiency Comprising a series of keynote addresses, authoritative presentations, real-life case studies, and panel discussions, the Saudi Arabia CIO Summit 2012 will tackle the topics of greatest importance to today's CIO, such as virtualization, cloud, big data analytics, technology consumerization, IT security, mobility, managed services, and governance, risk, and compliance, Lalchandani said in the press conference. Leaders from the world's premier ICT vendors will present cutting-edge strategies and best practices for aligning IT with the rapidly changing business needs of organizations in the Kingdom, with the ultimate aim of driving enhanced business efficiency and agility. – SG
