International Data Corporation (IDC) is delighted to announce that participants in the virtual edition of this year's IDC Saudi Arabia CIO Summit — taking place this week on Oct. 14 — will hear exclusive insights from Eng. Ali Nasser Al-Asiri, CEO of Yesser, Saudi Arabia's e-Government Program, and Eng. Faisal Ahmed Bakhashwain, the Kingdom's Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation. Yesser will be the event's Strategic Partner, while the Ministry of Human Resource and Social Development will be the event's Government Partner. The IDC Saudi Arabia CIO Summit 2020 will take place exclusively online under the theme 'The Race to Reinvent: Connecting Leaders to Empower Digital Transformation', offering a genuinely immersive virtual experience for all participants. Delegates will be able to seamlessly engage in content-rich presentations and panel discussions, use video chat tools to connect with exhibitors, and interact with IDC analysts and their peers in designated networking zones, providing a unique opportunity to understand and contextualize the progress of Saudi Arabia's digital transformation drive. "Flexibility, innovation, and enabling business continuity have become the hallmarks of the Saudi public sector in these unprecedented times," said Eng. Al-Asiri. "It has been a key priority for us to design digital services to respond to the immediate needs of users and private businesses working in partnership with the public sector, which play a key role in facilitating digital transformation in the government across the Kingdom. The implementation of Saudi Vision 2030 is helping to proliferate the benefits of digital transformation across Saudi Arabia, and the IDC Saudi Arabia CIO Summit presents an ideal platform for enhancing collaboration between the public and private sectors." "The government of Saudi Arabia has been on a steady path to enacting digital transformation long before this year's events," said Eng. Bakhashwain. "We are wholly committed to accelerating our digital transformation efforts across the Kingdom to meet the raised expectations of our citizenry and businesses. We consider the IDC Saudi Arabia CIO Summit as our platform of choice to work hand in hand with both public and private-sector organizations towards a digitally driven future." The IDC Saudi Arabia CIO Summit 2020 will bring together future-shaping executives from across the region to hear first-hand accounts of what it takes for an organization to become truly digitally determined. Providing a unique opportunity to engage directly with the Kingdom's most influential ICT decision makers, the event will showcase insights from respected industry experts on a wide range of pressing issues, such as implementing next-generation enterprise IT, putting security at the heart of the business, enabling sustainable business continuity, and preparing workspaces for the future of work. "One thing we have learnt this year is that the term 'digital' is definitely not just hype," said Hamza Naqshbandi, IDC's regional director for Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. "The pandemic hit us at a time when digital transformation was becoming mainstream and our recent surveys show that despite a significant curtailment in ICT budgets, the vast majority of Saudi organizations plan to continue with their DX initiatives as planned, with around 52% prioritizing operational transformation to improve efficiency and reduce costs. "We are also noticing a certain degree of financial discipline being associated with digital projects, with smaller, discrete, use-case driven digital pilots being preferred to 'big bang' digital adventures. All these are signs of a rapidly maturing, pragmatic, and dynamic market that is on course to make digital transformation a reality as Saudi Arabia accelerates its modernization and economic diversification drive." The event will culminate with the IDC Digital Excellence Awards 2020 as IDC looks to recognize the efforts of Saudi Arabia foremost IT leaders in conceptualizing and successfully delivering game-changing transformation initiatives for their organizations. With a focus on the tangible benefits brought about by such initiatives, awards will be handed out for 'Excellence in Digital Innovation', 'Excellence in Line of Business', 'CISO of the Year', and 'CISO of the Year'. — SG
