TechOps Virtual Conference 2022: Raising the bar for IT operations

The inaugural edition of the TechOps Virtual Conference was successfully organised by Express Computer, on March 10, 2022.  The virtual conference, themed ‘Unleashing the power of automation, AI and emerging technologies to elevate IT infrastructure performance’, saw participation from CIOs, CXOs and several distinguished speakers, who highlighted how technologies like AI, RPA, Blockchain and Intelligent Document Processing can be useful in automating complex business processes.

Today, the role of IT teams has shifted. It is not just managing core IT operations but also working on complex IT infrastructure. This, when coupled with rising volumes of data, makes the task of IT teams more difficult to manage in today’s dynamic, constantly changing IT environments. In this new world that is increasingly being defined by digital processes, it is important for IT leaders to take a relook at the way they plan their technology architecture, key processes and the skill sets required.

In order to discuss and understand the prevailing digital automation trends and technologies, Express Computer, an IT publication of the Indian Express Group, inaugurated its first edition of the TechOps Virtual Conference on March 10, 2022 in partnership with SUSE and STTelemedia Global Data Centres. 

The virtual conference, with the theme Unleashing the power of automation, AI and emerging technologies to elevate IT infrastructure performance, witnessed participation of  CIOs, CXOs and several distinguished speakers. They shared their perspectives on use cases of successful organisations and explored how technologies like AI, RPA, Blockchain and Intelligent Document Processing can be useful in automating complex business processes.

The conference began with an interesting fireside chat: ‘Lessons learned and best practices from modernising IT infrastructure’ with Krishnan Venkateswaran, Chief Digital and Information Officer, Titan Company Limited. 

Venkateswaran expressed that the share of revenue from digital transformation investments by very large organisations around the world is steadily increasing. He added, “We are one of the first organisations in India to implement a full service ERP for a manufacturing operation. Store automation has been a priority for us. A combination of manufacturing systems, supply chain automation and point of sale has been consistent practice for us at Titan. Many automation elements have come on to the cloud in the period of the last two years.” 

Next, Neeraj Athalye, Managing Director, Indian Subcontinent, SUSE explained about cloud native transformational journeys of the organisations in his session titled, ‘Open Source Open Doors’.

“Startups and fintechs are at an all time high when it comes to investments. Hybrid cloud helps in cost saving and for faster business transformation. Work from home has become a new work culture in the organisational framework. Nowadays, healthcare has become a huge industry. Disruption is noticed as a big trend across industries. Open source software enhances security functionality in vulnerable areas,” explained Athalye.

Moving forward, Goutam Datta, Chief Information and Digital Officer, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co. Ltd spoke on ‘Essentials for a successful automation journey’ in a fireside chat. Datta stated, “Automation helps in minimising the risk of man-made errors. Our company was mainly involved in RPA, business process automation and self support automation. Ever since the pandemic, the demand for technology has tremendously gone up. Alignment of the technology delivery team with the business delivery team has been a challenge. Insurance segment is divided into three main pillars: general insurance, life insurance and health insurance.”

Following this, Rohit Tiku, AVP- Sales, STT GDC India shared his perspective on ‘Data Centres Built For Connected World’. He said that India’s cloud market is expected to grow at 26 per cent CAGR by 2026.

“The data never sleeps, it just keeps adding up. Mobility brought the internet into the hands of the customers. Data localisation trend has been on a constant increase. Analytics helps in making more sense out of the data. Cloud and data centres are complementary in nature and go hand in hand,” explained Tiku. 

The conference moved ahead with another interesting fireside chat on ‘ How insuretech is changing the landscape of the insurance industry in the year 2022’ by Girish Nayak, Chief – Customer Service, Technology and Operations, ICICI Lombard GIC Ltd.

According to Nayak, the pandemic has been a game changer on the digital front. He shared, “We are trying to transform point interaction into a continuous engagement with the customers. Moving from the old waterfall approach of development to a more agile development principle. Risk management part of the value chain needs to be focused. Using AI enables organisations to predict events before time rather than being reactive.”

KV Dipu, Head, Operations and Customer Service, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance took the conference ahead with his session on ‘Best practices on using IT infrastructure automation to your advantage’. 

“Modern applications need to be dynamic in nature. Software teams should constantly provide for new deployment environments. Manual deployment can be painstakingly slow. IT automation strategy includes standardisation of compliance and automation can clearly eliminate vulnerabilities associated with human errors during manual provisioning,” stated Dipu.   

Next there was a fireside chat titled, ‘How manufacturing organisations are leveraging the power of automation to elevate the performance of IT Infrastructure’ by Udit Pahwa, Head IT, Huhtamaki India.

Pahwa said, “We have been following the cloud first approach in our company. We are looking at areas where we can minimise human intervention and bring in the technology aspect. We have moved 99.99 per cent uptime on our network despite being dependent on external network providers. Analytical and predictive models and tools can help us in anticipating when the event is likely to occur. Manufacturing organisations should continuously engage with the end user community.” 

The conference came to an end with the awards ceremony. The award winning organisations felicitated by Express Computer were:

(With inputs from Shibul Pavithran)