Harnessing cloud computing technology will be the focus of this international conference making its debut in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is hosting the largest-ever gathering in North Asia of dedicated cloud and data centre providers this week. Cloud Expo Asia and the concurrent Data Centre World will bring together leading cloud and data centre technology brands to offer their insights into the latest developments in the sector.
Held on 18 and 19 May at AsiaWorld-Expo, the free admission event gives attendees a chance to hear from industry leaders on key technologies available to the market, as well as current and future trends.
Some 200 speakers are lined up to take part in Cloud Expo Asia and Data Centre World, which will also include a leading international exhibition of more than 100 suppliers, offering participants the opportunity to learn from dozens of best-practise case studies. Michael Westcott, Managing Director of event organiser CloserStill Media, tells us more.
What is Cloud Expo Asia?
Cloud Expo Asia is an event that facilitates digital business transformation. It is an education-driven event, which allows businesses of any size to harness cloud computing and technology for digital transformation, to improve efficiency, save costs and stay relevant and competitive on a local or global scale.
It helps them understand why businesses need to be data centric to continue to create disruptive and profitable business models and how to implement a cloud strategy and how IT departments can deploy technologies to make sure it happens.
“Businesses who harness cloud computing technology are the ones that will be able to compete in industries and markets that are being significantly disrupted by technology by offering better products and services to customers.”
For large- and medium-sized companies, they can learn about how migrating their digital assets to the cloud allows technology to become part of a business’ operation cost, without the need for ongoing capital investment. Businesses that harness cloud computing technology are the ones that will be able to compete in industries and markets that are being significantly disrupted by technology by offering better products and services to customers.
Cloud Expo Asia is aimed at both lines of business and technology departments of large- and medium-sized companies.
Why is it being held in Hong Kong this year?
Cloud Expo started in London and we‘ve taken the annual event to other important digital business hubs, such as Singapore and Frankfurt in Germany. Hong Kong is the obvious next hub. Hong Kong is a gateway to the Chinese mainland and North Asia market; it has a high-speed network, a fantastic technology infrastructure and is home to some of the region’s largest conglomerates and most innovative technology companies. Hong Kong is important because of its unrivalled access to capital and its vibrant investment and financial services sector, which is heavily backing investments in Fintech (financial technology), the emergence and adoption of the IoT (Internet of Things) and AI (Artificial Intelligence), which are only made possible because of cloud computing.
What are some of the topics to be addressed at the conference?
The conference will tackle such topics as data privacy, the digitisation of business, and Hong Kong as a data centre hub. The conference is about helping companies become data centric and helping them with their digital transformation, arming business leaders with the strategy and their technology managers with guidance on practical deployment. Data privacy and data security are key areas that will be discussed in depth. The emergence of the IoT and readiness for businesses to absorb and process more data will be a key theme.
What is the cloud computing take-up rate in the region? Which country in Asia represents the biggest potential market for cloud?
It is no surprise to us that Hong Kong topped the recent Asia Cloud Computing Association’s Cloud Readiness Index 2016, which means Hong Kong leads the world in cloud readiness ahead of city-state rival Singapore, making it the perfect location to host Cloud Expo Asia. Hong Kong is the region’s service centre and has the potential to become the region’s cloud computing hub. Hong Kong has always been an early adopter of technology. In 1998, when the Internet was in its infancy, Hong Kong was the first place we launched the Internet World Show, with [current IT Legislative Council member] Charles Mok as my advisor in the those days, because it had a smart workforce, a fiercely entrepreneurial culture and access to capital – all the ingredients to make Hong Kong the perfect platform to become the region’s technology hub. Hong Kong has transparent laws governing data privacy, IP protection and is an open playing field for foreign companies to collaborate with local Hong Kong businesses to create a technology powerhouse.
