IDC's European IT Forum 2003: A Guide to Managing IT in Challenging Times

IDC's European IT Forum 2003: A Guide to Managing IT in Challenging Times
Frankfurt, June 20, 2003. (press1: iBOT) - 'Doing more with less' will be a key topic at IDC's thirteenth annual European IT Forum, which this year returns to Paris after three successful years in Monaco. This prestigious event takes place on September 29 and 30, 2003 at the Meridien Montparnasse Hotel.

During the second part of the 90s, IT was increasingly viewed as a major factor of competitive advantage for a company's success. Today, however, following two extremely tough years for the general economy and the IT industry alike, CEOs are mainly aiming to increase efficiency and therefore requiring CIOs to focus on cost cutting and performance improvement. CIOs have subsequently had to adjust from the exciting whirlwind days and learn to do more with less.

What Keeps CIOs Awake at Night?

According to our surveys, there are five major challenges that CIOs have to cope with:
· Reducing costs/increasing efficiencies
· Addressing the "software complexity crisis"
· Developing effective integration plans to prevent logical and physical fragmentation from draining essential resources
· Addressing the challenge of selective outsourcing, from infrastructure to applications, processing services, and BPO
· Guaranteeing a high level of security and availability

The European IT Forum will address each of these five major challenges.

How Technology can help CIOs deal with these New Challenges

Despite the steady decline of IT over the past two years, IDC has identified three main technology innovations that will be instrumental in addressing the major challenges above:
· Utility computing
· Web services
· Mobility and wireless

Specific sessions at the European IT Forum will focus on each of these innovative technology applications.

Key Speakers
· Lester Thurow, Professor of Management and Economics, Sloan School of Management, MIT
· Nicholas Negroponte, Founder and Director, MIT's Media Labs
· Henning Kagermann, Co-Chairman and CEO, SAP AG
· Paul Strassmann, Strassmann Inc and former CIO of NASA
· Eric Benhamou, CEO, Palm Inc.
· Patricia Seybold, Author of "Customers.com: How to Create a Profitable Strategy for the Internet and Beyond" and CEO, Patricia Seybold Group
· Francis Mer, Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry, French Government
· Soumitra Dutta, Author of "Embrace the Net" and "The Bright Stuff" and Dean of Executive Education at INSEAD
· Kasper Rorsted, Managing Director, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Senior Vice-President, Enterprise Systems Group, Hewlett-Packard Company
· Olof Soderblom, CEO, Compass
· Jean-Pierre Corniou, President, Cigref and CIO, Renault
· John Handby, Chief Executive, CIO Connect
· Thomas Endres, Head of Group IT and CIO, Deutsche Lufthansa
· Mikko Kosonen, SVP Nokia Strategy and Information Management, Nokia Group
· Mario Leone, CIO and VP Information Systems and eBusiness, Iveco

A full list of speakers can be found at http://emea.idc.com/itforum03  
The European IT Forum will once again feature IDC's Research Pavilion - where attendees are able to network with IDC analysts - and will see the return of the Guru Labs - interactive workshops where a limited number of participants can brainstorm on critical issues with keynote speakers.

Unique Support from European CIO Magazines and Associations
For the thirteenth annual European IT Forum, IDC has brought on board a number of leading European CIO and Industry Associations (Cigref, AUSED, Syntec, Nasscom, VWI, etc.). Additionally, a unique set of Media Partners (CIO France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, as well as Wall Street Journal Europe, TIME, Corriere della Sera, etc) was put in place across Europe to ensure the success of the event.

To date, the European IT Forum is sponsored by Sun, Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks, Symantec, HP, Kodak, Palm, SIA, Siemens, Network Associates and Novell.

Editor's Note: Press registration for this event is complimentary - for press passes, please contact Katja Schmalen on +49 (0)69/90502-115 or kschmalen@idc.com. IDC speaker interview requests are also being processed in advance of IDC's European IT Forum by Katja Schmalen. Advance scheduling is recommended because space and availability of experts are limited.

For more information, visit http://emea.idc.com/itforum03  
About IDC
IDC is the foremost global market intelligence and advisory firm helping clients gain insight into technology and ebusiness trends to develop sound business strategies. Using a combination of rigorous primary research, in-depth analysis, and client interaction, IDC forecasts worldwide markets and trends to deliver dependable service and client advice. More than 700 analysts in 43 countries provide global research with local content. IDC's customers comprise the world's leading IT suppliers, IT organizations, ebusiness companies, and the financial community. Additional information can be found at www.idc.com.

IDC is a division of IDG, the world's leading IT media, research and exposition company.
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For more information, contact:
Katja Schmalen
+49 (0)69/90502-115
kschmalen@idc.com