International Data Corporation (IDC) today hosted more than 160 senior ICT leaders on its industry-leading virtual platform for the 12th annual installment of its IDC South Africa CIO Summit [1], which ran under the theme 'The Race to Reinvent: Connecting Leaders to Empower Digital Transformation'.

The digital event offered an unrivaled immersive experience for participants as they seamlessly engaged in content-rich presentations and panel discussions, connected with exhibitors via video chat, and interacted with IDC analysts and key industry players in designated networking zones. Expert speakers explored the latest trends in cloud, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital leadership, intelligent automation, next-generation resilience and continuity, and big data analytics, to name just a few.

"As South African businesses embrace today's remote working reality, their desire to create new value and meet heightened commercial expectations are proving to be fundamental drivers of technology adoption and investment," said Mark Walker, IDC's associate vice president for Sub-Saharan Africa, as he opened the day's proceedings. "Indeed, we are seeing an intense focus on the relevance, affordability, accessibility, and trustworthiness of ICT as an enabler of operational and customer excellence. Value creation works when technology strategies directly impact business expectations around the critical triumvirate of customer relationships, operational efficiency, and cost management."

IDC's global president, Crawford Del Prete, presented the event's keynote address as he unveiled IDC's new five-stage guide for helping organizations plan their recovery in the economic aftermath of COVID-19. In the session, titled 'The Five Stages to Enterprise Recovery: Charting Your Course to the Next Normal', Del Prete urged organizations in the country to focus on the imperatives of business continuity, cost optimization, business resiliency, and targeted investment as they strive to emerge as lean, dynamic, and innovation-fueled enterprises of the future.

The agenda incorporated a series of individually themed Best Practice Sessions and Technology Focus Groups that offered expert guidance on implementing next-generation enterprise IT, reshaping security through digital transformation, sustaining business continuity, preparing workspaces for the future of work, unleashing the full power of artificial intelligence, building hybrid clouds for the digital era, and everything in between. The delegates also received valuable end-user insights from respected industry peers such as:

· Reinhardt Gerber, Head of IT, Sea Harvest Corporation

· Luyanda Ntuane, CIO, MOTUS Car Rental Division

· Louise van der Bank, CIO, AfriSam

· Frans Cronje, CIO, Adcock Ingram Holdings

IDC would like to thank the following partners for their invaluable contribution to the success of the IDC South Africa CIO Summit 2020: Host Partner - Nokia; Summit Partners - Tech Mahindra, Trend Micro, Sophos, and Microsoft; Platinum Partners - SentinelOne, Fortinet, VMware, BeyondTrust, Kaspersky, OutSystems, Ivanti, and SAP; Technology Focus Group Partners - Oracle, BlackBerry, Splunk, ManageEngine / ITR Technology, Mimecast, Dropbox / CloudSmiths, KnowBe4, Infoblox, New Relic, OpenText, Rackspace Technology, and Lenovo / Intel; Strategic Partners - Dubai Internet City and The Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA).

About IDC
International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a subsidiary of IDG , the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com . Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC.

IDC in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa

For the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa region, IDC retains a coordinated network of offices in Riyadh, Nairobi, Lagos, Johannesburg, Cairo, and Istanbul, with a regional center in Dubai. Our coverage couples local insight with an international perspective to provide a comprehensive understanding of markets in these dynamic regions. Our market intelligence services are unparalleled in depth, consistency, scope, and accuracy. IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey currently fields over 130 analysts, consultants, and conference associates across the region. To learn more about IDC MEA, please visit www.idc.com/mea . You can follow IDC MEA on Twitter at @IDCMEA .