CIO Roundtable Forum Completes Three Meetings of Ongoing Series
Dr. ‘Narsi' Narasimhan, CEO and co-founder of Paalam, Inc., sponsor of the CIO Roundtable Forum, announced that the first three meetings of the CIO Roundtable Forum were completed and that the company would continue to sponsor additional Forum meetings in 2006.
According to Narasimhan, a former professor of Management Information Systems at Georgia Tech, the Forum was designed to be an informal discussion group where IT executives could meet in small groups over lunch or breakfast and discuss issues important to their operations. The meetings, in September and early October, were held at the Buckhead Club and the World Trade Center of Atlanta.
"IT executives have a large responsibility in today's modern corporation," Narasimhan said, "and technology is moving quickly. Yet these executives have few forums where they can meet with peers and discuss areas of interest. Our idea, and it seems to be working, is to provide such a small group forum over a relaxed meal. Holding Forums over lunch or breakfast assures that the attendees won't take a large slice out of their busy day. At the same time, attendees have a chance to meet others that share IT concerns and are able to discuss those concerns."
Each luncheon Forum featured U-shaped seating, one generalist speaker who could speak about global issues and a second speaker, usually an IT executive, who addressed more detailed concerns. Speakers were brief and raised topics for discussion, often citing their own experience.
The first three meetings featured Dr. Don Ratajczak, who is Regents Professor Emeritus of Economics at Georgia State University, and a Consulting Economist, is known widely for his straightforward economic analysis. He touched on changing economic issues that have an impact on business performance and technology, including labor issues, oil consumption, growth rates, global competition, and the likelihood of a business slowdown in the coming months.
The IT executives who lent their expertise to the discussion were the following. Glenn Martin, CTO INTENT Media Networks, discussed the issues of peer-to-peer technology, digital rights management and community publishing, i.e., Wiki-like content.
Mark Spruill, IT Executive, Mighty Distributing System of America, spoke of technology options when dealing with wireless handheld technology in warehousing and distribution applications.
Paul Hernacki, CTO, Definiton6, talked about emerging Web technologies, focusing on what has become known as Web2.0. He urged participants to move forward early but with caution, to take advantage of getting an early start, even though the technology is in its early stages.
"The discussion was very lively," Narasimhan said. "In each meeting, the group interaction lasted well after the scheduled end time of 1:30 PM. This is a good sign that our goal to provide a useful forum for IT leaders is being reached. We're looking forward to the coming meetings."
Narasimhan stressed that the meetings are invitation only and any IT executive that would like to attend should please call Paalam, Inc. at 770-419-9700 or email the company at info@paalam.com. The company wishes to accommodate all interested parties but is striving to keep the number of attendees small (15-20) in order to enhance the discussion atmosphere.
Enjoyed reading Khabar magazine? Subscribe to Khabar and get a full digital copy of this Indian-American community magazine.
