Staying up to date with digital transformation and learning how to apply it to current infrastructure architecture has always been a vital process to ensure a competitive business. However, this often proves challenging for enterprises to launch digital transformation from the starting point of “legacy” IT applications and systems.
Conference & Expo DCD>Converged on November 10 at HKCEC, Hong Kong will be providing case studies for 400 senior IT professionals to ensure they are equipped with the knowledge and resources needed to tap into the potential offered by new innovation. This thinking will feature a case study of Wanda Group, China’s leading commercial real estate conglomerate and entertainment group by Wanda Group’s CTO, Jennifer (Zhong Qian) Feng.
DCD caught up with Jennifer for insight into the presentation she will deliver on November 10. Jennifer is responsible for managing infrastructure design, operations and budgets across 4 group business units at Wanda Group, running three data centers in China with a fourth as back up for business contingency.
What broadly will you be covering in your presentation at DCD>Converged in Hong Kong? What can the audience expect to take from your presentation?
The presentation is divided into three parts – first, global trends in digital transformation, then a discussion of methods of approaching transformation, and finally, company case studies that illustrate the challenges and solutions. We talk also about best practice in how enterprises can achieve digital transformation, specifically in relation to hybrid cloud, big data and IoT. A number of our programs have been awarded and recognised in the past couple of years so I will showcase those as well.
The takeaways will include what you should consider when it comes to digital transformation and how you match this to what your business requires. Most IT transformation is led by business transformation; it is therefore directed by strategic business requirement.
I am looking forward to sharing my perspectives on how IT can bring business value to the company. DCD events enable us to gain greater awareness of new technologies in Asia and to meet industry peers to discuss how such technologies will impact our businesses over the next few years.
In relation to your experiences at Wanda, what are some of the challenges and opportunities in the IT space, and for data infrastructure (data centers, outsourcing, cloud) within that?
The main challenge Wanda faced is that 90% of the software we use is developed in-house. We don’t use a lot of commercial software so we addressed this by moving to a bimodal approach, to use traditional IT infrastructure as well as the cloud. We divide our IT into 2 parts – our internal systems and the second tends to use cloud based solutions because of the flexibility, for example, when we are running a big promotion.
In terms of opportunities, a lot of cutting edge technology comes out of Silicon Valley, we have a partnership with IBM for public cloud. Moving forward, we are interested also in cutting edge ‘plug and play’ applications. We want to have access to new technology and new technology companies, and so we piloted projects and collaborated with a lot of venture companies and more than 200 start-up companies this year and this will rise to 325 in the pilot phase. We are looking for example, at facial recognition, and analytics to track customer shopping behaviour so we can message customers.
Jennifer is among 25 local & international leaders at DCD>Converged Hong discussing “Data Infrastructure for an Era of Change” which includes the impact of technologies on the evolution of the business and their data infrastructure requirements, as well as how the fast-moving world of colocation, managed services and hosting is responding to the challenges and opportunities presented by cloud. All this is framed in the context of how Hong Kong, as one of the world’s leading commercial hub cities, is positioned to capitalise on these developments.
Conference & Expo DCD>Converged is part of the larger Hong Kong Datacenter Week featuring networking opportunities, training and the prestigious Datacenter Week Awards Gala & Ceremony.
DCD Datacenter Week Awards 2017
Jennifer is also the Head Judge for the 4th Datacenter Week Awards in Asia, referred to as the “Oscars of the Data Center Industry“ which will be held immediately after the DCD>Converged Conference. “The awards entries have been of great quality showing the quality of datacenters in the region. There is innovative use of technology to improve operations and energy efficiency, and I think they stand up well globally. There are a number of ideas there that will be of great interest to the market“, commented Jennifer.
Find out more about the shortlisted finalists here including hospitality packages available such as hosting clients at an Awards Gala table.
Qualified end-users can apply for complimentary registration at DCD>Converged Hong Kong 2017
DCD has moved to a ‘free-to-attend, by invitation’ event model for qualified end-user business executives, managers and technical professionals directly engaged with IT, data center and cloud infrastructure. If your company operates its own on/off premise data center(s), or if you are a significant end-user of data center outsourcing and/or cloud services and you are involved in technology planning, procurement, implementation, and operations, then you may qualify.
New to DCD: A complimentary Professional Advisor Passes is also available to one engineering/technical professional with management title/responsibility from each A/E consultancy/advisory firm (subject to criteria).
Find out more about which pass you qualify for and register for the conference, DCD>Converged here.
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