The CW500 Club in 2016

1. Trends for IT leaders in 2016

At Computer Weekly’s first CW500 meeting of 2016, IT leaders gathered to discuss the role of the CIO, business change, cloud uptake and skills.

• Skills, changing roles and cloud among key trends for CIOs in 2016
• Video: Ian Cohen, Leading Edge Forum, discusses CIO leadership
• Video: IDC's Spencer Izard discusses the key tech trends for 2016
• Video: Albert Ellis, chief executive, Harvey Nash discusses skills and recruitment trends

2. The people, process and cultural challenges of digital transformation

Digital technologies have become a standard part of IT leaders’ strategies – but becoming a digital business is about much more than the technology. To successfully disrupt your business through digital transformation you need to evolve your people, processes and corporate culture – and often, these are the real barriers to overcome.

In this CW500 event, IT leaders discussed the challenges of delivering people, cultural and organisational change.

• How to make digital transformation a success
• Video: Chris Boyd from Telefonica on digital transformation
• Video: Richard Philips from The AA on digital transformation
• Video: Former retail CIO Peter Connor on digital transformation

3. Skills and sourcing trends for successful IT strategy

Once upon a time, IT decision-makers were said to never be sacked for buying from their favourite big supplier. Today, the scope of potential technologies, skills and suppliers needed for a successful IT strategy have grown, seemingly exponentially. From on-premise to private to public cloud; from outsourcing, offshoring or bringing skills back in-house; and from systems integrators to SMEs to tech startups – the multitude of choices itself is a challenge for IT leaders. In this CW500 Club event, IT leaders shared their experiences of getting the right skills and sourcing mix to deliver sustainable business innovation.

• The right skills, suppliers and vision are key to a great IT strategy
• Video: Brendan O'Rourke, CIO at Telefonica UK, discusses skills and sourcing
• Video: EBRD's Louise McCarthy discusses skills and sourcing trends
• Video: Panel debate - skills and sourcing trends for successful IT strategy

4. The importance of trust and ethics in a digital world

Do you trust the technology you use and the companies that provide it? That’s not as straightforward a question as it may seem – according to research by Accenture, 83% of executives agree that trust is the cornerstone of the digital economy. But trust today and into the future is not just about information security – important as that is. Do you trust the organisations that use your personal data? Do you trust your ecommerce provider to deal with problems fairly? What are the ethical considerations around emerging areas of technology such as internet of things, automation and artificial intelligence? These questions and more like them represent growing business risks relating to trust and ethics that IT leaders will increasingly have to consider – if you are not already.

• Trust and ethics in a digital world – beware the people
• Video: Robert Carolina, Royal Holloway, University of London, on trust and ethics
• Video: Wandsworth Council's David Tidey on trust and ethics in a digital world
• Video: Robert Bond from Charles Russell Speechlys LLP, on trust and ethics in a digital world

5. How to architect your IT for the cloud

Most organisations opting to use the cloud as part of their IT infrastructure still retain in-house systems too, often as a private cloud. In this hybrid environment, getting your IT architecture right is critical – it ensures security and interoperability; it allows you to scale up, down and between private and public clouds; it makes sure system performance is maximised. A good architecture avoids lock-in to any one supplier or cloud provider, and makes sure you have the flexibility and agility to respond to business change. But it’s not easy. In this CW500 Club event, IT chiefs discussed architecting technology for the cloud.

• How to maximise the benefits from the cloud
• Video: Mark Nicholls from Peabody Trust, discusses how to architect IT for the cloud
• Video: Chief architect Don Kavanagh discusses how to architect IT for the cloud
• Video: Abdul Sheikh, CTO at Cintra, discusses how to architect IT for the cloud

6. CW@50 – The future of British technology innovation

To celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the first issue of Computer Weekly in September 1966, we hosted a special event for IT leaders looking at the future of British technology innovation.

• CW@50 - Celebrating 50 years of British technology innovation
• Video: National technology adviser Liam Maxwell: How the UK government is supporting British Technology
• Video: The next big things in tech – a developers’ perspective
• Video: Working with startups - a CIO perspective
• Video: The future of us – how the next 50 years of tech will reshape the world

7. A roadmap to software-defined everything

Virtualisation has transformed IT infrastructure by optimising use of commodity hardware within a software-defined environment. Now those principles are spreading to every area of IT - software-defined networks, software-defined storage, software-defined datacentres and more – we are moving to a world of software-defined everything. Pressure from IT decision-makers is driving IT away from any dependence on hardware capability to a more dynamic and responsive platform of software functionality. But, as with virtualisation, this is a move that will take time, while promising to deliver potentially significant benefits. In this CW500 Club event, IT leaders discussed the roadmap to software-defined everything.

• The rocky road to software-defined everything
• Video: Steven Armstrong from Paddy Power Betfair, discusses software-defined everything
• Video: Rob White from Morgan Stanley, discusses software-defined everything
• Video: Anthony Guethert from Quintiles IMS discusses software-defined everything

8. Enterprise collaboration for a mobile workforce

Consumer applications such as Skype, Facetime, WhatsApp and Facebook have set the bar high, so how can you implement a secure mobile collaboration strategy while at the same time giving your workforce the user experience they have come to expect? In this CW500 Club event, IT leaders discussed the challenging but ultimately rewarding path towards increased workforce productivity, morale and loyalty.

• The journey to successful enterprise collaboration
• Video: Laura Bennett from the Parliamentary Digital Service discusses enterprise collaboration for a mobile workforce
• Video: Sahil Rekhi from RingCentral discusses enterprise collaboration for a mobile workforce