Technology & IT | Tuesday 10 February, 2015 9:19 am |

– International Data Corporation (IDC) today formally announced the latest installment of its groundbreaking Middle East CIO Summit, confirming that the event will once again be hosted under the esteemed patronage of H.E. Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, the UAE's Minister of Culture, Youth, and Community Development. The global advisory services firm is also delighted to be welcoming Michael Saylor, Chairman of the Board and CEO of MicroStrategy, to speak at the event, which will take place on February 25–26 at Dubai's iconic Atlantis, The Palm.

"Michael is a widely-respected global thought leader in the areas of enterprise analytics, mobility, and security, and it is a privilege that he has chosen to join us as part of MicroStrategy's Platinum sponsorship of the Middle East CIO Summit 2015," says Jyoti Lalchandani, vice president and regional managing director at IDC Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META). "The summit continues to grow from strength to strength and we are deeply honored to have the backing of H.E. Sheikh Nahayan for the second year running. His continued support for the event, together with Dubai Internet City's decision to sign up as Strategic Innovation Partner, is evidence of the important role that IDC's annual Middle East CIO Summit plays in both shaping and reflecting opinion across the region's continuously evolving ICT sector."

This year's edition will run under the theme 'IT Meets Business' and will drive home the importance of closely aligning IT and business functions at a time when organizations across the region are faced with the challenge of implementing emerging products and services while simultaneously trying to improve operational efficiency. IDC recognizes that the ability to rapidly correlate IT project spending with critical business priorities is essential, with CIOs increasingly required to demonstrate the business value of their projects and embrace the strategic benefits their businesses are striving to achieve. Against this backdrop the Middle East CIO Summit 2015 will explore the need for IT plans to encompass strong business metrics alongside the existing IT-related metrics that typically examine application delivery in isolation.

IDC is also pleased to announce the introduction of six unique, informative workshops based around its IT Executive Programs. Designed to help today's time-constrained IT executives make more effective technology decisions, these sessions will serve up timely discussions on mitigating technology risks, maximizing the effectiveness of IT investments, identifying and capitalizing on new IT opportunities, and implementing cutting-edge tech solutions that are tightly aligned with overall business objectives.

The summit will retain its popular vertical-focused tracks, with the spotlight this year shining on the region's government, banking and finance, and energy sectors. And with the event representing the largest social gathering of CIOs in the Middle East, numerous local ICT vendors will join a host of major global giants to present their unique insights into the latest trends shaping tech adoption across the region, while a variety of senior line-of-business executives will also be on hand to offer that all-important non-IT perspective.