CIOs and Business Leaders From Across the Country Engage in TechTomorrow Conference

More than 350 CIOs and IT business leaders from around the nation were in Columbus this week for the annual TechTomorrow conference.  TechColumbus sponsors this invitation-only event which each year examines the current and projected technology-enabled trends impacting business.  The conference included breakout sessions on various key topics relative to IT in the corporate structure.  This year’s conference added a new CFO panel discussion.  This session brought together corporate financial officers to share their views on how IT impacts an organization’s bottom line and how IT executives can best convey the value of their departments’ services in dollars and sense. 

The conference also featured keynote addresses from David Kaufman, executive vice president and COO of Motorists Insurance, Thornton May, author and executive director and dean of the IT Leadership Academy and special guest speaker Archie Griffin, two-time Heisman Trophy winner and president and CEO of the OSU Alumni Association. 

Nicholas Carr, columnist and author, provided the keynote address to wrap Wednesday’s session.  Carr, a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Financial Times, writes about technology, culture and economics.  He is the author of two best-selling books, including the 2011 Pulitzer Prize nominated title, The Shallows:  What the Internet is Doing to our Brains. 

During TechTomorrow Carr focused primarily on his 2008 book, The Big Switch, conveying to the audience of IT leaders the potential of the cloud and the similarities between the adoption of the cloud within the utility model and the adoption of electricity as a utility in the early 20th Century.
Carr contends that cloud computing is currently replaying this fundamental shift.  He predicts that once the cloud becomes more widely adopted as a utility, it will free users to explore new and more innovative ways to use computers and other “information appliances” to creatively solve problems and advance opportunities. 

In particular, Carr noted the opportunity for businesses to adopt this disruptive technology by focusing on bridge solutions that enable the realization of cloud benefits without the excessive risk of full adoption. This, he says will promote a cultural shift wherein experts and brokers of services within their corporations become more focused on business challenges rather than technology.

For more information about TechTomorrow, please visit http://www.techtomorrow.org.