In the world of business, technology is a hot topic and part of most conversations. The discussions that bring value and light a spark in the minds of leaders are those that answer the question: So what?

At the upcoming ConnecTechAsia2019 Summit, you’ll get plenty of detailed answers from international and APAC telecom, media and technology (TMT) leaders and experts.

Cloud, analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) are coming of age and becoming cheaper to implement ­- but what are the business benefits? Quantum computing is expected to become commercially available soon ­- how will that affect my bottom line? 5G is coming and will democratise the internet of things (IoT). How can I deploy 5G technologies to push my business forward?

Leaders have a budget to spend on technology, and that budget is growing every year. Henkel, for example, is set to spend US$300 million on technology every year and Banco Santander expects to spend EUR20 billion (US$22 billion) on its digital transformation project over the next four years.

IDC most recently said that the world will spend just over US$1 trillion on their digital transformation efforts this year, an increase of about 18 percent since last year. To put things in perspective, that’s equivalent to the GDP of Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia put together.

Obviously, leaders will spend their money on technologies they understand. Which is why they need to have conversations with professionals at the cutting edge — the like-minded executives thinking out of the box to create intelligent solutions using new and emerging technologies.

At ConnecTechAsia2019 Summit from the 18^th to 20^th June 2019, business leaders, technology professionals, and regulators will assemble in Singapore to discuss, share and host thought-provoking panels that will encompass these conversations and more.

The Summit’s themes encompass all the areas affecting businesses of any size operating in Asia, and beyond. The future of work, smart cities, artificial intelligence and blockchain all get significant coverage, as does future media & broadcasting, and 5G. From robotics and the cloud, to next-gen advertising strategies, attendees will learn about and experience truly transformative technologies.

Having organised this event for almost three decades, the conference producers have a finger on the pulse of the market and understand what you, as delegates, really value.

That is why you’ll have the opportunity to hear from industry experts such as Harriet Green, IBM Asia Pacific’s Chairman & CEO, Ian Yip, APAC CTO at McAfee, and Seizo Onoe, President and Chief Technology Architect of NTT DOCOMO Technology, and many more.

You can find a full list of speakers invited on this page but here are a few confirmed highlights on the speakers’ rostrum:

• Andrew Milroy, Head of Advisory Services, APAC, Ovum
• Ong Geok Chwee, CEO, Bridge Alliance
• Sumitra Nair, Vice President, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)
• Dave Schaeffer, CEO, Cogent Communications
• Cheryl Goh, Group Vice President of Marketing, Grab
• Dr David Soldani, CTO, Huawei Australia
• Jason Little, Chief Information Officer – SEA, Manulife
• Gustavo Fuchs, General Manager – Cloud & Solutions (Asia), Microsoft
• Krishnan Rajagopalan, Director of Payments APAC, Netflix
• Andreas Spanner, Chief Architect (ANZ), Red Hat

The event has distinct advantages over the dozen or so similar technology conferences in the APAC this year: the quality of the speakers and the in-depth knowledge on emerging and exciting tech you’ll find beyond the conference on the exhibition floor. What’s interesting is that the flagship event will also incorporate three other events: BroadcastAsia, CommunicAsia, and NXTAsia.

Each of those events, as their name suggests, focuses on a niche to explore how technology can specifically make an impact on that particular industry. The ConnecTechAsia Summit’s emphasis is always on the practical, business realities of technology, and how its deployment can help you get an edge over your competitors. These parallel events help inform the event’s themes: the Future of Work, the Future of Cities & Economies, the Future of Connectivity and the Future of Innovation and Design.

In the Future of Communication strand, for example, speakers will discuss broadcast 3.0, targeted TV, and many other trends revolutionising how customers consume broadcast content, and how technology is disrupting the balance in many ways to favor new-gen digital platforms. Esports and new, immersive engagements are covered off, and this being a business-focused event, there’s emphasis on the potential for business monetisation of all next-gen broadcasting technologies.

There’ll be a great deal of focus on intelligent communications technologies such as satellite and 5G, although many delegates suspect that discussions will be centered on the latter given the speculations and developments across the world – a space where Asia leads, and others follow. Connecting edge deployments is expected to be a hot topic, with real-world analysis of the best ways to interconnect hybrid and cloud solutions that power today’s businesses. Finally, all the Themes’ emphasis on the future is epitomised by the parallel event, NXTAsia, which will highlight all of the most exciting and engaging technologies from around the world. Some might be slightly left-field, but all have exciting offerings for the next generation of disruptive businesses from the fields of artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine learning and more. There’s a frenzy of buzzwords in the community and ConnecTechAsia Summit’s speaker line-up promises to educate and inspire, so business leaders can gain awareness of the next generation of transformative technologies, and stay ahead of the curve.

Many business leaders with an appetite for technology solutions in their organisations have already marked their calendars for the 18^th, 19^th, and 20^th of June and booked tickets to Singapore. Last year, ConnecTechAsia was attended by more than 40,000 delegates from over 100 countries and regions, of which 25 percent were C-suite executives (or higher) looking for the latest innovative solutions to help them create outsized returns and with the different summit topics and themes on offer, attendees can get the specialised knowledge about what’s happening right now.

Here’s a brief summary of what’s happening and why we think Tech Wire Asia’s readers should attend:

• Hear commentaries from technology drivers such as Dilip Krishnan, VP Business Transformation, OCBC Bank, and Dr. Keeratpal Singh, Axiata’s Chief Data Scientist.
• Engage in discussions with consulting leaders such as Darren Thayre, an Oliver Wyman Partner, and Laurent Doucet of Roland Berger Principal.
• Learn from academia and non-profits such as Suhono Supangkat, Director of Smart Cities and Communities Innovation Centre at the Institute of Technology Bandung, and Anthony Lim, the Director of the Cloud Security Alliance.
• Gain insights from regulators such as Sumitra Nair, VP of Talent and Digital Entrepreneurship, MDEC.

Register your attendance now, and plan how your organisation can transform using the very latest in next-generation technology with a fully business-oriented focus. Your competitors may be there – can you afford not to be?

Register here, or learn more about the event on the organiser’s web pages.