It’s Time to Demystify Hybrid Clouds

Imagine being able to order an in-flight meal by scanning a QR code as you board and seeing the available catering inventory. Or having flight attendants carry iPads that allow them to quickly input notes on a passenger such as their preferences, compliments or complaints. That’s the vision at Canada Jetlines, a startup airline that began with a cloud-native strategy.

“We’re putting the power of communication right into the front-line worker’s hands and capturing that information in a centralized location,” said CIO Robert Pope. “That’s giving us a greater view of the business … and making enhancements for the customer experience almost on the fly.”

Pope is among the speakers at the Canadian CIO Future of Cloud Summit, taking place virtually June 8 and 9.

The summit promises to demystify hybrid clouds for CIOs and enterprises and share best practices for optimizing clouds for security, privacy and customer experience.

Kicking off the summit, the futurist Anat Baron will preview the biggest technology trends in the post-pandemic world. Later, Baron will take questions about the next great transformation in a live discussion with attendees.

Sherif Sheta, CIO of the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine, will tell how to lead with a cloud-first strategy.

For big-picture insights, Dave McCarthy, IDC research vice president, cloud infrastructure services, will give worldwide cloud predictions for the coming year. Looking specifically at Canada, Megha Kumar, IDC Canada research vice president for software and cloud services, will drill into the state of adoption of public clouds services within the country’s organizations.

Looking specifically at the financial services industry, BNY Mellon CIO for Architecture and Engineering Joseph Sieczkowski will discuss cultivating an agile and dynamic operating model, and Wells Fargo Bank Head of Hybrid Environments Christopher Marsh-Bourdon will share insights on designing hybrid cloud environments for security and flexibility.

On Thursday, analysts and practitioners will continue to provide actionable insights. A panel of tech leaders will explore how the cloud native, digital-first world is changing the role of the CIO. The panel will feature BC Transit CIO and Vice President for IT Laura-Lea Berna; LCBO CIO and Senior Vice President Geoff Cronin; and CAA Club Group CIO Kin Lee-Yow.

An analysts panel will identify cloud trends with transformational impact. McCarthy returns along with Matthew Eastwood, senior vice president of enterprise infrastructure, cloud and enabling technology; and Jason Bremner, IDC Canada research vice president, industry and business solutions.

Illuminating case studies will come from Royal Caribbean CIO Martha Poulter, who will explain the unique technology challenges of implementing a cloud strategy with cruise ships on the open ocean. David Bellis, formerly 3M’s vice president for global infrastructure services and enterprise architecture will share how the company reaped the benefits of moving functions such as accounting, supply chain management, manufacturing, product lifecycle management, e-commerce, and other enterprise IT applications to the cloud.

Jennifer Hays, senior vice president of engineering efficiency and assurance at Fidelity Investments, will look at gaining financial control and predictability over cloud spend. And U.S. Federal Reserve System CIO Ghada Ijam will share how the central bank is leveraging cloud-smart strategies.

James Cham, a partner at Bloomberg Beta, will offer a venture fund perspective on changes to watch in software development, deriving value from big data, and a view into the role of AI.

Looking to integrate cloud native apps into a seamless operational platform? Professional Case Management CIO Charlie Billings will share his organization’s experience.

Finally, InfoWorld senior writer Serdar Yegulalp will present a non-technical introduction to Kubernetes and best practices of managing container-based applications at scale.

Throughout the summit, sponsors including Bell, Carbon60 and ManageEngine will offer thought leadership and solutions on subjects such as attaining digital innovation with the cloud, monitoring and securing multi-cloud environments, and challenges to achieving DevSecOps. Check out the full summit agenda here. The event is free to attend for qualified attendees. Don’t miss out – register today.