Ibm Announces Eminent Keynote Speakers For Forum 2

Ibm Announces Eminent Keynote Speakers For Forum 2009

IBM Insight Forum showcases business solutions for succeeding in today’s market

Auckland, New Zealand, 5 August 2009 – IBM is pleased to announce that Paul Callaghan, Rod Oram and Vicki Buck will attend the IBM Insight Forum 2009 as featured business keynote speakers. Jinzy Zhu, manager of IBM Cloud Labs China will also attend as the featured technical keynote speaker.

John Palmer, chairman of Air New Zealand, Rod Snodgrass, group strategy director of Telecom New Zealand, and Bruce Gordon, group general manager corporate services of PGG Wrightson, will attend the Trans-Tasman Business Circle luncheons at IBM Insight Forum to talk about ‘business transformation’ to an audience of C-level delegate attendees.

“Forum is an opportunity for IBM and our Business Partners to showcase the business and technology solutions and services that are helping advance the business of our clients as they look to reduce cost and improve productivity,” said Jennifer Moxon, managing director, IBM New Zealand.

“There is no doubt that these are unique and challenging times, but times of challenge also bring with them great possibilities. We believe that the recent shifts in the economic, technological and competitive landscape open up enormous opportunity to drive business innovation and growth, as well as drive our nation’s growth, productivity and the creation of a digital economy.

“Forum attendees are sure to gain invaluable insight and knowledge on how to make smarter business and organisational decisions in today’s dynamic market. I personally want to thank the featured speakers, our Business Partners and clients for their involvement at Forum, and I look forward to their presentations."

Paul Callaghan’s keynote will be delivered in Wellington on Tuesday morning, August 18th at 8.30am. Paul Callaghan, author of “Wool to Weta: Transforming New Zealand's Culture and Economy", will examine his thesis that New Zealand will never prosper if we keep relying on our natural resources but rather must enhance its prosperity through sensible investment in innovative high technology, coupled with culture change.

Rod Oram’s keynote will be delivered in Auckland on Thursday morning, August 20th at 8.30am. Rod Oram, veteran finance journalist and business commentator, will provide a “standing in the future” exercise to provide a scenario of what Auckland might be like, socially, economically, physically and culturally, in 20 years’ time.

Vicki Buck’s keynote will be delivered in Christchurch on Tuesday morning, August 25th at 8.30am. Vicki Buck, ex-Mayor of Christchurch and climate change expert, will talk about climate change and the possibilities for our cities. Vicki will also openly share the insights from IBM’s Global Innovation Outlook (GIO) in Singapore where she joined hundreds of thought leaders to examine the challenges and opportunities inherent in building smarter cities.

Jinzy Zhu’s keynote will be delivered in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch at 1.00pm. Jinzy Zhu, manager of IBM’s Cloud Labs, IBM China, will talk about the industry impact cloud computing is having on business models and how it is influencing the strategic directions of organisations, governments and business.

The IBM Insight Forum agenda includes networking opportunities, session breaks, technical workshops, and case study presentations on Telecom New Zealand, Ministry of Health, Kiwibank, Land Information New Zealand and Queenstown Lakes District Council.

Other business and technical sessions presented by IBM and IBM Business
Partners include:

- Cloud computing
- Business intelligence
- Making change work
- Business transformation
- Business process management
- Asset management
- Virtualisation
- Security
- Dynamic infrastructure
- Information management

ENDS

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