One hundred and fifty ManageEngine customers were treated to three action-packed days at this month’s Toronto User Conference. Each day featured a host of networking opportunities, as well as a bevy of one-on-one sessions with product experts. Much to our surprise, Day Two offered attendees even more excitement when the fire alarm at the Toronto Sheraton woke everyone up in the middle of the night.
The conference kicked off with keynotes from Raj Sabhlok, president of ManageEngine, and Rajesh Ganesan, vice president of product management, who addressed the changing nature of the IT landscape, including an increased focus on privacy concerns, behavioral analytics, and machine learning initiatives.
In addition to leveraging AI tools, embracing workflow automation, and incorporating analytics into the decision-making process, Raj and Rajesh addressed the arguably overhyped term: “digital transformation.”
The digital transformation dilemma for IT
Digital transformation has been used so frequently that some IT executives have gone so far as to ban the term from their employees’ lexicon. However, Raj did a great job breaking down the term.
Raj says, “At the end of the day, when I think about digital transformation, essentially it’s kind of a euphemism for the modernization of information technology. It means we’ll continue to deploy new technologies in support of our business. But it also means optimizing what we have.”
“I wouldn’t get hung up on the terminology—digital transformation, IT initiatives, IT projects, technology deployments—they’re all one and the same […] The important thing is understanding what these initiatives are, what technologies you’re going to use, making sure there’s a corporate culture to support these initiatives, and then just getting them done.”
Rajesh concurs and added, “Digital transformation isn’t anything other than doing IT management right.”
From an IT standpoint, the important takeaway regarding digital transformation was that it’s vital to deploy new technologies and manage one’s existing tools to support your company’s various business endeavors.
The sporting life
While Toronto’s own Southbound Soul rocked the stage, conference attendees enjoyed some heated games of pop-a-shot, foosball, whack-a-mole, and Connect Four. A life-sized Jenga battle lasted for more than twenty minutes, with ManageEngine’s own Ana Arreola losing to an attendee, who seemed like a professional Jenga player.
A feast for a king
Each morning, we were treated to a mountain of eggs, home fries, and breakfast wraps, packed with bacon—Canadian, of course. John Candy would have been in heaven. Lunches came with a ton of options, including delicious seafood entrees, Indian cuisine, an assortment of dumplings, sliders, spring rolls, and more!
The conference was extremely well-received by attendees. Zemeen Jaffer, who works in IT at SDR Distribution Services, went so far as to say she couldn’t wait to wake up and attend the sessions. It was great having you, Zemeen!
We can’t wait to get back to Canada. In the interim, we look forward to seeing you at an upcoming User Conference!
