Conference Tracks

International competitiveness and public sector services

Numerous studies indicate that the quality of public sector services is one of the main barriers for improving international competitiveness of the Czech Republic. Public sector services lack clear definition, implementation standards, and the costs associated with their use is difficult to predict. This conference track focuses on ways to improve effectiveness and transparency of public sector services and on evaluation of ICT support alternatives.

Key questions and topics

• role of public administration in improving international competitiveness of the Czech Republic
• state role in improving international competitiveness of the Czech Republic, management of public sector services, and in the area of sharing of public information
• impact of legislation on the effectiveness of public sector administration
• definition of public sector services and their ICT support
• standardization of public sector services and their ICT support
• public sector process analysis and optimization
• public sector process and service decomposition from the perspective of ICT architecture identification of commodity functions (e.g. human resources, accounting, purchasing, maintenance, CRM versus special functions such as e-prescription, state maturity examinations, etc.)
• key ICT applications for support of public sector services (national, and local government services)
• application of Cloud Computing (SaaS, PaaS a IaaS) for support of public sector services
• GIS in public administration
• Service management, monitoring and optimization
• Management of cost of services - planning and controlling
• Return on investment in public sector administration

Enteprise Architecture and its innovation potential

The task of enterprise architects is to create a comprehensive strategy for transforming the strategic objectives of the company into the most effective technical solutions. This conference track focuses on the innovation potential of the Enterprise Architecture (EA) not only in its basic form (i.e. reconciling business and ICT), but also directly from the perspective of applications, information and related technologies. There is no agreed standard defining precisely what is meant by EA and its various layers. Today, the most highly recognized methodical approach is TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework). Another important methodological source is the ISACA documentation that focuses on ICT governance. The main focus of this track will be on the use of architectural standards in business practice.

Key questions and topics

• Role of EA in alignment of business and ICT  
• EA as integrated view on enterprise ICT
• Practical applications of ICT – case studies of improvement of integration of business processes, integration of new and legacy applications and data, shared business registers, business continuity and data security, design and management of services, project planning and ICT innovation, outsourcing decisions making, integration following acquisitions and mergers, etc.
• Improvement of COBIT controlled business processes using EA
• Role of architects in context of systems management and governance; availability of relevant knowledge and skills;  
• Architectural practices in the implementation of EA into information system management 

Applications and technologies of strategic importance

From the perspective of informatics the ability to compete is influenced by software applications.   Obtaining competitive advantage using standard (packaged) applications is limited as they provide comparable technological and application solutions to all end user organization. Organizations in search of higher quality and efficiency of their information system are looking for applications that have the highest added value. The challenge is how to define and identify such applications, and how to effectively implement these applications to accomplish the organizational objectives.

Key questions and topics

• Evolution and status of availability of different types of ICT applications on the market in CR compared to other countries
• Priorities for investment in IT according to sectors of the economy and company size, the results of global surveys and surveys conducted in the CR
• Methods for identification of areas in the organization to implement strategic applications
• Public administration strategic applications (registers, data boxes, etc.) and their impact on the commercial sector
• Specific implementation and operational requirements and differences according to types of applications
• Applications for communication and collaboration with partners - e-business, mobile applications, customer relationship management, managing relationships with suppliers and partners
• Analysis and planning applications - performance management, business intelligence, competitive intelligence, customer intelligence, data mining, etc.
• Case studies of implementation and use of applications of strategic importance and their impact on competitiveness and the business model of companies (strategic effects, changes in the process model, changes in responsibilities)

Management of information assets: risks and continuity

Business continuity is one of the most important parameters of an information system. In today's business environment many business processes are directly dependent on the correct functioning of information technology. It is therefore necessary to study the risk of failure of IS/ICT, plan recovery processes and design IS/ICT so that in situations where failure occurs, recovery takes place in a timely manner with maximum security and incurring minimal costs.

Key questions and topics

• BCM status and comparison with ČR
• Security and its impact on BCM
• Implementation experiences with BCM
• How to link the requirements for business continuity with specific characteristics of information systems services and technical characteristics of information technology
• Relationships between BCM and ITSCM with current trends in architecture (private enterprise clouds, IaaS).
• How to approach management of business continuity? How to combine BCM and risk management? How to align business continuity management and service continuity management of information systems?
• How to address governance of business continuity in an enterprise?

Cloud Computing: Opportunities and Challenges

Cloud computing is regarded as a new enterprise computing paradigm that incorporates SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). Analysts predict that cloud computing will redefine enterprise computing for years to come, but from the point of view of end-user organizations cloud computing present a number of important challenges that include security and business continuity concerns. This conference track is devoted to discussing opportunities and challenges of cloud computing with specific focus on the situation in the Czech Republic.

Key questions and topics

• What is the actual adoption rate of cloud computing?
• Which industry sectors are leading in cloud computing adoption?
• Which cloud computing applications are the most popular?
• What are the real benefits of cloud computing and what metrics can be used to measure these benefits?
• What are the key inhibitors of cloud computing adoption, both from a global and local perspective?
• What new business models are facilitated by cloud computing?
• What selection criteria can be used for identifying suitable cloud computing solutions and providers?
• What are the current trends and likely future developments in cloud computing?

IT and Law

The legal environment and the development of legislation significantly affect not only the market but also the operation of organizations in the ICT market. New technologies provide new solutions, but also open up a wide range of legal issues that may not have clear solutions in the current legal context, and highlight a number of issues for which we need to seek legal solutions. For participants in contractual relationships both in business and in public administration, this situation brings permanent risks. This conference track seeks to highlight the risks and also to offer possible solutions in relevant context. Key questions were selected to cover most areas of ICT, and also for their relevance to the issues discussed in other conference blocks.

Key questions and topics

• Cloud Computing Legal Issues
• Comprehensive Cyber Security
• Current legal problems in electronic communication
• Key legal issues in ICT in public administration in CR (barriers for digitizing and sharing medical records, etc.), compared with other countries
• European and global projects for the electronic settlement of disputes

Communication and Social Networks

Interest in the application of social networks in enterprises is due to several factors. The first factor is the convergence between how ICT is used by enterprises and by individuals; with the emergence of web applications the differences are becoming less significant. Another important factor is that the new generation of employees, (so called generation Y), grew up with the Internet and finds the use of social networks (e.g. Facebook) quite natural. Finally, social networks contain a lot of information that is useful in the enterprise environment. While the importance of social networks to enterprises is undeniable, this topic should be approached with caution, as it is prone to hype and unsubstantiated claims.

Key questions and topics

• Role of social networks in business practice: a source of information, a marketing tool, a tool for collaboration and creative work
• Crowdsourcing
• Data mining and social networks
• Social networks as "real time web"
• Business strategy and public administration in context of social networks
• Social networks as a security risk (information leaks, poorly managed communication with customers, etc.)
• Economics of social networks: business models of Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Social network of IT professionals for the collaboration development between universities and companies

Poor collaboration between ICT practitioners and university academics is for many years regarded as one of the problems that affect competitiveness of the Czech Republic. The main objective of this conference track is to focus on solutions for this problem, rather than to discuss at length the reasons for this situation. We will consider how to make better use of the existing and planned government initiatives (TAČR, MIT, CzechInvest and others), and how utilize modern technologies (e.g. the social network of Informatics, etc.). We will focus on the identification of areas where collaboration will be most beneficial to universities and companies (e.g. graduate profiles, creating large teams, joint companies, etc.).

The track is organized within the scope of the OPVK SoSIReČR project - Social network of IT professionals in regions of Czech Republic.

Key questions and topics

• How to create a proactive team consisting from university academics and practitioners able to solve major problems by applying ICT (e.g. tender USAF, or IS Highways, procurement, projects in public administration) or to address strategic scientific tasks (eg for the EU FP7)
• What will be the future of ICT professionals, what will change in their work, what new knowledge and skills will be required? How should universities facilitate this change?
• What services should be provided for the ICT community in the CR (universities and enterprises) in order to facilitate their cooperation?
• What information will universities need from ICT practitioners and what information will ICT practitioners need from universities?  
• Research, development and innovation from the perspective of the needs and cooperation between schools and companies.
• Current situation in the area of promoting cooperation between universities and practice from the perspective of the state (TAČR grant programs, MIT, etc.)
• Current status of collaboration in research - an international comparison
• Modern technology for support of collaboration between universities and companies
• Education from the perspective of the needs and cooperation between schools and companies

Presentation of the winners of the "IT Project of the Year".

This conference track will be devoted to announcing the winners of the IT project of the year 2010 competition organised together with the Czech Association of Managers of Information Technology (CACIO). The aim of the competition is to reward the best projects dealing with development and introduction of information technology, assist with their promotion in the media, and at the same time to increase the prestige, quality and benefits derived from IT projects. Each year eight finalists are announced and out of the finalists one to three winners are selected without order of merit. The 8th year of the competition will be conducted under the auspices of the Prime Minister, Petr Nečas.

Case Studies

Case studies will focus on ICT projects completed during the past year, and the experience in conducting these projects.