OITF 2020 highlights the untapped potential that Odisha holds for the ICT industry

The 12th edition of the Odisha Information Technology Fair (OITF 2020), held in the capital city of Bhubaneswar, Odisha witnessed the coming together of a host of luminaries from the IT industry to discuss the issues pertaining to the state. The invitees to the event included IT & Telecom honchos, senior Government officials, industry leaders, VARs and SIs. With every passing year, the status and grandeur of the event has been gaining more and more popularity. VARINDIA OITF has played the role of a catalyst in forging some of the historic partnerships in the state of Odisha and initiating ground breaking thoughts towards the development of the nation.The knowledge partner of the event was DELOITTE.

The evening commenced with the ceremonial lamp lighting ceremony in the presence of high profile guests Manoj Kumar Pattnaik, CEO - OCAC; Dr. Gopal Krishna Nayak, Driector-IIIT ( Bhubaneswar), Digvijaysinh Chudasama, Director- Risk Advisory- Deloitte, Sidhant Mohapatra, Ollywood Superstar & Ex-MP; Manas Ranjan Pattnaik, Chairman - Anthem Global Technology Service; Dhirendra Khandelwal, M.D. - E-square Systems; Arun Kumar Rath, Ex-CEO, Bhilai Steel Plant; Srinibas Tripathi, President - ITAO; Narayan Bagwe, Sr. Manager, Network Services - Extreme Networks; Uday Bhanu Das, CEO - Beyond Security; Arun Kumar Dey, Vice President (East) - FAIITA and Rajesh Dora,M.D.- Printlink .

The first address of the evening was given by Dr Deepak Kumar Sahu, Chief editor, VARINDIA, he touched upon the fact that India continues to spend the most time in mobile each day and that consumers are spending 35% more time in mobile in 2019 than 2 years prior. “Mobile-focused companies had a combined $544B valuation, 6.5x higher versus companies without a mobile focus. These are further indications that mobile is essential to succeeding with customers in 2020 and beyond. 98% of Gen Z (born 1997 - 2012) report owning a smartphone. Gen Z is expected to surpass Millennials as the largest generation by the end of 2019, comprising roughly 32% of the population. It is imperative to win Gen Z on mobile, or risk missing out on a mobile-native generation of consumers.”

The evening then progressed with government officials, as well as top industry executives present speaking on topics concerning technology in the state. Digvijaysinh Chudasama, Director- Risk Advisory- Deloitte enlightened the guests on the newer trends in the current cyber security landscape in India and engagement supporting Odisha in various key projects since last Four years, while Manoj Kumar Pattnaik, CEO- OCAC, Govt. of Odisha spoke on the opportunities of investment in Odisha.

Dr. Gopal Krishna Nayak, Director-IIIT,Bhubaneswar took to the stage and spoke at length about how IIIT can bring big opportunities for the partner ecosystem in the state.

In the Corporate session, corporates Extreme Networks and Beyond Security presented their insights on how technology can be implemented to make the city Smart and livable. Narayan Bagwe, Security Architech- Extreme Networks gave his vision on how the company views the state from an opportunity perspective. Uday Bhanu Das, CEO from Beyond Security spoke on how his company is committed to bringing the state-of-art technology with secure and scalable storage technology for the state of Odisha.

The theme for this year’s panel discussion was ‘Growth Opportunity For Partners In Odisha’ and was moderated by Dr Deepak Kumar Sahu, Chief editor, VARINDIA. The panelists who took part in the discussion were Dr. Gopal Krishna Nayak, Director-IIIT; Digvijaysinh Chudasama, Director- Risk Advisory, Deloitte; Arun Kumar Rath,Ex-CEO, Bhilai Steel Plant; Manas Ranjan Pattnaik, Chairman-Anthem Global Technology Service; Dhirendra Khandelwal, M.D.- E-square Systems and Sandeep Panda, CEO – Instasafe.

OITF 2020 then took the opportunity to felicitate the winners of the 10th VARINDIA IT Cup Cricket Tournament. The teams that participated in the tournament were E&IT Dept Govt. of Odisha, STPI, Tech Mahindra, TCS, CSM Technologies, Tatwa Technologies, Quest Global, BIPROS, Just Verified, Aabsys Technologies, In2IT Technologies, PrintLink Computers, E-SQUARE, ESSPL, AcesoCloud Software Solutions, SPARC and BPO Convergence. The first Semifinal match was held between SPARC & BPO Convergence, in which BPO Convergence won the match and the Man of the match went to Sunil of BPO Convergence. The 2ndSemifinal match was played between Quest Global and Tech Mahindra, in which Quest Global won the match and the Man of the match went to Apurva of Quest Global. The final match was played between Quest Global and BPO Convergence and the Man of the final match went to Bounty Singh of Quest Global.

While Quest Global emerged as the Runner-up, the Champions of the 10th VARINDIA IT Cup Cricket Tournament was BPO Convergence.

As a special attraction of the event, an e-Motorcycle (bike) was presented by Usha Communications & Enterprises, a Maharashtra based automobile manufacturers company to the Man of the Tournament, which went to Sunil of BPO Convergence.