How it all began
Nearly four years ago, we were having an internal discussion on the Cloud and its impact on day to day business activities. That discussion soon led to an idea of building a conference designed entirely to address that very topic. It didn’t take long to mobilize the team (this is where years of hosting and managing tens of events and conferences helped a lot), so in late 2017 we already had the first edition of the Cloud Conference.
We contacted partners, customers, and the media, we put together a first stellar speaker line-up, and got things off the ground. We felt Bucharest was the best spot for this, and we went along with it.
Focus on Digital Transformation
This year, at its 4th edition, we’re already looking at an event that has evolved quite a lot. While we’ve mostly kept a similar format (one day, two tracks, 10+ business & technical sessions delivered by industry experts), the focus of the topics has shifted to address the growth in Cloud adoption and expertise in the market.
A lot more companies are already finding themselves involved in digital transformation and Cloud migration initiatives and are looking for concrete references, best practices, and guidelines.
Throughout the years, we witnessed the Romanian market’s evolution, as it’s becoming more and more mature, which brings challenges that are far more complex and detailed than we saw a few years back.
It’s no secret that Avaelgo’s primary focus for the past years has revolved around Microsoft’s Cloud solutions (Azure, Office 365, Microsoft 365). Even back in 2017, we saw a lot of interest in the market towards Cloud migrations and Cloud strategy initiatives.
But at the same time, we also saw a lot of confusion.
A common thing we noticed when discussing with customers was the lack of a proper grasp on what moving to the Cloud entails. Coherent Digital Transformation initiatives were few and far between, and clear Cloud strategies were even more scarce. We felt the market (and especially customers taking their first steps towards the Cloud) needed better guidance, stability, and proven track records on complex Cloud projects.
We were in the right position, and had the right partners, to be able to deliver just that.
That’s what the vision behind the Cloud Conference is all about: a way for us and our team of excellent partners to show that the Cloud is not a big scary thing that will run amok and wreck all your carefully budgeted costs and plans.
In many ways, the Cloud, just like Machine Learning and AI, will transform the industries similarly to how PCs and the Internet impacted them 25-30 years ago.
And whether you’re willing to accept it or not – how you deal with the Cloud today could have a significant impact on how your company will be able to address tomorrow’s challenges and opportunities.
Looking back at the previous three editions (2017, 2018, 2019), I feel we’ve delivered on that vision so far.
Over the years, we’ve focused on providing access to Cloud experts, companies sharing their success stories, we’ve delivered compelling breakout sessions and post-conference workshops, and we’ve helped companies better define their strategy to move to the Cloud.
What to expect @ Cloud Conference
The Cloud Conference has generally delivered two types of content, as we found both to be incredibly relevant.
One side is more focused on the business side of things (governance, cost management, strategy), and the other delves deeper into some of the more technical aspects of Cloud (strategy, migration, onboarding, and day-to-day management).
We mixed all of this with partners’ success stories, specific scenarios and solutions, learning, and networking opportunities.
All we do is show people that the Cloud is something you can keep under control, and even more so, it’s something that can transform and empower your entire organization.
A few years ago, we were looking at companies who were still asking themselves whether the Cloud is a good idea, trying to find out how privacy and data protection were addressed in a Cloud environment, and attempting to figure out the best deployment and migration strategies. Next, the focus shifted to defining an end-to-end approach for Cloud migration and governance, hybrid deployments, DevOps, and containers. Last year, we saw topics focusing on specific industry verticals, PaaS, SQL hybrid, and cybersecurity. And we’re planning to step things up even further this year, with an even more compelling set of technical sessions, business best practices, and case studies.
Join the Cloud movement
So, if you feel like the Cloud is something that is (or will probably be) affecting your company, make sure you don’t miss out on what we’ve got in store for you this year – you can find all the details (speakers, schedule, venue) on cloudconference.ro – so go ahead and save the date (September 30th) right now!
Cloud it’s a place where security, data governance, transparency, and trust are crucial elements.
