As we enter into the new digital era of growth, it is but evident that the industry as well as businesses has to pace themselves up to catch up with the trend, failing which they will be left behind in the race. The 18th Star Nite Awards 2019 amplified this development further by inviting industry stalwarts, who have been a witness to this trend to speak on topics around digital disruptions while also awarding the top vendors from the industry in different categories who have managed to digitally catapult their businesses to success.

Dr Deepak Kr. Sahu, Editor-in-Chief, VARINDIA welcomed the audience by highlighting a few data points from the recently conducted Channel Leadership survey while also emphasizing on how VARINDIA has tried to understand and address the pain point of the VARs from the day of inception and has seen many changes and transformations. “Our report says that 31 per cent of businesses are yet to develop a roadmap for digital strategy. It brings an opportunity of USD48.69 billion (INR3, 408 billion) and has the potential to be unlocked by India Inc. over four years through the deployment of 5G. Data privacy should be a top priority, with 60 per cent of companies having a privacy initiative in their goals, from connectivity to content, to offering a credible platform within a broader content ecosystem.”

S Mohini Ratna, Editor – VARINDIA addressed the audience in which she shared the tech trends influencing the industry as a whole, which in turn brings an opportunity for all including OEMs and partners. “We have seen in our 20 years of Journey, how these "20 technologies for 2020” will reshape the world in the ever-shifting technology landscape and insights into how companies can maximize the investment opportunities these data trends reveal. The biggest concern is on digitalization of everything which means that security issues arising due to vulnerability of digital technologies were suddenly no more the traditional network or endpoint security. In such a situation, expensive Digital Transformation plans proposed by CIOs and tech leaders will come under pressure.”

The evening then finally got going with the ceremonial lamp lighting that was graced by dignitaries like S N Tripathi, Director – Indian Institute of Public Administration; Rajesh Aggarwal, DG - Training, Ministry of Skill Development; Dr B K Murthy, Scientist G and Group Coordinator – MeitY; Dr Deepak Kr. Sahu, Editor-in-Chief, VARINDIA and S Mohini Ratna, Editor – VARINDIA.

The presence of the who’s who of the ICT industry on a single platform raised the grandeur and magnitude of the event to a different level never witnessed earlier.

The evening started with a motivational speech by Dr Ramesh Subramaniam, which was soon followed by a speech by Dr B K Murthy, Scientist G and Group Coordinator – MeitY.

While Rajesh Goenka, Director (Sales & Marketing) – RP tech gave his perspective on channel transformation, Ramu Raghavan, Country Sales Manager – HP Enterprise took to the stage to explain the various technology transformations that have taken place at HPE.

Rajesh Aggarwal, DG – Training, Ministry of Skill Development followed next and he talked about the importance of skilling for an economy like India. S N Tripathi, Director – Indian Institute of Public Administration enlightened the guests about some more insights from the industry which he felt a gathering like this should be aware of.

In the Tech Talk session, industry exponents from five corporates presented their take on their path to Digital Leadership. Ramu Raghavan, Country Sales Manager – HP Enterprise; Naveen Grover, Zonal Head – North, Sophos India; Subhasish Gupta, Regional Director (India & SAARC) – Extreme Networks; and Harsh Marwa, Chief Growth Officer – iValue InfoSolutions shared their ideas and insights on the present and future technology that their respective companies are endorsing.

Star Nite Awards, like every other year took the opportunity to recognize the Chief Marketing Officers (CMO) and the top performing IT Vendors (Corporates) serving the Indian ICT Industry. The CMO Leadership Awards saw 11 CMOs being recognised.

In the vendor award ceremony, close to 45 vendors got recognized, based on the feedback received through an online voting from channel partners and VARs.