TBS announces formation of Chief Information Officers Advisory Council first meeting

This initiative serves to achieve the Society's objectives which received its license in September 2012, with members including IT managers and professionals.

Mishal said, "The IT revolution and easy cross-border movement of capital and scientific research have transformed the world into a small village. Entities concerned with this field must now work to develop the legal framework and technological solutions which are best suited to overcome challenges."

The CIOCA held its first meeting at Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Wednesday 24th April 2013, having invited a number of experts and specialized IT executives from both the private and public sectors to present ideas and views on information technology and to overview state of the art developments in this field. Ernst and Young and Hewlett Packard (hp) also participated in this meeting.

Charles Blyth, Senior Manager, Pankaj Gupta, Manager from Ernst & Young's Information Technology, Risk, Assurance & Advisory Services (ITRAA) team presented the key findings from the 'DNA of the CIO' report. The Ernst & Young report is an in-depth research initiative that casts light on what it takes to be a leading Chief Information Officer (CIO) today. They also shared insights on the skills, experiences, relationships and mindset that CIOs need in order to succeed in their role.

Essa Al-Jowder, Office Managing Partner, Ernst & Young, Bahrain, said, "We are proud to be associated with this initiative as it addresses key challenges in information technology and provides a useful platform for industry professionals to discuss areas of common interest."

Mohamed Abdel Kader, HP Regional Solution Architect, Middle East and North Africa, pointed out, "The modern enterprise environment continues to bring new real-world security challenges to corporations and Governments alike. Practically, these security threats require a comprehensive and strategic management of security requirements as an integral part of the business strategy. For that purpose, companies must use innovative solutions to cater to the requirements of protecting their physical, intellectual and information assets, independent of where they are: cloud, mobile or network, right from the development stage up to and including actual operations."

Mishal emphasized that one of the main objectives of this Board is to create an interactive environment to discuss IT challenges of common interest to both the public and private sectors, and to address all IT related issues, develop uniform views to meet challenges and provide technical advice related to IT legislations which have become an integral part of legal and constitutional legislations in developed countries. This should reflect positively on both the private and public sectors, including, without limitation, education and health, medium and large enterprises and the business sector in general. Core standards and optimal applied models must be provided to reflect positively on stakeholders in the private and public sectors. Future strategies must also be developed to meet challenges and contribute to the implementation of appropriate solutions to overcome those challenges.

Mishal concluded by thanking all attendees at this first of its kind meeting which was well received by participants, foremost among whom were the sponsors, HP and Ernst & Young. It should also be mentioned that this meeting is the first of its kind in the kingdom of Bahrain. It was held for the formation of an advisory council comprised of IT executives. TBS Board appointed Mishal Al-Hellow as General Coordinator of the Advisory Board.

TBS aims at promoting the IT industry in the Kingdom of Bahrain, strengthen global competitiveness, transform Bahrain into a hub that attracts regional and international IT companies, support and develop Bahraini national expertise in partnership with specialized IT institutions, create leaders in this field at the global level, present proposals for the development and implementation of IT software and applications in medium and large enterprises in coordination with government departments concerned, as well as support the eGovernment initiative, in addition to other objectives as provided in the Society's Charter.