Bangalore’s flagship annual information and communication technology event, BangaloreIT.biz, hosted by the government of Karnataka, has not only lost its scale but also some of its lustre.
Bangalore’s flagship annual information and communication technology (ICT) event, BangaloreIT.biz, hosted by the government of Karnataka, has not only lost its scale but also some of its lustre. So much so that some of the counters in the exhibition hall at Lalit Ashok wore a forlorn and deserted look on Thursday, the day one of the event.
An industry insider was not even aware that the 13th edition of the event had taken off; “I don’t even bother to keep track of it (BangaloreIT.biz) now.” Subroto Bagchi, vice-chairman and gardener of mid-tier IT solution company MindTree Ltd, gave a valid reason for people losing interest in the event. “It’s a beaten stuff and is becoming increasingly inconsequential for the participants,” he said. On a more philosophical note, he said he believed like everything else the event, in its current form, had lived its life.
Another reason for the dampening enthusiasm of the participants was that it did not involve the main players of the industry — the software developers. “The IT industry does not just consist of companies but also people (software developers and techies).
The forum does not serve their needs. These people find their own nooks and crannies elsewhere,” said Bagchi. And as that happened, these sub-groups were finding their own platforms for discussions like Java Developers Congress and Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) among others. This, Bagchi said, had “reduced the BangaloreIT.biz to a platform for bureaucrats and industry executives”. “That is really what has happened,” he added.
Another person from the industry, who did not want to be named, said it was very obvious the industry interest in the event was waning by the year. “It is very clear the company participation is dropping and some of the big samurais are missing. There was a time when 300-350 firms would take part but today it has come down to just 125,” he said.
Kris Gopalakrishnan, chief executive officer (CEO) of Infosys Technologies, said that this was because this year’s theme was social development through IT. “That is why it has a lot of government participation (this year),” he said. However, Ashok Kumar C Manoli, principal secretary — department of IT, BT and S&T, also dismissed the view that the BangaloreIT.biz had lost its significance for the IT sector.
“There are so many meetings happening and agreements being signed. It (the event) is in no way becoming less significant for the IT industry. We have IBM, Cisco, Infosys, Nokia, Siemens and other major companies, which are attending it. I don’t endorse the view that it has lost its sheen and aura,” he said.
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