HITS

The 2017 edition of HITS: Spring — the largest gathering of Hollywood’s brightest minds in the IT community — has announced the names of the two keynotes for its May 25 event at the Sheraton Universal Hotel, which will define the issues facing today’s CIOs from the diverse perspectives of both the White House and a Stanford University “Garage.”

This year’s attendees will hear from Dr. Sabine Remdisch, director of the LeadershipGarage at Stanford University, a research program that analyzes the ways business leaders can be most effective in tackling the challenges presented by today’s networked organizations and digitally-connected work environments.

The second keynote of the day will be from Tony Scott, former White House CIO, who’ll share his insights into the technological transformation underway within the federal government, with various agencies (FBI, Secret Services, Department of Homeland Security, etc.) finding better collaboration thanks to digitization, and the integration of previously disparate silos.

The HITS: Spring 2017 edition — “The Hollywood ‘Innovation & Technology’ Summit” — features a VIP speaker list that also includes senior executives from Sony Pictures Entertainment, NBCUniversal, 20th Century Fox Television, Google Play, Legendary Entertainment, Box, Verizon Digital Media Services, Microsoft Azure, Mediamorph, 5th Kind, Avanade, IBM Cloud and more.

Also on tap for HITS: Spring 2017:

• Making the Smart Enterprise with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
• The Anatomy of a CIO in the Digital World
• Transforming Film Production with New Digital Management Tools
• Upending Content Distribution and Marketing with Social Media
• Going Hyper-Local: Digitally-Enabling Your Studio’s Global Growth
• Building and Integrating SaaS Platforms for Efficiency and Profitability
• How is our Government Protecting Hollywood from Cyber-threat?

Sabine’s keynote presentation — “Leadership in the Digital World – People, Networks and Innovation” — will look at exactly why digitalization has become one of the biggest (if not the biggest) challenges facing media and entertainment companies today. The shift to digital means the need for the new procedures and interfaces, while attempting to mitigate the disruption of legacy processes. Redesigning an organization requires an investment of both time and money, but, more importantly, an investment by leadership in envisioning how their company can benefit from the digital transformation. Remdisch will examine the changing demands for a digital organization, and how the concept of “content is king” fits in.

Meanwhile, Scott will share in his keynote presentation (“Journey of the Federal Government: Meeting the Digital, Security and Effectiveness Challenges”) how cloud strategies and better protection of high-value digital assets within the government has resulted in cost savings and a more intelligent flow of information. Scott was the third CIO ever of the United States, appointed by President Obama, and prior to that led the global information technology group at VMware. Before VMware, Scott served as CIO at Microsoft, from 2008 to 2013, and as CIO for The Walt Disney Co., from 2005 to 2008.

Produced by the Media & Entertainment Services Alliance (MESA), in partnership with the Hollywood IT Society (HITS), the Content Delivery & Security Association (CDSA), and the Smart Content Council, HITS:Spring is presented by Entertainment Partners, with sponsorship by Box, TiVo, Avanade, Amazon Web Services, Expert System, IBM, MarkLogic, MediaSilo, Microsft Azure, SAS, Zaszou IT Consulting and Ooyala.

For more information visit HollywoodITSummit.com. To become a sponsor and participate in the event contact: Garrett Randall at [email protected] or call (310) 882-9204.