HP as exclusive sponsor partnered for the LBR-LBO ICT forum presented with Vanguard management Services Pvt Ltd and University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC). The key note address was given by Dr. Ruwan Weerasinghe, Director, UCSC and Dr. Shiromi Arunatileka, Senior Lecturer, UCSC. Their theme of the day was "Leveraging on IT for better business results.

In their presentation they basically focused on social transformation, advancement in ICT, sources for changes, transformation road map etc. Starting with the evolution of the society Dr. Ruwan noted that we have been evolving from an agricultural era, where people based on soil, water, climate, seeds, tools, were peasants and they very much depended on man power. And there was very less interaction. Then we have a transition to industrial era, where people depended on machinery and industry and looked for a "Structure". What was important was in the industries was the assembly line, the synchronization, standardization, ,mass production etc. then the society shifted to Information society where lot of interaction and communication took place . Technologies changed the whole business environment in this era. Computing power doubled the processing power every second; storage capacity and bandwidth doubled; internet; World Wide Web; Technological breakthroughs; plummeting transaction costs etc. impacted on this change.

Due to IT and its application to business, traditional business models are questioned. Production was personalized, distribution became so direct, communication was opened and got networked, finance became soft and easier, markets became global and had no boundaries, assets became intangible and virtual etc.

Dr. Shiromi adding to the theme noted some of the IT driving forces such as WWW, Internet, communication explosion, technological advancement, Virtual connectivity etc and some business driving forces such as bargaining power of buyers and suppliers, strong competition, adopting new strategies, diversifying into new products etc as driving forces for change other than internal and external forces in an organization.

Adding to that Dr. Ruwan noted that a business is where Employees, businees process and external entities interact. He mentioned two instances where we can add IT. They are between employees and business process and between business process and external entities, to bring the real into virtual and to enhance information, material, finance function smoothly and easily, in cutting down the costs and bringing much profit.

The presentation also covered some success stories stemming from the business world in using ICT to gain competitive advantage and gave reasons for companies to change and how these enterprises should change following a step by step approach.

In this highly competitive business environment, medium sized businesses are relentlessly challenged by technology complexity and rapid technology obsolescence. These enterprises are increasingly realizing that ICT enablement is vital for growth in today’s globally competitive environment.