(google images)
On Tuesday the 15th of April, unfortunately we had or last ever DICE conference called ‘GET DIGITAL’ held in DCU Hellix. The day started with the presentation of our research posters, plotting the further development of our project – mobile apps. The project was based on areas all over Ireland in which we had to make an app on in order to attract tourists. Information such as – Accommodation, Attractions, Activities, Night-life, Restaurants, History and images of the area itself. My groups (Group 82) app was based on Greystones. The app went really well and I had great fun doing it, it was something different!! We presented the poster on this day to three different judges. I felt it went relly well and they all seemed really interested in our app/poster. Even one judge added Greystones was a favourite place of in Ireland!! They loved our target audience in which was International Students coming to Ireland. They thought it as unique. Overall presentation went super!!
(Our poster)
After all presentations were done, we then attended the conference ‘Get Digital’ at 4pm in which was was to deal with the development of cloud technology. I was excited as I gained an interest in this after doing some work on the app.
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The first speaker to speak was Clare Dillon who offered us insights in the ‘Megatrend’ that is cloud computing. She talked to us about how cloud is growing and growing everyday. She gave us interesting facts such as $98.4 billion is earned in revenue from this technology every single year. I was astonished at this figure, as I didn’t think cloud apps was this profitable. She told us Skype is used for 8 billion minutes per day across the world, figures which are hard for me to believe!! it just shoes how much this technology is used all over the world. ‘A computer in every pot and chicken’, this quote really stood out to me as it tells the developments and expansion of computing today
The second speaker was Paolo Malinvero from Gartner and he talked to us on the realities of cloud computing in all of Europe. He is explained the main thing of what people actually want from cloud. I found alot of things he mentioned related to our own app that we created and this made me eager to know more about what he was saying. ‘Cloud is about Critical Mass’ – a quote that paola said
as Cloud computing is having a profound impact on society. He told us the advantages this has for customers – how Cloud computing has evolved in recent years. That The new world of the hybrid cloud is an environment that employs both private and public cloud services. Companies are realizing that they need many different types of cloud services in order to meet a variety of customer needs. He also explained some challenges faced when upgrading to Cloud, in which I found interesting as I will know what I am up against when using it.
(google image)
Davin Cody then was next to speak to us. He talked to us about Hybrid Cloud. He told us the advantages this has for customers – how Cloud computing has evolved in recent years. That The new world of the hybrid cloud is an environment that employs both private and public cloud services. Companies are realizing that they need many different types of cloud services in order to meet a variety of customer needs. He also explained some challenges faced when upgrading to Cloud, in which I found interesting as I will know what I am up against when using it.
Up next was Allister Croll talked to us about ‘Lean Start Up‘ based on the book by Eric Ries. The book is about ‘How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses’. He believed a sustainable business model was a key to a success of a business. He said that a business plan is very important in order to reduce the risk of failure. How using the right skills are vitally important. Communication skills – You need me a good listener if setting up your own business, listen to other peoples mistakes and don’t make them your the same. Feedback, feedback, feedback was a word that I got from his talk. You should always listen to customer feedback in order to improve,he is so right!! As they say customers are your business. I really liked Allister talk as I felt he was a man of wise words. He pointed out simple but not so obvious points of setting up your own business.
Last but not least, Julie Sinnamon from Enterprise Ireland talked to us about innovative Irish companies and why Enterprise Ireland is eager to invest in them. She told us how Irish exports add up to 16.2 billion euro and that there is a 19% growth in the software sector. I was shocked at these figures. She talked about how there were links with the DCU graduates and how they helped them in their line of work. I loved how they showed an interests in the graduates of college. In addition to working with a portfolio of companies across a wide range of sectors, Julie has taken a specific interest in Enterprise Ireland’s Strategy for Female Entrepreneurship. I was delighted to see that someone had interest in woman as entrepreneurs.
Overall I had a great time at the conference ‘Get Digital’ – it gave me a lot more knowledge about Cloud Computing that I never knew. I may even look more further into this type of technology as it was at great interest to me, as I enjoyed every speaker.
When I first began my module DICE, I didn’t fully understand why we were doing it. Now as we are at the end, I have a completely different view on it. I have learned a lot of knowledge from the four conferences of DICE. It has made me gain a lot more knowledge in different areas of technology. I believe that all speakers really translated their passion for social media and technology in their presentations and the use of social media for marketing is definitely something that I would consider learning more about.
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