Participants in the 2016 CTO HR & ICT conference in Jamaica. Photo courtesy bmobile.

bmobile will be hosting the 2017 Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation’s (CTO) Human Resources and ICT Conference to be held on November 14th and 15^th in Trinidad.  Created in August 1901, CTO is the oldest and largest Commonwealth membership organization in the field of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and plays a special role in coordinating the Commonwealth’s engagement in the global ICT agenda, assisting member countries in areas such as technical support, capacity building and knowledge sharing. 

Mr. Gilbert C Patterson, Chairman of the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) was elected as chair of the CTO Council and Executive Committee in September 2016, and said he was delighted that Trinidad and Tobago was elected as CTO Chair.

ICTs are an important contributor in the social, economic and human development of a country and impact all aspects of governance and all sectors of business.  Understanding the unique human resources needed in the ICT age is a constant challenge for human resource professionals. 

Launched in 2007, the annual CTO Human Resources and ICT Conference is specifically designed for human resource professionals in the telecoms, media and technology sectors, as well as ICT public policymakers.  The 2-day conference aims to help HR practitioners plan, procure, develop and retain appropriate human resources, as well as to understand the benefits of ICTs in human resource management. 

Carol David, TSTT’s Executive Vice President Human Resources, Industrial Relations and Corporate Support Services will be speaking at the conference and said, “Human Resources are an important source of competitive advantage, and effective human resource management (HRM) plays an essential role in building and retaining the pool of highly skilled human capital required to sustain this advantage.  ICTs are important enablers of this HRM function and continue to have a positive and large impact within organizations.”

David continued, “As a local and regional market leader, bmobile is proud to be the sponsor and host of the 2017 CTO Human Resources and ICT Conference which will provide insightful keynotes from thought leaders and innovators, provide practical advice from experts in the sector, share best practices, as well as new technologies and innovative ways to improve organizations’ performance.”

The theme of the 2017 conference is “The Impact Of Big Data On HR” and key topics include: harmonizing big data; modernizing HR management by incorporating ICTs in HRM and analytics driven HRM; the predictive power of big data HRM; the impact of big data on HR strategy planning; ensuring big data security in the organization; ethical and legal challenges of using big data; the use of social media in the workplace; social recruiting – using social platforms to source global talent; and outsourcing, insourcing and sharing services.

The 2016 CTO Human Resources and ICT conference was held in Kingston, Jamaica under the theme “Human Resources for the Information Society” and focused on the following issues: The ICT landscape of tomorrow; ICT reshaping the concept of work; enhancing knowledge and management through ICTs; using ICTs to streamline the recruitment process; from human resource to human capital development; and using ICTs to transform: from performance evaluation to performance management.

Registration is now open for the annual conference.  Interested persons may contact Robert Hayman, Manager International Events on 44 (0) 208 600 3800 0r events@cto.int or visit the website at www.cto.int/events/upcoming-events/hrict-2017/.