15 Years of Comarch User Group: Conference Report

Comarch User Group (CUG) conferences are among the high points of the international IT calendar, and this year’s event only underscored the popularity and importance of the annual gathering. What’s more, CUG 2019 was something of a landmark in its own right – being the 15th anniversary edition of the event. Held over two days from September 18 to 19 in the historic southern Polish city of Kraków, it gathered over 400 professionals in all, including 74 guests from 26 individual telco organizations.

IT top-fliers attend and present at Comarch User Group 2019: full report

The day before the conference started, we invited our guests to Kraków Valley Golf & Country Club in Paczółtowice for a networking event where all attendees had an opportunity to learn the rules of golf and hone their short and long game techniques. Shooting enthusiasts tested their skills against targets on the shooting range, and for adrenaline lovers we organized an off-road jeep experience and quad rides. In the evening we spent a great time at a barbecue picnic.

Following a welcome speech from Comarch CEO and R&D Director Janusz Jeremiasz Filipiak, delegates were treated to a presentation by Forrester Research expert Martha Bennett, on keeping pace with emerging technologies. Then it was time for Tomasz Czech, Head of R&D at Comarch, to take the stage with his talk on cross-sector AI implementation.

Radosław Kotewicz, Head of Comarch IoT Consulting, shared his insight into IoT solutions against a backdrop of changing standards, before Grandi Stazioni Retail Group Head of IS&T Paolo Scaramuzzino presented on big data analytics for real estate, advertising and retail business models. Understanding clients from the loyalty perspective was the topic of a talk by Bartosz Demczuk, Consulting Director for Comarch in the Middle East, who was followed on stage by Adrian Korczyński with his guide to the essentials of cyber-security for the year ahead.

CUG delegates were privileged to hear Q8 New Retail Digital Manager Ilse Caers speak on the importance of emotional engagement for loyalty management, then heard Comarch Healthcare Vice-President Bartosz Pampuch present on e-health and telemedicine. Michał Pawlik, Co-Founder and CEO of SMEO further expanded the broad range of topics at the conference with his insight into the role fintech are playing in driving change in the digital landscape. A packed day-one agenda closed with Szymon Uczciwek, Head of the Comarch FSM Business Unit, on new digital service models for business transformation, and Michał Stadnicki, Director of Business Intelligence at the Business Unit, on new trends in business analytics.

Like every year, after the first day of the conference we gathered at Wierzynek – the historic Kraków restaurant – for a gala dinner at which Comarch guests had an opportunity to taste delicious Polish cuisine and enjoy the entertainment we had prepared.

Day two of CUG 2019 opened with a welcome speech by Marcin Dąbrowski, Vice-President of Comarch’s Management Board and Director of the Telecommunications Division, before X by Orange’s Transversal Project Manager José Valerdi Tormo delivered his presentation on new challenges faced by telcos in light of the demands of business and enterprise clients. He was followed by Comarch’s own Cloud Product Manager Aleksandra Lisińska, who gave compelling reasons for telcos to become cloud service providers.

The topic of AI returned to the agenda with Comarch IA&A Product Manager Rajmund Zieliński’s speech on adopting the BizDevOps AI model. Healthcare dominated the close of the second morning, with presentations from Comarch Business Development Manager Simone Agazzi (connected health) and Wind Tre’s 5G and IoT Head Luca Monti (e-health and 5G).

After lunch, the focus switched to field service management automation, courtesy of Megafon’s Ekaterina Kulakova, Head of OSS and Technical Analysis, and Konstantin Mazik, Head of Networking and Inventory Systems. Dr Marcus Hacke, Founder and Managing Director of ngena, and Shivaraja Gowda, the organization’s Head of Business IT & Processes, turned attention to global enterprise-grade SD-WAN management with a case study presentation of the ngena story, before Comarch M2M/IoT Product Manager Wojciech Martyniak closed the official business with his presentation on automation to boost IoT sales from customer on-boarding to device management.

This year’s CUG certainly presented a packed agenda with plenty of takeaways and opportunities for follow-ups – but, as at every edition of this conference, informal networking and relaxation were afforded their proper place too. In particular, all guests were treated to a sumptuous meal at Kraków’s historic luxury Wierzynek Restaurant in the heart of the old town.

Now, with CUG 2019 behind us, we at Comarch would like to thank all who presented and took the time to attend this successful conference. We look forward to seeing you again in 2020.