Paul Maritz, executive chairman of Pivotal, will head the speaker line-up at the My World of Tomorrow (MWOT) conference being held on 22 and 23 October at the Sandton Convention Centre.

The conference, which is pitched to corporate decision-makers, is being held alongside an exhibition that runs from 22 to 24 October and aims to showcase the new applications of technology to both corporate and end user/consumer visitors.

Maritz, born in Zimbabwe and educated in South Africa, formed Pivotal in 2013, having previously served as chief strategist of EMC and CEO of VMware. During his tenure at VMware, he led transformation of the company from a technology leader in virtualization to a category leader in cloud computing. Maritz remains a member of VMware’s board of directors.

Prior to joining VMware, Maritz was president of the cloud infrastructure and services division at EMC after the company’s acquisition of Pi, where he was the founder and CEO. Before founding Pi, Maritz spent 14 years working at Microsoft, where he served as a member of the five-person executive committee that managed the overall company and was responsible for the product development and marketing of the Windows client.

His experience makes Maritz the ideal candidate to talk to MWOT delegates about digital transformation, a subject that companies around the world are having to get to grips with as they strive to remain relevant in a changing world where customers are fickle and competitors could appear from any direction.

The overall theme of the MWOT conference will be the Internet of Things, where the interconnectedness of all people, objects and services will drive the new era of IT and user experience.

Alongside Maritz, Barclays’s Stephen van Coller will discuss the singularity of big data; Tony de Sousa from Telkom will talk about the Telkom digitalisation story; and international speaker Ramses Gallego from Dell Software will talk about the transition of security to cybersecurity.

Track sessions will introduce a wide range of topics to delegates:

Dr Gwendoline M Ramakgopa: Aurecon – Our African City – In My World of Tomorrow

Kojo Baffoe: Project Fable – Understanding content in a Digital world

Jessica Knight: UCS Solutions – What does the Internet of things mean for Retail?

Clem Sunter: Mind of a Fox – The World and SA beyond 2015

Etienne Louw: TomTom – “The role of real-time maps and LBS in a world where everything is becoming connected”

Carl Wocke: Merlynn Intelligence Technologies – Digitising human intelligence into the Internet of Things

Anton Musgrave: FutureWorld International – Relevance in an Exponential world – Strategic thinking and future innovative growth imperatives

Jason Jordaan: DFIRLABS – The Evolution of Digital Forensics and Investigation in a Fully Connected World

Professor Enrico Jacobs: The Belgium Campus – Technology and Business Development – Incubation and acceleration innovative solutions for enterprises and public sector

Ross Atkins: Ross Atkin and Associates – Focus on the Smart City: Why people are suspicious of it and we can deploy the Internet of things in public space

Fredell Jacobs: The Innovation Hub – How Technology & Innovation is bettering the lives of South Africans

Arthur Goldstuck: World Wide Worx – The Mobile and Data Revolution has only begun

Dr Craig Blewett: University of Kwazulu-Natal – Finding the @CTIVATED Classroom

Barlow Manilal: Technology Innovation Agency

Nigel Page: HP

Dion Chang: Flux Trends – From Preaching in Tweets to Digital Intimacy: The Impact of Technology on Humanity

Aki Anastasiou: Host of Technobyte – The 5 Big Tech Trends That Will Change Everything

Dominic White: SensePost – Manna from heaven; how your devices betray you

Kent Eriksson: ThingWorx – How IoT Transforms Companies

Emma Sadleir: Emma Sadleir Social Media Law – The Legal, Disciplinary and Reputational Risks of Social Media