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have created 10 different types of hotels, 10 different life-
styles»
. It is essential to follow, for example, the innova-
tions in the TLC sector, given that with the advent of mo-
bile telephony there has been very rapid development whi-
ch has produced apps, websites for bookings, but above
all how important blogs and forums have become for the ex-
change of qualitative information and opinions.
What about banks?
Marina Natale, Deputy Director General of UniCredit, ad-
dressed the issues of banks, their degree of competition and
innovation, and the forces that are remodelling their iden-
tity after the years of the crisis.
«The crisis that as from
2008 has hit the global economy has caused several ‘vic-
tims’»
she explained
«but there is no doubt that it is the
banks which have suffered the most. The question now is:
what are the areas on which it is necessary to work in or-
der to remodel the banking system?»
She indicated four of
them: regulation (which must find the right balance between
rigidity and necessity), customer behaviour (who are now
more risk adverse, more price sensitive and have less tru-
st in banks), technology (key factor in innovation and the-
refore competitiveness, as well as an instrument that can
provide customer satisfaction) and competition.
Cloud: opportunities and threats of immateriality
The first roundtable of the Congress was that which addres-
sed one of the most revolutionary technological innovations
of recent years: the cloud. What possibilities does cloud com-
puting provide? What are the concerns? These were the que-
stions put by the moderator of the meeting, Piergiorgio Va-
lente, Managing Partner of GEB Partners, to the participants.
Alberto Pera (Partner, Gianni Origoni, Grippo e Partners,
Former Executive Secretary Italian Antitrust Authority)
stressed the legislative issues affecting this sector, highli-
ghting that currently there is no system of unanimous laws,
because each country has its own laws, even if the problems
experienced are the same: that of protecting data above all.
Adriana Berrocal, Managing Director, BValue Consulting,
on the other hand, emphasised how cloud companies ha-
ve a strong appeal to investors because
«we are talking of
a sector which is growing quickly»
.
«The entire economy
is now digitalised»
, noted Diego Ciulli, Italian Policy and
Government Relations, Google International, who, in pro-
viding an overview of the development of cloud compu-
ting to the present day, defined the cloud as something whi-
ch
«in reality had already been thought of in the previous
millennium, but became real much later, first in America
and then more slowly in Europe»
.
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IAFEI Quarterly | Issue 31 | 9