Women in Comms: Industry Still Has Lots of Work to Do

October 24, 2024

Written by Eric Krapf, General Manager and Program Co-Chair, Enterprise Connect Publisher

If you’ve worked in tech for any length of time, you don’t need statistics to tell you that women are underrepresented in general, and particularly in leadership roles. Just look around you.

Nevertheless, here’s a particularly eye-opening statistic, as cited in a recent ITPro article: Of the respondents to a recent survey of women in STEM, half report never having received a promotion.

One bit of good news, according to ITPro, is that mentoring can make a real difference for women working in STEM. According to the same survey, 31% of women with women mentors had received a promotion in the last year, and having a mentor also correlated with getting salary raises.

So it’s critical to lift up women as role models to encourage colleagues as well as younger women entering the field. That’s the goal of Enterprise Connect’s Women in Communications program – to bring women together to network and support each other, find those role models, and inspire each other, alongside men willing to serve as allies. Over the years we’ve run keynote-level panel discussions highlighting the issues women face, sponsored networking functions, and recognized the accomplishments of women leaders with our Spotlight Award.

Nominations are open for Enterprise Connect 2025’s edition of the Spotlight Award, and I’d appeal to anyone in the industry to submit your candidates. A few important notes: This award is presented to women working within enterprise IT organizations. We know there are tons of great women professionals working for the vendors, service providers, and channel partners that serve the communications/collaboration/CX industry. But the problem of lack of representation is particularly acute within IT organizations at enterprises, so that’s where this award focuses.

It’s free to nominate candidates, and you can nominate as many women IT pros as you’d like. If one of your nominees is selected for the Spotlight Award, you’ll receive a complimentary Premium conference pass to Enterprise Connect 2025. Award winners also get free Premium passes to the event, and will be recognized during the program in Orlando the week of March 17, 2025.

While I’m on the subject of awards, I have to mention our other honor, the IT Hero Award. This award recognizes anyone working within an enterprise IT organization who exhibits the qualities of dedication and leadership that make them an example to their colleagues. It can be a rising star or a veteran with a lifetime of accomplishment and service. Again, the award is limited to those working for an enterprise within the IT organization.

We’ll present the Spotlight and IT Hero awards at Enterprise Connect 2025, March 17 – 20. We’ll also hold a Women in Communications networking reception in the Expo Hall on Monday, March 17. We encourage everyone to participate.

Registration is now open for Enterprise Connect 2025 – our first batch of keynoters is announced and most of the Conference program is live. You can check out these as well as the many new and exciting activities we’ve got planned for the biggest independent event in the industry. Hope to see you in Orlando!