Computer News Middle East July 2016

issue 294 | july 2016 WWW.CNMEONLINE.COM

STRATEGIC ICT PARTNER

Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros.

Thomson Reuters

staying power Rotana’s corporate vice president of it, Samir abi frem

founder, CPIMEDIA GROUP Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015)

EDITORIAL

Publishing Director Rajashree Rammohan raj.ram@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5685 Editorial Group Editor Jeevan Thankappan jeevan.thankappan@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5678

The big shift

Editor James Dartnell james.dartnell@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5684

One of the hottest buzzwords in the industry today is DevOps. Gartner says DevOps will evolve from a niche strategy employed by large cloud providers to a mainstream strategy favoured by 25 percent of Global 2000 organisations this year. The main promise of DevOps is increased collaboration and enterprise IT agility, but there seems to be some amount of ambiguity about what the term actually means. Gartner calls it a “philosophy, a cultural shift that merges operations with development and demands a linked toolchain of technologies collaborative change.”

Some people label it a new supporting tool that automates the whole process of developing, deploying and operating applications. Others think it to be a series of refashioned agile development practices.

DevOps Successfully implementing DevOps is now requires a seen as a critical success factor in the future fundamental for enterprises. The only glitch is that, there is rethinking no successful blueprint for an implementation of the way IT yet. The proponents of this new way of handling operations say it will change the way operates IT organisations think and work, and require new skills and processes. There is, however, a consensus on the main prerequisites. Top of the list is the sign off from highest levels of the organisation to make it a business priority, which will help CIOs to remove potential roadblocks and help IT organisations build a better understanding of the business and customer. A core concept of DevOps is automation – right from deployment, testing and quality, provisioning and monitoring. However, DevOps is not about buying another set of provisioning tools or automated testing tools. It requires a fundamental rethinking of the way IT operates; it will warrant new integrated service models and cross-functional teams organised along IT services lines, not functions. If you aren’t careful, misconceptions and flawed implementations mean you will miss the true promise of DevOps.

Talk to us: E-mail: jeevan.thankappan@ cpimediagroup.com

Online Editor Adelle Geronimo adelle.geronimo@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5683 ADVERTISING Commercial Director Chris Stevenson chris.stevenson@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5674 Group Sales Director Kausar Syed kausar.syed@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 1647 Sales Manager Merle Carrasco merle.carrasco@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5676 Circulation Circulation Manager Rajeesh M rajeesh.nair@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5682 Production and Design Production Manager James P Tharian james.tharian@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5673 Senior Designer Analou Balbero analou.balbero@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5680 Designer Neha Kalvani neha.kalvani@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 3751644 DIGITAL SERVICES Web Developer Jefferson de Joya Abbas Madh Photographer Charls Thomas Maksym Poriechkin webmaster@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9100 Published by

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Jeevan Thankappan Group Editor

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Thomson Reuters

STAYING POWER ROTANA’S CORPORATE VICE PRESIDENT OF IT, SAMIR ABI FREM

© Copyright 2016 CPI All rights reserved While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

EDITORIAL

Our events

Off the record I write just as this magazine is going to press, grabbed by yet another interesting patent debate involving Apple.

The “systems and methods for receiving infrared data with a camera designed to detect images based on visible light”, outlines how infrared light could be used to prevent video recording during live concerts. In short, infrared emitters could be placed at concert venues to issue commands to devices, which could disable a recording function.

Now, while I agree in principle with the thinking behind this change – why shell out $100 to see a live concert only to view it through a smartphone screen? – broader questions have to be asked regarding the deployment of this This is the type of technology. age we live in, We live in the age of smartphones, where – if you're after all. In the UAE, we know that better than anyone. in the public I can empathise with recording artists eye – anything who lose revenue to video content that is can, and will be published without their consent. Sadly for shared online. them, this is the age we live in, where – if you’re in the public eye, and especially if you’re a rap or rock star – anything can, and will be shared online.

Of course, it would be improper to ignore Apple’s own interests in such a move. Following the $3 billion acquisition of Beats headphones in 2014, and the launch of Apple Music last year, the firm is clearly seeking to once again disrupt the music management industry.

What’s more, this is surely the thin end of the wedge in terms of prohibiting device features. Why should this type of recording be banned, while others aren’t? How else can this technology be used? What other kind of features could technology companies gain permission to disable?

Talk to us: E-mail: james.dartnell@ cpimediagroup.com

CONFERENCE

Our online platforms

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Our social media James Dartnell Editor facebook.com/computernewsme

twitter.com/computernewsme

linkedin.com/in/computernewsme

Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit 2016 31 October – 1 November | Dubai, UAE | gartner.com/me/security

Build Trust and Resilience at the Speed of Business

Topics to be covered: • Cybersecurity • Data loss prevention • Enabling a safer cloud • Security and risk strategy • Governance, risk and compliance • Mobile security for digital business • Crisis/incident command and management • Recovery from a targeted cyberattack • Internet of Things, network and endpoint security challenges

Contents

Our Strategic Partners Strategic ICT Partner

Strategic Technology Partner

Strategic Innovation Partner

ISSUE 294 | july 2016

20

24

CIO spoTlight: Rotana Hotel Management Corporation’s Samir Abi Frem

case study: Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros

16 Go Digital

44 Growth guide

30 Define digital

53 Public promise

34 So far, yet so near

56 Tech responsibility

38 Be smart

62 The future of elder care

42

CXO corner: Thomson Reuters CFO Gop Menon

48

interview: Kodak Alaris Information management President and GM Rick Constanzo

Etisalat, last month, hosted three consecutive conferences focused on digital transformation. We bring you highlights of the events.

How ‘digitalised’ are this region’s telecom services and will future demand be dictated by consumers or providers?

We take a look at how latest solutions in video collaboration will transform network demands and investments in the region.

In the fast-moving digital age, what technology opportunities are afoot for technology in the education sector?

Sabby Gill, Executive Vice President, Epicor, analyses the importance of retaining employee loyalty and interest during booming periods.

Veeam Software's Gregg Petersen on why public sector organisations are primed for uptime IT solutions.

Orange Business' Laurent Marini on why the corrosive effects of climate change need to be reversed through smart technology.

A look at how Smart Home technologies can enable the elderly population to function freely and safely in their homes.

CIO Speaker series

du secures network resources, optimizes organizational efficiency, and enables growth UAE telecom operator analyzes operations with a complete security information & event management solution

As a rapidly growing mobile and fixed line service provider, du was faced with protecting its growing network and IT infrastructure while controlling costs and efficiently managing IT operations. By deploying HP ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager, du has been able to automate security and compliance monitoring, to cost-effectively support corporate growth while transforming Big Data into actionable intelligence.

ArcSight ESM is helping du improve operational efficiency through the automation of manual tasks and optimizing staff efficiency. The solution has helped du to filter out incidents that were resulting in high IT and business risks and act on them more effectively. As a result of the solution, du’s security operations center has been able to reduce the security alerts that needed analysis, from over 7,000 per month to fewer than 1,000 per month, a decrease of over 85%.

“By implementing the ArcSight SIEM solution, we’ve been able to not only improve operational efficiency, but also reduce our security and situational awareness expenditures by about 85% over the last three years.”

– Marwan Bindalmook, Senior Vice President of Technology Security and Risk Management Read more at www.cnmeonline.com/hpe

How big is the SDN market? what’s driving the rise in sdn:

Percentage of network spending on SDN will

Rise Sharply

40%

28%

18% 10%

2%

2013

SOURCE: SDXCENTRAL.COM

4%

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

$35.6B

$35 BILLION BY 2018

$24.4B

$14.8B

$7.8B $3.4B

$1.5B

2013

2014

2015

Data centre networking software (driven by the network) will reachÂ

$1.2 billion by 2018

2016

2017

2018

SDN: a rapidly evolving landscape

$1.2B $454M

$695M $202M $323M $127M $10M

2013

$37M

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

$10M

$12M

$25M

2013

2014

2015

$49M

2016

2017

2018

VC investment in SDN-related technology HAS spiked 4,820% GROwTH

There are 225 sdn companies today (up from zero in 2009)

Column

Adelle Geronimo Online Editor, CNME

f a X c X t o e r h T

A

s in any industry, gender equality is an important issue in technology.

According to a recent study by Deloitte, women’s choices impact up to 85 percent of purchasing decisions. These purchases account for $4.3 trillion of total US consumer spending, making women a undeniably influential economic force. These figures show that the presence of women in leadership positions is a huge win in terms of identifying and defining a company’s future direction for the company.

Over the last few years, the tech world has made huge strides when it comes to gender diversity in the workforce. Intel has invested $300 million for a tech diversity initiative in its workforce, While Cisco has introduced its Girls Power Tech initiative, encouraging young women to discover career opportunities in ICT. Later this year, Facebook will host its conference www.cnmeonline.com

‘Women in Product,’ which will delve into ways to empower women in the IT industry especially in the field of product development and management.

However, as we all know, there is a huge amount of work to be done. We need to give talented women the opportunities that they deserve in technology. This can be done through improved education and training for employees, and better mentoring opportunities from tech companies to encourage incoming female IT professionals.

The notion that science and technology are predominantly for men needs to be addressed. School programmes need to ensure that younger women, and school-aged girls, are encouraged into the industry from their youth, and inspired to do everything they can to achieve success in IT. Technology impacts everybody, and companies will have much to gain and nothing to lose from encouraging gender diversity in the workplace. july 2016

13

short takes

Month in view

IBM signs $300M services agreement with Emirates Airline

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella (centre) with LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner (left) and LinkedIn chairman and co-founder Reid Hoffman

IBM has announced that it has signed a ten-year technology services agreement with Emirates, worth approximately $300 million.

Under the agreement, IBM will provide IT Infrastructure delivered as a service, allowing the airline to improve efficiency on its passenger support systems and functions.

The deal provides fully managed services for the IBM mainframe and storage that will help Emirates encrypt data in near real-time. Additionally, the platform allows the airline to build new apps that will support the API Economy – a commercial exchange of business functions, capabilities, or competencies as services packaged in APIs. Emirates also collaborated with IBM earlier this year to enhance its Passenger Service System. IBM technology and services will allow Emirates to re-design its business processes and streamline airport operations.

The airline has run its ticketing and reservations system on the IBM mainframe for more than 30 years. IBM’s z Systems is the foundation for all of the airline’s mission critical data and transactions.

14

july 2016

Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26.2 billion Microsoft has announced that it has entered a definitive agreement to acquire social networking and recruitment site LinkedIn. Under the agreement, Microsoft will acquire LinkedIn for $196 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $26.2 billion, inclusive of the social networking company’s net cash.

According to both companies, LinkedIn will retain its brand, culture and independence. Jeff Weiner will remain the company CEO, reporting to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Reid Hoffman, chairman of the Board, co-founder and controlling shareholder of the company, and Weiner both "fully support" this transaction. The transaction is expected to close this calendar year.

In addition to LinkedIn’s core professional networking product, Microsoft also will also gain access to

30

%

products including presentation-sharing software SlideShare and professional training service Lynda.com.

One key aim of the deal is to expand Microsoft’s portfolio of software that reaches users at work, in a variety of different scenarios.

In a video accompanying the acquisition announcement, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella presented a vision for productivity tools that are connected to a professional network and can help users improve at their existing jobs as well as finding new roles. “The LinkedIn team has grown a fantastic business centred on connecting the world’s professionals,” Nadella said. “Together, we can accelerate the growth of LinkedIn, as well as Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics, as we seek to empower every person and organisation on the planet.”

of the 100 largest vendors’ new software investments will have shifted from cloudfirst to cloud-only by 2019 Source: Gartner

www.cnmeonline.com

Etisalat has launched Business in a Box an offering designed to drive the SMB segment further and to enable them to experience benefits of high-speed fixed broadband connectivity, businessclass IP telephony, and ProCare 24×7 live integrated support system across multiple platforms and operating systems through online chat, phone or through a self-care portal.

HPE CTO to step down Nine months after Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) separated from HP’s PC and printer group and a month after it said it would spin off its enterprise services division, CEO Meg Whitman has announced more changes, that will see the company’s CTO Martin Fink leave at the end of the year.

Fink has been the driving force behind The Machine, however, HPE confirmed that the project is still moving ahead.

Spinning off the enterprise services business, which will merge with CSC to form a new company part-owned by HPE, provided “a unique opportunity for us to reimagine our internal

Cisco, KSA sign MoU to accelerate country digitisation Cisco has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the During the MoU signing Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Investment.

The MoU serves as a partnership framework and underlines Cisco’s strategic commitment in support of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to drive digital transformation at a country-wide level. Through the partnership, Saudi Arabia and Cisco will collaborate to identify a number of opportunities in areas that include developing national IT infrastructure, accelerating business innovation, stimulating startups and enhancing research and education.

“This partnership reflects the Saudi government’s priority focus on embracing digital transformation and capturing the many opportunities presented by country digitisation,” said Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, Minister of Commerce and Investment, Saudi Arabia. “Developing a vibrant digital economy is a key pillar of our economic diversification plan and collaborating with global technology leaders is essential in bringing expertise and know-how to our programme of development.”

“Saudi Arabia has a bold plan for fostering an innovation, talent and an entrepreneurship ecosystem that will shift the economy towards greater private sector participation and a more market-based approach,” said John Chambers, Executive Chairman, Cisco. “The government and leadership have shown great appreciation of the importance of digitisation as a pathway to prosperity and to the achievement of their vision. This lays a strong foundation for the Kingdom’s success." www.cnmeonline.com

organisation,” Whitman said in a blog post explaining the latest organisational restructuring.

Fink has been at HP for more than 30 years and is also head of HP Labs. When he leaves, HP Labs will be merged into HPE’s enterprise group under current leader Antonio Neri.

The company is also collapsing its sales teams into a single worldwide organisation, centralising product marketing, e-commerce, and ‘customer advocacy’ under one executive and putting its IT and cybersecurity teams under its chief operating officer.

In addition, John Hinshaw, HPE’s chief customer officer, will also leave at the end of the year. The HPE CEO didn’t make statements if any layoffs would follow as a result of the changes.

Huawei, SamTech partner to transform regional transport sector Huawei has signed an MoU with SamTech Middle East, a regional systems integrator specialising in smart vehicle tracking systems, to develop integrated solutions for the regional transport sector. The MoU will see SamTech develop customised applications that integrate with Huawei’s connected-vehicle solution to improve public safety and comfort across all forms of transport including buses, taxis and heavy goods vehicles.

The connected-in-vehicle offering is part of Huawei’s Smart City solution set and is underpinned technologies including cloud computing, Big Data, IoT, 5G and SDN as components of Huawei’s cloudpipe-device strategy.

“The regional transport industry is about to make a major leap into the future, with new ICT solutions enabling increased levels of capability in safety, efficiency and comfort,” said Safder Nazir, Regional Vice President, Smart Cities and IoT, Huawei Middle East. “Huawei’s connected-invehicle solution coupled with SamTech’s intelligent software delivers on a key capability for regional Smart City initiatives, whilst enabling critical control capabilities for transportation and emergency service stakeholders.”

july 2016

15

Events

Etisalat

go Digital

Organisations from all industry segments in the GCC are increasingly expected to transform their systems and processes to ones that are digitally-enabled. Last month, Etisalat hosted three digital-themed conferences in the government and oil and gas sectors in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. CNME reports from the Dubai leg of the event.

E

xecuting digital strategies entails leveraging the power of technologies such as cloud, mobile, Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data. It requires taking advantage of digital data that optimises, transforms and creates services. However, the transition to digital government is a journey that cannot be achieved overnight.

It requires agility and a roadmap for each phase of transformation. IT leaders need to comprehend the key dimensions of digital government and what activities and initiatives are most critical to ensure its success.

This was the primary focus of Etisalat during the three-day event, the UAE-based firm exploring how it could support governments in the journey to ‘Go Digital.’

During the course of the day, experts from Etisalat presented the company’s comprehensive portfolio 16

july 2016

of solutions and service models that will enable organisations maximise value and minimise cost and risk. Óscar Gómez, senior vice president, Business Marketing, discussed the different challenges faced by IT leaders when going digital.

“In an ever-growing digital world, customers have high expectations from public sector organisations,” he said. “Going digital equips enterprises to address in areas of efficiency, customer engagement, speed and talent management. The first step in succeeding to going digital is getting the fundamentals right. You have to set up the right set of people, process and technologies. Also, being connected, mobile and agile require having the right partner.”

Gomez further highlighted that Etisalat offers ideal solutions in assisting government entities in this space. “We have managed connectivity services

and offerings like the MobileHub that can help enable government organisations to achieve increased productivity, connectivity and agility for their operations while maintaining a 360-degree visibility on their systems.”

Later in the day, Miguel Angel Villalonga, vice president, Cloud and Data Centre Business, shared insights on one of the hottest topics in the IT industry today, the cloud. “Today, more and more businesses are getting in into the cloud journey,” he said. “Cloud is a reality that we have to actively explore and technologies in this space are what we see as the drivers of modern businesses.”

He went on to underline that capitalising on the cloud can bring organisations unprecedented opportunities that will enable them to be more competitive in the market. “Cloud solutions can bring different enterprises the agility to deliver high-quality www.cnmeonline.com

services at in short timeframes. At the same time, it will enable them to reduce their budgets, costs on resources and time spent on their operations.”

As the digital landscape becomes more complex and security risks increase, organisations are under immense pressure to keep their systems and assets secure. Sudhir Menon, senior manager, Product Marketing, Digital Security Services, delved into this issue during his presentation ‘Go trusted.'.

“As enterprises become smarter so do the cyber-attackers,” he said.

“IT security professionals have to always be on their guard, and remain vigilant for any potential threat actors lurking in their networks. The UAE’s far-reaching ‘smart’ vision makes it a hotbed for IT security activities.”

Menon then discussed the different IT security value propositions available at Etisalat. “Effective www.cnmeonline.com

people, process and technologies are components that you should look for when choosing a managed security services provider,” he said.

“At Etisalat, we have a vendoragnostic portfolio of security players because we want to make sure that we give the best solutions and services to our customers based on their specific needs. Security is no longer just a ‘nice-to-have’ element of any company, it is an important component to a business’ journey to digital transformation and success.”

Next on stage was Alberto Araque, vice president, Digital Marketing and Internet of Things, who gave a presentation on the company’s ‘Go phygital’ - a blend of physical and digital - model.

According to Araque, 'Go phygital' marries an organisation’s physical IT capabilities with digital best practices.

“Digital citizens have high demands

for engagement with companies through digital platforms,” he said.

“Combining these capabilities will enable government entities to further succeed in their digital initiatives.”

Abdulla Ebrahim Al Ahmed, senior vice president, Government Sales, Etisalat; Daniel Raduan, Head of Digital Health, Etisalat; Rashid Khan, Senior Manager/Digital Education, Etisalat; and Omar Al Muzakki Vice President, Government Sales, Northern Emirates, Etisalat also gave presentations and speeches during the event.

The Abu Dhabi leg of the event featured other speakers including Rashid Khan, Senior Manager/Digital Education who gave a presentation on the impact of digitalisation on the country’s education sector. Khan also had a one-to-one discussion with Dr. Najla Al Naqbi, Ph.D., Manager, ADEC eLearning Initiatives, on the different steps that the UAE government is undertaking in digitising the education sector.

The second day of the event, which was also held in the capital, focused on the oil and gas industry, and featured presentations from Ragy Magdy, vice president, Enterprise Private; Irfan Jeraj, director, Energy and Utility; Jose Sanchez, senior vice president, Solutions Architecture, Service Delivery & Project Management; Abdulla Al Qamzi, manager, Digital Oilfields, ADMA-OPCO; and Roberta Bigliani, Associate VP and Head of EMEA, IDC Energy Insights. july 2016

17

an Walkm

uled the roost. r n a m lk a W ic n o the ic , blue and silver, ce n u o 14 a Before the iPod, as w S-L2 rp. the Walkman TP long by 3.5 inches wide, and it Co y n So by 79 19 es had Released in July player. The device was six inch leather case and a a , es n o ph te d et ea h ss f ir o L2 had portable ca s. It came with a paople to listen in at once. The TPS- rriding the ie er tt ba AA o tw ove o pe ran on jack, allowing tw all built-in microphone, partially r the music. e n o h rp ea d n co ove a se hich activated a sm talk to the other 'hotline' button w ssette, and allowing one user to e lly released in th ia sound from the ca it in s a w d n a s 0s. serie s the first in its US and the UK during the mid-198 a w L2 STP n a m lk the The Wa d made its way to n a et k r a breakthrough m ig e b es a n ed Japa er d si n co eally alkman wasn’t r y been in the market since the W e th , r la pu o p have alread lised listening While widely a es n ic so r ev d pe e te r o et m ss a ca d in technology as e Walkman’s portability create ess. th cc , 1960s. However has led to its popularity and su h ff as experience, whic not really take o tatives id d n a m lk a W e , th esen nth of its launch eting campaign where Sony repr ed, selling o m st r fi e th g in k ar Dur cket er an engaging m e, its sales skyro expected. But aft e on the streets to try the devic approached peoplstock by the end of August 1979. out,’ ‘Stowaway,’ b a d n u o out all available ‘S g in d u e, incl ted for the devic s the ‘Walkman’ that stuck. es g g su e er w es wa Several nam , it er ev w o h ’ e, yl st and ‘Free

18

july 2016

www.cnmeonline.com

CIO

Spotlight

Staying power

Whether hotel patrons or business partners, Samir Abi Frem has always respected those who frequent the premises covered by his tech expertise. Rotana Hotel Management Corporation’s corporate vice president of IT has enjoyed a sharp trajectory of success in his career, and has played a key role in the multiplication of the company’s hotel portfolio.

I’ve been very lucky to work with talented people.” Samir Abi Frem never forgets those who have helped him develop into the executive he is today. “I also feel I have often got the right job at the right time, which goes a long way in delivering success.”

Frem’s interest in technology was stoked during his higher education studies, which he undertook at Lebanese American University. Initially a civil engineering undergraduate, he began a computer science course in his free time, and shifted his major to the field. “In Lebanon, everyone is under pressure to study at university in order to become an engineer, doctor or lawyer,” he says, “but I developed a real interest in software development and coding, which I was suited to.

I think I’m a logical person, and coding is all about logic. I felt very comfortable with it.”

Graduating in 1994, Frem started his career at Riviera Hotel in Beirut, while he was on the hunt for a job in IT. Like Frem, the hotel’s owner was a believer in the power of technology, and backed him in leading Riviera to be “one of the first” hotels in Lebanon

“

20

july 2016

to successfully install Fidelio, as well as backing other initiatives.

After spending two years at the hotel, Frem was offered a role as IT supervisor at Le Vendôme Intercontinental, also in the Lebanese capital. The property was the city’s first one run by Intercontinental, and had been closed during the Civil War, which ended in 1990. Frem relished the opportunity, and within two years, was named IT manager.

He fondly recalls the ways in which the role bettered his career. “The hotel general manager, Francois Chopinet, was a great mentor to me,” he says. “He helped me to develop my management skills, as well as encouraging me to be innovative and further my ideas. I was initially from a computer science background, but he believed in my overall capabilities.”

With Frem’s career already gathering momentum in its early stages, he decided to begin his first stint working abroad, joining the Intercontinental Riyadh as IT

“

manager. “Working in Saudi Arabia was a fantastic experience at that stage of my career,” he says. “I’d only intended to stay there for the year of my contract, and I lived in a paid-for hotel for the duration. I made sure I made most of the opportunity workwise. It taught me to be patient, and how to adapt to a new environment.”

Having completed his stint in the Kingdom, Frem’s positive trajectory continued, as he was offered the role of regional IT manager for the Intercontinental Lebanon. Frem was responsible for the technology across five properties, and one of his first assignments was the opening of the Phoenicia Intercontinental in Beirut. “This, in particular, was great industry exposure to delivering fivestar service for guests,” Frem says.

“It was a great chance to work with new technology, as well as furthering my management skills.”

During his tenure, Frem enrolled onto an executive MBA course for hotel management, which he says

I think I’m a logical person, and coding is all about logic. I felt very comfortable with it.”

www.cnmeonline.com

was a “big step” in sharpening his industry knowledge. “I always try to build my technical and core hospitality knowledge,” he says.

Frem remained in the role until 2003, by which time his ability to effectively oversee the IT of numerous properties had caught the eye. Rotana Hotel Management Corporation had been sufficiently impressed by Frem’s sharp rise up the career ladder, and offered him a role in their Abu Dhabi head office.

With tourism in the United Arab Emirates booming, Frem was tasked with fortifying some of the important pillars of Rotana’s growth. “The company had 17 hotels in its portfolio when I joined,” he says. “It was a hugely exciting time to be arriving, with lots of work needed on IT infrastructure and standards, as well as a strategy to help the company cope with the huge growth it was experiencing.”

Frem speaks very highly of those who surrounded him when he joined. “Working with the likes of Selim El Zyr – who was CEO at the time, and is the current vice chairman of the comapny – as well as the corporate team, was such a great experience and one that really pushed me to work

www.cnmeonline.com

july 2016

21

CIO

Spotlight

to the best of my ability,” he says.

“Selim inspired me through the way he respected people, and helped give them the trust and confidence to do their best.” By 2006, Frem’s work in guiding Rotana’s technology through their high growth phase prompted the management to promote him to the role of IT director.

Once Rotana’s IT infrastructure was of sufficient quality, Frem set about centralising the company’s IT. “This was perceived as a risky move at the time,” he says. “Our property management system application was critical for us, and ran the hotel.

Having this outside of the property was a big change, and there were

other countries and cultures,” he says.

With over 100 hotels now in its portfolio, Rotana has grown a great deal since Frem’s arrival, and he draws immense satisfaction from the part he has played in this journey.

“I’m very proud that the company has made its mark,” he says. “The brand has become very well-known and successful in the time I’ve been here.

I’m proud to be part of the leadership team, and to work with the current CEO, Omer Kaddouri. The IT setup that we have created now puts us on the same technology level as any international hotel chain.”

Frem’s passion for the hospitality industry is reflected through his

“

It took some work to convince people of the need to change their mindset, but with more and more applications coming into the organisation, this was a necessity.”

concerns that it wouldn’t be easy to control connectivity from the hotel to the data centre. It took some work to convince people of the need to change their mindset, but with more and more applications coming into the organisation, this was a necessity.”

Away from office hours, Frem also found life in Abu Dhabi very easy to adjust to. “The UAE is a home from home,” he says. “I love the facilities in this country, and the way things are structured. It’s full of good opportunities, and is a hub for events and business. The place also allows you to have quality time with family and friends.” From day one, Frem has also been enamoured with the multicultural aspect of life in the UAE. “It’s a very cosmopolitan place, and is a fantastic hub for learning about 22

july 2016

position on the board of governors for Hotel Technology Next Generation, a body that organises a range of international conferences for IT professionals in the sector. He also makes frequent visits to his home country, which he continues to adore for many reasons. “I absolutely love Lebanon and enjoy every day I get to spend there,” he says. “I go back every month or so, and am in awe of the lifestyle there – family, nature, sports, nightlife; you name it.”

As well as valuing the support of those close to him, Frem believes that, above all else, probity is paramount. “It’s important to be honest with yourself, and take equal responsibility for your successes and failures,” he says. “Both are important in achieving progress.”

TIMELINE 1994

Joins Le Vendome Intercontinental in Beirut

1998

Named regional IT manager for Intercontinental Lebanon

2003

Named Rotana IT director

Graduates with computer science degree

1996

Takes Riyadh IT manager role

1999

Moves to Abu Dhabi with Rotana

2006

www.cnmeonline.com

case study

Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros.

Alexious Mulemba, director of IT, Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros.

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july 2016

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Top speed

With around 10,000 vehicles under its control, Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros. demands a 360-degree view over its operations. Seeking a single platform that could segregate the company’s lines of business, director of IT Alexious Mulemba opted for an industryspecific solution to slash waiting times for customers. or an organisation that has 10,000 vehicles under its control, it’s not just their speed alone that matters. Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros. faces a daily challenge to keep track of the service processes of its dealerships, and keep a timely record of car sales and parts management. Haste and accuracy are crucial in the operation.

Founded in 1958, AAB’s big break came in 1964 when it won the rights to become the Qatar Toyota distributor.

The company has continued to distribute the Japanese vehicles for the last 50 years, and has gone on to add Lexus cars to its portfolio, and now offers trade-in services for the two brands as well as car rental services. Around “90 percent” of AAB’s business today revolves around general automobile distribution. The company’s functioning relies largely on heavy equipment operations, with retail operations essential from a customer-facing point of view.

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“AAB’s IT department has to act as an internal consultant for these processes,” says Alexious Mulemba, IT director, Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros. “We have to find ways to reduce cost, as well as improving efficiency.”

Mulemba and AAB’s senior management sought an increase in the speed of these processes.

Along with other business divisions, the IT department initiated an organisation-wide investigation, and discovered that there were 1,800 business-critical issues that needed improvement. Over time, and with a great deal of work, this number was reduced to 442, but this still represented a large gulf from what AAB wanted. “I sat down with the CEO, and asked ‘are we knocking on the right door?’” Mulemba says.

“We looked at ways that we could drastically cut this number, and came up with a few options.”

Chief among these issues was the intake of various data from AAB’s workshop technicians. “The process of their manual hours clocking was

inefficient,” Mulemba says. “In our industry, the process of changing spare parts, and keeping track of stock – as well parts that are superseded – is not always efficiently tracked without the right tools.” In addition to the outdated processes that existed at AAB, Mulemba was also conscious that they could lead to a greater risk of fraud. “A new tool would need to provide greater accountability and transparency,” he says.

The IT team concluded that it had the option to customise its existing ERP, or look for an alternative. After exploring the option of updating the ERP in great detail, Mulemba decided it was not a viable option, and that a solution would have to be specific to the automotive industry. “Our previous solution was not industryspecific,” Mulemba says. “As a company that is heavily involved in distribution, it’s very important that we can keep track of container processes, as well as a range of other things. We decided that a ready-made automotive solution was a must.” july 2016

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case study

Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros.

Having devised a detailed scoring system to determine the most appropriate solution for AAB, Mulemba and the senior management concluded that SAP’s Dealer Business Management 8.0 was their best option. They had also strongly considered an alternative dealer management solution. “The dealer-specific solution scored very highly on our scale, but could not provide the single platform that we craved,” Mulemba says. “We needed a single platform for non-automotive operations; one that could cover all lines of business.”

One of the key criteria for success in the project would be the delivery of a platform that could cater for scalability across the group structure, being able to accommodate spikes in growth. Mulemba also sought a technology partner who was committed to developing its reach in the automotive industry. “For me, it was important that any vendor we selected was committed to investing in R&D in its automotive solutions,” he says.

Opting for SAP did not come without risk, however. “At the time, the product had not been fully released, and SAP were reluctant to give it to a non-SAP customer,” Mulemba says. “We were happy to take the risk as we were confident of its benefits, and SAP offered to support us in deploying the product.”

The work on the implementation of the solution began in January 2014, and went fully live by 1st April 2015. Although the changes were largely smooth, an effective organisational change management team was established to make sure glitches were avoided. Under 26

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AAB’s corporate communications department, the team made sure all employees were well informed of the project, and the ambition of devising a platform to encompass all of AAB’s lines of business, whilst configuring the organiation from single into multiple entries.

Following the completion of the work on the solution, Mulemba has

“Allowing end-users to access data remotely – anywhere and anytime – has been a fantastic time and cost saver.” been able to draw huge satisfaction from its impact, and says it has had a dramatic impact on AAB’s operations. “It has solved our key issue of being scalable to the organisation’s needs, allowing us to easily manage our group structure,” he says. Unexpected benefits have also been noticed. “It’s provided us with things we’ve never had before,” Mulemba says. “That’s allowing us to process things faster, which is

enabling us to look at issues that were never even discussed.”

In terms of cost, Mulemba believes the initial outlay is justified.

“No information technology investments are considered cheap.," he says. "Therefore, IT should always align its strategies with the business, and work closely together for effective IT and business solutions, to add value to the business and justify such Investments.

"At AAB, we have raised our user expectations to the level of automated processes, that integrate our businesses."

Crucially, a large percentage of the issues that AAB was facing have been resolved, with most “fully closed”.

The importance of usability is also not lost on Mulemba. “Around 80 percent of the 3,300 employees who use the solution have reported that it is more user-friendly,” he says. “This obviously has a positive impact on morale, which can only be beneficial.”

He has also been satisfied at SAP’s ambition to further its efforts within the automotive industry. “They’ve shown that they’re keen to drive R&D on the product, which is certainly reassuring,” he says.

Recognition for AAB’s project has not stopped at user satisfaction, however. The organisation’s delivery of SAP Dealer Business Management has been internationally acclaimed - as Experience of the Fastest Business Transformation Project in SAP Automotive Retail - scooping SAP’s Gold Award for the Middle East North Africa region, and the bronze award for Europe, Middle East and Africa. “I feel immensely proud with what we’ve been able to achieve," Mulemba says. www.cnmeonline.com

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Wafa Insurance streamlines processes Document management solutions boost operational efficiency Delivering a variety of insurance services across Saudi Arabia, Wafa Insurance creates and manages huge amounts of paperwork throughout its day-to-day operations. Dealing with over 3,500 policies and more than 300 insurance claims daily, the firm’s reliance on paper-based processes left them facing operational constraints and excessive costs.

Recognising the need for change, Wafa Insurance’s IT team opted to deploy Laserfiche document management solutions to streamline its processes. The transformation has enabled the insurance firm to achieve enhanced operational efficiencies, a reduced dependency on paper and improved cost-savings.

“

The data management workflows we have implemented allowed us to maximise our time, increase productivity in the workplace and enabled us to save around $2.5 million per year.”

– Riyadh Al-Dakheel, IT Director, Wafa Insurance

Read more at www.cnmeonline.com/case-studies

telecoms World

Digitalisation

define digital How ‘digitalised’ are this region’s telecom services and will future demand be dictated by consumers or providers?

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t’s impossible to avoid the idea of ‘digital’ in this age of technology. Whichever way you look, technology vendors will insist that ‘digitalisation’ is impending for businesses everywhere, and that the Middle East is in the midst of being ‘digitalised’. While there is no doubting that organisations such as Uber, Airbnb and Alibaba have proven to be hugely disruptive in their respective industries around the world, it can also be easy to lose sight of what ‘digital’ specifically means in terms of technology, and the impact it will have on the telecoms industry.

For Walid Yehia, pre-sales director, client solutions, Turkey, East Europe, Africa, and Middle East, EMC, it’s a question of blending technology platforms with customer data to gain unprecedented levels of insight.

“Generally, digitalisation is about innovation by leveraging applications, data, and analytics to create a business value or redefine or create a business model or product,” he says.

The transition is not only one that involves using technology in fresh ways. It’s also a question of reinventing the way a business operates behind the scenes to enhance its levels of customer service. “The digitalisation of the telecoms industry means investing in key changes that not only reboot the way that services are delivered to customers,” says Wael El Kabbany, vice president, Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Mediterranean, BT. “But they must also bring about an improvement in business processes, while creating a new organisational structure that is better tuned to the task of staying competitive in a new digital ecosystem.”

At the core of any technology initiative has to be bottom line. As well as fending off competitors who will be opting for new technology initiatives, digital changes in the telecoms industry stand to cut expenditure, and crucially, open up a host of new earning opportunities. “Let’s not forget that digital transformation is not only about reducing cost,” Yehia says. “It is a chance to generate more revenue, reach out to a bigger market, and reduce the cost of operations. www.cnmeonline.com

“Generally, digitalisation is about innovation by leveraging applications, data, and analytics to create business value or redefine or create a business model or product.”

Walid Yehia, pre-sales director, client solutions, Turkey, East Europe, Africa, and Middle East, EMC

Catering to future demands will be essential in the thinking behind the adoption of digital strategies. With technology lifecycles placing additional demand on CIOs, the selection process must be defined by differentiation.

“Digital transformation is about unlocking new enterprise value by staying relevant in a digital era and ensuring that organisations are ready to meet the business needs of the future,” El Kabbany says. “Digital transformation isn’t a case of implementing only new mobile applications or technologies. It is more about transforming an organisation to leverage possibilities provided by new technologies.”

The hype around digital technology inevitably prompts vendors to throw their hat into the ring regarding the hardware and software that can make digitalisation a reality.

There’s a strong argument for almost anything that can develop an IT infrastructure, with so many bases needing to be covered. Yehia homes in on a quintet of technologies that he believes will lay the foundations for the digital age. “As disruption transforms standard business models in the telecommunication industry, organisations depend upon IT to accelerate their digital transformation initiatives,” he says. “Technologies such as rapid application development platforms, software-defined data centre, flash storage, hybrid cloud, and converged infrastructure will transform the way IT operates and delivers services to customers.”

The rise of the ‘as-a-service’ model is an undoubtedly attractive way for telecom operators to deliver faster and more varied july 2016

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Digitalisation

services to their customers. The expectation is that a move to the cloud will provide a more agile and scalable IT infrastructure, freeing up resources for other fresh initiatives.

“Cloud is key to digital transformation,” El Kabbany says. “Customers and employees are becoming more demanding, ecosystems are evolving and the established rules of business economics are changing. The cloud is a key driver of network and IT requirements, at a time when decision-making is changing.”

A question mark around any company will be its ability to anticipate demand, and venture into delivering new services at the right time to maximise their earning potential. In a nation with the world’s highest level of smartphone penetration, and one of the world’s highest levels of mobile data consumption, are the GCC’s telecom providers well positioned to deliver the services before consumers demand them, or will the inverse ring true?

“Consumers are expecting more and more digital services from companies that they deal with, with the effect that providers need to innovate and bring about a digitalcentred change within their own structures in order to stay competitive,” El Kabbany says.

He believes that customers are dictating the moves that telcos must take. “In the digital age, people aren’t just users. They’re in the driving seat. The real importance of digital to business is not the emergence of new technology, but the empowering of people – employees, customers or consumers.”

Yehia believes that the Middle East, broadly speaking, has made a degree of progress in terms of digitalising the telecoms industry, but is yet to fully cross the divide. “There are five different priorities each organisation will have on their digital transformation agenda,” he says. “These are business monitoring, business insights, business optimisation, data monetisation and business transformation. Most of the telecom operators who have already launched digital services in the Middle East are amid the business insights or business optimisation stage. Very few companies are leveraging their IT infrastructure for data monetisation.” At first glance, this may seem www.cnmeonline.com

telecoms World

“Digital transformation isn’t a case of implementing only new mobile applications or technologies. It is more about transforming an organisation to leverage possibilities provided by new technologies.”

Wael El Kabbany, vice president, Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Mediterranean, BT

a slightly negative assessment, but fine-tuning processes is an important step in this journey.

With Dubai’s drive to become a fullyfledged Smart City by 2020 – and the emirate’s plans to host Expo in the same year – all the benefits of digital initiatives are undoubtedly necessary. El Kabbany agrees that the UAE, and the GCC as a whole, have taken steps to making these ambitions a reality. “As far as implementing digitalisation in their business processes and organisational structure is concerned, they have made progress but there is still ground to cover,” he says. “With the sweeping changes in the region around the cloud, the Internet of Things, e-services and Smart Cities, telecom providers will undoubtedly realise the inherent need for digitalisation, and digital initiatives will grow in strength in the years to come.”

While some may argue that regulatory environments across the Middle East could be a constraint in digital developments, Yehia is adamant that new legal initiatives are working to its advantage. “The Middle East is likely to make most out of the digital transformation revolution due to the high mobile penetration ratio,” he says. “The ambitious visions of governments across the region will reinforce the strategic position of the telecommunication sector worldwide. In addition, initiatives such as the Dubai Data law will play an integral role in fostering broader digital ecosystems and make technology collaborations a norm. This shows how digital platforms are becoming crucial tools in creating new products and services.” july 2016

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network World

Video Collaboration

So far, yet so near Video collaboration has the potential to transform the culture of a business, connecting people from afar. How will the latest solutions in the space transform network demands and is the investment worthwhile in a region that values face-to-face meetings?

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n business, it’s hard to oversell the benefits of face-to-face meetings. The sense of familiarity and engagement brought by making contact in person is undeniably a stronger foundation for success than any conversation over the phone.

When it comes to video collaboration, however, the lines blur somewhat – or not, depending on the quality of your connection.

Savio Tovar Dias, director, sales engineering, Avaya AMEA, believes video collaboration is now playing a crucial role in the age of mobility. “Video collaboration helps boost productivity and enhance relationships 34

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in modern enterprises in a competitive marketplace by enabling scattered meeting participants to interact as if they were all in the same room,” he says. “With the rise of the mobile workforce and employees always on the go, scalable video capabilities are essential to ensuring productivity at the speed of business.”

Indeed, there is no doubting the power of video collaboration in impacting a host of the most important verticals in society. “The healthcare sector has also seen an increased uptake of similar video collaboration tools,” says Ahmed Sousa, regional manager, solutions architect, MEA & Turkey, Polycom.

“Video conferencing solutions allow doctors to www.cnmeonline.com

“I believe that the investment in video collaboration solutions complements the large amount of short-haul flights across the GCC.” Ahmed Sousa, regional manager, solutions architect, MEA & Turkey, Polycom

connect with patients when it is not possible to meet in-person quickly due to the time it might take to commute between the two locations.”

The positives of video collaboration are clear, but that’s not to say that every organisation will be – or already has been – rushing to deploy these solutions. Although most organisations would like to say that they have the requisite IT infrastructure to support a new video collaboration solution, the new types of traffic being introduced are bound to put a strain on the network. “Bandwidth is the greatest challenge that arises from video collaboration solutions,” concedes Roy Alves, business development manager, Middle East & Africa, Axis Communications. However, he adds that this is being fast rectified. “There are great improvements in bandwidth across the globe. We are also seeing a global trend in bandwidth doubling on performance and at the same time reducing in cost. This makes it very affordable and hence supports and facilities a lot of multi-media requirements.”

Delivering a Wi-Fi architecture that can support video collaboration will be the first that comes to mind for most CIOs. Bandwidth-heavy apps demand a series of new approaches, and end-users who find themselves strapped for cash may need to think outside the box.

“In delivering high-quality video collaboration, wireless LAN has become a core access technology for enterprises who are using video conferencing solutions,” www.cnmeonline.com

Sousa says. “As video conferencing needs to travel over Wi-Fi, enterprises must therefore be equipped with wireless LAN architectures that support best video. Enterprises that are planning to run video over the wireless LAN must learn wireless traffic prioritisation techniques, as well as how to manage multicast and unicast video streams in the wireless environment.”

Nevertheless, even if CIOs are keen to pursue video collaboration initiatives, their suitability can quickly be determined regardless of their infrastructure, and Sousa advocates a realistic approach in this regard.

“At the network level, when preparing the infrastructure for a video collaboration solution or UC deployment, quality of service needs to be assured at all stages,” he says. “If video on the desktop is required on a wide scale, then organisations must be prepared to deal with bandwidth challenges. To support technologies such as HD video in today’s UCC environment, it is important for network teams to conduct a network assessment of the organisation in order to evaluate the need for a network enhancement or upgrade.”

Many IT decision-makers who believe their organisation is in need of a video collaboration solution may also be considering wholesale upgrades to their network, and look to software-defined networking. While these companies may be in the minority – let’s face it, SDN is a much bigger jump altogether – SDN is likely to be an ideal accompaniment to video collaboration. Dias believes such july 2016

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network World

Video Collaboration

solutions are the ideal partner for video collaboration initiatives. “Legacy networking technology was designed decades ago, and is saddled with unnecessary complexity and protocols – an approach that doesn’t work in today’s application-driven environment,” says. “SDN and peripheral developments are fundamentally altering the value network of the industry, as value creation moves from traditional networking products to innovative, agile, software solutions.”

Looking beyond the infrastructure challenges that will come with video collaboration, a more basic issue may deter a selection of companies from making an investment. In a region where conducting business meetings face-to-face is regarded as so important, many organisations will harbour reservations over their need for video collaboration solutions. Indeed, many seasoned technology professionals across the GCC will testify that certain companies will not consider doing business with you unless you can meet in person. Although many regional organisations find themselves in the midst of ripping up legacy technology, some old habits cannot be replaced as easily.

Sousa believes that a video collaboration solution should be used in tandem with face-to-face meetings, and should not be a sole replacement for them. “I believe that the investment in video collaboration solutions complements the large amount of short-haul

“Organisations and individuals can save time and money, and most importantly, reduce their carbon footprint all by conducting internal meetings via video conferencing.”

Roy Alves, Business Development Manager, Middle East & Africa, Axis Communications

“The convenience that comes with a superior video collaboration tool cannot be ignored, where establishing a video session in the office is as simple as clicking on a link in a calendar meeting.”

Savio Tovar Dias, director, sales engineering, Avaya AMEA

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flights across the GCC,” he says. “For example, employees of an enterprise can utilise short haul flights for meetings across the region.

Follow up meetings with the concerned parties can then be conducted via video conferencing.”

Avaya’s Dias, meanwhile, believes that the GCC’s part of a wider emerging market necessitates modern technology. “We live in an age where time is money,” he says. “When the alternative to a short-haul flight is high definition, full-featured video collaboration, the choice is easy. The convenience that comes with a superior video collaboration tool cannot be ignored, where establishing a video session in the office is as simple as clicking on a link in a calendar meeting. The complexity of the past has been replaced by the simplicity of the present.”

For organisations who are taking corporate social responsibility issues seriously, video collaboration tools are attractive. Five GCC countries feature in the world’s top 20 carbon dioxide producers per capita, and introducing video conferencing is a good way to help reverse the alarming stat. “Sustainability has become a key practice for many organisations in the region as well as globally, with governments encouraging people to be sustainable in all areas and reduce carbon footprints,” Alves says. “From that perspective, video collaboration and conferencing is a brilliant investment. Organisations and individuals can save time and money, and most importantly, reduce their carbon footprint all by conducting internal meetings via video conferencing.” www.cnmeonline.com

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solutions World

Education IT

Be smart

In a constantly evolving digital world, technology has impacted every aspect of life may it be for socialising, working or other regular day-to-day activities. The digital age has also transformed the way many industries operate and education is no exception.

T

echnology has profoundly transformed the education sector. First and foremost, it has improved access to education, as well as the way students and educators interact with one another.

“Technology is moving towards breaking and challenging the traditional approach to education,” says Ashish Saxena, Presales Director, Middle East, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALE). “Knowledge is becoming increasingly more accessible in terms of communication transformation to both students and lecturers alike.”

The prevalence of technology is playing a critical role in how curricula are being developed and implemented. In a number of countries across the globe, including the UAE, educational institutions are integrating the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) 38

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system in their curricula. The system is being implemented to prepare students for lifelong learning and the demands of the future.

“Like in many sectors today, technology is playing a massive role in dramatically altering the way the education industry operates,” says Kamran Shaukat, Director, Education Solutions, Huawei Enterprise Middle East. “Thanks to borderless connectivity and seamless mobility, bring your own device (BYOD) culture is allowing students to learn in a more flexible and intuitive manner. Today, teachers can give classes to students in multiple places at once. This increased accessibility and flexibility has made education more accessible in such a diverse and dynamic region.”

Modern IT trends are also playing significant roles in the proliferation of technology in the education segment. Mobility, cloud and Big Data are among the most important trends being leveraged by educational entities today. www.cnmeonline.com

With 50 billion connected devices predicted to be in existence by 2020, the Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to affect the education system. Moreover, the use of IoT-related tools will also increase dramatically due to the growth of online and blended educational programmes as well as in traditional classrooms that increasingly use tech as a teaching tool.

“In the past, learning was limited by time and geographic constraints,” says Fady Younes, acting managing director, Cisco UAE. “But with the Internet of everything (IoE), new opportunities are opening up for students to move beyond the limits of traditional education.

IoE, cloud, mobility, and collaboration technologies – among many others – are and will be used to help educators engage students in new and exciting ways. These new environments help students learn anytime, any place, and on any device.”

Younes further underlines educators are encouraged to use the devices that students bring into the classroom and them to use those items as learning tools to capture intelligence faster and accelerate learning. “The proliferation of mobile devices will also enable educational institutions to collect data to interpret a learner’s behaviours and activities. Used intelligently, such data will result in personalised learning targeted to individual needs, learning styles, and aspirations,” he says.

In addition, a good infrastructure is a critical aspect for educational solutions, due to its ability to house the necessary tools for virtuous education solutions and services. “It is also important to note that the absence of a good network will hinder the performance of the infrastructure,” explains Saxena from ALE. “When designing education networks, planning around a long-term vision is crucial. While applications can be easily replaced, a lack of planning can affect the network which will result in cessation or poor service performance. A network must offer application visibility in order to enable network administrators to easily control and manage the applications which are consuming the most bandwidth, and which also might be a threat to the network performance. Networks must be prepared to manage various market www.cnmeonline.com

“Like in many sectors today, technology is playing a massive role in dramatically altering the way the education industry operates. Thanks to borderless connectivity and seamless mobility, bring your own device (BYOD) is allowing students to learn in a more flexible and intuitive manner.”

Kamran Shaukat, Director, Education Solutions, Huawei Enterprise Middle East

trends like the expansion of BYOD often experienced in educational institutions.”

With new IT tools being created every day, educational organisations are constantly on the lookout for products and solutions that they can utilise to enable better understanding between students and teachers. Some of the most common smart tools used to engage students, according to Younes from Cisco, include tablets and smartphones for streaming video and audio, along with text, pictures and social media, which are already having a profound effect on education.

“Skype is another collaborative tool widely used in classrooms today,” says Younes. “This can be used in the classroom for myriad purposes, but at its best, it brings students up close and personal with people they might never have access to. Blackboard Collaborate is an online tool that allows for collaborative lesson planning and creates a virtual classroom where your students will flourish. It makes it easy to create web conferences, conduct real-time classes, add voice authoring to your lessons, and instant message with your students.”

Other tools that are also utilised by educational institutions today include Google Hangouts, Facebook and Pinterest.

Devices and software are both a significant element in making sure that schools and educational institutions ready for what awaits them in the future. However, industry experts agree that there is one major aspect that is most critical – connectivity. july 2016

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Education IT

“Technology plays a pivotal role in making education more accessible, interactive and tailored to meet specific communication needs,” says Saxena from ALE. “The increased connectivity of today’s world allows learning and knowledge sharing to be both innovative and borderless.”

Shaukat from Huawei agrees with this notion, underlining that as time goes on and more and more students are encouraged to bring their own devices to learning environments, and the need for faster and more agile networks will continue to grow.

“With this in mind, campuses will need to invest in high-speed, borderless connectivity,” he says. “Similarly, by having eLearning solutions implemented across organisations, teachers can invest more time and energy in innovative ways of learning which was mainly consumed in assignment or quizzes marking in a traditional way of learning.”

Younes adds that the future of education technology is all about the cloud and ‘anywhere’ learning and collaboration, both locally and globally. “Schools will only need one major thing to be prepared for the future – a fast robust Internet connection,” he explains.

www.cnmeonline.com

solutions World

“IoE, cloud, mobility, and collaboration technologies – among many others – are and will be used to help educators engage students in new and exciting ways. These new environments help students learn anytime, anyplace, and on any device.”

Fady Younes, Acting Managing Director, Cisco UAE

"Infrastructure is paramount to the future of technology in education. We don’t know what the new ‘in’ device will be in the future. What we do know, is that it will need the cloud and Cisco’s prediction of 50 billion things being connected by 2020, of which education will account for a fair share, with many of the devices being wireless, a solid-core network both wired and wireless - with built-in security is key if schools are to handle this surge in devices. The network gives schools the controllability over the devices, but this network has to be scalable, secure, and reliable.”

july 2016

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CXO Corner

In the know

With thousands of global clients dependent on its market data, Thomson Reuters needs powerful IT infrastructure to translate information and data into game-changing numbers. Gop Menon, chief financial officer for the firm’s Middle East and North Africa region, discusses the tech initiatives underway in the region.

G

op Menon recalls a moment that perfectly sums up the mercurial nature of his industry.

“I was at a conference in 2008, shortly after the Financial Crisis had begun,” he says. “Staff across industries around the world were being cut, but I seemed to the only person saying we were recruiting.

I guess you could say bad news all round equalled good news for us.”

Menon now sits as CFO of Thomson Reuters Middle East and North Africa, and the firm is making technology one of its top priorities to expand its regional reach. Over 350 staff sit in the Dubai office today, while 700 people work across the Middle East and North Africa region that Menon’s work covers. Menon manages a finance team of nine from the Dubai office, with some operations outsourced.

For Menon and his employers, success is a question of blending high-performing technology platforms with skilled staff.

“Our biggest cost is people,” Menon says. “Our business is the 42

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collection of content and data, and in order for that to be dispersed worldwide, it’s essential to make an investment in people in order to carry out that process.” While Thomson Reuters information gathering capabilities are essential in the company’s access to gamechanging information, the process of monetising content is dependent on the deployment of powerful analytical tools and IT infrastructure.

Eikon, Thomson Reuters’ flagship financial product, provides data from exchanges around the world, featuring analytical tools for finance professionals. “This provides clients the latest market data, and is vital for our clients in terms of gaining insights into their competitors,” Menon says.

Given the importance of data delivery in Thomson Reuters’ work, a lack of timeliness in transmitting information can lead to irate financial customers. “Fractions of a second become very important in our industry,” Menon says. “We make sure we invest in IT infrastructure that can deliver latency, in order to

deliver real-time, accurate data. In late 2015, an Emerging Businesses unit was established within Thomson Reuters, and consists of three main technology-driven initiatives. Chief among them is the Accelerate SME drive, which is a community platform to give an avenue for businesses to interact and develop their business.

The tool allows users to develop their profile through adding data on their business, and allows them to be “rated” via an algorithm.

“Now, we’re trying to say that we have much more than a financial business,” Menon says. “Obviously, we’re helped by the fact that VAT’s come into the region, and we’re trying to position ourselves as the software solution provider for indirect tax, too.”

Menon speaks particularly highly of the 2012 integration of finance and business news portal Zawya, which has added clout to the firm.

“It’s added another tier to our customer base,” Menon says, “and is fantastic for private company information across the GCC and MENA regions.” www.cnmeonline.com

Even in difficult times, everyone needs clarity, data and information, and to make sense of what’s going on.

Given the range of IT platforms that Thomson Reuters depends on, many will ask whether it should be classed as an information or technology company. “It’s a bit of a conundrum for us. We see ourselves as a technology company, with data at our core. It’s the way the world is evolving. There’s now a data overload taking place, so it’s crucial that we can make tools smarter so customers are able to filter the right data.”

Delivery of technology is a top priority for Thomson Reuters.

“Even in difficult times, everyone needs clarity, data and information, and to make sense of what’s going on,” Menon says. “As a data provider, we’re well placed to make use of analytics to shed more light on a situation.” www.cnmeonline.com

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opinion

Sabby Gill, Executive Vice President, Epicor

growth guide Sabby Gill, Executive Vice President, Epicor, analyses the importance of retaining employee loyalty and interest during booming periods.

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hen a business experiences sudden growth, it creates a range of emotions, from joy and excitement to dread and fear. The progressive mindset that stimulates growth can inadvertently cause us to be less sensitive to the negative emotions that might emerge as a result.

The reality is that progress is part of doing business, and with some careful planning and forward-thinking, the growth period does not have to be ridden with pain. The right IT infrastructure can help to facilitate some of these big changes and make the process a lot smoother.

Recent research conducted by Epicor has explored the different approaches organisations take in dealing with growth. It’s been found that the three priorities tend to be in turnover and sales, profits, and expansion into new industries and product areas.

But what happens if the growth is unforeseen, or experienced as a surge? Leaders can find themselves on the back foot if they have not developed the appropriate skillset to handle the new changes.

Rob Morris, Head of Innovation and Thought Leadership at YSC, believes that hiring for and developing the right skillset for growth goes a long way in dealing with the excessive demands placed on the workplace.

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“Although we plan for growth in linear and rational ways, it often looks more like chaos in practice,” he says.

“When growth happens at such an unpredictable pace and scale, you don’t usually hire for that growth. As a result, you will not have the people to deliver on the new scale that you have created for yourself. The downside is people end up doing more than they expected, and often outside of the roles they were hired or trained for.”

A risk associated with business progress is employees becoming increasingly disengaged in the workplace due to heavier workloads, pressures, and deadlines. According to the Epicor research, 43% of leaders are concerned that as their business grows, workloads may increase to a level that places too much pressure on staff, prompting key personnel to leave the organisation.

Morris believes that a key predictor of job satisfaction is whether employees find ‘meaning’ in their work and warns that an employee’s personal values and missions can become misaligned with the company’s goals once the company starts growing.

“If I am asked to do things outside of the boundaries with which I joined the company, suddenly I may be less committed to them,” he says. “If employees have less of a connection with the tasks involved or when they

take on too many new tasks, too fast then it creates job dissatisfaction.”

The Epicor survey findings revealed that the top two stimulants for growth are ‘technology leadership’ (40%) and ‘skilled workforce’ (39%).

This can be a two-edged sword.

Organisations that are stuck with legacy systems might find themselves falling behind, unable to adapt to new business processes, or meet the demands of employees who expect modern technology in order to do their jobs. On the other hand, the organisations that leap onto new technology, will find themselves ahead of their competitors, ready to embrace new challenges.

According to Morris, employees need “emotional support to withstand the pressures of growing.” He also recommends “fostering a robust culture so people can be resilient throughout the growth surge.” It’s clear that this culture can be more robust if people are supported by the technology they need to do their jobs.

Although it seems counter-intuitive, e.g., deploying technology in support of an emotional challenge, investment in the right IT infrastructure is therefore essential, and will help maintain the emotional well-being of employees throughout this transitionary period. www.cnmeonline.com

Analyst corner

Steve Prentice, Vice President and Gartner fellow

Algorithms: redefining business architecture Steve Prentice, vice president and Gartner fellow, explores the opportunities and challenges brought by an algorithm-defined enterprise.

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he term ‘algorithmic business’ is relatively new, but the practical use of algorithms is already well-established in many industries.

Gartner has said that enterprise architects (EAs) and IT leaders must begin designing their algorithmic business models, both to capitalise on their potential for business differentiation, and to mitigate the possible risks involved.

The significant development and growth of smart machines is a major factor in the way algorithms have emerged from the shadows, 46

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and become more easily accessible to every organisation. Their impact can already be seen in today’s world. But there is much work ahead to harness the opportunities and manage the challenges of algorithmic business.

Outlined below are the current realities that EA and IT leaders need to prepare for as the disruption from algorithmic business accelerates.

Algorithms today Enterprise architects and IT leaders should examine how algorithms and smart machines are already used

by competitors, and even other industries, to determine if there is relevance to their own needs.

The retail sector has long been at the leading edge of using analytics and algorithms to improve business outcomes. Today, many retail analysts believe that the algorithms that automate pricing and merchandising could soon become the most valuable asset that a retailer can possess.

In human resources, algorithms are already transforming talent acquisition, as organisations are able to rapidly evaluate the suitability of www.cnmeonline.com

Algorithms rely on the data they are fed, and their decisions are only as good as the data they are based on.

candidates for specific roles, but the same technology could easily be applied within an organisation to allocate workloads to the right people.

In healthcare, the open availability of advanced clinical algorithms is transforming the efficiency of healthcare delivery organisations and their ability to deliver care.

The practice of sharing and co-developing algorithms between organisations with mutual interests could be relevant to most organisations. It is also likely to be a development model employed in many vertical industries. www.cnmeonline.com

New business opportunities While digital business is already transforming organisations, algorithmic business will create even greater levels of disruption. Open algorithm marketplaces will rapidly create and incentivise an entire ecosystem of algorithm developers in the same way that app stores and mobile devices have changed software development.

Advances in technology will expand the scope of what talent recruitment involves, to create a virtual talent industry that will enable organisations to recruit smart machines and algorithms to provide the kind of expertise that is currently provided by people.

To cope with this fluidity and disruption, businesses should explore and deploy multiple business models concurrently. These business models will be created with the use of algorithms and are a necessary part of coping with the pace of change, and exploiting fleeting business opportunities, in a digital world.

These advancements will not be without problems, however, and the successful organisations of the future will examine the potential pitfalls with equal diligence.

The challenges of algorithmic business The advances and benefits of algorithmic business will come hand in hand with obstacles to navigate.

Whether the problems are anticipated or unexpected, as smart computing becomes more pervasive, the implications have the potential to make or break organisations.

For example, an extreme point of view is that any beneficial effects of algorithms on humanity may be nullified by algorithmically driven systems that are antithetical to human interests. Or, while an algorithmic business model may be deployed with good intentions, it could be manipulated by malicious humans to achieve undesirable outcomes.

Undesirable, at least, from the point of the view of the person or organisation that owns or controls the algorithm.

Algorithms rely on the data they are fed, and their decisions are only as good as the data they are based on. Moreover, tricky ethical problems that do not necessarily have a ‘correct’ answer will be inevitable, as a greater complexity of decision making is left in the hands of automated systems.

The scale of change that is made possible by smart machines and algorithmic business warrants considerable planning and testing.

Organisations that fail to prepare risk being left behind or facing unexpected outcomes with negative implications. july 2016

47

interview

Rick Constanzo, President and General Manager, Information Management, Kodak Alaris

Digitally driven

On his most recent visit to Dubai, Rick Constanzo, President and General Manager, Information Management, Kodak Alaris, sat down with CNME to discuss the challenges in the era of digital transformation and three key factors that can enable enterprises unlock the value of going digital.

C

an you tell us more about your recent appointment and what your primary focus will be within the company?

I joined Kodak Alaris in January.

Before that I spent two years with SAP as the executive president responsible for enterprise mobility, telecommunications industry practice and public cloud services. Prior to SAP, I was the executive vice president of global sales and regional marketing for BlackBerry where I was responsible for overseeing the go-to-market strategy and financial performance of the global organisation.

As the President and General Manager of Kodak Alaris’ Information Management Business, I will have overall responsibility for the financial performance, customer satisfaction, product development, sales and marketing and the entire end-to-end operations of the company.

How important is the Middle East market for Kodak Alaris?

This region is hugely significant for us.

From my experiences in working with SAP and BlackBerry, and, of course, my earlier months at Kodak Alaris, what I found is that the Middle East region is very practical when it comes to 48

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technology. Countries in this part of the world are open to embracing emerging technologies. In fact, that’s what really excited me about this role at Kodak Alaris – engaging with organisations that keep on innovating and adapting new technologies to handle industry significant issues.

This region has always been very forward-looking from our perspective, probably more so than any other areas around the world.

As for the verticals, we are strongly focused on the banking and finance

Whoever can take a look at that amount of unstructured data and unlock the value out of that information, is going to create a new opportunities for businesses.

industries across the Middle East. Also, as smart governments are becoming a big focus of this region, we are seeing more and more public sector entities are adopting our products and solutions. Moreover, extracting value from the information to solve customer engagement issues, streamline processes and improve efficiencies is a massive focus for us.

What do you think are the most pertinent issues surrounding digitalisation today and how do you plan to address them?

The trickiest problems right now revolve around digital transformation. The massive amount of data that we have today is continuously growing at an accelerated rate.

Ninety percent of the accumulated data today has only been generated over the last two years. That sum of data came from only two billion devices that we currently have. So, we should think, what will happen if that number of devices increases to 20 billion?

Big Data is now bigger. However, as it grows, we are seeing that unstructured data is surpassing structured data. This scenario makes it more challenging for organisations to extract and quantify the value of the information that they have. I believe that whoever can take a look at that amount of unstructured data and unlock the value out of that information, is going to create a new opportunities for businesses. Moreover, it will enable enterprises to unlock tremendous value for customers and help solve some of the most pertinent problems in the digital age. Kodak Alaris is squarely focused on that. Our view is that the technology that’s been applied in the past to handle structured data is no longer sufficient today. We need three important elements – new science, technology and ecosystems.

By science, what I mean is new processes that will allow you capture www.cnmeonline.com

unstructured information, recognise what it is and extract its value. New technology means having the right tools to store, share and integrate that information. Lastly, a new ecosystem of partners to figure out how you can build solutions around that.

When it comes to the assets and investment areas we have, we think that we have the world’s best image recognition science out in the market, which comes from the 100 plus years of history that we have. We believe that we have the best image unstructured data science available in the market.

From a technology perspective, our full portfolio – from document scanners to enterprise software, services and solutions – enables businesses to unlock the value of information to better meet the changing needs of customers, today and in the future. From the ecosystem perspective, we operate in 28 countries across the globe and the widest variety of services and general partners focused on solutions right now.

We think we are in a very good position today to help the company unlock the value of information and we’re making investments to further explore opportunities in this space.

SMEs comprise a very large portion of the market here in the region.

How’re you extending your reach to the SME segment?

As a company, we are performing well in helping our customers move from analogue data sets to digital. More importantly, it’s not just about the analogue to digital shift. It is also now about how we can help companies do more with digital content. This is where we think our offerings stand out the most. We provide capture, recognition and extraction technologies that support every stage of digitisation.

This makes it easy for IT leaders to integrate our document capture devices into the ‘digital nervous system’ of the company. We think www.cnmeonline.com

we’re bringing the right combination of science, technology and ecosystems in enabling organisations to be more digitally empowered.

The reason why we’re so successful in large enterprises is because of some of the unique attributes that our products have like accurate, fast and high-fidelity capabilities. In the past, our technologies were largely focused on big enterprises. Our technologies that were once only accessible for large government or finance firms are now available for small businesses as well.

So, we’ve been able to scale down our offerings to better fit SMEs and give them more cost-effective packages.

to-end approach serves our customers very well. We believe that we’re focused on the right things. This is a very busy year for us and this year will see us develop and release new innovations.

We think that the amount of digital content being generated today is huge and it is only going to accelerate.

The opportunities and problems that we’re finding in digital transformation require massive innovation on science, technology and ecosystem. We’re proud of the work that Kodak Alaris has done across those parameters.

What are your plans in the coming months?

Last quarter, we just launched some of our distributed capture products. This product line is targeted towards SMEs, and soon we’ll be releasing our wireless enabled products, and we’re very excited about that. We’ve also launched new production capture devices.

Wireless technology has already been around for the last few years, but what we wanted to focus on is the user experience and solve fundamental problems around security, efficiency and scalability.

In terms of the solutions, we have recently launched Info Input as well. We’re trying to have a more holistic approach to certain use cases through a combination of hardware and software offerings. I think that an endjuly 2016

49

opinion

Maged Wassim, VP of cloud, IBM Middle East and Africa

New kid on the block IBM’s Middle East and Africa vice president of cloud, Maged Wassim, explores how blockchain could transform the financial industry.

I

t goes without saying how much the Internet has transformed business and society. While we once passively consumed goods and services, today we also actively review and comment on them – and businesses are listening to customers.

Yet the basic systems of how people and organisations formalise deals with one another, first codified by the Babylonian King Hammurabi in 1754 B.C., have not been updated for modern times. In fact, with each passing generation, we’ve added more middlemen, more processes, more checks and balances, and more layers of complexity to our official agreements – especially with financial transactions.

We’re pushing archaic manual procedures through a new network made of wires, but blockchain could change all of that.

Blockchain is popularly known as the technological foundation behind Bitcoin, the crypto currency that has been the subject of much interest and speculation within the technical, business and law enforcement

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We’re pushing archaic manual procedures through a new network made of wires, but blockchain could change all of that.

communities, as well as society at large. The tide of interest, however, is now turning to blockchain, because it has the potential to rework the old order of processing transactions by eliminating middlemen and saving costs.

Blockchain-based systems could help radically improve whole industries, beginning with banking and insurance, to be used for corporate loans and international trade finance.

But its impact could be much broader.

It could make a difference whenever valuable assets are transferred from

one party to another and whenever you need to know that a piece of digital information – anything from electronic artwork to the terms of a business agreement – is unique and unchangeable without the agreement of all parties or need for a central authority to approve transactions.

Many industries and use cases can be revolutionised with blockchain. We believe for blockchain to fulfill its potential for businesses, they must be built using open technology standards to ensure the interoperability of systems and developed open source software so as not to suppress competition. There are several open source blockchain projects, but only the project managed and sanctioned by the Linux Foundation, The Hyperledger Project, offers industry-friendly terms and multi-company governance.

Only with openness and the contributions of developers around the world will innovation flourish and will blockchain be widely adopted.

There is profound interest in this fast moving technology and unlimited potential for developers who master it to reinvent how transactions of all kinds are done.

That’s why we contributed code to the Hyperledger Project. New tools for developers can help spin up a network in minutes so developers can focus on building real-word applications for blockchain.

Only time will tell if I’m right, but I see blockchain as one of the most transformational peer-to-peer technologies to emerge since the Internet itself. www.cnmeonline.com

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Gregg Petersen, Regional Director, Middle East and SAARC at Veeam Software

insight

public promise

Gregg Petersen, Regional Director, Middle East and SAARC at Veeam Software, explores why public sector organisations are primed for up-time IT solutions.

I

t is clear that governments across the Middle East are striving to create an enabling environment for its citizens. Against this scenario an ‘always-on’ approach will be key to facilitating a high availability public sector geared to meet the needs of all its stakeholders.

In terms of requirements, there is not much to differentiate between the private and public sector. Both government and corporates have started the migration to the modern data centre through virtualisation, and these data centres require a high level of up-time. The biggest differentiator revolves around planning and modernisation initiatives.

The private sector is more mature than government when it comes to implementation around the modern data centre. Fortunately, governments across the region are seriously investigating these components and want to leverage modern technology and vendors to realise cost savings. In addition, this will also lead to improved service level agreements for business critical applications, which will result in a much nimbler and more embracing public sector.

According to the 2016 Veeam Global Availability Report, for www.cnmeonline.com

organisations looking to invest in their data centre cite enabling 24/7 business operations (68 percent), lowering operational costs for IT (65 percent) and strengthening security

Changes in compliance and regulatory requirements mean governments should be leading the charge for change. and control (60 percent) as the main drivers. Only 45 percent consider providing a fast and efficient IT service for their end-users as a driver

behind the modernisation of their data centre.

And while the public sector is no worse off than the private sector when it comes to running legacy solutions, changes in compliance and regulatory requirements mean governments should be leading the charge for change.

Governments need to adopt and accept the move to the modern data centre in order for them to adapt quicker in terms of deployment and consolidation. This will lead to improved actions with more successful results. With governments wanting citizens to have access and information to services online, the always-on approach will enable them to streamline their ability to transact and have available data.

Public sector organisations have to look towards partnering with modern vendors that can guarantee high-speed recovery of less than 15 minutes in order for citizens to have access to always available data. It is a connected world in which we live, and citizens have come to expect access to information at any time, using any device. This environment requires a public sector that is willing to embrace change and foster a culture of availability. july 2016

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insight

Laurent Marini, Managing Director, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain, Orange Business Services

Tech responsibility Laurent Marini, Managing Director, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain, Orange Business Services, gives his take on why the corrosive effects of climate change need to be reversed through smart technology.

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he year 2016 looks like being the hottest year on record; April 2016 was the hottest month on record globally and was the seventh consecutive month breaking global temperature records. Concerns around a ‘climate emergency’ have been compounded

by Nasa figures showing the rising global temperature of land and sea.

The last World Climate Summit in Paris in December 2015 concluded with the signing of a deal that leaders say is the best chance to save the planet. This action against climate change comes as climatologists report Greenland’s glaciers are melting at a speed not seen since the end of the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago.

A range of providers and technologyfocused industry groups are developing solutions they hope can help protect Earth’s under-threat ecosystems.

Renewable energy, M2M, data analytics, smart grids, cites and smart transportation all have a part to play.

Cutting air pollution Air pollution is a serious and growing global problem: 87 percent of the Earth’s population lives where air is toxic. In addition, the UN Human Settlements Program says urban areas generate up to 80 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

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To help meet this challenge, IBM Research announced expansion of its global Green Horizons initiative. This data crunching solution uses advanced machine learning and IoT technologies to deliver advanced air quality forecasting and decision support. It generates high-resolution 1km-by-1km pollution forecasts 72 hours in advance, and pollution trend predictions up to 10 days into the future.

IBM has already reportedly helped Beijing reduce particulate matter emissions by 20 percent. The technology will also be used in Delhi, Johannesburg and other cities in China to cut pollution.

Going electric Electric vehicles can play a key role in reducing air pollution, and French automakers Citroen and Renault have both introduced new electronic vehicles, including a 16-ton all-electric truck with a 200km range. The truck is currently undergoing real world testing and is expected to reach market in 2020.

Another energy-related NGO, Energy Unlocked, also debuted at the event.

The group aims to use technologies like smart metering, Internet of Things, storage, batteries, demand response, load shifting, and grid edge technologies to promote renewable energy use.

COP21 saw the debut of the Sustainable

Energy Marketplace, a platform that connects renewable energy projects with investors.

Energy storage Technologists are also looking to develop energy storage solutions.

One interesting recent development comes from Linköping University’s Laboratory of Organic Electronics, where scientists have created Power Paper – a new material that can store large amounts of energy. Like paper, Power Paper is made from a cellulose pulp, but the fibers are mixed with an electrically-charged polymer that is capable of storing energy. This cheap solution charges in seconds and the developers see it as backup energy storage for renewable energy sources.

There’s growing recognition of the need to foster good habits among energy consumers. Oroeco introduced a personal climate action app smartphone users can employ in order to track the carbon impact of what they do. This gamification of the problem should help people understand the consequences of their actions.

Businesses have an important role to play in reducing climate change.

As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moo remarked, opening COP21, “How we do business today will determine if we can do business in the future.” www.cnmeonline.com

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insight

Bassam Hamden, Area Vice President, Commvault

The data direction Bassam Hamden, area vice president, Commvault shares his take on why effective data management can allow businesses to shape their future.

I

n the Middle East, it is evident that the technology landscape is becoming increasingly complex, both for IT vendors and consumers. The rapid growth of data further complicates matters, as many corporates are faced with increasingly fragmented data repositories. This comes as a result of the proliferation of cloud storage, mobile devices, software-as-aservice and more, all adding to the challenge of data management.

We believe that an effective data management solution is essential to help organisations not only deal with this complexity, but also drive value back into their organisation.

The impact of the cloud, mobile, exploding volumes of data, and the need to modernise legacy systems are driving new data requirements.

These include keeping pace with data growth, always being on and available, no vendor lock-in, embedded search and analytics, seamless and universal access as well as control and visibility from inception.

We are seeing more and more of these requirements from customers in the Middle East region and fantastic growth opportunities as a result. Our 56

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message to prospective customers is that in order to gain competitive advantage, you need to think of your data as a critical strategic asset that will deliver differentiated business value. Great companies turn data insight into business foresight and advantage. Some of the tangible business benefits of effective data management include risk reduction in terms of downtime, data loss, recovery speed, and litigation support.

Productivity gains, both tactically and strategically, are also seen when effective data management processes are implemented well.

A survey conducted by analyst firm IDC on behalf of Commvault highlights the significant return on investment of effective data management. Those organisations that have incorporated effective data management solutions and services into their organisations benefit from significantly reduced annual spending on data infrastructure, software, services, and compliance, as well as reductions in related administrative hours and annual unplanned downtime.

These organisations also saw vast improvements in average recovery time for messages, files, and virtual

machines as well as Exchange, Oracle, SharePoint, and SQL. Furthermore, improvements in data coverage for protection, analytics, encryption, and reporting were significant, and organisations saw large reductions in annual exposure to compliance failures, audit failures, data theft and data breaches.

Ultimately, effective data management assists organisations to simplify operations and reduce costs, while simultaneously lowering risk by driving down downtime, reducing operational exposure, and improving recovery capabilities and data coverage. In addition, data management helps to drive greater value by improving both IT staff and organisational productivity.

Transforming data into an efficient bank of information through the use of embedded search and analytics, seamless and universal access as well as control and visibility from instalment, growing businesses will find their data easily managed.

This means less time wasted on data administration, and more time utilising stored information to form and shape business foresight and competitive advantage. www.cnmeonline.com

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insight

Andy Gottlieb, Co-founder, Talari Networks

at your service

Andy Gottlieb, co-founder, Talari Networks, discusses how software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) technology can improve reliability and the customer experience while lowering costs in multi-location contact centres.

C

ontact centres were among the first adopters of VoIP, at least within the call centre network, and they have historically used MPLS in the WAN, very often dual MPLS networks. While the latter is expensive, the approach has been needed to maintain reliability and call quality.

High quality and cost-effective services are also critical to organisations that offer contact centre services to enterprises. In fact, most contact centre operators also want the ability to deliver tiered service (platinum, gold, silver) to different customers, based on the unique customer satisfaction needs of their customer’s industry and end customers.

In both cases – enterprises that host the services themselves and providers that offer contact centre services – there are increasing demands on the internal network above and beyond the primary use in supporting high quality voice calls.

Whether using private clouds, hybrid clouds, public clouds or software-as-aservice (SaaS), more and more of the applications used by contact centre agents are being centralised, rather than distributed to each individual contact centre location. Social media, and in some cases video chat support, are putting further strain on network capabilities and WAN bandwidth.

Meanwhile, the automated call distributors of telephony systems 58

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distribute calls among agents based on system capacity, human availability and agent skill sets among others, but not on how the underlying wide area network is performing.

This confluence of needs is straining the WAN but the right SDWAN solution can simultaneously deliver better customer experience, greater reliability, and the ability to offer different service levels, all while reducing network costs. The fact that contact centre operators already have multiple WAN links at each location make them particularly fertile ground for SD-WAN deployments.

The key is to look for SD-WAN solutions that deliver improved reliability and application performance predictability across a multiconnection WAN fabric.

Where sufficient bandwidth is available, some SD-WAN implementations can provide greater application reliability by replicating realtime traffic flows along a second path, suppressing duplicates at the receiving end. Therefore, delivering essentially 'perfect' sound and voice quality even in the face of failures or congestion on one of the WAN connections. Some SD-WAN solutions are even intelligent enough that they can be set to do such flow replication only when sufficient WAN bandwidth is available.

Centralised management makes configuring an SD-WAN solution much simpler than constantly fiddling with

router settings, or being at the mercy of separate MPLS providers. It can also lower OPEX costs and further increase reliability, fixing network problems as they occur rather than simply reporting them.

Finally, contact centre operators in particular need to ensure that they look for an SD-WAN solution that scales to the number of locations, and the thousands of simultaneous calls, they need to support.

With an SD-WAN solution, contact centre operators can get higher reliability and greater WAN utilisation from existing MPLS links. The solution can also allow the contact centre operator to cap their spending on expensive MPLS connections while augmenting them with lower cost, high bandwidth Internet circuits. Given that the cost per bit of MPLS bandwidth is anywhere from 10x to 100x the cost of Internet bandwidth, the ability to have even a portion of a global contact centre operation’s WAN needs handled with Internet connections rather than MPLS can result in substantial savings.

The overall benefits of an SD-WAN solution for contact centre operators can be substantial: uninterrupted, high quality calls, even in the face of circuit failure or degradation due to bursts of network congestion, flexibility to support additional applications and demands on the network, along with lower WAN costs and improved manageability. www.cnmeonline.com

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opinion

Bryn Huntpalmer, Senior Content Manager, Modernize.com

The future of elder care While not a panacea, new Smart Home technologies promise to enable the elderly population to function freely and safely in their homes.

I

t’s easy to forget that home automation is about more than just gadgets. After all, almost every product you can think of is getting the smart home treatment— from the highly useful, such as automated locks, to the slightly less necessary: smart fridges that tell you when you’re out of milk.

However, for the elderly, smart tech means more than just a few new toys. It holds the promise of autonomy - being able to stay in homes longer and more safely, which can be completely game-changing.

For places like institutional elderly care, as it currently stands, the systems are imperfect at best. Most pressingly, they're not affordable and they're not really all that effective, either. Initial studies indicate that staying in the home results in remarkably better health outcomes than moving to a care facility.

Although the elderly obviously faces challenges that inhibit independent living. Access to emergency care is a priority, of course, but even rote tasks like washing and bathing pose difficulties for elderly facing mobility issues.

Smart technology promises assistance in the form of data mining and monitoring - 'learning' objects that are able to distinguish between usual 60

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behavioural patterns and an accident, and can alert healthcare providers in the event of the latter.

Creating a connected home While individual devices demonstrate great promise for elder care safety and quality of life, a smart home’s current limitation - an issue that affects all age groups - is that there is no ideal unified system of control.

Selecting a home hub device means navigating a list of supported products and systems, a difficult feat for someone not at ease with technology.

Even Apple’s HomeKit, which promises to connect a jumble of different products, requires downloading and installing a manufacturer app for each appliance or device. And in the hands of an older person, that can be more challenging. Developers who hope to assist the ageing must concentrate on simplicity rather than customisation— and having an exceptionally user-friendly app will likely make the difference here.

That’s how the technology stands in its current iteration. The goal is that the hardware in appliances will one day allow communication without the help of a human aide. You can imagine the potential of that sort of technology for the elderly. For instance, a patient in the early phases of dementia wouldn’t need to worry about leaving the stove

on - motion sensors installed in the space could detect when a home was empty and shut dangerous devices off.

Those improvements would make daily life easier for the elderly, but what about preventing or managing emergency situations? Environmental sensors are the proposed solution Robotics as a solution to elder care Automation systems in the homes of the elderly would still put strain on the medical field - they’d need a health aide or caretaker on standby in order to function. Robotic aides, however, may present an interesting option.

Aides are already being tested and used in Europe and in Japan, where trained healthcare providers and facilities are struggling to keep up with rapidly ageing populations.

Integrating medical and activity monitoring seems like the next logical step for devices intended for vulnerable populations - a system that could not only be alerted if a resident fell, but also if they were in danger of a heart attack.

Here again, it’s the connectivity that is the missing ingredient - motion and bio sensors, appliances, and robots all need to be able to communicate with one another and interpret data in a way that makes sense.

Additionally, AI developers are hoping their programming and devices may not only prove beneficial for their owners’ health and safety, but that they’ll ease symptoms of dementia, too.

It’s been shown that daily conversation, even online, can lessen cognitive decline. Bots may never be able to replace the warmth of the human touch, but with healthcare centres increasingly cash-strapped and limited by fewer resources, they can provide a level of attention and assistance elderly residents might not receive otherwise. www.cnmeonline.com

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insight

Moira Alexander, co-founder and director, Information Systems and Technology Advisory, Conture Business Advisors

Allied forces In most companies, individual departments or teams believe they hold the key to understanding customer needs more than other areas of the business. The reality is that different departments simply have a different view into customer expectations and none has an all-encompassing view.

C

customers through positive experience and overall satisfaction. By doing so, this provides additional prospects for ongoing improvements that further solidify market reach.

Aligning the CRM and project manager focus As with any other business initiative, the customer’s needs should always be the primary focus when it comes to managing projects and CRM activities.

It should not come as a shock to hear enterprise project management offices (EPMOs) should be closely working side-by-side with CRM teams to ensure customer concerns are addressed and expectations are met.

These two groups should not be mutually exclusive, but rather, to some extent, be joined at the hip in an effort to ascertain strategies and initiatives aimed at reaching a complete customer satisfaction rating. Essentially both groups should strive to uphold exceptional customer relationships as well as work towards garnering new

What are the primary benefits to both teams?

With both of these influential groups collaborating on projects and business-wide undertakings as a whole, it allows for a clearer view from multiple vantage points, thus reducing the risks for error as well as missed objectives and opportunities.

This collaborative approach also increases efficiency and reduces duplication of efforts and is a better use of internal resources. This offers a relevant time and place to also consider tools and software that enabled both teams to message and collaborate within the same solution.

The end result is a reduction in redoing work and waste, and improves internal visibility and communication overall.

Robust project management solutions should integrate customer relationship management aspects into the software, making them more seamless and relevant for teams to collaborate.

There is also a decrease in the silo effect since both areas should start to develop a like-minded approach in terms of goals and focus. By reducing the silo effect, the CRM team and EPMO/PMO can find common ground

RM teams and EPMO/ PMOs are not immune to this misconception. When you look at the two roles, both ultimately focus on customer/ stakeholder satisfaction and utilise similar or comparable mechanisms to accomplish this in ways that are meaningful and measureable. It only makes sense if organisations have both CRM and EPMO/PMO teams that both teams should closely collaborate on projects in order to ultimately align common goals to improve customer satisfaction.

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and work towards meeting overall customer expectations instead of focusing on department-by-department goals. With both teams working closely together, it increases the chances of realising strategic alignment as the recognition of companywide goals in connection with customer/stakeholder satisfaction is amplified.

What are the primary benefits to customers?

Customers are likely to experience improved levels of service as a result of aligned CRM and PM team goals that factor in the necessary processes.

Whether intentional or not, any process improvements are likely be detected by stakeholders/customers at some stage.

Within project management, CRM, like multiple components present throughout the project lifecycle, is not a formalised singular specialised area in and of itself. Project managers can greatly benefit from unique input provided by CRM departments who focus specifically on customer relationships day-in-and-day-out.

By working together, not only do both teams improve their levels of service, they increase the chances of success through quality, cost, and process efficiencies.

These teams have the capability to pool their knowledge and skills to offer more powerful businesses insights, with a more holistic view into refining overall customer approval and satisfaction methods. www.cnmeonline.com

29th August 2016

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PRODUCTS

PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

Launches and releases

Brand:

Bose

Product:

Quietcomfort 35

What it does: The QC35 around-ear headphones offer noise cancellation when used either with or without a wire. It also has a customengineered Bluetooth system for a consistent connection anywhere. The QC35 has up to 20 hours of battery life from a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. It also has buttons placed on the right earcup – on/off, music volume, play/ pause, and answer/end calls for more convenient interface.

What you should know: According to Bose, with microphones inside and outside the earcups, the QC35 senses, measures and sends unwanted sounds to two proprietary digital electronic chips – one for each ear, which respond with a precise, equal and opposite signal in less than a fraction of a millisecond.

www.cnmeonline.com

Brand: HP Product: Spectre

has solid-state drives available in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB or 1TB variations.

What it does: The HP Spectre weighs in at 1.1kg, with a width of less than 1.5cm, and the options of an Intel Core i5 model and an Intel Core i7 model. It features an entertainment experience with full HD 13.3-inch diagonal, edgeto-edge display and Bang & Olufsen sound. It has up to 15GB memory and uses 802.11 2x2 Wi-Fi antennae for elevated wireless speeds. According to HP, Spectre has four unique modes – stand mode notebook, tablet and tent. It

What you should know: Spectre has high gloss copper accents, which reflect a hand-polished, jewellery-like finish and hidden piston hinge, creating the illusion of a hingeless design. HP highlights that the device’s aluminium unibody is carefully chiselled by computer numerical control (CNC) machines, a process used by the aerospace industry.

The new 13.3-inch diagonal HP Spectre laptop is now available in the UAE with a starting price of AED 5,499.

Brand: Western Digital Product: My Passport Wireless Pro What it does: My Passport Wireless Pro is a Wi-Fi enabled portable hard drive. Using the direct Wi-Fi connection, creators can automatically backup files from compatible cameras, as well as save, edit and transfer work seamlessly from up to eight other devices connected to the drive. Tethered connections are also available for faster transfers and include a built-in SD card reader as well as a USB 2.0 port.

What you should know: Available in capacities up to 3TB, the My Passport Wireless Pro device also features up to 10 hours of battery life and a built-in battery pack that can even

be used to charge phones and other devices like digital or video cameras.

According to WD, to ensure creative professionals can continue to work while in the field, My Passport Wireless Pro devices include compatibility with Adobe’s Creative Cloud for mobile photo and video editing, as well as compatibility with Plex Media Server, which is capable of playing up to four streams of content while on-the-go. july 2016

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6 backlog

steps to achieve 5 an As-a-Service transformation 2 T 6 3 1 he ‘as-a-service’ model promises to reshape business service delivery to provide companies with plug-in, scalable, consumption-based services, but the opportunities are vastly untapped. There is intense pressure to improve operations using current levels of resources by moving away from legacy business models, and capitalising on the benefits of asa-service capabilities. Here are several factors to keep in mind: Be prepared to encounter resistance and manage change. Industry research shows that there is a considerable disconnect between leadership vs. middle managers and delivery staff. It is important to make sure the whole business is aware of the overall strategy – people need to be confident and understand the reasons for the change and the new possibilities being created. The role of change management in embracing an as-a-service model should not be underestimated.

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Learn to buy in new ways.

Executive leadership will need to be educated about how to buy as-a-service in a pieceby-piece manner. The financial value proposition of as-a-service is compelling, especially when it comes to technology upgrades or changes.

Focus on leadership and talent. Only one-in-four buyers is actively addressing their talent shortfall. To be successful with as-a-service requires broad and deep expertise across functions, industries and technologies, and at tremendous scale. The role of the right as-aservice provider will become critical in addressing the talent and capabilities challenge.

Blend analytics and automation strategies to deliver intelligent automation. By moving to realtime, automated process enacted on a secure, scalable, cloud-based platform, companies can obtain much richer and better-quality data. Companies can then deploy

4

sophisticated, cognitive analytics tools to delivery higher-quality insights.

Start small, pilot, pivot and scale. Consider beginning with a function that is less business critical and then use that success to build commitment with both senior leadership and middle management. Also consider a pilot in one geographic area, and then be prepared to build on successes to scale as-a-service capabilities globally and throughout other functions. The beauty of an as-a-service model is that it allows you to start small and scale fast in a way that other models don’t.

Build a relationship that drives innovation. A provider gains indepth knowledge over time about the buyer’s business, and should bring that knowledge and its industry expertise to bear every day to drive innovation. The best providers are not just transaction engines, but consultants who are always looking for ways to advise, identify and drive additional value, reengineer and even unravel processes, not just incrementally improve them.

Those capitalising on as-a-service realise that traditional business models for delivering process efficiencies are no longer enough. They’re taking a completely new approach to buying and using services to support business operations, and reaping the benefits of the collaborative, entrepreneurial, innovative and value driven as-a-service business model. As a result, they’re disrupting entire industries and out-manoeuvring their competitors in the process. www.cnmeonline.com

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