Computer News Middle East November 2016

ISSUE 298 | NOVEMBER 2016 WWW.CNMEONLINE.COM STRATEGIC ICT PARTNER

AL SAHRAA GROUP H.E. DR AISHA BIN BISHR IBM WORLD OF WATSON

ICT Achievement Awards 2016

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

AECOM’S EMEIA CIO ANTHONY TOMAI ON THE VALUE OF TEAMWORK

FOUNDER, CPIMEDIA GROUP Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015) Publishing Director Rajashree Rammohan raj.ram@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9100

EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL Group Editor Jeevan Thankappan jeevan.thankappan@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9129

A new approach to security

Editor James Dartnell james.dartnell@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9153

In the wake of the recent Mirai botnet, which caused a massive DDoS attack to knock the whole of Liberia off the Internet, the spotlight is back on critical infrastructure protection. This is especially true when it comes to the Middle East, where industrial control systems, which were designed to be offline, are getting connected, making them vulnerable to exploits. Though it’s true that there is no silver bullet approach to security, the time has come for enterprises to radically rethink their security strategies.

Network and application infrastructure have always been the main aspects that end users seek to secure, with little thought given to identity The industry is access management or good authentication veering towards practices. The emergence of identity as a new automating attack surface has caught many enterprises security functions off guard because most of them still use that will improve usernames and passwords to vet access. response times A series of recent breaches show how and minimise human error. sophisticated the hacking community has become. However, the good news is that security technologies are becoming increasingly mature, and now, with the option of using artificial intelligence and machine learning for security, enterprises have more options than ever before to shore up their defences. So far, the time to detect and remediate risks have been an issue for enterprises, which is why the industry is now veering towards the automation of security functions that will significantly improve response times and minimise human error. Recent studies indicate that IT security is a topic that has now reached almost 80 percent of boardrooms. The time is surely now for you to budget separately for security and put your money where your mouth is.

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

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AL SAHRAA GROUP H.E. DR AISHA BIN BISHR IBM WORLD OF WATSON

ICT Achievement Awards 2016

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS AECOM GROUP EMEIA CIO ANTHONY TOMAI ON THE VALUE OF TEAMWORK

Regional partner of

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EDITORIAL

Our events

WeChat: a grade too far?

By no means am I the first to comment on the phenomenon that is WeChat.

Yet as talk of the Internet of Things, and the UAE’s drive to becoming a knowledge-based economy powered by apps and data intensifies, it’s a case well worth mentioning, and one that represents a remarkable success in technology.

WeChat was launched by Chinese parent company Tencent in January 2011, and now has a whopping 800 million active monthly users, with 1.1 billion accounts in existence worldwide.

In a country where Google, Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp are all blocked, WeChat sits behind ‘the great firewall’ of China and is powered by an intricate and vast infrastructure.

The first couple of times you visit the country, Those who it feels undoubtedly strange not being to habitually frequently go access a range of consumer tech services that have in and out of become par for the course over the last five years or so.

Heck, I’ve even been on press trips where China note the vendors will offer journalists free VPN access restriction of because they understand the sheer impracticalities using multiple of the ban. apps for But for China’s residents, all these forbidden services when fruits – and more – are available in another form, they travel.

WeChat, which connects you to just about anything you want. From social networking to ordering day to day services of any ilk, it’s all there in this incredibly complicated and influential ecosystem.

And it’s addictive. Those who frequently go in and out of China have noted the restriction of using multiple apps for different services when they travel the world. It’s also envied – Zuckerberg and co have kept a watchful eye over how they can replicate the service.

The obvious thing that jumps out is just how much data WeChat is hoovering up. This app – and the Chinese government – knows the hopes, dreams and fears of its users.

I imagine this is an issue that divides opinion in the Middle East’s end user community, between those who admire the huge opportunities created by such a service, and those relieved they live in a region whose fate remains open in that regard.

You will have a huge hand to play in deciding our fate!

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

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Contents

Our Strategic Partners Strategic ICT Partner

Strategic Technology Partner

Strategic Innovation Partner

ISSUE 298 | NOVEMBER 2016

22

EVENT: ICT ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2016

32

INTERVIEW: DR AISHA BIN BISHR

36 CIO SPOTLIGHT: Anthony Tomai

14

Man and machine

18

What's in store

40

CNME hosted a roundtable in partnership with Pure Storage at the Conrad Hotel, following day one of GITEX 2016.

48 Through the fog

52

Aligning with Dubai's vision to become the "smartest city" by 2017, how can fog computing contribute to this effort?

Fresh blueprints What changes in architecture will be needed to accommodate IoT, and what types of platforms will best deliver these services?

20 Networking masters

56 The innovation challenge

44 Supply and demand

62 Common goal

CASE STUDY: AL SAHRAA GROUP

Glesni Holland reports from Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Hotel at IBM's annual World of Watson conference.

Dell EMC, in association with CNME, brought together some of the key IT executives to discuss major developments in networking.

How can the region's telecoms providers hope to deal with the surge in demand for mobile data

Avaya's Emir Susic explores how regional CIOs being urged to make the 'I' stand for Innovation in such a rapidly changing world can fulfill this mandate.

Sarah White discusses how IT and HR collaborations can further a business' success.

High-performing teams deploy more frequently and have much faster lead times.

more frequent deployments

They make changes with fewer failures, and recover faster from failures.

shorter lead times

lower change failure rate

faster recovery from failures

High-performing teams spend less time fixing security issues.

Less time spent remediating security issues

That’s because they address security at every stage of the software development and delivery cycle, instead of retrofitting security at the end.

High-performing teams spend less time on unplanned work and rework than low-performing teams.

Less time spent on

That means they can get more more new unplanned work and rework work done. In fact, they spend 29 percent more time on new work that low-performing teams. Yet they’re doing that without sacrificing equally of making their systems less secure.

New works, unplanned work and rework

Deployment automation Infrastructure automation Version control Building a continuous integration system Infrastructure monitoring Application monitoring Improving culture Test automation Visualisation of key quality and productivity metrics Setting limits on work in process (WIP) Other

Employees in high-performing organisations are 2.2 times more likely to recommend their organisation as a great place to work.

This demonstrates a much higher level of engagement — and as everyone knows, engage employees are more productive and creative.

More likely to recommend their organisation to a friend.

The percentage of survey respondents who work in a department called “DevOps� has grown steadily.

In 2016, this group is not much smaller than the number of respondents working in development/engineering departments.

DevOps creates more time for innovation.

Most organisations initially turn to DevOps to speed up release cycles and cut waste. But many tell us that DevOps has given their people more time to do innovative things that make a real difference.

Source: www.puppet.com

Discover how Fortinet’s Security Fabric enables Security Without Compromise

Adelle Geronimo, Online Editor, CNME

COLUMN

REEL TIME C

onsumers today are connected 24/7, demanding personalised and real-time engagement with the companies they’re buying from.

Live video now sits at the core of this relationship. Over the last two years, livestreaming has gained serious traction in the digital world. Today, an entirely new breed of apps like Periscope are creating a huge buzz in the market.

SMEs have a huge opportunity to deploy livestreaming technologies and platforms in various ways, including sharing events to their customers online in real-time.

Doing so increases the connection customers feel towards their business and adds a human element to their brand. This kind of investment is easy to justify once online traffic increases.

By 2019, Cisco estimates that video will account for 80 percent of consumer web traffic with mobile devices as the preferred medium of online video consumption.

Recently, social media platforms have been increasingly incorporating video as a medium to bring a more visual approach to customer interactions. However, as audiences www.cnmeonline.com

become more diverse and mobile, the demand for newer technologies for consuming content increases.

Meanwhile, at the enterprise level, there are also a variety of live video streaming solutions that are now available, such as Microsoft Stream and IBM Cloud Video.

There are many opportunities for enterprises to leverage live streaming to improve their communications strategy – both internally and externally.

A study from analyst firm Wainhouse Research revealed that 77 percent of IT executives think that their organisations should do more to capitalise on currently available video technologies, including livestreaming. This shows that as the novelty of live video technologies wears off enterprises are beginning to recognise the opportunities it can bring as a powerful tool for communications and knowledge transfer.

While many organisations may think that live video is not necessarily what they need, they will dismiss it at their peril. The IT landscape is continuously evolving and smart companies should know very well that they need to be ready to adapt and innovate for the current market with an eye to the future.

NOVEMBER 2016

11

SHORT TAKES

Month in view

SAMSUNG’S SMARTPHONE SHARE HIT BY NOTE7 DEBACLE

Samsung Electronics continued on top of the smartphone market in the third quarter but was battered by the impact of the Galaxy Note7 recall and increased competition in India, China and the US, according to Strategy Analytics.

Overall, the market grew by six percent annually to reach over 375 million units in the quarter, which was the smartphone industry’s fastest growth rate for a year, according to the research firm.

Chinese brands Huawei, Oppo and Vivo posted strong growth rates in shipments even as Samsung and Apple saw volumes drop.

“Samsung’s worldwide slowdown is due to the sizeable loss of several million Note 7 shipments, combined with fierce competition from Chinese brands like OPPO in the huge China and India markets,” said Neil Mawston, executive director, Strategy Analytics. “Samsung is filling some, but not all, of the Note 7 gap with increased S7 and S7 edge promotions.”

Samsung recalled the smartphone in September after reports of overheating lithium-ion batteries. Replacement phones also ran into similar problems, leading the company to discontinue production of the smartphone in October.

12

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DELL EMC, NEXGEN GROUP JOIN FORCES Dell EMC has announced a strategic partnership with neXgen Group, a Smart Cities advisory and managed services organisation aimed to drive the region’s advancing innovation agenda. neXgen Group specialises in extending Smart City technology solutions as a service to governments, real estate and enterprise customers across the region, and has been actively involved in flagship projects such as Smart Dubai and Smart Riyadh.

Under the partnership, neXgen Group and Dell EMC are committing to enabling governments and cities across the region to establish the ICT pillars needed to accelerate innovation adoption; deliver fast and personalised services for citizens and businesses while enabling agility and sustainability.

Ghazi Atallah, CEO, neXgen Group, said, “At neXgen Group we are committed to helping governments

$37.4

and developers across the region build cities that are powered by innovative smart services. Our strategic partnership with Dell EMC allows us to bring governments and city authorities closer to realising their digital agenda and strengthening their concerted efforts to create not only smart, but sustainable cities with a higher quality of life.”

Habib Mahakian, Vice President, Gulf and Pakistan, Dell EMC, said, “As the digital era brings about unprecedented changes in customer and business expectations, the Middle East is making headway in building future-forward cities powered by innovation. We are excited to be working together with neXgen Group and have the opportunity to create “smart societies” that foster innovation, collaboration and open engagement between governments and citizens, visitors and businesses alike.”

BN

WILL BE SPENT ON CLOUD IT INFRASTRUCTURE PRODUCTS IN 2016.

Source: IDC

www.cnmeonline.com

ORACLE HAS TAKEN ITS $9 BILLION GOOGLE COPYRIGHT DAMAGES CLAIM TO THE US COURT OF APPEALS, AFTER A JUDGE IN CALIFORNIA STRUCK DOWN ITS RETRIAL BID.

APPLE UNVEILS NEW MACBOOK LINE-UP Apple has recently announced a long awaited update to its MacBook Pro laptops at an event in San Francisco.

The laptops, both 13-inch and 15inch, feature USB-C ports and a Retina display, multi-touch ‘Touch Bar’, a strip display that replaces the escape, function keys and power keys of a regular QWERTY keyboard.

That bar also houses a Touch ID sensor, meaning the MacBook Pro is the third Apple product after the iPhone and iPad to include the technology.

The 13-inch model is 14.9mm thin, 17 percent thinner than the previous

HUAWEI TO TRANSFORM ADCCI’S IT INFRASTRUCTURE Huawei has announced that it has been selected by the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ADCCI) to completely transform its existing IT infrastructure, and deploy a converged and digital IP network.

The deployment, according to Huawei, will see ADCCI better serve current and future business members across Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. “ADCCI’s ICT environment needed to be at the forefront of technological capability to provide efficient, seamless member services while ensuring it can leverage next-generation digital technology like mobility, wireless convergence and advanced network security,” said Mohammad Huwaireb Al Muhairi, IT Director, ADCCI. “Huawei has been instrumental in revamping our network environment while future-proofing our investments for continued business growth.”

According to the vendor, the implementation of the solution reduced employee complaints to zero, and this resulted in more productivity towards providing services to the Chamber members. ADCCI saw a dramatic increase in productivity and greater levels of employee mobility for their staff, numbering over 250.

“Huawei enables enterprises across the UAE to succeed in their digital transformation by providing New ICT in an open, customer-driven ecosystem centred on its cloud-pipe-device strategy,” said Colin Hu, Vice President, Huawei Enterprise Middle East. “Huawei’s Agile Network Solution has helped ADCCI transform its ICT infrastructure, improve network operations and management while significantly reducing maintenance time and cost. Additionally, our implementation team was able to carry out a complete migration to the new network with minimal downtime or disruption of services to members, something that was critical to ADCCI.” www.cnmeonline.com

generation, and weighs 1.36kg.

Meanwhile, the 15-inch model is 15.5mm thin and is 20 percent less in volume than the last generation, weighing only 1.81kg.

The addition of the metal Apple logo on the casing means the iconic light-up Apple logo is no longer included on the MacBook Pro range.

Both models will be available in Silver and Space Grey and ship with macOS Sierra.

Apple also announced a version of the MacBook Pro without a Touch Bar that has traditional function keys and just 2 USB-C ports which is designed to replace the 13inch MacBook Air in the line-up.

ERICSSON NAMES NEW PRESIDENT AND CEO Ericsson has announced that its board of directors has appointed Börje Ekholm as President and CEO effective 16th January 2017.

Ekholm will also remain a member of Ericsson's board.

Chairman of the Board Leif Johansson said, “I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Ekholm. He has a solid understanding of both the technology and business implications of the ongoing convergence of telecoms, IT and media.”

Ekholm joins Ericsson from his current position as CEO of Patricia Industries.

“I am very excited about this opportunity,” said Ekholm. “As networks and applications become even more important in a 5G connected world, our customers, and the industry, look for continuous innovation. I look forward to joining the great team at Ericsson and working closely with existing and new customers around the world in shaping the future of our industry.”

Jan Frykhammar will remain interim CEO until 16th January 2017.

NOVEMBER 2016

13

EVENT

World of Watson 2016

MAN & MACHINE Glesni Holland reports from World of Watson 2016 in Las Vegas, where IBM executives unveiled the latest innovations in cognitive computing and demonstrated the impact that Watson can have – and is already having – on some of the world’s most important industries.

Photo: IBM World of Watson 2016

O

ver 17,000 people descended on Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Hotel to attend the second annual World of Watson conference last month. A significant proportion of those attendees packed into the T-Mobile Arena on day three of the event to eagerly await IBM CEO Ginni Rometty’s keynote appearance. In the lead up to her speech, IBM had already presented numerous ways in which the powerful platform could alter the world as we know it. One particular highlight was the unveiling of the first cognitive vehicle – better known as ‘Olli’ – which seats 12 passengers and utilises Watson’s IoT technology.

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NOVEMBER 2016

Rometty kicked off proceedings by claiming that Watson is the world’s leading AI platform for business. “When it comes to AI, we believe that the end goal is what matters, and our goal is to achieve augmented intelligence in a world with both man and machine,” she said. She went on to stress that the protection of data within such a platform is of the upmost importance, and something that made the company “sit up and pay attention” when designing the product. “Think of Watson as the place where your data goes to learn, and comes back home to you smarter, and to nobody else,” she said.

The security of this data – along with the ethics, transparency and privacy surrounding it – were key anxieties that Rometty outlined as affecting the adoption of AI technology. “We need to address some of the concerns around AI; these worries come with any new technology, and I am unfortunately old enough to remember all of them,” she quipped. “This is why we have formed an alliance called ‘Partnership on AI’ with Facebook, Google, Amazon and Microsoft, which conducts research, recommends best practices and publishes findings around these anxiety areas. We have already seen the impact of this technology, www.cnmeonline.com

and it will soon far outweigh these worries,” she said.

Watson has very quickly become a household name since its appearance on the ‘Jeopardy’ gameshow back in 2011, when it wowed the tech industry with its victory over the shows two best players. Since then, Watson’s profile has soared, and its capabilities are now impacting a wide range of industries on a daily basis, such as transportation, education and healthcare.

A partnership between General Motors and IBM was announced during Rometty’s keynote, to bring the power of OnStar and Watson together to create OnStar Go – the auto industry’s first cognitive mobility platform. This hopes to enhance drivers’ experiences by avoiding traffic when you’re low on fuel, then activating a fuel pump and paying from the dashboard; ordering a cup of coffee on the go; or getting news and in-vehicle entertainment tailored to your personality and location in real time.

This announcement coincided with a number of other revelations at Rometty’s session, including the unveiling of Watson’s ‘Teacher Advisor,’ which is said to help match teaching materials with an individual student’s needs. John King Jr, US Secretary of Education, who was present on stage for this announcement, said, “This ability for technology to build knowledge to enhance teaching potential is a great capability.”

On the entertainment front, World of Watson 2016 also welcomed Grammy award-winner Alex Da Kid on stage to discuss how he and Watson joined forces to make cognitive music.

Watson analysed the last five years of culture and music data to www.cnmeonline.com

uncover new emotional insights to augment Alex’s creative process. “I always say I don’t play instruments that well, but I can play the laptop extremely well,” the music producer said. “Technology is paramount to my process, and being able to collaborate with Watson just took everything to another level.”

Perhaps the most enthralling announcement of the afternoon involved IBM’s recent partnership with Teva Pharmaceuticals.

Professor Yitzhak Peterburg, chairman of the board of directors at Teva, announced that the partnership would involve video call consultations between patients and healthcare professionals, as well as facilitating the introduction of 3D-pill printers and IoT medication dispensers equipped with consumption verifiers; all available from inside a patient’s home. There are also plans to introduce cognitive asthmatic inhalers.

“By leveraging our smart cloud connected technology, we can provide patients with technology to better understand their healthcare,” said Peterburg. “Together with IBM Watson, we are proud to announce a new joint project which aims to warn people of an imminent asthma attack up to six hours before it occurs by

When it comes to AI, we believe that the goal matters, and our goal is to achieve augmented intelligence in a world with both man and machine.

– Ginni Rometty, CEO, IBM

sending an alert to their smartphone.

This can prevent unnecessary trips to the hospitals, cut costs, and allow patients to get on with their lives.”

Meanwhile, demonstrations took place at the ‘Cognitive Concourse’ to showcase the language, speech, visionary and sympathy characteristics that Watson could interpret, whilst attendees were also able to experience cognitive computing first-hand in practical exhibitions involving VR and a ‘Cognitive Professionals Escape Room.’

Rometty concluded her keynote appearance with the expectation that over the next five years, almost every decision we make will involve Watson AI. “Together, we are changing the world,” she said. “But boy, this is just the beginning.”

NOVEMBER 2016

15

Toshiba T3100

P

ortable computers were the up and coming thing back in the late 1980s. The release of the Toshiba T3100 in 1986 struck a fine balance between strong computing power, whilst also being durable and portable – though some may say it wasn’t technically ‘portable’ as it still required an external power source.

It featured a 10 MB hard drive, 8 MHz Intel 80286 CPU and a monochrome 9.6-inch gas-plasma display with a resolution of up to 640x400 pixels. This resolution, for the time, was especially high.

Upon initial release, there were two expansion accessories available. One was an internal 1200 baud modem; the second an expansion card and chassis that housed five standard 8-bit ISA slots.

In time, other third-party compatible accessories

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NOVEMBER 2016

were made available, such as an Ethernet NIC, a faster (2400 baud) modem, and a 1MB memory card, further extending the system RAM beyond the original 2.6MB limit.

The device was 12.2 inches wide, 14.2-inches long and 3.1-inches thick, and it weighed a hefty 7.5kg; hardly ‘portable’ in today’s world. However, it did have a built-in handle to help make it easier to carry, which also doubled as a stand when the device was in use.

In the wake of T3100’s release, four other models followed swiftly behind it, namely the: T3100/20, with a larger 20 MB hard drive; the T3100e, which had a 12 MHz 80286 CPU, 1MB RAM and a 20MB hard drive; the T3100e/40, which was the same as the T3100e, but with a larger 40MB hard drive; and the T3100SX, which included an internal rechargeable battery for true portability.

www.cnmeonline.com

ROUNDTABLE

Pure Storage

What’s in store Following the first day of GITEX Technology Week 2016 and prior to the seventh annual ICT Achievement Awards at the Conrad Hotel, CNME hosted a roundtable discussion in partnership with Pure Storage, which allowed CIOs to share their thoughts on the levels and types of service they expect from vendors.

John Hayes, co-founder and chief architect, Pure Storage

M

aking the trip from Silicon Valley, John Hayes, co-founder and chief architect, Pure Storage, set the scene for the discussion by giving a brief insight into the company’s operations and history. He was joined by Yousuf Khan, Pure Storage’s vice president 18

NOVEMBER 2016

of IT, who said, “Seven years ago, we didn’t exist. Now, we have customers across 28 countries and we are one of the fastest growing companies in the business. Our core strength is identifying the needs of customers.”

This posed the first discussion topic of the afternoon: what is it that customers really need in terms of

storage? End-users from a number of sectors, including banking, telecoms, education and the automotive industry were present got their teeth into the complex topic.

Sebastian Samuel, CIO, AW Rostamani Group, said, “Automotive used to be an obsolete business. I used to worry about getting leads, selling cars and maintaining a salary.

Now, we face a different array of challenges relating to business, which are focused around making real-time decisions quickly. In this new era of speed and connectivity, I believe storage architecture solutions need to change.”

Riyad Salah, Head of ICT, Sharjah Asset Management, outlined what storage vendors should be looking to provide if they are to fulfil customer satisfaction. “You need to bring in a product with a roadmap that doesn’t require customers to upgrade every www.cnmeonline.com

three years. Pure Storage should be looking to make a promise to us as a customer that the company is going to support us for a long time – I’m talking 10-20 years – so that the product can keep growing with the customer.”

Shabeer Mohammed, vice president, IT operations, Mashreq Bank, discussed his personal experiences of using varied storage quantities in the past, from 1GB disks all the way up to petabytes.

“Where are we heading with storage?” he said. “Right now, we are in a situation of perpetual ransom, which resurfaces every three years. In the fourth year, we are given an option; upgrade the product, or adopt a new migration.”

Rusty Bruns, chief information officer, United Education Company, and former director of IT at the American University of Kuwait, pointed out that from a higher education standpoint, he looks for indepth partnerships with companies “beyond the point of purchase,” to ensure complete satisfaction. “A good partnership will notify me of a new product release – even if it’s not their product – just because they know my infrastructure so well. If I’m in partnership with a company, they should know exactly what it is that I’m doing and look beyond the sales cycle,” he said.

Partnering with a supportive vendor seemed to be a factor of general consensus during the discussion, in the process of redefining a company’s storage architecture. “One of the most fundamental things is having support from the vendor, and partnering with a company that is proactive – not reactive – in suggesting new solutions,” said Khan.

Within these new innovations, Miguel Angel Villalonga, vice president, Cloud and Data www.cnmeonline.com

One of the most fundamental things is having support from the vendor, and partnering with a company that is proactive – not reactive – in suggesting new solutions. - Yousuf Khan, vice president of IT, Pure Storage

Centre, Etisalat, picked up on four important factors that vendors must consider when building their cloud storage solution: speed, performance, cost and availability.

“Offering a cloud system is all about manageability,” he said.

This statement set the precedent for the next topic of discussion: should organisational change take priority over technological change?

“IT departments aren’t deciding which SaaS solutions are being bought anymore – it’s the legal team,” said Hayes. “In order to drive fragmentation in infrastructures, it’s organisational changes that need making as opposed to technological changes. One thing becoming more common nowadays is organising IT around certain disciplines.”

The discussion then turned to the topic of shadow IT. “I believe that IT is an enabler,” said Hayes, “but can it be the leader of innovation in a company?”

Bruns said that from an education perspective, he believed that could be the case. “Our students wanted notifications delivered directly to their phone to notify them if there was an important email that they needed to read,” he said. “We

have all forms of social media to make such announcements, but they wanted more. Fortunately, we were able to put that together for them, but it comes back to asking what it is that users want.”

Having efficient solutions within data centres also seemed to be a game changer for many end-users.

Samuel discussed how ‘green IT’ was becoming increasingly important for IT professionals. “As CIOs, we should start talking about how we can bring along a reduced CO2 footprint for the next generation, starting with everyone implementing a CO2 monitor,” he said. “Printed paper is no longer necessary for things like authorisation or entry; barcode scanning can be accessed on any device, which would reduce the amount of paper used. The fact that this year’s GITEX passes have been printed baffles me.”

Hayes contradicted this, and said, “But paper always works.

Imagine the chaos if the network was down at GITEX and people were unable to retrieve their barcode?

Who is responsible for this at such a huge event? It’s difficult to find an application with that level of reliability,” he said.

NOVEMBER 2016

19

ROUNDTABLE

Dell EMC

Networking masters As a timely warm up to CNME's ICT Achievement Awards 2016, Dell EMC sponsored a CNME roundtable that brought together a selection of IT executives to discuss key developments in networking, and gauge where regional orgnisations stand in their SDN readiness.

T

raditional networking is based on a closed, proprietary and vertically integrated model that limits users' ability to innovate or tailor networks to meet their business needs. However, change is now afoot in enterprise networking, and it is clear that software-defined networking will be the bedrock of future crucial infrastructure component.

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“We call it open networking, and our strategy is to disaggregate hardware and software, opening up choices our customers," said Andreas Falkner, sales engineering director EMEA, Dell EMC, who kicked off the proceedings with a presentation.

"We are in the Garner Magic Quadrant as the most innovative and disruptive networking company in the market."

Some of the pain points related to networking were discussed by the CIOs in the room, most notably the question of investment protection. “Most organisations are filled with Cisco gear, and over the years, we have invested heavily in networking infrastructure," said Dr Jassim Haji, director of IT, Gulf Air. "The management and compatibility would be the key issues if we were to move to a www.cnmeonline.com

different vendor,” Jeroen Wisse, IT director, Accor Hotels, said, echoing Haji. "I don’t want to worry about what box I have, but I want to manage it. We are looking for a management and monitoring solution independent of the vendor. I am not looking to replace any of the legacy infrastructure I have but I am looking for a hardware-independent solution that can manage the network.”

Shabbir Ahmad, regional sales director, Dell EMC, agreed that business applications should be running independent of hardware, and said that this is exactly what the company is bringing to the market.

“We are addressing the challenge by decoupling switch hardware from software so users can quickly scale networks at low cost with any industry standard hardware, and without the entanglements of vendor lock-in,” he said.

The question of a hybrid model, which would allow enterprises to adopt SDN without ripping and

Andreas Falkner, sales engineering director EMEA, Dell EMC

replacing existing infrastructure was raised by Haji from Gulf Air. This was answered by Falkner, who said that Dell EMC supports a hybrid model and OpenFlow protocols. “You cannot just switch off traditional networks and put a new one in place. With SDN, we want to automate as much

In the next couple of years, networks will go away. Everyone is on wireless networks now; workloads are moving to cloud and data centres continue to shrink.

- Ajay Rathi, CIO, Meraas

www.cnmeonline.com

as possible, scale and adapt the network, so you don’t need a highly skilled IT team to manage it.”

While many CIOs who participated in the discussion said they are considering SDN for future deployments with the availability of open source hardware platforms, the impact of wireless on wired networks was also debated by some. “In the next couple of years, networks will go away," said Ajay Rathi, CIO, Meraas Holding. "Everyone is on wireless networks now; workloads are moving to cloud and data centres continue to shrink. The access switches are already going away, and the question to ask is ‘where is the network going?'”

SDN might be a hot subject in the industry now, but the roundtable attendees were unanimous in their opinion that it would be some time before the tech is widely adopted in the region.

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Lucky number 7

The seventh edition of CNME’s ICT Achievement Awards recognised individuals and organisations that have generated business value through creative IT from across the region.

The annual event, which took place at the Conrad Hotel following the first day of GITEX Technology Week 2016, honoured companies from SMBs to large, multibillion-dollar enterprises from a range of industries.

Nominations were reviewed and judged by a panel of industry experts, and achievements were awarded based on the breadth and depth of initiatives that had been demonstrated through specific, measureable results.

With awards spanning across 21 different categories, from vertical deployment, to vendor and individual awards, all of our winners portrayed a fantastic array of skills and knowledge in a range of fields in IT.

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FINALISTS:

CIO of the Year: Sebastian Samuel As the CIO of AWRostamani Group, Sebastian Samuel heads a team of 45 members, responding effectively to changing and evolving business needs. Under his leadership, the IT organisation has been able to minimise operating costs, maximise process efficiencies and increase employee productivity across AWR businesses. One of the recent pioneering projects led by Samuel was the implementation of a tablet-based solution in the AWR after-sales service operations by developing an in-house app, which helps service advisors to perform their vehicle receiving activities more efficiently.

Samuel also currently serves as the president of Oracle Middle East User Group, and AWR IT is one of the leading references in the region for Oracle implementations in the automotive industry.

www.cnmeonline.com

Abdulrahman Alonaizan, Arab National Bank Ajay Rathi, Meraas Ali Abdul Aziz Al-Ali, ADNOC Distribution Ali Al Ali, Health Authority, Abu Dhbai Anthony Tomai, AECOM Investment Hamad Rashid Suwaid, Nakilat Hessa Alsuwaidi, Ministry of Infrastructure Development, UAE Hussam Al Nowais, twofour54 Kumar Prasoon, Al Safeer Mario Foster, Al Naboodah Mohamed Sabah, TECOM Vinay Sharma, Gulftainer Younis Othman, Dubai Customs

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Editor’s choice - Private Sector: McDonald’s McDonald’s carried out a services transformation project as its legacy solution was at the end of its life and too cumbersome to use. The project resulted in a 29 percent reduction in time to resolve all service incidents, and one single consolidated platform that enables uniform process definition and utilisation across the entire enterprise.

Editor’s choice – Public Sector: Ministry of Interior, KSA Large-scale ceremonies and rituals of the Hajj involve millions of people from all over the world, and pose a security and logistical challenge to the Saudi Arabia government. The Ministry implemented a safe city solution that offers future-ready scalable IT infrastructure, which significantly reduced the emergency response time to incidents and faster case closure.

Future CIO of the year: Awad Ahmed Ali El-Sidiq

FINALISTS:

Ahmed Askar, Al Sahraa Group Michael Gau, RAK Academy Mohamed AlHammadi, Dubai Culture Mohammad Khaled, Regulation and Supervision Bureau

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Mohammed Ali AlAbdooli, Dubai Department of Economic Development Mohannad Hennawi, Naffco Nobert Susai, Al Fara’a Group Sheikh Adnan Ahmed, Wasl

With more than 12 years of experience in architecting and managing large enterprise database applications and digital trans formation projects, delivering services to more than 10,000 users and millions of customers across all ADNOC Distribution business lines, El-Sidiq plays a key role in setting the IT strategy and vision for the organisation. He is also a strategic director of the Middle East Oracle User Group, providing directions to members on digital transformation, cloud computing and Big Data technologies.

www.cnmeonline.com

IT team of the year: AECOM Middle East

FINALISTS: Dubai Culture and Arts Authority Dubai Customs Emirates Islamic Emirates NBD General Civil Aviation Authority Gulf Air

Health Authority Abu Dhabi Meraas Nakilat Philips Electronics Middle East & Africa TECOM Group

AECOM Middle East IT team’s motto is ‘we are one team,’ and that is reflected in the collaborative and effective approach in working together across multiple locations. With members specialising in support services, development, infrastructure, management and leadership, the team has made a dramatic change in the past 18 months, no longer being perceived as break/fix service providers, but as value-added partners embedded within the business.

Energy deployment of the year: ADNOC Distribution To meet the rapidly growing business demands, the IT organisation of ADNOC has transformed and built a technology infrastructure that is aligned to the company’s vision – agile, innovative, value-driven and reliable.

The transformation projects included database consolidation, private cloud implementation and Big Data solutions to optimise business decision making.

FINALISTS: ADCO ADMA-OPCO

Kuwait Oil Company

Nakilat

Education deployment of the year: Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University

FINALISTS: Abu Dhabi University Al Manara Schools American University of Kuwait

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Ministry of Education, Oman Ministry of Education, UAE

HBMSU launched its Smart Campus mobile app, on both iOS and Android platforms last year. The Smart Campus, which supports both Arabic and English, has succeeded in engaging the entire university community by offering easy access to a suite of integrated, online services.

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Healthcare deployment of the year: Canadian Specialist Hospital

FINALISTS:

Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Group Inaya Medical Centre King Saud University Medical City

Medcare Sidra Medical and Research Centre Zulekha Healthcare Group

CSH embarked on a clinical and business transformation project with the vision of establishing a single, integrated record for each patient across various care settings, while allowing for enterprise-wide implementation of registration, scheduling functionality and seamless workflows. The project has resulted in significant cost savings, and a decrease in the number of manual procedures.

Construction and real estate deployment of the year: Aldar Properties To meet its ambitious growth plans and enhance the customer experiences across a portfolio of assets - ranging from property, asset management, malls and hotels - Aldar’s IT team integrated its sales, marketing and service channels. Built on the Oracle CX platform, the integration of marketing, lead management, sales and customer service processes under one system helped Aldar to significantly improve its revenues and customer satisfaction.

FINALISTS: Gulf Precast Concrete Company Meraas

Retail deployment of the year: Al Safeer Group

FINALISTS: Al Nasser Group AW Rostamani Group

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BinHendi Cara Jewellers Chocolateness

Al Safeer, a conglomerate with interests in retail, malls, entertainment and real estate, has integrated its business operations to improve decision making, customer service levels and optimise inventory. The project has led to improved control of inventory management and expedited in-store operations in addition to accurate store inventory visibility into all channels.

www.cnmeonline.com

Hospitality and tourism deployment of the year: Gulf Air Gulf Air started its digital transformation journey to automate business processes and eliminate paper by re-engineering business functions and building scalable back-end solutions.

FINALISTS: Burj Khalifa Emirates Palace Hotel IMG Worlds of Adventure

These solutions were delivered through Gulf Air’s internally built hybrid cloud, that is geographically distributed over five continents, and integrated with the other system providers, airlines and airport authorities, ensuring real-time data availability and accessibility.

Qatar Airways Rotana Group YBA Kanoo

Telecom deployment of the year: Mobily Mobily has deployed an enterprise workload management with the objective of enhancing its complaint handling processes. Instead of tasks being “pulled” ad hoc by back office agents, the solution pushes tasks to back office agents while prioritising them. This enables staff to work more efficiently by handling prioritised tasks and also enabled improved accountability.

FINALISTS: Viva

Government Deployment of the Year: General Civil Aviation Authority, UAE

FINALISTS:

Department of Municipal Affairs and Transport, Abu Dhabi Dubai Customs

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Dubai Financial Market Dubai Municipality Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority EGA RAK

Ministry of Infrastructure Development Dubai Ministry of Interior, KSA RTA Dubai

Last year, GCCA carried out a study on its information security posture, where the need for data protection and privileged identity access was highlighted. As a result, the Authority has implemented a data governance framework to ensure data protection from loss and unauthorised access. This included a comprehensive suite of solutions comprising data classifications, DLP, data rights management solution and identity access management.

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BFSI deployment of the year: Emirates Islamic

FINALISTS: Al Ramz Capital compareit4me.com

Emirates NBD Kuwait Credit Bank

Mashreq Bank Union Insurance

Last year, EI introduced a trade finance solution that largely contributed to the growth of the trade sector in the UAE. EI is the first Islamic bank in the world to offer this customisable Shari’a compliant online trade finance and supply chain platform functionality. This straight through process allows the bank’s business and corporate customers to process funding contracts in an entirely paperless environment.

Managed services provider of the year: eHosting DataFort eHosting DataFort (eHDF), part of the MIDIS Group, offers managed hosting and cloud infrastructure services in the Gulf region through its multiple Tier 3 data centres. eHDF stands out in the services marketplace because of its ability to provide strategic, financial and operational benefits to customers and to act as an extension to their in-house IT department.

FINALISTS: Finesse

OMA Emirates

Systems integrator of the year: TransSys Solutions With proven success around Oracle cloud services, TransSys has successfully delivered several on-premise and cloud solutions by integrating them with each other as well as to the existing IT systems.

FINALISTS: AGC Condo Protego

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EMW Intertec Systems

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Hardware vendor of the year: Dell EMC

FINALISTS: Cisco Huawei Middle East InfiNet Wireless Riverbed Sophos

The newly combined company continues to focus on meeting the needs of next-gen data centres, which include traditional applications and workloads, as well as supporting future initiatives such as software-defined infrastructure with industry standard hardware.

The new powerhouse represents the best-of-breed technologies and offers a holistic, full services portfolio that can cater to the needs of practically every IT buyer.

www.cnmeonline.com

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Software vendor of the year: SAP SAP continues its commitment to driving the Middle East and North Africa's digital transformations, helping organisations to ‘run simple’ and improving the lives of citizens.

FINALISTS:

Avaya Epicor Software Corporation Netscout Nexthink Silver Peak Web NMS

SAP’s Future Cities platform co-innovates with 4,500 governments, and is sharing best practices with DEWA and FEWA, and training Emirati nationals with RAK eGov Authority and Sharjah Tatweer Forum.

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Storage vendor of the year: Pure Storage

FINALISTS: EMC

Pure Storage is committed to redefining modern storage and helping customers on their journey to the all-flash data centre. The vendor has recently launched its Evergreen Storage programme, which allows customers to deploy storage once and independently upgrade performance, capacity and connectivity.

NetApp

Security vendor of the year: Palo Alto Networks Globally and in the region, Palo Alto Networks' 'Next-Generation Security Platform' prevents threats across the entire attack lifecycle by automating security in a way that transcends individual capabilities and is easily deployed as either hardware or software, in the network, on endpoints and in the cloud.

FINALISTS: Attivo Networks Cisco

Fortinet F5 Networks

Security solutions provider of the year: Help AG Since its inception in 2004, Help AG has focused solely on the delivery of IT security services, consultancy and solutions. It offers managed security services, cybersecurity support, consulting, analysis and integration.

FINALISTS: CTM 360

www.cnmeonline.com

Zservices

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INTERVIEW

H.E. Dr Aisha Bin Bishr

The pursuit of happiness

Spearheading the emirate’s ambitions to be a “happier” Smart City by 2020, director general of Smart Dubai, H.E. Dr Aisha Bin Bishr, is also a champion of bringing more women into the tech industry. James Dartnell caught up with her at the 18th Global Women In Leadership forum.

W

hat progress has been made since Dubai’s Smart City ambitions were announced in March 2014?

At the end of November, we will see our first digital backbone go live. The Dubai Data Law, which was enforced in November last year, means that entities have started to onboard their data to our platform. Shared data will allow us to integrate the whole government, and give real meaning to e-Government and Smart Government.

Also crucial to this is the IoT platform, where sensors across the city from different entities will contribute to the platform, which will allow us to benefit from the incoming data.

A collaborative approach in the city, with the government and private sector working hand in hand – partnerships which I believe are unique, and of course need to be 32

NOVEMBER 2016

tested with proof of concepts – will allow us to scale these initiatives across the city.

What about in terms of R&D that comes out of Dubai itself?

We have many R&D and innovation centres across the country, which have allowed a lot of entities to open their doors to accept young people to innovate with them. Our strategic partner, Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority, has an innovation centre that focuses on Smart Cities.

Our innovation partners such as Huawei, SAP and Intel are working with us to provide the right tools for those innovators. Also, we have the Future Accelerators programme, which started a few months ago, and is allowing startups to come on board and fulfill their ambitions and challenges. In this region, the government tends to solve its

challenges internally, and it takes a long time to find the right solutions.

We are now trying to think outside of the box to help young people come and join us in solving these challenges.

What progress do you expect to have made by 2020, both in terms of technology and equality development?

Technology alone is not our end goal in terms of delivering a Smart Dubai. It’s a means to our end goal, which is for Dubai to be the happiest city on earth, and to enrich the experience of our city by having a more efficient and safer place. We know that the speed of technology will be crucial in developing new and more innovative technologies.

We are making the most of technology opportunities, and are already making effective use of the Internet of Things and Big Data, and www.cnmeonline.com

With the solutions in Dubai’s pipeline, we are setting a benchmark not only for the region, but also for all emerging markets.

putting proper governance solutions around utilising them.

The Dubai Government is already using these kinds of solutions to help us reach our end goal.

How does the UAE compare to the rest of the GCC on that front?

We are currently ranked very high in a number of industries globally. Whether that’s in terms of our communications infrastructure, spread of smartphones and adapting to technology, I believe that with the solutions www.cnmeonline.com

H.E. Dr Aisha Bin Bishr, director general of Smart Dubai NOVEMBER 2016

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INTERVIEW

H.E. Dr Aisha Bin Bishr

in our pipeline, we are setting a benchmark not only for the region, but also for all emerging markets.

Beyond 2020, what results do you expect to see from the Smart Dubai initiative?

For us, next year will be transformational, as we move from the enablement phase to the impact phase.

Last year, we pushed a lot of new technologies into our infrastructure, and now we need to see the impact of these technologies in reality. In other cities, the idea of a Smart City hasn’t gone beyond labs and universities, which means it is not a reality.

The Internet of Things has seen the greatest uptake in that regard, and utilising data. Until now, Big Data was theoretical – seeing how it would affect decision making. We’ve adapted these technologies and solutions and made them a part of our processes and decision making. That differentiates us.

What progress have you seen in terms of increasing the number of women in executive positions in technology?

We’ve seen a lot of ladies reaching executive positions. We now have four CIOs of government entities who are women. That’s unprecedented.

In terms of executive positions across the board, we’re seeing female director generals, directors of departments, ambassadors – you name it.

Do you think that you set an example in this regard?

Absolutely. Many ladies approach me and say that they hope to reach a senior position like me. I hope I can stoke a desire for other women to be in these positions.

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Over 18 percent of young women in the UAE aspire to be CEOs, a figure that far outstrips averages in most developed countries.

What does that spell for this country’s future?

We know that our government is a big supporter of women being

Next year will be transformational, as we move from the enablement phase to the impact phase. in positions throughout different levels in our government, so I don’t doubt that we will attain even higher percentages in the coming years.

The future is undoubtedly bright in our region.

Surely the 37 percent of unemployed women in this country also represent a huge economic opportunity?

The government is already doing a lot to create these opportunities. It’s now up to women to capture them.

I don’t believe there is any other government that supports ladies in the ways that ours does. Women can work in any sector that they want to.

Are these women the answer you’re looking for in filling the skills gap that exists in this country?

I was recently talking with one of my colleagues, who said that we now don’t have any issues in allowing ladies to balance their life with technology.

Many women are starting to work from home, and are choosing the right time for them to join the workforce so they can balance family life.

Is technology a fitting industry for certain cultures across this region that restrict women?

Absolutely. Allowing women to work from home with technology allows them to progress, even though they are not necessarily on the front line. I know many female Saudi CIOs who have been helped by working in this way.

Also, the large investment being made by a number of technology companies in the region is allowing a lot of young women, and society, to open up to the idea of women working in IT. How would you compare the opportunities that existed when you were growing up next to those that exist now for women?

Young women now need to take advantage of the opportunities that exist. Nothing is stopping them today. Thirty years ago there were many boundaries, including a lack of technologies and policies, but now everything is set up to support women being in the workforce.

Nowadays, it is a golden era for women. They can be whatever they want; nothing can stop them whether we’re talking about education or work opportunities. We never thought we would have women in the aerospace or nanotechnology sectors, but now entities are ready and willing to take them on. www.cnmeonline.com

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LEADING

ICT IN SMART CITY

CIO

Spotlight

Helping hand

Heading a group that was recently named IT Team of the Year at CNME’s ICT Achievement Awards, Anthony Tomai believes in bringing a human touch to the office. Since his move to the Middle East two years ago, the AECOM EMEIA CIO is already enthused with the opportunities the region can bring.

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Working for corporates is fantastic, but in many ways there’s more to life than shareholders and profitability.” It’s clear for anyone to see that Anthony Tomai has got things in perspective. Having been CIO for one of the world’s largest construction and engineering companies for its Europe, Middle East, India and Africa region for just over a year, an understanding of key nuances is important for Tomai. His peoplefriendly philosophy seems to be paying off – AECOM’s IT department was recently judged to be the Middle East’s Team of the Year at CNME’s seventh ICT Achievement Awards.

Born to Italian parents, Tomai was raised in Melbourne, Australia, and left school to join the Kangan Institute in Melbourne to undertake his higher education.

His fascination with technology was ignited by all the “big tech” that sat in back offices. “Shortly after you finish high school, you start to contemplate what kind of career you want, and technology fascinated me,” he says. “Things like mainframes and data centres – all then stuff that was hidden away but powered all the services that people consumed,” he says. “I was intrigued by the ways you could use these technologies to deliver a range of services to paying clients.”

Graduating with a diploma in IT, an ambitious Tomai set about building his CV with experience at worldrenowned organisations. Shortly after gaining his diploma, Tomai earned a short work experience stint at Ford Motors, and his time at the corporation was enough to convince

“

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him of his ability to work on large scale IT projects. “It was a great taste of tech, and how it could be deployed to help millions of customers,” he says.

The experience served as a fantastic springboard for Tomai’s career, and he began plying his trade as an IT contractor across a range of firms. Tomai relished the diversity of projects that he undertook. “It was great to have so many different projects coming in,” he says. “One week could be completely different from the next.” Working on a lot of anti-virus and security projects – as well as migrating from Windows 3.11 to Windows 2000 operating systems – Tomai worked “for a number” of MNCs in his role. One such firm was professional services giant PwC, who were so impressed with his work that they hired him as a senior IT consultant in 1998.

Tomai recalls having witnessed a number of incidents in the IT department, where careless mistakes from staff severely impacted the business, and resulted in irate bosses, but he remains grateful for the strong grounding so early in his working life. “As you go through an IT career, you learn to build a sense

“

Technology directly impacts revenue, so it’s necessary to build ‘healthy paranoia.’”

of healthy paranoia,” he says. “I learned that making certain changes during business hours that negatively impact operations could really land the person responsible in hot water. That teaches you to be extra aware, especially in terms of security implications. Technology directly impacts revenue, so it’s necessary to build that healthy paranoia.”

Tomai moved on to join transcription service provider Auscript, this time boosting his CV by working as IT team leader in the company’s Melbourne office. After a two-year spell at Auscript, Tomai jumped at the chance to join not-forprofit organisation Berry Street, a company that strives to help neglected and abused children. Once again, he joined in an IT team leader capacity.

“I felt very proud that I could give something back and play my part in helping disadvantaged kids,” he says.

In January 2003, engineering and design firm Parsons Brinckerhoff came knocking for Tomai’s services, and he would begin what would be a long and fruitful association with the company. His initial duties included managing information systems, technical support and production systems for PB’s business in Victoria, but over time he ascended the ranks to take on a series of transformative IT projects.

The last year-and-a-half of his tenure was spent as CIO, where he was responsible for managing a multimillion-dollar budget for the firm’s Australia Pacific region, with 40 IT staff on his team.

The proudest moment of Tomai’s career came at a company Christmas function, where the chief executive NOVEMBER 2016

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CIO

Spotlight

paid homage to him in a glowing speech. “He said that anyone who wanted an example of making positive change could look at the work I was doing in the IT department,” Tomai says. “He said that my work was having a direct impact in terms of generating revenue. It was great to be publically acknowledged like that by the top person in the company.”

Looking back on his time at the company, Tomai believes he left a good legacy in terms of the change he introduced. “We weren’t just responsible for the back end, but were providing front end solutions that made a difference to the business,” he says. “We were ultimately able to

“

TIMELINE 1998

Joins not-forprofit firm Berry Street

Joins professional services firm PwC

2002

I was intrigued by the ways you could use technology to deliver services to paying clients.”

deliver faster outcomes for clients.”

In July 2013, construction group John Holland spied something they liked, and appointed Tomai their group manager for business services.

His time at the company afforded him some excellent exposure to the workings of an M&A deal, as the company was acquired by Chinese firm CCCI. “I was at the front end of the process, and that provided me with fantastic experience,” he says.

Just over two years ago, Tomai was contacted by the former CFO of Parsons Brinckerhoff, who made him an interesting proposition. “He tried to persuade me to move to Abu Dhabi to join AECOM,” he says. “I was initially a bit skeptical, but he offered to fly my family and I out so we could see the place for ourselves. Two months later, and we had all moved over.”

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Initially joining AECOM as IT director for the India, Middle East and Africa region, Tomai was made EMEIA CIO just over a year ago having settled in quickly.

The quality of life in the UAE has already grabbed Tomai. “I believe I’m very fortunate to be here,” he says. “This country is as safe as any I’ve ever been to, and my kids have excellent schooling. The diversity here is great. On any given day you will encounter a dozen or more nationalities, and that’s a fantastic learning experience in itself.”

Tomai has long harboured ambitions to further his education, and is “6-12 months” away from

NOVEMBER 2016

completing an MBA course. What’s more, he draws great pride in leading an IT team whose success is founded on a “family” atmosphere. “We’re extremely committed to looking after our staff,” Tomai says. “Their development is very important to us, and we’re always keen to invest in external training so they can develop both personally and technically.”

He draws inspiration from his close family members, and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson.

“He’s a brilliant leader; he’s done an incredible job of engaging and motivating his workforce,” Tomai says. “They’re happy to go to work, and want to be a part of the business. I believe my inner values stem from my parents – the desire to look after people, and be happy, not just successful.”

2003

Appointed Group Manager for ICT at John Holland

2014

Joins engineering company Parsons Brinckerhoff

2013

Moves to Abu Dhabi to join AECOM

www.cnmeonline.com

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CASE STUDY

AL SAHRAA GROUP

ROAD TO SUCCESS Driven to develop its diversified business, transport and logistics provider Al Sahraa Group has developed in-house software to provide better accountability of its processes, which has enabled the firm to build a duo of sleek customer-facing apps.

ounded in 1968, Al Sahraa Group has grown into one of the UAE’s largest transportation and logistics companies, with 1,000 road vehicles and a total of 2,800 pieces of heavy industrial equipment – including cranes, bulldozers and tanks – in its fleet. The Group now has over 3,000 employees and 35 companies across its umbrella, also operating in the construction and metal industries.

F

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The company is currently involved in a series of large-scale projects, including the development of vital road infrastructure in Fujairah, as well as army base construction and logistics. With a series of complex processes in its operations, the demands placed on technology within the company are always testing.

Shortly after joining the company as CIO just over a year ago, Ahmed Askar set about transforming the IT department by working alongside other senior influencers within the

“Mobile apps and the Internet are the easiest ways for customers to request services, which we can deliver in just three clicks.” www.cnmeonline.com

organisation. “It was important that I involved managers who understood technology, and how we could use it to upgrade the business,” he says. “There were a number of objectives that I had to address.

From an early stage, I earned the support of our CEO, which has proved to be crucial.” www.cnmeonline.com

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CASE STUDY

AL SAHRAA GROUP

One of Al Sahraa’s key mandates at the time was to increase its ability to win more business from the public sector. “Al Sahraa is already the sole logistics provider to the UAE army,” Askar says. “However, our chairman also made it clear that he wanted us to reach a level where 90 percent of our business was with government clients.”

Having conducted a series of assessments as to where Al Sahraa’s IT could be improved, Askar discovered one flaw that had to be addressed.

“There were a few issues which could be linked to the existence of a gap between our CRM and ERP systems,” he says. “A range of departments had gaps between their vision and targets, and the actual reality of what was being delivered. In many cases, it was difficult to identify why effective results could not be achieved.”

With KPIs and workflows not sufficiently managed, Askar sought to develop Web-based software that could monitor them across departments, as well as keeping track of operations. ‘Netlook’ – the software developed and successfully deployed by Al Sahraa – has already proved to be a fantastic addition both internally and from a customer service perspective. “Contact from e-mail, phone, web portals, forms and chat creates tickets, verifies SLAs and sets timelines for task completion,” he says. “This has created a concise ticketing system that ensures tasks are completed in a timely manner.

This has allowed us to evaluate our KPIs and provide clear reports for each activity, empowering us to deliver on Al Sahraa’s objectives.”

Askar believes that the solution has given Al Sahraa greater transparency to ensure customers are not left wanting.

“The key word that sums up Netlook is ‘accountability,’” he says. “We need to know how to define targets and evaluate employee behaviour.”

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"The key word that sums up Netlook is 'accountability.'

We need to know how to define targets and evaluate employee behaviour."

Another major benefit that Netlook has brought is the ease with which senior management figures can access influential data. “It’s important that we build a mobile outlook,” Askar says. “It’s essential that our CEO has visibility of this information from her mobile device, and that her experience is straightforward.”

The back office software developed

by Al Sahraa’s IT team has enabled the company to look at developing a series of enhanced front end services. Chief among these is a duo of smartphone applications that are designed to provide a series of vehicle services to customers, including maintenance, oil changes and towing. Interestingly, the service accommodates a broad range vehicle , including heavy vehicles, boats and jet-skis.

Launched in October, Al Fazaa is the “VIP” application of the pair, which entitles users to unlimited vehicle services for one year after they have paid a lump sum. The Al Sahraa application, meanwhile, comes free of charge and offers similar services to Al Fazaa, and is due to launch in December.

Netlook has played an important role in the roll-out of the apps.

“Improving our back end processes

has given us greater understanding into customer needs, and has improved our ability to respond to them as quickly as possible,” he says.

Both applications will allow users to send service requests, and then be contacted by staff at Al Sahraa’s call centres if further details are required.

Askar believes that the ease of use will be a huge selling point for users. “Mobile apps and the Internet are the easiest ways for customers to request services, which we can deliver in just three clicks,” he says. “All we need to know is a customer’s location and the service they require, on top of their details, which they will have already inputted.”

Askar has also added the option for customers to schedule a series of services for times that suit their busy lifestyles, including vehicle collections.

“Sometimes it isn’t convenient for customers to have their car collected immediately – they may have recognised a fault but still need to get to work,” he says. “This service makes their life easier in that regard.”

Already enthused with the response to the service, Askar believes the UAE is a market that is ripe for VIP vehicle services. “We even offer towing for sports cars, which are lower – and so require special treatment – than regular vehicles.”

Although it is hard for Askar to fully measure the merits of the two applications, he is highly confident that they will prove to be a significant value-add for Al Sahraa Group. “There’s no doubt that they will provide substantial ROI for the company,” he says. “We are the only local firm to be providing these kinds of services from smart applications.”

Reflecting on his year as CIO, Askar feels he has already offered a positive contribution to Al Sahraa.

“I think we’ve already made a lot of progress both in terms of our infrastructure and security,” he says. www.cnmeonline.com

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TELECOMS WORLD

Mobile data

SUPPLY AND DEMAND With the TRA desperate to get more spectrum by 2020 for the 5G network to power the ‘Smart Future’ of Dubai, how can telecoms providers hope to deal with this surge in demand for mobile data, and what technologies are available to help combat network congestion?

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any telecom operators globally are looking for high efficiency bandwidth due to the continued upsurge in mobile data. In the Middle East particularly, telecoms providers relentlessly compete for wireless spectrum capacity in an era of heavily congested and over-subscribed demand for mobile data. As a result of this, spectrum availability in the region is limited.

This rising traffic is being driven by the increasing number of mobile subscribers, particularly smartphone users, who are connecting to faster networks and consuming bandwidth-heavy content. At the rate mobile subscribers are consuming data, new technologies alone cannot keep up.

In order to increase the amount of spectrum available to operators, providers need to think of new and innovative ways to improve availability and efficiency levels if they are to cope with this high demand. Operators need to begin lobbying for licenses and utilising unlicensed spectrum through LTE-U, says Christian Bartosch, associate director at The Boston Consulting Group Middle East. However, not all spectrum is equal, and therefore isn’t always appropriate for mobile coverage. “Higher frequency bands do not lend themselves well to coverage, and some bands show heavy interference from parallel or

M

“Wi-Fi offloading could help operators to tap into new revenue streams while providing cheaper, more convenient data access with a better experience for users in congested areas.”

Moath Ismail, Telecommunication Solution Director, Gemalto Middle East

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adjacent usage,” Bartosch says. “Spectrum in excess of 2.3GHz is more suitable for small cell applications, especially for indoor capacity.”

But even when the issue of spectrum availability is solved, additional challenges are still present in terms of optimising spectrum efficiency in a mobile network. Spectral efficiency determines the amount of data that can be transported over a spectrum per second as a result of many factors, but the most important is signal quality. Bartosch claims that it is possible to significantly improve spectral efficiency through improving the signal quality in the network through better radio planning – as the maximum technical spectral efficiency of a radio site is determined by the radio access technology deployed.

“Based on Big Data analytics - which leverage information about individual customer behaviour and consumption, beamforming antennas and improved interference management - it is possible to improve the experienced spectral efficiency by up to 100 percent,” he claims.

Whilst competing for spectrum availability in this way is one option to improve network efficiency, operators should also be looking to continuously upgrade their networks via other methods. 5G is still a relatively distant prospect, and isn’t expected to be rolled out until 2020. In the meantime, mobile network operators (MNOs) should look to invest in new technology such as HSDPA (high-speed downlink package access.) In simple terms, this is an enhanced 3G connection – otherwise known as 3G+ or 3G.5 – which allows for higher data speeds and capacity levels.

Adopting this technology combined with rolling out an increasing number of cellular base stations and public Wi-fi hotspots will help operators cope with this dramatic growth in mobile data services.

Yet none of these ‘on-network’ facilitators will be of any assistance in congested areas, where users are unable to access their data quickly due to the high-volume of network NOVEMBER 2016

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Mobile data

traffic. “Network congestion is a similar concept to traffic congestion in a busy city, when lines of traffic form as vehicles on the road and exceed its capacity,” says Moath Ismail, telecommunication solution director, Gemalto Middle East. “Likewise, network congestion occurs when the amount of data being sent across a network link exceeds the total bandwidth of that part of the network.”

Ismail believes there are two methods to try and ease this network congestion problem.

One option is to manage access to the existing cellular network infrastructure. “MNOs can leverage technologies such as a data packet inspection (DPI), which allows them to control the allocated resources and assign different priorities of data access to different users,” he says. The second method is to offload subscribers onto complementary network technologies, such as Wi-Fi. “This option will reduce the data volume carried by the cellular network and therefore free up bandwidth for users,” says Ismail. “Wi-fi offloading could help operators to tap into new revenue streams while providing cheaper, more convenient data access with a better experience for users in congested areas.” Bartsoch agrees, and says, “Offloading mobile data traffic to Wi-fi and small cells is one of the key levers in handling the surge in mobile data traffic.”

Whilst Ismail believes that Wi-fi offloading could “partially address exhausted spectrum concerns,” he maintains – in agreement with Bartosch – that MNOs should still continue to innovate and invest in alternative technologies to strengthen network resources. “Moreover, operators need to start utilising new technologies using different radio bands, such as LORA, which is designed to allow long range communications at low speed,” he says.

Looking ahead, the race to 5G is on – and operators should already be putting preliminary plans in place in order to deal with the migration smoothly and successfully. 5G technology will “empower customers with even faster data connections, whilst opening up avenues for new applications and even help build widely-connected Smart Cities,” says 46

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“Based on Big Data analytics, it is possible to improve the experienced spectral efficiency by up to 100 percent.”

Christian Bartosch, Associate Director at The Boston Consulting Group Middle East

Ismail. Beyond that, 5G is expected to unleash a huge Internet of Things phenomenon, where networks can serve the communication needs of billions of connected devices.

But in order to handle this evolution, existing networks need altering. “The deployment of a dense mesh of small cells in high traffic areas, coupled with fibre backhaul and the shift to cloud RAN will be key in the evolution,” says Bartosch. “This will allow operators to scale for the data growth whilst incurring less cost.” He adds, “We would also advise operators to start thinking of market repair regarding data tariffs, rather than seeing 5G as a way to give even more data away for less money.”

While networks evolve in the build up to 2020, cellular technology standards must grow simultaneously alongside them.

“Previously, cellular technology standards were planned, designed and then use cases were adapted to fit within set standards,” Ismail says. “This is no longer the case, as standards are evolving and becoming more relevant to the possible 5G use cases.”

The full potential of 5G is still unknown, but operators can anticipate that its implementation will significantly impact existing networks as we know them. “A densification of the macro site grid will no longer yield the required capacity increments due to interference and carrier pollutions,” says Bartosch. “But we anticipate that 5G networks will adopt a more open connectivity layer between the mobile terminals and core network, resulting in significantly improved traffic management capabilities.” www.cnmeonline.com

NETWORK WORLD

Fog computing

THROUGH THE FOG Fog computing provides the capability to derive real-time insights from the vast amounts of data generated by “things” at the edge of the network. Aligning with Dubai’s vision to be the world's "smartest city” by 2017, how can fog computing contribute to this effort?

og computing pushes applications, data and computing power away from centralised points to the logical extremes of a network. More often than not, much of the data processing on this platform takes place in a data hub on a smartphone, or on the edge of a network in a smart router. One of the primary aims of fog computing is to improve the efficiency of data processing by reducing the amount of data that is transported to the cloud. By processing data close to where it is produced and needed, it solves the challenges of exploding data volume, variety and velocity.

IDC research indicates that the amount of Internet of Things data actually analysed on devices close to where it is collected – as opposed to sending the data to the cloud – is fast approaching 40 percent. In certain industries, real-time data has to be just that, with no room for error. In a vehicle-tovehicle communication system, up-to-date

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insights are imperative to guarantee the safety of those involved. Latency in that data being received could have disastrous consequences, an example for where fog computing comes in.

“Analysing IoT data close to where it is collected minimises latency,” says Mohannad Abuissa, head of sales engineering, east region, Cisco Middle East. “Along with the cloud, fog computing is assisting in accelerating the adoption of the IoT in the enterprise. It offloads gigabytes of network traffic from the core network, and keeps sensitive data inside the network.”

Following the establishment of the OpenFog Consortium in 2015 – founded

by Cisco, ARM, Dell, Intel, Microsoft and Princeton University, fog computing technology seems to be gathering momentum as the Consortium now hosts nearly 50 members from across the globe.

“The OpenFog Consortium has made great strides in building a diverse community www.cnmeonline.com

dedicated to an open, collaborative approach to fog computing technology. It’s aims are to accelerate the deployment of fog computing technologies, and to focus on developing open architectures that would support intelligence at the edge of IoT,” says Abuissa.

“After decades of toying with IoT, we are seeing rapid adoption in many industries today,” says Shams Hasan, enterprise product manager, Dell EMC. “The OpenFog Consortium aims to “influence standard bodies into creating standards so that IoT systems at the edge can interoperate securely with other edge systems and cloud services in a friction-free environment.”

With Gartner predicting that over 20 billion “things” will be connected by 2020, it’s no surprise that methods such as fog networking are gaining popularity, when it appears that almost every object under the sun will

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“Ultimately, organisations that adopt fog computing gain deeper and faster insights, leading to increased business agility, higher service levels and improved safety.”

Mohannad Abuissa, head of sales engineering, east region, Cisco Middle East

soon be delivering mission-critical data of some sort. Currently, the regular process of data analysis tends to centre around it being pushed up to the cloud or a central data centre, stored and then eventually analysed; only after which decisions are made. “There is a sense of urgency when it comes to dealing with and processing sensitive or time critical data,” says Hasan. “Because fog computing allows smart devices to send, receive and store information, it can deliver better insights closer to where the data gets collected.

It’s perfect for delivery analytics for time critical applications.”

Abuissa maintains that fog computing accelerates awareness and response to events by eliminating the ‘round-trip’ to the cloud for analysis. “Ultimately, organisations that adopt fog computing gain deeper and faster insights, leading to increased business agility, higher service levels and improved safety,” he says.

The issue of safety and protection of data is one that keeps reappearing whenever IoT is mentioned. Security NOVEMBER 2016

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has become the must-have factor when implementing IoT technology; more than ever, fog computing requires a highly scalable and collaborative approach, with deep expertise in a wide range of industries and technologies if it is to succeed.

Abuissa believes that fog will provide innovative ways to reduce the security complexity and costs on individual devices, and compensate the devices’ constrained security capabilities with off-board security services. “Reducing human-intensive incident responses is also critical for mission-critical systems, because shutting down some “things” can cause intolerable consequences,” he says. “By placing fogbased automated security at the edge, we can reduce the human component and replace it with dynamic and risk proportional incident response.”

Intelligent gateways within fog computing allow organisations to securely connect and process data “at the place where it makes most sense,” according to Hasan. “As enterprises in the Middle East increase their investments in the IoT, these intelligent gateways will play a significant role in keeping the balance between expansion and security,” he says.

Beyond this, there is ample opportunity for CIOs in small and medium-sized businesses to look at adopting fog computing. “Focusing on the Middle East, I believe there is a window to educate SMBs about fog computing and the opportunities it presents,” says Hasan. “At the moment, I would say that it is not on their radar, and SMB decision makers do not see this as a priority investment area.”

Aside from SMBs in the region, fog computing is particularly suited to Dubai’s vision of a ‘Smart future,’ as Smart Cities in particular are seen as one of the main verticals that could benefit the most from using this platform, along with government, oil and gas, healthcare and transportation.

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“Focusing on the Middle East, I believe there is now a window to educate SMBs about fog computing and the opportunities it presents.

At the moment, I would say that it is not on their radar.”

Shams Hasan, enterprise product manager, Dell EMC

The OpenFog Consortium has already demonstrated the extent of fog computing’s smart city services by developing a proof of concept for the city of Barcelona. “This demonstrated that fog technology can bring intelligence to a range of urban services, including transportation, parking, lighting, traffic and waste management, public safety, and law enforcement. But smart city services are only the beginning,” says Abuissa. “Fog computing can provide immense value across all industries.”

The Middle East can build on the findings of this concept in order to take full advantage of fog computing capabilities.

Whilst the region has the skills and technology to achieve fog implementations, Hasan believes that it is essential to ensure that solutions are best-fit to the end-goal, and not the other way around.

“Fog computing must not be forced into an end-goal that didn’t need it,” he says.

“As fog computing and IoT still mature as ideas, practices, and opportunities, there’s a variety of thought leaderships that are available. This leads to an even more diverse technological approaches to achieve the end-goal.” www.cnmeonline.com

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SOLUTIONS WORLD

IoT architecture and platforms

FRESH BLUEPRINTS What changes in architecture will be needed to accommodate the Internet of Things, and what types of platform will best deliver IoT services?

ven the most headstrong CIOs can be reluctant to embrace IoT. To an extent, those operating in certain industries may feel that they can forgo some of its aspects. While connected sensors will become mandatory in industries such as manufacturing, those operating in other fields may decide that the associated risk is just too much for now.

Whatever their thoughts on IoT, its introduction to the enterprise will demand a rethink of architectures, as well as new platforms that can integrate and analyse vast sources of data. Devices. Storage. Analytics.

Powerful wireless networks. Security. All these elements and more will be mandatory for successful deployments.

Deploying all these components successfully will require complex and timeconsuming systems integration. The end

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goal for CIOs is clear: easy-to-use, secure IoT infrastructure that benefits the business.

“An IoT-based system must be easy to design, install, maintain and use,” Marwan Khoury, regional marketing manager, Axis Communications says. “One size does not fit all. To maximise its potential, it requires an in-depth knowledge by suppliers who understand how each feature or component work together, can design a solution that can be used to solve specific challenges and are able to deliver it as an integrated offering whose long-term value has more value than just the sum of its parts.”

The scale of this task is not lost on Fady Younes, deputy managing director and operations director, Cisco Middle East east region. He acknowledges that as the IoT increases its advance, fast, strategic action is necessary.

“IoT is increasing the connectedness of people and things on a scale that once was

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unimaginable,” he says. “Connected devices outnumber the world’s population by a ratio of 1.5:1. IoT comprises billions of connected devices that are creating more than two exabytes of data every day. But to truly provide value, this data must be rapidly processed and transformed into actionable intelligence.”

A crucial pillar of this new architecture will be a level of connectivity that is able to process huge quantities of data from a range of disparate sources, Younes adds, saying that network flexibility will be at the core of a successful strategy. “In the IoT era, where the Internet is connecting people, processes, data, and things to form one holistic connected network, organisations now need their networks to become more agile to accommodate the increased amount of transmitted data and the expansion of connected devices,” he says. “A successful IoT platform should be able to connect the IoT endpoints to the applications and analytics required to generate business outcomes.”

Once data has been successfully transmitted across a network, ingested and then analysed, it ultimately has to reside in a location that makes sense based on each organisation’s individual needs.

Anthony Sayers, Internet of Things and embedded strategic alliances EMEA lead, Dell EMC, believes that efficient storage is imperative, and has to underpin any successful IoT strategy. “The IoT architecture consists of 4 main layers – devices, networks and gateways, management

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“Connected devices outnumber the world’s population by a ratio of 1.5:1. IoT comprises billions of connected devices that are creating more than two exabytes of data every day.”

Fady Younes, deputy managing director and operations director, Cisco Middle East east region and applications,” he says. “However, to interconnect these factors, it is critical for an organisation to adopt a highly available and scalable storage infrastructure. There’s simply a lot more data to collect, analyse and archive.

More importantly, the value of the data is only as much as the capability to analyse it.”

Nader Henein opts for a more optimistic view, however. The BlackBerry Middle East regional director for advanced security solutions believes that IoT, rather than bringing complexity, will deliver great simplicity once successfully deployed. “Planning and focus is critical,” he says. “The traffic generated is one aspect, however the volume of systemgenerated data is another. IoT can fill this gap. It processes information in real time and makes networks and grid more efficient thereby simplifying everyday functions.”

He goes on to reiterate the importance of concise strategy in IoT architecture if

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any positive results are to be achieved.

“Businesses should not be hasty and should avoid approaching anything without clear targets and performance measurements,” he says. “We saw this with mobility for instance, where organisations embraced BYOD and belatedly realised that without careful planning and the right solution and strategy, the cost outweighed the benefits.”

Delivering a unified view of information and operational technology is the name of the game when it comes to IoT, and Khoury believes that IoT is the perfect way to deliver this objective. “The IoT will allow for combined systems integrating previously disparate devices such as video surveillance cameras, smoke detectors, gas sensors, access control panels and loudspeakers into a common management console, providing a single pane of glass overview across entire buildings and sites,” he says, Sayers believes that ushering in the era of IoT will require the transformation of a range of aspects if successful platforms are

“IoT architecture consists of 4 main layers – devices, networks and gateways, management and applications.”

Anthony Sayers, Internet of Things and embedded strategic alliances EMEA lead, Dell EMC to be delivered. “IT transformation involves modernising data centre infrastructure, automating IT processes and driving exponential growth in digital data,” he says.

“Workforce transformation refers to changing user experiences, empowering new ways of working and innovate decision-making with intuitive apps and data insight. Security transformation requires the consideration that one million cyber-attacks are released every day. An IoT platform needs to ensure customers are better informed through superior threat intelligence, analytics and shared expertise.”

INSIGHT

Emir Susic, Professional Services Senior Director for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia, Avaya

MASTERING THE W INNOVATION CHALLENGE CIOs in the region today are being urged to make the ‘I’ stand for Innovation. Emir Susic, Professional Services Senior Director for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia, Avaya, explores how can they fulfill this mandate in such a rapidly changing world.

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hen people talk about the changing role of the CIO in the Middle East, the most common starting point is to talk about how they need to transition from providing back-end support to becoming a trusted business enabler.

Rather than focusing on maintaining business applications, the corporate networks and other elements of the ICT infrastructure, they should focus on driving business transformation, and delivering innovation.

That’s true, but there’s a problem with this approach – the ways companies innovate and bring solutions to market today is also changing, arguably faster than the role of the CIO. For decades, companies have followed classic innovation cycle methodologies – with each stage of the cycle having a clearly defined process – but the market doesn’t allow companies to take their own time to bring solutions to market anymore.

Digital and mobile technologies have fundamentally changed how

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everyone does business. Whether it’s a startup, a global manufacturing company or a local retail chain, thanks to the Internet and mobile devices, every company is becoming a technology company.

That means that companies need to work at software companytype speeds; software companies can’t afford to have defined scopes for projects because those scopes change so rapidly. Today, companies need to bring solutions to market extremely fast, and they need to be extremely agile and able to react to ongoing trends. When I talk to CIOs today, I have to explain to them that the days of defining a problem, brainstorming, modeling a solution, deploying it and optimising it are over.

The challenge for CIOs is that this model is so rapid, they simply don’t have the ability to pause and take a breath. Today, companies need to focus on time to market and how quickly they can deploy a solution.

Inevitably, that means that there will be failures along the way – but that isn’t always a problem.

Take Samsung – it’s going through one of the biggest technology product problems in history with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 suffering burning – pardon the pun – issues.

The company is recalling tens of thousands of handsets from GCC countries alone, and the total cost worldwide is likely to rise to billions of dollars. This has been a disaster for the company and an extremely embarrassing failure.

And yet, Samsung is still the market leader in the smartphone segment; the Galaxy Note 7 received glowing reviews when it was first released and was widely regarded as pushing the envelope on smartphones. www.cnmeonline.com

So while the scale of Samsung’s failure may seem overwhelming, the fact that they tried something and failed is not in itself a problem.

According to Gartner, the biggest threat to innovation is internal politics and an organisational culture which doesn’t accept failure and is resistant to change and ideas from outside.

While many businesses in the Middle East are still wedded to more traditional ways of thinking, and are reluctant to embrace change, the reality is this just isn’t an option longterm. With the proliferation of bringyour-own-device (BYOD) policies and the consumerisation of IT, your customers and employees alike expect to engage with you seamlessly across different touchpoints. This means companies need to rethink and reinvent their IT strategies – however hard the process is.

So, how do CIOs achieve this?

Firstly, they need to give themselves a bulletproof platform they can build that change on. If you take the Samsung example, the software innovation was fantastic, but they failed to create the hardware platform to match, with disastrous results.

So CIOs need to have a bulletproof infrastructure to build on and it needs to be platform-based.

Organisations are also increasingly looking at cloud solutions as a way of taking the pain out of running their IT infrastructures – outsourcing the running of business applications and the corporate networks to a third party can help free CIOs from the burden of keeping the lights on and allow them to focus on innovation.

And if CIOs want to be more open to new ideas and new ways of thinking, they should start with hiring policies, and especially with

Whether it’s a startup, a global manufacturing company or a local retail chain, thanks to the Internet and mobile devices, every company is becoming a technology company.

bringing in more young people. Here in this region, with more than half the population under 25, we have a huge natural resource that too often goes untapped – how many CIOs have a 25 year-old adviser? But young peoples’ willingness to challenge established wisdom, ignore old ways of thinking and seek their own path is exactly the mindset today’s CIOs need to adopt.

Take the example of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum – he didn’t settle for the goal of making Dubai the smartest city on earth, he also wants Dubai to be the happiest city. This openness to totally new ways of thinking and willingness to embrace change is helping to drive Dubai’s success.

Innovation is becoming part of Dubai’s culture – and organisations across the region need to adopt the same mindset if they are to succeed.

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INSIGHT

Megha Kumar, Senior Research Manager, Software and Enterprise Solutions, IDC Middle East

WHY TRUST MATTERS IN THE DIGITAL ERA Megha Kumar, Senior Research Manager, Software and Enterprise Solutions, IDC Middle East, Turkey and Africa, explores the value of building a culture of confidence throughout the public and private sectors in the era of IoT and Blockchain.

I

n 2016, I cannot think of a single technology conversation that did not bring up digital transformation and the era of disruption. We are in an ecosystem where gaining and seeking customers is competitive.

Customer loyalties shift easily based on experience and influence.

The digital world is one that is far more open where systems will be far more integrated, there will be a more fluid exchange of information and increased communication amongst devices with minimal human interactions. This openness requires organisations to address aspects such as protection, privacy and trust.

It is important to note that the meaning of data protection and privacy can vary. In some parts of the world, data privacy essentially looks at how the personal information of customers, employees or users are managed. In other parts, privacy and protection are interchangeable.

Organisations will increasingly be held responsible not only for how they protect the data but also for how they use it – especially customer and personnel information. With technologies such as IoT, robotics, wearable and drones; trust will become increasingly complicated, and will be an essential risk that will need to be assessed moving forward.

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Clearly, there is a need to secure the way devices engage with each other. Chief among this is the use of public key infrastructure (PKI), which essentially allows for the safe transfer of information. It uses digital credentials to identify users and devices and determine access to data. Each credential or certificate involves a set of cryptographic keys that need to match to assess the user or device. There are many forms of PKI that are currently being used such as encryption, authentication or mobile signatures. PKI has long been used to secure banking transactions and websites.

While there are various ways to address PKI, one concept that has gained significant momentum is Blockchain. Blockchains are interconnected chains or blocks of data. These blocks are created at regular intervals and contain information on which changes have been made to the ledger (i.e. transcation) since the creation of the previous block. By linking each block of data to the next block, a Blockchain becomes an irreversible record of all transactions and changes ever made to the ledger.

Furthermore, blockchains can be either public or private. Public

blockchains mean that they are owned by no one, and allow for open access to anyone that wishes to contribute to the network. Private Blockchain will be limited to a certain number of owners who can further limit to those with the necessary permissions. Regardless of whether they are public or private, the linked blocks create a secure, transparent method for record keeping and auditing. They follow a decentralised consensus algorithm.

One of the major use cases of Blockchains has been highlighted within the finance sector, where transactions can take place without the need for third parties. Given the distributed, autonomous and trusted capabilities of blockchains, there are several use cases that can be explored across various industries.

These include anti-counterfeiting, securing health records, deploying decentralised IoT networks, secure e-government transactions and audits.

Moving forward, ensuring trust and privacy across all interactions will be critical in a world that will experience more device interaction than ever before. The digital era needs to be a trusted ecosystem that allows for seamless and secure experience for everyone. www.cnmeonline.com

INSIGHT

Hozefa Saylawala, director, Middle East, Zebra Technologies

Is your OS ready for the fourth Industrial Revolution?

Hozefa Saylawala, director, Middle East, Zebra Technologies, explores how a change in mobile operating system could make the difference in enabling the workforce of the future.

T

he fourth industrial revolution is happening as you read these words.

The transformation of cyber-physical systems is upon us.

We know that industrial revolutions have radically transformed business and technology for the past three centuries, but the real question now is how will the fourth industrial revolution affect business this decade? How will businesses adapt to evolving technology and rapid industrial innovation? Think for a minute of the trending topics that are currently shaping the business world: virtual and augmented reality, Big Data and analytics, cloud services, remote work and mobility, and accessibility and visibility. This is just the beginning.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), “the possibilities are endless for the billions of people connected through mobile devices with unfathomable processing power, storage capacity, and access to information. Emerging trends in fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things and autonomous vehicles further enhance these possibilities.”

Remoteness and mobility are intrinsic to the fourth industrial revolution. Almost 60 percent of the world’s population has access to some sort of mobile device. The 2015-2020 Global Mobile Workforce Forecast

by Strategy Analytics predicts, “The 60

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global mobile workforce is set to increase from 1.32 billion in 2014, accounting for 37.4 percent of the global workforce, to 1.75 billion in 2020, accounting for 42 percent.”

Keeping up with the challenge Enterprises have the rare opportunity to assess their mobility requirements and redefine their strategies to increase productivity, efficiency, and accuracy in their operations. The competitive business landscape requires smart analysis to develop a more innovative strategy and remain productive.

Harnessing this workforce mobility revolution requires companies to determine their mobile operating system, and app migration and mobile device strategies. Following a massive adoption of enterprise-grade mobile computers and wearables for the workplace, a critical deadline approaches – the life expectancy of the core OS of certain devices.

Android-based platforms respond to current challenges within the fourth industrial revolution with speed, efficiency, and flexibility. New technologies make assets more durable and resilient, while data and analytics are transforming how they are maintained.

A world of customer experiences, databased services, and asset performance through analytics, meanwhile, require new forms of collaboration, particularly given the speed at which innovation and disruption take place. With apps

a la carte that help transform current processes and bring visibility to company activities, Android helps businesses and users overcome these new challenges.

When the ageing yet ubiquitous Windows CE/Mobile soon loses Microsoft support, companies will have to choose a new operating system that is flexible, intuitive, and adaptable. Many customers have been slow to transition due to the uncertainty around Windows 10, the perceived complexity of app migration, and a general lack of understanding surrounding the cost of maintaining ageing devices. However, everything suggests that OS migration away from Windows is inevitable and the industry is starting to prepare for it.

The momentous transition from digitisation to integration – what we call the fourth industrial revolution – forces companies to rethink their strategic approach to transformative technology and innovation.

CEOs and leaders must begin to understand the changing environment and market, challenge the assumptions of their operating teams, and relentlessly and continuously innovate. Luckily, leaders are not alone. Some IT and solutions providers have garnered vast experience in adapting, adopting, and transforming business platforms and processes for them to become more reliable with their current technology. www.cnmeonline.com

INSIGHT

Sarah White, CIO.com

COMMON GOAL

IT and HR are both fundamental departments in every business and a lot of what they do directly impacts bottom line. We take a look at how collaboration between these two crucial business arms can further a business’ success.

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igital transformation has eliminated a lot of the daily grunt work associated with the human resources role. Perry Oostdam, Co-founder and CEO, Recruitee, says that HR used to be a department bogged down by paperwork, but the automation of things like payroll, salary records and benefits has taken away much of the mundane work, and freed up HR pros to focus on more strategic initiatives and analytics.

“The productivity and efficiency brought by technology are undeniable," he says. "What is even more important is that technology gives HR department the power to innovate. Instead of spending the whole day maintaining bits and pieces of data on piles of papers, HR now has the time and tools needed to optimise and reinvent the process."

However, as more tech enters the door, HR pros will need to evaluate their relationships with the IT department.

Finding HR software requires collaboration There are so many HR platforms on the market that it can be overwhelming to find the right one, but IT can help HR departments sort through and identify the best tools available. They can also ensure smooth deployment and help organise training to get everyone up to speed on how to best utilise the latest HR software.

“More and more, we’re seeing HR departments play a larger role in 62

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organisational efficiency, so it’s crucial to have the right technology to drive it,” says Kris Duggan, CEO, BetterWorks.

Just like IT has to stay fluid in order to keep on top of constantly evolving technologies, so does HR. Duggan says HR and IT are similarly focused on “the trend of what’s happening between people and technology.” And as people are more adept at day-to-day technology, they are growing to expect the same type of convenience at work.

But this type of collaboration has to start at the top. If the CIO and chief HR officer (CHRO) have a strong relationship and open communication, it will trickle down throughout the department, according to Gordon Laverock, managing partner, Presence of IT, a consulting firm that focuses on the HR industry.

A strong relationship between the CIO and CHRO will not only encourage IT and HR workers to collaborate, but it will help develop best practices around technology for the entire organisation. Since IT and HR are two departments that deal heavily with sensitive data, these executives can work to create guidelines that will help inform best practices for every department looking to adopt new digital strategies moving forward.

“Creating a governance structure that not only focuses on the technology evaluation and implementation phases but also establishes ongoing governance processes across every part of the

organisation will engender stronger chances of success,” says Laverock.

There are plenty of tools aimed at helping HR professionals, and it makes sense to implement that technology into the workplace, but HR also deals with an enormous amount of highly confidential data. The last thing companies want is healthcare, salary or other sensitive employee data getting into the wrong hands once it’s living in the cloud or on a server. A company could find itself in legal trouble if HR data becomes exploited or lost -- and that’s one of the biggest areas where IT can help HR, says Oostdam.

If your IT and HR departments collaborate only on one thing, it should be security. Working closely with IT is the only way to ensure everyone stays protected; especially since HR arguably deals with even more sensitive information than IT, making security a number one priority.

IT and HR are both fundamental departments in every business and a lot of what they do directly impacts the bottom line of the company. If HR can evaluate engagement and happiness, they can ensure the workforce stays motivated and reduce turnover. For IT, if they can get the right tools into the hands of the employees, they’ll likely become more productive and efficient at their jobs. www.cnmeonline.com

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PRODUCTS Launches and releases

Brand: Merlin Product: ProCam WHAT IT DOES: The ProCam, according to Merlin, enables users to shoot ultra-high definition 4K videos at 24fps. It has four times the resolution of the traditional 1080p HD, at a silky smooth 60fps frame rate. ProCam’s Sony BSI CMOS sensor is gyro stabilised to reduce shaking while being used, resulting in clear videos and stills.

All of this paired, with two high-capacity 1,600mAh batteries makes ProCam an ideal adventure and lifestyle accessory.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: Users can choose between multiple resolutions and frame rates, whilst also using ProCam for action-packed activities like scuba diving, free diving or wakeboarding. It is equipped with a “sturdy and waterproof” case, and comes with a helmet mount, bike handlebar mount, as well as GoPro adapters.

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Brand: Apple Product: MacBook Pro WHAT IT DOES: Apple has recently introduced the latest edition of its MacBook Pro, which comes in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes, in both silver and space grey colour options.

The devices are equipped with a new interface feature that replaces the traditional row of function keys with a Retina-quality multi-touch display called the Touch Bar. They are powered by a sixth-generation quad-core and dual-core processors, up to 2.3 times the graphics performance over the previous generation, super-fast SSDs and up to four Thunderbolt 3 ports.

The 13-inch model comes with either a Core i5 or i7 depending on your preference, with Intel Iris graphics and Superfast SSD storage, while the 15-inch

Brand: BlackBerry Product: DTEK60 WHAT IT DOES: The DTEK60 is the second device in the DTEK series of Android smartphones. It is equipped with all the security features that BlackBerry’s Android OS devices have, including bestin-class security patching and the DTEK by BlackBerry app that allows users to monitor and control their privacy on their phone.

Key features available on the DTEK60 include a fingerprint sensor, the BlackBerry Intelligent Keyboard and the BlackBerry Hub, which consolidates messages in one place – whether email, calendar, social or phone calls.

DTEK60 has a 5.5-inch Quad HD display, capable of displaying 16 million colours. The screen is made of scratch-

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device comes with Intel Core i7 with sixth generation quad core processor.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: The laptop’s new Touch Bar, according to Apple, places the controls right at the user’s fingertips and adapts when using the system or apps like Mail, Finder, Calendar, Numbers, GarageBand, Final Cut Pro X and many more, including third-party apps.

resistant glass and features a specialised oleophobic coating to protect against smudges and fingerprints. It also supports micro SD cards up to 2 TB. DTEK60 provides the flexibility to add affordable and hot-swappable memory to download, install, capture and share as your needs evolve.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: The DTEK60 supports BlackBerry’s powerful suite of EMM applications and secure productivity solutions, including WatchDox by BlackBerry for secure file-sharing, Good Work for business-class email and collaboration tools, Strong Authentication as a VPN solution, SecuSUITE for Enterprise for secure voice and instant messaging communication, BBM Protected for encrypted messaging and BES12 for secure cross-platform management. www.cnmeonline.com

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7I BACKLOG

7 WAYS TO TAKE BACK CONTROL OF YOUR CLOUD STRATEGY

n 2015, 35 percent of IT spend was managed outside of IT departments, and by 2017, Gartner predicts that CMOs alone will spend more on IT services than CIOs. This includes both insecure and secure cloud apps and services that employees and business units are increasingly adopting without IT's knowledge or oversight – what we know as shadow IT. The reality is that you cannot transform what you cannot see.

Gaining visibility and control over cloud apps is the first step in putting IT professionals firmly in the driver’s seat with respect to cloud IT planning.

Here are seven actions that will empower IT professionals in the cloud generation: Rethink what visibility and control means in the cloud Unlike on-premise applications, cloud apps and services exist outside of the network perimeter, so the traditional understanding of visibility in terms of looking at firewall and SIEM logs gives only a partial glimpse of overall cloud traffic and app usage. Visibility in a cloud context, then, means seeing all employee cloud activity, regardless of whether their account sessions are initiated from inside or outside of the traditional network perimeter.

Automate discovery of cloud app usage Most IT departments think they have only 40 to 50 cloud apps running on their extended network. The latest 66

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Blue Coat Shadow Data Report, however, found that organisations are typically using over 840 cloud applications – most of which were adopted by employees or business units without IT knowledge.

The second step in securing an organisation in the cloud is to adopt a cloud app security solution that can automate the laborious process of analysing logs from firewalls, proxies and SIEMs to uncover all shadow IT within the corporate network, as well as identifying who in the organisation is using these apps.

Develop a detailed cloud governance strategy Assemble a cloud governance committee comprised of executive, IT, legal, compliance/risk management, and lines of business representatives.

Together, this committee should devise a detailed cloud adoption strategy that includes app selection and security guidelines, a data loss policy, incident response workflows, and reporting metrics.

Ensure all apps are business ready When looking for a cloud app security solution, look for one that not only provides a risk rating for all cloud apps based on multiple security dimensions (i.e. does it support MFA? Is it SOC-2 compliant?), but also takes into account an organisation’s unique security requirements and risk tolerance. With this information, IT professionals can set policies to allow all apps that comply with their company’s security policy, and block those that don’t.

Reduce cloud costs and complexity In all likelihood, employees and business units are using multiple cloud apps to perform the same function. They also often have multiple paid accounts for the same app. The next step is to eliminate redundancy by consolidating accounts and determining which app, of multiple services with similar functionality, should be officially adopted. The ultimate decision should be based on which app meets the business objectives and is most closely aligned with a company’s security policy.

Identify risks to cloud accounts and data The convenience and flexibility of the cloud is great for employee productivity, but also introduces new threat vectors such as employees sharing data and the dissemination of malware. The proliferation of thousands of user credentials that provide direct access to business critical assets also requires judicious monitoring. Advanced data science and machine learning techniques can be leveraged to identify anomalous user behaviour indicative of compromised accounts, triggering alerts or blocking user account activity as appropriate.

Provide monthly executive level reports The key to sustained control and implementation is effective presentation to the CEO or board. In order to justify the value of IT in the cloud generation, IT professionals need to come prepared with a full, comprehensive shadow IT strategy to clearly articulate and support their cloud vision. www.cnmeonline.com

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