Industry Focus 08

industry focus ISSUE 07 | octobe

A CNME supplement

government special

h t a p e h t lity i g a to IT

tions innova

ctor

in th

lic se e pub

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Committed to excellence

Committed to excellence

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Having recently celebrated its 25th anniversary in the region, GBM has the depth of systems integration capabilities that government entities can leverage to propel government and companies in their digital transformation efforts. Rodrigo Naranjo, Vice President – Services and Miguel Khouri, GM- Abu Dhabi & Yemen, discuss the trends shaping the IT landscape in the public sector.

Catalyst for change

eHosting DataFort is one of the leading players in the field of managed hosting and cloud infrastructure services. company CEO Yasser Zeineldin shares insights into technology trends and his company’s value proposition to the public sector entities.

Watchful eye

With a decade-old surveillance system on its hands, Sharjah Police needed a rethink of its video security systems. The organisation opted for a modern solution that could provide its officers with dynamic monitoring and analytics tools to empower its officers in the fight against crime.

Cloud and mobility

Key issues to consider for public sector CIOs

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interview

Rodrigo Naranjo, Vice President – Services, GBM

Miguel Khouri, GM- Abu Dhabi & Yemen, GBM

Committed to excellence Having recently celebrated its 25th anniversary in the region, GBM has the depth of systems integration capabilities that government entities can leverage to propel government and companies in their digital transformation efforts. Rodrigo Naranjo, Vice President – Services and Miguel Khouri, GM- Abu Dhabi & Yemen, discuss the trends shaping the IT landscape in the public sector.

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Industry Focus

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here is a decline in government IT spending globally. Has this reflected in our region, especially considering falling oil prices?

MK: The drop in oil prices definitely has had an effect, and the political situation is not helping either. But, I don’t think we are in panic mode yet. Government spending in the region is now focused on very strategic projects. There has been a realignment in strategy, and government entities are now spending on projects of critical nature while luxury technologies have been put on hold. You have to remember that in this part of the world, government money accounts for a major chunk of technology spending and many of the entities will keep this year’s budget delayed till next year. When we move into 2016, we expect to see an uptick in spending again as governments in the region are focused on leveraging new technologies to create citizencentric digital government and smart governance.

RN: I would say the difference from Europe or North America is that here, governments are leading the investment and a lot of IT innovation is spearheaded by the public sector. Everyone looks at the government as a role model. The priority for governments in the GCC is to improve the quality of life for citizens and residents, and there is a lot of integration between different agencies. There is no need for panic; it’s just a matter of being cautious and reprioritising in different areas.

What are the tech priorities of governments in the GCC? RN: When it comes to services in governments, there is a lot of spending on building things from the ground up, which eventually have the ability to integrate and grow. In Europe, there were a lot of legacy investments made in standalone systems that are difficult to integrate. This region doesn’t have that problem. Here, governments build things with a broader perspective and have the ability to set standards and interconnect between agencies and countries. In the US, for example, there is hardly any integration between their social security agency and homeland security. In stark contrast, the Middle East makes a very strong effort to have a level of region-wide integration which is good to see. We are seeing a lot of investments being made into how to manage data, analytics and platforms that create better interaction between citizens and government.

MK: Anything related to citizen experience is a priority for governments. Also, healthcare and education are top priorities for the GCC countries. There are new airports and railways being built as part of this agenda to provide a better living experience to citizens and residents.

We are in a region that is still hungry for infrastructure and new ideas. A case in point is healthcare – there are at least 20 major projects underway in this sector at the moment, and one of the government entities is in the process of implementing IBM

Governments are leading the investment and a lot of IT innovation is spearheaded by the public sector.

Everyone looks at the government as a role model.

Watson Health with our help, which is all about cognitive computing and analytic capabilities.

For analytics to work, there has to be a tight integration and sharing of data between government agencies, and local and federal governments.

Do you see that happening here?

MK: There is a great deal of integration and sharing of core data between government entities in the GCC. Also, standards are being set as to how you structure and build logical partitioning of data with our help.

An analytical tool is only as good as how well organised is your data is; if your data is scattered, you can’t glean meaningful information out of it. We have done a lot of work in building the foundational structure of data from the ground up because here you have the benefit of not having any legacy.

The sharing between government agencies is happening not just from a standards point of view but on the level of actual data as well. For example, you will see a strong linkage between traffic authorities and immigration departments. If someone has serious fines or a pending law suit, you won’t be able to leave the country. It’s all driven by analytics engines and I am proud of the fact that the GCC has been chosen by IBM as one of the hubs for Watson.

There is a push towards mGovernment, especially in the UAE. How challenging is it to move traditional government services to mobile platforms?

RN: It is challenging but in my experience, I would say the amount of content available from government agencies on mobile platforms in this region is enormous. You can actually renew your driver’s licence from your mobile device here, and the advanced adoption of mobility by governments as part of the multi-channel experience is remarkable. It’s probably impossible to Industry Focus

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interview

have every single government service on mobile platforms but the majority of critical user interface type of services are already there or on the way.

When it comes to mobility, do you see the same level of maturity in the rest of GCC countries?

MK: You cannot compare every country from that angle. Qatar is on the same level as the UAE, and Kuwait is moving

though the adoption of public cloud is slow, we are involved in deploying hybrid cloud architecture for many government entities, where they can have a local presence, and move test and development and other non-critical workloads to public cloud environments. Though major cloud service providers such as AWS and Microsoft are starting to penetrate this region, they are not as relevant here as they are in Europe and North America.

Here, governments build things with a broader perspective and have the ability to set standards and interconnect between agencies and countries. in the same direction. In fact, all of the GCC is moving in that direction and I don’t see any major difference between countries. The adoption of technology into government has to be sponsored properly and governments in the region are at different levels of maturity.

Maybe one country is more advanced than another, but that gap will be bridged shortly.

Why is cloud adoption in the public sector slow compared to private enterprises?

RN: There are two major reasons. First, it’s got to do with the size of economies and countries. If you think about what cloud is, it’s all about critical mass and scale. Even though economies here are strong and growing, they are relatively smaller compared to geographies where cloud has really taken off. Second, in this part of the world, there is a preference to have data hosted locally, and cloud doesn’t necessarily fulfill that demand.

Nevertheless, there is a very strong mindset in the region to move noncritical workloads to cloud and use it from a DR point of view as well. Even 6

Industry Focus

Given the fact that GBM has its own infrastructure capabilities, would you offer cloud services to your customers?

RN: Actually, cloud is at the forefront of our strategy, GBM has lot of in-built infrastructure and migrating it to the cloud is a natural fit for us. We are working with IBM for SoftLayer and we are planning to extend the existing service portfolio to cloud by the fourth quarter of this year. We will announce the first phase of our cloud offering, which will include implementation, management of private clouds, back up as-a-services and as a reseller of SoftLayer cloud infrastructure.

There is a lot of discussion around Smart Cities in the Middle East. Is the trend gaining traction?

RN: The discussions around Smart Cities are in advanced stages. We are leveraging our partnership with IBM and Cisco to bring converged infrastructure solutions to governments looking to create Smart Cities. You have to remember Smart Cities is not a single project; it’s a

continuous technology evolution and requires close collaboration between public sector, private enterprise and telecom service providers.

There has been a spate of cyber attacks in the region. But, we really haven’t seen the spending on security keeping pace with global trends, especially among governments.

MK: I agree that security hasn’t been taken seriously though, in the last two years. GBM has done many security surveys highlighting the risks and what could potentially be the best approach to mitigate them. It’s not a matter of finding a new approach – all the frameworks and platforms are already available from a security perspective.

What is GBM’s value proposition to the public sector?

RN: First and foremost is our commitment to the region. We have been operating here for more than 25 years. The visionary nature of some of the governments in the region is all about how we develop local talent and expose them to the latest they can find elsewhere. We hire local talent and nurture it. We have 1200 plus employees, and that number is only growing.

In addition, our delivery model and way of operations are also quite unique.

We don’t have any near-shore delivery centre; everything that we do is onshore. Local support and delivery is one of our competitive advantages.

MK: GBM’s commitment to the region is very important, especially when it comes to governments. You have to be close to your customers and understand their pain points. We are flexibile in our dealings with governments and we play the role of a trusted advisor. Can you name one systems integrator which has been present in six geographies across the GCC 25 years ago? Even the big, international SIs are not present in the locations that we serve.

interview

Catalyst for change eHosting DataFort is one of the leading players in the field of managed hosting and cloud infrastructure services. eHDF CEO Yasser Zeineldin shares insights into technology trends and his company’s value proposition to the public sector entities.

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o you think government IT spending in the region is keeping pace with global trends?

Yes. Governments in the Middle East are moving towards providing a greater number of services online in order to engage directly with citizens.

Technology is being used as an enabler to improve operational efficiency and raise service levels while helping government departments meet their overall objectives. According to Gartner, governments in the Middle East and North Africa will spend $11.97 billion on IT products and services in 2015, an increase of 0.4 percent over the 2014 spending of $11.92 billion.

Which technology areas are the government entities spending more on?

There are various technology innovations that government entities are focusing on today. Some

examples include cloud computing, managed hosting, data centres, BYOD, personal clouds, and cloud integration mechanisms. Among these, cloud computing is the dominant technology which is shaping the data and communication sphere for governments, enterprises and citizens.

Due to the abundance of devices, making a shift to the cloud is necessary to integrate critical IT functions and enhance connectivity between people.

The regional government aims to adopt solutions for Smart City development. The above technologies help integrate key transport and infrastructure systems, utilities, e-government services within aviation and immigration, healthcare and many more. Additionally, the creation of apps has facilitated the communication between governments and citizens on all these fronts.

These technologies have not only

helped governments facilitate their internal operations, but they have also enabled the public sector accelerate the pace of Smart City development.

In fact, we have seen a lot of interest from governments on hosting critical collaboration portals and other online portals on a virtualised or cloud platform.

Government entities are also looking at managed service models which are cost-efficient, reducing their overall IT spending in the long-run.

They are spending a large amount on IT infrastructure development and a significant portion of that is being outsourced. Data centre hosting firms are the backbone of this model and government entities are taking advantage of such services.

There is a push towards citizencentric, digital governments.

What technologies does the public Industry Focus

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interview sector need to adopt to aid this transformation?

The role of the government in our daily lives is increasing day by day and they are striving for government services to be more accessible. There are significant developments and innovations in digital technology that are now available for governments to enhance the way they interact with citizens and gather information.

Governments can leverage cloud to keep their citizens connected and educated. For instance, self-service options can enable citizens to integrate and track their credit records, loans and government-based paperwork. It also provides access to dashboards on their energy and water consumption, thereby encouraging sustainability in the long run, which traditional hosting solutions do not offer.

Do you think the rise in cyber-attacks is forcing governments in the region to take security more seriously?

Cyber-attacks are on the increase.

The 2012 targeted cyber-attack on a Saudi Arab oil company which affected 30,000 workstations, and the attack on Qatar’s natural gas production company, are few examples which accelerated the concern for cybersecurity in the Middle East.

Governments in the Middle East are working towards their cybersecurity goals. For example, in June last year, Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum issued a new law to establish the Dubai Centre for E-Security, which will protect government information and communications systems from cyber criminals. It will also be responsible for tackling any hacking attempts that pose threats to government information and will combat cybercrimes of all types.

The UAE government has also doubled its cybersecurity spending

availability and overall cost savings.

Cloud computing also ensures each department has the flexibility to scale up its operations when required, and government resources and IT personnel are used optimally on improving services for citizens.

What is eHDF’s value proposition to the public sector?

Yasser Zeineldin, CEO of eHosting DataFort

to over $10 billion over the next five years and the goal of ensuring all services are e-enabled by 2015.

Likewise, The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ictQATAR) in its 2013/2014 Annual report included a new National Cyber Security Strategy that will address safeguarding critical infrastructure, responding to and recovering from cyber-attacks, establishing a legal and regulatory framework for cyber security and cybercrime laws and raising the awareness of cybersecurity.

The public sector approach to cloud has been rather cautious. Do you see that changing over the next 12 months?

Even though cloud security is a major concern for government organisations, we are sure this approach will change over the next 12 months. In fact, many government entities have already started to adopt the cloud. The many advantages of the cloud have been responsible for this change. By adopting cloud computing, government entities benefit from the latest computing innovations and technologies, better data security and

Government entities are also looking at managed service models which are cost-efficient, reducing their overall IT spending in the long-run. They are spending a large amount on IT infrastructure development and a significant portion of that is being outsourced.

eHDF has been in the managed hosting business since 2001 and is one of the oldest commercial data centre and managed hosting service providers in the region. Additionally, being a part of MIDIS group, our business has adequate backing and support to compete and thrive in the market.

Our work with the government sector over the years reflects their trust in our services and solutions.

We have implemented complex and innovative cloud computing, managed services and disaster recovery projects for both government and private sector organizations. These implementations have attracted a number of highly esteemed and reputed clients in the government sector.

Hosting in a data centre within the borders of the country to meet regulatory compliance requirements is a key concern for government entities and since our data centres are located in Dubai, a lot of government entities prefer to work with us. Security of highly confidential citizen data and information is critical. We have ISO 9001/ 20000 / 22301/ 27001 certifications and our data centres meet all the security requirements for a Tier 3 data centre. eHDF’s 24/7 customer service and bilingual customer support team make us a preferred provider for enterprises and governments looking for managed services.

In addition, we also offer hosted private cloud services which are highly secure and scalable, offering government entities a fully managed virtual data centre environment with a shared pool of compute capacity, storage and network. We have developed multiple options comprising of various configurations both managed and unmanaged. We believe this will help realise the potential of cloud computing and help reduce the total cost of ownership of IT assets.

case study

Watchful eye

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With a decade-old surveillance system on its hands, Sharjah Police needed a rethink of its video security systems.

The organisation opted for a modern solution that could provide its officers with dynamic monitoring and analytics tools to empower its officers in the fight against crime.

t’s hard to put a price on safety.

From the simple things that many of us take for granted, such as walking the street and not fearing assault, to feeling safe in your own home, living in the knowledge that you are well protected is hard to quantify.

Sharjah Police appreciates that value as well as anyone. Established in 1967, the organisation has played its part in ensuring that its home nation,

the United Arab Emirates, upholds its reputation as one of the safest countries in the Gulf, and indeed, the world. Sharjah has also evolved in line with the UAE, in developing higher expectations of living standards for its citizens. This progress has set a precedent for higher quality services across the force, and technology is not exempt from these expectations.

With this in mind, the organisation’s IT

department decided to seek a change in the way that the city was monitored, and the way data being fed into the system was analysed.

Relatively speaking, the force’s surveillance system that was in place in late 2014 was archaic, having been implemented over ten years previously.

Consisting of 67 analogue cameras that had covered the most developed parts of Sharjah, fresh work was needed Industry Focus

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case study

to ensure wider surveillance of the emirate. The solution provided video surveillance with no intelligence or data analysis. The IT infrastructure powering the system comprised a number of key brands, but all consisted of legacy surveillance hardware.

Any new project would need to allow Sharjah Police to expand its surveillance offerings without the need for vast future hardware overhauls and major CAPEX spending. It would also need to be able to stand the test of time, and be able to withstand short product lifecycles. Sharjah’s expansion across several facets – economically and in terms of real estate development to name but a few – painted a clear picture; that in order to ensure tighter security, a new solution was in keeping with the times.

The first major consideration when considering plans was the physical growth Sharjah has made in the 47 years since its police force was established. As the city’s overall infrastructure has broadened, a greater number of streets, buildings and highways require round-the-clock coverage; more cameras and a stronger infrastructure to support the system were needed. This also encompassed coverage across the inside of a large number of important buildings. The new system would need to provide alerts and warnings on suspicious activity, meaning a powerful analytics tool would be required. This would also encompass vehicle traffic monitoring capabilities, both for traffic entering and exiting Sharjah.

In the interest of transparency, cameras would also need to be installed on police vehicles themselves so that day-to-day interactions could be captured. Fundamental to Sharjah Police’s work was the need to archive data. Previously, video data could only be archived for up to two weeks, and this had become unviable. With staff needing to access video recordings to analyse evidence, this had left 10

Industry Focus

investigation teams hamstrung if serious cases arose Given the scale and longevity that the large investment would demand, Sharjah Police undertook a lengthy and detailed vendor evaluation phase.

After evaluating a number of POCs from various technology providers, they opted to implement a range of hardware and software solutions from Dell. Outdated servers were replaced, while storage was upgraded to considerably more powerful offerings that could cater to the force’s need for large quantities of video evidence

mean that reports and warnings are issued to appropriate figures within the organisation, allowing officers to remain one step ahead in anticipating incidents. This has enabled officers to be more readily deployed in parts of the city where crime is more highly anticipated, meaning the risk of incidents is reduced, and, when they do occur, response times are faster.

Dell’s software solutions mean that the system can be configured to monitor certain areas, such as Sharjah’s Gold Souk. The cameras are currently being used to read car number plates and

The solution has provided extra piece of mind the emirate’s police force, and - although they may not have directly noticed it - sharpened protection for its citizens. archiving. Stronger networking hardware was installed to support the need for increased bandwidth and connectivity, while Dell’s SonicWALL security monitoring solution was introduced with the aim of reducing the risk of cybercriminal activity against the organisation. Running in parallel, the vendor also offered services for deployment, integration, project management and support in delivering what was needed.

Although Sharjah was not exactly crime-ridden, the now complete solution has nonetheless provided extra piece of mind the emirate’s police force, and although they may not have directly noticed it, sharpened protection for its citizens.

The most profound impact of the overhaul been to propel Sharjah’s police force from being a reactive entity – as is the norm with the majority of police departments throughout the world – to a proactive one. The analytics tools it has at its disposal

monitor traffic flow, as well as being able to identify things like abandoned objects which could be suspicious.

The scenario can then be intelligently analysed, with appropriate steps being taken.

Looking forward, Sharjah Police has acquired a dynamic tool in its ability to solve crime from an investigative perspective. The ability to recall video evidence from across the city is certain to facilitate tough investigations, where the smallest detail can reveal everything about a case. This has been a huge leap forward for the organisation, giving its officers greater opportunities to apprehend potential serial offenders.

Although hard to quantify in the short term, the benefits of the project will inevitably be widespread and long-lasting in Sharjah. The ability to make the emirate and city safer will undoubtedly enhance the lives of citizens – and potentially enhance tourism revenue – by reducing crime.

insight

Cloud and mobility Key issues to consider for public sector CIOs

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he intersection of the wildly popular cloud and mobility trends is creating new opportunities as well as challenges for IT leaders.

On the one hand, more businesses than ever are adopting cloud computing to deliver and charge for IT services and functionality. Demand for cloud-based mobile applications – a function of the explosive growth of mobile devices – is up some 88% in the last five years and will likely continue to grow rapidly, according to Juniper Research.

This extraordinary tech shift also promises to put new pressure on IT to consider how to unite strategies for bringing mobile access to various internal apps, cloud apps and web apps.

The cloud is obviously changing the way that mobile applications are developed and used within the enterprise.

But while the combination of mobility and the cloud promises new ways for employees to collaborate and access business applications from virtually anywhere and at any time, IT leaders still need to consider the following: • How robust are your network capabilities and data security requirements? Are they sufficiently developed to allow the transfer of applications to a hosted model or software-as-a-service solution where

the application itself resides in the cloud?

As corporate software development budgets for mobile apps increase, issues with scaling and managing growth will inevitably crop up, especially as more mobile workers access cloud-based data and applications.

• Most cloud platforms can be secured with SSL and digital certificates.

Still, data security for mobile devices remains an issue – especially when devices are stolen or go missing. Also, maintaining data integrity could present challenges when users sync devices with the cloud. If someone’s updating a document and forgets to sync it back to the cloud, other users will get stuck with the older version.

• How do you provide multi-platform access to private cloud networks? That can prove challenging across complex private cloud architectures.

• How do our security policies need to evolve? Security remains the proverbial work in progress. Concerns about the security of various cloud computing solutions and the risk of unauthorised access as well as concerns over data integrity protection ranked No. 1 in an IDC cloud survey of nearly 1,700 technology decision makers. One option is to provide for remote management of mobile devices with tools like encryption and passwords to create “enterprise sandboxes” that keep personal data separate from corporate data. But no

matter what the company policy is, your people are still going to use their mobile devices both for professional and personal use.

• Are you ready to embrace onpremises or cloud-based mobile device management, which is increasingly becoming baked into iOS and Android?

(To a great extent, the answer will depend on the amount of control you’re seeking over the MDM infrastructure versus a cloud-based approach.)

• Is your infrastructure prepared for an enterprise BYOD policy where data gets sent and pulled in from an assortment of mobile devices?

• Accessing the cloud via mobile devices can turn problematic for collaboration. Many mobile platforms don’t have sophisticated document editing tools. Also, there are limited options for multi-party videoconferencing with document sharing over the cloud.

• Network infrastructure must be sufficiently strong to maintain a constant connection; otherwise, the cloud app is effectively useless. (This may become less problematic with the use of HTML5, which enables data caching so that a mobile cloud application can continue to function even during an outage.)

Addressing these issues will help IT turn cloud and mobility into a new “power couple” that drives business innovation and growth.

Industry Focus

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GBM is the region’s number one provider of IT solutions

GBM brings the power of the world’s most renowned technology providers, IBM from its outset and the addition of the Cisco portfolio in 1999. GBM today holds both the Master Collaboration and the Master Security Specializations from Cisco, the only partner across Gulf to be awarded these distinctions.

GBM’s 1,200 industry experts work across a broad range of market sectors, including: Government, Banking and Finance, Telecommunications, Retail and Oil & Gas. GBM lives the ever-evolving culture of the local IT landscapes in which it operates, continually investing in training and development to ensure its experts can fully understand and interpret the growing needs of their clients. As a result, GBM is always well-equipped to address the ever-evolving, industryspecific IT demands in every market. www.gbmme.com ABU DHABI • BAHRAIN • DUBAI • KUWAIT • OMAN • PAKISTAN • QATAR