Computer News Middle East July 2017

ISSUE 306 | JULY 2017 WWW.TAHAWULTECH.COM

YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE

Oman Air Saudi Arabia’s thirst for tech investment In vogue: the wearable movement RTA’s self-driving transport strategy

OSN vice president of IT Damian O’Gara’s vision for digitally transforming broadcast media

PUBLICATION LICENSED BY DUBAI PRODUCTION CITY, DCCA

EDITORIAL Our events

The latest season As we constantly remind you here at CNME, technology is changing everything. From TV to t-shirts – yes, t-shirts – the world as we know it will be redefined by connected devices and smarter platforms.

For many people, broadcast media may not sit at the top of their list of industries that need digital transformation. OSN’s vice president of IT Damian O’Gara has other ideas. Damian has developed a roadmap that he believes is sure to keep viewers across seven MENA countries hooked in the coming years.

More on page 12.

From TV to Glesni Holland offers a fascinating t-shirts, the take on the potential for wearable world as we technology to succeed to in the know it will enterprise on page 24. The piece be redefined features some use cases – including by connected a story where a Fitbit helped to solve devices and a murder case – that really show just smarter how it could influence the world as we platforms. know it.

Oman Air’s senior vice president of IT tells CNME how he is looking to transform the processes across the business with a smart use of devices and data.

Page 16 chronicles the excellent work Sourav is undertaking.

Following the confirmation of Saudi Arabia’s commitment to contribute nearly half of Softbank’s $93 billion Vision technology investment fund, I explore whether the move really satisfies the country’s Vision 2030 IT mandates on page 20.

On page 32, the RTA’s Ahmed Hashem Bahrozyan, who is heading the organisation’s self-driving strategy, tells us when we can expect flying cars to be in Dubai’s skies.

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

Our online platforms

tahawultech.com

Our social media

facebook.com/tahawultech

twitter.com/tahawultech

James Dartnell Editor linkedin.com/in/tahawultech

Contents

Our Strategic Partners Strategic ICT Partner

Strategic Technology Partner

Strategic Innovation Partner

ISSUE 306 | JULY 2017

10

EVENT: F5 NETWORKS' AGILITY 2017

12

OSN VP OF IT DAMIAN O’GARA

20 Kingdom come

38 Open season

24 In vogue

44

28 Comply and compete

48 Reality check

16

CASE STUDY: OMAN AIR

32

ANALYSIS: RTA'S DRIVERLESS STRATEGY

Following its decision to commit $45 billion into SoftBank’s Vision Fund, why has Saudi Arabia’s government felt the need to make such a huge investment in technology?

Global wearable technology shipments reached 22 million units in the first quarter of 2017.

With this in mind, how can we expect their increasing presence to affect the enterprise?

How can organisations ensure they grasp a strong, holistic governance, risk and compliance (GRC) strategy to enable them to asset the maximum value to the business?

Huawei’s Alaa Elshimy explains how the firm’s new regional OpenLab can benefit potential customers in their decision-making and technology education.

Why smart stores don't check out Amazon, Starbucks and Apple want you to walk into their stores, pick up your items, then walk right out. But is this era of automated, smartphonebased brick-and-mortar retail just an illusion, rather than a reality?

Tom Bianculli, CTO, Zebra Technologies decrypts a selection of common digital transformation myths, and investigates how businesses can drive innovation in today's digital age.

Published by FOUNDER, CPI MEDIA GROUP Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015) EDITORIAL Group Editor Jeevan Thankappan jeevan.thankappan@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9129

PRODUCTION AND DESIGN Production Manager James P Tharian james.tharian@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5673

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

Senior Designer Analou Balbero analou.balbero@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5680

Sales Manager Merle Carrasco merle.carrasco@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9147

Online Editor Adelle Geronimo adelle.geronimo@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9135

Designer Neha Kalvani neha.kalvani@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9159

CIRCULATION Circulation Manager Rajeesh M rajeesh.nair@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9119

Deputy Editor Glesni Holland glesni.holland@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9134

Operations Manager Shweta Santosh shweta.santosh@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9107

Publishing Director Natasha Pendleton natasha.pendleton@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9139 ADVERTISING Group Sales Director Kausar Syed kausar.syed@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9138

DIGITAL SERVICES Web Developer Jefferson de Joya Abbas Madh Photographers Charls Thomas Maksym Poriechkin webmaster@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9100 Publication licensed by Dubai Production City, DCCA PO Box 13700 Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 440 9100 Fax: +971 4 447 2409

Regional partner of

Printed by Printwell Printing Press © Copyright 2017 CPI All rights reserved While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

STATE

OF

the Cloud The Death of “Virtualisation=Cloud”

IT leaders say their organisations are shifting from private cloud to public alternatives like infrastructure-as-a-service.

PRIVATE CLOUD

IaaS

The use of virtualisation or private cloud has

Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS)

dropped nearly 25%, from 52% to 40% of respondents.

nearly doubled, increasing from 30% to 57%.

The move away from virtualisation and “private cloud” toward public cloud is driven primarily by three criteria:

SCALABILITY PERFORMANCE

BETTER/FASTER ACCESS TO RESOURCES

Increased Use in Public Cloud Services

39%

of respondents predict that they will get half or more of IT services from the cloud.

Amazon Web Google’s Services (AWS) Cloud

52%

39%

Microsoft Azure

48% 38%

23%

38%

As the use of public cloud becomes a given, IT leaders must navigate the transition and advocate for management tools or architectures that allow them to realise the benefits they seek.

The Future of Hybrid Cloud

Top Three Concerns with Cloud Computing

2016 burst the cloud-burst bubble on building hybrid cloud environments.

51%

The percentage of respondents running half or more of their workloads in the private cloud

declined from

of respondents said that security is the biggest challenge their organisation has encountered in utilising private/hybrid cloud.

76%

to 59%.

New Technology and Trends in 2016

7%

Although only of respondents said they were using containers in production,

40% are considering, testing, or using them in development.

The rise of so-called “serverless” computing is one of the most significant recent topics in cloud.

“Security defects in the technology itself”

57% “Unauthorised access to or leak of our proprietary information”

39% “Unauthorised access to or leak of our customers’ information”

35% SOURCE: INTEROP

IBM ThinkPad 700C

I

nspired by the proportions of a classic, all-black cigar box with little styling or flair, the 700C was one of the first in a long series of IBM’s ThinkPad notebook range.

The brand’s identifying feature was its red track point mouse button between the G and H keys, that allowed IBM to waive a touchpad mouse. But what made the 700C model stand out from its predecessors – the 300 and 700, released alongside the 700C in 1992 – was that the C edition featured a colour LCD screen. A 10.4-inch display with a 256-colour spectrum was something of a luxury in the early nineties; one that didn’t come particularly cheap, either.

The ThinkPad 700C retailed at $4,350 upon its initial release, and came with a 120MB hard drive. However, the device was power-hungry, and could only withstand three-and-a-half hours of ‘normal’ use after a full charge.

A year after it debuted, the ThinkPad became the laptop of choice for NASA’s space missions.

Its inaugural mission was on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in December 1993. By that point, the 700C model had been further upgraded, and several 750s were loaded with diagrams of the Hubble Space Telescope to help astronauts repair it during the mission. ThinkPads continue to be used on the International Space Station today.

Lenovo bought IBM’s PC division in 2005, taking the ThinkPad brand with it. Lenovo later toyed with the idea of reinventing the original ThinkPad - a pen-based tablet that was initially released in 1991. This model had little success, and the name was recycled for IBM’s notebook range the year later.

The backwards-folding ThinkPad Yoga touchscreen tablet was unveiled in 2013 – just one of the 200 plus ThinkPad branded models that has succeeded the 700C. Celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary this year has sparked rumours that Lenovo could mark the occasion with a laptop that embraces the ThinkPad’s past designs. The T92, as it is expected to be called, is rumoured to feature exposed screws, a 7-row keyboard and an array of status LEDs. It is also set to include the retro IBM logo in its original red, green and blue form.

8

JULY 2017

www.tahawultech.com

REDEFINING technology transformation

+971 4 440 9100

@TahawulTech

info@cpimediagroup.com

www.tahawultech.com

Media City, Building 4 Office G-08, Dubai, UAE, PO Box 13700

EVENT

F5 Networks’ Agility 2017

Faster, smarter, safer James Dartnell reports from the EMEA edition of F5 Networks’ Agility 2017 conference in Barcelona, where the firm’s new CEO François LocohDonou pledged to stay true to the firm’s software offerings while delivering increasingly complex and secure applications to its customers.

I

f F5’s own messaging is to be believed, new chief executive François Locoh-Donou has a tall task ahead. The firm was at pains to stress the way in which applications continue to evolve, bringing organisations into the unknown. Applications, the company believes, could become akin to “organs” which will need unprecedented means of being delivered securely and intelligently.

Locoh-Donou said he had been extremely encouraged by the firm’s strong track record, but acknowledged that a shift in focus towards its software products would be beneficial in the drive to provide flexible solutions for customers. “I think what needs to change is our mindset around the way we look at ourselves, which is the same way that the rest of the world looks at us – as an application delivery controller (ADC) company,” he said.

10

JULY 2017

“When you really look at F5 and what the core differentiation of the company is, it’s software, and TMOS (traffic management operating systems). If you ask most of our customers why they buy it from F5 and not from our competitors, it’s the flexibility it gives them and the ability to solve any problems.”

He went on to add that while customers may have traditionally opted to consume these services in a hardware-driven model, that was set to change. “That technology has been consumed largely as a hardwarebased ADC in an on-premise data centre deployment model, and what needs to change is for us to think of ourselves more as an application services company, and delivering these services wherever and however our customers want to consume them.

That can be hardware in a data centre or software in a private cloud, or a model across multiple clouds. I think

making sure that we have our priorities clear and then executing on them is really what we need to focus on.”

The Future of Apps F5 unveiled a report revealing what lies in store for the future of applications, highlighting major trends and projections that will significantly impact society. The Future of Apps draws upon research conducted by The Foresight Factory, and was conducted across 25 markets from the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, featuring interviews with leading experts and eminent entrepreneurs specialising in the automation, biometrics, IT and technology sectors.

The report highlights the evolution of artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as the need for new collaborative models to support heightened transparency www.tahawultech.com

What needs to change is for us to think of ourselves more as an application services company.

François Locoh-Donou, CEO, F5 Networks

demands. It also charts the rise of new app interfaces (including augmented and virtual reality) and the influence of blockchain technologies and edge computing.

“Physical and digital worlds are blurring,” said Foresight Factory’s director of consulting Josh McBain.

“More than ever before, embedded biometrics and AI will enable humans to take greater control of their personal data. However, these technological shifts will bring significant risks to an increasingly fraught threat landscape, including the dangers of self-replicating AI, autonomous vehicle hacks or the weaponisation of the Internet of Things. We now need to be prepared for when cybercriminals hack humans or even breach the brain.”

Although that prediction may seem far-flung to some, it’s clear what F5 envisages when it mentions the www.tahawultech.com

need for sophistication in the ways applications are delivered. There are already real-world use cases where humanity is becoming infused with technology.

“In the future, new applications could very likely be the same as adding a new organ or sense,” said Neil Harbisson, founder of the Cyborg Foundation, and the first person in the world to have an antenna implanted in his skull. “Once you merge with technology, you can extend your perception and your senses to give you a much more profound experience of life and of reality. It can change not only how you see your daily life, but also the way that you see the future.”

F5 used Agility to announce the availability of offerings designed to provide consistent application services in multi-cloud environments. F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition (VE) is now available in the Google Cloud Platform, and the firm is now offering new ‘bring-your-own license’ offers for instances ranging from 25Mbps to 5Gbps. The new Container Connector, meanwhile, provides the provisioning of

services for containerised applications, and the integration of capabilities from management and orchestration systems including Kubernetes and Mesos/ Marathon.

The Application Connector was also launched, which delivers application services from the edge of the cloud by automatically discovering cloud-hosted instances and connecting them to the customer’s data center or hosted location.

“Customers are increasingly choosing to deploy applications in multiple clouds – public and private, in colocation facilities, and in their own data centres – but are struggling with the management of different development environments, tool sets, and orchestration technologies,” said Sangeeta Anand, SVP of product management and product marketing at F5. “Where these clouds provide services for applications, they often do so in ways that are not portable enough, are use-case specific, or provide inadequate protection. F5’s portfolio of multi-cloud application services and solutions give customers the freedom to deploy any application – anywhere – with consistent application services and enterprise-grade security.”

JULY 2017

11

FEATURE

Damian O'Gara, vice president of IT, OSN

Your viewing pleasure Joining OSN permanently in February, vice president of IT Damian O’Gara is spearheading its digital transformation drive.

Facing stiff competition from global players – and across media platforms – O’Gara is committed to ensuring OSN’s customer experience and delivery methods are unrivalled in the Middle East.

12

JULY 2017

www.tahawultech.com

T

he concept of ‘digitally transforming’ the broadcast media industry may seem strange to some. By its very nature, television services are heavily dependent on technology, with a relatively low use of manual work and processes. However, Damian O’Gara, vice president of IT for the Middle East’s household name in TV, OSN, feels that he still has much to do. “Digital transformation means different things to different people, and to different industries,” he says. “In the case of media, it’s a question of improving and extending services, as well as the methodologies to deliver your product. Digital transformation at OSN is multifaceted. We are already a digital company, as well as a traditional direct to home (DTH) satellite provider.”

Initially brought into OSN to work in a technology transformation advisory role in October 2016, four months of sterling work convinced the firm to hire O’Gara on a fulltime basis in February. He now finds himself in the firm’s top technology job, and is determined to broaden and sharpen the

www.tahawultech.com

JULY 2017

13

FEATURE

Damian O'Gara, vice president of IT, OSN

ways that OSN delivers 158 TV channels – featuring content from some of Hollywood's biggest studios, including Warner Bros., Paramount, HBO, Fox, Disney, Sony, MGM, Universal, ESPN and DreamWorks – to its viewers. “Three main aspects of technology motivate me to work every morning,” O’Gara says. “Technology stability comes first. Next, it’s how we can innovate to generate growth, and thirdly, how we can make cost savings. These are the metrics that I am always hungry to satisfy, and all initiatives that I work on fall into one of these categories.”

Upon arriving at OSN, O’Gara made it his mission to ensure that people across the company were on the same page in their desire to initiate change. He acknowledges that if any sort of transformation is to take place at OSN, unity and passion are needed. “To get our digital transformation journey underway, it was extremely important to have a coherent digital technology strategy, but also for the company’s leadership to be supportive of those changes,” he says.

“We are extremely lucky to have a senior leadership team that have a vision, and completely recognise the importance of digital transformation for our ongoing success. Once you have this, it’s important to have a bucket-load of enthusiasm from everyone involved, and to ensure that everyone works together to achieve your transformational goals.”

While its DTH content business continues to thrive, the firm is increasingly looking at how it can diversify its delivery methods.

OSN’s digital over the top (OTT) platform, Go Online TV, which is being repositioned with new pricing and functionality, streams video on demand and live content to smart devices, web clients and Smart TVs. 14

JULY 2017

I definitely think we can provide services that are better than Netflix and YouTube.

This breadth of delivery platforms is being driven by customers who are increasingly tech-savvy, and who demand uninterrupted service.

“We operate in a very competitive market, and it’s imperative that we lead in this region when it comes to technology,” he says “Technology in the broadcast media industry is extremely fast-moving, while subscribers are demanding increasingly advanced and intuitive

services. For us, that could mean increasing the number of ways a customer can be billed and pay, or increasing the channels in which they can consume our service.”

O’Gara also acknowledges that enhancing internal IT processes is an essential part of sharpening business operations. “It’s also a case of optimising our core workflows, whether that’s the flow of data from Hollywood Studios to a subscriber’s home or improving internal corporate IT flows.”

However, it is clear that one component reigns supreme in defining OSN’s quest for digital transformation. O’Gara has identified business intelligence tools as the secret ingredient to providing insight that will ensure OSN trumps its competition. “Business intelligence gives us all kinds of insight,” he says. “From an internal operations perspective, it allows us to monitor systems’ availability and our finances, but just as importantly, it lets us see how many subscribers are tuning in at any point in time. This kind of data will allow us to simplify the www.tahawultech.com

customer experience and extend ways to enhance our services. At its heart, business intelligence provides a wealth of information across the business, including understanding our customers’ current behaviours and predicting their future needs.”

Although OSN may have a captive audience in the Middle East and North Africa region, the current elephant in the room for all traditional broadcasters is the threat posed by online and OTT players that have had the head start of operating without certain legacy technologies within their infrastructure. O’Gara concedes that although OSN may be digital by its very nature, the intensity of competition within the broadcast media industry and public expectation have shifted the goal posts in terms of what needs to be delivered. “In the last 18 months in particular, the delivery and speed of products have grown at an unprecedented rate,” he says. “Naturally, this motivates us to continually innovate and enhance our services.”

O’Gara remains mindful of the need to ensure that OSN remains on its toes in the battle against other global players, but is firm in the belief that they are fully prepared to compete in a number of respects.

“I definitely think we can provide services that are better than Netflix and YouTube,” he says. “If we focus on what matters to our viewers, then that’s definitely realistic. Investment is not a massive barrier in that respect.” He does, however, believe that the Dubai Media City firm has an edge due to its inherent diversity.

“Our content distinguishes us,” he says. “We provide content for the most populous nationalities in the UAE and the MENA region, which is definitely advantageous.”

He also believes that fresh approaches in technology will www.tahawultech.com

provide a huge advantage if the firm is to retain its status. “It is vital that we continue to innovate,” he says.

“We need to continue to extend our products and offer an incredible service to our customers, but at the same time, try out a variety of new technology ideas to ensure we continue to be leaders in the industry. Product improvement and company growth have a symbiotic relationship. Business and technology strategies constantly influence and inform one another.”

A key aspect of this shift will be OSN’s gradual shift to the use of cloud services in the coming months and years. “Since we are a content

and he is hopeful that he will have the opportunity to work directly with them in the coming years. “There are AI technologies that can conduct sentiment analysis on characters’ facial expressions,” he says. He also believes that mixed reality holds huge promise. “It may take a year or so, but I definitely think that they have huge potential.” O’Gara adds that he will look to introduce Blockchain and virtual currencies to OSN, but “not this year”. “If we do, it would be so users could gift coins to purchase movies or loyalty points,” he says. “These records of virtual currency payments would be recorded on Blockchain.”

In the case of media, digital transformation is a question of improving and extending services, as well as the methodologies to deliver your product.

business and not necessarily an IT company, cloud computing features highly on our agenda,” he says.

O’Gara is currently leading a review of all of OSN’s technology services, to decide which aspects could be moved to cloud. “We’re striving for a cloudfirst policy,” he says. “Every month, we hear of more cloud providers setting up in the region, and this is can only equate to good news.”

A selection of technologies that could transform the media industry have already caught O’Gara’s eye,

These areas for potential future development are all part of the bigger picture; O’Gara acknowledges that digital transformation is not a destination, but a continuous journey. “We won’t ever finish our digital transformation drive; there is no end date to it,” he says. “It is an ongoing process that will ensure we are always at the top of our game.

We will continue to bring additional features to our customers throughout 2017, 2018 and beyond making our experience second to none.”

JULY 2017

15

CASE STUDY

Oman Air

Ready for take-off Sourav Sinha has a knack of being at the heart of airlines’ transformational growth periods. Oman Air’s senior vice president of IT has already notched up a series of transformational projects at the Muscat firm, and is looking to ensure that technology remains at the heart of the company’s operations in years to come.

“

I don’t follow the rules, that’s my problem.” Sourav Sinha has always been one to trust his instincts, and if results are anything to go by, he’s right to do so. Now committed to introducing technological change and to challenge his IT staff to “go outside of their boundaries”, his work has already yielded positive impact across the company in a number of key areas.

Sinha joined Oman Air in 2013, just as the airline was looking to reinvent itself. He had previously worked for Qatar Airways as group CIO, joining in 2004, and would go on to play a key role throughout the airline’s expansion in the coming years. “When I joined Qatar Airways in 2004, it had 34 aircraft in its fleet,” Sinha says. “By the time I left, it had 70.”

16

JULY 2017

Oman Air has experienced a similar upturn in fortunes to that of Qatar Airways in Sinha’s tenure, with its fleet rising from “under 20” in 2009, to over 50 today. While that rise can’t be attributed to Sinha alone, the wheels of transformation that he has set in motion are more than in keeping with the overall growth.

“There are a few things that we tried to improve when I first arrived,” he says. “The main things were changes in terms of our commercial activity, sales and routemap. The most important thing to achieve was to see where the airline’s gaps were.” In the midst of this, Oman Air’s IT was also due a makeover. “Technology had lagged behind until people begun to notice its inefficiencies,” he says.

“The systems and processes

were not sufficient to support the airline’s operations.”

A crucial part of technological change would be a comprehensive mapping of processes throughout the company. This would encompass engineering, flight operations and cargo handling among other areas.

“If you don’t

www.tahawultech.com

Facts and figures always help to elucidate issues around technology.

www.tahawultech.com

JULY 2017

17

CASE STUDY

Oman Air

set the core right, complexity ensues,” Sinha says. “Systems were not meeting the company needs in a number of areas. There were gaps in integrations between systems which couldn’t continue. Perhaps most importantly, data was incomplete and inconsistent.”

One of Sinha’s first priorities was to establish an electronic flight bag – an information management device used by pilots on board aircraft – to help the airline take a key step in digitalising its processes. “This was a big step forward for us,” he says. “It gives pilots enhanced data and insight into metrics such as their flight performance and fuel consumption.”

The IT department went on to equip all pilots with iPads, which have become an “inseparable” part of their work. “This removes delays in getting data onto the ground,” Sinha says. “It also assists in engine performance calculations, as well as making their job easier.”

The use of iPads is also set to be extended to a number of areas within the airline’s operations, including cabin crew, engineering teams and ground handling. “Engineering teams will have live insights into maintenance requirements, and will have improved access to OEM guidelines and documents,” Sinha says. “Checklists could previously take days to be entered into the system, but the entry process will be slashed. Ground operations are also absolutely key, and are central to the way an airline is run.”

Tablets will also be used by cabin crew to record customer feedback, which will be delivered at a faster rate than ever before.

Sinha and the IT department have also designed an innovative way to reduce food wastage on board the 18

JULY 2017

The sooner that we can get an understanding of our customers, the quicker we can offer more personalised services.

aircraft. Once first-class customers make online reservations, they receive an email which asks them to request their in-flight meal and drinks choices from a list of options. “This means that customers know what they are getting in advance, and that we don’t have to carry excess food on board,” Sinha says.

Throughout the course of the changes Sinha has instigated, he has made it a priority to gain the buy-in of IT staff and senior management members by articulating the benefits of technology. “Oman Air staff do see the value in IT, and that makes my job easier,” he says. “It’s important that you use technology to drive value, and that your technology decisions are driven by market forces. Facts and figures always help to elucidate issues around technology.”

A key example of this is the way in which Sinha has deployed dashboards for Oman Air’s leadership that provide results on key performance metrics.

They now have greater access to a range of datasets, including the fuel efficiency performance of the airline’s captains. “Fuel is one of the biggest costs an airline must bear,” Sinha says. “Captains will always claim that they need a certain amount of fuel to fly a certain route, but by showing them that others can use less on the same route, that becomes one of their KPIs to be more efficient, which in turn saves cost.”

However, Sinha is far from satisfied with Oman Air’s use of data. He sees “big gaps” in the ways that the company understands its customers, although this is largely due to the ways that tickets are purchased.

“Roughly 70-75 percent of our ticket sales go through distribution agents, and that means we don’t get an understanding of customer as early as we would like,” he says. “The sooner that we can get an understanding of them, the quicker we can offer more personalised services, which will only increase their satisfaction.”

Following the severance of diplomatic ties and airline routes between Qatar and Saudia Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, to name but a few countries, one could be forgiven for thinking that opportunity could be in store for Oman Air. With a number of other regional airlines cutting their flights to Doha, could Oman Air scoop up that business?

“The changes haven’t yet impacted Doha-Muscat traffic,” Sinha says.

“We don’t expect it to increase as such, but we’re of course ready to provide what customers want if that demand is there.” On the global stage, meanwhile, Sinha describes business in Europe as “improving”, while the firm’s traffic from the Far East has historically been “good”. www.tahawultech.com

PRESENTS

19TH SEPTEMBER 2017

DUBAI, UAE

REGISTER AT

www.tahawultech.com/datacentrebuild/2017/ For sponsorship enquiries Natasha Pendleton Publishing Director natasha.pendleton@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9139 / +971 56 787 4778

Kausar Syed Group Sales Director kausar.syed@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9130 / +971 50 758 6672

Merle Carrasco Sales Manager merle.carrasco@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9147 / +971 55 118 1730

For agenda-related enquiries Jeevan Thankappan Group Editor jeevan.thankappan@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9129 / +971 56 415 6425

EXCLUSIVE STRUCTURED CABLING PARTNER

STRATEGIC THREAT DETECTION PARTNER

James Dartnell Editor james.dartnell@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9153 / +971 56 934 4776

STRATEGIC VAD PARTNER

ORGANISER

MEDIA PARTNER

Adelle Geronimo Online Editor adelle.geronimo@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9135 / +971 56 484 7564

EVENT PARTNERS

FEATURE

Saudi's taste for tech

KINGDOM COME

Following its decision to commit $45 billion into SoftBank’s Vision Fund, why has Saudi Arabia’s government felt the need to make such a huge investment in technology? Why is this investment being directed externally, and does it actually satisfy the country’s aims of delivering its Vision 2030 goals?

20

JULY 2017

www.tahawultech.com

I

t seems that Saudi Arabia’s pledge to make technology a key pillar of Vision 2030 was far from hollow. The country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) – the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund – has committed a whopping $45 billion investment into Softbank’s recently launched $93 billion Vision Fund, which has become the world’s largest technology investment vehicle.

In some ways, the move asks more questions than it answers. A key pillar of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 – launched in April 2016 by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman – was to slash public spending in the wake of a $100 billion deficit in 2015. Nonetheless, it now finds itself pouring almost half that sum into an international technology fund.

Back on home soil, meanwhile, it has almost been forgotten that telecoms giant STC has pledged to set up a self-financed $500 million venture

capital fund to invest in homegrown tech start-ups. Last December, STC also committed to purchasing a 10 percent stake – worth $100 million – in car booking firm Careem.

As part of its wide-ranging economic diversification plan, Saudi Arabia is trying to promote SMEs, and to expand its industrial base. Developing “a sophisticated” digital infrastructure has also been identified as a critical area in supporting this growth. Among the government’s other main technology-related aims were partnering with the private sector to develop IT infrastructure, and supporting local investments in technology.

In spite of its status as the region’s largest market, the Kingdom has often played second fiddle to the UAE when it comes to technology, both in terms of how it has been prioritised at a government level, as well as the world’s blue chip tech firms’ preference to establish regional headquarters in Dubai.

Over the past year, one of the biggest inhibitors to Saudi digital transformation has been the lack of technology vendors with local data centres.

Ahmed Al-Faifi, managing director, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Yemen, SAP www.tahawultech.com

However, whatever can be said about Saudi Arabia’s activity – or lack thereof – in the technology space until now, the Vision Fund commitment is a reminder of the country’s huge appetite for investment. It is a clear statement of intent for what its government is willing to do to in its catch-up bid to become a knowledgebased economy, one that soon won’t be able to survive on oil alone.

Megha Kumar, IDC’s research director for software and cloud, believes that Saudi Arabia’s huge external technology investments are a route one approach to deliver internal results. “The Vision Fund will give Saudi Arabia better access to technology,” she says. “Developing the Kingdom’s technology prospects organically is expensive, and the fund represents a logical way to get fast access to becoming a knowledge-based economy.”

Kumar goes on to add that the Fund’s work will provide multi-faceted benefits for Saudi Arabia, chief among them the access the country will gain to cutting-edge technology. “The Vision Fund will invest in AI and robotics, and that just shows you how Saudi Arabia will benefit directly,” she says “On the one hand, they can showcase economic diversification from the investments they have made, and on the other, the government has the opportunity to become early technology adopters through its association with the Fund.”

Sanjay Ahuja, AGC Networks’ vice president for the Middle East and Africa region, believes that the PIF’s commitment to the Vision Fund represents an important strategic move that ties in with their overall economic development goals. “Today, JULY 2017

21

FEATURE

Saudi's taste for tech

Saudi Arabia is in a situation where a lot of its current investments are being channeled into core infrastructure projects such as roads, public transport, electricity and water,” he says. “Technology also has an important role to play in this development.

However, I believe that it’s time for them to leverage their credibility and rating in the market and raise funds externally to diversify their investment in technology. This will complement their investments in infrastructure.”

Ahuja adds that all infrastructure and technology projects have a symbiotic relationship, and one that can no longer be neglected in the Kingdom. “Today, technology is the backbone of any country’s developments,” he says. “With digital adoption across industries like finance, e-government, manufacturing, retail, education and healthcare, it is inevitable that Saudi Arabia can’t ignore the necessity of these investments.”

There is no shortage in the Kingdom’s appetite for investment in the infrastructure projects that Ahuja mentions. The development of new manufacturing facilities and the enhancement of oil and gas plants has been prioritised, while ambitious developments such as Jubail Industrial City, and King Abdullah Economic City, continue, even if they have had mixed success to date. On the transport front, the country is making huge strides, with mega rail and transport projects such as the Riyadh Light Rail Network, Jeddah Light Rail Transit system and Makkah Mass Rail Transit all pressing ahead to achieve geographical and physical connectivity.

While these projects represent internal development on the physical infrastructure front, the same cannot always be found for IT. Although the 22

JULY 2017

Developing the Kingdom’s technology prospects organically is expensive, and the fund represents a logical way to get fast access to a knowledge-based economy.

Megha Kumar, research director, software and cloud, IDC investment into the Vision Fund may represent a bold step in the right direction, many will be concerned that more needs to be done on home turf to ensure that the right conditions are created to develop a technologydriven society. As with the rest of the Middle East, Saudi Arabia must face the reality that the requisite skills and technology infrastructure needed to meet its bold aims are lacking.

Kumar believes that fresh approaches may be needed to usher in a new era of change. “Skills are a big challenge for the Kingdom,” she says.

“There is also the need to innovate and experiment with technology, given the country’s optimised ICT budgets.”

Ahmed Al-Faifi, SAP’s managing director for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Yemen, believes that Saudi Vision 2030, combined with the larger tech players’ increased appetite to increase their operations in the Kingdom, is gradually beginning to yield results. SAP recently announced plans to launch a public cloud data centre, co-innovation centre and local

developer platform in Saudi Arabia, however, Al-Faifi believes that the country has previously fallen short in delivering these facilities. “Over the past year, one of the biggest inhibitors to Saudi digital transformation has been the lack of technology vendors with local data centres, especially for public sector organisations to store and analyse data in-country,” he says.

“Saudi Arabia’s massive technology investment is testament to how Saudi Vision 2030’s goals of nationwide digital transformation can optimise costs, enable innovation, and transform the customer and citizen experience.”

Al-Faifi also believes that the enthusiasm generated by the government’s announcements has bred a genuine belief that progress can be delivered through technology growth in the country, and that promising signs are on the horizon in fulfilling Saudi Arabia’s mandate for the near future. “Saudi Vision 2030 and strong Saudi support for startups show that internal technology development is accelerating rapidly,” he says. www.tahawultech.com

Data and Database Security

PROTECTS THE DATA & DATABASES IN REAL-TIME KEY FEATURES

SEARCH...

DATA-CENTRIC AUDIT & PROTECTION

DATA PROTECTION AND DB FIREWALL

DYNAMIC & STATIC DATA MASKING

BEST IT SECURITY SYSTEM INTEGRATOR AWARD 2017 - (5 YEARS CONSECUTIVELY)

HOT LINE : +9714 4428910

sales@nanjgel.com www.nanjgel.com

Our Office Locations in GCC UAE - [ Dubai / Abu Dhabi ] Qatar Saudi Arabia Kuwait Bahrain Oman

www.nanjgel.com

FEATURE

The wearable movement

IN VOGUE According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global wearable technology shipments reached 22 million units in the first quarter of 2017.

With this in mind, how can we expect their increasing presence to affect the enterprise? When can we expect them to become common workplace tools?

24

JULY 2017

www.tahawultech.com

W

hen James Park and Eric Friedman founded Fitbit ten years ago, they created a device that would soon become a pioneer of the wearable technology movement.

Little did any of us know what this era had to give, even beyond that of basic step counters.

The renowned wrist-worn device was first launched in 2013, and the company was val-

www.tahawultech.com

ued at an impressive $11 billion during its peak in 2015. However, this high was not to last. Last year saw the firm’s market value drop 75 percent, sparking questions around whether this wearable movement was, in fact, another a gimmicky hype.

Nevertheless, Fitbit lives on. While the company may not appear to be the soaring success it once was, it was the market leader for wearable technology once again in Q3 last year. Seeing in the new year with $2 billion of revenue and 50.2 million registered users also reaffirmed the notion that fitness devices are still a very prominent player in this market.

Although studies show that there is a lack of concrete evidence that proves that wearables can actually benefit your health, a Fitbit’s ability to collect data has established alternative uses for the device.

Surveillance is not a typical selling point for fitness trackers, but earlier this year, the data collected on a Fitbit formed a key piece of the puzzle in solving a murder case in the United States. In December 2015, Connecticut resident Richard Dabate claimed that a man broke into his home, shot dead his wife Connie, and tied him to a chair. However, at a time when Richard claimed Connie had already been shot by the intruder, her Fitbit was tracking her movements, and surveillance footage captured her visiting a local gym. This accumulation of data resulted in Richard Dabate being charged with her murder.

Converting this use case

JULY 2017

25

FEATURE

The wearable movement

into a business environment, Timothy Ricketts, ecosystem leader, IBM Watson Internet of Things MEA, believes that this surveillance capability can be applied in the workplace. “Wearables as a business strategy is evolving, and companies are looking at ways they can address specific outcomes through their use,” he says. “One important use case is the ability to locate workers in hazardous environments, providing benefits to the health and safety of employees. Vital signs can be measured, and pro-active steps can be taken to prevent incidents from occurring, resulting in improved worker experience and productivity, while reducing the cost of incidents.”

He adds that factories can also establish adherence to shift and break times using wearable technology. “What’s more, hazard alerts can be sent when an employee is in close proximity to a danger on the shop floor, or an alert can be sent to evacuate an area or the entire facility,” he says.

Aside from surveillance use cases, organisations looking to invest in

wearable technology should be mindful of the fact that, in some ways, it represents a shift from the bring your own device trend. Wearables typically collect personal information from the user, meaning employees may be reluctant to connect them to their corporate environment. However, Ricketts believes that if organisations are prepared to provide wearables for work-related purposes, the high uptake and acceptance of them in a consumer environment won’t be limited to that realm alone. “While I don’t think the high level of personal uptake makes wearables any more necessary in a business environment, it does lower the resistance to adoption in a business situation, because people are so used to being exposed to this technology outside of work,” he says.

The retail industry is also forecast to be heavily influenced by the uptake of wearables, as technology continues to revolutionise innovative ways in which traders can engage and interact with their consumers. “Soon, hands-free shopping will be a reality where the entire retail experience

Soon, hands-free shopping will be a reality where the entire retail experience will take place on a wearable device.

Dirk Raemdonck, marketing and retail development manager, E-City 26

JULY 2017

will take place on a wearable device,” says Dirk Raemdonck, marketing and retail development manager, E-City.

“The use of line-of-sight wearables will enable retailers to offer consumers an enhanced and virtual in-store experience. In addition, it will streamline communications among employees, and bring a change in store layout.”

This all-inclusive shopping experience via a wearable device is also set to feature a single mobile wallet. Under the Smart Dubai initiative, empay – in collaboration with Cardtek – will provide a payment infrastructure that allows consumers in the UAE to make retail payments, initiate money transfers, and pay for government utilities, telecommunications, and school fees from a mobile wallet, using both mobile devices and ‘active’ Bluetoothenabled wearables.

“The digital scene in the retail sector is constantly evolving, and retailers must adopt new and innovative ways to engage with consumers and stay competitive,” says Raemdonck.

“These technological developments will help businesses strengthen their consumer relationships by delivering highly immersive shopping experiences.”

In addition, recent figures compiled by IDC have shown that the Middle East and Africa (MEA) wearables market continued its strong growth trajectory into the first quarter of 2017 - up 30.2 percent year on year. The research firm said it expects the MEA wearables market to grow 20.9 percent in 2017 to reach a total of 2.9 million units, with www.tahawultech.com

smart wearables shipments tipped to increase 52 percent.

The UAE in particular is ideally positioned to utilise such technology, as the introduction of 5G connectivity looms ever closer. Delivering a higher user capacity than 4G networks along with faster Internet connection speeds will “completely transform” the way people use various connected devices in the region, says Raemdonck.

Anshul Srivastav, chief information officer, Union Insurance, meanwhile, believes that wearable devices will eventually become complete extensions of the smartphone, and organisations in the region should be treating this potential as an opportunity, not a challenge.

“The GCC market is poised for this next technology revolution, and we have seen a variety of industries in the region, from healthcare to banking and finance, begin to finalise their evaluation on wearables use cases,” says Srivastav. “Wearables are no longer considered fun novelties or auxiliary gadgets; they are fast becoming business centric tools that are being used to solve field level issues and can consequently save organisations millions of dollars.”

While we are still yet to see the full extent of how businesses can best utilise wearables, it seems that the futuristic concept of smart clothing is closer than we may have first thought.

Gartner has even made an ambitious forecast that shipments of smart garments will hit 26 million by 2020 - 7 million more than smart wristbands that same year. www.tahawultech.com

Wearables are no longer considered fun novelties or auxiliary gadgets; they are becoming business-centric tools that are being used to solve field level issues.

Anshul Srivastav, chief information officer, Union Insurance

Increasingly, tech firms are collaborating with well-known fashion brands on new offerings to keep consumers interested. Earlier this year, Google teamed up with highstreet retailer H&M on a project dubbed ‘Coded Couture.’ Together, the pair utilised Google’s Awareness API technology that uses a combination of context signals, such as location, physical activity, weather and nearby beacons to monitor a users’ activity and lifestyle.

Using this data, users can create their own personalised, custommade dress that can be ordered via an app - officially referred to as the ‘Data Dress.’

The data collected primarily results in the dress displaying a users’ regular routes and routines, which are represented as stitching on the dress. For example, the GPS-plotted route from a morning run could be replicated as an embellishment. This commercial use of the data is just one example of how products could be tailored to individuals based on information.

Smart fashion in the form of fitness or sportswear equipped with sensors that can track and measure health progress is already on the market, but research firm Tracita predicts that over the next 5 years, smart clothing will begin to look less like athletic pieces and more like casual and corporate wear.

“The smart devices which we all so heavily depend on will eventually take the form of smart clothing or jewellery, which will unobtrusively and yet undoubtedly create more value to our business,” says Srivastav.

JULY 2017

27

FEATURE

GRC

COMPLY AND COMPETE Siloed GRC applications fail to present a complete governance, risk and compliance picture. How can organisations ensure they grasp a strong, holistic strategy to enable them to asset the maximum value to the business?

T

o many organisations, compliance to legislative and regulatory standards can often be regarded as a cost burden, rather than a business benefit. However, an effective enterprise GRC platform should tick a number of boxes. Not only are these solutions necessary to identify, track and analyse enterprise and technology risks, but they are also essential if an organisation is to effectively monitor and manage corporate and IT compliance initiatives.

In failing to keep a watchful eye over these processes, businesses simply cannot expect to stay up-todate and aligned with global laws and industry standards. Likewise, ensuring employees adhere to company policies is ten times harder without a comprehensive view of the overall

28

JULY 2017

company strategy and regulations.

While there has historically been a good balance of pressure for large organisations operating in heavily regulated industries to create a consolidated platform for their companywide GRC stance, this has not always been the case across all sectors. A more common scenario that businesses find themselves in involves GRC initiatives springing out of individual business units’ needs, as opposed to an over-arching strategy.

Many siloed applications in this market primarily fall into a select few categories, such as corporate governance and compliance management, audit management, enterprise risk management and business resiliency. However, Vivek Shivananda, CEO, Rsam believes that it is impossible to get a complete view into an enterprise’s overall risk by taking this

“patchwork approach.”

Instead, enterprises should be on the lookout for an integrated reference architecture that ties all of these GRC use-cases together. “This way, risk is normalised across the enterprise, and the business has access to a collection of actionable data,” he says. “The key is to select a platform that offers the flexibility to deploy GRC use-cases in any order, yet still be able to connect to them in the background.”

In this data driven world that we now find ourselves in, it is widely recognised that maintaining the ability to not only collect, but protect, this data is something that can keep CIOs awake at night. The protection of this information can only be assisted by an effective

www.tahawultech.com

CIOs can justify an investment in GRC by quantifying what a company stands to lose by not having a platform in place. If you could stop potential havoc from happening, how valuable would that be to the enterprise?

Vivek Shivananda, CEO, Rsam GRC solution that hammers an organisation’s IT security protocols into its entire employee base, while enabling those concerned with the ability to oversee and manage the adherence to these mandates in a contained fashion.

Gartner’s definition states, “GRC is neither a project nor a technology, but a corporate objective for improving governance through more-effective

www.tahawultech.com

compliance and a better understanding of the impact of risk on business performance.” This focus on making GRC a “corporate objective” depicts the manner in which CIOs should go about encouraging executives to buyin to establishing an effective framework, and demonstrates that it is not simply a matter for the IT department.

While the return on investment in this area may not be plain for all to see, the major risk involved in not complying with certain mandates, or the thought of being hit by a catastrophic data loss which would massively impede customer’s trust, is surely enough leverage for expecting a reasonable amount of invest-

ment from the top into this platform, believes Shivananda. “CIOs can justify an investment in GRC by quantifying what a company stands to lose by not having a platform in place,” he says.

“If you could stop potential havoc from happening, how valuable would that be to the enterprise?”

Organisations everywhere are now finding themselves hard-pressed to meet a range of regulations, put in place by regulatory bodies such as ISO, ISR and NESA. From a regional perspective, The National Electronic Security Authority (NESA) is a government body tasked with protecting the UAE’s Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) and improving national cyber security. To achieve this, NESA has produced a set of standards and guidance for government entities in critical sectors. Compliance with these standards is mandatory for regulators, CII operators, and other relevant participating stakeholders who support critical national services.

As operational, technological and legal demands shift across business units, it is compliance mandates such as NESA that dictate the ways in which companies must stay in line. “Organisations globally are forced to deal

JULY 2017

29

FEATURE

GRC

with compliance mandates,” explains Shivananda. “It is not an option to ignore them without negative impact to the business. I rarely come across an organisation today that doesn’t understand the need to fulfill these mandates; the challenge is how.”

Nearly every GRC leader says their greatest concern is risk they cannot see. In order to combat this, GRC providers often carry out an IT assurance audit before the implementation, to assess the strength of an organisation from a technology perspective based on global practices and standards.

This establishes whether or not a business is actually ready to implement such a solution.

“Once you enter the design phase, be wary of any technology

platform vendor that asks upfront for all requirements you think you may ever need,” warns Shivananda. “It’s an impossible task. First, you don’t know what you don’t know, and second, the business environment isn’t static. Things are constantly changing. If your requirements are hard-wired into the platform, you are stuck with a rigid system that can’t adapt.”

It is for this reason that CIOs are advised to opt for a framework that has its roots in GRC, not a platform created for another purpose and modified to accommodate GRC. “The platform must be able to adapt to change without the need to recode or spend hours reworking the design,” says Shivananda.

䄀挀挀瘀攀 䐀椀爀攀挀琀漀爀礀 䴀愀渀愀最攀洀攀渀琀 ☀ 䄀甀搀椀椀渀最

䐀愀琀愀 䌀攀渀琀攀爀 䴀漀渀椀琀漀爀椀渀最 ☀ 䴀愀渀愀最攀洀攀渀琀

䤀吀䤀䰀 䠀攀氀瀀搀攀猀欀

In conclusion, any enterprisewide GRC management system must deliver a single strategy across the whole business, which integrates efficiently with the organisation’s goals.

This involves frameworks going beyond more than aligning with compliance mandates, and should instead serve as a platform for enhancing a business’ overall efficiency and accountability.

The benefits of this approach will, of course, vary depending on the organisation. But the overarching positives are likely to include the reduction of costs in maintaining various siloed applications and providing IT support resources, and should also encourage greater communication between employees across the business.

䤀吀 匀攀挀甀爀椀琀礀 䄀甀搀椀琀 ☀ 䌀漀洀瀀氀椀愀渀挀攀

䴀愀渀愀最攀搀 匀攀爀瘀椀挀攀猀 ☀ 伀甀琀猀漀甀爀挀椀渀最

䐀攀猀欀琀漀瀀 䴀愀渀愀最攀洀攀渀琀 䈀甀猀椀渀攀猀猀 䤀渀琀攀氀氀椀最攀渀挀攀 䤀吀 䌀漀渀猀甀氀琀愀渀挀礀 ☀ ☀ ☀ 䴀䐀䴀 吀爀愀椀渀椀渀最 䄀渀愀氀礀礀挀猀

䌀伀一匀唀䰀吀䤀一䜀 簀 匀伀䰀唀吀䤀伀一 簀 吀刀䄀䤀一䤀一䜀 簀 䴀䄀一䄀䜀䔀䐀 匀䔀刀嘀䤀䌀䔀匀 眀眀眀⸀攀氀椀琀猀攀爀ⴀ洀攀⸀挀漀洀

⬀㤀㜀㄀ 㐀 㐀㔀㐀 ㈀㜀㐀㄀

䤀一䐀䤀䄀 簀 唀䄀䔀 簀 䈀䄀䠀刀䄀䤀一

椀渀昀漀䀀攀氀椀琀猀攀爀ⴀ洀攀⸀挀漀洀

ᰠ夀漀甀爀 䤀吀匀䴀 倀愀爀琀渀攀爀ᴠ

PRESENTS

ALIGNING INFORMATION SECURITY WITH BUSINESS Monday, 28th August 2017

Habtoor Grand, Dubai, UAE

REGISTER NOW www.tahawultech.com/cso-perspectives-conference/2017

WHY ATTEND: • Get direct access to information security knowledge and expertise from some of the industry’s security practitioners and thought leaders.

• Gain new ideas, insights and actionable intelligence • Meet select exhibitors under one roof • Network with your peers and discuss the issues WHO SHOULD ATTEND: • C-level (CEO, CISO, CTO, CIO) • Board and director level • IT managers and GRC specialists

OFFICIAL CYBER SECURITY INNOVATION PARTNER

CATEGORY SPONSOR

For sponsorship enquiries Natasha Pendleton Publishing Director natasha.pendleton@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9139 / +971 56 787 4778 Kausar Syed Group Sales Director kausar.syed@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9130 / +971 50 758 6672

Merle Carrasco Sales Manager merle.carrasco@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9147 / +971 55 118 1730

For agenda-related enquiries Jeevan Thankappan Group Editor jeevan.thankappan@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9129 / +971 56 415 6425 James Dartnell Editor james.dartnell@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9153 / +971 56 934 4776

MEDIA PARTNER

Adelle Geronimo Online Editor adelle.geronimo@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9135 / +971 56 484 7564

ORGANISER

ANALYSIS

RTA's self-driving transport strategy

FULL SPEED AHEAD Having recently approved Dubai’s strategy to transform 25 percent of the emirate’s total trips into self-driving journeys by 2030, the RTA’s CEO of its licensing agency, Ahmed Hashem Bahrozyan – the driving force behind the project – explains how the latest autonomous transport announcements will contribute towards the goal.

32

JULY 2017

www.tahawultech.com

W

hen Carl Benz developed the first automobile in 1885, the concept of a selfnavigating car would have sounded like nothing more than fantasist drivel from the leading satirical poet and artist of the day, Wilhelm Busch.

However, the idea is quickly becoming reality, and Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA) is taking a number of steps to ensure it sets the pace in this evolution.

Amidst a series of recent announcements from the Authority regarding Dubai’s driverless strategy, it’s often easy to glaze over the fact that one of the major forms of public transport in Dubai is already driverless.

In the first quarter of 2017 alone, the Dubai Metro served 51 million riders – up from 49 million in the same period of 2016. What’s more, when comparing the Metro to traditional rail systems, its compliance with journey timetables is higher by 6.4 percent, and runs at an operational cost lower by 7 percent.

The tail-end of 2016 saw trials continue for the driverless, 10-person shuttle vehicle that was stationed in Downtown Dubai, which over 1,500 curious residents tried and tested in its first month of operation.

In February, meanwhile, HE Mattar Al Tayer, RTA’s director general and chairman of the board of executive directors, unveiled the world’s first autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV), capable of carrying one passenger.

The project, in collaboration with Chinese manufacturer EHANG, was announced at the World Government Summit, and sparked global recognition for Dubai’s proactive attitudes to such innovative technologies.

In addition, the Authority’s most recent announcement revealed plans to go even further than the oneperson AAV, after German manufacturer VOLOCOPTER announced its partnership with the RTA to introduce www.tahawultech.com

Ultimately, autonomous transport will happen. It’s not about how optimistic or pessimistic you are – what’s important is how realistic you are.

While it was initially claimed back in February that the authority would be “making every effort” to begin the operation of the AAVs in July this year, it appears that this target was too ambitious. Instead, it seems the RTA is now concentrating on ensuring that all operational models are completed, such as the installation of landing platforms throughout Dubai, while also ensuring vehicles are fully compliant with safety regulations before they take flight.

“The technology to support this strategy – covering all autonomous modes of transport - is not yet available, but I have no doubt that it will be in 5-10 years,” explains Bahrozyan.

“Ultimately, autonomous transport

a two-person autonomous aerial taxi (AAT) into the emirate.

The main drivers behind these plans to maximise the potential of self-driving transport are to ease mobility issues around the city, and ultimately save lives, says Ahmed Hashem Bahrozyan, CEO of the RTA’s Licensing Agency, who is heading the self-driving project.

“Implementing this strategy is not a one-man job, and it will require input from all agencies,” says Bahrozyan. “It is our job to ensure that the city is ready for these autonomous modes of transport to take effect, and the two most important aspects of this include establishing Ahmed Hashem operational Bahrozyan, CEO, models and Licensing Agency, RTA safety standards.”

JULY 2017

33

ANALYSIS

RTA's self-driving transport strategy

will happen, as billions of dollars have been invested in this technology. It’s not about how optimistic or pessimistic you are – what’s important is how realistic you are.”

The RTA is currently working in close cooperation with VOLOCOPTER and the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) to establish safety procedures for the use of these aerial vehicles, and trials are expected to begin in Q4 of this year.

Bahrozyan highlights that there will be a series of trials over the next five-year period that will increase in complexity before the vehicle can be fully operational. “The AAT is powered by electricity and has high safety features, thanks to its design comprising 18 rotors to ensure the taxi can cruise safely and land quickly in case of any rotor failure,” he says. “These will all be tested in a series of trials so that we can ensure the highest level of safety for our passengers.”

The cost of operating such vehicles en mass, as the RTA plans to do so, is still unknown. “The biggest operational cost involved in public transport currently is drivers, and pilots, of course, cost even more,” he says. “Taking the driver out of the equation will drastically reduce the cost of operations, which can then be translated into the fare charged to customers, but the cost of buying a fleet of these autonomous vehicles from a manufacturer is still something we’re looking in to.”

He adds, “A major factor for the success of this strategy is ensuring that the service is affordable, and we intend for it to be made available for all Dubai residents and tourists, not just the elite.”

The various components of the strategy will be rolled out in phases, says Bahrozyan. “We may reach a stage where we have a mixed mode scenario, where both autonomous and traditional forms of transport 34

JULY 2017

No one is saying that accidents won’t happen, but what people don’t realise is that 95 percent of car accidents worldwide are caused by human error.

converge. We may never reach a fully autonomous state, and from the feedback we’ve collected from Dubai residents, we’ve realised that it is still important for people to have a choice between the two.”

The obvious alarm bell that rings in this scenario is how passenger safety can be assured when driverless and traditional modes of transports are operating simultaneously, as autonomous cars will influence the current infrastructure of roads and traffic systems.

“Obviously this complicated things,” admits Bahrozyan. “But we may get to a stage where we have purely autonomous zones throughout the city in order to combat this – for example, DIFC could operate solely as a driverless area.”

Regardless of zones, laws and safety policies will undoubtedly have to change regarding passenger safety, as the cars will “talk” to each other and the surrounding terrain using sensors, and will also stay in touch via the centralised command post, the Enterprise and Command Control Centre (EC3). “I’m not concerned about this

being a problem, as Dubai is known globally for being very adaptable to change,” he says.

Gaining public trust around driverless transport is a major challenge for the RTA, especially when global media reports surrounding autonomous vehicles often highlight the negativities.

“No one is saying that accidents won’t happen, but what people don’t realise is that 95 percent of car accidents worldwide are caused by human error,” he says.

But as with most industries, the impending impact of automated technology replacing the need for humans to carry out labour-intensive tasks is still prevalent in this situation. As of December 2016, the RTA had a total employee base of 6,310, comprising 2,917 bus drivers. Plans have already been announced to introduce driverless buses, and their own dedicated lanes have already been designated for the trial periods, so what will this mean for the workforce?

“This is a problem for a large proportion of industries, beyond that of autonomous transport” explains Bahrozyan.

“But we must remember that these plans we have announced won’t materialise overnight. It’s a concern for cities all over the world, but it also reinforces us to think about the skill set we require from our employees going forward if we are going to find a solution.”

Looking ahead, Bahrozyan believes that Dubai’s target to make 25 percent of total journeys self-driving by 2030 is a challenging but realistic goal. “I think we have struck a fine balance between what is challenging and what is achievable,” he says. “We plan to look at extending autonomous technology to buses, taxis and marine transport. We are also looking to change the mindset throughout the RTA to enable us to consider introducing new modes of autonomous transport that we haven’t yet included in our portfolio in the future, such as cable cars.” www.tahawultech.com

ANALYSIS

Huawei OpenLab Dubai

Open season Huawei’s recently launched OpenLab Dubai now sits as its regional hands-on hub for experiencing public safety, smart city and oil and gas solutions.

The firm’s regional managing director and vice president of its Enterprise Business Group, Alaa Elshimy, explains how the Lab can benefit potential customers in their decision-making and technology education.

36

JULY 2017

www.tahawultech.com

W

hy has Huawei homed in on oil and gas, safe city and smart city solutions for its Dubai OpenLab? The OpenLabs solutions across the world are similar. We try to understand each market and its needs. We are in the era of industrial digital transformation, and this is a key reason for us making this particular investment.

The Middle East represents one of the biggest regions in the world for oil and gas production, and this industry in particular is in need of digital transformation. We’ve leveraged other ecosystem players to come up with new solutions.

Huawei is focusing on public www.tahawultech.com

safety across the globe, and safety is becoming a priority worldwide, and particularly for the Middle East.

In terms of smart cities, our work in the OpenLab encompasses the broader transformation that is going on, and includes smart education and transport. The objective is to make the lives of citizens easier and to make them happier; to my knowledge, the UAE is the only country on earth with a minister of happiness. Smart education allows for students to attend a class from anywhere without physically being in a classroom. Aggregated systems also allow easy assessments of the students’ and teachers’ performance with clearly displayed KPIs.

Is digital transformation in the oil and gas industry a realistic prospect given the tough times it has faced?

Oil and gas companies may spend more today on technology, but when they look at the TCO and ROI, they will save money in the next 3-5 years. When you start to have automated asset management, you have better control and utilisation of your assets.

We are working with one of the biggest oil companies in Saudi Arabia, where we are building a complete safety solution. The key component there is the infrastructure. The cameras, sensors, telecommunications connectivity and JULY 2017

37

ANALYSIS

Huawei OpenLab Dubai

cloud computing blend allows them to build so many applications on top, enabling a digital oil field. In the field itself, sensors from Honeywell, combined with Huawei devices, allow their head office to immediately detect if there is a leak or spillage. This is just one example of how an energy company has digitally transformed in the region.

Do you think having a facility like OpenLab gives you a key advantage over competitors?

Absolutely. It gets us closer to our customers, as we are being proactive to help them solve problems and build new solutions that suit their needs. OpenLab Dubai has a mandate to provide innovative solutions for IoT, cloud computing, large data, intelligent analysis, eLTE, converged communications and other new technologies.

We’re keen to listen to them, and learn how we can work together to tailor what we can offer. We’re working very closely with them, our partners and our ecosystem to build solutions that can digitally transform these particular industries. CIOs across these industries need help in delivering transformation initiatives to improve their customers’ experience.

OpenLabs is one of the four most important venues of its kind in the world, and we’ve opened one in the Middle East because it’s a very important strategic hub market for us. Huawei is planning to add seven new OpenLabs across the world in 2017, and will invest $200 million globally in the next three years, bringing the total number of OpenLabs to 20 by 2019.

38

JULY 2017

You need to understand what customers need and what will benefit them before developing a solution.

I’m personally proud of OpenLab; no other competitor in the region has anything similar.

How important a role will machine learning play in your future solutions?

It’s absolutely a priority. We are driving it from an industrial point of view. Historically, it may have been the case that vendors would go to the market with technology and customers would buy it.

Now, the reverse is the case, in the sense that you need to understand what customers need and what will benefit them, and vendors need to go and develop that. In that respect, machine learning is very important.

I think it’s important to use it when it’s needed, and not to insert it into every single solution. Again, it’s dependent on individual use cases.

Based on your feedback from regional police forces, how has your technology impacted safety standards and what results have been achieved?

One of the biggest Huawei Safe City implementations globally sits here in the Middle East, in Saudi Arabia. The last Hajj season was accident-free as a direct result of our technology.

We are working with YITU, Zenith and other partners, for face and license plate recognition, population density analysis, public opinion analysis solutions, and with Esri in data management to jointly build intelligent parking, intelligent buildings, smart meters and intelligent lights.

You’ve also got a few smart home technologies on display at the OpenLab. Will Huawei be targeting the consumer space more in the near future?

The solutions are targeted more for big projects, and not so much for consumers. It’s so our distributors can take the solutions and sell them to SMBs. This is usually for large contracts within the construction industry.

How important a role do Huawei’s partners play in the solutions that are on display at the OpenLab? For each solution in the OpenLab, it doesn’t just constitute one application or vendor. They’re a combination of different applications to fix specific problems and meet specific objectives for customers. Concerns including better asset management or control, a safer environment, enhancing bottom line or the customer experience can all be addressed with these solutions. www.tahawultech.com

ADVERTORIAL

THERMAL MANAGEMENT

siemon.com/wheelhouse

AISLE CONTAINMENT SOLUTIONS Siemon has expanded its WheelHouse® Advanced Data Centre Solutions to include comprehensive aisle containment solutions with both cold aisle and hot aisle containment (CAC/HAC) options that significantly improve efficiency and cost-effectively expand capacity for today’s data centres. Siemon’s Aisle Containment Solutions prevent the mixing of hot and cold air in the data centre, allowing

CONNECTING THE WORLD TO A HIGHER STANDARD

for higher temperature return air, improving the efficiency of existing cooling systems and reducing energy costs, while preventing overprovisioning of computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units. These solutions cost-effectively expand the capacity of the data centre to cool higher heat densities, maximising both cabinet and data centre floor

WWW.SIEMON.COM/WHEELHOUSE

TECH TRENDS 2017 MOBILE PAYMENTS

A

Revolutionising Retail

Consumers are ready for a compelling mobile payment experience.

One quarter

(26%) of all consumers,

jumping to two thirds

(66%)

Mobile payment is seen as a by many consumers.

“Having all my payment methods together in one place on my mobile device is a major convenience for me”.

of Leading Edge Consumers, agree that:

42%

gimmick

agree that “Mobile payments are more of a gimmick today than a major part of how I pay”.

55%

, agree with the statement: The majority, “I am worried about my personal information when using a mobile payment app.”

Shoppers are less loyal than ever before Almost half (46%) of all consumers (14-65 years) agree that they are less loyal when shopping. This figure rises to 53% of Gen Y (18-29 years), and 58% of Gen Z (14-17 years). The majority (68%) of Leading Edge Consumers are less loyal when shopping.

Gen Z

All consumers

LECs

Gen Y

58%

46%

68%

53% 14-17 years

14 -65 years

18-29 years

Early Adopters + Passionate Shoppers + Influential

What are consumers doing with their smartphones when shopping instore?

25%

19%

compare prices

search for information about a product

A

17%

check online reviews

14%

check availability of a product/item

A A

Click for more

Click for more information...

Click for more information... information...

In stock!

Click for more information...

In stock!

In stock!

In stock!

How are US consumers paying instore? 3

36%

with a debit card

Our mobile payments specialists say: Put simply, consumers in the more mature markets are not demanding mobile payments, but they do want to improve their...

31%

31%

with cash

with a credit card

RETAIL EXPERIENCE...

...and this will be the catalyst

for

mass market adoption.

SOURCE: GFK

INSIGHT

Chuck Hollis, senior vice president, Converged Infrastructure, Oracle

How machine learning will drive the adaptive enterprise Continual learning is integral to the human experience.

People who can learn faster and better than others tend to do well in life; the same is true for successful organisations.

M

achine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, has demonstrated the potential for organisations to continually improve the effectiveness of decision-making and business processes at a rate unachievable by prior methods.

The result has been dubbed an “adaptive enterprise,” a new style of organisation that can learn and adapt more quickly than its peers.

similar to data analytics, except that the algorithms decide which factors matter and which ones don’t. Machine learning goes one step further. It processes ongoing results of those candidates, and continually updates its recommendation engine rules over time.

It learns from actual experience, and thus it makes better decisions over time. Today’s AI-informed recommendations become tomorrow’s advanced automation.

The basics While machine learning itself can be unduly complex, the basic ideas are easy to grasp. Let’s use the example of a business process both familiar and highly important to most organisations: selecting and onboarding job candidates.

The basic components would start with a training data set: a complete history of all candidates selected and hired, their key attributes, how they were on-boarded, and their eventual performance in the organisation.

Next, an analysis engine would extract key features that contributed to candidates’ success and create a recommendation engine that would rate new applicants and their likelihood to thrive at the organisation.

So far, this scenario is somewhat

Adoption challenges With every transformational technology, there are adoption challenges, and the journey to the adaptive enterprise is no different. What must leaders consider as they plan for the future?

First, any reasonable use of machine learning must work with everyday business processes.

Recommendations have to be delivered in context, with supporting logic, at the same instant decisions are being made.

Next, processes at successful organisations are connected, and any use of machine learning must be connected as well. A purchase decision might impact the supply chain, and thus customer satisfaction. It’s hard to envision an adaptive enterprise making impactful, actionable decisions in silos. Having easy access to rich, relevant data sets from

42

JULY 2017

outside the enterprise will dramatically improve the impact of the technology.

And finally, you’ll need a roadmap to organisational adoption.

Adaptive intelligence enhances and augments decisions ultimately made by human intelligence, creating more meaningful, high-impact work for people. But as with all transformational technologies, expect initial skepticism and distrust. If history is any guide, superior business results eventually will win people over.

The road ahead Like with the Internet, mobile, and cloud computing, business leaders should appreciate that a new, transformational technology is on the horizon. But in its current form, the core technologies can be difficult to consume and operationalise, making adaptive intelligence unattractive for all but the most compelling use cases.

Before long, however, adaptive intelligence will become an integral component of cloud financial, HR, customer experience, and other enterprise applications people use every day. Better yet, software developers will have ready access to the tools needed to transform familiar, static applications into ones that learn from experience, just as humans do. www.tahawultech.com

INSIGHT

Mike Elgan, Computerworld

Why smart stores don’t check out Amazon, Starbucks and Apple want you to walk into their stores, pick up your items, then walk right out. There’s just one problem.

T

he success of online retail demonstrates that you don’t need a Victorian-era cash register to sell things - you can do it all electronically.

But brick-and-mortar retail stores have a problem that online stores don’t: shoplifting. Without a cashier verifying the purchase and providing a paper receipt, it’s hard to stop some people from just taking stuff and walking out without paying.

The whole cash register model now represents a ritual that exists mainly as an anti-theft system.

That sounds like an easy problem to solve. Turns out it’s not.

Why Amazon Go isn’t ready to go Amazon Go is the company’s latest concept for disrupting brick-andmortar retail. The vision is that you shop normally, then just walk out of the store without waiting in a line or interacting with a cashier or point-ofsale system.

Amazon Go is a single 1,800-square-foot store in downtown 44

JULY 2017

Seattle that sells groceries as well as prepared food that’s ready to eat.

The store is not yet open to the public, but Amazon has been developing the store’s technology for years and “beta testing” the store with employees for months.

When you enter, you scan a QR code on the Amazon Go app at the front door. That scan announces to the store’s system that you’re there and preemptively authenticates the purchases you’re about to make.

Intelligent software analyses a video feed to determine that you removed something from the shelf that looked like a cupcake. It considers data from the shelf, which is also a scale, and calculates that you took something that weighs about as much as a cupcake. And it checks your purchase history — it knows you’re a cupcake-eating maniac. After all that input, the software decides that you took a cupcake off the shelf and adds it to your list, which is kept up-to-date in real time as you shop.

Here’s the best part: When you’re

done shopping, you just walk out of the store. As you leave, sensors at the door detect that you’re exiting, and your Amazon account is charged for the items you got.

However, a Bloomberg report said the Amazon Go system becomes overwhelmed when the store gets crowded, and that it’s relying on humans to supervise the artificial intelligence (AI) technology to make sure it correctly identifies the foods it’s charging for.

It appears that Amazon’s “just walkout technology” makes a lot of mistakes, which is probably OK within reason. But it may also crash, bringing the whole system to a halt, which is not OK. Amazon will accept losses resulting from errors as the price of learning how to do no-cashier retail.

Eventually, the payoff could be huge.

Once Amazon makes “just walk-out technology” reliable and relatively error-free, the company can roll out stores nationwide, then worldwide.

Like self-driving cars, however, automated stores that really work are www.tahawultech.com

years away, and for the same reason: AI just isn’t good enough yet.

Starbuck’s Mobile Order & Pay is hot, but still has grande problems Starbucks is also working on the elimination of cash registers and cashiers. The company’s app enables a service called Mobile Order & Pay, where you can order anything on the Starbucks menu via the app and pick it up without interacting with a cashier.

Here’s the company’s dirty little secret: Mobile Order & Pay doesn’t really work that well.

Sometimes customers place their order at the wrong store. I’ve done this myself a few times. That means the product is wasted at the wrong store, and the customer has to wait in line like everybody else at the right store. Other times customers pick up somebody else’s mobile order by accident.

Mobile Order & Pay can be great for coffee thieves bold enough to just grab somebody else’s order, but in stores where this happens frequently, the drinks are placed out of reach, www.tahawultech.com

forcing the apps users to wait for a barista to give them their order.

Starbucks executives have hinted that they’re working on perfecting the service, but making it function as it should will take years — and the development of more advanced technology.

While Mobile Order & Pay is worthwhile for Starbucks (because their long-line problem is bad) it actually doesn’t work well and isn’t exportable to other retail situations that aren’t selling what is essentially flavoured water.

Apple doesn’t use advanced technology for this feature, and one benefit of self-checkout should include cost savings because fewer employees are required. But with Apple, the opposite is true. The system works to deter theft only because Apple Stores employ dozens of employees, often for stores that are really a small single room.

Apple’s system works for Apple because that company sells very expensive items at mass market scale, enabling them to afford an army of watchful employees.

Apple’s ‘automation’ depends on an army of employees Apple was the first major retailer to enable a smartphone-based system where you can pick your product and waltz out of the store without interacting with a cashier, launching their EasyPay self-checkout system years ago.

The Apple Store app enables you to process your purchase as if you were buying online, then walk out of the store with the item.

Automated retail is still years away Amazon, Starbucks and Apple create the illusion that the era of automated, smartphone-based brick-and-mortar retail is here.

The truth is that the technology behind these stores doesn’t work nearly as well as it appears to, and the systems developed thus far can’t be extended to the wider world of retail stores.

Someday, stores will enable you to skip the cash register altogether. But for now, I just don’t buy it.

JULY 2017

45

INSIGHT

Sameh Farid, cloud unit leader, IBM Middle East & Pakistan

How cloud can accelerate innovation

Sameh Farid, cloud unit leader, IBM Middle East & Pakistan analyses how cloud adoption has moved beyond the stage of acquiring technology, to powering business innovation worldwide.

F

ive years ago, organisations were adopting the cloud primarily to streamline IT infrastructure and cut costs.

Now they are working on a variety of goals and strategies, with cloud being the go-to platform for driving enterprise transformation.

The most innovative companies are using the cloud to move into new industries, transform customer experiences, develop new revenue sources and invent new business models. According to Gartner, it is forecasted that by 2020, a corporate “no-cloud” policy will be as rare as a “no-internet” policy is today.

A new study from the IBM Institute for Business Value, “Beyond Agility: How Cloud is Driving Enterprise Innovation,” interviewed more than 1,000 respondents from 18 industries around the globe. The report reveals that the cloud revolution is here now, delivering true business value to organisations.

Based on the responses, 71 percent of the companies are using the cloud to innovate, while 76 percent of organisations report that their most successful cloud initiative drove expansion into new industries.

Cloud enables these innovators to use skills available throughout 46

JULY 2017

their ecosystems in order to develop new operating capabilities that shift industry economics in their favour.

While disruption is a less common occurrence than five years ago, there are still companies that use cloud initiatives to radically recast the status quo of their industries, create distinct new business models or assemble unexpected value chains.

The new study also found that putting into place new cloud projects without the support of business departments will diminish the cloud’s ability to deliver innovations in business models. More than half of the executives surveyed said that their information technology (IT) organisations are most effective when leading cross-organisational cloud initiatives that create IT operations efficiency or lower the cost of the company’s spending on technology.

Almost half of organisations practice another approach in which a dedicated cloud team develops their organisation’s cloud initiatives.

This approach can be advantageous, particularly if the governance team includes C-suite, business department and IT executives who view their organisation’s cloud strategy as a top business priority and

work together to ensure that cloud adoption is integrated with strategic business objectives.

By combining multiple cloud initiatives into a coordinated programme, organisations can use the cloud to quickly build and test new product ideas, move into adjacent industries or geographic regions, deliver new products and services more effectively, and move ahead of their competition. Eightythree percent of high-performing organisations say their cloud initiatives are either already coordinated or fully integrated within their organisations.

How important is integrating cloud adoption with business objectives?

More than half of high-performing organisations in the study were already fully integrating their cloud initiatives as part of overall strategic transformations.

This is more than 2.5 times the rate of low performers in the study.

When organisations fully integrate their cloud initiatives, they can be transformative, transcending organisational, geographic, ecosystem and industry boundaries.

Businesses can use the cloud to invent new customer needs, give birth to new markets and even disrupt industry economics. And everyone benefits. www.tahawultech.com

PRESENTS

28th August 2017

18:00 - 23:00

Habtoor Grand, Dubai, UAE

VOTE NOW

www.securityadvisorme.com/awards/2017

For sponsorship enquiries Natasha Pendleton Publishing Director natasha.pendleton@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9139 / +971 56 787 4778

Kausar Syed Group Sales Director kausar.syed@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9130 / +971 50 758 6672

Merle Carrasco Sales Manager merle.carrasco@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9147 / +971 55 118 1730

For agenda-related enquiries Jeevan Thankappan Group Editor jeevan.thankappan@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9129 / +971 56 415 6425

OFFICIAL SECURITY SOLUTIONS PARTNER

SILVER PARTNER

James Dartnell Editor james.dartnell@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9153 / +971 56 934 4776

OFFICIAL CYBER SECURITY INNOVATION PARTNER

MEDIA PARTNER

Adelle Geronimo Online Editor adelle.geronimo@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9135 / +971 56 484 7564

STRATEGIC THREAT DETECTION PARTNER

ORGANISER

INSIGHT

Tom Bianculli, CTO, Zebra Technologies

Reality check Tom Bianculli, CTO, Zebra Technologies decrypts the true meaning of innovation and explores a selection of common digital transformation myths.

48

JULY 2017

www.tahawultech.com

H

ow can you drive innovation in today’s digital age?

Well, the truth is that as Vijay Vaitheeswaran, China business editor, The Economist noted, “innovation” is one of the most overused words. What does it mean?

Simply put, innovation in the 21st century is having the ability to see and deliver value to your stakeholders, and do that ever closer to the point of demand. The “ability to see” is key, because today we have the technology capabilities to sense data from any device, analyse it to provide actionable insights and act on it in real-time.

The majority of executives on a panel at The Economist’s recent Innovation Summit agreed that the workforce, not technology, is crucial in effectively managing digital disruption in the workplace. This was one of the five most common digital transformation myths demystified at the summit. Specifically: Myth #1: Technology is the key factor in managing digital transformation. False. It is the people.

Technology is integral in facilitating the process, but the success or failure lies with the workforce. And yes, I am a CTO. I do believe technology is instrumental in transforming the workforce in the digital era. By augmenting the workforce with data driven intelligence companies can release human capital and redirect resources to value-added jobs, while reducing errors, improving productivity and increasing job satisfaction. Not to mention that technology itself can be used to retain the workforce in engaging new ways. When all is said and done, people make it happen.

Myth #2: Customer expectations differ based on the product or service. Nope. Using Uber sets your expectations as a shopper, as a patient, as a citizen. So the high www.tahawultech.com

expectations set by the best-of-breed providers in one industry set the norm across all industries. To meet these expectations, brands will double down on creating lasting, immersive experiences for their customers. In line with this trend, a recent study released by Zebra Technologies, revealed that nearly 80 percent of retailers will be able to customise the store visit for customers by 2021, as a majority of them will know when a specific customer is in the store.

This will set the foundation for the retailers as well as financial services, healthcare and other industries.

Myth #3: Creative breakthroughs result from in-depth, industryspecific analysis. That’s partially true.

Executives can find commonalties and inspiration across industry sectors.

Before recreating the wheel, executives should review best-in-class examples and benchmarks regardless of sector.

“Agriculture is like baseball. It is rich in data. The challenge is how to turn it into insight,” said Hugh Grant, CEO, Monsanto. And that’s just one common challenge across different sectors.

Myth #4: Businesses should focus on overhauls. Just one percent improvement in the supply chain can create huge cost savings and generate green opportunities. For example, today, 30 percent of trailer cargo is air.

Yes, air. Eliminating inefficiencies in trailer loading density and synchronising the digital supply chain can significantly impact the bottom line and the environment. Using data collected right at the dock door together with mobile devices and trailer load analytics software, warehouses and dock managers are now receiving a real-time view of each trailer to ensure their cargo loads reach their full potential.

Myth #5: You are in it alone.

Absolutely not. Not as a company going through a digital transformation, not as

a vendor consulting companies on their transformation journeys, and not as an executive making investment decisions.

And it shouldn’t feel this way. Methods, processes and strategic engagements that embrace open innovation and B2B collaboration is the new competitive advantage. As one of the Economist panelists stated, “The 21st century is a really bad time to be a control freak.”

It’s not about controlling information and secrets; it is about sharing data and leveraging the combined intelligence of partners and customers.

Technology is integral in facilitating the process, but the success or failure lies with the workforce.

The prevalence of the Internet of Things and adoption of the everythingas-a-service mentality has given rise to new data-driven possibilities.

Today, we have the capabilities to understand the well-being of a city by tracking its residents’ biological and chemical waste. At the same time, digital disruption is challenging the status quo. The winners in this digital era will be those who can see how to move their value ever closer to the point of demand and consumption, put their strategies in that context to address the expectations of their workforce and customers, and take data-driven actions.

JULY 2017

49

INSIGHT

Mark Ackerman, sales director, Middle East, ServiceNow

Time will tell Trends like digitalisation will change the way IT is operated, managed, and delivered. It offers tremendous opportunities, but only for those businesses willing to act.

A

s technology evolves and workforce expectations change, businesses, IT leaders, and workers must adapt – instead of digging their heels in – if they want to succeed moving forward. According to Gartner, success in this digital world requires “flipping from a ‘legacy-first’ to an outside-in, ‘digital-first’ leadership mindset.”

Some businesses, intent on creating competitive differentiation, are looking to their IT Service Management (ITSM) systems to accelerate service delivery and provide solutions that empower a growing millennial workforce.

Unfortunately, legacy ITSM systems – typically aging, on-premise solutions – aren’t up to the task and are hindering IT’s ability to keep pace and ultimately putting businesses at risk of falling behind, for four key reasons: On-premise delivery mechanism contributes to high IT costs Most legacy ITSM systems are based on an on-premise model. The application stack is implemented in the data centre and is supported by on-premise servers, operating systems, databases, and other infrastructure components. With this model, legacy ITSM systems that are supposed to act as a business accelerator ironically contribute to the 50

JULY 2017

high cost of merely keeping the lights on. As such, the on-premise delivery model further drains IT budgets and prevents teams from pursuing innovation and progress.

Multiple technologies create added complexity Many legacy ITSM systems are based on a cobbled set of different technologies that have come together through mergers and acquisitions.

These pieced-together systems make central visibility and reporting a nightmare for IT teams as they struggle to get systems talking to each other and reporting out the same data. These systems are not easily integrated, and they’re difficult to customise and adapt to constantly changing business requirements. The technological reality is that they are actually holding the business back, making it that much harder to turn IT into a business driver.

Closed frameworks block agility Legacy ITSM systems typically involve closed frameworks that are set up in an authoritative manner. These systems are likely delivering against a predefined set of best practices that tightly adhere to methodologies like ITIL or ISO 20000. While these processes are beneficial, many businesses today want to couple IT tooling with business innovation, and

a cookie-cutter set of best practices can only take them so far.

Not all clouds are created equal There’s no denying that the cloud is a business accelerator, meeting high standards for performance, security, quality of service, and business continuity. However, it’s not as simple as taking the functionality of an on-premise solution and moving it to a cloud. When looking for the right cloud solution, it’s important to consider how your data is handled, multi-tenancy issues, performance expectations, security, and more. The reality is that many vendors aren’t equipped to deliver to the expectations of a modern cloud environment.

Information technology looks very different today from just a few years ago. Virtual environments, private/public clouds, mobility, and Big Data are no longer considered disruptive technologies, but part of the natural fabric that makes up most IT infrastructures today.

IT departments that are “getting by” with their legacy ITSM systems will very soon hit a point when the challenges and risks become prohibitive. Change is inevitable, but it’s up to businesses to decide how they’re going to respond to that change if they want to stay relevant in today’s digital world. www.tahawultech.com

gitex.com

Re - Imagining Realities

“

Dubai’s digitisation initiatives could generate a potential USD 4.87 billion in value by 2019

The event for transformative global technology Because digital business doesn’t wait

“

Dubai, is a city of the future, a dynamic innovation hub, a bridge between east and west, a pioneer in technology innovation & early adoption that makes theoretical technology a mass-consumption reality.

JOHN CHAMBERS, CHAIRMAN, CISCO, 2017

DISCOVER

INNNOVATE

TRANSFORM

Future Tech is synonymous with Dubai.

Witness the revolution first hand with straight from R&D products, prototypes and the freshest ideas in the Future Tech Hall

From the back of an envelope to a billion $ business. It’s not all on the show floor in 2017, serendipity can happen at 1 of 100 events in GITEX Fringe

New Sectors for 2017!

Smart Manufacturing, Global Smart Cities, Robotics and Vehicle Tech.

Plus, the latest in AI, VR and AR

Dubai attracted USD 7 billion in Foreign Direct Investment in 2016, with 73% directed to tech projects

GITEX Technology Week gives your business access to these game-changing initiatives

CALL US TODAY FOR ACCESS TO THE MIDDLE EAST & AFRICAN MARKETS To find out how about this year’s participation opportunities contact us on +971 4 308 6282 / 4090 / 6566 / 6077 or sales@gitex.com Exclusive Digital Transformation Partner

GITEX 2017 CMEA (230X275) 15 JUN.indd 1

Official Publisher

Official Publication

Official Airline Partner

Official Courier Handler

Organised by

6/15/17 2

PRODUCTS

PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

Launches and releases

Brand: Toshiba Product: EPortégé X20W

Brand: Nokia Product: Nokia 6 HMD Global, the manufacturer of Nokia phones, has announced its first Nokia smartphone range, which includes the Nokia 6.

The new device features a 5.5-inch full HD screen and a unibody crafted from a single block of 6000 series aluminium.

The device has a fully laminated display stack and slim design.

It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 mobile platform, and Qualcomm Adreno 505 graphics processor.

It features a smart audio amplifier with dual speakers, which allows consumers to experience audio with “deep bass and unmatched clarity”.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: It is also equipped with Dolby Atmos, which produces “crisp” sound for a “powerful entertainment experience”. It is available in four colours – matte black, silver, tempered blue and copper – and will retail at AED 799.

52

JULY 2017

Toshiba has announced the launch of its Portégé X20W, a hybrid 2-in-1 laptop, in the Middle East. According to the firm, the new device is aimed at both SME and large corporate level employees The Portégé X20W is 15.4mm thin and weighs 1.1 kg, and offers users the flexibility of a tablet and notepad in one device. It comes with an onyx blue cover and light gold hinges. Toshiba’s Portégé X20W offers a battery life of up to 16 hours.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: The Portégé X20W, which was launched

Brand: HP Product: Sprocket The HP Sprocket is a pocket-size printer that allows users to print photos from a smartphone or tablet from virtually anywhere.

According to the firm, the Sprocket brings images to life with a vibrant 5 x 7.6 cm smudge-proof, waterresistant and tear-resistant prints that can be shared, or peel-and-stick to decorate bedroom walls, backpacks or create collages and art projects.

The printer is available in white with rose gold accents and comes with a 10-pack of HP ZINK Photo Paper for AED 499. Packs of HP ZINK Photo Paper (50 sheets per

along with two other devices – the Portégé X30 and Tecra X40 – also has a number of security features, including two-factor authentication with fingerprint scanner and IR camera for face recognition.

pack) are available at AED 79 each.

Customers can find both exclusively at Sharaf DG. WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: The device also allows users to instantly share images and even personalise them with filters, frames, emojis and text through the Sprocket app, which is available on the Apple and Google Stores.

www.tahawultech.com

Dubai’s BIGGEST Events Are Now Accessible On Your Smart Phone Devices

Access to latest events

Search using the Browse chronologically key name, calendar or map

COLUMN

Glesni Holland, Deputy Editor, CNME

NOW YOU SEE ME I

’ll be frank; I was horrified when I heard about the latest update to popular photo-messaging app, Snapchat. Not only because it now allows your location to be shared with other users – mapped down to the exact street and house if you zoom in close enough – but because of the distinct lack of warning given to users that the change was on the cards.

With 150 million daily users of the app worldwide, myself included, I consider myself fortunate, as I had prior knowledge on how to deactivate this new feature as soon as the update had arrived. Once you know how, it’s simple enough – activating ‘ghost mode’ on the app’s settings is a quick and easy step, and prevents your location from being shared. But those whose settings update automatically would likely have been unaware of any change. They would have been oblivious to the fact that they were sharing their precise location with all their ‘friends’ within the app.

54

JULY 2017

What’s more, when Team Snapchat eventually got in touch with users, their promotional video for the change still failed to mention how to activate Ghost Mode. Instead, it focused on sharing the location of posted snaps to Our Story – which is publicly shared – and could be useful for, say, seeing a collection of snaps from a particular event.

The distinct lack of warning and education as to how to disable this new feature is somewhat disturbing, especially when the app’s demographic is primarily occupied by Generation Z – and that is a particular concern for this country and region. A global study of 70,000 consumers by market research consultancy Kantar TNS found that 53 percent of Internet users in the UAE used Snapchat in 2016, outpacing the 23 percent globally that use the app.

Since the update, the UAE’s TRA has issued a warning detailing its concerns, and urges parents to ensure their child has altered privacy settings.

While Snapchat claims it is “impossible” to share your location with anyone other than your friends, how many children will have the majority of their schoolyear as contacts – not necessarily those in their close friendship groups? I’m sure I speak for parents everywhere when saying that they wouldn’t willingly advertise their home address to those they did not personally know, regardless of their age.

From a more sinister perspective, this could hypothetically open the door to bullying tendencies, or worse – stalking and other crime.

Snapchat’s privacy policy, which doesn’t seem to have been updated since before the new feature was launched, simply says, “When you interact with our services, we collect the information that you choose to share with us.” How can this be applicable when users are unaware of the information their app is generating? www.tahawultech.com

Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit 2017 16 – 17 October / Dubai, UAE gartner.com/me/security

Manage Risk. Build Trust. Embrace Change.

Key benefits • Reinvent your approach to security and risk for the digital age • Embrace new ways of protecting vital assets without slowing interactions • Learn how to shift to more adaptive, dynamic, people-centric approaches to security • Build a trusted, resilient environment for digital business For more information and to register, visit gartner.com/me/security.

Use promotion code SECMP1 to save $300 on the standard registration rate.

“The summit not only provided insights on forward-looking cybersecurity trends, but also assisted valuable networking with peers who face similar challenges…”

Bandar Al Harbi, IT Director, Saudi Electricity Company

Jeffrey Wheatman Director, Gartner Research

© 2017 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Gartner is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. or its affiliates.

For more information, email info@gartner.com or visit gartner.com.

Drive retail value with mobile ready, integrated software

RETAIL Asset and Property Management Software YARDI VoyagerŽ 7S Combine Voyager 7S with Yardi’s Commercial Suite to optimise your retail revenue through

Social. Mobile. Smart.

easy-to-access transparent data.

To learn more, call + 971-4-4322679 or visit www.yardi.ae