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EDITORIAL

Closing on the note of intelligence

ANUSHREE DIXIT EDITOR A N U S H R E E @ G E C M E D I A G R O U P. C O M

It is December and with that we say goodbye to yet another development-packed year in the realm of technology. 2018, going against all the polarized view of the market, is ending rather smoothly. Distributors and resellers who faced a tough time owing to the cash slack from foreign countries (according to the numerous conversations that we had throughout the year) have seen a steady recovery in business and are looking forward to a better year in 2019. With companies operating across borders and the dependency on technology increasing day by day, multi-cloud will be the requirement of mainstream business in 2019. IDC estimates that customers will spend US$554 billion on cloud computing and related services in 2021, more than double the level of 2016. Well, this does not mean that organizations will stop keeping data on premise, but the deployment models will heavily shift. One of the key prediction that various leaders are making for 2019 is the need for re-structuring organizations and re-inventing core business models. According to various studies and researches, many companies aren’t set up correctly for digital transformation. Antiquated job functions and processes have resulted in a real lack of flexibility. The digital natives will play a key role in changing this scenario. Newer technologies will gradually become the norm. In 2018 we also saw some interesting developments in blockchain and cryptocurrency. Our cover story in this issue focuses on the key developments happening in the Middle East and key cities across the globe. In our special story, we are focusing on the impact of digitization in Africa and how some key players are grabbing the opportunity with both hands. On that note, we bid adieu to this year. Like every new year, we shall bring to you some cutting edge products next year that will walk with the market trends. Till then….. Here is wishing all readers a very happy and prosperous new year in advance. ë

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DECEMBER 2018 | VOLUME 06 | ISSUE 05

CONTENTS 22 GUEST ARTICLE

BACK TO BASICS: VAT ACCOUNTING 101 MANSOOR SARWAR, REGIONAL DIRECTOR – TECHNICAL SERVICES & PRE-SALES AT SAGE

LOCK THE POTENTIAL

45 INTERVIEW

THE INTELLIGENT ‘DYNAMIC’

Middle East and Africa spending on blockchain will more than double to $80.8 million by the end of 2018 from a year earlier, according to IDC. UAE unveiled the Emirates Blockchain Strategy 2021 recently. What future does the technology hold?

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KEITH FENNER, DYNAMICS 365 BUSINESS GROUP DIRECTOR, MICROSOFT MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

04 EDITORIAL

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STREET ‘AI is key for human development’ says Omar Sultan Al Olama His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, stressed that advanced technology and Artificial Intelligence are key tools for humanity. Al Olama also highlighted the importance of adopting these tools, developing them, and enabling them through flexible legislation in order to govern their usage. This statement was during Al Olama’s participation in a session hosted by Ajman University, as part of a series of lectures on Inventing the Future. Al Olama spoke about ‘The prospects of the use of modern technology and AI technology to raise performance levels in various industries and organisations’. This comes as part of Ajman University’s commitment to introduce to its faculty, members and students the use and implications of applying AI technologies. Al Olama reviewed the stages of the development of technology, since the invention of printers until today, and spoke about people’s reactions to these technological advancements. “While many countries opposed artificial intelligence at first, the UAE welcomed it and was keen to keep pace with the rapid changes that will contribute to developing all aspects of life. The UAE works on anticipating the future, and believes that artificial intelligence is key to finding solutions to future challenges” said Al Olama. Al Olama highlighted the UAE’s key objectives and strategies in the field of artificial intelligence. These strategies aim to empower Emirati talent, attract creative minds from around the world, and lead the global movement in the adoption and employment of AI tools.

DELL EMC ADVANCES HYBRID CLOUD AND MODERN DATA CENTER OPERATIONS Dell EMC made key portfolio enhancements and integrations with VMware designed to help customers further automate operations of their modern data center and hybrid cloud environments. These new capabilities allow businesses to accelerate innovation, simplify operations and speed overall IT Transformation initiatives. The increasing amount of data being driven by both traditional and modern application workloads is pushing greater demand for

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automation and bandwidth both inside and outside the data center. Through collaboration and joint engineering, Dell EMC and VMware are enabling organisations to derive more value from their IT investments. “Organisations that digitally transform with a software-defined and cloud-ready modern data center infrastructure are able to execute a powerful hybrid cloud strategy that provides optimal control, simplicity and cost toler-

ance to match their own unique preferences,” said Jeff Clarke, vice chairman, Products & Operations, Dell Inc. “Working together, Dell EMC and VMware continue to enhance VxRail and VxBlock System 1000, to automate the operations of integrated cloud platforms, so our customers can use them to maximise what’s possible with their data – resulting in better processes, innovative outcomes and operating efficiencies.”

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Micron Shakes Hands with MBUZZ Micron Technology appoints KSA based MBUZZ as their regional distributor for CPG in Middle East & Africa. Under the scope of the business, MBUZZ will address the Enterprise segment in UAE, KSA, QATAR, BAHRAIN, KUWAIT and OMAN (Micron SSDs, Crucial Server DRAM and Integration opportunities with enterprise customers) and Full range of Crucial branded Consumer DRAMs, Gaming DRAMS- Ballistix, Server DRAMs, Consumer SSDs and Micron branded SSDs in KSA and East Africa. Matteo Conti, Regional Director- for Micron South Europe, Middle East, Africa & India said

CENTRA HUB LAUNCHES CRM EXPRESS

“By having MBUZZ onboard, Micron is looking at its direct footprints in the region’s Enterprise Channel especially considering the growing demand for the sophisticated Memory & Storage Solutions in the Artificial Intelligence & Data Centre era.” Nawaf Al Shammari, Chairman of MBUZZ added, “It is our privilege to represent Micron in the region. We shall leverage the best out of the partnership and look forward to substantial revenue growth in the coming years from the new distribution rights with our Artificial Intelligence focus and Technological Capability.”

MDS EXPANDS APPLE PORTFOLIO AND SERVICES IN THE UAE MDS has been appointed as an Apple Authorised Systems Integrator (AASI) in the region, while also being an Apple Solution Expert (ASE) for the last five years. The AASI targets organizations across all industries and the ASE is specifically designed to cater to technology integration needs in schools and universities. With these authorizations, MDS will be able to provide enterprisestandard solutions and services including consultancy, strategy and integration services for Apple devices throughout the technology lifecycle. The AASI and ASE programs are designed for companies interested in offering services to Apple customers, whether they are businesses, educational institutions or government organisations. To become an AASI and ASE, MDS had to meet the required criteria set by Apple such as service expertise, a requisite number of fully trained technical staff, Apple certified system engineers, sales staff and dedicated Apple business managers.

Centra Hub launcehd CRM Express, a robust and well-implemented CRM system that will enable organizations on their digital transformation journey. The solution is intended to streamline the sales management processes of businesses from ‘enquiry to cash’ with automated campaign management, opportunity management and follow-ups with pre-defined quotation structures and proposal templates. Centra Hub’s new CRM Express is a digital transformation CRM system that will provide robust campaign management and tracking to allow for campaign creation, tracking campaign budgets and actual spends, define campaign targets of lead count, opportunity count and revenue targets. Each lead or opportunity created within the CRM Express will then be tagged to the corresponding campaign providing a detailed visibility towards campaign success. The system will also provide proactive alerts on targets, achievement, deviations and also govern campaign execution tasks through proactive activity controls.

AMD UNVEILS WORLD’S FIRST 7NM DATACENTER GPUS AMD revealed their Radeon Instinct™ MI60 and MI50 accelerators, the world’s first 7nm datacenter GPUs, designed to deliver the compute performance required for next-generation deep learning, HPC, cloud computing and rendering applications. Researchers,

scientists and developers will use AMD Radeon Instinct™ accelerators to solve tough and interesting challenges, including largescale simulations, climate change, computational biology, disease prevention and more. “Legacy GPU architectures limit IT managers

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from effectively addressing the constantly evolving demands of processing and analyzing huge datasets for modern cloud datacenter workloads,” said David Wang, senior vice president of engineering, Radeon Technologies Group at AMD. “Combining world-class performance

and a flexible architecture with a robust software platform and the industry’s leading-edge ROCm open software ecosystem, the new AMD Radeon Instinct™ accelerators provide the critical components needed to solve the most difficult cloud computing challenges today and into

the future.” The AMD Radeon Instinct™ MI60 and MI50 accelerators feature flexible mixed-precision capabilities, powered by high-performance compute units that expand the types of workloads these accelerators can address, including a range of HPC and deep learning applications.

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SPECTRAMI builds stronger operations in KSA

SECONDS

NEXIGN PARTNERS WITH BUBBLETONE Nexign and Bubbletone have revealed an exclusive partnership to develop an industryfirst blockchain-based Business Support Systems (BSS) solution for the telecom sector. The two companies aim to create a global marketplace for telecom operators, giving them the ability to collaborate with each other and consequently offer individually determined volumes and qualities of services to end users—an option that has not previously existed. SIEMON JOINS FORCES WITH SIGNIFY & MART NETWORKS Siemon recently joined forces with Signify

SPECTRAMI has further strengthened its operations in the KSA by opening an office in the city of Riyadh. The Chief Executive Officer of SPECTRAMI, Anand Choudha is taking solid and calculated expansion moves into the EMEA space, and this office further strengthens their responsibility towards their customers in the region, with specific focus on Riyadh in KSA region. The office will serve the sales, pre-sales and managed services needs of that region. The company is already working to on-board new vendor partners that will provide the momentum towards this target to achieve 80% growth in 2018. Leading their operations in the

new office is Ilyas Mohammed. “We cannot forget our roots. The GCC is where it all began for SPECTRAMI, and KSA is a market that always gives success. We are fortunate to have the right set of products and solutions from leading vendors to offer KSA customers as there is increased cybersecurity awareness and emphasis on protection from next generation attacks. Our line of work has proven that the closer we are to the customer, the easier it is for us to win clients over, and provide them with the response they need, when they need it”, said Choudha. This KSA office now brings the total number of offices in the EMEA region to 10 offices which includes on the ground presence in each region.

and Mart Networks to deliver an Emerging Technology Forum which presented innovative solutions and technologies that are making next generation data centres and intelligent buildings a reality. Over 70 delegates including end users, consultants and system integrators attended the successful event which took place in October at the Crown Plaza hotel in Muscat, Oman SPIRE SOLUTIONS PARTNERS WITH FINITE STATE With IoT devices fast graduating to the entry point-of-choice for cyber attacks, regional businesses are becoming increasingly vulnerable to data breaches, unauthorised access to corporate networks, production downtime and subsequent revenue losses. Responding

ACRONIS CELEBRATES NEW PARTNERSHIPS WITH LEADING SPORTS TEAMS Acronis is currently celebrating its 15th anniversary and has recently revealed that it has successfully formed multiple technology partnerships with both motorsport and football teams this year, with nearly half a petabyte of sports data now protected from data loss and ransomware attacks. Acronis rolled out efficient and secure cyber protection for Williams Racing during the 2018 Formula 1 season. The Swiss-Singaporean company now protects hundreds of servers, workstations and Microsoft Office 365 accounts, significantly improving backup performance and flexibility of managing data. What used to take Williams Racing hours or even days to backup now takes a matter of minutes. “The great benefit of using Acronis is securing the data, our IP. Data is king in our business. We’re busy working on the next year’s car and it’s great to know that our data is fully protected and we can easily access historical data from any point in time,” said Graeme Hackland, CIO, Williams Martini Racing following the deployment.

to the growing need for a comprehensive defense system, Spire Solutions has partnered with IoT and firmware security solutions provider Finite State to bring its unique, proactive IoT security platform to the Middle East. JAWRAA PARTNERS WITH VIZSAFE Jawraa, provider of IT and communications services, has partnered with Vizsafe to offer advanced safety and security solutions to its customers in the GCC region using Vizsafe’s Geoaware (TM) Services Platform. Jawraa provides enterprise level IT solutions and consulting services in a wide range markets, including telecom, utilities, health care, public safety and government.

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CHANNEL STREET

Healthigo Launches Innovative Channel Partner Program

Healthigo launched their channel partner program that aligns with the changing HealthTech landscape and how partners are evolving to solve technology needs of Healthcare Providers. The Healthigo partner program drives the company’s strategy of deeper engagements with the healthcare provider and care seeker community. Healthigo works with partners aligned with its vision of building a smarter and healthier society. As a first step towards this goal, Healthigo signed up with Medicnlogy, a Dubai based MedTech company with over 20 years of market presence and a dedicated team of knowledge-

able medical professionals and technology experts. “The past six months have been very exciting as we solidified our business model and evolved our channel strategy,” said Joseph Debs, Co-founder at Healthigo. “Today’s patients have higher expectations from healthcare providers and that is influencing the transformation in the delivery of healthcare. Our partnership with Medicnlogy brings the Healthigo platform to a wider audience and will be instrumental in helping healthcare providers optimise their operations resulting in delivering an enhanced patient experience.”

HONEYWELL TO POWER EGYPT’S SMART CITY AMBITIONS Honeywell will demonstrate cutting-edge Internet of Things (IoT) technologies designed to power Egypt’s smart city ambitions at Cairo ICT 2018, taking place November 25 to 28, 2018, under the patronage of H.E. Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Held at the Egypt International Exhibition Center under the theme of “Driving Transformation”, Honeywell will showcase hardware and software solutions that promote greater safety, security and energy efficiency for cities and buildings. The Company will also highlight specific solutions that leverage data analytics and cloud technologies to drive operational efficiencies across the country’s commercial buildings, hospitality and healthcare facilities. Khaled Hashem, president, Honeywell, Egypt & Libya, commented: “Honeywell is a global technology company that has operated in Egypt for many decades, supplying cities, buildings and diverse industries with leading solutions and services. Our hardware and software platforms deliver actionable insights through powerful data analytics that lower costs and boost operational efficiencies. We are very pleased to be present at Cairo ICT again this year, and will continue to showcase the benefits of investment in digital transformation that will ultimately lead to a smarter, more efficient and more prosperous Egypt.”

Z SERVICES AND TITANHQ EXPAND REGIONAL CYBERSECURITY TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIP Z Services and TitanHQ have expanded their existing OEM relationship to embed TitanHQ’s Email Archiving and Web filtering technologies to Z Services’ ‘MERALE’. This follows the successful initial launch of Z Services Anti-Spam SaaS powered by TitanHQ’s

Spam Filtering technology. MERALE, the SaaSbased, SME-focused offering from Z Services is specifically tailored to address the growing requirement of SMEs for strong Internet threat protection, enhanced business productivity, and

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compliance. Z Services’ MERALE SaaS brings SMEs compliance and the protection as a service. On compliance, MERALE SaaS features in-country cloud business emails archiving for years, email reporting, online business productivity

polices, and reporting and audit as-a-service. With Protection-as-a-Service, MERALE SaaS includes in-country cloud Internet protection against malware, ransomware, phishing, viruses, botnets and other cyber threats, accessible as-a-service.

MERALE’s compliance and protection is offered across the MENA region as-a-service only from Internet Service Provider (ISP), as fully rebranded, cost-effective, autoprovisioned, and powerful Internet protection and compliance service.

CHANNEL STREET

Burj Khalifa, HTC Vive, and Dubai Future Accelerators Collaborate As the UAE remains at the forefront of embracing the latest technological trends and advancements in the region, Burj Khalifa is teaming up with HTC Vive and Dubai Future Accelerators—an initiative of Dubai Future Foundation—to further business opportunities within the VR ecosystem across the Middle East and Africa. As part of the collaboration, VR developers across the MEA region and internationally are invited to participate in a one-of-a-kind competition to build world-class VR content themed around the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower. The VR experience that ultimately wins the competition will also go on Viveport – the lead-

ing app library for VR content powered by HTC Vive and accessible to Vive users globally. Participants will get exclusive access to Burj Khalifa premises and stunning high-definition footage of the building itself. Dubai Future Accelerators will also offer access to an incubator center and fully set-up VR hub situated at Area 2071, as well as office workspaces, throughout the project. HTC Vive is the VR partner for the program, and its latest premium VR system the Vive Pro will be the official VR device for the competition. Furthermore, HTC Vive will assist developers with full tech support, expertise, and mentoring throughout the competition.

WEB CLIPS UNIVERSITY OF BAHRAIN COLLABORATES WITH DELL EMC Building on an existing strategic roadmap that aligns with Bahrain’s Vision 2030, University of Bahrain (UOB) revealed the successful implementation of a transformational ICT project with Dell EMC. With a pivotal role to play in the country’s national transformation agenda, the university deployed Dell EMC’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), cloud and Hyper Converged Infrastructure (HCI) solutions to meet the institutional needs for efficiency, performance and scalability. CITRIX ACQUIRES SAPHO Citrix has acquired Sapho, a micro app platform which it will use to enhance the guided work

NUTANIX EXTENDS BEAM TO THE ENTERPRISE PRIVATE CLOUD

capabilities within Citrix Workspace, enabling people to work with even greater speed,

Nutanix revealed new updates to Beam which extend its cost visibility and optimization capabilities into on-prem deployments. With these new updates, Nutanix customers can get full visibility and insight into the entirety of their infrastructure environment, including public and private clouds, so they can choose the right cloud for every application. Applications that are more predictable, such as data back-up, databases and enterprise applications can be more cost-effective when operating in private clouds, while less predictable workloads like mobile/ digital and IoT services can be more suitable for public cloud infrastructure. Beam will also now provide a global multi-cloud view so customers can visualize cloud spend patterns from a single dashboard, making it easier to make decisions which save their business money and ensure compliance with regulations.

intelligence and simplicity. Sapho’s micro applications improve employee productivity by consolidating access to tools, activities and tasks in a simple and unified work feed. With Sapho, companies can automatically surface personalized and relevant tasks from existing systems and deliver them to any device, intranet or collaboration tool. MIMECAST JOINS IBM SECURITY APP EXCHANGE COMMUNITY Mimecast launched Mimecast for IBM QRadar, which integrates email security data into IBM’s

MOVEMENTS KEVIN BROWNappointed MD of BT Security

NUMBER GAME

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Mimecast for IBM QRadar app is designed to offer joint customers improved visibility into potential vulnerabilities and ongoing

$182

attacks occurring via email, enabling prioritized incident response through one single console and an increased security posture. SENET AND IMTAC PARTNER TO DELIVER SMART CITY SOLUTIONS Senet has partnered with Imtac LLC. With an

Galaxy Control Systems appointed RICK CARUTHERS as President

Riverbed appoints MARK JOPLING as SVP Sales in EMEA

security intelligence technology. The new

initial focus on Smart City solutions, including lighting, asset tracking, water management and

AI to add $182b to UAE economy by 2035:Accenture Report

smart buildings, this collaboration illustrates the growing global adoption of LoRaWAN networks for applications that drive improvements in energy consumption, resource conservation and a variety of new and enhanced municipal services.

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Nokia powers Telecom Egypt’s Delta Backbone Network Telecom Egypt has adopted Nokia’s Photonic Service Engine (PSE) technology to double backbone capacity on its Delta Region DWDM backbone network. Commercial deployment of the new high-speed service started in June and represents the first 200G long distance, single carrier transmission service in Africa. With growth in demand for mobile video and ultra broadband services, Telecom Egypt worked closely with its partner Nokia to upgrade its current Nokia 1830 PSS backbone network. The network capacity increase brings higher-rate broadband services to fixed customers, as well as higher data rates for LTE mobile subscribers. Upgrading its existing Nokia PSS 1830 switches

with Nokia’s PSE technology enables Telecom Egypt to double its capacity while reducing operating costs. Telecom Egypt is upgrading its backbone network using the Nokia 500G DWDM Muxponder, a programmable card that provides wavelength capacities from 50G to 250G per line port. Based on Nokia’s Photonic Service Engine (PSE) coherent digital signal processor, this programmability will allow Telecom Egypt to provision and tune the wavelength capacity per optical route to ensure that its network is operated at peak performance, capacity and lowest cost-per-gigabit.

SYMANTEC POSITIONED LEADER FOR CLOUD ACCESS SECURITY BROKERS Symantec has been named a Leader in the 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Access Security Brokers. Symantec has been a Leader in every Magic Quadrant for Cloud Access Security Brokers that Gartner has produced. According to the 2018 report, “Interest in CASBs is intense and customer adoption is rapid — driven by enterprises of all sizes embracing the cloud as the default starting point for new projects and the next step for updates and enhancements to existing applications.” Additionally, the report notes, “By 2022, 60% of large enterprises will use a CASB to govern some cloud services, up from less than 20% today.” With the rise in cloud-based solutions and remote workforces, CASBs support organizations by providing critical visibility, security and control for cloud applications and services. Symantec’s CloudSOC CASB delivers broad and deep protection for the public cloud, featuring shadow IT discovery and analysis, advanced cloud risk reports, data security with advanced DLP, malware analysis, sophisticated user behavior analytics and granular access and usage policy controls.

MICROSOFT OPENHACK WITH UAE NATIONAL PROGRAM FOR AI In partnership with the UAE National Program for Artificial Intelligence, Microsoft today concluded a three-day OpenHack event in Dubai, designed to supercharge the skillsets of UAE software architects and developers, and solve common industry and business challenges. Held at the Sofitel Dubai Downtown from 27- 29 November, the OpenHack Machine Learning gathered developers who are keen on upskilling to keep pace with the emerging technologies fuelling the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The event also brought together Microsoft customers and community developers to solve a series of problems using a predefined basket of technologies. Participants worked in teams, grappling with increasingly challenging scenarios while collaborating and networking with industry peers. They also gained the opportunity to learn from machine-learning experts from around the world. The UAE’s Artificial Intelligence Strategy takes into account the estimated 250 million unnecessary paper transactions conducted by the federal government each year. Some 190 million manhours are wasted in these interactions, which are easy to digitise.

RIVERBED CERTIFIED PERFORMANCE ENGINEERING PROGRAM NOW AVAILABLE Riverbed Certified Performance Engineering (RCPE) Program is now available and designed for all IT professionals — from technical staff to leadership to CXO — involved in managing

digital performance across end-user experience, applications, networks, infrastructure, support desk and operations. The RCPE program focuses on building career skill sets and capabilities in digital perfor-

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mance to enable significant business results and outcomes across different roles in an organization and at differing levels of technical experience. The program delivers a solution-oriented approach on the

principles and capabilities of digital performance engineering and management by leveraging a combination of eLearning, instructor-led classes, and hands-on labs that replicate real world scenarios.

CHANNEL STREET

Sophos Adds Endpoint Detection and Response to Intercept X Advanced

Sophos launched the latest addition to its endpoint solution portfolio, Intercept X with EDR. Powered by Sophos’ deep learning neural network, which is trained on hundreds of millions of samples to look for suspicious attributes of malicious code to detect never-before-seen threats, Intercept X with EDR provides organizations with broad, expert analysis of potential attacks by comparing the DNA of suspicious files against the malware samples already categorized

in SophosLabs to enable them to identify and respond to suspicious threats more quickly. Until now, effective investigation and incident response has only been achievable in organizations with a dedicated Security Operations Center (SOC) or specialized IT security team trained to hunt and analyze cyberattacks. With Sophos Intercept X Advanced with EDR, businesses of all sizes and those with limited resources can add threat tracking and SOC-like capabilities to their security defenses, reducing the time criminal hackers can hide in their network. With a single click, IT managers have on-demand access to curated intelligence from SophosLabs, guided investigations into suspicious events, and recommended next steps. To maintain full visibility into the threat landscape, SophosLabs tracks, deconstructs and analyzes 400,000 unique and previously unseen malware attacks each day in a constant search for attack novelty and cybercriminal innovation. By providing access to SophosLabs data, IT managers of all skill levels have first-responder forensics at their fingertips to best determine if and what types of attacks are happening.

MARWA MARBLE SELECTS EPICOR ERP Marwa Marble has selected Epicor ERP to enable business transformation and support the organisations’ ambitious growth plans. By completely automating inventory management for over 90,000 square metres stock of stone, Epicor ERP will enable the Marwa Marble team to significantly reduce hours spent on physically inspecting and counting inventory, and avoid human error. Tighter inventory control also means that the organisation will be able to better manage suppliers’ costs and quality, reduce material wastage, and increase frequency and accuracy of stock-takes. This is expected to have a direct positive impact on the company’s bottom line.

SONICWALL EXPANDS CAPTURE CLOUD PLATFORM TO INCLUDE NEW FEATURES SonicWall revealed new Capture Cloud Platform capabilities that include Zero-Touch Deployment and Secure SD-WAN (software-defined WAN) designed for distributed enterprises and organizations with hybrid cloud environments. The company also announced enhancements to the Capture Security Center with personalized Risk Meters that deliver company-specific, real-time threat intelligence and risk scoring, as well as Hyper-V, Azure and AWS support for its virtual firewall series. “Organizations are invested in hybrid cloud strategies where they’re able to harness the power of both public and private clouds, but they require solutions that help simplify and secure their cloud migration initiatives,” said SonicWall President and CEO Bill Conner. “Whether they are pursuing the benefits of a vendor’s specific capabilities, looking to reduce the cost of hiring staff or seeking to reach compliance standards, SonicWall helps protect their migration while simultaneously giving more visibility and control of their environments.”

ARUBA ENSURES NETWORK ACCESS COMPLIANCE AND SECURITY INNOVATION AT DAMAN

Aruba ClearPass Network Access Control (NAC) solution has been successful in enabling National Health Insurance Company – Daman to comply with governmental network security regulations and improving the Wi-Fi network

experience for employees, contractors and guests. As a semi-government entity headquartered in the UAE, it was imperative for Daman to comply with a new electronic security regulation. Implementing a NAC solution in their environ-

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ment would be essential to achieving this. While the company’s previous wireless solutions worked conveniently, they presented their own concerns and risks which required a more comprehensive solution. Daman began evaluating

access control solutions from five market leading vendors and after a proof of concept, the Aruba solution was selected. Mr. Omar Almarzooqi, Manager, IT Security & Networks at Daman explains, “In addition to security which

was the prime requirement, the solution needed to be flexible enough to work in a multi-vendor environment, and scalable enough to be deployed across our twelve large branches without adding complexity or management overheads.”

20 – 22 January, 2019 Dubai, UAE www.IntersecExpo.com

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CHANNEL STREET

Data in the Cloud More Exposed than Organizations Think: McAfee McAfee released its Cloud Adoption and Risk Report, which analyzed billions of events in anonymized customers production cloud use to assess the current state of cloud deployments and to uncover risks. The report revealed that nearly a quarter of the data in the cloud can be categorized as sensitive, putting an organization at risk if stolen or leaked. Coupled with the fact that sharing sensitive data in the cloud has increased 53 percent YoY, those who do not adopt a cloud strategy that includes data loss protection, configuration audits and collaboration controls, will endanger the security of their most valuable asset—data—while exposing themselves to increased risk of noncompliance with internal

and external regulations. The study found that while organizations aggressively use the public cloud to create new digital experiences for their customers, the average enterprise experiences more than 2,200 misconfiguration incidents per month in their infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) instances. Cloud service providers only cover the security of the cloud itself, not customer data or customer use of their infrastructure and platforms. Companies are always responsible for securing their data wherever it is, hence highlighting the need to deploy cloud security solutions that span the whole cloud spectrum, from SaaS (software-as-a-service) to IaaS and PaaS.

GROWTH AND INCLUSIVITY DRIVE AVAYA’S CHANNEL STRATEGY FOR 2019 Avaya launches new measures aimed at enabling channel partner growth. The announcements were made at the Avaya Partner Summit 2019 in Dubai, where the company is hosting the EMEA and APAC regions’ leading channel heavyweights, market movers and technical and sales leaders. The new measures, which come as an update to the Avaya Edge partner program, will provide a path for channel partners to move from one value proposition to more advanced ones – moving to solution selling; and from solution selling to innovation building; and from innovation building to enabling true business transformation. The updates to Avaya Edge also place an emphasis on partner inclusivity, aiming to enable growth regardless of the size or business model of the channel partner. This means that Avaya Edge is now the only channel program in the world to provide equal growth opportunities to partners of any size. “Our own growth is inexorably linked to the growth of our partners, regardless of where they sit today on the Avaya Edge Program. Our growth strategies need to align with those of our partners if we’re to succeed in our goals,” said Fadi Moubarak, Vice President – Channels, Avaya International.

SWISSLOG REACHES NEW RECORD As customer demand is quickly growing, so too is the need for flexible, robotic solutions. The global explosion in the growth of e-commerce in both the business-to-consumer and business-to-business segments has led to increased demand for more scalable, modular solutions to meet rapidly changing customer demands. As one of the most flexible and space efficient goods-to-person solutions available today, AutoStore, a cube-based system, has revolutionized e-commerce fulfillment and small item order picking. The scalable system can be deployed relatively quickly in almost any warehouse environment, providing dramatic improvements in space utilization and productivity compared to traditional shelf-based storage. In the UAE, three companies have deployed this solution till date, with more in the pipeline. Alain Kaddoum, General Manager of Swisslog Middle East said, “I am proud we have such a strong relationship with AutoStore and have the freedom to develop our own solutions to increase efficiency for our customers even further. We believe that AutoStore provides exceptional customer value, and we are looking forward to continuing to deliver exciting automated projects based on this scalable, modular solution.”

SCHOLARS BEWARE: PHISHING FRAUDSTERS HUNT FOR UNIVERSITY CREDENTIALS Kaspersky Lab urges academics to be careful online: the company’s researchers have detected multiple cyberattacks hitting at least 131 universities in 16 countries. These attempts to steal sensitive university information

have happened in the last 12 months, with nearly 1000 phishing attacks since September 2017. Fraudsters are hunting for credentials of employees and students, their IP addresses and location data. In most cases,

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they create a web page for entering login and password to universities digital systems, visibly identical to the authentic one. While the importance of bank employees’ credentials or passwords of workers in industrial

enterprises is obvious, personal accounts of students and staff at universities might seem to be insignificant targets for cybercriminals. As a matter of fact, the information that could be found through a

successful spear phishing attacks on universities might be even more valuable: their databases containing many impactful and exclusive types of research on various topics, from economy to nuclear physics.

Gartner’s Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2019 Intelligent #1

Digital #2

Autonomous Things

Digital Twins

AI-Driven Development

Blockchain

Empowered Edge

Augmented Analytics

Mesh

Smart Spaces

Immersive Technologies

Ethics & Privacy

#10 Join us at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2019 to learn about Gartner’s technology trends, if they will work for you and how to implement them.

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© 2018 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Gartner and ITxpo are registered trademarks of Gartner, Inc. or its affiliates. For more information, email info@gartner.com or visit gartner.com.

Quantum Computing

GUEST ARTICLE

Back to basics: VAT Accounting 101 The new VAT regime has the biggest impact on a business’ accounting and reporting processes. The stringent reporting and record-keeping requirements, as set by the UAE Federal Tax Authority (FTA), suggests that proper accounting processes are needed for compliance.

It has been ten months since the introduction of value-added taxes in the UAE, and the tax returns deadlines have come and gone. As part of my job, I regularly meet with start-ups, small and medium businesses and enterprises, and it is surprising to learn that there is still significant uncertainty about VAT, and how to manage it as a business owner. VAT is not a new concept. In fact, there are more countries with VAT right now than without. As part of the UAE Vision 2021, the introduction of taxation has brought diversity to the coun-try’s economic revenue streams, and also encouraged greater transparency for businesses. The new VAT regime has the biggest impact on a business’ accounting and reporting pro-cesses. The stringent reporting and record-keeping requirements, as set by the UAE Federal Tax Authority (FTA), suggests that proper accounting processes are needed for compliance. These VAT-compliant accounting systems do not have to be costly. There are affordable cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) products available to support small businesses. The soft-

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n MANSOOR SARWAR, REGIONAL DIRECTOR – TECHNICAL S E R V I C E S & P R E - S A L E S AT S A G E

ware can also help businesses easily manage their VAT returns, reporting, adjust-ments, payments and refunds. Companies also need to realise that VAT is not an added expense on them - they are merely the collection agents on behalf of the government. The income is then reinvested back into the country. The estimated contribution from VAT to the UAE is expected to be Dh12 billion in the first year alone. Implementation of the VAT compliant systems will help increase busi-ness efficiency. Some common mistakes that business owners are guilty of are around not issuing VAT complaint invoices. Under the VAT law, the invoice must have the words “tax invoice” clearly stated, be in UAE Dirham or converted to UAE Dirhams, and be issued within 14 days of the date of supply of goods or services. It must include the name, address and tax registration number of the supplier, include the date of issue, include a description of goods or services, include the total amount payable and the total VAT chargeable in addition to other conditions that an invoice

or a credit note must comply with as per Federal Decree-Law No. (8) of 2017 and relevant Executive Regulations. Issuing non-complaint invoices are subjecting these business to penalties. Another unnecessary extra cost businesses are attracting is by paying for VAT via credit cards. It attracts a 3-5 percent processing fee, on top of the 5 percent that is VAT. The total tax paid becomes much higher. Business owners should register for either e-dirham or the recently introduced GIBAN by FTA, both of which can be found on the FTA’s website. Ultimately, doing business in a VAT-regime requires a change of mindset. Business owners should look at VAT as an opportunity to support the local economy and boost corporate transparency, and not as an administrative burden. At a rudimentary level, it’s worth keeping an implementation strategy and following all the necessary steps to successfully submit regu-lar VAT returns. A set framework with the right VAT Compliant systems will ensure you’re fulfilling your tax obligations and will help your business run as smoothly as possible. ë

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COVER STORY

LOCK THE POTENTIAL Middle East and Africa spending on blockchain will more than double to $80.8 million by the end of 2018 from a year earlier, according to IDC. UAE unveiled the Emirates Blockchain Strategy 2021 recently. What future does the technology hold?

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COVER STORY

n B Y: A N U S H R E E < A N U S H R E E @ G E C M E D I A G R O U P. C O M > n P H O T O : S H U T T E R S T O C K

f someone out there is expecting that in the next couple of years blockchain would be the cornerstone of technology or transactions, hold your imaginations for a while. The future is bright, yet not close. Blockchain, as a niche technology, is all set to change the IT landscape on similar platforms as Linux, virtualization or big data analytics did in the years gone by but it will take close to a decade more until this becomes a full-fledged phenomenon. To share critical information between peer to peer or between open and private networks, the time is yet to be ripe for blockchain.

BLOCKCHAIN AS A DISRUPTING POWER FOR THE NEXT-GEN ENTERPRISES Recently, in line with Abu Dhabi’s vision to accelerate sustainable, social and economic development through digital transformation, Abu Dhabi Smart Solutions and Services Authority (ADSSSA) in partner-

$20bn

On-Premise: Infrastructure includes servers and HCI with GPUs for extremely fast mining on Ethereum, servers and HCI with huge core counts to power Hyperledger chaincodes, and massive object stores to refer to off-chain data assets. Off-Premise: Other companies, however, do not want the ownership and governance responsibility that comes with implementing a blockchain in-house. Application: Newly designed blockchain applications that leverage and interact with blockchain back-ends will be cloud native in nature. Enterprise-Class Blockchain: Enterprise blockchain deployments are still in their infancy, and many businesses will need help deciphering the rapidly evolving landscape. According to Fady, the Dell EMC service can design around any blockchain, but no implementation can deliver a better enterprise-class blockchain than VMware. VMware’s blockchain research is realizing the advantages of a true enterprise class blockchain: scale, security, performance, and

ship with DarkMatter Group announced the strategic direction for the adoption of blockchain technologies. Aligned with Abu Dhabi’s Ghadan 21 program, aims to accelerate the adoption of digital transformation, one of ADSSSA’s core pillars set to bring Abu Dhabi government services under one roof. The integrated system follows Abu Dhabi government’s efforts to build the ‘One Government’ services model based on advanced technologies as the platform to provide social and economic benefits to citizens, residents and investors in the emirate seeking faster, more secure and efficient government services. ADSSSA works towards consolidating over 1,600 government services in one integrated platform, aimed at streamlining these services into 80 digital journeys to achieve efficiency. One of the greatest potential that Blockchain has is to shorten the entire value chain. According to Fady Richmany, Senior Director and General Manager, United Arab Emirates, at Dell EMC a blockchain use case qualifies in the following areas;

$176bn

Billionaire investor Tim Draper predicted that Bitcoin would achieve a value of $250,000 per coin by 2022

The global blockchain technology market is projected to be worth $20 billion by the end of 2024, according to Transparency Market Research

$176bn Gartner suggests that blockchain’s business value-add will grow to $176 billion by 2025.

$50bn

According to IHS Markit, in 2017 the business value of blockchain within the telecommunications industry was estimated to be $50 million

84%

Blockchain in the telecom market is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 84.4% between 2018-2023

$20,000

In December 2017 bitcoin hit a record high of almost $20,000 for one coin

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COVER STORY

“THE FIRST STEP IN A SUCCESSFUL BLOCKCHAIN ENGAGEMENT, PAVING THE WAY FOR IMPLEMENTATION, SHOULD BE THE DETERMINATION OF WHETHER IT IS THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY FOR THE BUSINESS PROBLEM OR CHALLENGE BEING ADDRESSED. DELL EMC HAS DEVELOPED A SET OF SERVICES TO ASSIST OUR CUSTOMERS IN VALIDATING THEIR BLOCKCHAIN USE CASES.” FADY RICHMANY, SENIOR DIRECTOR AND GENERAL MANAGER, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, AT DELL EMC

“APLA IS DESIGNED TO CREATE DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS FOR ORGANISATIONS TO FUNCTION AS A BUSINESS NETWORK. TE HAVE BUILT TEMPLATES FOR NUMBER OF BUSINESS USE CASES FOR ORGANIZATIONS TO TEST.”

“THE APPLICATION OF BLOCKCHAIN HAS HAD A TRADITIONAL START IN LOGISTICS, FINANCIAL SERVICES AND OTHER DATACENTRIC INDUSTRIES, BUT IN THE FUTURE, WE MAY SEE IOT DEVICES AT HOME, SUCH AS HEATING SYSTEMS OR ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEMS, USE A PRIVATE BLOCKCHAIN TO MAKE DECISIONS.”

MUHAMMED ARAFATH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AT APLA

SEBASTIEN PAVIE, REGIONAL DIRECTOR META, ENTERPRISE & CYBERSECURITY AT GEMALTO.

fault tolerance.

BLOCKCHAIN

MAIN DRIVER OF ADOPTION OF THE

According to various scholars and researchers, Blockchain would be a foundational technology that would create new foundation for economic

BLOCKCHAIN IN “THE BLOCKCHAIN-BASED BSS SOLUTION FROM NEXIGN AND BUBBLETONE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO REVOLUTIONIZE THE WAY OPERATORS DO BUSINESS AND MONETIZE SERVICES.” LOUKAS TZITZIS, CHIEF PRODUCTS & MARKETING OFFICER (CPMO) AT NEXIGN

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n HTC Exodus blockchain-enabled smartphone will be an industry-first to allow owners to play CryptoKitties n Sirin's Finney smartphone will come with a built-in cold-storage crypto wallet for storing bitcoin, Ethereum and other digital tokens, and it will run on open-source, feeless blockchain. n Riyada Group, a Bahraini diversified conglomerate, is partnering with AVC Global, a Washington-based agricultural value chain company, to develop a new agricultural supply collaboration in Africa. n A planned city will encompass a high-tech park that will be the convergence of blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and nanotechnology. In addition, this community will be able to provide a new living environment to thousands of people, spread over about a hundred square miles. n Dentacoin (Blockchain for the dental industry) to provide the dental industry with cost and efficiency blockchain solutions n Major South Korean Satellite Operator KT SAT to Focus on Blockchain

COVER STORY

“BESIDES LATERAL HIRING, WE HAVE TASKED OURSELVES WITH A “BLOCKGEEKS” PROGRAM TO GROOM ADDITIONAL HIGH END CONSULTANTS TRAINED INTERNALLY, AVAILABLE IN THE COMING QUARTERS TO MEET THE GROWING DEMANDS OF OUR CUSTOMERS.” RAM RAMACHANDRAN, GM AND HEAD (ENTERPRISE) TECH MAHINDRA, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA TECH MAHINDRA

“WITH BLOCKCHAIN WE WILL HAVE A DIFFERENT PROSPECTIVE INTO IOT, WHERE USING BLOCKCHAIN CRYPTOGRAPHY REDUCE THE RISK OF DATA AND RECORD MANIPULATION. AND THE “DISTRIBUTED LEDGER” WILL ELIMINATE THE DEPENDENCY ON A CENTRALIZED DATABASE.” ERCAN AYDIN, VICE PRESIDENT, EMERGING MARKETS, PALO ALTO NETWORKS

“THE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT SECTOR IN THE MIDDLE EAST ACTIVELY TAKES PART IN THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION PROCESS AND EXPLORES THE LATEST TECHNOLOGIES THAT COULD REVOLUTIONIZE THE FM LANDSCAPE. BLOCKCHAIN IS ONE OF THE LATEST TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS WHICH WE CAN CHANGE THE WAY FACILITIES MANAGERS PERFORM THEIR ROLES AND GREATLY ENHANCE THE DELIVERY OF SERVICES.” JAMAL LOOTAH, PRESIDENT OF MEFMA.

and social systems. In the words of Karim Lakhani, a professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School, “It’s unlikely to be a wholly disruptive technology that attacks traditional business models with a lower-cost solution that overtakes other networking technology quickly.” “Companies are increasingly realising the business value provided by a secure IoT platform using blockchain technology. This is becoming particularly relevant when applied to their supply chains. Assuming that appropriate controls and security measures are in place, there is a huge opportunity to employ blockchain into different industries,” says Sebastien Pavie Regional Director META, Enterprise & Cybersecurity at Gemalto. A recent Fortune article estimated that around 30% of the world’s data production is healthrelated. That includes everything from laboratory tests, medical images, genetic profiles, liquid biopsies and electrocardiograms to data from insurance claims, clinical trials, prescriptions and academic research. This data has been collected for years, but it’s only now that the technology exists to make good use of it.

tive Director at Apla “For financial services, the ground breaking element blockchain delivers is that the payment and settlement is one process as opposed to being a separate process that needs to be reconciled. And this ledger is replicated across the entire business network partially or entirely. Thereby security is at very core, immutable database. Blockchains are not inherently secure, you need all the existing security parameter to be in place along with blockchain database/ application.” Ercan Aydin, Vice President, Emerging Markets, Palo Alto Networks says that while crypto-mining activities prove increasingly profitable for attackers, the trend towards mining will only continue to grow and become increasingly sophisticated. “One example of this has materialised already; hackers have been infiltrating discussion groups on Slack and Discord chat websites, imitating administrators, to steal codes and information about other people’s cryptocurrency network and ultimately steal their digital coins.”

SECURITY ON BLOCKCHAIN APPLICATION

It’s widely agreed a breakthrough moment is needed where cryptocurrencies become vastly more appealing for the average internet user. It’s unclear how this shift might take effect - whether it will be through growing interest in decentralised, blockchain based companies or whether there will be a fundamental transformation in how secure or accessible cryptocurrency is. According to the Securities Exchange Commission, cryptocurrency exchanges overall remain unregulated. This is in contrast to cryptocurrency’s conventional currencies counterparts, which are regulated by the central banks of their respective countries. ë

Well, we have been writing and reading about the security aspect of blockchain since the day it came into existence. Instead of uploading data to a cloud server or storing it in a single location, blockchain breaks everything into small chunks and distributes them across the entire network of computers. It’s a digital ledger of transactions that lacks a central control point. Each computer, or node, has a complete copy of the ledger, so one or two nodes going down will not result in any data loss. According to Muhammed Arafath, Execu-

THE FUTURE OF CRYPTOCURRENCIES

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ENTERPRISE ADVISOR POWE R E D BY

HYPERCONVERGENCE REDEFINED

he second edition of the hyperconvergence redefined opened to a full house CIOs and IT Heads from the UAE government and semi government sectors to discuss on the hyperconverged infrastructure solutions that can deliver performance, scale and efficiency. Organized GEC Media Group and Hosted by Enterprise Channels MEA in association with Pivot3, the roundtable focused on how a smarter approach to hyperconverged infrastructure can help businesses realize its true potential. Legacy infrastructure, operations, and traditional data center architectures are not sufficient to meet the demands of a digital business today. Smarter infrastructure solutions are the next big leap that organizations should take in order to foster innovation and stay ahead of the competition. The Pivot3 team represented emphasized on the challenges of traditional data centre infrastruc-

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ENTERPRISE ADVISOR

ture and how the CIO’s can benefit from Pivot3’s simplified solutions in unified storage, computing and networking platforms. The key focus of the roundtable was on CIO’s

strategy in implementing a simple, intelligent and automated hyperconverged infrastructure solution to align IT with business outcomes and stay ahead of the competition. ë

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INTERVIEW

THE INTELLIGENT ‘DYNAMIC’ DYNAMICS BLENDS CRM AND ERP TO GIVE AN INTELLIGENT MODULAR BUSINESS APPLICATION TO SOLVE REAL-WORLD BUSINESS PROBLEMS. WHEN DEALING WITH A SMALL CITY, EVERYTHING IS PROCESS-DRIVEN, SO YOU HAVE TO DECIDE IF IT MAKES SENSE TO CONSUME FROM THE AZURE CLOUD FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE. THE DEMANDS OF CONSUMERS HAVE CHANGED – THERE’S MUCH LESS PATIENCE, AND BIG DELIVERIES ARE EXPECTED.

In terms of market segmentation, will you be focusing more on enterprise or SMB with Dynamics? For SMBs we have Business Central, an all-in-one commerce platform for the smaller business. It gives you financials, manufacturing, service and customer-engagement in one platform, along with AI services, Power BI and PowerApps. So, you’re really delivering AI in a business-application system for an SMB. That’s brand new for us. And Dynamics is a great fit for our public and commercial enterprise customers too. We’re part of their DT acceleration. How is Microsoft redefining the urban future? Our industry experts and public sector teams talk a lot about that. If you look at something like a small city and start thinking about how to improve someone’s journey, you might think about urban automation, for example. You might think, “How do these escalators and elevators fit into my journey with, say, a transportation system?” There’s a lot of data to collect and plough through, and obviously we’ve got great tools to do that. Then you have to separate out the logic of business processing. How do we deliver that in terms of the systems of action I talked about earlier? Dynamics blends CRM and ERP to give an intelligent modular business application to solve real-world business problems. When dealing with a small city, everything is process-driven, so you have to decide if it makes sense to consume from the Azure cloud from the point of view of customer experience. The demands of consumers have changed – there’s much less patience, and big deliveries are expected.

KEITH FENNER,

DYNAMICS 365 BUSINESS GROUP DIRECTOR, MICROSOFT MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

What role is Dynamics 365 playing in businesses? First, it creates systems of intelligence that drive systems of action. Businessprocess automation is critical to that. But you also have to think about frontline field employees, your mobile workforce. They need to create, collaborate and communicate in Outlook and Office, which are part of the same platform as Dynamics. So, you have the structured view of a financial or customer-engagement system alongside the unstructured data coming from office automation, as well as social data from platforms like LinkedIn. We combine all of these information flows to create systems of intelligence.

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What happens after the data has been collected? How do we leverage? After you collect the data, you’ve also got to be able to use it intelligently. I keep talking about systems of action, but I think that’s the most critical piece of the puzzle. Microsoft has a product called Power Platform, part of our cloud portfolio. But in the business applications setting, it offers the ability to create applications that, for example reduce paper usage, or that redefine the whole business process. I like the paper example, because when we walk around Dubai, there’s still a lot of people using paper processes. Power Platform allows you to take the paper process into an automated power app on a mobile device or desktop. Then you start thinking “What systems can I attach to that application?” Does it make sense to attach a business application in the background to drive a more comprehensive update, or do I just update tables? Of course, this goes back to the data centre. The Azure cloud has the common data layers that allow us to run things without worrying about big integration projects. ë

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FOCUS STORY

Unleashing

Africa’s Potential

Africa, that was once considered a White Man’s Burden is today, a growing market for investments and infrastructure projects. The country has transformed tremendously in the last decade and a lot of this economic growth comes from investments in technology.

n B Y: D I V S H A B H AT < D I V S H A @ G E C M E D I A G R O U P. C O M > P H O T O : S H U T T E R S T O C K

n the last decade, internet & mobile access, improved education and infrastructure has attracted numerous international investors seeking new business deals across the continent. What’s more interesting is, they differ not only by country to country but also by sector to sector – agriculture, banking, mining, telecommunications, etc.

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ATTRACTING INVESTMENTS Africa is a rapidly growing market says Santosh Varghese, Vice President, Toshiba Gulf FZE. “The adaptation of latest technologies mobile like mobile computing, IoT implementation is expanding in this region as internet connectivity is improved in majority of the East African and some of the West African countries,” he said.

The African markets have witnessed rapid growth in the ICT sector and with more than a billion mobile phone subscribers, the continent has already become a destination for telecom investors. A research by Disrupt Africa says that last year the number of African tech start-ups to raise funding hit 159, up from 146 companies in 2016 and 125 in 2015. The willingness for investments in this continent can be clearly witnessed.

FOCUS STORY

In areas like e-health and fintech, there are major opportunities for returns. “Improved access to the internet and more reliable bandwidth have allowed organisations of any size to go online. Additionally, cloud technology has allowed almost anyone to store and manage data in an affordable and easy way. In fact, businesses in Africa are actually at an advantage as they don’t have the cumbersome legacy infrastructure that many of their global counterparts are trying to phase out with the advent of cloud technology. This puts them at a major advantage as they are able to make use

of cloud services exclusively and they are well suited for a post-infrastructure era,” said Heino Gevers, Customer Experience Manager - MEA, Mimecast. George Gordon, Director of Africa Master Blockchain Company says, “Full fintech solutions using blockchain and digital currencies is the next natural step, however the challenge is that although there are many popular and well-established currencies already in the global market these cannot be truly used for transactional purposes. Rather a specifically designed solution like AfriUnion Coin is needed in order to address

the key issues within the African market and its requirements for fintech to become the norm.”

AFRICA’S AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION According to the World Bank, agriculture has a principal role in Africa as it employs 65% of the workforce and adds to 32% of GDP. Furthermore, around 70% of the continent’s population depends directly on agriculture for their livelihood. Africa is currently experiencing a rapid growth in population, with estimates suggesting by 2050 the population for Africa will reach 2.2

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FOCUS STORY

“The adaptation of latest technologies mobile like mobile computing, IoT implementation is expanding in this region as internet connectivity is improved,” -SANTOSH VARGHESE, VICE PRESIDENT, TOSHIBA GULF FZE.

“A specifically designed solution like AfriUnion Coin is needed in order to address the key issues within the African market and its requirements for fintech to become the norm,” -GEORGE GORDON, DIRECTOR, AFRICA MASTER BLOCKCHAIN COMPANY

“Improved access to the internet and more reliable bandwidth have allowed organisations of any size to go online,” -HEINO GEVERS, CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE MANAGER MEA, MIMECAST

billion. The ability of African farmers to increase productivity is critical in order to provide food and economic growth to support its growing population. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) predicts that the agricultural market in SubSaharan Africa alone will grow from $200 billion in 2015 to $1 trillion by 2030. Entrepreneurs in

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Africa are increasingly seeing opportunities in the agricultural sector and are developing solutions that enable farmers to increase their yields and access markets. For example, aerial images from satellites or drones, weather forecasts, and soil sensors are making it possible to manage crop growth in real time. Automated systems provide early warnings if there are deviations from normal growth or other factors. Also, a report from the Africa Union on transforming African agriculture entitled – “Drones on the Horizon – Transforming Africa’s Agriculture” focused almost exclusively on the use of drones. Reports suggest that drones and UAVs is key to advancing Africa’s agriculture sector. There is a strong evidence that drones can make a positive difference for African farmers. In Uganda, for example, a collective of around 7,000 smallholder farmers are using drones to map the location, size and productivity of their farms. This allows farmers to quickly spot problem areas and target them with the right amount of fertilizer or pesticides. Drones also provide farmers with real-time information about their land, crops and livestock that is not detectable on the ground.

DIGITAL HEALTHCARE In 2014, the South African Department of Health started an initiative called MomConnect, a turning point for the implementation of tech in maternal health in South Africa. By mid-January 2018, the service registered more than 1.72 million pregnant women, which is about 63% of the potential target audience and means that 100% coverage is a realistic goal. It is also available in about 96% of clinics in South Africa. Businesses across Africa are also taking up callenges by creating innovative healthcare solutions. According to Philips South Africa’s innovation research study, 64% of respondents saw healthcare as a crucial sector for innovation. KEA Medicals Pharmaceutics and Technologies, a Benin-based start-up uses technology to store

and transfer basic medical information that can be accessed in times of emergency. People can register themselves via their mobile phones, providing details like blood type, allergies, whether they have a chronic disease and who to contact if there is a medical crisis. The information is placed onto a QR code that can be integrated into a bracelet or on a patch that can be added to a watch, mobile phone, etc. If someone passes out on the street, haemorrhages while giving birth or is hit by a car, for example, not just doctors but anyone nearby can help by easily scanning the information with their mobile phones. Another company, Vula Mobile in South Africa offers a mobile phone application that aids rural health professionals in providing effective eye care by communicating directly with specialists over a messaging system. The aim is to reduce the impact of treatable and reversible illnesses. Eiko Health initially launched Kenko Doctor on iOS, but has plans to expand it to web, Android is an open marketplace where patients can search for and book appointments with doctors. Once a doctor accepts the booking, payment is made and consultation occurs. The doctor can also use the platform to update a patient’s medical records.

LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE It can be clearly seen that the growing number of investments in Africa will transform the continent and rewrite its future. A quote by Next Africa says - Technology in Africa is becoming more than just a social venture or narrow business proposition. The continent’s tech movement will infuse every facet of transformation: commerce, health, education, finance, governance and creative culture. This evolving tech ecosystem will continue to empower Africa’s markets, people, and potential in meaningful ways, playing a vital role in taking the continent from the world’s economic margins into the digitized mainstream. ë

gitex mbuzz 31X22 magazine V1

PRESENTED BY

2018’s BIGGEST CIO ROADSHOW

CONCLUDES ON A GRAND NOTE

TECHTALK AND GLOBAL CIO AWARDS

BAHRAIN

07.NOV.2018 - THE GULF HOTEL BAHRAIN - CONVENTION & SPA

I N A S S O C I AT I O N W I T H

EVENT PARTNER

D E C E M B E R 2018

MEA

he CIO 200 TECHtalk and Global CIO Awards held in association with the Artificial Intelligence Society Bahrain at The Gulf Hotel on 7th November 2018, celebrated the achievements and path-breaking projects of the CIOs and IT Heads from the

kingdom. Dr. Jassim Haji, President of the Artificial Intelligence Society inaugurated the forum. In the wake of the fourth industrial revolution, organizations across the Middle East are beginning to realise the shift globally towards AI and advanced technologies. Dr. Haji said – “While much of Artificial Intelligence technology is still fairly rudimentary at the moment, we can expect sophisticated AI to soon significantly impact our everyday lives. The AI society is to convert Bahrain into a regional center for AI Research & Development and attract multinational silicon companies to the kingdom.” “This has been a successful event and first CIO award ever held in Bahrain. We hope CIO 200 continues in the kingdom for years to follow with larger participations,” added Dr. Haji.

THE CHAMPIONS OF THE BAHRAIN CHAPTER ARE NAME