Gulf Business Tech - September 2022 by Motivate Media Group

SAYS MOHAMMAD HANS DASTMALTCHI, HEAD OF FTX MENA 009 2022 p.52 Should you buy a smartphone?foldable p.12 The new normal is chipthedividingglobalindustry p.59 Matebookreview:Hands-onHuaweiXPro ARE THE ASSETSDIGITALFUTURE

NOMINATIONS OPEN ON SEPTEMBER 8, 2022 The region’s highest proﬁle Business event that commemorates the individuals and companies positively impacting and inﬂuencing the GCC’s economic ecosystem. VOTE PROCESSING PA R TNER PRESENTED BY awards.gulfbusiness.com/2022 #GulfBusinessAwards

00 3 The Feed The emerging trends in cloud computing 06 Interview Navin Narayan, CEO, Acme Intralog 43 CONTENTS 009 2022 The CISO should ideally write their own job useand–descriptionwheresofttechnicalskillsmeetasequals–andittorecruittheirownreplacement” – Taj EMEA,director,El-Khayat,ManagingSouthVectraAI 40 The Views Boosting resiliencecyber 18 Cover Story Cryptocurrency exchange ﬁrm FTX on how digital assets are poised to be an integral component of the ﬁnancial sector

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THE FEED 009 2022 CLOUDACCELERATINGADOPTION Cloud infrastructuresystem services will record highest growth ‘RISKS’ OF NOT MOVING TO CLOUD Not being part of the cloud ofreducescommunitytheintelligenceabusiness CLOUD SECURITY – BEST PRACTICES Every operating system in the infrastructure needs multi-layeredcomprehensive,protection08 09 10 INTOTAPPINGCLOUD Cloud-first strategy is businessespopularbecomingamong p.06

TAPPING FEATURES THE FEED 00 6

GB TECH TALK INTO CLOUD CLOUD-FIRST STRATEGY IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY POPULAR AMONG BUSINESSES FOLLOWING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC WORDS: DIVSHA BHAT 00 7

Public and private sectors in the region are investing in cloud computing to improve their infrastructure and services and leverage this technology to organise and streamline their processes. Going by the numbers, Gartner forecasts end-user spending on public cloud services in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to grow 19 per cent this year.

increaseforecasted19%inend-userspendingoncloudservicesinMENA or the last few years, cloud adoption has seen an upward trajectory in the Middle East, with many organisations moving data to the cloud. The region is undergoing an economic transformation, with many nations implementing smart city initiatives and updating their national visions while improving their digital economies. National visions in countries such as UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait encourage governments to use emerging technologies in order to achieve their transformation objectives. For instance, the digital transformation of government operations is a key component of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.

A cloud-first strategy aids lowering total cost of ownership, and strengthening cybersecurity. Meanwhile, Bahrain’s cloud-first policy is also devoted to modernising government ICT and setting the bar high for employing cloud computing services in order to cut costs, boost security and e ciency and create fi rst-rate citizen services.

“Various MENA governments’ policies on telemedicine, usage of autonomous vehicles, smart cities, and a rapid move towards the next phase of the fourth industrial revolution are opening new growth avenues for public cloud in the region. Additionally, the attention given to building and nurturing talent will turn a new leaf in the region’s shi t towards becoming a digitalGartnereconomy.”also stated that in 2022, MENA chief information o cers will spend the most on cloud application services, which include business intelligence applications, email and authoring, content services, customer experience and relationship management and supply chain. This segment will total $2.3bn, an increase of 16 per cent from 2021, and will account for 40 per cent of the total investment made in public cloud services.

The second largest segment will be cloud application and infrastructure services, which is forecast to total $1.1bn in 2022, an increase of 25.8 per cent from 2021. Cloud system infrastructure services will record the highest growth. This segment will grow 36.8 per cent to a total $895m in 2022.

ACCELERATING CLOUD ADOPTION

FEATURES THE FEED 00 8

“A renewed focus on technology growth post-Covid-19 in the region is leading to continued growth in public cloud F spending,” said Colleen Graham, senior research director at Gartner, in a statement.

Dario Sarmiento, manager – Service Delivery at Kyndryl – Gulf and Levant, believes that

GB TECH TALK to concerns about how to transition their existing security, policies and frameworks and continue to meet their compliance commitments,” heHowever,adds. Sarmiento says it could be one or a combination of various reasons. “We have seen organisations wanting to move to the cloud but are held back by the rigidity of their legacy systems. The reality is that the larger the organisations, the longer the legacy systems have been in place. Another stumbling block is the shortage of cloud skills, which can easily impede cloud transformation projects.”

ARE SOME COMPANIES RELUCTANT TO MOVE TO THE CLOUD?

So, what risks are associated with an organisation not moving to the cloud? With the cloud disruptive technologies have been at the centre of the IT industry for decades. However, their adoption has recently increased at an accelerated pace, forcing businesses to work in and keep up with a very competitive environment. “In the last five years, we have seen how the convergence of cheaper network access, coupling with the development of better mobile and wireless technologies (peaking, for example, at the current promise of 5G speed for wireless communications) and improvements in the underlying virtualisation technologies, has created multiple options for enterprises to enhance their competitiveness. On the ﬂip side, with all that’s available today, some businesses are ﬁnding it challenging to prioritise IT initiatives based on their own strategic objectives. Cloud Computing is part of any of those relevant options, so a decision to move there cannot be disregarded,” notes Sarmiento.

As the world becomes technology-driven, cloud computing has become an integral part of daily life, especially for regional businesses. The cloud helps companies organise their data and keep a backup of every single piece of information used for product development and customer experience enhancement. However, many organisations are still putting o migrating their infrastructure to the cloud. Reason – while some may lack IT personnel, others fear the loss of accessibility. Furthermore, the decision-makers focus on the Meanwhilecost.Fayez Eweidat, senior director –META at Juniper Networks, observes security as one of the biggest concerns surrounding public cloud adoption. “As more companies empower a work-from-anywhere workforce, access to cloud-based applications provides a seamless experience from home to office. However, some companies are hesitant to walk down this path due

ACCORDING TO GARTNER, IN 2022, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER’S WILL SPEND THE MOST ON CLOUD APPLICATION SERVICES, WHICH INCLUDE BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE APPLICATIONS, EMAIL AND AUTHORING, CONTENT SERVICES, CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AND RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT AND SUPPLY CHAIN” Dario Sarmiento dailypartanhascomputingCloudbecomeintegraloflife 00 9

THE ‘RISKS’ OF NOT MOVING TO THE CLOUD

CLOUD SECURITY – TOOLS AND BEST PRACTICES

“Not being part of the cloud community also reduces the intelligence of a business. By that, I mean that in today’s corporate world, startups and SMEs need to have a smart approach to data. Business intelligence and data analytics need a good understanding of data collection and storage. Not having a robust cloud storage system supporting your business can, therefore, leave a negative impact on having to dig into your data, making your business less e cient,” explains Candid Wuest, FEATURES THE FEED Candid Wuest vice president – Cyber Protection and Research at Acronis. However, before investing in the cloud, organisations should consider how it aligns with their overall business strategy and understand which workloads are best suited to run on the cloud. In short, investing in the cloud must be aligned with developing strategic initiatives.

Although the cloud is constantly evolving, some best practices have remained ﬁrm for ensuring the security of cloud environments. Experts suggest that organisations with existing cloud solutions in place or looking to implement them should

“Primarily, an organisation should consider security, compliance, hidden costs, networking, complexities and performance before investing in a cloud environment. Additionally, the preparedness of the team to manage not only the technical aspects of migration and ongoing operations but also the business considerations of optimising costs and assuring compliance are critical factors. Lastly, organisations must assess the technical readiness of any application before moving it to the cloud,” comments Eweidat.

consider the AN ORGANISATION SHOULD CONSIDER SECURITY, COMPLIANCE, HIDDEN COSTS, NETWORKING, COMPLEXITIES AND PERFORMANCE BEFORE INVESTING IN A CLOUD ENVIRONMENT” In 2022, MENA will spend the most on: Cloud Cloud$2.3bnservicesapplicationtotalinfrastuctureservices$1.1bntotal 0 10

at the centre of all digital transformation journey’s, businesses may not be able to capture more extensive opportunities, and they could face limitations on scalability, where the cost would be too high for them to grow because of traditional IT spending that utilises funds that the business could instead use for growth initiatives or innovation.

“Organisations investing in security tools and architectures should ensure their investment focuses on managing and monitoring of cloud environments, actionable insights for faster threat detection, security behaviour and event-driven capabilities for real-time alerts.”

OVERVIEW Moving forward, the cloud will drive technological innovation and serve as the foundation for business innovation. Thanks to the rising user demand, evolving needs of the organisations and the massive quantity of data, the future of cloud computing in the Middle East is on a steady path to proliferate in the coming years.

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SECURITYINVESTINGORGANISATIONSINTOOLS AND ARCHITECTURES SHOULD ENSURE THEIR INVESTMENT FOCUSES ON MANAGING AND MONITORING OF FORANDDETECTION,INSIGHTSENVIRONMENTS,CLOUDACTIONABLEFORFASTERTHREATSECURITYBEHAVIOUREVENT-DRIVENCAPABILITIESREAL-TIMEALERTS” Cloud highestservicesinfrastructuresystemspendingwillrecordthegrowth.Thissegmentwillgrow36.8%toatotal$895min2022

GB TECH TALK advice below to ensure data security. Emad Haffar, head of Technical Experts at Kaspersky, explains that basic antivirus and anti-malware protection are not enough to protect a cloud infrastructure. “Industry best practices dictate that every operating system in the infrastructure needs comprehensive, multi-layered protection that safeguards various types of workloads running on di erent platforms. Understanding the di erence between the cybersecurity responsibility of a cloud host and a cloud tenant is vital as well. In a private cloud setup, protecting the underlying virtualisation and storage as well as network connectivity, must be considered. And while this responsibility is on the shoulders of the provider in a public cloud setup, workload security is still needed, and it is on the tenant side.” He adds that having a comprehensive security solution that can cater to all these di erent scenarios can make the task more manageable.

Emad Ha ar

Meanwhile, Eweidat puts focus on zero trust on how security teams should redesign networks into secure micro perimeters, strengthen data security using obfuscation techniques, limit the risks associated with excessive user privileges and access, and dramatically improve security detection and response with analytics and automation.

emiconductor stockpiles are at a record high, and a global economic downturn is unlikely to change that picture. But an increasingly tense geopolitical environment and continued supply chain friction is dividing the largest from other semiconductor manufacturers, which could impact how well they survive.

The global shortage of some chips peaked in 2021 after clients that included carmakers cut orders only to desperately need them a few months later. At the same time, the popularity of streaming video services such as Netflix, which were forced to expand their server capacity, and greater use of gadgets from companies like Sony Group Corporation created competition for limited manufacturing capacity.

FEATURES BLOOMBERG 0 12

CHIPMAKERS THAT FOCUS MAINLY ON OLDER TECHNOLOGY FOR MAINSTREAM USE ARE SEEING

Inventory days, a measure of how long it takes to sell and replace stockpiles, have never been higher at dedicated chip foundries Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), United Microelectronics Corporation and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation. Those three companies are ranked number one, three and five in global made-to-order market share – accounting for 67 per cent of the total. Data from Samsung Electronics, the second-largest foundry, isn’t analysed here because the company doesn’t provide S

A MORE DRAMATIC SLOWDOWN

A NEW NORMAL IS INDUSTRYCHIPTHEDIVIDINGGLOBAL

EVEN THOUGH SEMICONDUCTOR DEMAND HAS NOT DECLINED, IT IS WEAKENING AS CONSUMERS TIGHTEN THEIR BELTS AND COMPANIES INCLUDING APPLE FREEZE HIRING OR CUT STAFF. THOSE CHIPMAKERS THAT FOCUS MAINLY ON OLDER TECHNOLOGY FOR MAINSTREAM USE – SUCH AS COMPONENTS USED IN SMARTPHONES, COMPUTERS AND TELEVISIONS – ARE SEEING A MORE DRAMATIC SLOWDOWN”

GB TECH TALK data for its contract chip business. Data for fourthranked GlobalFoundries only dates back two years. Digging deeper, we can see that manufacturers outside TSMC and possibly Samsung are still holding on to higher stockpiles as sales slow. At the end of June, inventory at TSMC, which accounts for around 55 per cent of the foundry market, was equal to 40 per cent of that quarter’s revenue. Its competitors collectively had a figure of 57 per cent. Even though semiconductor demand has not declined, it is weakening as consumers tighten their belts and companies including Apple freeze hiring or cut sta . Those chipmakers that focus mainly on older technology for mainstream use – such as components used in smartphones, computers and televisions – are seeing a more dramatic slowdown. TSMC and Samsung, the industry leaders, are enjoying more robust outlooks for their foundry services because they can o er clients superior manufacturing processes for higher-end applications like artificial intelligence and 5G mobile communications. This competitive advantage o ers a greater financial bu er, reducing the risk of holding higherEasinginventory.thedanger for the other players are long-term supply deals including those made public in recent years by both UMC and GlobalFoundries. The latter last month announced a new deal with Qualcomm that guarantees a total of $7bn in revenue from the Californian designer of chips used in smartphones through 2028, slightly more than GlobalFoundries’s entire sales last year. While TSMC hasn’t disclosed similar agreements, assurances that its capacity will find buyers are somewhat implicit in the company’s business model and aggressive spending plans, with management repeatedly stating that the $100bn it’s investing over three years is based on consultation with clients in anticipation of their needs.

A ra t of new policies, including a $52bn spending package from the US Congress, is aimed at making it easier and cheaper to expand capacity in America and Europe. TSMC, Samsung, GlobalFoundries and foundry newcomer Intel Corporation are all set to beneﬁt.

Yet investors remain unconvinced that all this spending will support earnings. Most foundry stocks have declined over the past year, even with continued double-digit revenue growth, in large part because the high rate of spending on new facilities heightens concerns that capacity will outstrip demand if a global recession hits. That’s a reasonable concern, since semiconductor sales tend to closely track macroeconomic indicators such as growth in gross domestic product. But the new normal – a sustained higher rate of stockpiles – is also likely to worsen the divide between the biggest companies with better technology, and other chipmakers who are highly dependent on demand for mainstream products.This changing landscape will likely mean that the strong get stronger, and the weaker struggle to hold on.

TOTALGUARANTEESQUALCOMMNEWANNOUNCEDLASTGLOBALFOUNDRIESMONTHADEALWITHTHATAOF IN$7BNREVENUE 0 13

0 14 UNIFIED OBSERVABILITY ONE SOLUTION TO RULE THEM ALL INFOGRAPHICS IT PROFESSIONALS RELY ON OBSERVABILITY TO CREATE ENGAGING EXPERIENCES FOR BOTH CUSTOMERS AND EMPLOYEES. BUT OBSERVABILITY HAS SOME MAJOR SHORTCOMINGS, AND IT TEAMS END UP WISHING THEY HAD A SOLLUTION TO MAKE THEIR JOBS AND LIVES EASIER Using findings from IDC’s report – let’s explore how observability falls short and how a unified observability approach provides the solution IT has been waiting for TOO INEFFECTIVEMANYTOOLS A HARD JOBGETTINGTIMETHEDONE A UNIFIED, COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO OBSERVABILITY 81% 60% DESPITE COMPREHENSIVEORGANISATIONSTOOLS,MULTIPLEUSING81%OFSAYITISSTILLDIFFICULTTOPRVIDEITSTAFFWITHAUNIFIED,VIEWINTOTHEIRDIGITALENVIRONMENT 59% OF RESPONDENTS AGREE THAT SPECIFICCAUSESTOTROUBLESHOOTSTAFFORGANISATION’STHEIRITMUSTMANUALLYISSUESIDENTIFYROOTANDDETERMINEREMEDIES 60% OF RESPONDENTS SAY A LACK OF REQUIREMENTSTORESTRICTSOBSERVABILITYUNIFIEDIT’SABILITYMEETBUSINESS 66% AGREE THAT A SINGLE SOURCE OF TRUTH MUST BE ESTABLISHED FOR ALL MISSION CRITICAL MANAGEMENT TOOLS Still, 61% of respondents agree that IT sta productivity and collaboration is limited by specialised tools and siloed data views SILOED DATA VIEWS 54% 54% OF ORGANISATIONS ALREADY USE SIX OR MORE DISCRETE TOOLS FOR IT MONITORING AND MANAGEMENT And 63% agree that their needsorganisationtofindways to enable lower-skilled IT sta to identify and fix issues TOO LEVELTIMEMUCHONLOW-WORK 59% 59% say it makes their job, and the job of their sta /peers, more di cult 71% agree that businessandITacrossdatawillobservabiltyunifiedhelpextendinsightsboththeorganisationlinesof66%

0 15 GB TECH TALK (Sponsored by Riverbed, the new survey conducted by IDC revealed that IT teams are struggling to effectively manage highly distributed digital infrastructures and deliver digital experiences that meet increasingly high customer expectations) THE SURVEY OF 1,400 IT WORKERS ACROSS 10 COUNTRIES UNCOVERED THE FOLLOWING IN THE UAE: Unified observability is key, as it empowers even junior-level IT professionals with insight that they can action upon. This means senior IT leaders can rightfully direct their attention to initiatives that drive business outcomes and enhance digital experiences” —Mena Migally, regional vice president – META at RiverbedOF OBSERVABILITYCURRENTLYRESPONDENTSUSETOOLS 93% ...yet 55% of them believe those tools are too operatingtheirandprovidefocusednarrowlyandfailtoacompleteunifiedviewoforganisation’sconditionsI N THIS CURRENT IT SHORTAGE,STAFFING 44% OF RESPONDENTSUAE AGREE ITHIGHLYHIRESTRUGGLESORGANISATIONTHEIRTOANDRETAINSKILLEDSTAFF THE TOP 5 DRIVERS CITED INCLUDED: 01. THREATSCYBERSECURITYINCREASING 02. INNOVATIONTRANSFORMATION/PACERAPIDOFDIGITAL 03. IMPROVING IT TEAMWORK ACROSSPRODUCTIVITYANDDOMAINS 04. HYBRIDMANAGINGNETWORKS 05. SUPPORTINGAND WORKFORCEHYBRID/REMOTEA 53% SAID THE LACK OF UNIFIED OBSERVABILITY RESTRICTS THE IT ORGANISATION’S ABILITY TO MEET BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS ...and 52% said it makes their job and the job of their staff/peers more difficult OF UAE staenableneedsagree...RESPONSIBILITIESTIMESPENDTRAINEDTHEIRBELIEVERESPONDENTSTHATMOSTWELL-ITSTAFFTOOMUCHONTACTICALand57%ofrespondentstheirorganisationtofindwaystolower-skilledITtofindandfixissues 61% surveyIDCandRiverbedSource:

THE CHANGING LANDSCAPEDENIAL-OF-SERVICEDISTRIBUTEDTHREAT THE SCALE AND SOPHISTICATION OF THE DDOS ATTACKS LAUNCHED BY THE NEW BOTNET, DRAWING POWER FROM COMPROMISED INTERNET OF THINGS DEVICES, IS UNPRECEDENTED FEATURES CYBERSECURITY 0 16

ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGE

TODAY, BOTNET DDOS IS THE SOURCE OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF ATTACKS DAILY, WITH OF THEM

It is estimated that between 100,000 and 200,000 active bots are engaged in these attacks.

In recent times, at the core of most DDoS attacks are bot nets. A botnet is a collection of compromised sets of individual devices like home computers, routers, IP cameras, digital video recorders and even parking meters. The end devices are com monly called bots or zombies because they have been taken over by hackers. The infected machines are usually triggered into action from a command centre, a compromised server or a remote computer used by a hacker or cybercriminal.

At a time when the cloud, IoT and 5G are transforming the digi tal world, networks have become even more important. More so after the advent of Covid-19, which has increased the reliance on the internet manifold. Unfortunately, the pandemic has also led to a growth in DDoS traffic. Apart from the 100 per cent increase in “high watermark levels” – daily peaks in DDoS traf fic, DDoS has grown to be a terabit level daily reality for many networks globally, with imminent and more damaging poten tial for attacks over 10-15 Tbps. “Over the last year, the vast majority of DDoS has now tran sitioned essentially to IoT devices, other types of cloud servers and compromised cloud accounts,” says Dr Craig Labovitz, CTO of Nokia Deepfield.“TheIoTdevices mostly come with exploitable bugs in their embedded operating systems or web servers. Others, including hundreds of thousands of devices, ship with a default pass word,” he adds. While most DDoS attacks are treated as a nuisance, highbandwidth and high-packet-intensity volumetric attacks are worrying. With volumetric amplification DDoS, attackers lever age increased bandwidth and connectivity to deploy millions of servers and unsecured and compromised IoT devices to target

The infected machines are usually triggered into action from a command centre, a compromised server or a remote computer used by a hacker or cybercriminal”

THESEARE200,000BETWEENESTIMATEDIPANDSEVERALANYWHEREINVOLVINGBETWEENTHOUSANDSEVERALMILLIONADDRESSES.ITISTHAT100,000ANDACTIVEBOTSENGAGEDINATTACKS

SPIKE IN BOTNET DDOS Botnet DDoS is one type of traffic that has exhibited significant growth since mid-2021. In the second half of the year, in marked contrast to the pre-IoT era, most of the largest DDoS attacks exclusively leveraged large-scale botnets. Today, botnet DDoS is the source of tens of thou sands of attacks daily, with each of them involving anywhere between several thousand and several million IP addresses.

0 17 GB TECH TALK

What’s making the situation worse is the difficulty in detec tion and mitigation. In the past, the basic tool to counter DDoS were offline “traffic cleansing systems” called scrubbers, which identified and removed malicious traffic and returned genuine traffic back to the network. These countermeasures were suc cessful in thwarting the common amplification/reflection and synthetic traffic which normally does not exist as such on the internet. But this approach worked well when traffic volumes were manageable.

Large-scale DDoS attacks can be fatal for net work routers and infrastructure, disrupting connectivity and service availability for com munication service providers, enterprises and consumers. They can lead to losses ranging from thousands to millions of dollars.

and saturate interfaces, routers, load balancers, fire walls and network hosts.

The big question facing network operators currently is how to prepare for this formidable threat, given the exponential rise in botnets and their ability to generate realistic application pay loads. The current approaches to DDoS protection are hobbled by multiple factors, including protection provided only to a few customers or systems, inability to scale, performance degrada tion and prohibitive cost.

To safeguard from the new generation of threats, a new and robust DDoS defence must: Protect everything and everyone Provide real-time detection with better accuracy Deliver cost-effective, agile, terabit-level mitigation

Automate mitigation of complex security policies to drive real-time surgical removal of DDoS threats and attacks

“As the DDoS threat evolves and better tools emerge to combat the menace, the inter net community needs to take a firmer stance. The battle against DDoS must be fought with technology and with more involvement and better coop eration from service providers, hyperscale cloud builders, end users, regulators and govern ments,” says Pavlovic.

ATTACKS ON THE UPSWING

EACH

AS THE INTERNET brings billions of devices online, thousands of common vulnerabilities and exposures get discovered and, while waiting to get fixed, become available to be exploited by hackers and cybercriminals. Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) is another type of IP network traffic – albeit a malicious kind that has been around for over two decades. It has been used to disrupt servers, services or even entire networks by saturating them with a high volume of traffic, high intensity of packets, and flooding internet systems and devices with a high frequency of malformed requests to confuse or render them inoperable. The ‘distributed’ nature of DDoS refers to the fact that they emanate from different locations, sometimes hard to be tracked back because of IP spoofing – techniques used to hide originating IP addresses.

WORDS: DIVSHA BHAT THE UNLOCKINGINNOVPOWERA 0 18 INNOV A

POWER OFUNLOCKINGTION DIGITAL ASSETS CAN UNLOCK OPPORTUNITIES WITH IMMENSE POTENTIAL FOR THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, ALLOWING FINTECHS TO OFFER THEIR CLIENTS A HOST OF BENEFITS UNLOCKING 0 19

“Retroactively adopting tech solutions is no small feat for the world’s oldest and largest banks. Progress is expensive, slow, and inconsistent with what customers want. Smaller, more agile newcomers – like onlineonly banks that have challenged longstanding ﬁnancial institutions in recent years – have a competitive advantage in that they’re exactly where the customers want them to “Thesebe.newcomers are available 24/7 with ﬂexible banking through slick smartphone apps, which has driven customers to expect a fast and easy app experience complemented with full access to support services. In addition, they want to be able to use their devices as digital wallets, make instant transfers, and even manage their crypto wallets and stocks in the same place.”

“There are opportunities for new service providers to step into the arena, delivering solutions for every aspect FINTECH MARKET VALUED AT $110.57BN IN 2020 AND IS PROJECTED TO $698.48BNREACHBY2030,ATACOMPOUNDANNUALGROWTHRATEOF20.3PERCENT

WAS

A THE GLOBAL

FTX merican writer Alvin To er once said – “The great growling engine of change is technology.”Aspateofsignificant technological advancements has occurred over the past decade, with many of these developments becoming ingrained in our daily lives. Among these is fintech, which has had a major impact on the global financial services industry. According to Allied Market Research, the global fintech market was valued at $110.57bn in 2020 and is projected to reach $698.48bn by 2030, at a compound annual growth rate of 20.3 per cent.

DIGITAL ASSETS – THE NEXT FRONTIER

The Middle East has always exhibited a progressive business-first mindset to cross-sector development, emerging as a global economic powerhouse. Each region and country have its unique set of advantages and circumstances, but the Middle East, Africa and South Asia has been on a growth trajectory, believes Dastmaltchi.

NAVIGATING THROUGH CHALLENGES

COVERSTORY

Meanwhile, he also points out another key challenge –security. “Financial services deal with large amounts of sensitive data. Therefore, the latest tech-based security measures are essential to keep customers’ accounts as secure as possible. Any breaches have the potential to be disastrous for the ﬁnancial institutions as well as itsForcustomers.”digitalassets, he observes that the increasing prevalence and importance of it have necessitated the development of new o erings to meet changing needs.

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Meanwhile, the Middle East region has witnessed an influx of fintech startups, and increased funding and rising support for existing and new financial technology ventures. The number of fintech companies is expected to reach 465 in the region this year from 30 in 2017, according to Statista, a research and analysis company. “We have seen tremendous growth in fintech over the past several years. Fintech is making banking and financial services more streamlined and accessible. Through technology, users can take advantage of automation to speed up processes that previously a human would have managed. Moreover, the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the areas within the sector that needed further attention and improvement to make them more resilient,” says serial entrepreneur, German investment banker and head of FTX MENA, Mohammad HansBahama-basedDastmaltchi.cryptocurrency exchange firm FTX offers products, such as industry-first derivatives, volatility products and leveraged tokens. The company recently received an o cial licence to operate in Dubai, following which it will commence o ering regulated crypto derivatives products and trading services to institutional investors in the emirate. It also plans to operate a non-fungible token marketplace.

However, Dastmaltchi believes that keeping up with the ever-changing technological landscape while maintaining customer loyalty is a major challenge. The traditional ﬁnancial sector is at an inﬂection point with new entrants and innovative technology taking centre stage. Despite players recalibrating their products and revamping legacy systems to keep up with evolving times, even the fastest of adopters are facing challenges that come with a rapidly changing landscape. a

Digital assets are poised to be an integral component of the ﬁnancial sector. From cryptocurrencies to traditional investment assets being tokenised, there are increasingly more digital assets throughout the ﬁnancial ecosystem.

GB TECH TALK “THE CENTRETECHNOLOGYANDNEWPOINTISFINANCIALTRADITIONALSECTORATANINFLECTIONWITHENTRANTSINNOVATIVETAKINGSTAGE” 0 21

COVERSTORY FTX of the digital asset spectrum – from management to security and beyond. However, he adds that as with any rapidly growing technology sector, there is a need to build strong security solutions that protect both consumer and investor data.

“There is also a need to introduce governance and regulations. Blockchain contributes towards this.”

Dastmaltchi adds, “There is a lot of positive movement in the sector now, but we need to start seeing more universal standards, governance and regulations that will monitor and ensure the integrity of the entire digital ﬁnancial sector. This will create a safer and more robust environment for consumers, investors, and ﬁnancial entities alike.”

It is believed that when these currencies become more widely accepted and more people start trading in or using them, they will become more stable, much like stock markets.

As see[meaningcanblockchain,thetransactionanywhere],atsee[meaningdistributedthetechnologyoperatescryptocurrencyonblockchainbasedonideaofadigitalledgeranyonecananytransactionanytimefromeveryisstoredinformofdataontheandnobodyﬁddlewithitanyonecananytransaction 0 22

MITIGATION OF RISK

Despite the fact that the market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies has plummeted, the risk associated with banks, enterprises, tokenised businesses, digital asset exchanges, crypto natives, traditional ﬁnancial services, and other companies approaching or investing in digital assets is still being debated. So, what justiﬁes investing in digital assets? Furthermore, what security measures will safeguard an investor’s money, given that these operate online?

As a result, many regional organisations have started accepting digital currencies as a mode of payment. This trend will only grow in the next decade when digital assets will become the mainstream currency.

WE THINK DIGITAL ASSETS WILL CONTINUE TO MATURE AS AN ASSET CLASS, ESPECIALLY AS WE SEE THE TYPE OF COMPREHENSIVE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK THAT WE HAVE IN DUBAI AND IN OTHER JURISDICTIONS AROUND THE GLOBE”

It’s also possible to trademark digital assets, particularly creative content, providing additional protection. Back-ups are easier to achieve with digital assets, as opposed to trying to replicate traditional assets,” explains Dastmaltchi. And although a few elements contribute to the volatility of crypto prices, Dastmaltchi notes that any new concept takes time before mass adoption occurs.

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The crypto space has gained global prominence, but cryptocurrencies, for the most part, are still in the initial stages. “As the market matures, we will see less volatility as trading decisions become less sentimental and more based on the understanding of what inﬂuences the ﬂuctuation in price.” However, he says that the biggest barrier keeping people out could be viewed in two ways. “At the retail level, it’s the newness and the complexity of the endto-end process, while at an institutional level, I would say it’s the development of clear laws and regulations.”

GB TECH TALK

Players such as FTX are on a mission to grow the digital asset industry in countries and jurisdictions with a robust digital asset framework. “The world has seen Dubai be the ﬁrst to reopen and spearhead regional recovery more decisively in the last 24 months. We believe this will continue as the market adapts to more progressive initiatives, and the dynamic approach taken in regulating virtual assets is a testament to that,” he concludes.

“We think digital assets will continue to mature as an asset class, especially as we see the type of comprehensive regulatory framework that we have in Dubai and in other jurisdictions around the globe.”

As cryptocurrency operates on blockchain technology based on the idea of a digital distributed ledger [meaning anyone can see any transaction at any time from anywhere], every transaction is stored in the form of data on the blockchain, and nobody can ﬁddle with“Digitalit. assets can lower the risks associated with traditional assets, especially if they are protected within a strong framework of security measures, governance, and regulations. With blockchain, cutting-edge security tech and authentication systems, it’s possible to limit security risks. Traceability of all digital assets’ interactions helps protect against the t and other undesirable actions.

SPEARING AHEAD Moving forward, it is likely that in the future, digital assets will be regarded on par with physical assets.

STARTUPS SUCH AS BILLIE, MONDU, TRANCH AND TILLIT ARE OFFERING BUY-NOW-PAY-LATER SOLUTIONS TO COMPANIES IN AN ATTEMPT TO SECURE A SLICE OF THE $ 700BN INDUSTRY BUSINESSESGENFIRMSBUY-NOW-PAY-LATERSWITCHFROMZSHOPPERSTO FEATURES BLOOMBERG 0 24

GB TECH TALK resh from their shake-up of Gen Z’s shopping habits, buy-now-paylater (BNPL) ﬁrms are now targeting business payments as the next sector ripe for disruption.

Thebusiness.useofshort-term credit, most notably via supply chain ﬁnance, has become a lifeblood to companies dealing with a range of issues from Covid 19-related lockdowns to rising input costs in an inflationary environment. With few tech entrants into the sector – and the spectacular failure of Greensill Capital – the industry remains dominated by established lenders such as Barclays and HSBC Holdings in the United Kingdom and Deutsche Bank AG in Germany.

Mondu co-founder Malte Huffman said that it is hoping to make inroads into the trade finance space, especially given that more and more business transactions are being conducted online. “We believe there’s a $200bn market opportunity for B2B BNPL just in Europe and the US,” he said. In Germany alone, for example, there were EUR200bn ($204bn) of e-commerce business transactions completed in 2021, compared with EUR86.7bn of business-to-consumer e-commerce, according to data by Statista, a research ﬁrm.

BERLIN BASE Billie and Mondu are approaching the model through a BNPL lens – o ering small businesspeople a similar experience when buying office equipment as a fashionista would when buying a Gucci handbag using Klarna or A terpay.

Startups such as Billie, Mondu, Tranch and Tillit are all o ering BNPL solutions – which allow buyers to split their payments into instalments – to companies in an attempt to secure a slice of a $700bn industry that gives companies short-term loans to help them manage their daily

Pure-play BNPL ﬁrms have seen their valuations crash this year as rate rises across the world challenge the viability of their business models. But plenty say the ease of use such upstarts can bring to age-old credit products will prove a winning formula in this part of the market.

“These B2B BNPL companies can easily win over market share from slow-moving traditional banks,” said Lily Shaw, an early-stage investor at North American venture capital firm Omers Ventures, which is not currently invested in the sector but is actively looking at the space. “Banks’ risk proﬁles are set up in such a way that they can’t move fast enough.”

“If a typical transaction on business-to-consumer BNPL is about 80 to 90 euros, our typical transactions are about 10 times that size,” said Aiga Sen tleben, co-founder of Sequoia-backed Billie.

The advantage these B2B BNPL startups have is that traditional banks may step back from this sector amid the deteriorating economic outlook, thereby reducing the competition, according to Je Tijssen, head of global ﬁntech at consultancy Bain & Company. “It does solve some important cashﬂow issues for businesses, and you have some big investors such as Sequoia and Klarna involved,” he said.

“The slowdown in the economy will give them opportunities but could also have a negative impact. It’s still early days.”

GROWING PAINS Despite their stark valuation declines, BNPL companies such as Klarna, A terpay and A rm Holdings have shaken up the e-commerce sector with customerfriendly apps and popularity with 18-24 year olds, forcing many traditional banks such as Natwest Group to launch competing o ers.

IF A TYPICAL TRANSACTION ON BUSINESS-TO-CONSUMER BNPL IS ABOUT 80 TO 90 EUROS, OUR TYPICAL TRANSACTIONS ARE ABOUT 10 TIMES THAT SIZE” —Aiga Senftleben, co-founder of Sequoia-backed Billie F E-COMMERCE COMPLETEDTRANSACTIONSBUSINESSIN2021 EUR200bn 0 25

The Berlin-based ﬁrm, which was valued at $640m in its last funding round, works with banks as ﬁnancing partners and operates currently in Germany, Austria and Sweden.

THE SPOTLIGHT 009 2022 FLAT6LABS Abu Dhabi has become the hub inentrepreneurshipfortheGCC ENGINEERINGOMNIX Opportunities and challenges in building immersive products for metaverse LIFERAY Low-code platforms have their own security practices or use the ones that are available enterprise wide28 30 32 TRENDSTECH The top todevelopmentsthreefocuson p.34

FLAT6LABS UAE OFFERS A PROGRAMME THAT IS TAILORED AND CURATED TO FIT THE NEEDS AND REQUIREMENTS OF EACH INDIVIDUAL STARTUP

What are the top things you look at when funding potential startups?

THEACCELERATINGFUTURE

As part of our due diligence, when reviewing any of our applications, we tend to look for numerous elements in the venture which include, but are not limited to, product/market ﬁt (especially for the GCC / MENA region), market sizing, traction, comprehensive business planning, investor ﬁt which includes – venture capitalists (VCs) in the region investing in this particular area – and what we consider to be one of the most important elements, the leadership team of the startup.

Ryaan Sharif , general manager – Flat6Labs UAE

Strong founders with seasoned backgrounds, especially ones with knowledge of the industry they are looking to disrupt, as well as those with a mature technology development background are especially favourable. Something which is also important but not always clear to all founders is the potential for an exit – if the founder has clearly deﬁned how they believe they could exit, it is always a plus for institutional investors. In a post pandemic world, across which sectors do you see most startups coming from and why? Is this a sustainable trend?

E-commerce, ﬁntech and healthtech companies saw a massive uptick during the pandemic, which has helped to continue to stimulate the interest in these sectors. Although the growth of these sectors is somewhat slowing down post-pandemic, from an investment standpoint, there are still high levels of interest to invest in these sectors. Nevertheless, there has been a shi t towards interests in Web3 and cybersecurity as a new

SPOTLIGHT ENTREPRENEUR ANNUALLY, FLAT6LABSINVESTSIN DRIVEN100+TECHNOLOGY-STARTUPS 0 28

Why is Flat6Labs making major investments in Abu Dhabi?

Can you go into detail around the mentorship programme you offer to startups? Flat6Labs is the MENA region’s leading seed and early stage venture capital firm, currently running the most renowned startup programmes in the region. Annually, we invest in more than 100 innovative and technology-driven startups enabling thousands of passionate entrepreneurs to achieve their daring ambitions and ultimately becoming their institutionalDisruptAD,co-founders.oneofthe region’s venture platforms, has partnered with us to launch Ignite, a seed programme and $32m fund in Abu Dhabi that will support early stage companies with $150250k in seed funding and the chance to get $200-500k in follow-on funding, and other benefits such as a four month programme, o ce space and other additionalOnceperks.the funding is deployed, Flat6Labs UAE o ers a programme that is tailored and curated to fit the needs and requirements of each individual startup. This programme provides a detailed diagnostic to find the pain points of each particular startup with Flat6Labs providing mentors, coaches and trainers to upskill them in their areas of deficiency. This process culminates in our flagship Demo Day wherein each startup has the opportunity to showcase their business to a variety of Angels, VCs and high-net-worth-individuals to obtain follow-on funding.

Can you share some tips for entrepreneurs looking to secure funding?

GB TECH TALK wave of disruptive technologies emerge in these sectors which provide massive market size/ potential, thereby setting them apart as high priorities for institutional investors.

The reality all entrepreneurs must ultimately come to terms with is that they won’t be able to disrupt anything, win anything, or get anywhere without a strong entry to the market, which is made possible by capital. The good news for entrepreneurs in the UAE is that startups in the country as a whole raised $577m, which was more than half (56 per cent) the VC total for MENA – so clearly there’s tremendous potential for those who get it right. To start with, you need to build a compelling value narrative – outlining to potential investors your understanding of the market, opportunities, potential pitfalls, projections and more. Equally important, investors (both individuals and institutions) invest in people, so create strong proﬁles of your leadership team and the unique value each member brings to the table. Once you have your narrative set, you need to know your investors and tailor your pitch accordingly. Also be mindful of who you approach and when you approach them. One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is pitching to the wrong investors. In the early stages, seed funders are your best bet as you might inadvertently burn your bridges with later stage investors such as family o ces, by pitching them too early in your organisation’s lifecycle.

ONE OF INVESTORS”WITHBURNINADVERTENTLYASARESEEDTHEINVESTORS.TOMAKEENTREPRENEURSBIGGESTTHEMISTAKESISPITCHINGTHEWRONGINEARLYSTAGES,FUNDERSYOURBESTBETYOUMIGHTYOURBRIDGESLATERSTAGE Flat6Labs cycle-3 reverse pitching night Flat6Labs Cycle-3 Bootcamp particpants SEED FUNDERS ARE YOUR BEST BET THE GOOD NEWS FOR ENTREPRENEURS IN THE EMIRATES IS THAT STARTUPS IN THE UAE AS A WHOLE RAISED $577M 0 29

The UAE, and Abu Dhabi in particular, has become the hub for entrepreneurship in the GCC with a fundamental drive from SwF’s (as well as family o ces) to invest in all stages of the venture capital investment lifecycle. Additionally, the government has made numerous changes to legislation and laws to make it more founder-friendly. Examples of such initiatives include the introduction of the Golden Visa and freezone areas to ensure that future rounds of funding are obtainable to founders that headquarter themselves and their companies out of Abu Dhabi. It is also clear that this is only the beginning of the technology adoption movement in the Middle East with many more exciting initiatives to come from both the public and private sectors.

THE METAVERSE IS IN THE EARLY STAGES AND WILL BEGIN TO MATURE BY THE END OF THE DECADE PUTTING PRESSURE ON PRODUCT VENDORS TO INNOVATE AND CO-EXIST SIDE BY SIDE OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES IN BUILDING IMMERSIVE PRODUCTS FOR METAVERSE

y the end of this decade, the metaverse would have matured, supported by technologies and platforms that are still on the drawing board today. Unlike the Internet, which is a global network of data transfers, the metaverse will be a digital network of virtual real-life experiences. Similar to the Internet, there will ﬁnally be only one metaverse as there is only one global Internet.

SPOTLIGHT THE METAVERSE 0 30

B Simran Bagga – vice president, Omnix Engineering & Foundation Technologies

According to Gartner, when completed at the end of the decade, no single company will own, control, or develop all the technology to build its own metaverse or the metaverse as a whole. Gartner expects 25 per cent of people to spend at least one hour a day inside the metaverse by 2026. Today, the metaverse is an immersive virtual world made possible by the early use of virtual reality and augmented reality headsets and devices. It functions as a network of 3D virtual worlds brought together by some form of social connections. Dependence on augmented and virtual reality and immersive experiences are key aspects of the metaverse. This requires a high level of graphics capability and portability of the headsets. Innovation is underway in this area, namely around lightweight wireless headsets, with retina display pixel density, at a ordable costs.

THERE ARE AT LEAST THREE AREAS TO CONSIDER AND EVALUATE: 01. The first is how entities inside the metaverse would engage with one another or how they would interact. 02. The second is how dynamic content will be displayed in real life inside the metaverse, at a certain point of time, at a certain location, and to a defined set of people. 03. The third is the type of scalable infrastructure required to support a mature metaverse, and this type of technology platform does not fully exist today. It is for this reason that future service providers and technology product developers who plan to be significant players by the time metaverse is mature, have no option but to plan, build, and scale, in parallel and without delay. Similar to the arrival of PCs and the Internet in the last two decades, technology and service providers will build on available and emerging technologies. As the technologies move from startup and early growth to mature growth and decline, so will their products. New businesses will arrive built on the next wave of emerging technologies, and the cycle will repeat itself. This has always happened for every innovative and disruptive technology cycle in modern civilisation, and there is no reason to believe that this will not happen with the metaverse as well.

ENGAGING WITH SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE METAVERSE, WILL ALLOW USERS TO CREATE THEIR THREEDIMENSIONAL AVATARS

ALSO IDENTIFY AND SUPPORT LEADING USE CASES SUCH AS: Higher education and specialised areas such as medicine, military. Virtual events such as webinars and productProvidinglaunches.retailers and e-tailers with immersiveAugmentedshopping.workspaces for employees especially those working remotely or in hybrid.Engaging with social media in the metaverse, will allow users to create their three-dimensional avatars. Since this virtual world is in the early stages of development, technology vendors need to be aware of the risks while investing in innovation and product development to support emerging business models in the metaverse.

INNOVATION IS UNDERWAY IN THIS AREA, NAMELY AROUND LIGHTWEIGHT WIRELESS HEADSETS, WITH RETINA DISPLAY PIXEL DENSITY, AT AFFORDABLE COSTS TO SPEND AT LEAST ONE HOUR A DAY INSIDE METAVERSETHE BY 2026 25% OF PEOPLE

TODAY,

The metaverse will not mature before 2030 according to Gartner. However, its impact, similar to the Internet is highly disruptive in the way humans and businesses interact that nobody should wait till 2030 before transforming themselves or their business.

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TECHNOLOGY VENDORS BUILDING NEW PRODUCTS FOR THE METAVERSE NEED TO MONITOR OPPORTUNITIES FOR INNOVATION AND DISRUPTION ALONG THE FOLLOWING LINES: Build a continuous pipeline of innovative products to carry through the multiple cycles of technology. Leverage the combination or convergence of emerging technologies in these products.Avoidgetting carried away with the idea of a killer application being a silver bullet to generate a torrent of growth. Identify how products can support high-value use cases like wayﬁnding and navigation applications meant for augmented reality. Start developing an ecosystem of partners to build on your standards of content and services.

METAVERSETHE IS AN IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL WORLD VIRTUALNETWORKSOCIALBYBROUGHTVIRTUALNETWORKFUNCTIONSANDREALITYANDVIRTUALEARLYPOSSIBLEMADEBYTHEUSEOFREALITYAUGMENTEDHEADSETSDEVICES.ITASAOF3DWORLDSTOGETHERSOMEFORMOFCONNECTIONS”OF3DWORLDS

WILL INCREASE THEIR IT SPENDING ON OPENSOURCE SOFTWARE MORE THAN 70% OF ENTERPRISES SPOTLIGHT LOW-CODE 0 32

ccording to Gartner’s 2021 Hype Cycle for open-source so tware (OSS), through 2025, more than 70 per cent of enterprises will increase their IT spending on OSS, compared with their current IT spending. In the Middle East, public and private sector companies continue to increase spends on resolving business challenges than strictly technical ones. IT departments and teams which were solely responsible for automation of internal systems and were considered a back-end traditionally have gained much prominence in recent years. This 360-degree transformation for IT departments universally has come about in today’s intensely competitive market where organisations have to gear up to elevate business e ciencies and deliver standout customer experiences across all channels and devices. It is through robust IT departments and revolutionary technologies such as low-code platforms that organisations are able to overcome various digital transformation roadblocks and amplify experiences. It is also no wonder then, that the rise of low-code and no-code platforms in the cloud over the past few years has completely altered the game. In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia for instance, is a front-runner in adopting an open-source government strategy that was announced in 2021. The objective is clearly to boost innovation in business and develop customised solutions conveniently, rapidly and at scale to deliver winning customer experiences in

ORGANISATIONS THAT USE LOW-CODE ARE BOUND TO DO WELL IN THE

TO ITS BENEFITS A AND NO-CODE

MYTHSLOW-CODEANDREALITIES

Ahmad Saad, country manager – UAE and Qatar, Liferay LONG RUN DUE

IT departments may fear that low-code and no-code solutions will render some of their functions null and void. While there will undoubtedly be organisations that are tempted to take this route, to do so would be a mistake. They would, instead, be better o using such solutions to get previously untapped value out of their IT teams.

The power of low code

line with the country’s Vision 2030. In fact, with enterprises demanding new digital solutions rapidly, low-code and no-code application platforms are pacing to modernise processes and experiences. IT heads are therefore scouting for newer opportunities in this fast-changing competitive business environment for an advantage over their competition using transformational tools. That does not, however, mean that IT departments have everything their own way or that they don’t face widescale pressures. While spending was recovering post-pandemic, the global economic situation remains perilous with inflation looming ahead. Additionally, with political tensions high in many regions and supply chains still shaky, companies of all sizes may once again be forced to cut costs at short notice in the imminentAdditionally,future.some

For those unsure of what low code means, the term essentially refers to environments that allow people to build applications using graphical user interfaces. These platforms typically use snippets of pre-built code or simple drag and drop interfaces and allow people with little to no programming experience to rapidly build business applications. Some of these platforms are standalone, while others include low-code capabilities as part of a wider o ering. For the business as a whole, low-code comes with a number of obvious benefits. Chief among them is the fact that it allows people who understand what customers (or employees) actually need in an application, without having to translate those needs to developers. A low-code approach also eliminates some of the most challenging aspects of application development, including creating frameworks and linking databases. A good low-code platform should also allow for greater flexibility. In order to do so, it should support low-code creation of custom sites and content, low-code customisation of users and accounts, and low-code creation of custom businessWhileobjects.that may leave some IT departments feeling as if they’ll end up surplus to requirements, that definitely doesn’t have to be the case.

It is evident that while low-code does reduce the so tware development process time and lowers workloads for the IT department, it also results in quick and agile working for the teams. Low-code platforms are developed by professional developers who have their eye on solving business problems instead of mere technical ones, using the most advanced technology to achieve this – Low-code for the many beneﬁts it o ers. Therefore, organisations that use the beneﬁts of low-code to free up their IT departments for innovations are bound to do well in the long run.

Low-code propels open development but not all low-code so tware are security- built developments. Lowcode platforms have their own security practices or the ones that are used enterprise wide by customers. And therefore, before choosing a low-code platform, it is important to understand where the platform’s banister ends and when should take charge of the security aspects. No enterprise – big or small, private or public sector will compromise on security of their data and therefore should work with reputed open source platforms that o er high levels of security to its users. This is also the reason it has been included as trusted and transformative alternative to conventional systems.

THE RISE OF THEPLATFORMSANDLOW-CODENO-CODEINCLOUDOVERTHEPASTFEWYEARSHASCOMPLETELYALTEREDTHEGAME GB TECH TALK 0 33 FOR THOSE UNSURE OF WHAT LOW CODE MEANS, THE ESSENTIALLYTERMREFERS TO ENVIRONMENTS THAT ALLOW PEOPLE TO BUILD APPLICATIONS USING GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACES. THESE PLATFORMS TYPICALLY USE SNIPPETS OF PRE-BUILT CODE OR SIMPLE DRAG AND DROP INTERFACES AND ALLOW PEOPLE WITH LITTLE TO NO ALLOWBUILDENVIRONMENTSAPPLICATIONS”BUILDEXPERIENCEPROGRAMMINGTORAPIDLYBUSINESSTHATAPPLICATIONSPEOPLETO

Low-code precautions

Supercharging IT In fact, many of the things that make low-code so powerful is highly advantageous to IT departments. The fact that applications can be developed faster and with fewer errors than with traditional code, for example, can make IT teams more agile. That, in turn, means that they’re able to respond quicker to market changes. And because low-code platforms provide standard components such as forms, report templates, and ready-touse code snippets, they also mean that IT departments can ensure a much greater degree of uniformity across the organisation’s digital offerings. Cumulatively, the time these changes free up for IT departments means that they have more freedom to explore new digital avenues that the organisation could beneﬁt from. That can only happen, however, if IT departments are given the freedom to be proactive and innovate rather than simply react to problems.

EXIGENCIESWITHTHEYTRENDSTECHNOLOGYFORMUSTBUSINESSESLOOKOUTIMPENDINGTOENSUREAREINSYNCCUSTOMER TECH TRENDS SHAPING THE FUTURE OF BUSINESSES 0 34

Security is essential for businesses to keep in mind while working towards the cloud transition. The fact that all of that data that belongs to a company is available online, on secure servers, of course, it can be vulnerable to cyber threats. To prevent potential cybercrimes from impacting businesses negatively, the next point of focus would be adopting cybersecurity platforms. 02

According to Cloudera, the hybrid data cloud company, multiple organisations, especially within the banking industry, have turned to cloud adoption for business operations over the past two “Data-centricityyears. remains a key pillar for all banking, ﬁnancial services, and insurance organisations looking to undergo a technological transformation to grow. The hybrid data cloud will be the main focus point for decision-makers within industries going forward,” says Ahmad Shakora, regional vice president – Middle East, Turkey and Africa at Cloudera. The company also shared some statistics from their recent research, which showed that 57 per cent of businesses want on-premises resources, and public cloud, to be integrated within their system operations. Meanwhile, according to Flexera, a platform that delivers SaaS-based IT management solutions, 80 per cent of businesses already have a hybrid cloud strategy.

GB TECH TALK 01

CYBER RISKS AND DATA SECURITY

The current trend is for businesses to incorporate a more virtual approach to consumers, which comes with great opportunities and challenges that must meet technological advancements such as cybersecurity and data security head-on. Businesses must look out for impending technology trends to ensure they are in sync with customer exigencies. Here are the upcoming top three trends to focus on in 2022.

Ahmad Shakora OF STRATEGYAALREADYBUSINESSESHAVEHYBRIDCLOUD 80% 0 35

DATA FOR THE FUTURE

With the world going digital at a fast pace, businesses can be vulnerable to cyber risks. According to a report by PwC, organisations in the Middle East are more sensitive to cybercrime than any other country globally. Their survey revealed that 85 per cent of the respondents had experienced a cyberattack. Companies work towards adding several di erent I t’s no secret that the world is changing. In the past, businesses were built to follow stable and traditional methods, relying on their physical resources for development. However, that isn’t the case anymore. People are working towards a digitally transformed world, and organisations must keep up with the trends following increasing consumer demands.

The key point to note is that technological advances will not stop or slow down anytime soon. As the dependency on technology grows, consumer demand will accelerate. Businesses must keep up with these advancements to survive in this evolving market.

Overview

Companies often face challenges when managing employees from diverse backgrounds across different locations. The pandemic has changed the deﬁnition of having an ‘ofﬁce’ Sadi Bob Aoun Lind

Data used to be essential information that many people didn’t really know how to use eciently. However, with the development of technology, businesses now look to analyse their data to understand what they can do better and achieve growth.

Based on what has been witnessed to date, it is safe to say that remote working is here to stay, hence increasing the value of data analytics and the need for cybersecurity.

With the growing use of technology, remote working is becoming increasingly common. However, ensuring that employees don’t feel le t out amidst the technology adoption is crucial.

Ola

“Implementing a remote workspace is not as hard as it seems. To provide employees with a smooth transition, businesses have already begun adding tech-driven systems that enable teams to communicate easily while allowing employers to monitor the work in a budget-friendly manner,” weighs Amine Sadi, regional sales manager at Milestone Systems.

“The pandemic has forced a signiﬁcant technological evolution worldwide in terms of collaborations and communication. Now that we have tested what technology can do, things won’t be slowing down anytime soon. The need for transformation and staying consistent with consumers is important considering the maturity of new demands. The rapid technology development comes as a boon, as we are obligated to look into digital solutions allowing businesses to ﬂourish and continue serving a larger client base,” emphasies Ola Lind, CSO at FTFT, CEO and director at FTFT Capital Investments.

REMOTE WORKING – THE NEW NORMAL

FEATURES TECHNOLOGY technologies to maintain data security. Research shows that businesses aren’t the only ones learning about cybersecurity. Cybercriminals dedicate a lot of time and resources to improving attacks and launching more potent malware. Although businesses can evolve and learn these tactics, it is important to keep updating the security posture. With all the business data and modes of communication being online, it is safe to say that workplace structures are bound to transition too.

Technological evolution

Amine

As part of moving into the technological era, businesses must adopt reliable, secure, and tractable technologies that ensure a great user“Companiesexperience.oten face challenges when managing employees from diverse backgrounds across di erent locations. The pandemic has changed the deﬁnition of having an ‘o ce’. We believe that in today’s work environment, it is crucial to invest in the right kinds of platforms and professional communications tools for employees to experience a more inclusive workspace, giving them a space to be more collaborative while bringing a sense of equality remotely too,” states Bob Aoun, director of Sales at Poly.

As technology evolves, the market brings newer mechanisms to businesses and consumers. One of the signiﬁcant impacts the shi t has had on businesses seems to be the ideology behind how data is perceived.

According to employee engagement research by HR Cloud in 2022, businesses with an engaged workforce are 21 per cent more proﬁtable and 17 per cent more productive than companies that don’t pay attention to employee engagement.

BUSINESSES WITH AN ENGAGED WORKFORCE21% MORE PROFITABLE 0 36

THE VIEWS 009 2022 THE TALK Featuring the top IT leaders from the region who are responsible for the growth and continued development of their organisations 40 ANDREAS BECK 38 TAJ EL-KHAYAT 0 37

The chief information security ofﬁcer should ideally write their own job description – where soft and technical skills meet as equals – and use it to recruit their own replacement

CULTURE CHANGE

DEFINING THE ROLE

The evolving role of a CISO

What is a chief information security o cer (CISO)? What do they do? What are they expected to do? Most line-of-business executives will have an answer for you. Even the chief information o cer (CIO) might be conﬁdent that they know. But answers will invariably be around data, technology, workloads, and matters having to do with the digital estate. Today in the GCC, however, amid a tumult of cloud migration, escalating architectural complexity, rogue endpoints, and unknown domains, not to mention the evermoving horizons of regulatory compliance, the CISO is far more of a risk manager than anything else.

The role of a CISO has yet to be defined – a paradox, given its importance in the modern business – and a concern, given the expectations placed on regional CISOs. Problems begin at recruitment. Unless the person vetting the CISO is another CISO, there will be a range of perceptions about what the role entails. The CISO may report to the CIO, who is looking for a technical advisor, or the chief risk o cer, who may be more interested in risk management. And the chief executive o cer may want all of the above, and possibly more. The role may also vary with the core business of theThisenterprise.confusion is not a trivial observation. CISOs finding themselves under this level of stress are more likely to move on, leading to regular rotation of personnel and a lack of continuity within the security function. The answer is more autonomy and responsibility for the CISO, which will allow them to grow into a strategic resource that is freer to innovate and add value. While reporting lines do not necessarily negate this possibility, if CISOs report to a technical leader, in practice it limits their scope to define requirements or present independent business cases based on risk. For example, many DevOps teams have pressures of their own, which include the need to release digital experiences into the wild at a rapid pace. The CIO’s job description may be tightly tied to the productivity of the so tware development team. Wearing a risk-management hat, the CISO may identify rapid so tware rollouts as a concern, but if they and the devOps team both report to the CIO, the security head’s red flag may be subdued by the CIO because of productivity concerns.

This dilutes value. The devOps example is just one of many the CISO may encounter. They must be able to ﬁght their corner as an autonomous agent – empowered, nay encouraged, to challenge CIOs and other department heads for the sake of robust risk management. In the wake of compliance mandates such as the UAE’s Personal Data Protection Law of 2022, security must no longer be subordinate to stakeholders who favour risk acceptance to meet the demands of agile IT projects. This new autonomy for the CISO brings with it an implied culture change where security is a function owned by everyone. Just as any employee should be encouraged to o er suggestions on how to improve productivity, each of them should be trained to take responsibility for their own behavior when it comes to risk, and to ﬂag policy divergences when they see them.

Building on this culture, the CISO should ideally write their own job description – where

TAJ EL-KHAYAT Managing director –South EMEA, Vectra AI

THE VIEWS | VENDORTALK 0 38

BUSINESS

AROLLOUTSSOFTWARERAPIDIDENTIFYCISOHAT,MANAGEMENTAWEARINGRISK-THEMAYASCONCERN

THE CISO

0 39

A good CISO should have a keen insight into where security ﬁts within the business strategy.

THE ROLE MAY ALSO VARY

ENTERPRISE” GB TECH TALK

MATURITY AS STANDARD

business and strategic issues. They should be capable of overseeing technical tasks without executing them, and it should be explicit in the job description that minutiae such as incident management should be le t to non-executive roles to fulﬁl. so t and technical skills meet as equals – and use it to recruit their own replacement. The ideal candidate should, for example, demonstrate a clear aptitude for communicating with stakeholders and making cases for security that take appropriate account of MAY REPORT TO THE CIO, WHO IS LOOKING FOR A TECHNICAL ADVISOR, OR THE CRO, WHO MAY BE MORE INTERESTED IN RISK MANAGEMENT. THE CEO MAY WANT ALL OF THE ABOVE, AND POSSIBLY MORE. WITH THE CORE OF THE

AND

Depending on the industry, security could be central to the business model, or a technicalsupport function. Regardless of which of these categories’ security falls under, the CISO should be integral to the operational maturity of the organisation as it a ects all risks, whether these standards are related to compliance or not. They should know how to devise a comprehensive incident response plan. They should be central to the deﬁnition of risk-sensitive processes and policies.

Give the CISO a free hand and watch as the business’ risk maturity soars. The alternative is a stunted factory of risky digital experiences and barely compliant processes. And in the modern era, that simply cannot stand.

In your opinion, what differentiates Kyndryl from your competitors? There is no doubt that there are a lot of worthy competitors out there, and will always be. However, I like to think what works in our favour is a number of things. We’re a startup. But we’re a startup of more than 90,000 people and decades of experience in customersenablesoperationsAdditionally,mission-criticalsupportingsystems.ourdeliveryaroundtheworldustobeclosertoourthanever.

What are your top three priorities for the year ahead? Everything that we do revolves around our customers and their

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ANDREAS BECK Managing director - MEA, Kyndryl

Cyberattacks against vital infrastructures are on the rise as a result of digitisation. Inincreasingwhatways Kyndryl helps its customers to protect themselves from attacks? In today’s digitally driven world, the question is no longer whether cyberattackers will breach systems, but when they will break through and how much damage they will do. Hackers only need to be skilled enough to break through just once. Just as our approach to Covid-19 has expanded from prevention alone to managing the disease’s inevitable impact, we must reassess our cybersecurity posture. It’s time to embrace a comprehensive strategy for cyber resilience –not just cybersecurity. Cyber resilience means anticipating, protecting against, withstanding, and recovering from attacks on cyber-enabled services. It goes beyond proactivelyrecovery,qualiﬁisrecoverytriageintegratedmanagement,areas3,000addition,healthmanageprotectresiliency4,000resilience.embracedpenetrateeventually,continuitycybersecurityconventionalandemphasisesandrecovery,becauseattackerswillourdefences.Forourpart,KyndrylhastheprincipleofcyberOurteamcompriseshighlyskilledcyberpractitionerswhohelpover3,000customersandover11millionsystemchecksperyear.Inthecompanyhasoverpatentsinrisk-reductionsuchasmulticloudorchestration,monitoring,andissueandresolution.Wealsooercustomersaretainerservice,whichdesignedtoprovideon-demandedexpertsincyberassistingtheminimprovingcyber recovery preparedness, and providing support to recover from cybersecurity events. And let’s not forget partners. From day one, we have been expanding our partner ecosystem to support our security and resilience business practice, as well as expanding our capabilities into new markets and industries. Today, we are working closely with Microso t, VMware, Red Hat, Cisco, Dell, and Veritas to support customers by keeping their critical systems secure, available, reliable, and recoverable –regardless of size or complexity.

Kyndryl’s Andreas Beck on how they are building their foundation by bringing in partners and working closely with customers to unlock potential

THE VIEWS | PARTNER TALK

Boosting cyber resilience

SKILLS: Skill building is critical for us, and we are proud of our investments in our people. It’s also something that I’m person ally very passionate about. It’s one of those unique things where it’s a win-win situation. It’s a win for our employees because they put their skills to improve their value, and they’re more involved and engaged. It’s a win for our customers because we bring more value to them. Leveraging our growing ecosys tem of strategic alliances, we are also upskilling our talent base through the Kyndryl University for Microsoft, AWS Cloud Center of Excellence, and SAP certifica tions programmes, building capabilities in global cloud and infrastructure operations.

CULTURE: People are our greatest asset and that is why we’ve built our company strategy on the foundation of culture. Under this strategy, we’ve leaned into leadership behaviours, like being empathetic, restless and devoted. We call this “The Kyndryl Way,” and we know these behaviors are building blocks to create a culture that prioritises transparency, commu nication, diversity and inclusion, and trust.

GB TECH TALK LEVERAGING OUR GROWING ECOSYSTEM OF ALLIANCES,STRATEGICWE ARE ALSO UPSKILLING OUR TALENT BASE THROUGH THE OPERATIONS”INFRASTRUCTUREINBUILDINGPROGRAMMES,SAPEXCELLENCE,CLOUDMICROSOFT,UNIVERSITYKYNDRYLFORAWSCENTREOFANDCERTIFICATIONSCAPABILITIESGLOBALCLOUDAND WE’RE A STARTUP. BUT WE’RE A STARTUP OF MORE THAN PEOPLE90,000 AND DECADES OF EXPERIENCE IN SYSTEMSMISSION-CRITICALSUPPORTING 0 41

priorities was to establish partner ships with the top hyperscalers – and we’ve done that. Within our first 100 days, we signed agree ments with Microsoft, Google, and AWS, as well as with VMWare, Nokia, Dell and more. We have also established local partnerships in the Middle East which include G42 Cloud and CPX Holding and we will continue to build on it.

PARTNERSHIPS: As an inde pendent company, one of our

Enterprises need a partner with the freedom and ability to design, implement, and manage the best technology strategy to match their own long-term goals. Kyndryl recognises the strengths and capabilities of different players and collaborating with them helps us deliver cutting edge solutions in high-growth areas where customers are demanding innovation.Ourglobal network and edge computing alliance with Nokia provides industrial-grade reliable and secure LTE and 5G private success, which also applies for my priorities for the region – skills, partnerships, and culture.

wireless networking for enterprise customers. With Dell Technolo gies, we provide Cyber Incident Recovery to accelerate cyber resil ience, innovation, and business reinvention for customers. The partnership with Red Hat will offer integrated services and solu tions based on Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform to advance IT automation for multicloud infrastructure for customers.

DAVID COOK CHIEF EDUCATION OFFICER OF EXCELLA AND HEADMASTER REPTON SCHOOL DUBAI INTERVIEW 09 | 2022

“WE RECENTLY LAUNCHED A SPECIALLY CURATED GAME DESIGN WORKSHOP WHERE OUR STUDENTS USED VARIOUS CREATIVE DESIGN TOOLS TO DEVELOP THEIR OWN MOBILE APPLICATION GAME”

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What are the new technological trends reshaping the education sector?

Technological advancements in the education sector have enabled schools to provide flexibility, personalisation and accessibility to innovate teaching methodologies. Gaming is one such field that encourages students to creatively solve problems and, when used appropriately in a classroom setting, fosters the skills of resilience and determination in students. For instance, we recently launched a specially curated game design workshop where our students used various creative design tools to develop their own mobile application game. Through gamified learning, students learn how to navigate the aspects of ‘right and wrong’, as well as pick up on key technical skills. Creating innovative learning activities through the applications of gaming has been a growing trend for educators.

Tech advancements in the education sector have enabled schools to provide ﬂexibility and accessibility to students

IMPACT INTECHNOLOGYOFEDUCATION

How is artificial intelligence changing the education sector?

At our school, for our younger students, we use My Loopy, an AI robot that teaches students how to code. Students can use Python, Java, and C++ or its dedicated application to programme the robot’s sensors to react to di erent actions, say di erent things, or create new light patterns on its domed head.

Post-pandemic, how has the role of educators/ business leaders [in the education sector] changed?

While safety and well-being of the whole community remain a top priority, as educators, we also want to ensure that we do everything we can to support students to thrive academically, socially and mentally. Consistency and continuity in curriculum delivery and routine are essential for children, and it’s the clear preference of our students, their families and teachers. The pandemic has had a lasting impact on students, especially in terms of social anxiety, overstimulation and sleeping habits. We keep an open line of communication with parents to involve them more in their children’s academic life. Teachers are considered a valuable point of contact for many students to share any challenges they may face. This was true before the pandemic as well but has been heightened since.

The role of artiﬁcial intelligence (AI) in education is no longer a question. AI-powered edtech puts the student at the centre of the experience with scope for personalised learning. Technologies such as video-assisted remote learning, AI and on-demand learning have all grown in usage during the pandemic and will become progressively integrated into the classrooms for decades to come. With the implementation of AI in assessing tests, teachers are able to better analyse a student’s results and focus on areas that require more attention. AI helps speed up the process of analysis, allowing teachers to support students more e ciently and accurately – ensuring they achieve their true potential.

The key reasons for adopting automation and robotic solutions are cost reduction and increased e ciency and productivity. The savings in operational costs and manpower needs vary, depending on the industry and mode of application. On an average, a company’s investment in a basic yet e cient robotic solution in this region typically pays o within 3.8 years. With the implementation of robotics, team members can be shi ted to doing more strategic tasks. By doing so, the overall productivity as well as worker safety can be improved and less time and money is spent on repetitive tasks.

GB TECH TALK

Why should companies adopt warehousing automation and robotics?

E-commerce and distribution businesses can additionally look to implement sortation solutions as well as automated order fulﬁllment solutions. Industries such as co ee shops, ice cream vending as well as electronics retail, can also beneﬁt from automation and robotics. They are not only e cient, but also eye catching.

INTERVIEW Q:

For SME manufacturing companies, collaborative robots can be used for pick and place operations and other mundane applications. In addition to reduced manpower requirements, the cobots can deliver quick return on investment, can be easily implemented, and swi tly redeployed with limited training. Larger volume manufacturing companies can implement industrial robot based palletisation solutions that help reduce bottlenecks in the ﬁnal palletisation process.

In addition to e-commerce businesses, traditional brick and mortar companies have also adopted automation to be able to deliver an omnichannel experience.

We are currently working on a project for a regional retailer and automating their distribution centres in Saudi Arabia. And in the UAE, we are working with one of the supermarket chains to provide a sorter for their fruit and vegetable distribution centre. As a result of the implementation, both customers will be able to increase the productivity in their micro-fulﬁllment centres.

What are Acme’s recent major accomplishments in the region?

The intralogistics sector is currently facing challenges such as increased cost and ine ciency, which are driven by two key developments – The demand from e-commerce driven retail order fulfillment increases and the recent focus on nearshoring of manufacturing essential goods such as food and medical products gain focus. This has led to generating huge volumes of products to be handled. Creating an e cient, continuous material flow is essential to meet this increasing demand for products, and this can be achieved through warehousing automation and introduction of robotics within the shopfloor and the warehouse.

What are the trends you see in intralogistics automation for the region?

A HOLISTIC

INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION NAVIN NARAYAN ACME INTRALOGCEO 0 43

How adopting automation and robotic solutions can reduce cost and increase efﬁ ciency and productivity

“SINCE THE PANDEMIC, THE E-COMMERCE AND RETAIL SECTORS HAVE SEEN A SIGNIFICANT GROWTH, LEADING TO INCREASED DEMAND FOR AUTOMATION SOLUTIONS” APPROACH TO

What are some of the specialised warehousing solutions for various industry sectors?

Is there an increased demand for warehousing solutions? Since the pandemic, the e-commerce and retail sectors have seen a signiﬁcant growth, leading to increased demand for automation solutions. Around 35 per cent of our customers are from e-commerce and retail sectors.

From our experience, most businesses in the region start their journey automating the main distribution centres that are attached to production facilities as well as with implementing robotic end of line palletisation solutions. This provides them with visible improvements in their operation and at the same time a quick return on investment.

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ARE NFTS

The metaverse faces many challenges among them adoption, interoperability and regulation. The metaverse is still a niche and is not used by the masses. A larger-scale adoption is currently limited by access to appropriate hardware that would make the experience more immersive, signiﬁcant, and useful.

NFTs and the metaverse have a strong potential to be a part of our everyday lives. The former could introduce new technologies into various sectors and help digitalise transactions and ownership. The latter can improve how products, services and experiences are delivered in many sectors and can help make entertainment and virtual work environments more immersive.

What are the challenges faced by the metaverse?

The NFT market could stabilise in 2022-2023 a ter losing a lot of steam lately. The market could beneﬁt from less risk-aversion, better global economic conditions, and developments in the crypto and metaverse worlds. The gradual introduction of the NFT technology in real-world use could also expose it to the masses and spur more interest and transactions. Are there any prominent trends in the NFT market?

NFTs have strong potential in the real world as the technology can help authenticate ownership and facilitate exchanging and trading assets. Many sectors could benefit from adopting NFTs like the real estate or the car industries as well as others where durable goods are sold or exchanged. Using NFT technology can help build a more ﬂuid and liquid market as well as build trust by providing tracking and security in transactions. In this regard, NFTs could help dematerialise many aspects of our lives. gaining ground in ticketing

and other areas KHALILCO-FOUNDERKASSAM FOMOLAB.IO INTERVIEW 09 | 2022 Q:

intellectual property management,

“NFTS AND THE METAVERSE HAVE A STRONG POTENTIAL TO BE A PART OF OUR EVERYDAY LIVES. THE FORMER COULD INTRODUCE NEW TECHNOLOGIES INTO VARIOUS SECTORS AND HELP DIGITALISE TRANSACTIONS AND OWNERSHIP” A

How do you view the development of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in 2022-2023?

Do you think that NFTs and the metaverse will have a more predominant role in our everyday lives?

In your opinion, what is the future of NFTs in the real economy or in a speciﬁc sector like real estate?

OPPORTUNITY?INVESTMENTNEW

Interoperability is another important factor that could unlock signiﬁcant potential for the concept and permit a higher level of interaction between di erent ecosystems. As a new concept, we could see the emergence of new regulations targeting the metaverse which could hamper or strengthen its growth.

As an emerging technology, NFTs are evolving rapidly and new trends appear constantly. However, some notable ones include the inclusion of NFTs in gaming which is by itself a very large industry thus providing a platform for NFTs to thrive on. In the art and collectibles domain, we have seen the adoption of fractional NFT ownership which permits fragmenting expensive items and selling pieces called shards to other investors. This development has the potential to open the collectibles markets to smaller investors and improve sales and returns. Additionally, NFTs are gaining ground in intellectual property management, ticketing and other areas. We can also mention its adoption from large global companies with NFT projects from Etihad, Gamestop with other brands coming into this space like Puma, Hell’s Kitchen, Ti any and more.

Non-fungible tokens are

How has proptech changed the real estate industry? The current wave of proptech is driven by a range of new technologies, such as artiﬁ cial intelligence and big data. The application of these technologies is also shaped by megatrends such as globalisation, remote working and prolonged Covid19 social distancing norms, which have introduced changes in the way we are required to deal with real estate. For instance, to rent a place to live anywhere is an overly complicated process that requires a long-term commitment. At Stella Stays, we are tapping into the largest consumer group worldwide – tenants – and revolutionising every element of the renting experience – from looking for a place to stay, making easy payments with a credit/ debit cards or cryptocurrencies, to ordering a wide range of guest services.

GB TECH TALK

What is one piece of advice you would give to entrepreneurs entering the proptech space? There is a famous quote attributed to Henry Ford: “If I had asked people what they wanted; they would have said faster horses”. He redefined what transportation meant to people and built the first automobile. Similarly, the real estate industry is at an inflection point and my advice to proptech entrepreneurs is not to think outside the box but think like there is no box. The innovation must start with reimagining the customer experience, especially with millennials and GenZ in mind and only then build the features and functionalities.

MOHANNAD

“PROPTECH STARTUPS CAN FALL INTO THE TRAP OF FOCUSING TOO MUCH ON DEVELOPING THE TECHNOLOGY AND DATA VERYWITHOUTINFRASTRUCTUREREALISINGIT’SHARDTODELIVER CUSTOMER-CENTRIC TECH PRODUCTS”`

REVOLUTIONISING ‘SMART RENTING’

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Customer adoption is the number one challenge. Proptech startups can fall into the trap of focusing too much on developing the technology and data infrastructure without realising it’s very hard to deliver customercentric tech Meanwhile,products.proptech in MENA, while still in the early days, is ahead of regulations when it comes to accessing and regulating data ownership, and integrating new data systems and algorithms into existing databases. To operate a proptech startup in the region, the founders need to commit long-term to building their own technology infrastructure from almost ground zero while navigating multiple fragmentations of the real estate markets.

How is technology a game changer in the real estate sector? How has Stella Stays contributed to this sector?

Real estate is the world’s largest asset class. However, all the current trillion-dollar companies are not in real estate, partly because of the legacy nature of the sector, and there is a lot of digitisation to be done. This also means there are a lot of opportunities for growth. Dubai, for example, is one of the hottest real estate markets in the world with a number of signiﬁcant proptech players. At Stella Stays, we have spent three years developing our rental portfolio and proprietary technology empowering e ciency across real estate supply growth, interior design, pricing, bookings, guest service and property management. The UAE market has been an incredible “lab environment” for us, helping us to test and build the foundation for our global expansion.

New technologies have changed the ways we are required to deal with real estate ZIKRA CEO STELLA STAYS

What are the key challenges that proptech companies face?

INTERVIEW Q:

The way forward In today’s world of increased competition among tech companies, it’s vital to do everything possible to improve the CX and, in turn, improve customer retention. Running joint marketing campaigns and o ering integrated solutions with technology partners helps reduce costs and churn, and increase customer growth, retention, revenue and proﬁtability. Carried out well, it’s a win-win for all concerned.

O ering a joint-value proposition Rather than creating individual pieces of content, businesses can work together to present a joint value campaign that will really capitalise on the partnership and should attract, engage, and convert customers. It’s far better to market your joint solution rather than your individual product.

By working with a partner and running co-marketing campaigns, you can lower costs and improve customer growth and retention. If you carry out an integrated campaign with a technology partner and your personas and messaging are similar, it’s likely that your costs, time and resources for the campaign will be lower as they’ll be shared. This can boost leads and also lower your costs per lead.

One partner may also have a more visible, popular or reputable brand in certain regions or areas, so sharing a marketing campaign is a great way to gain visibility and traction in new areas.

Leverage joint customer databases for leads When running a joint marketing campaign, you can access your partner’s customer base –and vice-versa. This helps both of you to acquire new prospects across geographies, saving time and resources on building new customer databases and reducing your average lead costs.

09 | 2022

People have more choice than ever before when it comes to technology providers – and they’re not afraid to switch brands. With the UAE being a thriving tech hub, companies here will know only too well the importance of o ering an excellent customer experience (CX) and staying ahead of the competition. If something’s not working for a customer, if they have a bad experience, or if a competitor o ers something seemingly better, you can easily loseWiththem.many options available, and customers who are ready to switch, it’s important to do everything possible to o er a truly standout CX. And technology partnerships o er a compelling way to do that, while reducing costs per lead and customer churn. Companies across the UAE should look to technology partnerships to get –and stay – ahead. Lower lead costs and increased revenue Technology partnerships o er customers the opportunity for better and more integrated solutions –which should improve the CX and, in turn, reduce customer loss. This leads to a signiﬁcant cut in acquisition costs and also stimulates other revenue streams.

Improved customer retention Technology partnerships can help companies gain access to leads, reduce costs of campaigns and win new customers. But there’s another outcome that is arguably even more valuable –keeping the customers that you alreadyChurnhave.isacostly and di cult challenge for businesses all over the globe, with the Middle East being no exception. It’s hard to remain proﬁtable without good levels of customer retention, especially in the so tware-as-aservice industry. A technology partnership can play a vital part in keeping customers once you have won them. Trust and loyalty are two of the biggest players when it comes to customer retention – and technology partners can support both.

LEAPFROGGING THE COMPETITION

MISHRAMANISH HEAD –FRESHWORKSBUSINESSMEA

Technology partnerships offer customers the opportunity for better and more integrated solutions, which improve customer experience

“IF YOU CARRY OUT AN INTEGRATED CAMPAIGN WITH A TECHNOLOGY PARTNER AND YOUR MESSAGING IS SIMILAR, IT’S LIKELY THAT YOUR COSTS, TIME AND RESOURCES FOR THE CAMPAIGN WILL BE LOWER AS THEY WILL BE SHARED”

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There’s one thing unicorns all have in common – talented teams and leaders, an in-depth understanding of technology and innovation, a determination to succeed and an ability to spot solutions to overcome challenges. However, investing in procurement is another critical factor in becoming a unicorn which helps accelerate initial growth while creating long-term stability.

The UAE is no stranger to businesses gaining unicorn status – amongst them are Careem and Souq.com, both garnering huge success before being acquired by Uber and Amazon, respectively.

Procurement is and will always remain an asset. Understanding procurement allows startups to realise better the challenges and steps needed to scale up a business to become the next unicorn.

Procurement allows startups to understand the challenges and steps needed to scale up a business to become the next unicorn

Procurement as a driver for growth

HANY MOSBEH VICE PRESIDENT –

JAGGAERANDMIDDLESALESEASTAFRICA

COLUMN “THERE’S ONE THING UNICORNS ALL HAVE IN COMMON – TALENTED TEAMS AND LEADERS WITH AN IN-DEPTH UNDERSTANDING OF TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION” THE PROGRAMME HAS DESIGNEDBEEN BECOMINGHUBENTREPRENEURTOACOUNTRYTRANSFORMTOTHEFROMREGIONALAGLOBALBY HOME TO 20 UNICORNS BY 2031 0 47

For many startups, procurement is o ten overlooked in favour of what is perceived as the more critical elements of creating a business – hiring, growth and marketing strategies, launch phases and chain of command. Procurement during the initial phases of growth for a startup is the least demanding and can be managed with relatively minimal e ort. To achieve growth, procurement takes on a more fundamental role, with an increasing number of employees and expanding operations underscoring the importance of the function. This is where procurement experts and the systems they implement, come into their own. They balance scaling and stability while also providing investors with relevant data regarding purchases andTheinvestments.leadersof startups o ten take measured risks. Despite this, implementing a procurement strategy aligned with the company’s growth is imperative.

How autonomous commerce fits into this As the name suggests, autonomous commerce autonomously executes repetitive tasks using intelligent solutions. This mitigates talent shortages and allows employees to focus on more strategic, valueaddedUsingactivities.artificial intelligence, bottlenecks are eliminated, cycle times are improved, and costs are reduced by constantly monitoring and analysing all transaction activity – another clear benefit of this innovative online business marketplace. To deliver this revolutionary B2B marketplace, startups must first address the four core pillars required – networked, intelligent, comprehensive, and extensible. Access to a truly global network of suppliers mitigates a range of concerns, mainly when a buyer is unhappy with the supplier’s performance. A vast global network on a single cloud-based platform that provides continuous smart-match recommendations omits the need for buyers to vet and identify new suppliers – it is done automatically, saving valuable time for fledgling companies to focus on more pressingFinally,matters.ensuring the network is extensible and can pull the data from various systems ensures buyers have the selection and accelerated time-to-value. For any startup, procurement should remain a fundamental attribute of their business plan and something that is developed during their journey. This will be key in growing the business and unlocking the path to unicorn status.

he UAE has unveiled impressive plans to become a unicorn ‘hotspot’ as part of the country’s Entrepreneurial Nation programme. Launched to attract the next wave of small and medium enterprises and startups valued at more than $1bn, the programme has been designed to transform the country from a regional to a global entrepreneur hub by becoming home to 20 unicorns by 2031.

PROCUREMENT: THE KEY TO UNLOCKING UNICORN STATUS

As important as environmental sustainability is to the industry and to regulators, business sustainability is critical as well. Data centres and regulators will have to work together to create measurable goals, support initiatives, and track progress toward objectives.

Powering the next generation of data centres

09 | 2022 COLUMN

Digital transformation and usoccurringautomationallaroundrequiresmoreIT compute capacity which has permitted an increase in the demand for data centres. Data centres have become one of the world’s most valuable resource as they enable e-commerce, cloud computing and remote work and drive the global economy. As it helps businesses meet growing consumer demand, they turn into one of the largest per capita consumers of electric power and currently represent 1-2 per cent of the total global electricity consumption today. Data centre e ciency and sustainability now transcends companies, geographies, and workloads and has become an undeniable business imperative across nearly every industry. With more and more emphasis on sustainability, how can data centres level up?

Adapting approachessustainability

Environmental considerations are directly connected with the data centre industry as organisations look to reduce their carbon footprint by way of colocation centres and cloud-based technologyGreenadvancements.datacentres are to be built via modular energy e cient data centre designs from the onset and adopt the latest in building technology. These data centres will also need to employ innovative energy consumption and production methods including green power, water reclamation, zero water cooling systems, recycling and waste management, upgrade power sources and power grids and more. To carry on growing, the data centre industry will have to turn to green methods of energy consumption and production. Resilient power grids that can deliver green energy and renewable power as well as innovative cooling and control technologies are critically important.

The future of sustainable data centres

DATA

The future of the planet and our children would be shaped by our capabilities and alignment to sustainability, weather it is engineering, construction, operation, technology or any other industry.

THE GROWING IMPORTANCE OF

With more emphasis on sustainability, how can data centres level up? SUSTAINABILITY IN CENTRES KHAZNACEO

Meeting the growing demand for computing power and digital services, is only one challenge. Data centres are also expected to do more with less, provide more computing power while using less energy and shrinking their carbon footprint. The main challenge to improving power consumption in the data centre is the need to maintain high service reliability and availability.

As we look to the future, operators will need an actionable approach that changes the dynamics of traditional deployment strategies. Data centre operators are perfectly placed to take their expertise in connecting the world and translate it into better collaboration within the industry to establish best practices and shared goals. As an emerging and vital sector, sustainability considerations must be placed at the heart of all future advancements in design, construction, infrastructure, technology, operation and services.

CENTERSDATA GREEN DATA CENTRES ARE TO BE BUILT VIA MODULAR ENERGY EFFICIENT DATA CENTRE DESIGNS FROM THE ONSET AND ADOPT THE LATEST IN BUILDING TECHNOLOGY 0 48

ALHASSANNAQBI

In compliance with this major change that is happening worldwide, driving down energy consumption, decreasing costs and employing advances in cooling and heat management technologies, have shi ted the way data centres are being designed, managed and maintained. Data centre operators are looking ahead and investing in ways to make it more e cient and sustainable.

FINTECH’S REVOLUTION

All in all, ﬁntech’s ability to leverage powerful innovations and service e ciency and knowledge gaps is critical for developing healthtech. Therefore, its potential in the healthcare industry is promising. IS REVOLUTIONISING HOSPITALS AND CLINICS OPERATE AND THE WAY PATIENTS PERCEIVE EFFECTIVE CARE the importance of innovation and its future potential for healthcare providers and patients

Ensuring financial stability for providers Healthcare providers need to be financially stable to serve patients e ectively. To achieve this, they require quick reimbursements from insurance companies and internal systems that facilitate the accurate and orderly data collection of each patient experience. Fintech solutions can support the revenue cycle management of healthcare providers in the form of automated and artificial intelligence-assisted so tware for medical coding, claims preparation and associated activities. Once implemented, this can reduce human errors, lower claim rejection rates and ultimately increase provider revenue.

ANAS BATIKHI SANTECHTUREDIRECTORMANAGING

Improving healthcare a ordability

ROLE IN HEALTHTECH

ﬁ nancial

Data protection With technology being part of almost all the stages of the patient journey, data needs to be collected to analyse performance and keep improving solutions. Whether this is the number of steps taken per day, results of experiments on terminal diseases or health surveys to develop personalised care, data privacy is an essential aspect for the evolution of the industry. By utilising ﬁntech solutions such as blockchain and other protected environments, healthcare providers can reduce the risk of hacking, data leaks and other malicious occurrences.

Focus on patient care

igitisation has fundamentally transformed almost every industry, and healthcare is no exception. From telemedicine to gene-editing, artiﬁcial intelligence in disease detection and more, healthtech is revolutionising how hospitals and clinics operate, and the way patients perceive e ective care. Below are a few crucial ways in which ﬁntech is supporting healthtech’s current development.

While technologies such as telemedicine facilitate greater convenience for patients located far away or for those who might be immobile, fintech can add other layers of benefits – for example, some fintech firms are enabling patients to create tailored payment solutions when using dedicated credit cards and applications. Similarly, some platforms are o ering buy-nowpay-later solutions to service patients who might need a longer time to pay back medical costs. Furthermore, the trend of gamifying consumer wellness through fitness applications not only helps to boost disease prevention and reduce the overall healthcare cost burden but also rewards individuals for staying fit, healthy and active.

All the above points ultimately lead to advancements in patient care. The global shi t to valuebased care that focuses on the quality of service provided rather than the quantity can be accelerated with the aid of ﬁntech. A ordable and accessible payment plans, and secure medical health records can build trust between patients and providers while also facilitating quicker payments and potentially more patients, leading to increased revenues for reinvestment in health facilities and improving patient care. Similarly, e cient and automated digital processes that enhance the accuracy of patient records and claim submissions leave doctors and medical sta with more time to do what they do best – attend to patients.

Having timely access to healthcare is crucial for achieving healthcare goals. With fintech’s help, digital payment plans simplify payment options, ensure quick payment and ensure prompt treatments. Moreover, fintech firms have introduced a variety of options to support patient inclusion and control their healthcare spending in the form of mobile-based health savings accounts, dedicated money transfer options for medical needs and low-interest loans.

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Understanding

Enhancing accessibilityhealthcare

COLUMN HEALTHTECH

HOW

Tech enabled transformations are imperative for food and beverage businesses to thrive in an increasingly competitive and complex space

Currently, many outlets have transformed themselves into digitally empowered delivery focused restaurants which has made them sustain the Covid-19 pandemic. Early adapters of digitalisation have been able to survive lean periods and have become aware of how they can leverage cutting edge technology to drive revenues while focusing on customer satisfaction. For example, digital menus, QR code and NFC enabled payments have ensured smooth operations despite social distancing needs.

Enhanced decision making through real time analytics Businesses can now gather, measure and combine multiple data points to draw clear haverevenuebetweenSeamlesslongerspreadsheetsfillingingreceipts,insights.actionableCountingreconcil-numbersandouttediousarenonecessary.integrationdierentstreamsensuredthat business not only have an array of data sets at their disposal, but they can do a deep dive into what these numbers actually mean. Instead of having to go through multiple places to make sense of what these numbers mean, business owners and managers now have a single source of truth. This provides managers with a holistic view of their inventory stock, best selling dishes, ingredient prices, market trends which in turn enables them and chefs to work together to create creative profitable concepts for the future. Restaurants can now track the cost of each ingredient, the overheads and variable costs associated with production and match it with the revenues through sales, all in one single platform. Customer retention In today’s competitive landscape what determines a restaurants sustainability is its ability to attract repeat customers. Intelligent point-of-sale solutions help restaurants achieve that goal through a wealth of customer data, that can be stored and extensively analysed by artificial intelligence enabled recommendation engines. Businesses can read through customer behaviour patterns helping them understand which attributes are crucial for retaining their existing customer base, and how to tap into newer segments by mapping success factors to similar demographical parameters.

T echnology today has touched every aspects of our lives including the food that we consume. In order to stay ahead of the curve, organisations in the food and beverage (F&B) industry, are leveraging technology to optimise costs, maximise customer satisfaction and deliver on their core values. Ensuring transparency for consumers Technology has empowered consumers by providing them with access to varied information about the food they eat. Digital menus, ratings and reviews ensure that even before people step out of their homes, they know with a high degree of accuracy, how much they are going to spend, and where. People can customise basket sizes according to their budgets and can obtain an optimum level of satisfaction without going overboard. This drives convenience and a new level of transparency besides building trust and credibility for a brand’s o erings over time.

THE ROLE OF TECH IN THE FOOD AND BEVERAGE INDUSTRY SENGUPTAARCHYA MARKETWATERMELONANDCO-FOUNDERCTO 0 50

Sustainable business models through digitisation

09 | 2022

Remote ordering and fulﬁlment

Today, digital menus have enhanced choices available for ordering. Meanwhile, augmented logistics ensure that people receive what they chose within desired timelines. Restaurants on the other hand are no longer limited by the space within their outlets and can look at serving a wider client base.

RFID assisted inventory management Radio frequency identiﬁcation has ﬁnally reached adequate adoption to become the next dominant force to shape supply chain optimisations. This helps warehouses to conduct accurate stock counts through radio frequency emitting tags. This empowers warehouses with real-time stock monitoring, ensuring superior inventory management and seamless omnichannel operations.

BAGHDADINADER COLORTOKENSDIRECTORREGIONALSENIOR

GB TECH TALK

01 Infection and entry Zero trust make so tware hidden from attackers, heavily reducing the attack surface. And its proxybased architecture allows for a thorough inspection of data tra c and helps eliminate blind spots to be exploited.

Protection against ransomware Zero trust can visualise, intervene, and block unauthorised and malicious behaviour throughout the ransomware attack phases. To understand better let’s see how zero trust responds to each attack phase.

03 Data encryption or exﬁltration –Zero trust enhances network visibility and, accordingly, data tra c, which makes it tougher for attackers to e ectively access, encrypt or remove data. In the ﬁght against ransomware, there is nothing more important than having a strategy to deal with a ransomware attack. Companies should take into consideration every scenario and what are the next immediate, short and then long-term steps to deal with it. The strategy should be holistic and not just dependent on solutions. Lastly, employing a zero trust architecture will improve the organisation’s security posture against security threats, including ransomware. Nader Baghdadi explains how zero trust responds to each attack phase

ansomware attacks across the globe have been increasing in frequency and intensity – and ransom amounts, too, have risen in proportion. According to a report by IBM, the cost of cybersecurity incidents in the Middle East has reached a new high of $6.93m per data breach. This is signiﬁcantly higher than the global average cost of $4.24m per incident. This is more than enough reason to show that something is being done wrong despite our best e orts. Two fundamental steps where everyone can improve include – training the employees to spot malicious vectors and, preparing for when attackers do gain access, how to limit exposure by mitigating their ability to move around. Make people the solution, not the problem Common ways to start a ransomware attack are phishing and a social engineering process where unsuspecting employees click on a malicious link and download a payload. Therefore, our focus should also be on the people and the cultural side of the organisation to defend it from threats. Making training sessions more engaging and using simulations will enhance digital empathy among the employees.

Enter zero threat When it comes to any cyberattack, prevention is always better than cure. In this volatile climate, companies must adopt a proactive approach to security by leveraging new-age technologies and strategies such as zero trust. This calls for a paradigm shi t in the way security is approached.Zerotrustis a security framework that has proven to be an e ective antidote to this issue. Based on the concept - “never trust, always verify”, zero trust requires organisations to authenticate every user and/or device before allowing them access to apps or data. Based on the concept of micro-segmentation, zero trust creates smaller “trust zones” that help secure a company’s crown jewels. Not only does this strategy help safeguard the most critical data but it also helps companies recover quickly in case of an attack.

02 Lateral movement Utilising tools such as privileged access management or multifactor authentication will help break the cycle of privilege escalation. Additionally, micro-segmentation is highly e cient in preventing attackers from being able to move laterally in the network. Application whitelisting is also advantageous in this scenario as it bars access to applications that one doesn’t trust.

IS ZERO TRUST THE MISSING LINK TO COMBAT RANSOMWARE? COLUMN MIDDLE EAST HAS REACHED A NEW HIGH OF $6.93M PER BREACHDATA THIS COSTAVERAGETHEHIGHERSIGNIFICANTLYISTHANGLOBALOF $4.24M PER INCIDENT 0 51

he idea for foldable smartphones started in 2008 with Nokia, a major smartphone manufacturer, but the idea never took o , and it did not resurface again. Moving forward to 2013, Samsung Electronics adopted the concept of foldable smartphones. It was clear that they wanted to do something outside the box, and they were successful in doing so.

When it comes to owning a foldable smartphone from a consumer’s perspective, many questions cross their minds, such as practicality, SOME OF THE THAT WOULD DRIVE CONSUMERS TO BUY A SMARTPHONE?FOLDABLE

REASONS

T 0 52 FEATURES IHAB-MR TECH THAT IS THE QUESTION! TO FOLD OR NOT TO FOLD… WHAT ARE

Right a ter that, in 2019, Samsung introduced the ﬁrst foldable smartphone, the Galaxy Fold – a game changer in the brand’s lineup and for the smartphone makers for years to come.

Years a ter that, in 2018, a Chinese company called “Royole Flexpai” created the ﬁrst foldable phone. It was the ﬁrst step into a technological breakthrough where people now consider foldable phones a replacement for tablets.

WHEN IT COMES TO SMARTPHONES, THE CHOICE IS ALWAYS YOURS, BUT ONCE YOU GET USED TO A FOLDABLE SMARTPHONE, IT’S HARD TO GO BACK TO A REGULAR ONE.

DUST RESISTANT Most foldable smartphones are yet to improve on this feature as much as they do on water resistance, as living in the GCC has made this feature a priority.

SAMSUNG INTRODUCED THE FIRST FOLDABLE SMARTPHONE, THE GALAXY FOLD – A GAME CHANGER IN THE BRAND’S LINEUP AND FOR THE SMARTPHONE MAKERS FOR YEARS TO COME”

A multifunctional workspace where you can have two to three applications working alongside each other on a big screen and using the primary camera to take selﬁe pictures.

Ihab Salem (Mr Tech), Influencer durability or being just a luxurious gadget to carry around that they can show o to their peers. Consumers are also lost for choices with brands such as Huawei Mate Xs 1, Oppo Find N and other foldable smartphones from Xiaomi and Motorola.

BATTERY This is still a work in progress for most brands as when you have a big screen, the consumption of battery will be much higher even when using a fast charger.

TO SUM UP, FOLDABLE TECHNOLOGY WILL ALWAYS TAKE BRANDS TO ANOTHER LEVEL. WE HAVE SEEN THIS WITH LG TVS THAT YOU CAN FOLD EASILY, WATCHES OR EVEN LAPTOPS SUCH AS LENOVO’S THINKPAD X1 FOLD.

ASPECT RATIO From my experience, one of the best foldable smartphones with aspect ratio was the Oppo Find N, but there is still a lot of work to be done to bring this feature to smartphones here in the region.

HOWEVER, BELOW ARE SOME OTHER CONSIDERATIONS FOR CONSUMERS PURCHASING FOLDABLE SMARTPHONES

PRICE

0 53 GB TECH TALK

Having a 3-in-1 system simultaneously as “phone, tablet and small laptop”.

SO, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE REASONS THAT WOULD DRIVE CONSUMERS INTO PURCHASING A FOLDABLE SMARTPHONE?

DESIGN AND DURABILITY

This is also a concern for many consumers as they wish not to see any visible creases when the phone is folded out. They would also like a solid screen to withstand any falls.

Having a work/personal balance –with the latest features on foldable smartphones, users can balance their work tasks, such as answering emails and browsing social media at the same time, with one simple click, which helps them switch between two modes.

It’s a known fact that foldable smartphones all come at a higher price regardless of the brand, as there is a lot of research and development and manufacturing costs that go into play when creating the smartphone.

Charlotte Kenny, managing director, Blast Premier

BUILD IN THE COMING

ONLY

ECOSYSTEMESPORTSABUILDINGTHRIVING

How do you see the growth of esports and gaming in the Middle East region, specifically the UAE and Saudi Arabia?

FEATURES GAMING 0 54

AND THIS MOMENTUM

Tell us about Blast Premier in brief. For your upcoming World Final tournament, why did you choose Abu Dhabi as the location? We are on a mission to take esports to the next level of global entertainment. We create live and digital experiences –from tournaments that pack out major arenas around the world to highly engaging content. Blast Premier is our ESPORTS AND GAMING IS GOING FROM STRENGTH-TO-STRENGTH WILL CONTINUE TO YEARS

We are seeing an impressive growth in the Middle East and the UAE, which is one of the fastest growing esports and gaming markets in the world. The UAE topped a recent survey that reported 90 per cent of adults play video games in the country, and 23 per cent are frequent gamers. With this growth and a hyper-engaged esports community in the UAE, comes a number of exciting opportunities, in the form of more events, and increased career openings. Esports and gaming is going from strength-to-strength and this momentum will only continue to build in the coming years – it’s a hugely exciting space to be a part of right now.

Abu Dhabi is the ideal location to host this year’s World Final. With an engaged and constantly growing esports community and venue in the Etihad Arena, we’re excited to bring our event to Abu Dhabi.

GB TECH TALK worldwide Counter-Strike tournament series, where the best teams ﬁght it out for glory and a multi-million-dollar prize pool. We are known for our production quality and game changing fan-ﬁrst moments that attract thousands of fans to our live events in big arenas, with millions more watching at home on our global broadcasts.

Firstly, hosting the World Final in Abu Dhabi will provide local esports fans and avid gamers an opportunity to see and experience an esports event with the top CounterStrike players competing in their backyard. With a global audience and passionate fanbase, our previous tournaments have seen many host cities beneﬁt from a positive impact in many ways. Blast Premier is open to grassroots and amateur teams via our qualiﬁer series, giving teams from all over the world, no matter how big or small, a chance to compete for a spot in the regional events and face-o against the world’s best teams.

The 2022 spring season spanned four continents and was open to over 100 countries and thousands of amateur teams, where eight spots were made available in the Spring Showdowns that further led into the Spring and World Final. This tournament structure allows every team in the Counter-Strike: Global O ensive (CS:GO) circuit to dream big and imagine their names alongside the biggest names in the game.

We want to take our events to all parts of the world, and we are always on the lookout for leading locations to house our live events.

What opportunities does your tournaments platform give to amateur players?

Do you think the esports sector lacks the deep roots you would ﬁnd with conventional sports?

The demand and passion from fans are clearly there when we see the levels of engagement, views and numbers behind this interest from the esports and gaming community. The global esports audience is expected to grow by 8.7 per cent in 2022 to 532 million and this number is expected to grow even further to 640 million by 2025. It’s only a matter of time until this unrelenting demand matches and ultimately surpasses traditional sport, but clearly there has been less time for the history, infrastructure and surrounding ecosystem to develop. Esports is still, comparatively, in its infancy in that aspect but we’re on the right track and the future is bright for the industry. Similar to traditional sports, these surrounding support and development structures are crucial to its long-term success. This can be in the form of amateur leagues, collegiate activities, academy programmes and other pathways for players to become professionals. This grassroots infrastructure and increased accessibility is really strong in traditional sports and has helped drive its sustainability and success over the years. This is a key focus area for esports as an industry, if we can double down on creating more opportunities for players in the future –then the sky will be the limit for what esports can achieve in the long-term. We hope that the World Final can have a role to play in creating these opportunities. As part of hosting the event in Abu Dhabi in December, we’ll also be engaging in a vocational programme with behind-the-scenes tours, work experience opportunities, collegiate gaming and seminars –all while looking to inspire the next generation of gamers.

THIS TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE ALLOWS EVERY TEAM IN THE COUNTER-STRIKE: GLOBAL OFFENSIVE CIRCUIT TO IMAGINE THEIR NAMES ALONGSIDE THE BIGGEST NAMES IN THE GAME” THE UAE TOPPED A RECENT SURVEY THAT REPORTED... 23%90% OF ADULTS PLAY VIDEO GAMES ARE GAMERSFREQUENT800700600500GLOBALESPORTSAUDIENCE2022 GROWTH8.7% 2025 0 55

The increasing interest in the metaverse is consistent for the young gamers’ preferences in and out of gaming.

ideo games are now the ﬁrst choice of entertainment for people ages 13 to 17 – ranking above social media, TV, music or any other form of media – according to a new study by Bain & Company. These young gamers are currently spending more time and money in the metaverse than older gamers, and they expect to increase the amount of time they spend there in the “Therefuture.has been a lot of buzz, and plenty of confusion, among the business community on what the metaverse is and how it will shi t commerce and life into the digital realm,” says Andre James, global head of Bain & Company’s Media and Entertainment Practice. “Meanwhile, young gamers have been paving the future of the metaverse. They have adopted to metaverse-style games, o ten preferring to socialise with friends in games more than in person. They are increasingly comfortable with virtual reality, so even those that don’t currently play in the metaverse are likely to do so in the future.”

FEATURES GAMING GB TECH TALK

The rise of new payment models, like monthly subscriptions to game libraries, and the adoption of “freeto-play” games has led to improved average revenue per user. This trend is likely to accelerate as video games become the foundation for other paid entertainment experiences. However, metaverse companies will need to cater to the preferences of di erent demographics. For example, 56 per cent of younger gamers said they were comfortable paying to unlock features that improve their performance in a game, while many older players were not.

CITIES LIKE DUBAI HAVE RECENTLY ANNOUNCED ITS METAVERSE STRATEGY AND ITS PREDICTION TO ADD $4BN TO ITS ECONOMY AND 42,000 VIRTUAL JOBS BY 2030

YOUNG METAVERSE‘EMBRACING’GAMERS

About half of younger gamers said they would rather attend school events in the metaverse, and half said they would rather play with their friends online than in person. Social experiences in game spaces lay the foundation for other online activities, such as concerts, sporting events and other aspects of life, including work and commerce. We will likely see this growing demand for community experiences as a catalyst for a broader metaverse.

“The importance of this virtual space has not just gained interest from young gamers, but also from governments of cosmopolitan countries. Therefore, cities like Dubai have recently announced its metaverse strategy and its prediction to add $4bn to its economy and 42,000 virtual jobs by 2030.”

New research shows young gamers are spending more time and money in the metaverse, paving the way for the future of entertainment

The research also found younger gamers are more likely to play online games to compete with friends, family and strangers, compared with adult gamers who tend to play for fun and are more likely to play solo.

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“The preferences and demands of gamers are changing, especially as the thin line between the digital and real worlds recedes. The metaverse has attracted many young gamers who are looking for an immersive experience, which allows them to socialise and become active creators in the game. In fact, half of young gamers prefer to spend time virtually with their friends in games over meeting in-person,” says Samer Bohsali, partner at Bain & Company Middle East.

Samer Bohsali, partner, Bain & Company Middle East

THE REVIEW 009 2022 Matebook X Pro The laptop enables consistent colour display across phones and tablets 59 MAXDATATRAVELERUSB3.2 The device joins Data Traveler Max, the USB Type-C model p.58 0 57

0 58 KEY FEATURES • Delivers speeds up to 1,000MB/s read, 900MB/s write • Available in a range of high capacities from 256GB to 1TB • O ers dual Type-Cconnectivityoption–USBandType-A • Convenient one-handed sliding cap, LED status indicator and functional keyring loop • Compatible with: Windows 11, 10, 8.1, Mac OS and Chrome OS • Unique ridged casing K

ingston Digital Europe, a flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company has launched DataTraveler Max Type-A. It joins DataTraveler Max, the USB Type-C model. Both drives leverage the latest USB 3.2 Gen 2 standard. The DT Max series of USB flash drives are said to offer unmatched storage space to enable consumers to keep up with today’s content demands. DataTraveler Max series is available in capacities from 256GB to 1TB and is backed by a five-year warranty with free technical support.

DATATRAVELER MAX USB 3.2 09 | 2022 CONVENIENT ONE-HANDED SLIDING CAP, LED STATUS INDICATOR, AND FUNCTIONAL KEYRING LOOP

PERFORMANCE Equipped with a 12th Gen Intel Core processor, the MateBook X Pro has shown improved performance when compared with its previous generation. Powered by advanced Intel 7 processor and Core i7-1260P, the device supports 30W Performance Mode.

CONNECTIVITY AND SOUND

THEY SUPPORT SOUND PICK-UP SOURCES UP TO APPROXIMATELY 5M AWAY FROM THE DEVICE

0 59 GB TECH TALK PRODUCT REVIEW

The upgraded features in the laptop make it an ideal device for business professionals and students

HUAWEI MATEBOOK X PRO

Huawei MateBoook X Pro supports fast nearby connection with other Huawei devices. When the brand’s keyboards, speakers or even printers are put close to the device, the laptop will automatically discover them and provide a prompt for quick and easy pairing. Additionally, the laptop features Thunderbolt 4x2 on the left, USB-C x 2 on the right and a 3.5mm headset and microphone 2-in1 jack x 1. For sound, the MateBook X Pro is equipped with six speakers. The four woofers feature a back-to-back woofers design to create great bass and reduce resonant noise. Equipped with a quadmic setup that is placed along the edges of a laptop, they support sound pick-up sources up to approximately 5m away from the device.

O ver the last few years, Huawei has constantly continued to innovate in multiple areas, including design, display, performance and connectivity. Recently, the brand launched the new Huawei MateBook X Pro that is said to mark a new page in the PC industry with its innovative design. The Huawei MateBook X Pro includes new features such as universal colour consistency, super turbo technology as well as smart conference solution.

To bring less power dissipation and smoother user experience, the MateBook X Pro is equipped with an end-to-end update feature – super turbo. Apart from analysing hardware status such as CPU, memory, hard disk, it also takes into account user scenario identification and smart system optimisation in real time. This results in smoother experience in video conferences and heavy-load office work.

DESIGN AND DISPLAY Featuring the micro-arc oxidation coating process, a metallic body created out of magnesium alloys, the device does set itself apart from conventional laptops. Its thin metal body fits perfectly with the 14.2-inch real colour FullView display. Weighing approximately 1.38kg, (1.26kg in case of premium edition), the laptop is very comfortable to hold and will fit into any normal case. With a 92.5 per cent screen-to-body ration, the device features a 90Hz refreshMeanwhile,rate. the MateBook X Pro supports the P3 film-grade wide colour gamut. It incorporates universal colour consistency display technology. This enables consistent colour display across devices of the brand such as phones and tablets. Furthermore, it also provides better visual experience.

TO BUY OR NOT With real colour FullView display, 30W high-performance, smart conferencing, AI camera features and multi-gesture touchpad, the Huawei MateBook X Pro makes it an excellent device for business professionals as well as college students.

0 60 KEY FEATURES • Made of comfortable silicone and fastens with a plastic buckle and tang • Syncing range: Upto 30ft • Saves seven days of detailed motion data • Optical heart rate monitor and blood glucose tracking • Stores heart rate data at one second intervals during exercise • Red and infrared sensor for blood oxygen monitoring • Vibration motor • Apple iOS 14 and Android OS 10 or higher • Swimproof (water resistant to 50 metres) • 10-day battery life (based on usage) • Daily readiness score • Connected GPS • Stress management score • Call, text and app notiﬁcations • Always on display mode and ‘do not disturb’ and ‘sleep’ mode • ‘Find my phone’ feature R ecently, Fitbit introduced the Inspire 3 – the entry-level health and fitness tracker. The brand claims that it tracks key metrics 24×7 like activity, heart rate, sleep, stress and more. Plus, it comes in a thin, lightweight design with a vibrant colour touchscreen and long battery life that can last up to 10 days (based on usage). The device is available for Dhs399, including a sixmonth premium membership. FITBIT INSPIRE 3 09 | 2022 SWIMPROOF (WATER RESISTANT TO 50 METRES) PRODUCT REVIEW

0 61 GB TECH TALK PRODUCT REVIEW Mediatek announced the Pentonic 700, a smart TV systemon-chip with an artiﬁcial intelligence (AI) processing engine for premium 120Hz 4K TVs. With AI-powered picture quality enhancements, support for Dolby Vision IQ, the newly launched chipset is said to let global TV brands elevate the all-around viewing experience for consumers. Smart TVs powered by the Pentonic 700 can display content from di erent sources on the TV screen with picture-by-picture and picture-in-picture support with quality enhancement. This technology allows users to stream di erent sporting events at the same time or video chat with friends and family while watching content together. These capabilities also provide more video conferencing options and allow TVs to display various content streams at the same time. With the introduction of this chipset, the Pentonic series o ers brands a range of options for premium, high-end and mass market TVs to meet the market needs. Smart TVs powered by this chipset are expected to be released in Q4 2022. PENTONIC 700 CHIPSET MANAGEMENTLATESTSUPPORTFORTHEVOICEASSISTANTFEATURESANDSMARTHOMEDEVICE KEY FEATURES • Resolution support up to 4K at 120Hz • Capable of variable refresh rate up to 4K at 144Hz for gaming applications • Dolby Vision IQ with precision detail • HDR10+ adaptive technology • AI-picture quality scene recognition 2.0 and object recognition 2.5 • Built-in hardware video decoding engine supporting high e ciency video coding • AI-super resolution 2.0 for edge smoothing and detail reconstruction • Support for voice assistant features and smart home device management

0 62 COMPETITION WIN THIS! If that’s you, make sure to participate in our quiz – which will be at this same spot in every GB Tech Talk issue – and stand a chance to win exciting prizes. Just email your answer along with your name, designation and contact details to divsha.bhat@motivate.ae and wait to hear from us. Stay tuned to our social media platforms GB Tech Talk on LinkedIn and Facebook and find out if you have won. Do you pride yourself on being a tech genius? Do you code in your sleep? Do you know why SSDs are superior to standard hard drive technology? Tech quiz whiz Here’s the question AVAIL MAGAZINESTOSUBSCRIPTIONMONTHSSIXFREEOUR SPECIAL REPORT: EMERGING TECH OPPORTUNITIES IN THE GCC Exclusive: Landmark Group boss p.50 Racing ahead: Tech firm Micro Flying high How can you protect and boost your investments? By looking to the future, says AIX Investment Group Expo 2020 Dubai opens its doors even as the world emerges from one of the toughest periods in history. we create opportunities for the future while ensuring our planet’s survival? THE GREATESTWORLD’SSHOWISHERE p.70 The culinary experiences on offer at the Expo p.43 A glimpse at some of the country pavilions What is the first computer virus known as? Rabbit Creeper Elk Cloner SCA Virus

Gulf Business Tech - September 2022

Articles inside

Hands-on review: Huawei Matebook X Pro