60mins Day 4 - PM (2021)

Application Implementation Application Modernization

GITEX 60MINS 2021 PARTNERS

GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK tahawultech.com

Show dates: 17-21 October 2021, Dubai World Trade Centre | Exhibition hours: 10am-5pm

Customer-focused, innovation-led

Aruba giving customers the ‘edge’ when it comes to the cloud

Paulo Pereira, Senior Director, Systems Engineering METI @ Nutanix, spoke to Anita Joseph, Editor, Reseller Middle East, about how Nutanix is constantly innovating its products and solutions portfolio, in order to resonate better with their customers.

CNME Editor Mark Forker spoke to Alain Carpentier, Global Worldwide VP Sales, to find out how the global IT security leader is equipping their customers with the ability to embark upon digital transformation by harnessing the capabilities of cloud technologies through their edge-services platform.

Paulo Pereira

This pandemic year has been a very busy year for us, says Paulo.

“It accelerated a lot of IT projects in the

region and there was a lot of demand for work-fromhome solutions. So, it was quite busy, addressing all this, and we keep working

with customers on their cloud journey. If we look at the work that we’ve done with the Hyperscalersat the beginning of the year, we announced the partnership with Google to bring their Kubernetes platform on-prem.

We also worked with Microsoft to do the same.

Microsoft has a solution called Azure Arc for Kubernetes, we support it on the Nutanix Cloud platform as well. And lately, we announced two very important alliances4 CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

Alain Carpentier

Edge has been a frequently used term that has been coined by many IT analysts and experts over the last 18 months, but as

Carpentier conceded many in the IT ecosystem have been guilty of misleading customers when it comes to the edge, but he disclosed

what his definition of the edge is.

“Edge is essentially the place in which you consume IT. It could be a retail store, a football stadium, or a workplace, so basically anywhere in which you can consume IT and it is what we at Aruba call the edge.

Prior to the onset of the global pandemic, we seen a huge wave of digital transformation, but it is important to note that at this stage digital transformation 4 CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

A different approach

Stepping into the future

Phil Lewis, SVP Solution Consulting EMEA and APAC at Infor, tells Anita Joseph what makes the company different.

Nidal Othman, Ceo & Mahmoud Nimer, President at StarLink, speak to Anita Joseph about the company’s participation at GITEX and some of the key technologies that will fuel innovations in the future.

Phil Lewis

Infor is a company with a difference and according to Phil Lewis, SVP Solution Consulting EMEA and APAC, there are many things that make it so.

“We do lots of things

incredibly well. But there’s really five key areas, from my perspective, and the number one is cloud, number two is industry specific, number three is digital built- in, number

four, reduce time to value and number five, an unusual one, is our ownership structurevery, very different in the market. So, if we start with the first one-clouds, you know, here we are at GITEX and every application vendor in this building if you speak to them, they will all tell you they’re in the cloud.

Everybody’s in the cloud, and you have to be-if you are not SAS, if you are not cloud, you’re actually not relevant anymore in today’s market, but people are doing it really well, and other people are 4 CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

Nidal Othman and Mahmoud Nimer

How important is it for your company to participate at GITEX Global 2021, in terms of getting to network

face-to-face with your customers and partners?

An event such as GITEX is a very important global

Leveraging smart technology Echo Zhao, Product Manager at Hikvision, spoke to Anita Joseph, Editor, Reseller Middle East, to find out more about their cutting-edge products and solutions.

Echo Zhao

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What are some of the trends in the video surveillance market?

There are some trends that are dominating the video surveillance market such as video resolution.

This has upgraded from standard resolution to

higher resolution. Such as 4mp, 5 mp etc. Also, the system itself is upgraded from Analog to IP and this change is happening here in the UAE and countries in the Middle East. The application of AI in video surveillance

is also a growing trend.

Currently, most of HIKVISION’s cameras as well as recorders have smart functions and AI-embedded features.

Now, CCTV is also moving away from providing just security, to be used in

platform to network and engage with our vendors, partners, and customers, to share knowledge, to collaborate and expand together. Especially after the pandemic, it is extremely encouraging to see so much enthusiasm and participation. GITEX is also a forum to showcase the new innovations and technologies that we have.

At StarLink, we are proud to not have missed a single GITEX as it is a very strategic event. Even last year when GITEX was the only and the 1st worldwide technology event which 4 CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

day-to-day applications as well. Businesses are using CCTVs to add value.

Another trend in this area is called VSaaS or Video Security-as-a-Service.

VSaaS is the technology that hosts the hardware and software of videobased security systems in the cloud, so that users can access their IP cameras anywhere through any device and 4 CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

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Nutanix...

one with Citrix and one with Red Hat. So those two are very important for us. Citrix we have a very long partnership on the ground-we work with them a lot with our customers.

But now, with this alliance, it formalises everything.

So, within the terms of this alliance, they become our preferred choice for end-user computing for enterprise customers and we become their preferred platform choice for HCI and multicloud environments. So it’s a partnership that goes both ways. We also agreed to have joint support for customers and joint go-to market. So, we’re going to align our solutions with them, making sure that whatever features they’re coming up with aligns, and we’re supporting each other in the field

to basically improve the experience to our customers. So, when the customers buy a solution from us, they know we’re working together, and the solution is validated”.

According to him, “Red Hat is also extremely important for us, our customers have been asking this for the longest time. Of course, we always worked with Red Hat, but the main thing now is that Red Hat started supporting our Nutanix Hypervisor AHV and our platform becomes the platform of choice for Red Hat Linux and for Red Hat OpenShift on Enterprise and MultiCloud environments, which is a big thing. And for us, likewise, Red Hat OpenShift becomes the platform of choice to run Kubernetes in the

enterprise and multi-cloud environments. We’re doing the same thing with regards to support-we want to make sure that when the customer has any issue between Red Hat and Nutanix, they can reach any one of them and we will make sure that we will sync up in the background for support for the customer-so, we’re aligning for the benefit of our customers”.

In his opinion, we see a lot of focus on security and multicloud these days. “When the pandemic hit, most of the enterprise customers had to move very quickly and the cloud, to move very quickly, is a very good option. And what customers are realizing as well, is that there is no one-cloud-fits-all solution.

For each application, for

each workload, there is an ideal place to put them.

Sometimes, it’s on AWS, sometimes it’s on Azure, sometimes it’s in the private cloud. So we want to provide to customers, a solution that makes multicloud invisible for them. Because when a customer starts going public cloud, it comes

with its own complexities.

Each of them works in a different way. The APIs to use the services are different, the type of services that they have are different. And if you include one, you have to train your technical team, if you include another, you have to train your technical team again-it becomes very complex. So, we’re trying to abstract all of this and build a solution for customers that offers them multi-cloud in a transparent way. Our solution for this is called Nutanix Clusters. The idea is that when a customer busy our solution, they can choose where to run his workload. I want to run this in my data centre, I want to run this in AWS, I want to run this in Azure, etc”.

Paulo also adds that their relationship with partners is important because it’s their go-to market. “We follow this model to go-to market through our channels.

So during the last year, we came up with new programs for partners called Elevate and for service providers as well, and this is an ongoing job.

We keep on working with them, educating them on the benefits of our programme, and reaching to market with them. Our partners are our way to the market-we build all these great partnerships with other vendors to provide benefits to our customers, but at the end of the day, we all come together with our partners, to reach our customers, so they’re very important to us”.

you have with the hotel is in terms of connectivity.

In education, we’re seeing a huge demand for better connectivity solutions that improve the connection and interaction between educators and students,” said Carpentier.

However, what ultimately differentiates Aruba when it comes to their solution offering is their new edge-services platform, which they created prior to the pandemic.

“One other key industrial vertical that was forced to transform was of course the healthcare sector. They

were really exposed during the pandemic, and when they were restructuring their systems and processes’ they were forced to use more and more IoT devices to optimize their productivity and efficiency around healthcare. However, the first stage of any digital transformation is to connect users with the cloud, or the IT in general. Customers understand that resisting digitalization ultimately puts their businesses at risk. We have legacy than Cisco because we started later, which is an advantage, but when

you are close to the users you need mobility and security, and that is why we introduced a solution called ESP (Edge-Service-Platform), which is a combination of connectivity devices and a management platform on top of it - and this has helped us provide automation over the security and the user experience, so we use a lot of AI to help our customers manage their overall IT environments and we are empowering them to achieve the digital transformation that they need to thrive in the digital economy,” said Carpentier.

coverage to 30 countries, grow our team to 700+ employees and achieve 1billion USD revenue by 2025. Our immediate plan in 2022 is to expand our regional footprint further in Africa as we shifted our Africa region HQ Egypt.

We’re also planning to cover other regions, going forward.

support our vendors and channel management and inside sales to support our partners and business development managers and presales to support customer engagement.

When the customers buy a solution from us, they know we’re working together, and the solution is validated”.

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Aruba...

was being pursued by early adopters,” said Carpentier.

Early adopters according to the dynamic Aruba executive were enterprises that were forced to embrace change due to the disruption that occurred to their traditional business models.

“When I say early adopter, what I mean is that this is a customer that was very exposed by disruptions, and a good illustration of this is in the retail space. We all have witnessed the impact of Amazon on e-commerce, and as a direct result of the pandemic many

retailers were forced to move online and completely transform their traditional experience offering instore, and combine their physical store and their business online, and this demand is why we embarked upon so many new projects globally with retailers looking to transform,” said Carpentier.

In addition to this, Carpentier was also on hand to highlight the other major industry verticals where Aruba leveraged their technical expertise and knowledge to empower entities from those sectors on their

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StarLink...

took place after COVID-19, we had the honor to be part of it.

This year, GITEX is focused on AI and cybersecurity, and it is a great opportunity for us to showcase our new technologies and solutions in those domains and the way in which we integrate both domains to provide unique solutions that addresses the needs of the changing market.

What products and solutions will you be showcasing at GITEX Technology Week and in your opinion, what are the key technologies that will fuel new innovations in 2022?

StarLink as a VAD, we are pioneers in adopting and bringing best-ofbreed technologies to this region. This year, we are showcasing technologies that cover three domains: cloud, cybersecurity, our www.tahawultech.com

two main domains and intelligent automation, our latest addition.

We have invested in the StarLink Innovation Centre as we believe in solutionselling and integrating technologies together to address the customers challenges and needs. It is also a research centre that helps us identify the best technologies in each domain that we cover.

Digital Transformation was accelerated in the last two years which brought the need for availability, efficiency, reliability, accuracy, and security.

I believe that in the future, 1/3rd of the jobs will be done by the systems, 1/3rd by digital workers and rest by humans. At StarLink we believe that Intelligent Automation will bring in advanced technologies to drive innovation in 2022 and beyond. In fact, we have introduced the concept

Edge is essentially the place in which you consume IT.” digital transformation journeys.

“Hospitality was another sector that needed to transform.

We know from our experiences that one of the first things we do when we check-in to a hotel is log-in to the WiFi. The first experience

of the digital worker-a blend of multiple leading technologies combined to offer digital workers who can deliver different jobs and functions based on customer need.

No doubt, cybersecurity integrated with Artificial Intelligence will remain the main driver for innovation in the future and it’s already here.

A good example of both domains would be adaptive systems and application powered

by AI & cybersecurity, where the systems can be customized based on the need and at the same time defend against cyberattacks and prevent any potential threats.

At GITEX we are showcasing many such solutions to encourage our channel community to invest in the future by adopting next generation technologies and solutions.

How do you plan to expand your footprint in

Cybersecurity integrated with Artificial Intelligence will remain the main driver for innovation in the future and it’s already here”. the region?

StarLink is a True VAD, we have been in the region for 17 years and today we have an on the ground presence in 20 countries with 400+ employees and 500M USD revenue. We will continue investing in the META region where we already have a strong presence.

Also, we’ve witnessed a robust demand for StarLink’s cybersecurity, DC & cloud and IA offerings. This trend will continue to grow and our plan in the coming years is to expand our on-ground

Tell us about StarLink sales go-to market strategy?

StarLink has a unique go-to-market strategy with our two-pronged approach we are very well connected with our customers as well as our extensive partner network across META. We are an extension of our vendors on the ground, to expand their market share and be a trusted cybersecurity, cloud & IA advisor to our customers and prospects.

Today, at StarLink, we have several sales engines to serve our strategy, such as product management and marketing teams to

How important is the role of the channel in your ecosystem?

The channel plays a vital role in StarLink’s ecosystem, and we have different type of partners ranging from specialized partners in certain domains, strategic partners SI and the Global System Integrators (GSI) and our mission is to support them to expand their capabilities and market reach whilst they help address their customer’s requirements across different domains.

In addition, StarLink has also introduced a comprehensive channel program called StarLink Choice Program to support our partners grow their business and develop their specialisation

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Infor... doing it not so well.”

“What I mean by that is I have this concept of being on the clouds, or being in the clouds-to be true clouds you have to be in the cloud. So what do I mean by that?

Well, on the clouds, a vendor can take an old, on-premise, traditional application and load that onto Google, or AWS or Azure, and then they call it cloud. But it’s not cloud is not cloud-you’re just hosting your old application in somebody else’s data center. At Infor, we’ve taken a different approach-We’ve gone done the road of investing huge amounts of money, billions of dollars, into our product strategy and a big component of that product strategy is True Cloud. We’ve partnered with AWS since 2014.

They are our partner for cloud. We have enabled our applications to use more than 130 AWS web services, our applications don’t work without being in the cloud. We’ve engineered our applications to be truly multi tenanted, which gives massive advantages to us in terms of managing all of that, but huge advantages to our customers in terms of economics. So that’s the first thing true cloud. And if anybody is thinking about moving to the cloud, it’s

hugely important that they understand the difference. You don’t want to be on the cloud, you have to be in the cloud,” he adds.

The second aspect is its industry specific nature. “The market today is screaming out for industry specific applications. People want applications that are built to support what they do. They are fed up with buying a generic application and then modifying it and bending it and folding it to make it work for them because that’s so restrictive, massively expensive to maintain and it actually stops the ability to innovate, dead in its tracks. So, customers are demanding technology that’s built for purpose, technology is built for their industry. And that’s exactly what we do at Infor. We have some core focus industries, and we don’t deviate away from those industries, and then we design, we develop we deploy industryspecific solutions for those industries. We don’t try to be all things to all people. We focus on core industries and then we do those incredibly well.

So when a customer now uses an Infor solution, we have a zero-modification policy. The fact that the application has been built to support distribution or healthcare or automotive or industrial manufacturing,

if you’re in one of those industries, our application will support you. You will not need to modify it-it is based on industry best practices. There’s a statistic that was mentioned last night actually by IDC, that 50% of G-2000 companies so the 2000 largest companies in the world, will be deploying industry specific software by the end of 2022. So Infor is incredibly well positioned to take advantage of that.

We see ourselves as the number one industry specific cloud company,” he points out.

Number three is all about being digital built-in. “We have this maniacal focus around cloud, around industryspecific. And, really, that whole industry-specific strategy is designed to give our customers the control that they need in their business, control in their operations and business processes. So, if that’s the part that gives them the control, it’s our technology platform that we call Infor OS that really gives our customers the digital capabilities that they need to optimise and transform. And that’s really important today.

It’s a real challenge for customers to deploy digital capabilities, Whereas with Infor in our platform, all of those, cutting-edge technology components-big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT,

response. AcuSense intelligently identifies people and vehicles.

AcuSense technology is combined with intrusion detection or line crossing which allows a user to define an area where a target should be identified.

AcuSense technology uses advanced machine vision AI algorithms built into Hikvision security cameras and video recorders to boost home and business security.

Hikvision AcuSense technology uses a filtering system to classify targets as humans, vehicles, or “Other” objects. With a powerful deep-learning algorithm at its core, it can intelligently differentiate between moving objects like shadows, leaves, animals, and other such unexpected movements.

Today’s new technologies have also empowered modern video cameras to see better in any light and in high resolution.

Hikvision’s security cameras with their signature ColorVu technology are great examples of this. These cameras guarantee video with vibrant colours even in extremely dark scenarios. A nextgeneration series of the cameras goes even further, using 4K Ultra high definition (UHD) to deliver crisp images that provide richer detail.

On the access control side, we’re also upgrading our fingerprint devices to include facial recognition as well. Hikvision Access Controllers offer users various functions of access control. With

predictive analytics, extensibility, user experience design is all delivered and standard within our technology platform-it’s already connected, so customers can use it straightaway.

They don’t have to bolt anything on, they don’t have to integrate anything, it’s all there.

So when you put all of that together, it gives you everything that you need, not just to control your business, but optimise how you operate, and to transform your business using digital capabilities,” he adds.

Number four is that Infor has a unique deployment methodology-an agile approach that it calls Engage and is based around something known as 60-30-10. “So if you think about all of the

customer requirements and all of the things that they need within their business, typically we can support 60% of their requirements without doing anything, just using our product as it was designed to be used.

Then the 30 is where we may need to do some light configuration of the system. It may be slightly updating your screen, it may be creating a new report, it may be changing a business process, but it’s very quick and easy to do, and then all of the tools that you need to do are there, and that takes us to 90% pretty quickly.

But we can’t forget the 10%. The 10% is typically the stuff that makes every customer unique.

It’s their differentiator, it’s their USP, and that’s where we may start to use extensibility, will heavily use Infor OS digital capabilities to actually deliver that final 10%. In relative terms, the 10% can take a lot of time compared to the 90%, but it’s the bit that’s actually critical to our customers”.

Number five is an unusual one, and it’s all about ownership.

“This is quite an unusual one, because you don’t really hear many tech organisations, talk about their ownership”, Phil says. “And we have a unique ownership, where we are owned by a privately-owned conglomerate, a property

called Koch Industries.

They have revenues of $130 billion a year.

They’re massive but what that means to us is that we don’t have the pressure of Wall Street on our shoulders. All of our competitors have shareholders that they have to answer to. And that actually really drives them into kind of taking a short-term perspective, having to do things that aren’t necessarily the right things, but because they need to prove a point to their shareholder, they need to try their share price. And that actually introduces incorrect behaviour in some of the things that our competitors are doing. But we’ve Koch Industries. We do not have that quarter on quarter pressure. Koch Industries actually have a 30-year rolling plan for Infor. So that’s a longterm view. And what that means is, we can do the right things at the right time, as we see fit, not because shareholders are asking us to, not because we need to do something with the share price, but because it’s the right thing to do to create value for us, and for our customers.

One of the key principles of Koch and therefore Infor, is that we believe in something called Virtuous Cycles of Mutual Benefits.

It sounds strange, but it’s in its simplest terms, it means we succeed when our customers succeed”.

its high adaptability, the device is suitable for a range of different application scenarios, and can be integrated with various other devices, such as card readers, locks or push buttons, to satisfy any user’s unique requirements.

Access control systems serve a critical role in any sensitive area, allowing only the right persons to enter at a given time.

Multiple configurations cater to various budgets and needs, ranging from the simplest card reader to the now commonly used fingerprint terminals, to the algorithm-enabled facial recognition terminal.

Hikvision’s many devices – such as controllers, card readers, turnstiles, and door locks – offer you a complete and secure

access control system.

As customer requirements grow more complex, a single solution can no longer fulfil every need.

That is why you can combine our access control systems with various authentication methods such as ID cards, fingerprints, passwords, facial images, and QR codes, to name a few.

On top of basic functions, Hikvision hardware extends to advanced access management through anti-passback, combined authentications, interlocking, and more.

And the professional management software makes device registration, management, and personnel registration much easier.

What are some of the products that are in high

demand in the Middle East?

We have divided the market into four parts: Home users, SMB businesses, enterprise business and government businesses. For home end users, what is mostly in demand are hi-resolution videos and good after sales service. They also want their CCTV and other smart home devices to be linked, for easier use.

SMBs, on the other hand, are looking for reliable, cost-effective products.

Enterprise clients look for integrated security features that are intuitive and easy to manage, while governments clients look for a centralised management platform of smart devices and so their demand for AI products is much higher.

Everybody’s in the cloud, and you have to be-if you are not SAS, if you are not cloud, you’re actually not relevant anymore in today’s market”.

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Hikvision... have the video footage at their fingertips.

Since there is no hassle of on-site server installation and system configuration, VSaaS is an ideal choice for small- and mediumsized businesses (SMB). It is more cost-effective than traditional video security solutions since users can spread costs out over the contract term and pay only for the services that are actually used.

What are some of Hikvision’s products and the key features of some of these products?

Most of Hikvision’s CCTV products have been upgraded to build-into AcuSense technology.

This detects intrusion threats in real time and triggers alerts to users’ mobile phones for faster

GovTech Founder, CPIMEDIA GROUP Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015), Publishing Director Natasha Pendleton, Group Sales Director Kausar Syed, Senior Sales Manager Sabita Miranda, Editors Mark Forker, Anita Joseph, Daniel Shepherd, Senior Designer Analou Balbero, Web Developer Adarsh Snehajan, Photographer Maksym Poriechkin, Eduardo Buenagua

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Leading the digital transformation space Bahaa Eddine Al Indary, VP – Sales & acting general manager, Raqmiyat, on how the company is helping to drive digital transformation across the region.

Bahaa Eddine Al Indary

How would you describe the digital transformation journey of the MENA region?

These days, businesses, end-users, and citizens are all well connected, thanks to an exponential increase in various digital channels.

I’m not at all surprised that the digital transformation market in the MENA region is forecasted to reach $2.8 billion by 2025.

More importantly, digital transformation is playing a major role in shaping the government sector in the MENA region, and pushing them to adopt new opportunities and challenges. Security, cost containment, budget

pressures, and citizen experience, among other changes, are sparking governments not only in MENA, but all over the world, to implement innovative solutions to drive their journey to the digital realm. The MENA region has realised the value of digital transformation and has successfully progressed to deliver and accelerate digital innovation and optimise public services. In the UAE, the Blockchain Strategy 2021 is an ideal example for government digital transformation-it aims to blockchain-enable 50% of government

transactions. Not only that, governments are integrating services in the form of mobile apps and e-service to create seamless citizen journeys that encourage paperless transactions and e-payment options for services. And all the digital transformation initiatives are backed by leading technologies like Artificial Intelligence, analytics, robotics, cloud, IoT and Virtual Reality.

I’m able to see some excellent work in the start-up sector, where new business models enabled by digital technologies are evolving from the MENA region and making their presence felt in the global market. The private sector is instrumental in the adoption of digital transformation to improve the customer experience.

There is no end to the digital transformation journey it will keep evolving as demand and new technologies grow.

What is Raqmiyat’s strategy for the UAE market? How are you helping to drive digital transformation across organisations?

Keeping our interest and focus on customer success has helped in consolidating our reputation. Raqmiyat is known for designing and implementing solutions that help organisations realise their fullest potential. Our strategy last year was to sustain and grow and this year’s overall strategy is to accelerate growth and innovate. The opportunity today is around creatively harnessing the power of digital technologies to build solutions uniquely tailored to each customer’s business needs. This requires extensive domain knowledge, customerspecific contextual knowledge and proven solution design and delivery capabilities, backed by sustained

The opportunity today is around creatively harnessing the power of digital technologies to build solutions uniquely tailored to each customer’s business needs.

Nedaa signs agreement with GDRFA-Dubai at Gitex 2021 MoU to see Nedaa building efficient communication network for GDRFA-Dubai

Professional Communication Corporation – Nedaa signed a partnership agreement with the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs-Dubai (GDRFADubai) at the ongoing Gitex Global.

Both parties agreed to collaborate to build an efficient communication network for GDRFADubai and engage in data sharing concerning broadband technologies for emergency and public safety purposes.

Their Memorandum of

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Understanding (MoU) will pave the way for GDRFADubai to utilise Nedaa’s Integrated Operations Centre (IOC) solutions, wireless communication systems, and Tetra network to achieve endto-end operational visibility and enhance team connection and communication.

Signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) were Nedaa CEO H.E. Mansoor Bu Osaiba​ and H.E. Major General Obaid Muhair bin Suroor, Deputy Director of the

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General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, Dubai.

Major General Obaid bin Suroor said: “Signing an agreement with Nedaa reflects the GDRFA’s keenness to fulfil

its strategic plans and support its partnership relations with other entities.

In addition to strengthening our joint cooperation in the field of smart services, the agreement will help us exchanging expertise,

Signing an agreement with Nedaa reflects the GDRFA’s keenness to fulfil its strategic plans and support its partnership relations with other entities”.

investments in offshore centres. At Raqmiyat, these capabilities have been steadily built over the years. Our customercentric strategy and reorganisation in early 2016, when we created three major business units, each aligned to an industry vertical, and with endto-end responsibility for customers in that vertical, was a game-changer that set us on this path.

Customer is king-this has always been the case, and now, even more so. What are some of Raqmiyat’s new initiatives/plans to keep up with customer demands or even exceed their expectations?

Since 2013, we’ve been investing in enhancing digital technology capabilities and built significant scale and depth over the years. In fact, we have a comprehensive digital solution practiceour low code platform, advanced analytics services, blockchain, IoT, process automation and AI/chatbots are the most in-demand among our customers besides cybersecurity, which governs all critical data. In addition, we keep launching newer practices according to market needs. As a System Integrator and digital enabler, our business model and service integration layer bring together these

different capabilities and orchestrate transformational solutions catering to different C-level stakeholders within the enterprise, which gave us an edge in winning large transformational engagements in the region. Customers from banking and financial services, government and utilities are the main beneficiaries of our digital transformation solution portfolio, which has helped them in changing their business models to more digitised, automated and predictive ones.

What is your outlook for 2022?

With the vaccine rollout continuing and the gradual resumption of economic activity underway, we are highly optimistic about 2022 and we have seen a lot of sectors recovering well in 2021. This will continue to touch all other sectors at a high pace. Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, cloud services, 5G and quantum computing will dominate the tech ecosystem. As for Raqmiyat, we have strong plans in place that revolve around our customers and partners. We will continue to invest heavily in new technologies, and we have planned to strengthen our partner and technology portfolio to focus on delivering and protecting our customers’ assets and reputation.

experiences and studies, invest and develop technical and smart projects that contribute significantly to sustainable development and achieve leadership and excellence”.

He expressed his happiness with the cooperation, adding that the partnership with Nedaa will further boost the integration of both entities efforts and help them better serve the society in a way that makes Dubai the smartest city in the world.

H.E. Bu Osaiba said: “Through our TETRA and private 4G networks, we offer public safety and security authorities with high-speed mobile broadband solutions that are critical to their work. We are delighted to extend this commitment to GDRFADubai today. Following the signing of our MoU, GDRFA-Dubai will now use our Tetra network as its primary communication channel for its operations.

Our team will provide the organisation 24hour support to ensure maximised use of the Tetra network. The institution will have access to our specialized communication services as well, allowing it to further contribute to the overall safety and security

strategies of Dubai and the UAE”.

“Moreover, our mutually beneficial partnership will have us jointly joining events and exhibitions and exploring other opportunities that will take our cooperation to the next level”, H.E. Bu Osaiba added.

The agreement will also see the Nedaa team holding training courses for GDRFA-Dubai to improve the latter’s skills in using specialised communication devices. It will also extend consultations and updates on the latest in the Tetra system and 4G network, in addition to including GDRFA-Dubai in its future projects concerning broadband solutions for security, safety, and emergency response purposes.

Both parties agreed to form a working group to oversee the implementation of the MoU and accomplish its goals.

Nedaa was established to enable the deployment of new and emerging applications in a resilient, available, and secure environment. It also offers an evolutionary path for governments entities and private sector to meet their future specialised network needs. www.tahawultech.com

Leading the way in digital transformation Sami Abi Esber, President – Midis System Integration, Board Member Midis Group, tells RME why the MENA region is an exciting place to be in right now, with the strides it is making in digital transformation.

Sami Abi Esber

How would you describe the digital transformation journey of the MENA region?

Where does it stand today?

Currently, in the MENA region, there is a consensus over the need for digital transformation between high-level decision makers, regulators, private sector business leaders, and end-users. At the same time, citizen and residents are more connected than ever, with the massive rise in the number of smartphones, which represent a key element in the consumption of various digitally transformed services as well as the generation of data needed for digital business models.

So, I’m not surprised that the digital transformation market in MENA is forecasted to reach $2.8 billion(1) by 2025.

Economies like the KSA and the UAE are setting high standards. Take the Emirates Blockchain Strategy 2021 for example — it aims to blockchain-enable 50% of government transactions. Where else can you see such large-scale, ambitious transformations happening?

In Saudi Arabia, The Kingdom’s progression towards a new and improved method of accelerating the stages of development related to Digital Transformation,

are being demonstrated through projects like NEOM & Red Sea which illustrate a “new vision of what the future should be” using “Digital Innovation” We see many countries adopting a national strategy to enable digital transformation, while other countries are having limited initiatives in specific sectors critical to their economy. It is also worth noting that the private sector is instrumental in the adoption of digital transformation. This is driven by the need to improve key performance indicators using digital technology as well as enhance the customer experience. We also see some excellent work in the start-up community where new business models enabled by digital technologies are emanating from the MENA region and making its presence in the global market. There are a number of unicorns that emanated from the region, and for these types of start-ups and Unicorns, youth empowerment via incubators and accelerators is inextricably tied to the success. So, overall, I must say, it is an exciting time to be in the MENA region, and to note that digital transformation is a journey and not a destination by itself, as once you transform, technology will further evolve, enable new scenarios and there will be a need for a second

wave of transformation and so on. We are at the beginning of the journey in MENA region, but certainly making interesting strides.

How can organisations focus on innovation while staying ahead of technology trends and achieving their digital transformation goals?

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to digitalisation.

Organisations must develop their own inhouse vision, provisioning for future possibilities and changes. Such proactiveness may not pay immediate dividends, but when it does, it will be worth it. For instance, organisations that had flexible working policies and required tools in place before the pandemic were well-equipped to immediately pivot to complete remote working.

No productivity was lost in transition.

Leaders must factor in all employees and departments in digital transformation strategies, because every organisational function now carries scope for technology adoption.

Innovations happen at the intersections. So, it is of great consequence that all opinions and ideas are brought to the table. I believe, when all is said and done, digital transformation is about creating a company culture that is conducive to exploring new technologies and responsive to

changes. Innovation is a big word, and it has to be an organisational culture to support and encourage innovation from the very top. Innovative ideas, however, can come from anywhere in the organisation. Actually, it typically comes from the fringe. It is often complex to transform an innovative idea to an executable, value creating business, and it is the role of the management to guide the process to achieve success, and if it is not going to be successful then to “fail fast” and not drain your resources in pursuing a failed idea. Differentiating between which innovative ideas needs the stamina and support to succeed and which should be allowed to fail fast is a mix of business acumen, experience, intuition and an art.

The real challenges of digital transformation lie with the organisation, its people and its leaders. How do you think business and tech decision makers within an organisation can collaborate, to homogenise the digital transformation journey?

This is a great question and the short answer is that nowadays, every business at its core, is becoming an IT business! Sounds like a bold statement, it is not. Think of any business, and see how it can be impacted in its innovation, competitiveness, reach,

Digital transformation is a journey and not a destination by itself, as once you transform, technology will further evolve, enable new scenarios and there will be a need for a second wave of transformation and so on.”

customer experience, operational efficiency by the use of digital technologies. If you are in retail, insurance, banking, real estate, manufacturing, transportation, government, education or any other industry, there is so much that you can do with digital technology, and you can no longer say that the business side needs to collaborate with tech decision makers, because tech is an integral part of the business or tech is essentially what will create value for the business, so they need to think as ONE! The question then becomes, how would that practically work and what would be the roles given existing organisational structures? The tech role would be to “listen and educate,” listen to the business challenges, understand the landscape, and at the same time “educate” the business on new possibilities today using digital technology and do that in simple understandable terms.

The “business” would then be able to frame the value creation model in the digital world, then they can both identify strategic transformation initiatives and work together across organisational boundaries to make it happen.

Some organisations create the role of a Chief Digital Officer, or a Chief Transformation Officer, to facilitate such work.

While digitally transforming, is it possible for organisations to reengineer their business processes without significant cost escalation? How can they maximise their digital outcomes without breaking the bank?

Globally, by 2023, the direct spending on digital transformation is projected to reach a total of $6.8 trillion(2). The question we need to ask ourselves here is: What do these organisations know that others don’t? If anything, they are investing in a future where they can rake in multi-fold returns.

And at the current rate of transformation, that future is not too distant.

But that doesn’t mean you have to break the bank; you just have to make wellinformed decisions, choose the right technologies and service providers, and foster long-term service relationships. As spending

increases, organisations must find ways to leverage digitalisation and cut costs. For example, centralisation of software infrastructure, IoT and AI-led maintenance and inventory management, or any efficiency-driven approach, will lead to savings; which can offset the increased digital transformation expenses.

Like in anything, there is always “low hanging fruits”, and it is always a good idea to capture these at the outset, as they will help you realise either additional revenues, or optimise cost, hence fund the transformation. There is also amazing technologies like RPA (Robotic Process Automation), that can very quickly help organisations slash business process cost and optimise the processes.

What is your advice to companies in the region that are looking to accelerate their digital transformation goals? What is the most important aspect they must consider?

The MENA region is wellpositioned to make great strides in the global digital order. I say this because we were relatively late to the digital party, but now that we are here, we are taking an energetic approach to digital transformation. In other words, we are not jumping on the digital bandwagon; we know for the most part, what works and what doesn’t, based on our learnings from early adopters.

So, what I’d like to tell organisations is that there is a vast untapped potential, and you cannot go wrong by accelerating your digitalisation; you will only have more time to course-correct and enhance your competencies. But the important aspect is to not lose sight of the bigger picture, because the day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit.

I suggest you start with the “no brainer” activities, as if you don’t, all your competitors will, and you will be at a disadvantage.

Second, think of one additional unique value creation initiative using digital technology that will set you apart from the rest, and invest in parallel in both; the no brainer and the unique value creation initiative.

GovTech Founder, CPIMEDIA GROUP Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015), Publishing Director Natasha Pendleton, Group Sales Director Kausar Syed, Senior Sales Manager Sabita Miranda, Editors Mark Forker, Anita Joseph, Daniel Shepherd, Senior Designer Analou Balbero, Web Developer Adarsh Snehajan, Photographer Maksym Poriechkin, Eduardo Buenagua

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Journey to the Cloud with NetAp

meet local data sovereignty requirements.

Maya Zakhour, director, Channel Sales MEA, Italy & Spain at NetApp, on how the company’s cutting-edge products and solutions make cloud migration an easy, effortless process.

DreamWorks, Ducati, Aston

Maya Zakhour

What challenges are companies in the UAE facing today and why is it important for them to have a cloud strategy in place?

In a time of constant change, rapid shifting market conditions and unprecedented disruption – as we currently see during the pandemic – enterprises need to have a digital transformation strategy in place to stay competitive in the market and be innovative.

They need to be flexible to respond quickly to changing market environments and maintain business continuity.

At the same time, they need to focus on their core business and not be constantly thinking about their data management and modifications needed.

By putting the adoption of cloud at the center of their digital transformation helps companies to remain agile. It allows them to use services only when needed and only pay for them when used.

Migration to the cloud is a digital transformation process – what do companies have to consider before and during that process?

A cloud journey is not just a technical change. It also involves changes to the entire IT framework, multiple business departments, and critical business processes.

Basically, a cloud journey is a business decision.

All key business partners should be involved from the beginning to understand how the cloud differs from a traditional IT setup and what the advantages and risks could be.

The journey can be complex, costly, and carries substantial risk.

However, it delivers major advantages including long-term cost reduction, improved resilience, agility, performance, and scalability of computing systems. Translating www.tahawultech.com

business goals into a migration plan is time consuming, but advanced planning is key to a successful migration.

How can NetApp help companies with their journey to the cloud?

NetApp’s focus is to enable businesses with their cloud journey – be it public, private, hybrid or multicloud. Despite the clear benefits like speed, agility, and flexibility, migrating to the cloud can often raise concerns – from data security to the cost, time, and complexity of shifting workloads. NetApp addresses these concerns with NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP with which customers can lift and shift their workloads directly to any cloud – adding the benefits of the cloud to their existing processes.

Cloud Volumes ONTAP is the industry’s leading cloud data management solution.

It is based on ONTAP which is NetApp’s data management software, which has been around for almost 3 decades, running natively in Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. By design, it delivers extreme performance and advanced data management capabilities to satisfy even the most demanding applications in the cloud. It supports a capacity of up to 368TB, and supports various use cases such as file services, databases, DevOps, and any other enterprise workload, with a strong set of features including high availability, data protection, storage efficiencies, Kubernetes integration, and more.

Cloud Volumes ONTAP has already implemented and working successfully for more than a thousand customers globally and can be consumed by the hour or up front.

Can you share some examples of customers that are already utilising NetApp cloud solutions?

Martin, AstraZeneca… to name a few of our satisfied cloud customers that have used our solutions to maximise the use of their data no matter where it resides while capitalising on their journeys to the cloud.

With the support of NetApp technology, DreamWorks is advancing their data fabric and extending data and applications outside the walls of the studio and into the public cloud. Ducati worked with NetApp to build a data fabric, tapping into the data generated by over 60 physical sensors installed on their MotoGP motorcycles. AstraZeneca is speeding the discovery process for life-saving treatments thanks to an updated data strategy, one based on hybrid, multicloud computing and the dynamic movement of data.

What are the advantages of a hybrid cloud journey?

Not all customers can go directly to public clouds or need to stay on-prem for their core workloads. It may be for regulatory reasons, compliance, security, recovery, time, application architectures, or system billing costs. For these customers, a hybrid cloud approach works best. They may be looking to extend or migrate to the cloud, but they have different strategies and different timelines for adopting a hybrid cloud strategy.

A hybrid cloud model will be the reality for years to come. Today most enterprises have a hybrid cloud strategy and it’s easy to understand why: They have the simplicity of management, the flexibility, usage, configurations, and simplicity of cost, providing for example OPEX over CAPEX for financial flexibility.

On-prem and in the cloud, NetApp unlocks the best of both. NetApp is the only hybrid cloud storage solution provider native in all major public clouds

A cloud journey is not just a technical change. It also involves changes to the entire IT framework, multiple business departments, and critical business processes. Basically, a cloud journey is a business decision.”

SAP, Oracle, SQL, and highperformance compute jobs – for example, in oil and gas exploration and genomics, cloud native applications like web apps, microservices, any shape of containers in Kubernetes, and virtual desktops like Remote Desktop Services and Windows Virtual Desktop.

We focus to ensure our partners are properly enabled and ready to deliver the best services and reward them for a great job. However, when it comes to the cloud, we ensure that we include the hyperscalers into our go-to-market strategy and align with them on achieving ultimate results.

The market will start seeing more of our go-to-market activities with our alliances and some of the largest joint partners in the region.

As an example, we lately announced together with Microsoft the availability of our high-performance Azure NetApp Files (ANF) cloud file storage service in the United Arab Emirates North region, located in Dubai. Azure NetApp Files is currently Microsoft Azure’s fastest growing file service worldwide. The deployment of ANF in the UAE enables local users of the Microsoft Azure cloud to benefit from local certifications, especially for government, financial and medical service sectors, to

How is NetApp supporting regional channel partners to boost their skill levels and opportunities for the cloud?

We continuously listen to our partners’ feedback and hence our unified partner program keeps evolving to include all needed specializations’ roadmaps from enablement, sales, pre-sales, post-sales, services, all the way to correct rewarding schemes. This year we are focusing much more on specialisations that will cover specific areas, where a partner would like to work with us, whether focusing on cloud, AI, enterprise applications, DevOps… For partners who have extensive experience in migrating and managing customer workloads in public cloud environments with the NetApp Cloud Data Services portfolio, we are introducing a new Cloud Preferred Partner level. It is simplifying how partners interact with our Cloud Data Services portfolio by expanding the support, tools, and incentives for cloud partners around the world. All partners can sell and earn rebates on the Cloud Data Services portfolio.

What is NetApp’s cloud go-to-market strategy with its Alliance partners?

NetApp has a unique position in the market as we have partnerships and relationships with the largest cloud providers like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure.

We provide a portfolio of services for running applications in the cloud that reduces cloud costs by up to 90 prcent. Our platform enables customers to run enterprise applications like @tahawultech

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Unlocking visibility Bachir Moussa, regional director MEAR, Nozomi Networks, speaks to Anita Joseph, Editor, Reseller ME, about how the OT landscape is becoming increasingly converged and how Nozomi Networks is stepping in to empower customers unlock visibility across this connected architecture.

Bachir Moussa

How are digitalisation and the Industrial Internet of Things redefining traditional enterprise OT systems?

Digitalisation and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) are enabling transformation in two ways: first, it’s changing the way organisations think about managing their operational networks. It’s also changing the way syst ems are connected and deployed. If we look at the first part-the systems-we can see that IIoT & digitalisation are making them more efficient. It’s making them more connected, and it’s changing the way they have been deployed in the past where they used to be segregated and not connected to the outside world. This means that things can be done quicker and that an organisation can have an enterprise-wide strategy that includes OT, rather than just IT as it

was in the past. This does open up the potential for security risks, however, that can always be managed.

From a thought process perspective or changing the mindset of how people have been working in this space, in the past they were focused on keeping the lights on and keeping the system operating which is very, very important in the OT space. Today, they are now leveraging IIoT devices and converging OT and IT networks to keep the lights on with greater operational efficiencies and without any impact.

OT leaders & OT teams are now operating and working with the rest of the organisation from a digitalisation perspective.

It’s changing the way they work and the way they collaborate.

With environments becoming more connected & converged, do you think companies are actually investing in

advanced cybersecurity solutions, and if not, why?

The short answer is, yes, they are. If we look at this region, they’ve actually been investing a lot in this space.

I regularly sit down with my friends in the cybersecurity industry and talk with them about this specific topic. I find that they are seeing that their business is growing, because this convergence is causing organisations to make sure they secure their environment. As a result, they have to invest in cybersecurity to ensure that they keep operating without any impact.

Plus, we’ll always keep going back to COVIDwe’ll always mention remote access-how people are working from home. Remote access is very important, but secure remote access is what keeps businesses running and operating.

How does Nozomi Networks, empower customers with solutions and tools to unlock visibility across their OT, IoT and IT architectures?

At Nozomi Networks, we

believe that visibility is the trigger to allow you to provide the right and relevant cybersecurity initiatives in your organisation. Currently, one of the challenges we see in the space of OT visibility is that there is still a lot of work being done manually and in a legacy way where environments and databases of solutions they have or their assets is all tracked manually. in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.

We empower the OT teams by giving them automated and real time visibility across

At Nozomi Networks, we believe that visibility is the trigger to allow you to provide the right and relevant cybersecurity initiatives in your organisation.”

the OT, IoT and IT architectures. We let them know everything that’s happening in the network. And in a way, this visibility turns into an asset management tool.

This empowers them to make decisions more accurately and in real time because they’re now up to date with what’s happening. Plus, it allows them to take the burden away from doing things manually, into operating in a more efficient manner and allowing them to be part of the digitalisation program of the organization.

So, we give them the power to make the right decisions while freeing up their time to be more digitalised and enabled.

How will SaaS impact OT security and will it change the way OT security and the way visibility is provided and managed?

The trend that we are seeing in the region is OT visibility and Security as a Service- organisations are reaching out to experts in this space to offer managed services solutions, and asking them to give them the security and visibility of OT-as-a-service.

This is the first step, we are working with those managed service providers to enable them to provide the service to organisations. In addition, our Vantage

SaaS offering is already available. So, there are two ways organisations can work with it. One, they can continue the trend that they’re doing now, of reaching out to the experts, and the experts will work with us around our SaaS offering (Vantage) to help provide those offerings to the organisations, or two, if the organisation is ready on its own to manage its OT environment, they can connect directly to our SaaS Vantage offering and do all the management and deployment, and have global visibility from one location to everything that’s happening in their space.

Finally, another important point about SaaS is that organisations are becoming interconnected, not just in one geographical region, but across the globe. SaaS is enabling that to happen, because you can have someone in the UAE managing their network in South America, for example, or someone in the US managing part of their network that’s in Europe.

So, SaaS breaks down geographical barriers and allows organisations to manage everything from any location, but at the same time, it has to be secure and meet all the other requirements that organisations have.

Shiva IT Distributions signs exclusive distribution agreement with Hikvision for Wi-Fi segment Shiva IT Distributions has been a frontrunner and trendsetter in the region, providing the growing market with best-in-class network products and solutions for the last 17 years.

In a significant development, Shiva Group, a leader in the IT business sector, has signed exclusive distribution agreement with global brand Hikvision for its W-Fi segment, addressing the growing demand in the market for advanced connectivity solutions.

Shiva Group is also showcasing Hikvision’s latest, cutting-edge range of Wi-fi and SMB solutions at Crowne Plaza on Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road, during the GITEX Technology Week being held from October 17-21.

The highlight of the

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roadshow is an exclusive launch of Hikvision’s solutions portfolio on the third day, giving partners, customers and visitors an exclusive opportunity to understand the Hikvision

brand in detail.

With the pandemic having accelerated the work from home culture and set in motion a hybrid working scenario, both enterprises and the SMB segment are increasingly seeking to connect their workforce seamlessly and securely.

Shiva Computers will also work closely with vendors to make sure that the go-to market approach is perfectly aligned and in sync with market growth”.

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As Hikvision’s sole distributor for WiFi products, Shiva Computers will address this growing need.

Shiva Computers has been a frontrunner and trendsetter in the region providing the growing market with best-in-class network products and solutions for the last 17 years.

Naresh Kumar Lohano, Founder & CEO, Shiva Group of companies, said it is a matter of great pride being appointed exclusive distributors for Hikvision for GCC, the global leader in network, video surveillance and IOT solutions. He added that Shiva Group will work hand-in-hand with

channel partners to consolidate and enhance Hikvision’s market share for SMB and Wi-Fi products in the region.

“We have a team that will collaborate closely with partners, resellers and retailers on Hikvision’s products and offer pre-sales expertise, training and other support as and when required. Shiva Computers will also work closely with vendors to make sure that the go-to market approach is perfectly aligned and in sync with market growth”, he added.

Syed Yusuf Maricar, General Manager at Shiva Group of companies said the company has been

appointing partners and resellers across the region in order to make sure that channel partners get all the required support. He said they would work jointly with Hikvision to ensure that the channel ecosystem is equipped with the right kind of training and awareness that will help them grow and diversify into more business opportunities in their respective markets.

Shiva Group has also expanded its team in order to handle the Hikvision distribution business in the region and will soon enroll interested partners into their exclusive partner program for Hikvision’s products. www.tahawultech.com

Do you know your breach likelihood?

Cherif Sleiman, chief revenue officer at safe security, tells Anita Joseph why knowledge is critical to build a safer digital future. A Security Advisor exclusive.

Cherif Sleiman

Cherif Sleiman is a man on a mission - a mission to make the world a safe place as its journey into cyberspace gains momentum. In fact, his recent career move to the Palo Alto based startup SAFE Security is testament to this commitment.

SAFE Security, unlike any other cybersecurity organisation today, takes a “proactive” approach to cyber defence as opposed to the “reactive” approach commonly being practiced. Its focus on cyber risk quantification is a unique first step in an attempt to recognise and classify cyber risks and the steps that can be taken to mitigate their impact.

Says Sleiman about the move: “My decision to join SAFE Security was not a light one. I’m very, very selective and opinionated about what I want to do. So when I crossed paths with SAFE Security, I felt that this is my home for the next few years. The company is a pioneer in the field of cyber risk quantification and breach prediction - a new and upcoming field that is critical to creating a safer digital future. SAFE Security is one of those amazing organisations that has seen much acceptance by stellar people and organisations out there including John Chambers, British Telecom, Paypal and many others who realised the opportunity and potential that Safe Security has in shaping the future of the tech industry and making it safer.”

So, what is cyber risk quantification and why is it so important today?

According to Sleiman: “Cyber risk quantification involves measuring and mitigating enterprise-wide cyber risk in real-time by aggregating signals across five different vectors of assessment - people, process, technology, cyber security, and thirdparty partnerships - to dynamically predict the breach likelihood and assign a dollar value to the risk an organisation is facing. Cyber risk quantification is not just important, it is extremely vital and foundational to how organisations need to run and manage their digital footprint, moving forward. It’s no longer an option.”

To substantiate this, he comes out with a few “bold” statements that showcase the pitfalls of the practice of cybersecurity as it exists today.

The first bold statement: “It doesn’t matter how much effort, energy, focus and money we spend to secure ourselves, all of it just seems futile. We listen to analysts, read the journals, buy the products and the antidotes that the experts tell us we need to better secure our people and organisations. We follow frameworks like SASE and Zero-Trust and we pivot security from the datacentre to the edge.

We feel like we’re doing everything we’re being told. And yet, we never once, even for a minute, feel safer.”

• SAFE Security, a startup company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, backed by British Telecom & John Chambers, has announced its foray into the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region.

• SAFE Security helps organisations measure and mitigate enterprise-wide cyber risk using its Security Assessment Framework for Enterprises (SAFE) platform.

• The company enables CISOs, CIOs and other risk and compliance officers to visualize, understand, and quantify their cyber risk.

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The second statement which is thought provoking: “If you’re piling up all these products and listening to all the experts, and still falling short of the noble objective of making things safer, the question is: Why?” He has the answers as well: “Because there is a severe lack of proper contextual visibility and for the most part, organisations are still product focused when approaching the security of the enterprise. To put it simply: When you know the risks involved, you’re able to take informed decisions about safety and security. Safety inspires confidence, confidence inspires courage, courage inspires action. So, safety is all about knowledge.

The problem we have today is that organisations are throwing so much money, resources and products at a problem, but the mindset still hasn’t changed. The fallacy is in thinking that the organisation continues to be centred around a data centre where there’s only one way in and one way out. We are putting all our bodyguards there thinking that we have done a good job when in fact today’s organisation is borderless and entry points are numerous.”

According to him, the Covid-19 pandemic should serve as an eye-opener.

“Ever since the start of the pandemic early last year, there’s been an average of 5-7 years’ worth of digital acceleration,

both in the back-end and the front-end of the enterprise, in under twelve months. No organisation in the world could have planned for Covid or had a business continuity plan that factored in an event like this. But with remote working and the hybrid workplace becoming the norm, organisations had to embrace Cloud Computing and SaaS as a matter of survival, even though they might have been resistant to these technologies to begin with.”

“Transitioning to cloudbased technologies has created the ‘Swiss Cheese’ architecture, as I’d like to put it, with many holes, and with so many ways in and out of the organisation,” he says.

“Your employees are all over the place, connecting to workloads and data that’s now in a multi-cloud fabric dispersed all over the place, using different

The second problem, in his opinion, is that for the longest time, the concept of risk has been focused around policies and procedures in a brick and mortar manner. “When we started becoming more digitally inclined, we realised that cyber risk assessment should not just consider the basic organisational architecture, but other moving parts including people, technology and partnerships that are scattered everywhere.

Take business partnerships as an example - All organisations have suppliers, partners, etc. We realised that if a company does a great job at securing its infrastructure and its people, that’s not enough.

No company is an island and if it is to thrive in today’s world, it has to deal with customers, suppliers and partners

SAFE Security, unlike any other cybersecurity organisation today, takes a “proactive” approach to cyber defence as opposed to the “reactive” approach commonly being practiced” devices from different locations. In addition, your customers and suppliers have also changed the way they do business with you. They’re all over the place as well. How can you really expect to secure every aspect of every interaction? So, the number one issue we have today is that we have no visibility, as the digital footprint is so vast. We do not have the right knowledge of our cyber risk and therefore everything we do is based on hope and best intentions. But the fact of the matter is that we are stuck in a vicious cycle of more breaches every time we make more technology investments.”

SAFE Security streamlines boardroom discussions and decisions focused on cyber risk exposure quantification, prioritisation of key cyber risk initiatives, security budget allocation and cyber insurance.

• SAFE Security will join hands with management consultancy organisations, GSIs, MSPs, security specialist VARs and security alliance vendor partners to institutionalise the practice of Cyber Risk Quantification and Breach Prediction within organisations that are deemed critical national infrastructure across EMEA.

where a lot of information has to be exchanged.

And if a partner that an organisation is interacting with does not adhere to any kind of data privacy policy, then data can leak through their network, despite an organisation’s best efforts. So, assessing your partners’ risk profile and practices and how they secure their data and your own data is important before you ink a contract with them, however attractive the terms of the contract may be.”

“Assessing your cyber risk is also about assessing your technology infrastructure and cyber security products and capabilities to score every aspect of your organisation - every end-point, server, workload, application, system, database, storage, middleware, etc regardless of whether it is on premise or in the cloud. There should be an integrated and objective view on a single dashboard that aggregates data from all these products along with prioritised actionable insights on what’s failing and what is working.

Secondly, the impact of these vulnerabilities has to be represented in a universally understood

language - business consequences, that could be the financial impact, loss of reputation, customer retention, etc depending on business priorities. This is something that doesn’t exist today. And when you do that quantification, with all the insights, you are able to make decisions.

What are the risks I need to mitigate? What are the minimal risks that I can accept? And what are the risks I can transfer to cyber insurance?”

Security & risk management leaders including CFOs, CIOs, CISOs have more than enough cybersecurity tools and services. In fact, the average organisation has more than 40 cyber security products to manage, but what is missing is a real-time objective view into the effectiveness of their cybersecurity program, investments, and tools, and this is where SAFE is disrupting the market.

SAFE Security brings rich insights to CXOs about their cyber risk posture with the real-time, enterprise-wide breachlikelihood score.

“With SAFE Security, we have a common language that binds very different roles and functions from the board down to the security operations team,” Sleiman adds.

That brings us to the next important question: How aware are organisations of the need to quantify risk?

He says: “There’s no doubt that our region has in the past, and continues to experience, plenty of geopolitical conflicts.

This creates insecurity among organisations in certain sectors and with it a pressing need to protect the infrastructure. On a positive note, there’s an incredible amount of regional awareness about cybersecurity. However, I don’t think enterprises are going about it with the right mindset. IT leaders need to understand that they can greatly enhance their security posture with the same effort, money and resources spent, if only they do things differently and in a more strategic manner. That is really what SAFE Security will focus on for the next few months as we roll out awareness sessions and campaigns with partners. Our mission as a company is anchored on making the world a safe place and we’ll spare no effort in this regard.”

With these goals in mind, SAFE Security is making sure it is leaving no stone unturned to become the de facto standard for www.tahawultech.com

Epson calls on region’s fastestgrowing sectors at GITEX measuring and mitigating risk in the cyber world.

“What appeals to me about SAFE Security is the company’s approach to engaging with business leaders in a way that bridges the divide between technology and business.

Risk is the ownership of C-level management. So, we’ve been extremely selective in who we partner with, because we want to form alliances with organisations that are able to have the inroads to meet with appropriate organisational stakeholders, in order to help them quickly.”

When it comes to how SAFE will make all of this happen, Sleiman says that they will partner with likeminded organisations that are focused on protecting the region’s mission critical infrastructure. He said that the company’s strategy is centred around five routes to market: 1) The consultants that are writing the digital blueprint for organisations – companies like Accenture, Deloitte, KPMG and the like. 2) The global SIs - the ones implementing these digital blueprints - Infosys, Wipro, Tata, Capgemini and so on, with their multinational footprints.

3) The Managed Service Providers - the ones who take the products and make it part of their network so it becomes a utility and a service that can be delivered to organisations that don’t want to do it themselves.

4) The VARs - that have built a cybersecurity practice and understand risk in the cyber world and 5) Alliances - Elite cyber security vendors that sell a lot of diverse products. By partnering with SAFE, they can assess how well their solutions are implemented and can plug any gaps that are uncovered.

So, how future-proof are SAFE Security’s products?

Sleiman points out that SAFE Security is not a defence mechanism or an in-line technology. “We integrate and ingest signals and data from over 100 Cyber Security vendors and use concepts like Bayesian Network and Monte Carlo Simulations that are used by Financial and Insurance companies to assess risk. We also leverage a comprehensive set of standards and frameworks such as NICE, NIST, ISO, CIS, STIG, MITRE, and many others. We have codified all the controls in these standards and have done an incredible amount of automation in the way we apply all these controls to people and various www.tahawultech.com

assets in the organization to have a prescriptive and quantitative score indicating breach likelihood and dollar value impact.

All of it bubbles up into the overall organisational risk…

This is something really unique in the industry.”

Sleiman also notes that at the end of the day, none of it is as complicated as it sounds.

“There’s an incredible amount of intimidation for any professional, no matter how skilled, when they hear about things like AI, Machine Learning, Automation & Predictive Analysis.

There’s also no doubt that there is a huge amount of complexity and genius behind these technologies.

However, the great thing is that organisations don’t have to deal with these complexities - we’re bringing it to you as a utility in a natural language that is easy to use. Of course, you need to understand the basics like your network etc, in order to optimally configure the solution. But you’re not going to have to tweak and tune AI or any of those complicated technologies under the hood. It’s like flipping on a light switch - you press the switch and the light comes on. You’re not involved with the wires or the circuit breakers or any of the intricacies. What we do is similar. We’ve packaged all these intricate technologies into a SaaSbased product, and like the underlying principles of SaaS, it is all about simplification,” he adds.

Sleiman reiterates that the mistake businesses and governments make is they think they can use new technologies without making changes to their underlying business processes and regulatory frameworks. The rise in digital has created more security risks. And these risks don’t only extend to government agencies or financial service firms. It is integrated into our supply chain, which impacts every company and every person.

In conclusion, Cherif indicates that if we are to break the current vicious cycle of ‘the more we invest, the more we get breached’, then a real bold step is required by various government bodies and ministries as well as enterprise security and risk management leaders to embrace a Cyber Risk Quantification mindset and institutionalise such practice in their organizations. Only then, we can say we are heading to a safer digital future.

Switch to smart, sustainable solutions during GITEX Technology Week 2021.

As Middle East organisations look to make changes that increase their efficiency and costsavings while decreasing their eco-footprint, Epson showcases smart, sustainable switches at GITEX Technology Week 2021.

Epson’s range of solutions support the region’s fastest-growing industries across the corporate, retail, immersive, and education sectors. Epson is also underscoring its leadership in home technology solutions during the event and revving up visitors with an automotive racing challenge and a chance to win an Epson EF-11 projector.

“Epson is leading the way in enabling both businesses and consumers to make simple technology switches within a range of sectors.

Whether it’s delivering an optimal hybrid learning or working environment, or the most dynamic immersive entertainment experience, Epson aims to enhance how the region’s companies drive their business dynamically – visit us at GITEX 2021 to see for yourself”. said Jason McMillan, sales director, Epson Middle East.

Business solutions Epson’s interactive display solutions, such as projectors and visualisers, can support physical distancing in meeting rooms and more engaging presentations for remote workers. Middle

East organisations that adopt interactive display solutions, business scanners and business inkjet printing solutions, can optimise their costs, efficiency, and sustainability.

Retail solutions The majority of Middle East organisations in the retail and hospitality sector, including small businesses, are looking at ways to advance and digitise processes. Epson offers several products such as TM-m30II-S mPOS devices and ColorWorks C6000 label printers that can transform point-of-sale and customer experiences, improve brand communication, and reduce cost and paper waste in the process.

Showcasing agile switches to low-cost retail solutions, the Epson stand will also display digital signage solutions such as the EB800F ultra-short-throw display solution. and Lightscene EV-105 lighting projector.

Education solutions As educational institutions continue with hybrid learning environments, Epson will feature education technology innovation that helps to support the changing roles of the teacher as well as creative collaboration and social distancing in the classroom. Epson’s simple educational switches include interactive display solutions, education document cameras, inkjet printers and scanning

Whether it’s delivering an optimal hybrid learning or working environment, or the most dynamic immersive entertainment experience, Epson aims to enhance how the region’s companies drive their business dynamically”.

solutions for an optimal learning environment – bringing learning to life.

Home solutions Epson will showcase compact and affordable home solutions that can enhance efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of remote working. Visitors can experience EcoTank printers, the economical alternative to traditional ink cartridge printers.

Epson will also launch scalable and cost-effective streaming solutions for home viewing and gaming experiences. The new line-up includes the stylish ELPSC35 ultra-short throw projector screen supporting laser TV projection and EH-LS500W laser projector, which allows for 4K streaming via HDMI. Immersive experiences Switch to state-of-the-art immersive technology with Epson, the world’s leading manufacturer of projectors with over a third share of the global projector market. Its high lumen laser projectors will be used to create and demonstrate an immersive and interactive experiential environment at GITEX. Recent Epson research reveals 75% of Middle East respondents have missed going to technologically enhanced events and attractions during the pandemic so there is expected to be a strong ‘bounce back’ for the events industry.

Epson’s solutions are in line with UAE’s leadership in using technology to transform the customer experience post-pandemic.

The line-up on display at GITEX also includes projectors for retailers, hospitality organisations, museums, and visitor attractions to differentiate customer experiences with more impactful signage and experiential immersive displays.

Sustainability Sustainability is a high priority for Epson and the company aims to make a difference in overcoming global environmental issues through its innovative technologies.

Its pioneering range of printers with HeatFree technology help customers and business partners switch to ecofriendly solutions and lower their environmental footprint, requiring less energy and fewer replacement parts without compromise.

The ‘Turn Down the Heat’ campaign, a collaboration between Epson and National Geographic, aims to encourage and raise awareness of how businesses can reduce their impact on global warming and will also be activated at the stand.

In addition, Epson will officially launch PaperLab to the region. PaperLab is the first in-office, paper secure recycler in the world, that turns wastepaper into new paper. It helps businesses securely destroy sensitive information, recycle, reduce environmental impact and take control of paper supplies.

“Epson is delivering solutions that address the specific needs of the Middle East’s fastest-growing and recovering sectors, including education, retail, entertainment, and corporates that are welcoming colleagues back to the office”, continued McMillan.

“GITEX provides the platform to demonstrate our innovation and commitment to accessible, environmentally-aware solutions that meet the highest standards of our customers”.

Visitors can experience Epson solutions in Hall 4, H4-D20 of the Dubai World Trade Centre during GITEX Technology Week, running from 17-21 October 2021.

@tahawultech

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Dev Mehta, director, International Marketing at Virsec

Jabra and Alpha Tech celebrate partnership Jabra and Alpha Tech celebrates 20 years of partnership in the MENA region.

Julien Arnolda

What do you like most about a career in marketing?

Marketing is one of the strongest pillars of an organisation’s growth.

What fascinates me the most about marketing is the creative exposure that allows one to innovate and, with today’s modern marketing tools, quantify it into measurable outcomes that contribute to the larger organisational goals. Marketing is all about creating a brand, a legacy that is sustainable and continuously yields results for the organisation.

Tell us about a defining point in your career.

Ahh, there have been a few. But the career move that I am most proud of is the one I took during the pandemic. I had a stable marketing role with one of the leading global organisations and then an opportunity came my way to work with my current employer, Virsec, a cybersecurity startup, which was looking to grow in the international market. I saw this position not only as an amazing learning opportunity, but also as an incredible chance to help create what I mentioned earlier -- a brand, a legacy.

The organisation has a fantastic goal to make Cyberattacks irrelevant.

With our innovative solution, I can’t envision a better story to be a part of then making the world a safer place to do business and building a more secure environment for nations against attackers. It was a defining moment when I had a call with my current CEO and he said, “Dev, we are on a mission and are you fully onboard?” My answer was an instant YES! A

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career is only as good as the risks you have taken and the stories you make, be it of success or failure, It’s all about reinventing, redefining and being deterministic and true to your goals.

In your opinion, what are some of the most important qualities that a marketing professional should have?

Being Bold: It’s important for marketers to shun silos and be open to new creative thoughts, ideas and be bold. It’s ok if you fail, but that’s the beauty of being a marketer – it’s all about bringing innovation, a bold attitude and a commitment to make a difference to the role.

Being Analytical: In the world we live in, everything has to drill down to Return on Investments (ROI) and marketers should be Analytical. It’s great to try new campaigns, activations, and strategies, but it is equally important to measure the outcomes.

With all the intelligent marketing tools out there, it’s becoming simple yet complicated and hence a 360 analytical approach is important.

Long term mindset: I am a cricket fan and I like to make the analogy that marketing is not for T20 or one day players but rather it’s like a test match. It’s a long game – sales cycles can be long and you might have a bad day today or a good day tomorrow. But if you are consistent and optimistic, and have a focused team approach, you can contribute to the larger goal every day and, in the end, be victorious.

A leisure weekend for me means wandering to a nearest undisclosed location in the lap of nature for a trek, hike or just feeling nature in all its glory. I am a Musafir by heart and the journey never stops!

Three things you absolutely cannot do without, and why?

My sanity and strength, My family Food, I am big foodie and love trying new cuisines that make me travel the world.

Music, It allows me to think, be creative and set a zone.

Jabra, an audio solutions specialist today announced the renewal of partnership with Alpha Tech for their enterprise and consumer product categories as the regional logistics partner and GCC distributor.

This milestone marks two decades of strategic association and collaborative partnership between the two companies.

The partnership was established in 2001. Alpha Tech, based in the UAE, is a well-established retail and enterprise distribution partner with offices and warehouse facilities in Dubai.

As the regional logistics partner for Jabra, the activities undertaken include providing support in sales and marketing, warehousing and logistics and establishing new partners and managing existing channel partners.

Edouard de Fonclare

Alpha Tech, Managing Director, Julien Arnolda, said, “We are very delighted to share this long partnership with Jabra and see this as a great achievement for us.

Having associated with the brand for more than two decades, I can say we have been able to successfully create a strong foothold for Jabra in the MENA region. We look forward to a fruitful and strong relationship in the years to come”.

On account of the 20year partnership, Edouard de Fonclare, Head of Distribution EMEAR & CALA said, “Our agreement with Alpha Tech has acted as a catalyst to further cement our presence in the region on the enterprise business communications solutions.

The cooperation and support from Alpha Tech has

been the backbone of our success in the region. Having understood our brand vision and strategy they were able to successfully establish Jabra as a market leader in intelligent audio and video solutions to meet diverse needs of consumers and businesses across the region”.

Alpha Tech provides a comprehensive service that extends from product management to sales and marketing, logistics and trading, distribution, and merchandising. Its distribution centre in Dubai provides fast and efficient cargo clearance, convenient access to international freight forwarders and logistics companies. Jabra and other customers benefit from Alpha Tech’s online service and comprehensive administration services.

What does the leisure/ weekend mean to you?

@tahawultech

www.tahawultech.com

The Tipping point for Digital Transformation GIDEON WILKINS, Senior EMEA Partner Manager, HelpSystems talks about HelpSystems and digital transformation.

GIDEON WILKINS

HelpSystems, established in 1982, is an American information technology and software company based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, working in the areas of

systems and network management, business intelligence and security and compliance ‘We believe in building an affordable and accessible solutions for all customers,

not just the largest enterprise customer.

We aspire to help built better IT for organisations by giving them logical, simple and easy to use Enterprise grade solutions around automation and service security’, says Gideon Wilkins, Senior EMEA Partner Manager, HelpSystems.

‘We focus in the following key areas – automation and cybersecurity. Within cybersecurity, our MFT (Managed File Transfer) portfolio is world class. Our products GoAnywhere and Globalscape are market leading MFT solutions.

In the data classification

space, we own two top brands in the world, Titus and Boldon James. On the automation side, we have seen the rise of Automate from nowhere a year ago in the magic quadrant to being a market leader

Bulwark’s efficient team helped in taking our message to our customers and helping us sell our solutions and building relationships with the channel”.

Veeam showcases latest offerings Claude Schuck, Regional Director, Middle East talks about latest Veeam offerings and the need to foresee and adapt technology trends before disaster strikes.

Claude Schuck

What key solutions are Veeam Software showcasing this GITEX? Some of the key things, the three pillars that Veeam brings to GITEX this year is around cloud, containers and security.

Most customers need to have a good understanding of what cloud brings to an organisation and why

it is important. Before pandemic, we had a centralised office where everyone was in one place. Now it’s become decentralised. Data moved all over the place and security became a concern.

And then the last one is containers. Containers, Kubernetes, back up of the same. The next thing

after VMware is app virtualisation.

We acquired a product called as Kasten last year.

It helps you backup those application real-time. That is important because most customers and enterprises are looking at that for their apps. There is a big thing around app virtualisation.

You can scale up and you can scale down. So, when you have more traffic, more customer needs, it creates more applications and when it is quite at night it puts them down to sleep. That is a very much like pay per use, using resources and utilities only when you need them.

What is your take on the current rise of Ransomware attacks?

Ransomware attack is on the rise especially in Middle East. We have

our latest product called Ransomware Protection.

What does it do? Basically, when we take a backup of your data, we make it immutable. Immutable means we lock it whereby you cannot make any changes to the file. You can read the file, but you can’t change anything in it. You take a backup, you make it immutable, you choose the time be it 10,15, 30 or 90 days. Even if you get hit by an attack, that software is going to go in and change the files to lock them. We

today,’ adds Wilkins with pride.

Wilkins goes on to say about how he believes the pandemic was just a tipping point that led to mass digital transformation.

‘I have been talking about digital transformation in my career for the last 10 years and it’s an ongoing journey.

It’s not a new phenomenon.

With all social and technology things, you need a tipping point that gives it the impetus. With the Covid pandemic we suddenly had organisations overnight change the way they operate their businesses. There being no DR or business plan to handle something of that magnitude and longevity, companies had to quickly figure out how to enable all their users to work from home and at the same time secure them to do their job. In this regard

both automation and service security side of the businesses has seen a major uptake last year.

We help the customers secure remote users, move data around in public and private network securely and at the same time be compliant and auditable.

This is something that HelpSystems has been helping companies with for many years especially last year’.

He goes on to say about how Bulwark, distributor for HelpSystems have been amazing with reaching out to the channel.

‘The Middle East is one of our growth regions.

Bulwark’s efficient team helped in taking our message to our customers and helping us sell our solutions and building relationships with the channel. It has been an amazing partnership.’

take that file and make it immutable. You can be one hundred percent sure, that if you get attacked and you have immutable back up, you can return to business within hours.

but above all, it affects your brand reputation and your workforce. So, security will always be top option in the Middle East.

What is your take on the Security landscape and adopting new security trends in this region?

Security in the region is top of the line. We have done many studies and surveys and when we speak to customers, security is their number one worry and their number one spend.

Not only can it affect your day-to-day business and revenue and other problems

You can be one hundred percent sure, that if you get attacked and you have immutable back up, you can return to business within hours”.

What new technology trends do you see being widely adapted in 2022?

In terms of where the Middle east is, customers have started trusting the cloud and utilising it more than before. There is a reason for that. The big players have now put bricks and mortar in the country. So, there is a general peace of mind that the big public providers are within the country. The pandemic has also forced organisations to adopt the cloud. Cloud is still not mainstream in this region.

To conclude, I just have this message, 18 months ago you went through the worst of it. Think of what would you do differently if you had the chance again 18 months ago? Have you done that? Have you transformed? If not, what are you waiting for?

Motadata exhibits at gitex2021 with bulwark technologies MotaData is a unified IT Infrastructure Monitoring, Log & Flow Management, and IT Service Management Platform, offering operational insights into customers IT infrastructure and its performance and is designed to identify & resolve complex problems faster that ensures 100% uptime of all business-critical components. Ankit Dave, Territory Sales Manager, MotaData, talks to CPI. Can you tell us more about your new products?

We have an indigenously developed product which is known as AIOps and ServiceOps. It’s built on the Deep Learning Framework for IT operation (DFIT). It helps IT teams to have IT operations done in an efficient way and is very cost effective.

Ankit Dave

Why did you choose to exhibit at GITEX 2021?

We have an avid interest in technology platforms and GITEX being a technology platform, not only provides www.tahawultech.com

us an opportunity to showcase our solutions but also is a great opportunity to meet new customers and to network with other key people.

How does customers ever changing needs challenge you to provide them with solutions?

Ever since we started MotaData which is

more than 10 years back, we have considered client’s pain points as our challenge and worked on it. We saw a gap in Unified monitoring space and developed a solution which is in true sense a unified

We saw a gap in Unified monitoring space and developed a solution which is in true sense a unified solution”.

solution. When I say unified solution, it’s not only on the metric level, but metric, log, flow, traces everything can be seen on a single dashboard, on a single console. In that way it’s a truly unified solution that we have developed.

On the newer versions of our solutions which has the AI and ML capabilities, it detects the different positive and negative anomalies and chaos in the system and reports it to concerned people.

Can you tell us more about how Middle East as a market has been for MotaData?

The Middle East has been a key region to MotaData.

We have been working in this region and investing heavily in developing the channel and the customers. We have been in the market for four years and have managed to penetrate it in an organised way and we are continuing our journey.

Bulwark Technologies has been a fantastic partner in this journey. The zeal and enthusiasm of the team has been fantastic in client introduction, in closing deals and in supporting the customer.

We couldn’t have been happier.

@tahawultech

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Connecting People Loubna Imenchal, head of video collaboration for AMECA region (Africa, Middle East Turkey & Central Asia) on the growing importance of video collaboration and the immense potential of technology to bring people closer. A RESELLER EXCLUSIVE.

Loubna Imenchal

Tell us about the importance of video collaboration for organisations.

There is no doubt that organisations across all verticals have accelerated their digital transformation journey since COVID-19 hit. Hybrid models of operating have become the norm, and teams have been forced to work and collaborate in more innovative ways.

As part of their broader transformation plans, and given the current scenario, organisations increasingly understand the value of video collaboration tools to keep teams connected and collaborate effectively — with each other, and with partners

and clients.

In the current situation, with restrictions on people’s movement having an impact on the ability of organisations to collaborate, video collaboration tools have an important role to play in helping organisations execute their plans effectively, and they can overcome these obstacles by investing in the right video conferencing tools for their needs.

In the past 18 months, video conferencing went from being an optional solution to a ‘must have’ solution. As the trend continues to gather momentum, it becomes even more imperative for organisations not to

be left behind.

Before the pandemic, executives travelled to physical meetings and used video conferencing only occasionally — usually for calls with colleagues or clients in another city or overseas.

But now the situation has transformed, and video conferencing has become the primary means of holding meetings. Furthermore, organisations in the Middle East increasingly understand the importance of having the best possible quality audio and video to enhance their meetings and to make a good impression on partners and customers.

As the Middle East begins to emerge from the pandemic we expect to see demand remain strong. While organisations will no doubt return to having some face-toface meetings and limited business trips, video conferencing will remain a pillar of communications and

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@tahawultech

hybrid work.

Organisations will also scrutinise the value of face-to-face meetings and business travel with more zeal than before, and management will be acutely aware that executives can take part in more video conferencing meetings than face-to-face meetings on a given day. The potential productivity gains and cost savings are enormous.

In terms of engendering a culture of collaboration, video conferencing tools are also an important tool for keeping your workforce active, engaged, and connected with their colleagues.

This is important for people working remotely and can have an impact on an organisation’s ability to retain talented staff.

What advice would you give to young women colleagues in the tech industry?

The technology industry has always been maledominated, and while the gender balance is slowly improving, there remains a lot of work to be done. For many young women interested in a career in technology, this imbalance can be intimidating.

The advice I would like to give to young women is: follow your interests, have confidence in your abilities, and be persistent, because you have as much right to develop a career in technology as anybody else. Also, the sector needs you! Diversity is good for business and good for society, so you will be helping develop the sector and paving the way for more women to follow in your footsteps. There are also plenty of mentors who can help you on your journey and advise you on how to tackle any perceived barriers you encounter.

The rewards of pushing outside your comfort zone are always worth it.

What initially led you to work in the technology field, and what do you most like about it?

There are many things I like about working in the technology sector. One of the main aspects is working at the bleeding

edge of innovation: It is inspiring work that fulfils a real need. Technology drives the way the world functions and the way people live. It is a must in the present and it creates the future.

Technology is a broad, diverse sector with countless opportunities to develop and grow.

This makes it the ultimate ‘portable’ career, meaning you can find a suitable, interesting role almost anywhere. From app development to computer forensics, cyber security to web design, the range of job roles and industries that fall under the technology umbrella is huge.

I’ve always believed that it is important to feel like you are making a positive difference to society through your career. Many technology roles help make the world a better place, either by improving people’s lives, helping businesses to operate smarter, or boosting efficiency and saving energy.

Aside from this, it is also a pleasure to have a role where you see tangible results from your efforts. It is hugely satisfying to see a large,

While organisations will no doubt return to having some face-to-face meetings and limited business trips, video conferencing will remain a pillar of communications and hybrid work.” complex project reach completion, and see the difference it makes to the customer.

I particularly enjoy contributing across different sectors, especially the education sector, and providing this generation the option of mobility and flexibility to work and study from everywhere.

More specifically, in my current role as Head of Video collaboration for AMECA region (Africa, Middle East Turkey, and central Asia) at Logitech, I believe that connecting people through technology is a valuable mission.

Along with my team I am helping to enhance peoples’ relationships and give them the freedom to choose their way of working and studying.

Tell me about your education and career path to date.

I started my career with Alcatel North Africa while pursuing my MBA at Ecole des Ponts Business School and later moved to FedEx as managing director for the MENA region, which gave me valuable insights and perspectives on multiple industries, and a strong understanding of the MENA region.

In 2008, I joined Honeywell as business unit director and had the chance to work closely with an excellent management team who proved to be great career mentors. In 2018, I joined Johnson Controls as VP of the EMEA region, before taking on my current role with Logitech, an organisation that is a true technology leader and has a great culture.

Who have been your strongest influences in life?

My mother influenced me greatly from a very young age: seeing her raise three children while gaining a college degree and running a family business taught me a lot about motivation and multitasking. She was an inspirational role model who always told me that I can achieve anything in life through persistence, ethics and responsibility.

What do you like to do when you are not working?

When I’m not working, I like to spend quality time with my family.

I am also conducting research for a book I intend to publish on the last three generations - Generation X, Millennials and Gen Z, their relationship with technology, and our journey to become a data-oriented society.

I am fascinated by this topic and how technology is transforming our lives, society, and the way we perceive ourselves.

I also enjoy scuba diving — it is a great release to explore beneath the surface of the ocean. It’s a different world and gives you a new perspective on life. www.tahawultech.com

Focus on mission-critical communication solutions Walid Lahoud, Head of Sales Middle East, North Africa and Asia at Secure Land communications, Airbus, on the mission critical communications and solutions it is highlighting at GITEX 2021.

Airbus is showcasing the role of its mission-critical communication and collaboration solutions at GITEX 2021. In fact, it is giving visitors a chance to view its portfolio of hybrid solutions with multimedia capabilities at its stand which is part of the Nedaa pavilion.

Airbus’ solutions provide seamless, secure, and fast communication and collaboration solutions tailored to different needs and user types.

These include front-line workers, security and emergency personnel,

public safety officials, government employees and transportation and aviation sector employees, among others.

Deploying reliable and secure hybrid communication solutions with multimedia capabilities is critical to saving lives and property”.

Some of the solutions on display include Airbus’ Tactilon Agnet new Unified Client feature, Tactilon Agnet with Multimedia capabilities, Everus Manpack, and Airbus’ Tactilon Dabat.

Walid Lahoud, Head of Sales Middle East, North Africa and Asia at Secure Land communications at Airbus, said that the Tactilon Agnet Unified Client combines Tactilon Agnet Multimedia capabilities and Tactilon Agnet 800 hybrid solution on the same cloud, while Tactilon Agnet Multimedia

with drone imagery is designed to enable live video streaming to Tactilon Agnet from a drone through LTE Network.

Airbus’ lightweight Everus Manpack provides high bandwidth mobile IP connectivity using standard LTE, allowing coordination anywhere, anytime. Tactilon Dabat

is a smartphone and a Tetra radio in-one.

Thanks to its Hybrid Roaming feature, it allows users to communicate efficiently and seamlessly switch between Tetra or LTE network services, according to availability.

“Deploying reliable and secure hybrid communication solutions with multimedia

Ajman Free Zone Launches ‘Artificial Intelligence And Robotics Hub’ Ajman Free Zone Launches ‘Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Hub’ at Gitex Global 2021.

In support of the UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (AI) 2031, the Ajman Free Zone has launched its “Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Hub” at GITEX Global 2021.

On the sidelines of its GITEX participation, Ajman Free Zone signed five Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with Huawei Cloud, AI Directions, Nippon, Action to Action, and Project Management Institute (PMI) to drive technology investments focused on AI and robotics H.E. Eng. Ali AlSuwaidi, Director General of Ajman Free Zone, said: ‘ We aim to show our support for the UAE Strategy for AI 2031, which seeks to position the UAE as a global leader in the AI sector and the strategy of Ajman government to modernise the services in the emirate by adopting new technologies and keeping pace with current and future trends and developments.”

‘We realised that specialised centres to help and support SME’s and startups were missing in the industry. Keeping this in mind, we had discussions with major focus groups, business partners. The more the discussion happened, the more the need for a hub materialised.

We signed with major business partners like Huawei, AI direction, Nippon, Action to Action and Project Management Institute (PMI).’

AlSuwaidi explained that Ajman Free Zone’s

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expanding network of strategic partners enables it to connect with major corporations that can influence and help shape the future of key industries.

“Through our joint efforts with leading international companies, we can further increase the competitiveness and attractiveness of Ajman Free Zone by upgrading our digital capabilities and enhancing our value-added services provided through an integrated platform. We will continue to offer easy and fast access to our wide range of cost-effective facilities, incentives, and innovative solutions according to the current and emerging needs of businesses and investors”.

AlSuwaidi added: “The MoUs are very important as they are centred on the technology industry, which is an important sector for us. These partnerships reflect our continuous commitment to develop our digital infrastructure and accelerate our digital transformation. Through our various operations, services and procedures, we can establish a more attractive, competitive, and inclusive business environment that brings happiness to customers.”

The Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Hub will empower small and medium enterprises (SMEs), large companies, academic institutions, and government entities. Apart from having digital access to services, enterprises and organisations registered with the free zone can also leverage the hub to develop,

enhance and promote their products and services, as well as join training programs and events such as webinars.

‘The hub will be very active by having weekly and monthly activities on different areas. Webinars, launching of new services by companies and even training services etc. We even have a special theatre

for companies to launch their products and to do their training sessions. Also, we have a lab which can be used for testing purposes.’

The free zone continues to expand its partnerships with major institutions and companies, including Ajman University and the Emirates Development Bank. Moreover, it remains committed to enhancing

its digital infrastructure and integrating advanced technologies into its operations to facilitate ease of doing business and attract more investors. Its commitment is aligned with its mission to position Ajman as a leading destination for regional and global businesses ‘We believe there will be more and more demand

capabilities is critical to saving lives and property.

Our technologies are designed to support and enhance team coordination and collaboration, leading to more efficient emergency response. We aim to help bridge gaps in coordination and lower safety risks through our solutions”, he added.

for such services. More and more businesses are utilising AI. I believe AI will be the new buzz word. AI is going to be in every industry. We have seen machines being developed. People are looking for developing their own business, new opportunities, new inventions. All these will be eased by AI and made easier and efficient. The human being tendency is there to be resilient and more active. AI will give them tools for our minds to find new solutions to use technology. I believe everyone sees it now.’

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Al Jammaz Technologies

Stand: H3 - entrance

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Alpha Data www.tahawultech.com

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Avaya 20

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HPE 22

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Jabra www.tahawultech.com

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RING 24

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