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SYSTEMS INTEGRATOR GUIDE 2018 OVERDUE: A BLOCKCHAIN REALITY CHECK

THE TRUTH ABOUT AI AND GCC JOBS THE ENTERTAINER: POST DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

COURT OF THE FUTURE DIFC COURTS CEO AMNA SULTAN AL OWAIS BIDS TO RESHAPE THE WORLDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S LEGAL INDUSTRY FROM DUBAI

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Contents

Cloud and Managed Services Partner

Transformation and Technology Specialist Partner

ISSUE 319 | SEPTEMBER 2018

SI GUIDE 2018

DIFC COURTS AIMS TO SHAKE UP LEGAL INDUSTRY

"WORLD NEEDS A BLOCKCHAIN REALITY CHECK": TRISTAR IT HEAD

Latest news CNME gives you a roundup of the biggest news stories from the world of technology over the last month, from across the Middle East and the globe.

40 The new age of IT

Dell Technologies and VMware CIO Bask Iyer looks back to the late 90s to compare how the IT department has come to the fore of business transformation.

30 Clear view

After implementing a range of effective network visibility tools, Juma Al Majid Group has built a robust platform for softwaredefined networking.

34 Through the looking glass

Salman Yusuf, Takeleap's managing director, shares his story of how the five-year-old VR specialist has grown to become a trusted partner to the public and private sector.

36 Beyond the hype

THE ENTERTAINER CIO DAVID ASHFORD

FOUNDER, CPI MEDIA GROUP Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015)

Prototype CEO Alexander Rauser began his career in the German music industry, but now leads one of the region's top technology advisory firms.

IN THE LAST ISSUE OF CNME, WE INCORRECTLY CAPTIONED THIS PHOTO. IT IS ACTUALLY MOSTAFA KABEL, ARROW ECS MIDDLE EAST'S TECHNICAL MANAGER.

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NEWS

AMAZON JOINS APPLE IN THE $1 TRILLION CLUB

Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO

mazon.com made history after becoming the second publicly traded US company to reach the historic threshold after Apple. The e-commerce giant achieved the milestone after its stock price

more than doubled in a year as it grew rapidly in retail and cloud computing. Its shares traded as high as $2,050.50. Apple took almost 38 years as a public company to achieve the trilliondollar milestone, while Amazon got

SAUDI ARAMCO RACKS UP TECH PATENTS

Saudi Aramco is boosting its patented technologies after doubling its scientist headcount to 1,300. The US Patent and Trademark Office granted the oil giant 230 6

SEPTEMBER 2018

patents last year, four times as many as in 2013 when it racked up 57. Technologies “provide a competitive advantage … whether it’s for one shareholder or several shareholders,”

there in 21 years. While Apple’s iPhone and other devices remain popular and its revenues are growing, it is not keeping up with Amazon’s blistering sales growth. Amazon has impressed investors by diversifying into virtually every corner of the retail industry, altering how consumers buy products and putting big pressure on many brickand-mortar stores. The company also provides video streaming services and bought upscale supermarket Whole Foods. And its cloud computing services for companies have become its main profit driver. Amazon – founded as an online book-retailer in Chief Executive Jeff Bezos’ garage in 1994 – started trading on May 15, 1997 at $1.50 on a split-adjusted basis.

Aramco’s chief technology officer Ahmad Al-Khowaiter said. In the past five years, Aramco has doubled the number of scientists in its labs, to 1,300 out of a total workforce of about 65,000, and opened nine research centres in cities including Detroit, Paris and Beijing. Its most recent patents have included fluids to break rocky oil formations using micro-particles, a docking station for mobile robots deployed in oilfields and techniques to remove carbon from fuels. The energy company has also recruited top scientists from oilfield services companies such as Schlumberger and Halliburton as well as French automaker PSA Group. Aramco is developing robots that inspect underwater pipelines, technologies aimed at easing the extraction of oil and gas trapped in rocky formations and new ways to use more of its crude to make chemicals. www.tahawultech.com

SAP OPENS UAE CLOUD DATA CENTRE

AP has announced the opening of its first cloud data centre in the UAE, marking a major milestone in the company’s 5-year $200 million investment plan for the UAE. SAP is among the first multi-national technology companies to open a cloud data centre in the UAE, providing secure, and scalable innovation solutions to further the UAE vision 2021 and the industry digital transformation. “The UAE is already at the forefront of technology innovation, and the UAE organisations that digitally transform on the cloud first will seize market share and business competitiveness,” said Gergi Abboud, senior vice president and general manager, SAP Middle East South. “Our cloud data centre will support UAE Vision 2021’s goals to accelerate diversified economic growth and smart

cities, support innovative startups and entrepreneurs, and fuel youth job creation in the fast-paced technology sector.” The data centre will allow UAE organisations to subscribe to SAP’s cloud solutions across 25 industries. The SAP Cloud Platform is now live

to support SAP customers’ together with SAP Ariba procurement software, SAP C/4 HANA customer relationship suite, SAP HANA in-memory platform, SAP S/4HANA real-time suite, as well as the SAP SuccessFactors human resources management system.

UAE TO MONITOR CLIMATE CHANGE WITH AI

Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, minister of Climate Change and Environment

www.tahawultech.com

The UAE Ministry of Climate Change and the Environment (MOCCAE) has launched its Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in collaboration with Khalifa University of Science and Technology and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) at the Ministry’s headquarters in Dubai. Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, minister of Climate Change and Environment, said, “The laboratory aims to protect the local environment by monitoring and analysing the available information accurately and using it in making the right decisions, based on the latest available global technologies, which play a pivotal role in the environmental sector, especially in the fields of monitoring, data analysis, communications and information storage and retrieval.”

The laboratory includes three main systems: real-time maps of solar photovoltaic locations in the UAE, a solar simulation system, an environmental monitoring system, which includes real time monitoring and forecasting, and a marine environment monitoring system. Solar photovoltaic maps and the solar simulation system contribute to optimal location planning for the use of solar panels for power generation, contributing to the mapping of an integrated system of the best locations for solar power plants. The environmental monitoring system, which includes real time monitoring and forecasting, provides satellite data on the concentrations of air pollutants and air quality index data. SEPTEMBER 2018

NEWS

HUAWEI SECURES NO. 2 SPOT IN GLOBAL SMARTPHONE MARKET

uawei surpassed Apple to secure the No. 2 worldwide smartphone vendor position for the first time ever, according to Gartner research, with Apple dropping into the No. 3 spot. Overall, sales of smartphones to end users grew 2% in the second

quarter of 2018 to reach 374 million units. Samsung maintained the No. 1 global smartphone vendor spot, declining 12.7 percent in the second quarter of 2018. Xiaomi’s focus on expanding its portfolio and adopting a unified

EGYPT WANTS ITS OWN ROBOT CITIZEN

Egypt is reportedly planning to build its own version of Sophia, the robot that was granted Saudi citizenship to dramatise the kingdom’s plan to build a $500 billion futuristic city. According to a report by Bloomberg, the unnamed Egyptian copycat will be 8

SEPTEMBER 2018

responsible for answering questions about the civil service law. Three companies are being considered to develop the artificial intelligence platform. It’s unclear why a robot is needed to answer questions about the law, especially as Egypt’s public sector

retail model by integrating offline and online retail is driving growth in a slowing global smartphone market. This helped Xiaomi secure the No. 4 spot in the global smartphone market in the second quarter of 2018. In the smartphone operating system market, Google’s Android further extended its lead over Apple’s iOS in the second quarter of 2018, securing 88 percent market share to 11.9 percent share for iOS. “Huawei’s smartphone sales grew 38.6 percent in the second quarter of 2018. Huawei continues to bring innovative features into its smartphones and expand its smartphone portfolio to cover larger consumer segments,” said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner.

employs more than 5 million civil servants. The Egyptian government hasn’t provided details on projected costs. The venture reflects the government’s ambitions to reshape the nation through mega-projects whose value has been questioned, and economic reforms that have pinched hard even as they draw investment. Work is under way to build a new multi-billion administrative capital, and the government has widened the Suez Canal. Construction is also underway on a museum to house Egypt’s treasured antiquities. The efforts have met with mixed reviews in Egypt. Many in the nation of over 96 million complain that the money is being spent on vanity projects at a time when austerity measures have made life even tougher. But officials argue that the measures, which included floating the currency and slashing subsidies, are key to winning over investors and reviving economic growth. www.tahawultech.com

TESLA SHARES PLUMMET AFTER MUSK ABANDONS BUYOUT

Tesla CEO Elon Musk

esla shares suffered a 5% drop after CEO Elon Musk abandoned plans to take the luxury electric car maker private. Musk said in a blog post that consultations done with the help of

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley had shown most of Tesla’s existing shareholders opposed the deal he proposed on Twitter. Tesla’s shares, already down nearly 10 percent from their level on

SAUDI ARABIA DECLARES HEAVY PENALTIES FOR OFFENSIVE SATIRE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Saudi prosecutors say they will punish satire on social media that “mocks, provokes or disrupts public order, religious values and public morals”. www.tahawultech.com

The punishment could be up to five years in prison and an $800,000 (SAR 3 million) fine. “Producing and distributing content that ridicules, mocks, provokes and disrupts public order, religious

7th August, just before Musk tweeted that he had “funding secured” for a buyout at $420 a share, fell 5 percent in trading in Germany to $263.50. Investors in Tesla’s bonds and convertible debt had also shown scepticism that the tens of billions of dollars needed for the buyout would materialise. With the Silicon Valley billionaire’s proposal for a buyout backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund now off the table, investors will focus on Tesla’s efforts to become profitable, the company’s cash reserves and what steps Musk could take to raise fresh capital. Musk and Tesla also face a series of investor lawsuits and the threat of a US Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the factual accuracy of Musk’s tweet that funding for the buyout deal was “secured”. Tesla had $2.78 billion in cash at the end of the second quarter, after a record $718 million loss.

values and public morals through social media … will be considered a cybercrime punishable by a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of SR3 million,” the Public Prosecution said in a tweet. Prosecutors have in the past used the Gulf kingdom’s anti-cybercrime law to prosecute critics of the government. However, the latest announcement emphasises that satire can now also get social media users in serious trouble. The prosecutors are also seeking the death penalty in the case against a Muslim Brotherhood supporter. In September 2017, authorities issued a public call for citizens to report on the social media activities of their fellow citizens, under a broad definition of ‘terrorist’ crimes. Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor said it was seeking the death penalty in the case against Sheikh Salman al-Awda, a prominent Islamist cleric arrested last year along with 20 others. SEPTEMBER 2018

DTS Solution

SI GUIDE 2018

CYBERSECURITY: BACK TO BASICS

Shah H. Sheikh, DTS Solution’s co-founder and senior cybersecurity consultant and advisor, gives his take on why organisations need to take penetration testing seriously, and why a lack of threat information sharing in the region is a huge risk to enterprises.

hy are systems integrators one of the most important parts of the IT value chain? The answer to this is simple – SI’s bridge the gap in competency and support ecosystems which are not easy to adopt in enterprises. Organisations need to go back to the basics instead of being driven by vendors. I often see organisations that have made large expenditures in cybersecurity products and solutions, yet when we perform a penetration test we are able to obtain full domain admin access within a matter of hours. How has DTS Solution proven itself to be an industry leader in systems integration? DTS Solution is a leading cybersecurity consulting and advisory firm with roots in system integration. Gone are the days of pure-play SI related work, if you don’t approach system integration in a consultative and advisory manner with a solid background in architecture and business requirements, turnkey projects are likely to fail. This is where we consider ourselves unique. We have delivered some of the most advanced cybersecurity integration projects in the region, from introducing security automation and orchestration in one of the first SDN/NFV next-generation data centre deployments, as well www.tahawultech.com

as designing and deploying security operations centres for IT and OT environments that protect critical infrastructure and implementing nationwide DDoS mitigation solutions. Are the Middle East’s systems integrators equipped to tackle market demand and complexity for digital transformation projects? At the current pace of digital transformation and innovations that are happening I would say that regional SI’s are somewhat lacking in ramping up core competencies. We see a lot of clients moving towards Blockchain, artificial intelligence, big data analytics and machine learning, yet the eco-system of talent is quite imbalanced. More needs to be done in the region to enhance the talent pool of data scientists, machine learning statisticians, blockchain developers. What levels of regional demand for SI services are you seeing across the world’s most emerging, gamechanging technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain? We are now seeing a major influx of RFPs from enterprises that want to use artificial intelligence and supervised and unsupervised machine learning capabilities to detect cyber threats across endpoints, network infrastructure and at the application

level. Enterprises can no longer cope with the demands of running security operations, where the number of cyber-threats simply outnumber the number of qualified and competent resources in the field. Automation is the key, but it has to be the right automation to support cybersecurity initiatives. Reducing cyber-risks and managing your risk posture is a form of art, and not a science. What are the biggest technological challenges faced by GCC enterprises, and how are you positioned to tackle those challenges? In cybersecurity the challenges are clear – how to stay protected from cyber adversaries that target you from all possible angles. Cybercriminals are very organised, yet organisations that work in specific sectors lack threat information sharing, collaboration and breach notification. We still see siloes across the industry, and this does not support cybersecurity initiatives. We need to move on from the notion of naming and shaming, as being breached is so common. I personally believe that declaring a breach is one of the most ethical things anyone can do, but yet it’s a taboo in our region. Things may change with regulatory requirements, but this has already My motto is simple – together we are stronger as a community. SEPTEMBER 2018

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Emitac Enterprise Solutions

SI GUIDE OPINION 2018

THE TEST OF TIME

Gautham Raj, CEO of Emitac Enterprise Solutions explains why the firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strong ecosystem of partners has helped to reposition the 42-year-old systems integrator.

re the Middle Eastâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s systems integrators equipped to tackle market demand and complexity for digital transformation projects? Historically, the Middle East has been a fragmented market, with the primary driver being data centre building and the rollout of packaged applications, meaning the market has been dominated by product vendors. With the launch of the Azure and AWS data centres in the region, customers will look at priorities beyond data centre building. Systems integrators cannot be resellers of cloud. This means they need to be managed services providers and true service players engaging in the digital transformation of clients. How has your organisation proven itself to be an industry leader in systems integration? Emitac is the oldest systems integrator in the country, with over 42 years of history. We started as a franchise of HP and evolved to be a true systems integrator. In the current wave of cloud and digital transformation, we have repositioned ourselves. We have retrained our staff and partnered with leading global services organisations to build capabilities to assess and migrate the appropriate workloads to the cloud. We have an exclusive agreement with 3i-Infotech to be a true managed www.tahawultech.com

services provider with a world-class NOC, connecting to an offshore team of more than 5,000 staff. We have introduced AI and machine learning to replace the Level 1 support in our managed services environment. We also bring together worldclass expertise from 3i-Infotech for mobility, Big Data, AI, machine learning and cloud. We have partnered exclusively with CloudHealth, for monitoring public cloud usage and to ensure that we bring down public cloud bills for our customers. What are the biggest technological challenges faced by GCC enterprises, and how are you positioned to tackle those challenges? Over the next 12-24 months, it will be the migration to cloud and managing the hybrid environment. We have the tools and expertise to identify the current environment of the client and advise on which workloads are ready for cloud migration and the benefits of moving to which cloud. Once the assessment is done, customers then look at the physical migration while avoiding the disruption of services. This is where Emitac can help clients, using our internal skills and our global partners to migrate with the least possible disruption. Emitac can help clients control costs using CloudHealth to ensure costs are within limits.

Why are systems integrators one of the most important parts of the IT value chain? System integrators will eventually have the full stake in ensuring project success for clients. Vendors sell pieces of the puzzle, but it is the systems integrator who brings together the different pieces of the solution, understanding the challenges of the client and ensuring that the client is successful with the project. On an ongoing basis, the SI provides support and acts as the bridge between the client and the different vendors. How are you working to ensure your clients are equipped with security, as well as availability and agility? For security, we have partnered with Zeronsec, a leading security services entity from India. We are able to offer the complete cycle of security services including advisory services, architecting services, implementation services and managing the security environment of the client. We have our own cloud offering â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Emitac cloud, and we also partner with Azure and AWS. In addition, we partner with leading organisations like Micro Focus, Veritas and Commvault. There are also new exciting technologies on the horizon, like Rubrik, who simplify information availability. SEPTEMBER 2018

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Infocomm

SI GUIDE 2018

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Nitin Awasthi, Infocomm’s division head for ICT, explains why systems integrators are playing a critical role in driving the GCC’s most transformative projects.

re the Middle East’s systems integrators equipped to tackle market demand and complexity for digital transformation projects? Systems integrators across the Middle East have been making tremendous efforts to equip themselves to tackle the growing market demand to address the complexity for digital transformation projects. The majority of SI’s are working alongside ICT players to deliver telecom operators’ country-wide expansion plans, and to deliver bandwidth-hungry broadband applications, including 5G, fiber-tothe-home, video or Big Data demands. How has Infocomm proven itself to be an industry leader in systems integration? System integrators play a vital role in any ICT project. We have always tried our best to be at the helm of the industry’s upcoming needs, and to make constant developments in our team’s skills and knowledge to sustain ourselves in today’s fast-moving, high-tech environment. The integrations needed to make systems work on single platforms have posed us with challenges on a daily basis, and we are continually striving to succeed, as we have done with several large-scale projects in the GCC. What levels of regional demand for SI services are you seeing across the world’s most emerging, www.tahawultech.com

game-changing technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain? Clearly, Blockchain and AI are two technological trends which, while ground-breaking in their own right, have the potential to become even more revolutionary when put together. Both serve to enhance the capabilities of the other, while also offering opportunities for better oversight and accountability. We have taken both technologies in our stride to be part of our long-term future vision and strategy for our year 2020 roadmap. What are the biggest technological challenges faced by GCC enterprises, and how are you positioned to tackle those challenges? The biggest technological challenges are the need for complete convergence, the fast-changing technology landscape and the ever-increasing demand for customer-centric solutions. We are working on some major hospitality, transportation and telecom operator projects, delivering end-to-end smart and converged ICT and ELV solutions for providing best-in-class products and solutions to offer enhanced customer satisfaction. Which industries do you believe are being most digitally transformed and why? Banking, government and telecoms are being most digitally

transformed. We can now make online bank transactions through our smartphone in any part of the world. The dependency to visit banks has reduced greatly. Digital transformation has also revolutionised the e-governance segment, across ministries and departments. Why are systems integrators one of the most important parts of the IT value chain? SI’s act as a catalyst in the complete ecosystem of the IT projects value chain. They act hand in hand to deliver the complex integration solutions. The role that SI’s play is pivotal as they directly face the heat of customer expectations, right from understanding requirements to execution and handover during the project lifecycle. Clients also expect continuous service support post-implementation, and this becomes very challenging when it comes to technology migrations. How are you working to ensure your clients are equipped with security, as well as availability and agility? Our technology partners’ robust system platforms and complex algorithms make it possible for us to provide our clients with stronger security. We also have products that offer high availability to further strengthen the customers’ core data centre environments to enable 24x7x365 support for their mission-critical applications. SEPTEMBER 2018

Raqmiyat

SI GUIDE 2018

TAILOR-MADE TECH

Raqmiyat’s chief executive officer Amer Khreino explains why the firm actively avoids a ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy when it comes to working with its customers.

ow has Raqmiyat proven itself to be an industry leader in systems integration? Keeping our interest and focus on customers’ success has helped in building our reputation. Raqmiyat is known for designing and implementing solutions that help organisations realise their fullest potential. ‘One-size-fits-all’ is not our philosophy. Most of our projects involve business consulting, data analysis, solution architecting and designing, QA and testing, data and systems migration and integration, and go-live support. Our services are extended to warranty and post warranty support. Are the Middle East’s systems integrators equipped to tackle market demand and complexity for digital transformation projects? It’s difficult to generalise, as this is specific to the strategic direction of every SI. As for Raqmiyat, the core of our vision 2020 is around digital transformation; moving faster towards smarter solutions. These types of projects require a comprehensive approach, with clear objectives including how these goals will add business benefits and financial gains to the organisation. This is more a question of consulting rather than implementation and commissioning. www.tahawultech.com

Which industries do you believe are being most digitally transformed? New technologies are extremely disruptive to most industries, as they touch the way these businesses are structured and operated. Banks are elevating their e-banking, virtual tellers and use of chatbots. Healthcare is seeing the transformation of operating theatres through robotics and, more broadly speaking, through implantable devices. Government customs and logistics providers, meanwhile, are providing new trading solutions to importers and exporters through Blockchain. In retail, predictive solutions and crowd management are being used to analyse customer behavior and buying patterns. What levels of regional demand for SI services are you seeing across the world’s most emerging, game-changing technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain? Today, most of our strategic customers are exploring the ways and means to work more efficiently – to improve their operating profit and elevate the customer experience. Artificial intelligence, Blockchain, implantable technologies, IoT and smart cities/homes and robotics are among the most in-demand today, besides cybersecurity, which acts as

a governing body to all critical data. However, demand is still picking up as customers learn how these technologies can add value to their businesses. The rate of adoption also varies between industries, where government, banking and financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and retail are the main beneficiaries from these technologies, changing their business model to more digitised, automated and predictive ones. Why are systems integrators one of the most important parts of the IT value chain? Anyone who has direct contact with customers is a crucial element of the supply chain. SI’s are trusted advisors to their clients, and the ones that orchestrate all parts to ensure the whole solution works in tandem. How are you working to ensure your clients are equipped with security, as well as availability and agility? We strive to work with technology partners that can deliver and can protect our customers’ assets and reputation. We recommend best practices, DR solutions and security frameworks that suit our customers’ budgets and goals. It’s all about risk and return that we present clearly to our customers, to decide what best works for them. SEPTEMBER 2018

STME

SI GUIDE 2018

SENSE IN SIMPLICITY

STME’s PMO director Mohannad Amr explains how challenges around security and IT complexity now demand have continued to increase the importance of the systems integrator.

ow has your organisation proven itself to be an industry leader in systems integration? As the first system data management integrator in the Middle East, STME, since being founded in 1982, has always adopted a differentiation strategy that focuses on carefully chosen niche solutions and technologies, and investing in the training of its engineers, along with careful attention to customer needs. STME has always been a leader in meeting the needs of enterprises in the region by focusing on the quality of its resources, and continually developing their skills. Partnering with the most advanced technology vendors in the industry puts STME in the best position to tackle these challenges. What are the biggest technological challenges faced by GCC enterprises, and how are you positioned to tackle those challenges? GCC enterprises face increased information and system security challenges due to the fact that the region is generally is one of the most targeted in the world, facing all kinds of IT security threats. This wasn’t always a top priority when security threats were far less widespread than they are today, but massive investments have been devoted to information and system security over www.tahawultech.com

the last 4-5 years. This trend has been accelerated by the political instability in some parts of the Middle East, which makes the cyberspace another realm that has to be defended. The desire to achieve economic diversification, meanwhile, requires innovative solutions to manage new sectors, and the growing volume of transactions in the existing ones. The diversified range of technologies in data centres these days always imposes challenges on the system integrator to ensure that all these systems work coherently and efficiently. What levels of regional demand for SI services are you seeing across the world’s most emerging, gamechanging technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain? The demand for Blockchain is currently greater in large government entities. Let us keep in mind that the means and location of data storage are in many cases governed by official regulations specific for different industries. Blockchain is not only an issue of a purely technical nature, but also an issue with legal and security aspects. On the other side, artificial intelligence is spreading in the form of upgrades and added features of many existing solutions, making its adoption more gradual. AI’s success will greatly depend on the ability to justify its effects on bottom line, and how it will help businesses to maximise their value.

Which industries do you believe are being most digitally transformed and why? The oil and gas and renewable energy industries seem to be leading in terms of digital transformation. Banking and finance are also showing a big interest in being digitally transformed. Sometimes, it is hard to draw clear lines between upgrades and improvements that entail large degrees of digital transformation and initiatives adopted with a clear digital transformation purpose in mind. Why are systems integrators one of the most important parts of the IT value chain? Systems integrators make things happen on the ground. They transform the nicely presented technologies from presentation slides to real data centres. They take the neatly displayed devices from showrooms to production environments. Systems integrators help businesses harvest the benefits of their investments and enable enterprises to stay focused on their industries while being well served by their information systems. The same can’t be said for other parts of the value chain, such as single technologies. Well established system integrators, like STME, realise the importance of providing the best solution that suits each customer environment and requirements using the wide range of technologies and skills in its arsenal. SEPTEMBER 2018

FEATURE

DIFC Courts

Amna Sultan Al Owais, chief executive and registrar, DIFC Courtsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

SEPTEMBER 2018

www.tahawultech.com

COURT-AS-ASERVICE Amna Sultan Al Owais, DIFC Courts’ chief executive and registrar, knows that legal systems have to change. The organisation is already aiming to be a pioneer in its Blockchain use and is committed to remaining ahead of the curve by embracing new technology and innovative approaches to dispute resolution.

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Why should courts be different from any other business around the world? People want choice and service. Choice creates competitiveness and cost-efficiency.” Amna Sultan Owais knows that the legal industry has been resting on its laurels for too long. The DIFC Courts chief executive and registrar, a judge for TahawulTech.com’s Future Enterprise Awards on Sunday 14th October at Jumeirah Emirates Towers, is committed to continuing the legacy of an institution that has already achieved global acclaim for its attitude to change. Al Owais has been in the role for a little more www.tahawultech.com

than eight months and is hoping to emulate the groundwork laid by her predecessors and colleagues. “Working with the likes of [former chief justice] Sir Anthony Evans, [current chief justice] Michael Hwang and [former CEO] Mark Beer has been an amazing opportunity,” she says. “They gave me a path to be myself and allowed me to contribute as a female Emirati.” Having been a part of the rise of DIFC Courts since groundwork for its launch began in 2006, Al Owais draws immense pride from being able to shape the organisation’s future. “I’ve grown with DIFC Courts,” she says. “I’ve built my experience and passion around what court systems should look

like, and I’m determined to make sure we set the benchmark for how courts operate in the future.” Governed by English common law, verdicts at DIFC Courts are enforced in jurisdictions including England, New York and Singapore. Its Smart Small Claims Tribunal – a video-driven digital court that can be accessed by case participants from around the globe – has already received international acclaim, while DIFC Courts has recently advised the Astana International Financial Centre on building a court system for English and common law in Kazakhstan. British member of parliament Antoinette Sandbach has previously lauded the system for being quicker SEPTEMBER 2018

FEATURE

DIFC Courts

than courts in the UK. “It’s amazing to help other court systems and nations,” Al Owais says. While DIFC Courts has already received widespread recognition for its innovative approaches to changing legal systems, the best is yet to come. “We’re halfway through our five-year strategy,” Al Owais says. “We want to deliver service and innovation excellence as well as connectivity. We depend on technology to enable us to achieve those objectives. Unless we use technology, we won’t be able to build a court of the future. It smooths and streamlines procedures and allows us to handle cases more efficiently.” Although Al Owais believes that DIFC Courts has already made its mark as an innovative technology end user, she is cognizant of the next steps it must take to remain ahead of the curve in the legal industry. “To an extent, I think we’re already there in terms of being technologically enabled, but now we have to think about how we can change mindsets in the legal industry,” she says. “One of the main advantages we have is that we’re a relatively small organisation, so we can move fast. We’ve got that flexibility to introduce change.” Al Owais knows that she must set the pace and tone for this transformation. “Leaders need to manage change and perception,” she says. “That allows others to be ambassadors for change. It’s all a question of mindset, how governments and judiciaries embrace technology, and whether they see it as a tool, instead of a threat.” At the core of DIFC Courts’ technology strategy is the commitment to promoting settlements among parties. “Our 22

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Issuing judgments alone isn’t a resolution. What’s more important is maintaining and saving relationships of business communities.

guiding principle is delivering a court as a service,” Al Owais says. DIFC Courts currently boasts an impressive record of resolved cases that testifies to this pledge – 80% of Small Claims Tribunal cases are resolved in less than four weeks, with AED 2.1 billion ($1.1 billion) of claims filed between January to June of this year. “We don’t believe that issuing judgments alone is a resolution,” Al Owais says. “What’s more important is maintaining and saving relationships of business communities. Having technology as an enabler and tool to succeed in our operations is really important, because it helps us to achieve that ultimate, overarching goal.” A crucial part of making courts accessible is ensuring www.tahawultech.com

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FEATURE

DIFC Courts

that the services at DIFC Courts are available to case participants around the globe. With the UAE sitting at the intersection of Europe, Africa and Asia, participants expect a first-class court experience without having to leave their home country. “Dubai is a centre for international trade and finance, and it needs technology to be as accessible as possible,” Al Owais says. “Systems need to be accessed from anywhere. Unless we make technology a key tool for us to look at future cases and initiatives, we will not be able to lead the way in how we maintain standards of service.” In July, DIFC Courts partnered with Smart Dubai to create the “world’s first” court of the Blockchain, an alliance that will explore how to aid the verification of court judgments for cross-border enforcement. The organisation’s joint research will combine expertise to investigate handling disputes arising out of private and public Blockchains, with regulation and contractual terms encoded within smart contracts. Currently, Blockchain-based smart contract transactions are irrevocable, and there is no technical means to unwind a transaction. The joint taskforce will model smart contracts across Blockchains that allow for various exceptions and conditions for more efficient dispute resolution. “We will use this platform to make our vision of using Blockchain a reality,” Al Owais says. “When we talk about Blockchain-powered courts, one key thing is the enforcement mechanism – working with partners around the world to make sure judgments are authentic. Transparency in the legal industry is so important. Within Blockchain, there’s 24

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If we think about technological change in a positive way, human intervention will always be needed in the legal profession.

no mechanism for security if things go bad. We’re looking at how we can go through the next phase and become the courts of choice for resolving smart contract-related disputes.” A similar partnership was agreed with the Dubai Future Foundation in 2017 to launch the Courts of the Future Forum, which aims to build a hub for best practices among worldwide courts and techpreneurs. “These kinds of alliances allow us to be at the forefront of technology,” she says. DIFC Courts is in the process of working towards fulfilling the objectives of Dubai’s 2021 Paperless Strategy and is looking to tackle the challenge in manageable chunks, the legal industry being famed for its attachment to paperbased processes. “We don’t want to give ourselves an impossible mandate,” Al Owais says. “We want www.tahawultech.com

Why should courts be different from any other business around the world? People want choice and service.

to tackle this objective in small pieces rather than taking the task on all at once. I want to make sure we are in line with UAE and Dubai strategies, and for DIFC Courts to deliver certainty and security for companies setting up in DIFC.” In September, meanwhile, DIFC Courts is looking to relaunch its case management system, which can already be accessed through the DIFC Courts website and portal, and will soon be accessible through an app. “This will be hugely helpful to our Small Claims Tribunal,” Al Owais says. Another low-key example of how the court’s thirst for technology is its innovative use of AV systems within the court rooms themselves. Motion sensor cameras and voicesensitive microphones are at play, amplifying speakers’ voices when needed. “Our court is wired www.tahawultech.com

with technology,” Al Owais says. “It’s important to use disruptive technology without disrupting the court itself.” Ever mindful of the future, Al Owais is already beginning to eye ways that DIFC Courts can prepare for an age in which staff will have to work alongside IT systems and machines. “If we think about technological change in a positive way, human intervention will always be needed in the legal profession,” she says. “Artificial intelligence will undoubtedly make things more efficient and will serve as another tool to make the judicial system more enabled and ready for future challenges.” Al Owais believes Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma hit the nail on the head at this year’s World Economic Forum, when he laid out his vision for how humans will work with machines in future. “He

said that we can’t teach children to compete with machines, and that teachers should focus on softer skills,” Al Owais says. “The future is coming, and we need to be equipped to handle a wave of new systems. There might be certain roles that diminish in influence, but other new ones will be created. I don’t see technology as a threat; we should embrace the fact that new things are coming our way. Instead of worrying about the rise of certain technologies and doing nothing about it, it’s important to be at the forefront of using new technologies.” In the meantime, Al Owais is proud to represent the human touch of DIFC Courts. As well as being one of its longestserving staff members, she is the organisation’s first Emirati female registrar. “I want to show to the community that with hard work, anything is possible, whatever industry you work in,” she says. “The support of the UAE Government is really helping to enable female participation in senior positions.” SEPTEMBER 2018

FEATURE

Tristar

“WORLD NEEDS BLOCKCHAIN REALITY CHECK” Tristar’s group head of IT Adam Lalani, who is a panellist at TahawulTech. com’s upcoming Power of 4 Fourth Industrial Revolution Forum, believes that the collapse in cryptocurrency prices has been a good-hygiene exercise for Blockchain, and that realism must trump hype around the technology.

key figure behind one of the Middle East’s shining Blockchain success stories has said that feverish excitement around the technology has the potential to do its prospects more harm than good. Tristar’s group head of IT Adam Lalani, who is a panelist on tahawultech.com’s upcoming Power of 4 Fourth Industrial Revolution as part of the Blockchain discussion on Monday 17th September, has already successfully implemented a Blockchain-based system that tracks the logistics company’s shipments across the region. However, Lalani believes that too many business owners and technology end users are being swept up in the hype of the distributed ledger technology, and that its risks are being largely ignored. “I do get sick of the excessive hype around Blockchain, because I personally don’t like it when people 26

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wax lyrical about something they have no idea about,” he says. “I may think a certain technological, scientific or engineering concept is a great idea, but I won’t go around saying it’s the next big thing if I actually have no idea about it, mainly because I don’t want to come across as clueless.” December 2017 saw the price of Bitcoin soar to almost $20,000, but it had plummeted to below $6,000 by June. This initial rise played a key role in the growing excitement around Blockchain, and Lalani believes that these price movements have served as a “reality check” for the technology. “I think the cryptocurrency collapse was actually a good thing in many respects,” he says. “There was so much hype around get-rich quick schemes, with people believing the $1,000 of Bitcoins they’d bought would become $100,000. Eight or nine months ago, people were buzzing over the price of Ripple and Ethereum, but now nobody talks about them.

People are now focused on the technology behind them.” Lalani also believes that while the benefits of Blockchain will be significant in the long run, discussions around its risks and current failings are few and far between. “No one hardly ever talks about the deficiencies of Blockchain,” he says. “Your Blockchain might store data, but you still need traditional databases for fast access to it. Without these databases, it’s like having to fast forward and rewind a cassette. If you have traditional databases reading off of the Blockchain, you can do fast searching, which allows for easier analysis.” These databases, according to Lalani, are Blockchain’s greatest weakness. “People need to understand that while you can’t tamper with the data on the Blockchain, data coming into a database can be manipulated. That is the major current flaw with Blockchain.” www.tahawultech.com

People are now focused on the technology behind cryptocurrencies. Adam Lalani, group head of IT, Tristar

With Tristar having already proven itself to be a standout example of Blockchain use in the Middle East, the firm has naturally attracted intrigue around the relatively light work it made of the innovative changes. This success, however, has also attracted observers with more sinister interests. “I’ve met and worked with some accomplished Blockchain developers who are absolutely competent in what they do, but organisations need to be careful who they work with,” he says. “Unfortunately, a lot of people profess to be Blockchain developers. They claim they can help you with Blockchain projects, but that is often absolutely not the case. Some people try to get information out of you by asking for about the user interface and dashboards that you’ve built to extract information. Some people know we’ve been successful with Blockchain, but now they want to steal our ideas. Great exposure is one thing, but you need to be careful how that manifests itself.” www.tahawultech.com

As well as unscrupulous would-be plagiarists, Lalani also warns against have-a-go Blockchain experts who are not up to the job. “These days, everyone who does any kind of software development thinks they can do Blockchain,” he says. “In a lot of cases that just waters down the quality of the output. Some companies haven’t got a clue. They offer you products and services, then once they’ve sold them to you only then do they try and figure out how to actually deliver them. Until there are developers with 3-5 years of experience, I don’t think we’ll really see Blockchain fully come to fruition, in spite of what anyone says.” Lalani also believes the hype machine is just as powerful about another hot tech topic of the age – artificial intelligence. Again, Lalani warns against industry pretenders who claim to have all the answers. “There are so many companies who come in and say they’ve got

a great AI product, and most of the time it’s absolute nonsense,” he says. “We have vendors who pitch us AI services or chatbots, but these platforms need to be fed with information. Like any other application, they need to be given a set of conditions for them to run. “For the likes of AI and Blockchain, realism is often not there because the path hasn’t been trodden. The media is definitely guilty of hyping certain technologies. It’s great to talk about what the future holds, but we need to be realistic about the present.” That realism, Lalani says, must be encouraged by the Middle East’s chief information officers and expert technology end users. “There needs to be a voice of sanity sometimes,” he says. “It’s great to have ideas and believe that things are possible, but it’s important to be realistic. You can only make something with the cards you are dealt.” SEPTEMBER 2018

FEATURE

The Entertainer

LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU The chief information officer of much loved two-for-one app The Entertainer has said that the firm has completed its digital transformation, and is now relishing the opportunity to scale its operations through technology and innovation.

eginning its journey in 2001 as a printed book of offers for restaurants in Dubai, The Entertainer quickly evolved into a popular app that is now used across the world, and was recently acquired for $100 million by Bahrain-based GFH Financial Group. The firm’s CIO David Ashford is a panelist for the IT automation discussion at tahawultech.com’s upcoming Power of 4 Forum, which is set to take place on Monday 17th September 2018 at the Habtoor Grand Resort and Spa, Dubai Marina, and he can’t wait to take the firm’s technology platform to a new level. “We’ve completed our print journey, we’ve completed our digital 28

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transformation, but now it’s time for us to scale to the next level,” Ashford said. “It’s now really important that we push on in the right way. When you’re doing something profitably and doing it right, you want to grow. It’s easier to grow when you have standards and uniformity, but it’s a question of striking a balance between innovation and standardisation. We want to push the boundaries to provide the best possible benefits to our stakeholders.” Ashford added that The Entertainer is committed to pursuing projects that will deliver tangible success, and not just technology for the sake of luxury.

“I think innovation for the sake of innovation is unsustainable,” he said. “Innovation for commercial gain is what we’re aiming for, and a big part of innovation is choosing the right projects to pursue. “We do what’s commercially attractive. We want to build a sustainable business. Every day, we’re learning how to achieve true success, by delivering what matters from a commercial point of view, not just things that are cool or funky.” Ashford added that The Entertainer has done a lot of work behind the scenes with its corporate clients, including Emirates, Samsung and HSBC. The Entertainer’s partnership with the former has resulted in a www.tahawultech.com

We’ve completed our print journey, we’ve completed our digital transformation, but now it’s time for us to scale to the next level.

solution that allows holidaymakers to enjoy discounted experiences around the world. Also key to The Entertainer’s technological evolution has been its fast-maturing policies around the use of data. “We have a few key principles around data,” Ashford said. “We don’t capture what we don’t intend to use. We will never, ever, disclose a user’s identity to a third party. We don’t ask for any information that we can learn ourselves, and we use data to make decisions wherever possible.” The Entertainer now has “about 70” employees working in a technology capacity, who are split into five teams: product innovation, engineering, data, operations (e-business) and special projects. “I don’t know another company with an e-business department,” Ashford said. Register now for the Power of 4 Forum to hear more from David, and join the conversation with over 300 technology experts and find out how the world is being reshaped by a new dawn of technology. www.tahawultech.com

David Ashford, CIO, The Entertainer

SEPTEMBER 2018

FEATURE

Juma Al Majid Group

Ahmad Al Shami, senior IT operations manager, Juma Al Majid

SEPTEMBER 2018

www.tahawultech.com

CLEAR VIEW Determined to maximise efficiency across all lines of business, Juma Al Majid Group has gone the extra mile to gain total visibility over its network, and has built a platform for innovation - and SDN - in the process.

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Without innovation, you cannot survive.” Being resourceful with technology is Ahmad Al Shami’s main remit, and speciality. The senior IT operations manager for Juma Al Majid – one of the UAE’s oldest and bestknown family businesses – knows that sometimes, the best technology solutions have simplicity at their core. “Innovation is about delivering more quality services, and, ultimately, keeping customers happier with less cost,” he says. “We don’t want to keep doing things in the same way, so it’s important that we try out new things to try and get different results. You need a brave heart for innovation, and you need initial failure to deliver longterm success.” With over 10,000 employees on its books, Juma Al Majid operates across a range of industries including contracting, retail, hotels and FMCG, as well as being the exclusive distributors for Kia and Hyundai in the UAE. Established in 1950, the firm has long since cemented its place as one of the country’s top family businesses. In line with Juma Al Majid’s success across a range of industries, IT complexity has inevitably resulted. Managing such a diverse group is no easy task, and “causes headaches” for Al Shami, who is tasked with meeting the specific technological www.tahawultech.com

demands of a diverse range of verticals. “The split of industries that the group manages means that you need to know what to centralise and decentralise, and how to reduce cost while sharing things in the appropriate way,” he says. “In our contracting business, for example, our SLAs need specific customisations. Across each division, IT security has different demands, while there must be efficient, transparent communications across divisions.” Against the backdrop of diverse industries in which the company operates, Juma Al Majid has also sought ways to reinvigorate its IT infrastructure, and give the company a platform to thrive in the digital age.

It’s not realistic to just buy an expensive system to lift you out of a mess.

“In many ways, we had an obsolete infrastructure, which was very old and needed change,” Al Shami says. “The reality, however, is that you can’t overspend to completely overhaul things. Our IT skills are tied to the old infrastructures – we needed new training and reorganisation – and one of the biggest challenges is that you can’t manage what you can’t measure, and vice versa. As a manager, if I don’t have information, I’m relying on what people know, and that isn’t always enough.” With around “120” servers as part of its current network and needing to serve 114 physical sites across the UAE, Juma Al Majid is also in the midst of migrating a lot of its data to the cloud, and has an IT team of 35 staff to balance the day-to-day duties of IT operations, along with meeting the firm’s innovation aspirations. “I needed to find a way to manage our resources efficiently with limited budgets,” Al Shami says. “We needed effective measures of employee performance through the right KPIs, as well the right insights into our network that could help us to enhance security and maximise the use of our IT assets.” Al Shami initially introduced ManageEngine’s ServiceDesk Plus suite of products to identify threats, enhance visibility and improve employee productivity, all via Juma SEPTEMBER 2018

FEATURE

Juma Al Majid Group

Al Majid’s network. He also enlisted the help of Elitser Technologies – a ManageEngine partner – to help with the changes. The vendor’s OpManager product was also soon added, and the results of the change have been clear to Al Shami. “The visibility of our network is now much improved,” he says. “It’s scary not knowing what is going in and out of your network, and it’s so important to be able to measure your assets, and to have visibility of network traffic and workloads so that you can be proactive. Whatever happens in our network, we know about it because of OpManager. It gives great visibility of our firewall, and of managing our different sites. If there is a major incident, it creates ticket and helps our employees deal with it. “The monitoring has given us the capability to handle incidents, and resolve issues around monitoring and service desk management. Logs of network devices, the monitoring of our firewall and VPN access are key components of security handling. A module in OpManager monitors changes in network devices and means you can compare old and new configurations.” The tools have also helped to deliver enhanced productivity and SLA completion across IT staff members, allowing Al Shami to observe the overlap between operations and project management. He has also been able to use the information on offer to help make project cost estimations. “We now have all processes in one place and can consolidate workloads,” he says. “The right analytics over your network give you so much information. Having advanced management monitoring really allows you to utilise your team efficiently.” Having begun its partnership with ManageEngine in 2010, Juma 32

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You need a brave heart for innovation, and you need initial failure to deliver long-term success.

Al Majid has continued to be a close partner with the firm. Work is still ongoing between the two companies to enhance visibility within Juma Al Majid’s network. “It’s been like a survivor ship to us,” Al Shami says. “It’s not realistic to just buy an expensive system to lift you out of a mess. Whatever limitations I faced in the system could be worked around. Ultimately, I don’t need a Ferrari to get me to work, I need an efficient vehicle, and it’s great economics to spend something and get a lot in return.” Looking ahead, Juma Al Majid is also looking to introduce a softwaredefined wide area networking model in the near future, in order to reduce TCO and deliver high latency for connecting to the cloud. “SD-WAN will be a very big change for us,” he says. “The most expensive thing in IT is manning. We need to reduce cost and increase value. SD-WAN increases your ability to outsource, decreases overheads and allows the team to focus on innovation and adding value rather than troubleshooting continuous failures, as well as focusing on security, auditing and supervision. SD-WAN allows us to

minimise headaches and increase availability.” He adds that “in one year” Juma Al Majid’s network will be software-defined. Al Shami has also overseen Juma Al Majid’s shift from MPLS to ADSL communications, a “transformation” that is forecasted to save the firm over “AED 1.4 million”. “It’s one of most important areas to keep innovating,” Al Shami says. Reflecting on the changes he has helped to introduce to Juma AL Majid, Al Shami believes that one of the biggest lessons he has learned throughout various projects is the value of sound change management. “You always need culture changes and need to change old habits,” he says. “These aren’t always accepted, and people will debate how things are done. They may not share the vision or belief that you want to instil. One of the most important things you need to deliver is quick wins in order to get people on side.” He adds that empowering staff with knowledge is equally crucial in pushing an organisation forward. “Training and education, as well as lots of communication are great,” he says. “People get stuck in their comfort zone, and that’s human nature. “Bad habits are similar to the analogy of the frog in boiled water. As the water gets hotter, the frog works harder to cool down, but eventually the water reaches boiling point, and it’s too late to initiate change.” Al Shami also pays homage to Juma Al Majid’s senior management in the bid to introduce technological change and innovation at the company. “The commitment from top level management figures truly helps,” he says. “Our CIO, Jawad Abu Farha, wanted to introduce innovation with me on board, and his support has been fantastic in giving me the chance to make these changes.” www.tahawultech.com

FEATURE

Salman Yusuf, managing director, Takeleap

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS Takeleap managing director Salman Yusuf, a panelist at TahawulTech.comâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s upcoming Power of 4 Forum, has led the virtual reality specialist from obscurity to leading game-changing projects for IKEA, DEWA and more, all in the space of five years.

SEPTEMBER 2018

www.tahawultech.com

panellist at TahawulTech. com’s upcoming Power of 4 Fourth Industrial Revolution Forum on Monday 17th September at the Habtoor Grand Hotel in Dubai, Salman Yusuf has played an integral role in putting one of the Middle East’s most exciting VR specialists on the map. “Futuristic” Takeleap’s core business centres around delivering virtual reality and augmented reality solutions, but the firm also has a strong portfolio featuring expertise in AI and 3D projection mapping. “I’m very excited to be part of the panel at Power of 4,” Yusuf said. “It’ll be great to exchange ideas, and hear from my fellow experts about how virtual reality will help to shape the fourth industrial revolution. “Virtual and augmented reality will be key pillars of the fourth industrial revolution. They will transform training around health and safety. Training is a huge expense, and if you can teleport people into a hazardous area for simulations, that’s a massive cost saving. In terms of industrial manufacturing, AR will have a huge effect on maintenance and operations. It will increase productivity, allow for real-time data analysis, and give the ability to predict problems before they arise.” Founded in 2013, Takeleap now operates in five countries, and has delivered over 500 projects to date. “When we first started out, companies in the Middle East weren’t really considering VR projects,” Yusuf said. “The first www.tahawultech.com

project that we won was worth more than half a million dirhams, which helped us to get off the mark; it was a lot of hard work initially. Our early days were about selling ideas, as we didn’t really have a portfolio to fall back on. To an extent, we’ve been in the right place at the right time, but the strength of team in delivering all these projects has been key. It’s testament to our

I don’t need to persuade potential clients to opt for VR, because they’re already convinced.

progress that by our third year, we had clients approaching us, as opposed to the other way around.” One of the firm’s biggest success stories has been its partnership with IKEA, which saw Takeleap deploy a customer VR experience in its Dubai store. Takeleap began working with the Swedish furniture giant in October 2017, and, once complete, the

project proved an instant hit with customers, who were drawn to the ability to visualise how furniture and ornaments would be suited to certain rooms. “Our work helped them to increase footfall into the store by 19% in two weeks,” Yusuf says. “They were initially happily with that footfall, but it ended up boosting their sales as well.” Takeleap has also delivered a hugely successful augmented reality project for Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, which connects with SAP to help deliver real-time data visualisation from on-site sensors. The firm’s other notable publicsector client is Abu Dhabi Police, who Takeleap are currently working with to device a facial and number plate recognition service. Yusuf added that the benefits of virtual reality are now so obvious that enterprises need no convincing in deploying it within their business. “Deloitte has predicted that over the next four years, 85% of the industrial sector will deploy AR or VR solutions,” he said. “That shows just how prevalent and profound this technology is going to be in the enterprise. “I don’t need to persuade potential clients to opt for it, because they’re already convinced. Every MNC and government agency has adopted AR and VR in the last two years. It’s no longer a gimmick and is adding tangible value in day-to-day life. People use AR all the time but don’t realise it. Every major smartphone is now ARenabled. The technology that helps you reverse your car uses it.” SEPTEMBER 2018

FEATURE

Alexander Rauser, CEO, Prototype

BEYOND THE HYPE Prototype CEO Alexander Rauser cut his teeth in the German music business, but now runs a firm that advises some of the Middle East’s biggest companies on they can make digital transformation more than just a buzzword.

ounded in 2010, Prototype now works with some of the Middle East’s most renowned brands to develop their digital transformation strategies, including Emirates, Meraas and STC. Alex Rauser, author of ‘The boardroom guide to digital accountability’, a book on digital strategy targeting c-level decision makers, believes when attempting digital transformation initiatives, most companies hit a brick wall as they have no clear roadmap, and will be a panellist at TahawulTech. com’s upcoming Evolve Digital Transformation Forum on 30th October at the Habtoor Grand Hotel. “Most companies haven’t properly figured out how they should innovate,” he said. “First, you need to understand what that means. The iPhone was an innovation because at that time, the combination of its technologies, and the way it was executed, was way ahead of the competition. To be innovative, you ultimately need to become better faster than your competition and increase distance between your 36

SEPTEMBER 2018

competitors so that you can be considered innovative. Everyone talks about the importance of innovation, but most companies just give a lot of money to vendors who have a solution.” Beginning its journey eight years ago, Prototype initially ran “like an agency” but is now offering an expanding portfolio of digital strategy and experience experiences. Prior to founding Prototype, Rauser had started his career working for a record label in Germany, where he received his first taste of digital disruption. “In 2000, the MP3 player came along, and CDs started to decline. E-commerce stores came next, and the industry has been totally transformed since then,” he said. The IT industry has also experienced huge change in that timeframe, and Rauser believes that many of the legacy processes that businesses now find themselves lumbered with are severely dated. “If I designed a company from scratch, I would completely get rid of the current IT setup as we know it,” Rauser said. “IT sits on

massive budgets that are used to operate infrastructures. It’s not about getting rid of the principle of IT but getting rid of its current methodologies. Some companies need to shake this up considerably. In-house hosting and server maintenance causes headaches. A nine-hour conference call for a simple website update is excessive.” Rauser also believes that organisations often take the easy way out when opting for digital change, by choosing to buy rather than to build. “The biggest mistake that most companies make is going for readymade solutions instead of building the internal capabilities to tackle challenges that their business faces,” he said. “If you opt to work with the big tech firms, you’re getting the same solution as everyone else. It’s definitely better to create IP yourself and develop your own software.” Perhaps most importantly of all, according to Rauser, is the need to ensure that progress around technology remains tangible, and that projects aren’t undertaken for the sake of it. “A lot of clients waste huge www.tahawultech.com

Alexander Rauser, CEO, Prototype

If I designed a company from scratch, I would get rid of the current IT setup as we know it.

amounts of money with investments that make absolutely no sense to the business,” he said. “Spending money on anything that isn’t intended to deliver ROI is pointless. You need to be able to measure what software delivers in return. In a lot of cases, it doesn’t deliver results. Management teams need to understand that digital needs tools and frameworks to manage expectation. C-level figures aren’t always digital-natives and aren’t clued up enough to make buying decisions over multimillion-dollar software deals. “People run around saying that digital is the way to go, but years later, they still haven’t been able to measure any change. Companies collect data, but a lot of them don’t have a way to analyse and interpret it.” www.tahawultech.com

SEPTEMBER 2018

REVIEW Bose SoundSport Free Wireless

BlackBerry KEY 2: a modern throwback It’s not old school, it’s iconic. Adelle Geronimo takes the BlackBerry KEY 2 for a spin and shares why the device is ideal for professionals who want to prioritise security without sacrificing productivity.

hysical keyboards may be a thing of the past when it comes to smartphones, but that hasn’t stopped TCL Communications, which now builds phones for BlackBerry, from continuing their legacy. BlackBerry KEY 2 is the latest iteration in TCL’s Android-based phone with a physical keyboard. It’s predecessor, the KEY One, was met with a lot of success last year, showing that that physical keyboards still hold a place not only in our hearts, but also in the 2018 smartphone market.

SEPTEMBER 2018

Aesthetically, the KEY 2 won’t turn any heads, but has a modest and lightweight design. The device has a slightly curved aluminium chassis with sharp lines and corners. The flat sides host the volume rocker keys, power key and a customisable speed key on the right, while the left has an ejectable dual SIM slot. The KEY 2 has a grippy, leatherlike back that feels rugged. The KEY 2 sports a 4.5-inch (1620 x 1080) touch-screen LCD display made of the Corning Gorilla Glass 3. On the screen, you can find a row of capacitive navigation buttons, which pops up when being used, and hides away when the phone is asleep.

Below the screen of the KEY 2, you’ll find the QWERTY keyboard, which has matte keys. The plate surrounding the keyboard has a matte silver finish. The keyboard is soft yet tactile, evenly backlit and well contoured. But it might take time for you to get used to typing with the physical keys. The keyboard also doubles as a trackpad with the fingerprint scanner residing in the Space key. The phone has a 3.5mm audio output jack and secondary microphone, and the bottom features a USB type-C chargingcum-data transfer port surrounded by 12-hole grilles on either side with a speaker and a primary microphone. Under the hood, the BlackBerry KEY 2 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660 processor with 6GB of RAM and comes with either 64GB or

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Price: AED 2,399 (64 GB)

AED 2,699 (128 GB)

Colours: Black and Silver

128GB of storage. It launches apps quickly and switches between them smoothly, making it good for multitasking. However, its curtailed screen length isn’t ideal for it. Its software is one-part BlackBerry, one-part Android. It ships with Android 8.1 Oreo, which means you can download all the productivity and social apps and games you want from Google Play. In true BlackBerry fashion, security is one of the main features of the KEY 2. It is integrated with a few noteworthy security-focused features starting with DTEK, which allows you to customise the overall security of your device by setting specific permissions for various apps. With this device, TCL and BlackBerry also prioritised user privacy with BlackBerry Shade. This feature which allows you to set a custom view of visible information on-screen while leaving the rest greyed-out, making it nearly impossible for nosey neighbours to see what’s on your screen. Jumping on the dual camera trend, BlackBerry KEY 2 has www.tahawultech.com

a 12MP camera on the rear. It has all of the modern specs and features you’d expect in 2018: a 2x optical zoom as well as a Portrait Mode. It also supports Google Lens image search and 4K video recording. The camera app allows for full manual control, so you can have a bit more fun fiddling with the camera settings. On the front, it also has an 8MP facing camera. Last but not the least, the BlackBerry KEY 2 has a 3,500mAh battery, which can last up to a full day of normal to heavy usage. It also supports

Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0, so it’s quick on the recharge. The KEY 2 isn’t for everyone. You need to be willing to spend time re-learning how to operate on a physical keyboard with your thumbs. Nevertheless, KEY 2’s security features make it an appealing choice for professionals who want to find that perfect balance of personal and business productivity. SEPTEMBER 2018

OPINION

Bask Iyer, CIO, Dell Technologies and VMware

WHY ALL COMPANIES ARE TECH-DRIVEN Bask Iyer, CIO of Dell Technologies and VMware, gives his take on chief information officers must take bold decisions in order to succeed in the era of mobile, cloud, IoT and AI.

very company – from healthcare to retail – is now a technology company. IT is now not only responsible for keeping the trains running but for integrating new technologies such as analytics into every part of the business. It’s interesting to look back at what technology looked like in 1998, when VMware was founded. Apple was hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, pinning all of its hopes for a turnaround on the all-in-one iMac. Amazon announced that it would expand beyond books, having IPO’d at $18 per share the year before. The first Google Doodle appeared on their website, Windows 98 was launched, and Bill Gates infamously got hit in the face with a cream pie on his

Bask Iyer, CIO, Dell Technologies and VMware

SEPTEMBER 2018

way to a meeting with EU officials. In 1998, IT consisted mostly of back-office automation such as ERP systems, supply chain automation and upgrading to Windows 95. Companies were spending an estimated $300 billion to make computers and applications Y2Kcompliant, trying to avoid what many feared would be widespread chaos with banks, government and utilities. IT-enabled collaboration with the outside world was nonexistent; email was largely internal. Everything was being outsourced. Not only did we survive Y2K, but the last two decades have seen unprecedented technology innovation, owing largely to distributed networking, better compute power and advances in IT infrastructures. The IT department itself, though, hasn’t been all that disruptive. Don’t get me wrong. IT has had to shoulder most of the work required to handle the rapid assimilation of this technology within the enterprise, while balancing risk, training, change management and investment. www.tahawultech.com

However, with innovations in artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT and blockchain only widening the gap, we’re playing catch-up. IoT used to be the big shiny object; now it’s AI. In a few months, machine learning will replace AI. While the technology is advancing at exponential rates, the creativity and intrapreneurship required to identify solutions using the technology is not keeping pace. In other words, it’s a solution looking for a problem. Now, the four superpowers of mobile, cloud, IoT and AI have transformed every company into a technology company. Companies’ annual reports read like an annual IT report. A large manufacturing facility’s AC system is now a sensordriven building management system. Everything in finance has changed because of technology. The traditional retail model has been turned on its

www.tahawultech.com

Technology is coming at us faster than our ability to harness it.

head, and we’ll only see more changes as augmented reality, NFC and Bitcoin reshape shopping behaviour. Technology is coming at us faster than our ability to harness it. While it’s sobering that enterprise IT has lagged behind consumer tech, huge opportunities exist for those who have a desire and passion for taking risks and pushing the edge of innovation with their teams.

Right now, the CIO is in the best position to take the reins as a transformational leader, because entire company cultures will need to adapt to being digital-first. This is all a tall task. If you’re the type of person who likes checking off your to-do list, you’re already two years behind, because the to-do list will never get done. But if you like making bold strides even in the face of uncertainty, you’re in the right place, as the technology ‘generational gap’ no longer exists. What used to take years for a technology to take hold now takes a few months. We will need to take risks, move forward without knowing the complete picture and be collaborative in everything we do, especially with the executive team to advance innovation. CIOs and their teams will need to take the lead and drive this change.

SEPTEMBER 2018

OPINION

Cyril Perducat, executive vice president, Schneider Electric

AI: IS THE HONEYMOON OVER? Schneider Electric’s executive vice president of Internet of Things and digital offers, Cyril Perducat, believes that in order to make the most from AI’s potential, organisations must look beyond hype and stick to three basic principles.

ast year, Forrester noted that, “The honeymoon for enterprises naively celebrating the cure-all promises of artificial intelligence technologies is over… AI and all other new technologies like big data and cloud computing still require hard work.” Given that 70% of enterprises expect to implement AI this year, I would like to offer three concrete ways that companies can seize the business value that I believe AI promises.

Cyril Perducat, executive vice president, Schneider Electric

SEPTEMBER 2018

Lesson 1: be pragmatic Integrating an AI strategy can seem like a daunting task as Forrester analysts point out, so we recommend that any company embarking on this

journey start with a pragmatic, practical approach to individual AI projects. Ask upfront: “Which problem can I solve with an AI-enabled solution?” This question always prompts our R&D process to lead with the customer challenge in mind. This approach worked well, for example, when an onshore oil and gas customer needed a better way to manage the productivity and maintenance of extremely remote oil pumps. We worked to develop a solution that uses local analytics enabled by machine learning. Lesson 2: see the value in new AIenabled business models For all of us, digital transformation is about finding ways to create new www.tahawultech.com

business value from digitisation. I recently had the opportunity to discuss this topic at length with Microsoft’s General Manager of Manufacturing Çağlayan Arkan. We agree that it’s often challenging for any legacy company, however, to see beyond its core business model to launch and accelerate a digital journey. Will I cannibalise my business? How do I circulate new value for customers? AI applications can help customers understand what it really means to push forward new digital business models in a disruptive yet profitable way. Take long-time machine builders (or OEMs) as an example. Most OEMs build highly specialised equipment, such as the smaller-footprint coffee pod machine we co-innovated with

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our customer SOMIC. In many cases, though, the capex commitment for such tailored machines is high. But what if a machine builder could leverage AI, coupled with remote monitoring capabilities, to begin offering “uptimeas-a-service” to its end-users? This is a way to lower the capex burden for end-users. Only AI makes this business model possible, as trained data models can qualify whether a machine’s downtime is really a machine issue vs. human or other error. Lesson 3: build strengths on top of your domain expertise Having strong domain expertise is critical to making AI projects successful. Do not underestimate its value. Why? Data overload is a known reality, so it’s clear that we don’t need more data. What we do need are much

better ways to tap the business value of that data. Most companies are not AI experts; channeling domain expertise it what will make AI projects relevant to companies and their customers. This is really what we see as the of AI’s golden value: turning data into insights. My point here is to create AI project teams that include an AI expert, a computer scientist, and, just as crucial, a domain expert. It is the domain expert who can ask the right questions for AI to solve and, more importantly, know how to best respond to what the AI models reveal (e.g., predictive maintenance applications). So, is the honeymoon for AI over? With the proper attention to integration and deployment issues, we believe that AI as the next wave of IoT innovation has only just begun.

SEPTEMBER 2018

OPINION

Allan Leinwand, CTO, ServiceNow

HOW AI WILL REALLY IMPACT UAE JOBS ServiceNow’s CTO Allan Leinwand gives his take on how artificial intelligence has the potential to provide more meaning and satisfaction to employees.

ccording to a recent research report from PwC, artificial intelligence is expected to account for approximately 13.6% of the United Arab Emirates’ GDP in 2030. However, AI is seen by many as being either a hero or a villain. On one hand, AI is currently driving nearly every CIO’s agenda because it intelligently automates work processes, making it possible to do things that have never been done before. But on the other, many workers are scared of the rise of AI as they believe it is rising from humble beginnings to become a villain that will steal their jobs. The truth is that some jobs will be lost, but many more will be created. It is important to understand that fundamentally, AI is not strong at creative, interpersonal or physical work. It will be used for “decision

Allan Leinwand, CTO, ServiceNow

SEPTEMBER 2018

support, not decision making.” So lets debunk a few myths. Reduce and simplify As workers, we want to use automation to get our jobs done. AI will free us from having to spend long hours analysing data and invest that time in achieving a better work-life balance. Information technology, manufacturing, financial services and human resources will all see significant improvement and productivity gains because of AI. These industries have many repetitive tasks that can be easily automated, helping workers become more productive. For example, AI can streamline the onboarding process of a new employee. It can alert HR when background checks are completed, and aid them with the creation of benefits packages and employment www.tahawultech.com

contracts. It can help IT order and provision new equipment. Similarly, it can help the employee complete and send tax forms and direct deposit information to finance. The mundane Workers want to move to more meaningful roles. In fact, according to the Society of Human Resource Professionals, workers, particularly Millennials, want to “create outcomes within meaningful projects and may become impatient with mundane tasks.” AI can automate the more mundane tasks, allowing for new jobs to be created that are more fulfilling, strategic and meaningful. AI can help workers be more productive and efficient at their jobs, while learning new skills. In addition, AI can help workers become better organised, reducing stressors, improving productivity and overall job satisfaction. Financial compliance is a great example of this. Until recently, the creation of expense reports and review of submitted expenses was a very manual, mundane process requiring hours and hours of review. In the cases of expense report review, only a sample of expense reports could be reviewed in order to hopefully identify some patterns of fraud in submissions. Now, not only can AI generate the invoices, but it can sort through the hundreds of expense reports, invoices and other transactions and identify potential areas of fraud, waste and mistakes by employees, vendors and others for humans to further investigate, saving their companies billions of dollars each year. Customer satisfaction The idea behind AI is to create more satisfied customers. Because workers can focus more on the interpersonal www.tahawultech.com

AI can automate the more mundane tasks, allowing for new jobs to be created that are more fulfilling, strategic and meaningful.

and creative parts of their jobs rather than the more mundane, they will treat customers better. In customer support cases, this will be done by employing AI to identify and provide a solution for the issue and utilising a human who can react to nuances for interpersonal communications. Customers will develop loyalty because their needs are met and issues are resolved quicker, more efficiently and with a personal touch. Let me give you an example. Years ago, many companies implemented phone trees to help route support calls more efficiently. All of us have been frustrated to get to the end of the menu realising that we must press “star” in order to go back to the previous menu in order to talk to the right person. While this is automated support, it didn’t employ a combination of people and AI to do so. Rather than having to press the right button to move forward, imagine answering a few questions at the beginning of the call describing what the issue is or what you want to accomplish, and immediately being routed to the correct person (yes,

person) who will help you or to the right menu telling you store hours. This will speed up support, improve loyalty and create better satisfaction for customers. Convenience One of the biggest benefits of AI is the convenience to customers. AI allows nearly every aspect of business to occur faster, from identifying and fixing support issues so that workers don’t have to drive into the office on weekends to fix a server, to providing more accessibility to information, services and more. As an example, there seem to be ATMs on nearly every corner and more bank branch locations than ever before. However, bank teller jobs have not been eliminated because of the rise of ATM machines. Yes, there may be less tellers in general, but their jobs are more valuable to customers and their employers. When one walks into a branch at a bank, there are dozens of workers providing better value-added services with shorter lines helping customers to be more satisfied with the convenient service provided. More than likely the work these employees do have higher margins, enabling them to make more money for both themselves and their local branches. In summary, while AI might result in loss of certain jobs, it is more likely that the amount of work each worker will need to complete will be reduced and simplified rather than eliminated. Employees will feel more satisfaction in what they do because they can focus less on the mundane and more on the strategic. Customer satisfaction will increase because customers will have more human interactions, faster, with people who know how to resolve issues they have. In addition, customers will have more convenience than ever before. SEPTEMBER 2018

OPINION

Arun Khehar, SVP business applications, ECEMEA, Oracle

AI IN HR: MANAGING THE DIGITAL WORKFORCE Arun Khehar, Oracleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s senior vice president of business applications for the ECEMEA region, explores how artificial intelligence will help to reinvigorate internal HR processes.

Arun Khehar, SVP business applications, ECEMEA, Oracle

here are two competing forces impacting the world of HR. On one hand, the rate of social and business change is accelerating, resulting in an ever more complex socioeconomic environment. On the other, employees are pushing for even simpler, more engaging and human-like interactions. To strike this balance, leading HR practitioners are starting to leverage emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and chatbots to support rapid business changes. Employee experience becomes more human Businesses have long recognised the importance of delivering a memorable experience for customers. As millennials and Gen

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Z become the largest share of the global workforce, more organisations will be applying the same mindset to keep their employees engaged and productive. Employees want meaning, value, connection, recognition, and personal growth at work. They expect work to give similar experiences with technology that they have at home â&#x20AC;&#x201C; intuitive interfaces, quick responses, and access to real-time information. We will see exponential growth in the use of AI, chatbots, machine learning, mobile solutions, and social platforms to make work more enjoyable, simple, and engaging. According to Forrester, by 2021, more than 50% of enterprises will be spending more per annum on bots and chatbot creation than traditional mobile app development. www.tahawultech.com

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OPINION

Arun Khehar, SVP business applications, ECEMEA, Oracle

This movement towards using tools that mimic our senses enables us to communicate in a more natural way by augmenting the way employees interact with technology, data and information. A platform for the boardroom As the voice of employees in the boardroom, HR leaders play an integral role in balancing human skills with machine-based efficiency. This will require them to understand the capabilities of robotics technologies and their potential impact on the workforce so they can help shape the organisation’s response. As machines permeate the organisation, HR is working with line managers to develop automation strategies for their teams. This involves a change in the shape and structure of the workforce as well as identifying the skills that are required to create effective training and development programmes which help people work better alongside machines. Just as importantly, HR has a role as the company’s conscience, balancing the drive for efficiency with a wider perspective. After all, just because a process can be automated does not mean it should be. Productivity and agility in the AI age For companies to thrive in the face of ever-accelerating change, they need to excel at adapting to fast-changing market dynamics, customer demands and technological innovation. This requires a fundamental shift in thinking about the workforce. It’s no longer just about hiring employees, but rather maximising productivity by combining tasks that can be intelligently automated and those that require human intervention. In this time of change, HR is working with business leaders to model the future workforce and 48

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reassess hiring and staffing plans, taking into account the impact automation will have on new job roles, skills and processes. They will also be using contextual data and workforce modelling technology to short-circuit problems like attrition and turnover, better understand their workforce and talent pool to make work smarter, more enjoyable and collaborative. For example, redesigned “newsfeed” style interfaces that leverage AI to help employees focus on actions and decisions. Here,

By 2020, candidates applying to jobs at 20% of large global enterprises will interact with chatbots before recruiters.

analytics snapshots can elevate key business insights and companyrelated news. Businesses are now also able to offer a “self-driving” promotion process that helps employees reach their objectives and succeed in their current positions by providing proactive alerts. Recruiting becomes more human AI for recruiting will become a dominant theme for HR technology. Recruiting leaders will use AI to gain deep insights into talent needs, understand where and how to source candidates, reduce time-consuming

activities like manually screening resumes, and identify the right candidates from a large and diverse applicant pool. According to the Forrester 2018 Predictions Report, by 2020, candidates applying to jobs at 20% of large global enterprises will interact with chatbots before recruiters. Powerful, built-in AI capabilities and guided paths create a simple and personalised experience from a candidate’s first interaction, through to hiring and onboarding. For example, new chatbot functionality allows candidates to search for jobs and get questions answered directly through channels like Facebook Messenger, while also automatically alerting candidates to updates and needed actions on their channel of choice. Alongside this, advanced machine learning capabilities help reduce the time it takes to fill open positions by highlighting best-fit candidates and proactively identifying prospects and employees who should be invited to apply. In the same way that Alexa is a data source for Amazon to mine, a chatbot can be a data source which an organisation can learn about its employees. Machine learning analysis of the questions and conversations can provide a unique and previously unheard (and anonymised) voice of the employee. It can reveal underlying issues perhaps before employees are consciously aware they of a concern. There is a fear of AI but its promise for employees and organisations is great. The use of AI in people management strategies will ensure employees play a central role in developing new employment models and new roles for the existing workforce. This requires leadership of HR executives who embrace change and who put technology as a central tenant of their HR strategy. www.tahawultech.com

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ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL I

t’s been a rough few weeks for Tesla. Despite the company’s recent success in dominating the United States’ single plug-in electric car sales and acting as a surefire reminder to investors that the EV era is in full bloom, the tech firm’s stocks are down more than 15 percent since the new year. What’s caused this rather alarming dip? It can’t be sugar-coated – the recent actions of CEO Elon Musk have pushed the engineering whizz to near laughing-stock status, and have taken Tesla’s share price with him. Musk’s erratic behaviour in recent weeks, which can only be described as bizarre, and quite frankly disturbing, most notably included making baseless, personal accusations about a British diver involved in the rescue of 12 young Thai footballers earlier this summer. 50

SEPTEMBER 2018

Musk faced widespread backlash when he first launched an unfounded claim against Vernon Unsworth back in July, after the tech billionaire failed to assist in helping the mission with his metallic pod, which he referred to at the time as a “kid-size submarine.” In a further revelation made as a result of Musk’s rollercoaster Twitter announcements – not forgetting his “joke” tweet in April that Tesla had gone bankrupt amid the company’s worst month in seven years – he recently announced plans to take Tesla private. A publicly traded company since 2010, a total buyout of the company would cost more than $70 billion, sources reported, making it the largest corporate buyout ever. Musk has mused publicly that such a deal would free him from

the short-term pressures of the public markets and unburden him of the distractions of a volatile stock price. But it now seems that he was merely thinking out loud in this shock announcement, as he quickly u-turned to retract his statement - throwing the CEO’s behaviour into questioning from outside parties once more. While one might presume – or hope, at least – that the Tesla board is taking significant measures to limit Musk’s erratic behaviour, it’s clear that the tech CEO has other plans, and therein lies the problem. The joy of social media is that everyone – no matter their status, has a voice. But this may ultimately prove to be the demise of Musk, and indeed Tesla, if he is continually allowed such free reign to share such controversial and ultimately damaging opinions. www.tahawultech.com

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